Ah. Wisdom! I need to read reality checks like this when I get stuck on topics like the AI gravy train. Instead of getting upset, influence what you can. Seems like some postmodern version of think globally, act locally
Oh my goodness, AI WILL DOOM US ALL. Just like the metaverse, and crypto was gonna disrupt everything, NFTs... exhale, gather with friends. We're gonna make it!
So I massively agree with everything you said, but I feel like it doesn't really cover the entire situation... Take me for example. Yes absolutely, I have basically dropped LinkedIn and Twitter a long time ago, along with, like, Facebook and Tumblr from the early days. I'm an illustrator. Frankly, I think I'm a good one. My Instagram following is paltry. I have a hard time finding clients ever since the pandemic.
Saying 'sit back and relax' is all fine and well until you need to engage an audience in order to survive, then the relaxing doesn't seem like an option.
In the last year I have focused on a lot of that 'personal reach out' stuff, sent some personalized messages to illustration agencies, reached out to a bunch of local stores to see if they would consider stocking prints, connected to some NGOs/ foundations to raise funds together through art prints, I don't think I'm not being creative in my approaches. Has there been some success? Sure, moderate. But on the whole I am far from thriving.
Would I thrive more if I played the algo game? If I had done it from the start? Almost certainly. I never wanted to be the 'LIKE SHARE AND SUBSCRIBE!!' type person. Everything I shared I shared with the hope that people will naturally gravitate towards my art and things will happen organically. They really haven't though. Part of it is me not being consistent for sure, but another part is that the audience is so oversaturated, it's hard to get a reaction out of anyone, for anything.
The other day a Facebook botanical illustration page posted my work, people seemed to really love it. It got over a thousand likes, many comments, even some shares. But that was it. All those people wanted was to see a pretty picture. Now they're waiting for another pretty picture. Nobody traced that post to find and follow any of my socials, or my website, or anything like that. You put the little heart on the picture and you move on.
This all not to sound bitter and complainy, it is what it is and I'm ok with that in the sense that I will keep trying things and leave the outcomes up to the universe. But I did want to say for anyone else who has been trying the 'relax' approach and finding it not really working, you're not alone.
Four of the five things I listed were pro-active, and you're picking on my one slow down and relax one! hahah no, I get it. There is NO ONE SINGLE SOLUTION, but white knuckling the social media game to eek out 1000 likes over and over again doesn't seem like the full answer, either.
Like you said, you've reached out and had some "moderate" success. Keep it up, right? Get better at finding people to pitch, getting better at writing pitches, varying the sorts of people you pitch (media, bloggers, people in other fields, etc.).... if that worked a bit, if it worked better than getting 1000 likes and clicks to your site, maybe that's something to keep exploring?
And look - I KNOW it's hard. It'd be great if just being good was all it took, but there are a million zillion great illustrators out there. And photographers. And designers. And musicians. And producers. There is zero shortage of amazing talent out there, but the amount of people willing and able to hire / pay / compensate / spread your work is smaller, because not everyone can pay full attention to everybody doing the amazing work you do!
I didn't mean to pick on the 'one thing'. Like I said, I actually really agree with everything you're saying. It's just that I've done 12 years of this slow burn approach (maybe my burn was too slow? I've definitely had 'sort of giving up and barely threading water' periods) and it has not paid off in the way I had hoped... Things were going pretty well until the pandemic but then everything seemed to get upended and it just all feels much harder now.
The truth is that places that used to bring engagement like, say, Behance, are all getting flooded and saturated. Like you say, there are SO MANY amazing people out there. There is so much great work. And honestly the Venn diagram of 'best work' and 'best selling' is far from a circle, there is obviously a whole separate talent to knowing how to connect with people and sell yourself in a way that is appealing.
It's really weird actually because we as artists largely don't want to be doing that stuff... All I wanna do is draw. But yeah, just drawing gets you nowhere. And then you have these new things like Fiverr, and then AI, like everything is calculated to undercut you and make you have to paddle even faster just to remain in any way visible.
But yeah, gotta keep on trucking :) We did pick this for ourselves after all :)
hahah I figured, that's why I put in that HAHA part :)))))) all good!
The thing to me is, all these people are making great art. And now AI is coming in to make things more tricky. Sure, Fiverr. All that.
