Grow Your Audience from Zero

Many of you have asked me how you can grow and audience when everything has already been done and nobody knows who you are. Ultimately you have to be willing to accept that when you’re just getting started that you’ll have to focus on quality and on understanding what it would take to reach you. Making unique and interesting content doesn’t always mean you have to do something original or something that nobody else has done. Plenty of people have grown an audience of thousands or even millions by adding something to the community or conversation from their perspective, or by providing representation.

Create Something Awesome Today Podcast Episode 12:
How to Grow Your Audience From Zero

SHOW NOTES
Awesome Creator of the Day Shout Out: Charlie Marie Prangely
http://youtube.com/charliemarietv
http://designlife.fm

Resources Mentioned in this Podcast:
Webhosting: http://robertoblake.com/bluehost (affiliate)
Email Marketing: http://robertoblake.com/convertkit (affiliate)
YouTube SEO: http://tubebuddy.com/awesome (affiliate)

Books Mentioned In this Podcast Episode:
Start With Why By Simon Sinek http://amzn.to/2mmVIq2
Ask Gary Vee Book by Gary Vaynerchuk: http://amzn.to/2lYQaRK

 

CSAT PODCAST 011 Curiosity Grows Creativity

SHOWNOTES FOR THIS EPISODE:
The landscape of creativity and marketing is changing because of things like Pokemon GO and Augmented Reality, VR and Snapchat. Curiosity is essential to growing your creativity and being in a position to take advantage of new opportunities as a creative professional.

RESOURCE LINKS:
Build a Website without Coding: bit.ly/buildafreewebsite
Read Unlimited Power by Tony Robbins amzn.to/2aEWuId
1000 Free Fonts bit.ly/freefonts1000
Get 2 Free Books from Audible: bit.ly/awesomeaudiobooks
Secret Link of the Day: bit.ly/marketwithnomoney

Just recently, Seth Godin was back on the #AskGaryVee show. One phrase he said in passing has prompted this blog post, generated enormous value, and will be the the central purpose behind every blog post on the Create Something Awesome Today website from here on out.

One phrase. 4 seconds.

That’s all it took.

Remember a couple of blog posts back when I was talking about my mantra — What We Leave is Our Legacy? Well Seth has provided a deeper insight into that philosophy and has directly attached it to writing.

Simply put, he said “I try to blog or write every day as if it were my last.”

After watching the show, I went to sethgodin.com.

Clicked on his head.

(…yes, really.)

…and voila!

What was revealed to me was an anecdote, a thought, a tid bit, a piece of information every single day.

They weren’t long.

In fact, most of them were just over 100 words.

That’s it. 100 words.

One small blog post each and every day.


 

baseball at batIf you wanted to become the best player to ever wield a baseball bat, what would you need to do? Practice every day would be the obvious answer.

However, when you’re in the batting cages is your goal to hit a home run with every swing? Or is it to hit the ball with every swing? While we’d like to hit a home run every time we are at bat, the single most important thing you can do for your team to succeed is to simply get a base hit.

That’s all.

Hit the ball and land safely on first base. With enough base hits, you’ll score the points you need to win the game.

Now go get a base hit.

…and more importantly go get a base hit tomorrow, also.

Before you know it you’ll have won the game.

Tell me how you plan on creating small wins each and every day. Tweet me @erickhoxter or leave a comment below!

Are You Making This Mistake When Pitching to Prospects?

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The worst time to pitch to potential prospects is when you need a new client. That’s mistake #1.

No, not the prospecting…

The needing. That’s the mistake.

Let’s get one thing straight: You don’t need anyone. People want you. People want what you have. People want what you’re offering.

It’s not just a mindset, it’s the truth. If you’re reading this blog chances are you’re a graphic designer, a photographer, a writer, or some kind of solo entrepreneur.

According to the Small Business Association, there are 27 million businesses in the US. All of whom need a service that you can provide.

