Building a Creative Living in the Digital Age

Scott Kirsner, a social media maverick, wrote a book I’ve just got around to hearing about entitled “Fans, Friends, & Followers: Building An Audience and a Creative Career in the Digital Age, published a year ago.

What I liked about it is that he went directly to the source: creative people.  He interviewed visual artists, comedians, animators, documentary filmmakers, musicians, writers, and others who have been pioneering new ways to build a creative career online (and off.) It delves into the business models that can support leaving the day job behind. And all of the material in the book was collected in 2008 and 2009.

To check it out yourself, you can download a partial pdf or buy the book.  Here’s the link.  Or read his reviews here.

Dominos of Self-Confidence: this way to growth

In this post, I’ll explore the tremendous value in building and protecting growing self-confidence.  It will influence every aspect of how you offer your craft to the world.

I’ll start with the obvious. I know that in really taking a shot at something, to really come out of hiding, it’s essential to be aware of where you are inside yourself.  It’s not trivial. Self-confidence is the fuel that holds hands with motivation which, in turn, allows us to take the plunge and do some very interesting things.

I also know that for many years, all I wanted to do was stay beneath the radar, invisible.  If you asked me why I was doing this or even if I was doing this, I’m fairly certain you wouldn’t have gotten much of a reply.  But I think I have two good stories which are helping me piece it together better now and transition.

The first is at an event I recently attended.  It was from a micro-finance professional who had been immersed in facilitating micro loans on the ground level in Bangladesh. Micro-finance is a relatively new field, with new models emerging every day, but one could say it’s birth came from the mother of lending, a more established process here in the United States where donors typically advise where and how money should be spent. We are familiar with this kind of giving, and its name is “donor-advised” funds.  Terrific.  Money going out in support of important causes. Giving in substantial amounts.  All good.

Then, the speaker started to relate more dimensions of his story.  He mentioned that the loans were always successful (paid back) if they focused on the activities recipients sensed they could do well. If there was the willingness to honor an individual in this small way, there would be a domino effect that would spur all kinds of other personal efforts made by this same individual in the future.  In other words, it was never really what someone else believed would be beneficial for either the individual or the community that created outcomes of abundance for everyone, but what one individual was willing to believe and make better about him/herself, followed by a real opportunity to build oneself up from there.

The micro-finance approach of starting with the individual, in organizations like Kiva and Wokai, are now helping millions of people pull themselves up (from the individual in poverty to the average guy loaner who is now gaining confidence as one who gives).  In effect, it’s an industry whose 360 degree purpose may well be to grow the self-confidence of people.  It reminded me that, in life, progress always comes down to cultivating enough inner self-confidence to translate ideas into action. It’s the courage not to accept hanging back or hiding as a solution but rooting oneself in uncompromised practice of a single strength that helps us all make a difference.

The second comes from direct experience.  We know we can learn a lot through feedback from others but what if the feedback comes from a person with jealousy or insecurity or arrogance or without any sense of what can be built upon in you.  I’ve been in those circumstances, and while I couldn’t influence the outcome for myself, I certainly noticed the effect — a situation which had me working against my own capacities. Only when I made a decision to protect that area of my becoming, stand up for the circumstance that would make it stronger, could I make progress. Otherwise, I was left holding the bag, the lingering echoes of others amplifying all my imperfect efforts.

Hey, don’t misconstrue what I’m saying. Feedback can be extraordinarily necessary and gratifying at times.  But self-confidence is like the blood that runs through our veins; it’s vital to our circulation in ourselves and in the world.  And learning how to protect what is emerging is so interwined with the growth of confidence and in turn, being productive, that if you don’t recognize it or ignore what is pulling against it, you will lose a great deal. Better to devote yourself to your craft and make a commitment to building yourself up day by day than listen to feedback that could derail you.