The great art part is easy for the consumer - they know it when they see it. They might not even care if you made it or a computer made it. They know what they like, and they buy it (or just save it to their desktop).
So your art isn't for those people. Your work isn't for "I'll take whatevers cheapest / easiest." You work is for people who want to go deeper, who care, who think the person behind the art matters just as much as the art.
Those are your people, who may someday become customers.
I read two of your posts - one about ADHD, and one about the atrocities of the war-ravaged world we live in. I already know you care, that you think about others, that you live with ADHD (something I know very little about)... but now I know a bit about you. You've already made it clear "this isn't just about making pretty pictures." You've put on full display "this is me, this is what you get." For what it's worth, I'm going to subscribe - not just because of your art, but because of who you've shown yourself to be, which is how all this works.
I've channeled a lot of Seth Godin energy in this reply, but seriously... there's a lot of great artwork out there. There's no shortage of that. But there's a shortage of people who care, who show up like you do. Keep doing that.
thank you for the genuine support <3 I mean at the end of the day after all the self-pity, I'd rather have a small core audience of people who really like me than, like, 2 million disengaged half-bought random rag-tag followers that don't entirely know why they're there.... It's just that we also have to eat :)
Honestly we should have some sort of UBI, it would not have to be massive, just basic survival levels, but it would let people unfurl and be who they really are without this cramping need to sell themselves all the time, you know? In my heart of hearts I just want to make my stuff, I don't want to chase numbers. It's just that the numbers feed your kids..... But imagine the insane amazing art we would see if everyone who wanted to be creative could just do it freely? It's the kind of world I want to work towards.
You're really getting me to consider dropping LinkedIn. I barely use any other social media, but I have kept LI thinking I need it for my business. But I find it and every other social media so fucking draining!
There you go - if it's DRAINING you, how do you show up as your best self in other areas? Maybe you'd have energy to start that podcast you always wanted to do, or learn to paint, which would be fulfilling and make you an even better human!
And if that's the case - if we do things that FILL US UP, we're better off, because every conversation, every exchange, every interaction gets to be a reflection of US, our truest and best self!
I love that reframe. That "you need to be here for your business" voice in my head pulls me into LI. Not that I've ever signed a single client (or a subscriber) from there.
'Stop playing games you don’t want to play, befriend people doing the work you admire, and ascend to a whole new level beyond the social media rat race.'
Thank you, Seth; you keep me sane.
Many times, I find my own thoughts in your writing, which often get blanketed with doubt as they diverge from the popular narrative. Know that your work is potent.
thank you Nitya! It's hard to put into practice, because POSTING ON SOCIAL MEDIA feels like we're doing tangible work, right? "Look! I'm posting about my art, I'm doing marketing!"
When in fact spending less time doing THAT might open more time and opportunity to become better at our craft, to become better humans, which only benefits every other facet of our life.
Hear, hear... I completely agree with everything you just wrote! As a law of attraction coach who hardly touches any social media other than youtube, Reddit and possibly telegram (and I'm not sure either of those count!) I can honestly say that my life is no worse off. However, I Coach lots of clients who really are struggling with an addiction to all of the above and more. Connecting with people in other ways, and preferably in person is the way to go. Writing on Substack might also be helpful, however, I still feel that having collective circles is a better way. Let go, have more fun... follow your bliss and strangely enough, the universe will provide everything you need.
"struggling with an addiction to all of the above" - that's it.
There are some people who can do their business on social media and go about their day. Then there's other people who lose hours a day on Instagram, get upset over arguments and horrific news, they compare their lives to other people's feeds... for those people, they need to know that life is possible without social media.
I couldn't agree more with you. Seth, in addition, what is more disturbing from the law of attraction point of view is we get what we focus upon. So what people don't realize inadvertently is by focusing on all the bad news, the negative feeds. We actually are attracting more of the same. Now you don't have to go along with this. I'm not trying to convert anybody to law of attraction. We can just look around us, though, both in neuroscience, in psychological experiments, even in quantum physics, to show that the science backs this up. It isn't just some spiritual mumbo jumbo. We get what we focus upon, and it causes the subconscious to pattern match and then observe more of the same. So we are making ourselves more miserable and sadder, because we are training our brains only to notice miserable and sad news.