Three weeks ago, I walked into ACME on an empty stomach. The shopping list was simple:

  • Fruit
  • Veggies
  • Almond milk
  • Rice
  • Thin sliced chicken breasts
  • …and a few other items that I can’t seem to remember

Those items ended up in my shopping cart because I needed them…

and then I walked by the Hot-n-Ready section… I salivated at the greasy fried foods.

I was dieting.

I was budgeting.

I did not care.

The fried chicken didn’t stand a chance. By the time I walked in the door all that was left were the bones.

I was ashamed.

I wasted the time I had spent dieting, the money that could have went to something more useful(or healthy), and most importantly I regretted every irreversible action between grabbing the chicken, checking out at the register, and eating it on the way home. I knew it was something I shouldn’t have done but caved because I was shopping on an empty stomach.

You shouldn’t go grocery shopping on an empty stomach because of the regrettable ramifications… You shouldn’t approach prospects when the landlord just knocked on your door to collect the rent money that you don’t have. Your proposals will come off pushy, arrogant, annoying, and 98% of your proposals will be rejected.

Organization & strategy begets success. Tweet that out!

Just like when you’re grocery shopping, you’ll want to organize your method of approach when calling, emailing, or speaking to your prospects.

Learn how to systematize the process here.

 

 

 

Making a real investment in their creativity is something that people don’t take seriously enough. I think it has to do with the fact that our society treats creativity as something frivolous or impractical. People may praise it publicly and demand originality or innovation, but they usually don’t put their money where their mouth is.

This tends to trickle down into the way creatives think of their craft too, unfortunately. When it comes time to invest in new equipment or polishing their skills, people will find an excuse not to give their creativity the priority of their time or money in favor of more practical things or entertainment. This often is one of the big barriers to success for creative professionals and creative entrepreneurs.

My own personal experience has shown me the difference investing in yourself can make, but I’ve seen this is some of the creative entrepreneurs that have influenced and inspired me over the years.

From podcasters who made sure that as the grew they invested in better microphones to improve the quality of their sound. To actors who take voice coaching lessons, paid for out of their earnings. I’ve seen countless photographers scrimp and save to get a better lens that would let them take the shots they knew would help them sell the quality of their work to paying clients.

“When someone is fully and truly committed they will invest their time, their energy and their money.”

Any success I’ve seen in people, even if they were lacking the highest amount of talent, can be traced back to this concept of self-investment.

This doesn’t always mean you have to go off and spend a mortgage on an education, or the equivalent of a car on the latest equipment or Macbook Pro. It means identifying your strengths and weaknesses and giving yourself a shot at real growth.

Resources for Investing in Creativity

One of the things that many creatives who fly solo struggle with is meeting deadlines, even if this comes to their personal goals. Execution is important, but being timely is a real concern. 80% on time will always be better than 100% late. When you are freelancing, one of the pitfalls is a lack of accountability. You don’t have someone you are directly answerable to.

A way around this is to find Accountability Partners. These are others you can share your goals with, while not worrying about jeopardizing your business. Typically these will be close friends, family or colleagues.

Create Awesome Challenge #1

Find your Accountability Partners. Find people who you can trust and who will help you stay on task. They are not just supposed to give you reminders about your deadlines, but genuinely inquire as to the progress and help you move forward if you’re stuck. You also have to be willing and able to do the same for them in return.

Ideally you will want to have 3-4 Accountability partners, so that you can always be sure there will be someone to rake you over the coals if you drop the ball. This will help you stay focused and build more discipline if that is something you struggle with.

If there is something else you are struggling with, let me know in the comments section or feel free to twee at me @robertoblake.

Creativity is a lifestyle rather than just a matter of talent or skill. This is why no matter how talented or experienced you are you can experience burnout or creative blocks from time to time. Maintaining your Creative Lifestyle properly is important to take into consideration and make a priority. This is something even I struggle with from time to time.

Maintaining Creativity and Inspiration

Staying in a place where you can feel inspired and motivated to create is something that can be difficult if you’re not balancing your Creative Lifestyle properly. You have to consume creative content, whether this is books, music, movies or actual experiences and adventures.

