in this book, Austin Kleon shares 10 ways to make you share your work and get discovered. he talked about how you use the network instead of wasting time “networking.” It’s not self-promotion, it’s self-discovery—let others into your process, then let them steal from you. Filled with illustrations, quotes, stories, and examples
Buy Show Your Work by Austin Kleon:
Be an amateur
Amateurs are not afraid to make mistakes or look ridiculous in public, so they just share their work as it is but if you consider yourself as “a pro” you will never share your work unless if it is perfect. Also by telling yourself that you are a professional you are blocking your mind from thinking creatively. Amateurs might lack formal training but they are all lifelong learners and they keep their point of learning in the open so every time they fail or succeed other people can learn from it as the comedian Charlie Chaplin says: ” that’s all any of us: amateurs. we don’t live long enough to be anything else”
Think process, not product
Why do people like to watch behind-the-scenes videos or hear the story behind the work (process)?
simply because people are human beings and they are naturally interested in other human beings, they want to see what you’re going through? what it takes you to get the sausage made? they just love to be a part of the creative process and by letting go of your ego and share your process you allow people to build trust with you and that’s will help you a lot later, but what if you didn’t have anything to share?
whatever the nature of your work there is an art in it you just didn’t find the people who are interested in that art, become a documentarian of what you do. Do your work, write about it, share it and whatever you share it or not documenting and recording your process as you go along helps you see the work you are doing more clearly and feel you are making progress
“in order for connection to happen, we have to allow ourselves to be seen, really seen”
-brené brown.
Teach what you know
People always look at the idea of teaching other people the wrong way thinking that teaching will abstract value from what you know, in fact, it adds to it. When you teach someone how to do your work, you are in effect generating more interest in your work, there is a study found that the person remembers 90% of what he learned by teaching it to others and I can confirm that, speaking for myself I cannot get the most out of a book unless I summarize it for you, I found it very helpful for me when I do that actually it’s a win-win situation because when I share the book summary with you, you understand what the book is talking about and in the other side it makes it easy for me to remember what I learn from that book.
The vampire test
There are real vampires in this life but they just don’t suck your blood instead they suck your energy, matter fact Pablo Picasso was one of them, his granddaughter said that you would have a great time hanging out with Picasso all the day but, when you go home you feel nervous and exhausted while he would go back home and paint all the night using the energy that he sucked from you.
many people kept hanging out with him though because they got to hang out with Picasso, except one guy called “Brancusi” he practiced what the author called “the vampire test” and it’s a simple way to know who you should let in and out of your life. If and after hanging out with someone you feel worn out and depleted, that person is a vampire. But if and after hanging out with someone you still feel full energy, that person is not a vampire. This test works on many things in life, not just people, you can apply it to jobs, hobbies, and places.
“Whatever excites you, go do it. Whatever drains you. stop doing it”
– Derk Sivers
In the end, I want you to know that reading the summary is helpful (at least better than not reading at all). But, you will not get the full benefit unless you read the whole book. Remember: “reading a summary of a certain book is like watching a trailer of a movie while reading the whole book is like watching the whole movie.”
Buy Show Your Work by Austin Kleon:
My name is Muhammad Islem I’m a college student, I have 3 years since I started learning about digital marketing, I like talking about businesses, marketing, books, and ways of making money.
I’ve created this blog to talk about things that interested me and to help young entrepreneurs start their own businesses and escape their boring 9 to 5 jobs.