To get moving with this, imagine a single, confidence-building domino to get you in the game.  Next, imagine the energizing belief it can represent, cup it in a hand, and use it to remind yourself you will be leading with and then protecting this inner piece/place in the months to come. Imagine laying this domino back down, and see it connecting to a first opportunity and then another and another, until quietly, intentionally, you are building your strength out to wherever and whenever you need it. Align yourself with every activity you find that will support your movement. And make it real.  Okay then, dominos on the table, please.  And oh, your turn.

Gallery Grievance: Your social media ideas not gonna work here…

Yesterday, during my walk in a new neighborhood in San Francisco, I popped into a gallery along the avenue. There were some pretty nice paintings on the walls–colorful, professional, rich with storytelling potential (you know, the kind where you can look and make many associations because of  the juxtaposition of symbols, characters,  and other visual elements).

The gallery owner was stoic enough about the loss of people dropping by (hard times, these days), but I couldn’t read what she was after by communicating her disappointments to us. The gist seemed to be that no one was buying and there was only a once a year event where people in any numbers dropped in. She loved the one-on-one exchanges but those were dropping off too, paying rent was no picnic, etc.

Well, hardly the expert but feeling her angst, I wanted there to be a solution for her. Of course, I introduced the idea of having events in the space and promoting them wildly over the net, but as soon as I put it out there as a possibility, she rejected it. “I’ve tried all that. Blogs, emails, getting just a taste of paintings at an online site and thinking they’d seen something already, what a waste of time! My business is a direct, highly personal business. That’s how things have happened before and how they will happen again”.

At this point, my boyfriend was feeling I had spoken a little too long about the glories of web marketing but as he hustled me out of the gallery, I couldn’t help lingering just a second more. I glanced back at all those paintings ripe for discussion, the need for adult community centers where we live, and the what if what was on the web was a very animated discussion about the event itself, featuring a new form of gallery interaction that used the painting space as a means to create deeper engagement with the art and artist?  Perhaps as a nightly series discussion group?  Perhaps as an inquiry into the actual value of making and/or being exposed to aesthetics in our own lives?

What if?  Have you any thoughts about this? Any ideas for a successful intervention?  Or is she right–is the use of the web for this kind of gallery promotion a total waste of time?

Hello, creative!

It is a terrifically exciting time to be a creative person who has dreams of getting some artistic contributions out into the world.  So many ways to imagine the future, to represent yourself, to move.  But in order to take hold of the possibilities, there is one hitch–you have to understand that we are now euphemistically-speaking, challenged to experience and integrate two worlds. 

• The physical one, which we may sometimes feel is receding from our daily experience.  It’s what has already been created like our stores, community centers, exhibit halls, outdoor events, and so forth.  It’s not hard to find this world because it is what we are already conditioned to understand, interact in these ways, accept as “what is.”
   
• And the virtual one, which we can fear as well.  The emergence of this world seems to set up a difficult proposition–spend time developing it and there goes our face-to-face time.  It may even be said  that it keeps people from being social at all, although, of course, it’s now all about getting onboard with the promise of  ”social networks.”  

My position is that if we can accept the shift in the way we communicate, the limits we previously perceived can now be viewed as morphing deliciously into expanded opportunity, in spite of the upfront effort demanded by the technology.  It is my interest to present you with inspiring examples to make that leap one of intense interest.  I’ll share with you everything that I see and understand to help you make some tests along the way, and encourage you to contribute creatively in tandem with opportunities to achieve greater visibility. And I’m sure you’ll do the same for me. So, it’s great to see you.  Let’s discover the value here together.

Help in the Modern Age

This is not my strong suit, this business of asking for help.

I’ll admit it. My will to figure things out on my own inevitably interferes, and I’d willingly go ’round and ’round with something myself, sometimes for many painful hours on end, than stop the swish in my brain to find another way. The sad fact is that I’m stubborn, and can refuse to let in what would make my efforts easier.  Doesn’t have to be your fate though.  Interested in some valuable tips?  Read on.
 

