Category: WorkCategory: Work

I wrote this back around the time my dad, a life long musician, passed away a few years ago.

The biggest lie is we have to make our entire living on the sale of our art, or else we’re just no-talent wannabes.

So many artists fall for this, feeling like 100 views isn’t enough, and they stop because “no one cares.”

I wake up thinking about the artists, poets, writers, and musicians we’ve lost because they couldn’t keep up with the “hitting it big” rat race of social media.

Somehow, 10,000 views aren’t enough because you really need 100,000. Having 12 people at a show on a Tuesday night is a waste of time. No one buys your art because you’re not making enough Reels.

It’s lies, it’s all bullshit.

Recently, a friend walked me around her apartment, showing me art left to her by a dear friend who had passed away. Just time together, picking up pieces, pointing out tiny details, and sharing the stories of each item.

I didn’t ask how many followers they had, or if they were a full-time artist. In the end, literally – when we pass away – no one will give a damn.

Someone asked me about finding engagement outside of social media on today’s Substack Live.

I get asked this a lot, and it came up in a great conversation with Deanna Seymour on her podcast that I recorded earlier today.

My answer isn’t super complicated, but it does require patience. I make it work by showing up on other people’s channels (think podcasts, YouTube interviews, live sessions) and having genuine conversations.

I don’t do this as a growth hack. I’m not expecting a thousand people to rush to my site. Maybe ten people really hear me, and two of them subscribe to your newsletter, and if I keep doing that, those twos and threes add up.

The real trick is consistency, though. One podcast every four months ain’t gonna move the needle. But showing up regularly, having good conversations with good people, and letting their audience find me over time – that’s how all this works without social media.

Great insight from Carly Valancy and her work with author Laura Rubin.

Sometimes you’re too close to the thing to see the opportunities that are right under your nose. Halfway through this experiment, Laura realized her best friend didn’t event know what her book was about. You cannot expect someone to help you if you don’t let them in.

Sometimes the first step isn’t reaching out to strangers. It’s just sharing with the people who already love you and giving them the chance to help.

We often think we’re communicating our ideas and offers clearly, but there’s a possibility that those in our immediate network might not fully understand what you’re trying to get across. We take it for granted that they get it, when they might not. And if that’s the case, how might it resonate with total strangers?

Last October Tom Violett joined one of our Escape Pod Zoom calls. He’s making his first documentary (Voices For Change) at 62 with his 19 year old filmmaker son Ray.

He said he went to a documentary screening of a young filmmaker in Philadelphia, PA.

“It turned out to be a Video Consortium Hub event, with both experienced and emerging filmmakers all in the same room,” said Tom. “That night, I turned to Ray and said, ‘I want one of these in New Jersey.’”

And that’s what he did!

“So I made it happen — connected with a few people — and we had our launch event a few weeks ago. We brought together emerging filmmakers, a documentary filmmaker who’s been doing a PBS series for 13 years, and another friend who’s been an editor for 30 years, doing high-end work like Super Bowl commercials.

They all just talked.

We’re building that community, and people are hungry for it. It’s tough when you’re out there on your own, but once you find that community, it just takes off.”

They all just talked.

That’s it, friends. That’s the magic.

The magic is also in re-sharing this story for people who didn’t it see the first time. This is another change to be inspired, to see how another creative person is making things happen within his creative orbit.

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Nikki Lerner, one of our two special guests from a recent Escape Pod video call:

“If we’re honest, as creatives, sometimes we got a closet with a door, full of things that we never moved on. And we never moved on them, not because we had discernment, but because we couldn’t move from self to service.

And now it’s all stuck in the closet behind the door. You know it’s there, right? And somebody’s like, anybody got a rice maker? And you’re like, nope, I don’t got nothing. But you got six rice makers in the closet. You know what I’m saying? Because you’re hoarding it. Let’s not hoard our gifts.”

Imagine if moving from self to service opened up a whole new world for others, and not just your own work?

I attended one of Nikki’s choir performances, and the room was filled with friends and family of those singing. Nikki moved from self to service by organizing this event, and by doing so helped others to not hoard their gifts.