Thank you for all of your work you are doing here to try and encourage people to move away from just looking at things through one particular lens. I really. appreciate you.🙏
Ahhh thank you! Yeah, why do you think I'm posting all my outdoors pics and small video clips of streams and waterfalls? Cuz that shit is CALMING!!!!! I just want more chill for all of us, you know? I totally believe in that stuff!
It's like getting back to grass roots. Businesses survived and thrived LONG before the internet. It's almost like people have become so dependent on it that they forget a world existed before!
Hear, hear! I ran three social media accounts until recently - two for my small business, and one personal one. My SB closed down in early 2023, but I felt like I had to keep showing up online anyway. I said goodbye to the two work ones recently, opened up my main one (with photos of my kids removed) and have barely used it since. I quite enjoy Instagram as a viewer rather than a poster, so will keep the app for now, but I feel so much lighter for letting go of the accounts that I felt gave me 'status.'
I have an android phone that allows me to freeze apps. I find if I do this in the morning my day is much more intentional. I'd recommend it!
Honestly it's great, you muscle memory over to clicking on them and they're all greyed out to shame you into being better - if you press anyway it reminds you you didn't want this. Nine times out of ten I put my phone down and carry on with my life thanks to this feature. Game changing.
Great post - I have deleted my Instagram, it came after an odd comment triggered me to finally leave after I kept going back again and again. I do have my own YouTube channel, but that is to share my passion for art. I am growing slowly but surely, I am creating content that I want to and believe in. To be honest, I am a bit fed up with people keep ramming their subscriber numbers down our throats at every opportunity. That’s great for them, but I will continue to do me. Thank you 🙏💜
Being very discerning with one’s social media output moving forward is certainly going to be the way to go. I have turned off notifications for most social media and that has been an immense help.
I am very close to some deletes! Thanks Seth.
This is so accurate. Sometimes things are inevitable, and we can either pivot or fight it.
Thanks for the wonderful reminders!
Lovely read, and thank you for the shoutout! :)
Absolutely delightful read! I have slowly backed away from all my platforms outside of substack.
Ah. Wisdom! I need to read reality checks like this when I get stuck on topics like the AI gravy train. Instead of getting upset, influence what you can. Seems like some postmodern version of think globally, act locally
Oh my goodness, AI WILL DOOM US ALL. Just like the metaverse, and crypto was gonna disrupt everything, NFTs... exhale, gather with friends. We're gonna make it!
So I massively agree with everything you said, but I feel like it doesn't really cover the entire situation... Take me for example. Yes absolutely, I have basically dropped LinkedIn and Twitter a long time ago, along with, like, Facebook and Tumblr from the early days. I'm an illustrator. Frankly, I think I'm a good one. My Instagram following is paltry. I have a hard time finding clients ever since the pandemic.
Saying 'sit back and relax' is all fine and well until you need to engage an audience in order to survive, then the relaxing doesn't seem like an option.
In the last year I have focused on a lot of that 'personal reach out' stuff, sent some personalized messages to illustration agencies, reached out to a bunch of local stores to see if they would consider stocking prints, connected to some NGOs/ foundations to raise funds together through art prints, I don't think I'm not being creative in my approaches. Has there been some success? Sure, moderate. But on the whole I am far from thriving.
Would I thrive more if I played the algo game? If I had done it from the start? Almost certainly. I never wanted to be the 'LIKE SHARE AND SUBSCRIBE!!' type person. Everything I shared I shared with the hope that people will naturally gravitate towards my art and things will happen organically. They really haven't though. Part of it is me not being consistent for sure, but another part is that the audience is so oversaturated, it's hard to get a reaction out of anyone, for anything.
The other day a Facebook botanical illustration page posted my work, people seemed to really love it. It got over a thousand likes, many comments, even some shares. But that was it. All those people wanted was to see a pretty picture. Now they're waiting for another pretty picture. Nobody traced that post to find and follow any of my socials, or my website, or anything like that. You put the little heart on the picture and you move on.
This all not to sound bitter and complainy, it is what it is and I'm ok with that in the sense that I will keep trying things and leave the outcomes up to the universe. But I did want to say for anyone else who has been trying the 'relax' approach and finding it not really working, you're not alone.
Four of the five things I listed were pro-active, and you're picking on my one slow down and relax one! hahah no, I get it. There is NO ONE SINGLE SOLUTION, but white knuckling the social media game to eek out 1000 likes over and over again doesn't seem like the full answer, either.