 
 NAME WHAT YOU NEED

First, it’s a good thing to name what it is you actually need. For me, the passage of time and the chance to be still usually hint at where I’m lagging. Then, I follow that up with a written plan of my top 3 strategic goals and my most passionate implementation ideas, both which become incredibly useful devices for helping me see my own needs. And finally, there’s nothing like the evidence of what never seems to get done at the end of the day to amplify the ways I am simply standing in my own way (just in case I might prefer to forget!).

No, you aren’t perfect and no, you can’t do everything yourself.  But, there’s good news awaiting. Name the thing, maybe even two things, to turn things around for that day, that week, that month, and you’ll do a whole lot better.  To get closer to what this might be for you, consider naming:

• what it is you are going for so you remind yourself where your energies are best placed,
• what those things are that are not getting done, and preventing you from reaching any kind of task closure, those times when even your body feels like a slug, and you’re going ’round and ’round, and
• those small steps you can take that will pull you up and out. If you don’t know them, read ahead.

It’s an ongoing cycle, this process of checking in, naming, and moving forward by the way. And we’re not done yet!

ASK FOR HELP

You’ll need to ask for help next. There can be loads of things to say about this and nothing really to say.  Or to put it another way, you’ll either ask or you won’t (sure, since it’s always easier not to.  Avoiding keeps our super person fantasies alive). Nevertheless, it really feels like crossing a threshold when you finally can make asking primary because suddenly you’ll find many people can be helpful. Letting yourself be available to influence brings a whole lot more serendipity too.  A story someone casually shared when you asked suddenly becomes the subject for you–a useful article, angle on a creation or job lead.  It’s all good.

One caveat.  Always stay true to your overriding intention or goal. If you subsumed your own interests, now is the time to put an end to that. Instead, use your metaphorical sword and shield, remember its use.  Because to continually return to what it is YOU are going for, that’s what matters. It’s the bigger picture, the grander idea you are hatching, that even our closest friends may sometimes not truly get.  So, deflect idle comments as much as possible.  And if you’re the type that’s easily thrown off course, make sure there’s a place you pass by every day that showcases a reminder photo or  mind map to help you stay on course.

ZERO IN AND GET SPECIFIC! (what really needs a boost: managing quality, cost, service or time?) 

I’ll add that knowing where to get help is certainly going to up your chances of following through. It’s distinct for each one of us.  If you are underhanded, think virtual support or sources of volunteers. If you are time-starved, timely reviews so you get to the point of what’s primary to take care of.  If you feel distanced from your own goals and/or out of the flow of the networks you want to reach, identify a few ready advisors whose guidance can get you closer. Here are some strategies for all these areas.

• Do a google search on virtual assistants (there are hundreds but check here and there) to give yourself a little relief. Some of them are good and affordable–even in our recession, 
• Check out mentoring blogs to see who you can line up to give you feedback (the words “mentor” or “coach”,  your geographic location and area of need are worthy searches to do online), 
• Get active on social networks that pull together people around the same issues as yours, 
• Put the word out to friends, online and off, who can give you leads on where they turned.

Of course, you can also check out my previous posts on good sources for volunteers and how to find good advisors.  And if anyone out there has found their own great options, please feel free to leave your helpful comments below. 

DEVELOP NETWORKS BY BECOMING USEFUL! 

One parting thought: Getting help is a new pattern for loads of us out there and quite frankly, it’s not always clear how to get within some people’s sightline. But using our networks and continually putting our real needs out are perhaps some of the smartest ideas one can have on staying afloat.  Don’t think you always need the sturdiest of vessels to close the gap between what you don’t yet know and what you think you should; an inflatable raft is really just as good.  Need to borrow one?  Ask!

Me 2.0

I know. It’s absurd. Me 2.0.  Ha!  On the one hand, it seems we are obsessed with ourselves, to the point of constantly staking out our territory and shouting out our contributions, including ones we’ve only recently learned or appropriated. Products are churned out this way (in a state of premature birth), why should the selling of ourselves be any different?

On the other hand, if I am not for myself, who will be for me (as the song goes)? Aren’t we determined producers, each one of us, stretching ourselves to become all we can be — even if we are only achieving what we proclaim as we go?