You should also try to surround yourself with other creative people who you can collaborate with or use as a sounding board for your ideas.

Maintaining Physical Health

You have to maintain your health, bottom line. If you don’t you won’t be able to create things effectively and you won’t be happy with the work you’re doing because it is putting a strain on your body. Here are some of the ways creatives tend to neglect their health and abuse their bodies:

  • Working too long in front of a computer screen and straining their eyes
  • Not stretching and getting enough blood circulation
  • Neglecting to eat regular meals with proper nutrition
  • Not getting enough fresh air and sunlight
  • Failing to get enough rest each night, maybe 6-8 hours

You have to take care of yourself if you want to do your best work and not burn out. Stamina is important in the long run and you’ll need to keep your energy up, particularly if you’re going to work long hours.

Maintain Your Mental Health

Stress can have a negative impact on your work and even make you feel like quitting all together. Try to keep unhealthy stress to a minimum and identify people and situations that cause you unnecessary stress and anxiety. Adopt positive habits that allow you to maintain a happy state of mind. This can be upbeat and positive music, having interactions with positive people and doing things that you enjoy on a regular basis.

Challenge Yourself To Do New Things

Don’t limit your creative growth. Take on new things and learn new things as often as possible. Speaking of which, today’s Create Awesome Challenge is to tell me about the awesome thing you created this week, reach out and tell me about it via Twitter @robertoblake

CSAT Podcast 007: Should You Ever Work For Free?

Creatives like photographers, designers, writer and artists are approached sometimes to do free work or work in exchange for exposure.

This is a very important and controversial topic in the Creative Community. I feel that there are situations where it is appropriate, but I think that in most situations it should be the Creator who initiates it. I think that when companies ask for free work they are not valuing Creatives appropriately if they don’t find a meaningful way to compensate them.

When you’re just starting out as a creative you may be tempted to offer you work for free to get your feet wet, build your body of work and prove your value. The problem is that sometimes this leads to people taking advantages of you. Avoid clients who propose this when they engage you for services. It is one thing for you to offer your services for free, it is another for them to ask. Bartering, or trading is an exception to this as they are not asking for something in exchange for nothing…

When Is It Okay To Do Free Work?

If you are going to work for free, the first people you should offer this to are friends, family and people who have already invested in you and supported you. It is a great way to say thank you, know that they will appreciate what you’re doing and it is a good way to have a positive client experience and develop good/positive relationship habits.

Sometimes it’s okay to do it because you want to help someone that you know is going to do something positive in the world or you just want to make their day, especially a young person. I do this myself from time to time and I feel that it is a great way to invest in someone else. It was done for me at some point in my life, so I feel good paying it forward…

When Is It Not Okay To Do Free Work?

Many people have made the argument that if they want to do work for free and not charge people that is their right and their business. While on some level I can appreciate their argument… it’s a selfish argument. When people do that the are taking money and business away from people that actually need it.

If you love doing something as a hobby, don’t do give it to “clients” that someone else could be charging and appropriate fee to. Give it to a friend or family member or keep it to yourself if you don’t want to charge. You are literally hurting other people by giving it away.

This applies to active services and things that have a cost associated with them.

I give away free content and resources to create value for other people and from a marketing standpoint you could also do this to create interest in your paid offerings.  There is nothing wrong with a “Free Sample”.

You also shouldn’t let a client pressure you into doing work for free, or an employer if it is outside of the scope of your job duties or after hours. Many creatives make the mistake of doing side projects or extra work for free, giving up their own time or resources on the behalf of people who are not going to compensate them or appreciate them. Never allow yourself to be bullied in this way or taken advantage of.

Value yourself and respect your work enough to walk away from the situations. If you don’t feel you are in a position to do so, create a scenario where you are next time.

