I use Twitter to interact with people and it peeves me when people use it to spam. I can deal with the links and self-promotion in my feed. What I can’t stand is when I get a direct message that is so obviously programmed. There’s a picture of a person, but the message is robotic. The latest is from Alex Mathers who is exceptionally smart and produces really sweet content, but his promotional methods are…questionable.
Occurrences like this remind me of my post about Pandora advertising its alarm option even after I had set the alarm up.
If you’re going to promote, then quit promoting once your customer does or buys what you’re promoting. Think of the last thing you sold to someone. Once the exchange was made, you didn’t keep telling them that they should buy what is now in their hands. Right?
Anyway, to thank you for reading this rant, I’ve taken the common questions asked by working creatives that Alex answered on his blog and have answered them in my way here.
1. How do I find my first clients if no one knows me?
Try making a better product or service first. If that doesn’t work, then you need to create something different. Skip all this hassle by figuring out what people in a tribe want before you establish a product or service.
Getting clients isn’t hard. Creating something people want is.
2. Should my style appeal to what is in demand or be about what I enjoy?
You know the answer to this. Both.
3. How do I earn more?
Easy things aren’t scarce. Hard things are scarce. Scarce things have value. By doing something hard, you’re creating something of value. The more value, the more you can earn.
4. How do I know what to charge for my creative work?
Charge what you would pay for it. It’s damn difficult to sell something for $1,000 if you don’t believe it’s worth that much.
5. How do I move from full-time employment to going freelance?
Slowly. But that doesn’t mean you don’t need to work your ass off for it. Wake up earlier. Go to sleep later. Cut the little things out of your life until you make the transition.
6. How can I sell more of my stuff without being too pushy and ‘salesy’?
Read one book on sales. That’s all you need. They all say the same thing. After you read it, go take a job in sales. I did for a month and practiced what I read in the book. The only reason you don’t know how is because you’re not forcing yourself to figure it out.
7. I don’t have any time to spend on my creative career. What do I do?
Quit lying to yourself. We all have 24 hours in the day.
8. How do I network with people if I’m introverted?
9. Do I need to understand the basics of running a business to succeed?
Do athletes need to understand the basics of their sport in order to perform at the Olympics? That’s where you want to go, right? To the top?
10. How long do I need to spend working to become an expert at my craft?
If you simply won’t move forward without knowing, they say 10,000 hours. How long isn’t important though. What matters is how well you work to become an expert, not how many hours.
11. How do I balance my job, social life and creating in my spare time?
Understand that you’re on a teeter-totter and you’re on it with someone who weighs a bit more than you. No one consistently balances. Prepare for the constant give and take. It’s what makes it worth it.
12. Why can’t I get motivated about what I do?
You’re afraid of something. Figure out what it is and proceed to dance with it. (Also search “fear” on my website, I write a lot about it.)
13. How do I freelance without getting lonely?
By creating something that makes people feel less lonely.
14. I never get any jobs through social media. What am I doing wrong?
You need to use social media to make connections and meet people. It’s when you meet people that you get offered a job. More people get jobs from people, not tweets; they get them in person, not online.
15. How do I get more likes on Facebook?
First ask yourself if that’s where most of your revenue is coming from. If it’s not, then spend more time where the revenue is coming from, likes will follow from that.
If you do get most of your revenue from likes on Facebook and want more likes, then offer more on Facebook, showcase people who use your product or service by giving shout outs or uploading photos (people love sharing photos that they are in) and be entertaining. Most Facebookers go on to escape the real world. Ask yourself what you have to offer.
16. I have disrespectful, crappy clients. What do I do to change this?
Fire them.
17. I lack the confidence to share my creations with the world. How can I increase belief in my work?
There’s no solution to this. Don’t listen to people who say there is a solution, all they are setting you up for is an uphill battle. What you can do is start by not caring who believes in your work – so long as you do. Build it and they will come.
18. How do I get more traffic to my blog?
Ads work. More content works. Multimedia helps. Getting content published elsewhere will guide others to your blog. The two best steps you can take, though, is to connect with more people outside your blog and to wait (but don’t stand still, that’s not what I mean by waiting. People die standing still).
19. Is it better to be a jack of all trades, or a master at one?
People will ask you what you are an expert at or what your superpower is. Have one. Then know a little about everything else. Enough so you can make friends with people who are experts in all those other things. Now you’ve built a team. Now no one will ask what you’re good at. They will see you as a leader.
20. What is your single biggest tip for succeeding as a solo creative?
Know what success means to you.
21. How do I develop a unique style?
It’s a pain, but writing as much as possible helps. And try caring just a little bit less on whether people approve of your unique style. I laugh when someone calls someone else weird. They make it sound like it’s a rare thing. We are all weird.
22. Do I need a university degree to succeed in this game?
Not exactly in this game. But, in the game of life, it helps a ton.
23. There is so much competition out there. How do I stand out?
You don’t need a million followers to make a million dollars.
24. Why does no one follow me on social media?
Well, I would follow you if I’ve heard about you and like you. If this is the same for others, then either they haven’t heard about you or don’t like you.
Stay Positive & Follow Me @thegarthbox (but don’t expect spam messages)
