How to stand out in Crowd | Show your Work by Austin Kleon
I was afraid to start my own content creation journey in this online world. Then, I came across this beautiful book Show your work that changed my life completely.
I build my Instagram presence and grow audience to 10.7k+ then I started my podcast about books that currently have 80k+ downloads and a newsletter with 1000+ subscribers.
If you are the person who wants to build their brands or any person who wants to build authority in the online world
YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK
In short, show your work by Austin Kleon
Share your thoughts and your process and your work online, for free.
You need not be an expert to share your work — beginners can easily help other beginners.
By sharing your work online, you’ll attract an audience of people who care about the same stuff you do — this can change your life.
The reason you should pick this up
I think this should be required reading for everyone in the world. If you’ve got an interest in creativity, design (of any sort) or entrepreneurship, or business (of any sort), stop reading this article and just pick up the book.
Even if you don’t have any interest in creativity, design, business, entrepreneurship, or putting yourself out there in any capacity, still read this because this book will help you connect dots and how putting yourself can change your world.
here is something for you It also takes less than 60 minutes to read, so you’ve got no reason to.
✌️ How this book changed my thoughts
- It made me more comfortable sharing my thoughts and my work online with a lot of unknown people.
- It made me more comfortable putting myself ‘out there’
- It made me start my blog, newsletter, podcast, and YouTube channel
- Starting the blog was the first step to starting my podcast a year and a half later, that changed my life.
✍️ My Favorite Quotes
“Forget about being an expert or a professional, and wear your amateurism (your heart, your love) on your sleeve. Share what you love, and the people who love the same things will find you.”
“Make stuff you love and talk about stuff you love and you’ll attract people who love that kind of stuff. It’s that simple.”
The minute you learn something, turn around, and teach it to others. Share your reading list. Point to helpful reference materials. Create some tutorials and post them online. Use pictures, words, and videos. Take people step-by-step through part of your process. As blogger Kathy Sierra says, “make people better at something they want to be better at”
“the worst troll is the one that lives in your head.”
“Don’t think of your website as a self-promotion machine, think of it as a self-invention machine.”
“Amateurs are not afraid to make mistakes or look ridiculous in public. They’re in love, so they don’t hesitate to do work that others think of as silly or just plain stupid.”
📒 Summary of the book
1. You don’t have to be a genius
Find a Scenius — We need to move away from the lone genius myth of creativity.
“Scenius,” is a healthier way to think about creativity — “an entire scene of people supporting each other, looking at each other’s work, copying from each other, stealing ideas, and contributing ideas”.
Anyone can contribute to the scenius. You don’t have to be an expert.
Be an Amateur — Sometimes, amateurs have more to teach us than experts. An amateur understands the beginner's mind. The expert doesn’t.
2. Think process, not product
Take people behind the scenes — The finished product model of creativity is a relic of the pre-digital era. Where the only way artists could find an audience for their work was to show the finished product in all its glory. The internet has changed this. People really do want to see how the sausage gets made. Audiences want to see the person behind the product.
3. Share something small every day
Sharing vs Over-sharing — Share stuff that might be helpful or interesting or entertaining to someone on the other side of the screen.
I think of it as “Will this potentially help at least one person in the world? If so, I should share it.”
4. Open up your cabinet of curiosities
Share other people’s work — We all like different things. If you can share the stuff you like, if you can curate it for others, good things will happen.
5. Tell good stories
People want to read (and hear) good stories. You’ll become more effective at sharing yourself and your work if you can tell a good story.
Talk about yourself at parties — It’s okay to talk about yourself if people ask. Don’t think of it as an interrogation. Think of it as a chance to connect with someone who might be interested in your work.
6. Teach what you know
The impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes. -Annie Dillard
Teaching people doesn’t take away from what you do, it adds to it. When you teach someone how to do your work, you’re generating more interest in your work. People will feel closer to it because you’re teaching them what you know.
7. Don’t turn into human spam
If you want fans, be a fan first. If you want to be accepted by a community, you have to first be a good citizen of that community. If you’re only pointing to your own stuff online, you’re doing it wrong. Be a connector. The writer Blake Butler calls this being an open node. If you want to get, give. If you want to be noticed, notice. Shut up and listen once in a while. Be thoughtful. Be considerate. Don’t turn into human spam. Be an open node.
You want hearts, not eyeballs — Stop caring about how many people read your stuff and how many people follow you online.
The vampire test — “Whatever excites you, go do it. Whatever drains you, stop doing it,” — Derek Sivers.
8. Learn to take a punch
When you put stuff out there, you’re going to get a bit of criticism. This is natural. Learn to take it. Don’t let the fear of haters stop you from putting yourself out there. They’re a tiny minority, and they have no real power over you.
9. Sell out
We need to get over our “starving artist” romanticism. There’s nothing wrong or evil about money. Charging money for stuff doesn’t hamper your creativity.
Michaelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling because the pop commissioned him.
But, be careful about selling the work you love.
Keep a mailing list — Even if you have nothing to sell keep a mailing list. There are people who run multimillion-dollar businesses off their mailing lists. The model is simple — give away free great free stuff on your website. Collect the emails of people who enjoy reading it. When you have something remarkable to sell or share, send them an email letting them know.
Pay it forward — When you have success, help people who reach out to you. Help people who helped you get where you are.
10. Stick around
Don’t quit — Keep doing your work, and keep sharing.
Take sabbaticals.
Don’t be afraid to change things up. It’s not really starting over. You’re still keeping everything you learned before. You’re just starting from chapter one again.
“Become a documentarian of what you do.”
Thank you Austin Kleon for writing this book.
it changed my life!!
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