Recommended Reading for Creatives

Knowing how to handle yourself as a creative professional can be rough and while I try to put out as much content as I can, the truth is sometimes I don’t have all the answers… here is some recommended reading from bookshelf. There may be some information or advice in here that will make all the difference for you:

Freelancer’s Bible: http://amzn.to/1M28nne
Creative INC: http://amzn.to/1UV9id3
Show Your Work: http://amzn.to/1Hqtts8
Manage Your Day to Day: http://amzn.to/1UV9EAk
Make Your Mark: http://amzn.to/1SjyCW7

Create Awesome Challenge!

Create Value for Someone Without Them Asking You To! Find someone who you genuinely care about and want to invest in, someone who is doing something worthwhile that you think is Awesome! Offer them your time your talent and you sense of care and consideration. Take a look at the difference it makes in their life and the impact you had. See if you don’t feel more empowered and really think about how being able to have the luxury of making a difference for some made you feel. I honestly have had the experience of it making me appreciate the value of my abilities even more, and helped me be comfortable asking for what I truly believe I’m worth.

Create Something Awesome Today Podcast: 006 Breaking Through Creative Blocks. Creative blocks can challenge all of us whether we are writing, doing photography, art or design.

It’s important to feed your creativity and break out of habits that might end up holding you back.
Stretch your creative muscles and feed your creativity by trying new things and having new experiences.

CSAT Podcast: 005- Is Creativity Undervalued?

Is Creativity Undervalued? In many cases it is by the general public as well as clients/employers. Most of this has to do with not being educated about what Creative professionals do. Its very hard to value something you don’t understand. And in an age where people feel that tools and technology are more responsible for the results than the human beings behind the gadget, it is an uphill battle. But Creatives also have a responsibility to educated people appropriately.

On the other side of this, sometimes as creators we prioritize creativity and the expense of consistency or context. Sometimes a designer or photographer will worry more about getting something cool for the book, than what the client actually really needs from them. This can be a problem. I feel there is a way to balance your needs as a Creative, with doing what is best for the relationship and the project. I explore these ideas in today’s episode of the Create Something Awesome Today Podcast!

If you are looking to get new clients, then you need to really think about your search and discovery strategy. While a lot of this comes down to having a Website there are some other options available to you as well.

How many of you have portfolio on Behance? Does anyone have a blog? You really should be using these things to your advantage. Every platform is an opportunity to network with potential clients.

Also don’t underestimate getting out from behind the computer and putting yourself out there.

Something that has helped me personally as been my blog, and my YouTube channel and now the new Podcast. But I also go to events and network with people on a regular basis.

I turn every interaction into an opportunity. This doesn’t mean always pitching people, it means being interesting, not being afraid to generate a relationship out of thin air, and then giving them my business card.

When they can’t give me one back, have a micro conversation on how important they are and the fact they should really get one and use it to get people to their website after they meet them….

“But I don’t have a website…” You absolutely need one. Let’s meet up for coffee in a week, but give me a call tomorrow they are so much more affordable than people imagine and I’ll help you figure it out..

Do you see what happened there? Potential print work, possible logo design on the table and branding…. website pitch… all by being able to talk to a stranger.

Over the course of the year, helping someone build a visual brand from scratch can be a $2000-$5000 relationship.

That means generating 20-50 strong relationships a year puts you at being a 6 Figure designer…. something most people can’t imagine.

It boils down to empathy, hustle, guts and MATH.

You can’t always find those 20-50 relationships locally. That is why networking well online, traveling a bit, setting up not only on online presence but an infrastructure and strategy are so important.

I get 10+ projects a month. I don’t think I’m supremely talented as a designer, so that is not the reason. It’s that I’m very visible, and the funny thing about it is that is cost me next to $0.

I want everyone who reads this to comment below and tell me and the group how you plan to execute on this information over the next 30-90 days. If you’re struggling with clients and you actually do execute on this within that time frame, the struggle shouldn’t be as real anymore.

