- Taking a break when you need to
- Sleeping 7-8 hours a day
- Waking up at a healthy time that suits your schedule
- When your posts on social media don’t do well
- Not being able to hang out with friends because of work you care about
- Not being able to do work because you want to prioritize your friends
- Cheat day food
- Saying no more often to things that don’t give you value
- Saying yes more often to things that scare you
- Once in a while, ice cream
Tag: self confidence
Self Love for Creatives
Be a fan of your own work.
Don’t belittle yourself.
Don’t tell yourself that you suck.
Make time for your creative hobbies.
Invest financially into your growth.
Know what kind of feedback to listen to, and what kind to ignore.
Do it for yourself.
You don’t suck at writing
Someone else said you sucked, and you believed them.
If you’re looking to improve your written craft, try this:
Write one thing a day.
It could be a blog post, a poem, or a long form written advertisement for shampoo. It doesn’t matter. Just freely write one thing a day.
Read things that interest you.
All great writers study and consume the written content of other writers. In this case, I’ve stolen the headline and format of this post from my good friend Branko Unkovski-Korica. Check out his work here.
Get out there and show your work.
This is probably the scariest part, but the part most worth taking.
If you want to get from mediocre to good, from good to great, and from great to phenomenal—this is the only way forward. Publish.
You don’t suck at writing.
You just haven’t started practice yet.
From Quiet, Shy Introvert to Introvert in Marketing
I used to speak so quietly that teachers would have a hard time getting me to talk.
I would rarely contribute in meetings because I feared what I had to say was unimportant.
If I could write and draw instead of talk and network, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
Things started to change when I started my first business on Etsy.
I realized that I had to do more than just keep to myself all the time.
If I wanted my business to do better, then I had to be an extrovert in marketing.
Good news for me, that meant I could still be my reserved, quiet self in real life.
All I had to do was learn how to create good content and hit the post button as many times as possible.
And now, we’re here.
I’ve just kicked off the Content Club with our team at the Habit Factory, which is a workshop that helps other creatives build their brands.
Funny how things turn out.
Moral of the story? You will improve at things if you intentionally practice.
You can flip your script if you don’t like it.
The role of marketing in a creative career
If you’re a freelancer with no marketing strategy, you’re in trouble.
Look, I get it.
Self promotion feels icky at times.
Pushing your services to someone who hasn’t expressed any need for them feels downright wrong. Right?
And if that’s the case, have you ever thought that maybe (just maybe) you’re doing it wrong?
Marketing isn’t supposed to be about YOU.
Marketing is supposed to be about THEM.
Don’t self-promote.
Don’t talk about yourself.
Don’t pitch.
Nobody wants to hear it.
Instead, listen to what others need.
And simply help them out.
Do it 367 times.
Now that’s a good marketing strategy.
ONE Thing to build your self confidence
I was a quiet art kid.
From 2015-2020, I found my confidence when I went to an arts school.
Now I’m 3 years into social media marketing at a fast food restaurant, where I’m feeling at the top of my own game.
If I could go back to build my self confidence earlier,I would do this more often:
Listen to the way you talk about yourself to yourself.
If you don’t like the way you do self-talk, understand why, and change it.
For example,
What I say: Nobody cares about the writing I put out
My immediate response: There’s no point in writing something nobody wants to see
The change: Not everyone is supposed to care about what I write about. Actually, the success of my writing will stem from solely one person, which is myself. That’s it. If I can write about stuff that I care about, that’s enough.
Positive self talk is the smallest tweak that has made the largest impact on my self confidence.
Can introverts win on social media?
If you’re anything like me, you’ve said this to yourself before:
“I’m not smart, business-savvy, or extroverted. Social media marketing isn’t for me.”
These are the real words that bounded my life for several years before discovering I could publish content without having to leave home or “break out of my shell” trying to network at live events.
It took a lot of time before I figured out I didn’t have to be:
- smart (because there’s Google and Youtube),
- business-savvy (to an extent, but again Google, Youtube, and maybe some smart friends),
- or extroverted (because I am naturally a quiet and reserved person).
Rather than being as loud and obnoxious as I could in real life, I found something else that worked for me.
Rather than be bound by my true quiet and reserved nature, I do this instead.
The trick?
To be as extroverted and loud as possible in publishing content.
What’s the difference?
Extroverts as I see them = life of the party, loud, talkative, energetic
Extroverted in content = posting content often, experimenting with new content often, posting content across several social media platforms, engaging with other users of a platform
The best part?
I don’t have to leave home and talk IRL with other people.
And I use this trick today in our family business social media accounts that constantly brings in $$.
So can introverted, shy, quiet creatives win on social media?
Yes. Yes they can.
My biggest challenge as a designer who wanted to share content with the world
*Hint: It wasn’t with visuals or aesthetics. I had that part down for the most part.
It was with my insecurities.
The hardest part of the entire process was with my thought processes.
Me.
“It’s not good enough.”
“i don’t think this will get enough likes.”
“I haven’t made it perfect yet so I’m not going to share it.” *Forgets about it and never ends up posting anything*
“Sillybanana1101 thought my art was dumb on the last post. Should I even continue?”
It sounds kind of silly, but this was my world in 2019.
Thankfully, everything turned around with a few tweaks to the way I thought about myself that same year.
Interested in turning your world around? Want to change the way you deal with your inner critic and win in the longterm?
We’re running a new workshop at The Habit Factory that addresses your problems around making content as a creative.
Join us on the other side and sign up for our email list here: https://mailchi.mp/6988bd0c81c7/content-workshop
Can’t wait to see you there.
Self-Confidence is a Key Asset for Successful Creatives. Here’s 3 Reasons Why:
1. When you are confident, you will stop using time to second-guess yourself.
Being in the creative industry is a game of ideas and execution. If you spend time second-guessing yourself, then progress will be slow.
2. You’ll know that your work is good enough and worth sharing.
This was one of the biggest hurdles for me, because I used to think that the “bar” for sharing my work was when *I* thought it was good enough. Hint: turns out that’s not how the pros do it.
3. You’ll be able to see the true value of your work (and not sell yourself short).
Know what you bring to the table and why others will want it
I get it.
Trying to make it as a creative is hard.
The journey to self-confidence is hard.
Luckily, you don’t have to do it alone.
Self-confidence is one of the core assets we try to build up with creatives who join our Habit Factory workshops (which you can check out here).
Self-confidence is the most important asset to build as a creative. Here’s 3 reasons why
1. You will stop using time to second-guess yourself.
Being in the creative industry is a game of doing and action. If I spent my last 2 years in second-guessing mode, I would not have been able to build up my parents’ business for them.
2. You’ll know that your work is good enough and worth sharing.
This was one of the biggest hurdles for me, because I used to think that the “bar” for sharing my work was when I thought it was good enough for my own standards. Turns out that’s not how the pros do it.
3. You’ll be able to see the true value of your work (and not sell yourself short).
Listen.
Trying to make it as a creative is hard.
The journey to self-confidence is hard.
Luckily, you don’t have to do it alone.
Self-confidence is one of the core assets we try to build up with everyone who joins us at The Habit Factory (which you can check out here).
Start intentionally building on your self-confidence, and you’ll make a positive impact on many facets of your life.
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