Show Your Work: Austin Kleon

Whether you're looking for a job after graduation, in a career transition, wanting to turn your passion into a career, or have a multimillion dollar idea that will serve the community, it's no secret that you will need to create a brand. For some that brand might be YOU while for others it might be an object or a place.

The key to your success is self promotion.

The hard part of self promotion is putting yourself out there, and taking a risk. While this may seem scary, I found someone who can help you overcome your fears.

I got the chance to chat with Austin Kleon, who happens to be the author of the book Show Your Work: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered, and he has some advice to help you conquer that fear and put yourself out there in the world.

Thanks for talking with me today, Austin. So first, what was the inspiration behind your book Show Your Work?

So Show Your Work came to me when I was on a book tour for my previous book Steal Like An Artist. That was a book about how to steal inspiration and influence from other people and turn it into your own work. Then I met a lot of the readers who read Steal Like An Artist and they all asked me about self-promotion. They asked me how to get their work out into the world and how to share it in a way that people would care. So I decided to write a book that was almost a manual for self promotion. It became a way of sharing your work and putting it in the world so that will resonate with people.

What were some of the ideas that you came up with about self promotion? There's a lot of people out there who are self-employed with a small business and wanting to find a way to compete with the big conglomerate companies.

The big thing that I've noticed from the people that I try to emulate is that they don't wait until they have the perfect, finished product to put themselves out there. People I look up to almost let people watch them work over their shoulder. They're busy in their offices, work spaces, or studios basically getting good at what they do, but everyday they kind of come up for air and share one little nugget of their process that might be interesting or valuable to other people. This way they are always in contact with their audience. Then when they have that finished product that they want to sell or show, people are already interested/invested because they watched them make it.

Now wouldn't you thinkg that would add pressure to finish the product because people are watching over their shoulder?

Yes, but that pressure can be a good thing. It can be an incentive to push through and finish your work knowing that people are following along.

So how can they that pressure of an audience into something motivational rather than something stressful?

What's really important is to make sure you scheduled way more making and working then sharing in your day. What I recommend to people is to put a little bit of time at the end of the day to share it. Keep that sharing contained and don't let it take away from the actual work that you are doing. At the end of your work day, look back at what you did that day and your process to figure out what you can share. Do that every day and those little bits and pieces will add up to something bigger over time.

What are some other ways that people can self promote and get either their name or their products name out there?

One of the big things that people can do is to teach what they know. Don't just focus on what you've done and what you're doing but focus on the things that you've learned. That can be anything from skills that you've learned to trade secrets to your influences and things you think are really interesting. So the minute you learn something, turn around and teach it to others. It will then make people feel closer to your work by making you a person that is worth listening to in that field.

Now I imagine that there is a fine line between someone worth listening to and that person who constantly is selling this product or service and becoming almost spam-like.

Yes. It's very important to not turn into what you said...human spam. That's considered a person who talks but doesn't listen or the one who doesn't actually contribute but rather floods people with useless information. I always like to tell people that if you want to have fans, you have to be a fan first. You have to keep that curiosity and that interest in the world in order for people to be interested in you.

True because if you're not interested in the products that you're trying to sell or promote, then what makes someone think that other people will be interested?

Right. It's not just about selling your own product because if you're not interested in the world that you're trying to be a part of then why should that world be interested in you?

That's a good point. What else can we keep in mind when it come to that self promotion?

Well I think a lot of people are scared when they first start out. They tend to be a little timid when it comes to putting their work out there. So I like to say that you have to learn to take a punch. When you put your work out in the world then you have to be ready for the good, the bad, and the ugly. So the only way to learn how to take a punch is to get hit a lot. Make a lot of work, put it out in the world, let people say what they are going to say, and then go back and keep making work. In the act of putting work out in the world and staying in the ring,so to speak, you will learn how to take the punches.

Do you think that too many people let either that rejection or that criticism bring them down?

I think so. I think that people's fear of rejection keeps them from doing stuff even more then the actual rejection. I think that fear of putting work out into the world is much greater then what the world does when they actually put the work out. The worst thing that could happen to you is that the crickets chirp and no one sees it.

True. You want to have that courage to put it out there because you never know what the reaction will be, and if it does happen to be the crickets then you can either take the product, revamp it, and put it back out there or you can choose to move on.

Absolutely. The answer is always to do more work and to keep working.

So what are some other ideas that you've come up with to help people with self promotion?

I think that story-telling is a really important thing when it comes to putting your work out there. People like to say that their work speaks for itself. In my experience, the work doesn't speak for itself. The stories we tell about the work that we do has a huge impact on how people feel about that work and how they value that work. If you can surround yourself with really good stories then you can learn what a good story sounds like and looks like. Then you can start telling your own story. By telling your own story, people will feel closer to your work and will buy more into your brand.

Oh definitely, and that's very important to make sure you share the journey and the passion of your project. Now, are all of these tips things that can translate into online promotion like social media?

Oh absolutely. Social media is a great way to join a community and meet the people that you are trying to meet. Again, all of these principles hold true when you are online. Are you sharing things that are interesting or helpful to other people and putting your work through what I call the “so what” test? Interesting or helpful, you always need to think about if the things you are sharing are passing that test when you are online.

Wow! These are all great tips to help encourage people to get their ideas out there. Where can people go to purchase a copy of your book Show Your Work and to learn more about self promotion without turning into that human spam?

The best thing to do is go to your local bookstore and see if they have it. If they don't then order it from them. Or you can also go online to places like Amazon and it will be there.

Don't be afraid to share your idea with the world. Just like Austin said, the key is to keep doing work. If you share it once and don't get a response, then it's better to keep working to make it better rather than to give up. When you show that you care, your audience will be able to releate to you even more.

The advice that Austin gave for getting out there and promoting yourself can be summarized into the following 10 statements.