Category: WorkCategory: Work

I donated some bikes to the CAT Bicycle Cooperative last weekend. The space was a bee-hive of activity, buzzing with volunteers and folks hanging out.

I visited a new store front in town because I’ve been talking with the owner over the years, and I bought some delicious cookies and coffee, and might be helping them set up an email announcement list.

This is just a span of a few days, and the result of IRL conversations and interactions, limited only by geography and time.

The best networking is just being a part of community. This doesn’t mean you need to join every group or sign up to volunteer every weekend, but find folks and orgs that you vibe with and say hello on occasion.

As I’ve said recently, “the more I think about Social Media Escape Club, the more I realize it’s all about the personal connections. It’s not just about the conversations, the encouragement, the support, the regular check ins, but the depth of those interactions.”

Like, I’ve been following Cody Cook-Parrott for awhile, since their posts about leaving Instagram a few years back. They were a big inspiration for me for leaning into the work I’m doing here!

So I reached out sometime in late 2024 and asked if they’d be up for a short Zoom chat about email segments, and they said yes – you can watch the video here! Also, check out their Reclaim the Archive, a fundraiser workshop for Cody’s books.

“This workshop is about reclaiming and re-animating your own archive — as an artist, writer, or small business owner.”

Rad!

So, reach out. Connect. Strike up a conversation. Send that email. As Carly Valancy says, “your future self is begging you to reach out.”

“While reaching out I found myself. I found my voice. I had the beautiful epiphany we all hope to have at some point, which is that you are responsible for your life. You are responsible for your decisions and opportunities and to a large extent, your luck. Reaching out instilled the belief in me that literally anything could happen if you connect with the right person.”

Social media wants us working alone, isolated, cut off from real support, trusting only the algorithm, buying another lottery ticket and hoping the next post get 13 likes.

Or, as Seth Godin says, we can seek out the others.

“Our best work is far more likely to happen when we have peers. You’re likely to become the average of the people you spend professional time, so choosing your cohort is best not left to chance.

There’s no map for this, no step by step guide, and that’s why it’s so important to start now.

Love this from Florencia Ornelas:

“I gave myself the task to sketch as many strangers as possible during my commute to work instead of scrolling and it was a great exercise to get my creative brain working and have something to look forward every day before working 9-10 hours on my laptop.”

If we wait until we’re a full time artist, we might be waiting a long time. Better to start right where we’re at, with what we’ve got, with the time that is available.

We don’t become great in 10 minutes, but we can get a little better 10 minutes at a time.

From a recent round of Email Guidance, talking to someone about how to get their music featured in video projects:

My buddy Nolan Green writes about one of his songs being used in a Netflix show, “Twenty-one years after the track was recorded.” Over TWO DECADES, and all because someone working on the show was a fan of his work.

Get your work featured in projects that are at your current level. Learn how to email the video makers and game creators who’ve only been at it for a year or two.

Learn how to communicate and work with the people at your current level.

Social media has us believing that if we start something, with enough finesse and cold emails and crossing our fingers people will be begging to work with us, but the fact is so many people working on the big projects already have people in mind, and chances are you’re not one of them.

So go work on projects with other people. It’s not “fake it til you make it,” it’s “do the work you want to get hired for.” Prove you can do it by already doing it.

On a morning walk this week, I saw a university work truck holding up traffic while the driver got out to pick up a paper cup that someone threw on the sidewalk. Sometimes the tools we use can be overkill. What gigantic tools are you using that could you stop using today and still get the job done?

Don’t expect a platform to serve you, or look the way you want it to look. You’ll never be satisfied.

Instead, serve your readers. The people already on your email list, the people who trusted you enough to subscribe and say “I wanna hear more from you.”