Like you said, you've reached out and had some "moderate" success. Keep it up, right? Get better at finding people to pitch, getting better at writing pitches, varying the sorts of people you pitch (media, bloggers, people in other fields, etc.).... if that worked a bit, if it worked better than getting 1000 likes and clicks to your site, maybe that's something to keep exploring?
And look - I KNOW it's hard. It'd be great if just being good was all it took, but there are a million zillion great illustrators out there. And photographers. And designers. And musicians. And producers. There is zero shortage of amazing talent out there, but the amount of people willing and able to hire / pay / compensate / spread your work is smaller, because not everyone can pay full attention to everybody doing the amazing work you do!
hahahhah oh no!
I didn't mean to pick on the 'one thing'. Like I said, I actually really agree with everything you're saying. It's just that I've done 12 years of this slow burn approach (maybe my burn was too slow? I've definitely had 'sort of giving up and barely threading water' periods) and it has not paid off in the way I had hoped... Things were going pretty well until the pandemic but then everything seemed to get upended and it just all feels much harder now.
The truth is that places that used to bring engagement like, say, Behance, are all getting flooded and saturated. Like you say, there are SO MANY amazing people out there. There is so much great work. And honestly the Venn diagram of 'best work' and 'best selling' is far from a circle, there is obviously a whole separate talent to knowing how to connect with people and sell yourself in a way that is appealing.
It's really weird actually because we as artists largely don't want to be doing that stuff... All I wanna do is draw. But yeah, just drawing gets you nowhere. And then you have these new things like Fiverr, and then AI, like everything is calculated to undercut you and make you have to paddle even faster just to remain in any way visible.
But yeah, gotta keep on trucking :) We did pick this for ourselves after all :)
hahah I figured, that's why I put in that HAHA part :)))))) all good!
The thing to me is, all these people are making great art. And now AI is coming in to make things more tricky. Sure, Fiverr. All that.
The great art part is easy for the consumer - they know it when they see it. They might not even care if you made it or a computer made it. They know what they like, and they buy it (or just save it to their desktop).
So your art isn't for those people. Your work isn't for "I'll take whatevers cheapest / easiest." You work is for people who want to go deeper, who care, who think the person behind the art matters just as much as the art.
Those are your people, who may someday become customers.
I read two of your posts - one about ADHD, and one about the atrocities of the war-ravaged world we live in. I already know you care, that you think about others, that you live with ADHD (something I know very little about)... but now I know a bit about you. You've already made it clear "this isn't just about making pretty pictures." You've put on full display "this is me, this is what you get." For what it's worth, I'm going to subscribe - not just because of your art, but because of who you've shown yourself to be, which is how all this works.
I've channeled a lot of Seth Godin energy in this reply, but seriously... there's a lot of great artwork out there. There's no shortage of that. But there's a shortage of people who care, who show up like you do. Keep doing that.
thank you for the genuine support <3 I mean at the end of the day after all the self-pity, I'd rather have a small core audience of people who really like me than, like, 2 million disengaged half-bought random rag-tag followers that don't entirely know why they're there.... It's just that we also have to eat :)
Honestly we should have some sort of UBI, it would not have to be massive, just basic survival levels, but it would let people unfurl and be who they really are without this cramping need to sell themselves all the time, you know? In my heart of hearts I just want to make my stuff, I don't want to chase numbers. It's just that the numbers feed your kids..... But imagine the insane amazing art we would see if everyone who wanted to be creative could just do it freely? It's the kind of world I want to work towards.
You're really getting me to consider dropping LinkedIn. I barely use any other social media, but I have kept LI thinking I need it for my business. But I find it and every other social media so fucking draining!
There you go - if it's DRAINING you, how do you show up as your best self in other areas? Maybe you'd have energy to start that podcast you always wanted to do, or learn to paint, which would be fulfilling and make you an even better human!
And if that's the case - if we do things that FILL US UP, we're better off, because every conversation, every exchange, every interaction gets to be a reflection of US, our truest and best self!
I love that reframe. That "you need to be here for your business" voice in my head pulls me into LI. Not that I've ever signed a single client (or a subscriber) from there.
'Stop playing games you don’t want to play, befriend people doing the work you admire, and ascend to a whole new level beyond the social media rat race.'