And you can’t dismiss the pressure to always be Me 2.0 somewhere, especially online, if only to bring in the bucks and keep ourselves fed!  We are like constant duelers inside and dealers out, trying to make sense of our realities and be a little more seen for who we are and what we contribute. Yep, self-promotion in these tighter times can begin to feel like a primal urge.

Of course, figuring out how one wants to participate in our present day landscape is a bigger and better discussion involving how to adjust and decide, not easily approached in a few post lines. To know where one stands (or should stand) requires real thoughtfulness, inner journeying, and also the guts to seek out direct, unmediated experiences. To get to something real means allowing ourselves to be significantly affected by something real in the world (outside of the routine of our daily grind). Then, and only then, can we decide where we are in the mix and understand if value-giving is truly a part of our equation, and not just the promotion of the troops (the troops we refer to as me, myself and I). This road requires discipline, courageous experimentation and sometimes going against impulse in order to see ourselves as honestly as we can.

Not many years back, I read Christopher Lasch’s book on the Culture of Narcissism. His premise was that underneath all of the choices people were making back in 2005, they were scared of their feelings of nothingness that arose from the choices they were making, e.g. of becoming vacuous, as in they had built little in themselves, exhibited more fear, and accepted the busy self as a decoy for the self that had not become more.

That was, however, four  years ago, before the dawn of social networks, a more socially-minded consumerism, and the current momentum to become part of communities again (although how deeply we become part of them is still in the making and therefore, still in question).

Regardless, as creative people visiting this blog, there is the ongoing challenge to decide what kind of balance we want in our own lives, how involved we’re really going to be. We’ll have to decide where we stand between self-promotion (where we always have to package our experience into something tasty for consumption), vis a vis a fuller participation in the actual, not always pretty experiences around us, which also comes back to feeling our own experiences more deeply.

The current may be flowing toward the former as economic worries weigh in. And, if this is how it goes, we might all be seeking lessons on self-promotion, and accepting that building up our personal brands is here to stay.  By the way, for some insight into the personal brand business, a.k.a. Me 2.0, you might want to check out  the book entitled Me 2.0, which is a job seekers guide. It does a good job of explaining various aspects of personal brand building and how people are using it to develop careers.

And you?  What do you see and where do you stand?

You put your left foot in, you take your left foot out … the melodic mystery of social media

“… You put your left foot in, and you shake it all about.  You do the hokey-pokey, and you turn yourself around, that’s what it’s all about.”

Wondering if I’ve checked out, huh?  Truth is, the activity in this song isn’t all that different from checking out the crazy movement around social media — from the perspective of someone who hasn’t ever participated before.  Before long, you’re asking: what the hell is going on here and where do people start?

So, touche for the song.   But our main point?  It’s that we start with what we’ve got — one part of our mind willing to put one part of ourselves into one area at a time to get to know if social media can be valuable for our business.

While we may not know what we’re doing as we begin to follow the pied piper, we may just have to accept our shaky striving as we explore it.  It’s one seemingly insignificant note after the other, one slightly strained refrain after another, until it becomes a bit more like you’re now capable of more confident melodies, song after song. Though gradual, you now are piecing together how connections are made.

Accept the uncertainty because social media is now the way a large segment of the population is communicating every day. The involvement is particularly inspiring when you get to see how the immersion pays off — you get helped in unexpected ways! And although you may not see the point of becoming Youtube or Facebook contributor trillion and one, you’ll soon gather enough clues for getting your feet wet and in a way that has a good chance of fitting you.

So, to review the essence of it:  Have an objective. Test the waters. Put your left foot in, metaphorically in one social network and invite people to visit.  Watch others putting their left or right foot in too.  See what network activity they offer and what’s working for them by noting who’s everywhere you’d like to be.

Remain a voyeur for as long as is comfortable but don’t shy away from teaching yourself the landscape, at places like Common Craft which does a good job of laying out what to expect from adopting various social media tools. Then, choose one visibility adventure, turn yourself about there, and well, make it damn good.

And that’s what it’s all about.