Reset your Personal Promotion

Show your Work by Austin Kleon

"Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered" by Austin Kleon is a guide to promoting your work and getting noticed in a crowded creative landscape. The book emphasizes the importance of sharing your process and connecting with an audience. Here are the key points from the book:

Key Concepts and Principles

1. You Don’t Have to Be a Genius:

   • Embrace the idea of being an "amateur" who is passionate and open to learning.

   • Share your work and your process openly without worrying about being an expert.

2. Think Process, Not Product:

   • Focus on sharing the process behind your work, not just the finished product.

   • People are interested in how things are made and the journey behind the creation.

3. Share Something Small Every Day:

   • Consistently share small updates or pieces of your work to keep your audience engaged.

   • These daily shares can build a habit and create a connection with your audience.

Strategies and Techniques

1. Open Up Your Cabinet of Curiosities:

   • Share your influences, inspirations, and the things that spark your creativity.

   • Curating and sharing your influences can help you connect with like-minded people.

2. Tell Good Stories:

   • Use storytelling to make your work and process more relatable and engaging.

   • Share the narrative behind your work, including struggles and triumphs.

3. Teach What You Know:

   • Share your knowledge and skills with others.

   • Teaching can help you understand your own work better and establish you as an authority in your field.

Practical Tips

1. Don’t Turn into Human Spam:

   • Avoid over-promoting your work and spamming your audience.

   • Share genuinely and focus on providing value to your audience.

2. Learn to Take a Punch:

   • Be prepared for criticism and learn to handle it constructively.

   • Not everyone will appreciate your work, and that's okay.

3. Sell Out:

   • Don’t be afraid to make money from your work.

   • Balance making a living with staying true to your creative vision.

Building a Network

1. Think of Your Work as a Never-Ending Process:

   • View your work as an ongoing journey rather than a finished product.

   • This mindset encourages continuous improvement and sharing.

2. Make Friends, Not Enemies:

   • Build relationships with other creators and your audience.

   • Collaboration and community can be more valuable than competition.

3. Keep Your Own Score:

   • Define success on your own terms rather than relying on external validation.

   • Focus on your personal growth and the impact of your work.

Additional Insights

• Be Open and Generous: Sharing your process and work generously can help build a supportive community around you.

• Stay Consistent: Regularly sharing and engaging with your audience is key to building a lasting presence.

• Embrace the Mundane: Even the small, everyday aspects of your work process can be interesting to others.

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Thank you for reading, and don't forget—come and say hi on LinkedIn!

Until next time,

Georgios Tragkas