Thank you, Seth; you keep me sane.
Many times, I find my own thoughts in your writing, which often get blanketed with doubt as they diverge from the popular narrative. Know that your work is potent.
thank you Nitya! It's hard to put into practice, because POSTING ON SOCIAL MEDIA feels like we're doing tangible work, right? "Look! I'm posting about my art, I'm doing marketing!"
When in fact spending less time doing THAT might open more time and opportunity to become better at our craft, to become better humans, which only benefits every other facet of our life.
Hear, hear... I completely agree with everything you just wrote! As a law of attraction coach who hardly touches any social media other than youtube, Reddit and possibly telegram (and I'm not sure either of those count!) I can honestly say that my life is no worse off. However, I Coach lots of clients who really are struggling with an addiction to all of the above and more. Connecting with people in other ways, and preferably in person is the way to go. Writing on Substack might also be helpful, however, I still feel that having collective circles is a better way. Let go, have more fun... follow your bliss and strangely enough, the universe will provide everything you need.
"struggling with an addiction to all of the above" - that's it.
There are some people who can do their business on social media and go about their day. Then there's other people who lose hours a day on Instagram, get upset over arguments and horrific news, they compare their lives to other people's feeds... for those people, they need to know that life is possible without social media.
I couldn't agree more with you. Seth, in addition, what is more disturbing from the law of attraction point of view is we get what we focus upon. So what people don't realize inadvertently is by focusing on all the bad news, the negative feeds. We actually are attracting more of the same. Now you don't have to go along with this. I'm not trying to convert anybody to law of attraction. We can just look around us, though, both in neuroscience, in psychological experiments, even in quantum physics, to show that the science backs this up. It isn't just some spiritual mumbo jumbo. We get what we focus upon, and it causes the subconscious to pattern match and then observe more of the same. So we are making ourselves more miserable and sadder, because we are training our brains only to notice miserable and sad news.
Thank you for all of your work you are doing here to try and encourage people to move away from just looking at things through one particular lens. I really. appreciate you.🙏
Ahhh thank you! Yeah, why do you think I'm posting all my outdoors pics and small video clips of streams and waterfalls? Cuz that shit is CALMING!!!!! I just want more chill for all of us, you know? I totally believe in that stuff!
Whooo-hoooo! Rock on Seth!
Finally, someone who "gets it" and speaks for the sane !
Time for us to connect authentically and stop the bane!
that's how unity in the community will rock-
without social media pressures like "Tik-Tok"!
-"Poet with a Purpose" on Wildlands
It's like getting back to grass roots. Businesses survived and thrived LONG before the internet. It's almost like people have become so dependent on it that they forget a world existed before!
YEP. The "creator economy" existed long before the techbros showed up. It'll be here long after they leave.
Hear, hear! I ran three social media accounts until recently - two for my small business, and one personal one. My SB closed down in early 2023, but I felt like I had to keep showing up online anyway. I said goodbye to the two work ones recently, opened up my main one (with photos of my kids removed) and have barely used it since. I quite enjoy Instagram as a viewer rather than a poster, so will keep the app for now, but I feel so much lighter for letting go of the accounts that I felt gave me 'status.'
I have an android phone that allows me to freeze apps. I find if I do this in the morning my day is much more intentional. I'd recommend it!
Ooooh, I didn't know you could FREEZE apps! That's neato.
But yeah... I had social media accounts for my WORK STUFF. Set up the Facebook page for it, and a LinkedIn page, and... gone. Wiped it all out.
Honestly it's great, you muscle memory over to clicking on them and they're all greyed out to shame you into being better - if you press anyway it reminds you you didn't want this. Nine times out of ten I put my phone down and carry on with my life thanks to this feature. Game changing.
Great post - I have deleted my Instagram, it came after an odd comment triggered me to finally leave after I kept going back again and again. I do have my own YouTube channel, but that is to share my passion for art. I am growing slowly but surely, I am creating content that I want to and believe in. To be honest, I am a bit fed up with people keep ramming their subscriber numbers down our throats at every opportunity. That’s great for them, but I will continue to do me. Thank you 🙏💜
...good luck on your runs this month man...knowing others > seeking strangers...
Being very discerning with one’s social media output moving forward is certainly going to be the way to go. I have turned off notifications for most social media and that has been an immense help.