CSAT Podcast: 003- Staying Motivated as a Creative

 

Finding and maintaining your motivation as a creative person can be challenging. It’s one of the more difficult things that designers, and other creatives had to deal with in their life and work. It’s important to take responsibility for this and position yourself to have the outcomes that you want. Start your day with things that will inspire and motivate you. Set goals that will allow you to create the great experiences you want to have that day. Intentions do matter. You have to set your intentions towards having an awesome day, and this could mean any number of things: It could be that you will consider the day a good day if you accomplish a specific thing, or you could promise yourself a rewarding experience later in the day if you meet certain conditions.

 

You have give yourself an incentive for being positive. It doesn’t matter whether you are the type of person that sees the glass half full or half empty, take the opportunity think of how you can fill up the glass. Fill that void, create that value for yourself and other people.

 

While it is great if you have people that motivate and inspire you, it is not their responsibility to do so, it’s yours. Granted they should want to do that, since it would be a way they could “Create Awesome” and there is the obvious upside of them getting more value from you as a result, but you can’t rely on or expect this to be the norm. You have to schedule time to consume inspiration and motivation for yourself and make it a priority and part of your process and habits.

CSAT Pocast 002: Finding a Mentor

Finding a mentor can be extremely important. Having someone to help you set goals and to represent what is possible can give you motivation and direction in your life and career. Mentoring is something that is unfortunately very rare within Creative Services, even within companies. Often a Creative will find themselves without someone in the company that represents their next step or their end game, particularly In-house Creatives who may not have an Art Director or Senior person supervising them, but instead some general mid-level manager.

 

But don’t despair, there is hope! Technology has made mentoring a scalable and virtual experience. By shadowing successful mentors online you have choice instead of just being limited to the best person you have physical access to. You can learn from the most successful people in your industry, or someone with a similar background or lifestyle. While this means you may not have direct access to them, it is no less valuable to be able to consume their content and adopt their mentality and approach to your own process.

 

Whether you want to be an entrepreneur, a photographer, filmmaker, writer or graphic designer; there are mentors putting out content that will be helpful to you and sharing their life journey. Many of them do interact with their followers through social media, such as Twitter and YouTube specifically.

 

Also, many Creatives fail to realize they have the opportunity to be a mentor to someone else. Whatever you feel you are lacking in experience, there is likely someone out there who can benefit from the knowledge you do have, so I would encourage you to share as much as possible and to pass on the value of what you have learned.

 

Who knows if that one piece of advice or content might change someone’s entire life?

Episode 001: Create Something Awesome Today!

Welcome the first every episode of the Create Something Awesome Today Podcast! Yes I know that title is a mouthful!

But I didn’t want to cheat you by not giving you that message as often and as clearly as possible. Creating Something Awesome Today, each and every single day can change your life sooner rather than later. Here is short list of the benefits of Creating Something of Value that you’re proud of each day:

 

Benefits of Creating Awesome Each Day

  • You can easily measure the value of your time via a meaningful result each day.
  • It makes breaking down large goals easier and can even help you achieve them more quickly.
  • If you are creating products this could mean that you are building up your inventory and revenue.
  • If you are creating content this can dramatically help you grow and audience or build a reputation.
  • When taking on large scale creative projects they can become less daunting.
  • It can encourage you in terms of feeling like the day wasn’t a total waste if you created something you care about.
  • When creating awesome experiences and relationships, this can have a deep and lasting impact on your life.
  • In terms of your skills, creating something each day could help you get faster at producing meaningful results.

 

Part of how I Create Awesome each and every day currently is through the content I put out on YouTube and also via social media platforms.

This allows me to Create Value for other people but also a meaningful result I care about, builds my reputation and body of work and allows me to become faster and more savvy across multiple skills such as SEO, Video Editing, Social Media and Content Marketing. Obviously there is also the benefit of passive income from the advertising associated with the content.

Creating Something Awesome can ultimately mean what you want it to mean. It could be creating great content, it could be creating great experiences for everyone you encounter or it could even be creating new relationships. The important thing here is to spend every day creating the value that you want to bring to the world and being satisfied with something you’ve done at the end of each day. This will help you stay encouraged and also allow you to quantify your progress, something that can really help your self esteem and sense of worth. It also will potentially build positive habits that will make you more productive and accountable.

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