We live in the marketing age. Seth Godin, Michael Hyatt, Donald Miller, and hundred others have declared it to be so. And they’re mostly right. If we’re not marketing our stuff, clarifying our message, and building our platform, what’s the point? We’re painters who only accessorize our walls. Musicians who create tunes for their ears only. Brilliant writers who only create personal journals.

While it’s fine to create for the sake of creation, people are wired to receive truth and beauty. A composer without an audience is an unbalanced creative equation. A photographer without hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers must still be struggling. Right?

I still question all this. Would I like to be a bestselling author with thousands of readers and followers? Sure. That would be great. But I haven’t paid my dues.
I haven’t done my words.
I haven’t figured out how to get a story that people want to read, that anyone wants to read, out of my head, and onto a page. I haven’t figured out what it is that I have to say and how what I have to say resonates with my “smallest viable market.”

Craft Before Credit

Too many (including myself) make the mistake of starting with promotion when there’s nothing to promote. I wrote one article that I thought was pretty good and stuck it online. According to my analytics, a total of 6 people read it. One of those people was me. One article, one story, one drawing, one business venture does not constitute honing the craft.

My current favorite guitar duo was busking on the streets of Dublin in 1999. There wasn’t a platform for reaching the world, so they focussed on their craft. They played music, and it didn’t matter if 100 people were watching or just 3. They played. Sure, it was practicing in public (in this case quite literally), but the craft was primary.

In 2020 they won a Grammy.

This is the case for thousands of people who create. It’s the case for entrepreneurs and makers. The craft is king. Neil Gaiman was right. The world may be crashing around us right now. Our response? Make great art.

Making and marketing

That doesn’t mean we don’t market. We do. We must. I am posting on a blog for the world to see. Some posts are better than others. The issue is that I don’t know which ones are better and which ones are worse. Sometimes I write a post that I assume to be crap and it gets all kinds of traction, reads, shares, and likes. My best work (at least I think it’s my best work) often gets little attention.

The point being, it doesn’t matter. The craft matters. Your craft matters.
Hone it.
Fail at it.
Work on it some more.

It doesn’t matter if anyone sees you. Yet.

Don’t be afraid to practice in public.
To fail in public.
To get better in public.

Put your butt in the chair and do the work.

Then let your work speak

And when it has something to say, give it a megaphone and crank up the volume.