![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/eric-kim-street-photography-tokyo-0000280-1-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Dear friend,<\/p>\n
A lot of us look down on selling ourselves\u00e2\u20ac\u201d because we equate it with \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcselling out.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But if you want to thrive as an entrepreneur, artist, or whatever\u00e2\u20ac\u201d you need to learn how to sell yourself.<\/p>\n
First of all, no matter how good your product is, if you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how to market yourself \u00e2\u20ac\u201d you will never put it out there.<\/p>\n
For example, if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a painter, and you have all these amazing paintings locked up in your basement\u00e2\u20ac\u201d nobody could appreciate your art unless you exhibit them, sell them, or share them with the public.<\/p>\n
If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a photographer, you can be the most brilliant photographer in the world, but without sharing your photos or publishing them, nobody will be able to experience the beauty of your images.<\/p>\n
To \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 yourself is different than \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcselling out.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n
To sell yourself is to have confidence in yourself, and to put your work out there. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily mean having to sell yourself for a price. It just means putting confidence and faith behind yourself, and your creative work.<\/p>\n
For me, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcselling out\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 means to betray your morals and ideals. You can \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsell out\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in many different ways. For betraying your inner-moral compass for money. To betray your friends for some monetary or prestigious gain. To accept things that you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe in.<\/p>\n
Trust me, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve sold out and prostituted myself in many different ways. And whenever I do it, I feel dirty. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mind selling my services for money, but whenever I do it\u00e2\u20ac\u201d I make sure to do it for a lot of money. But in terms of my true moral inner-compass, which I truly believe in, I try to never betray myself.<\/p>\n
The test is to just look at yourself in the mirror, and to be comfortable with the person you see in the mirror. It also means to go to sleep with a care-free conscience. If you ever feel any disconnect or \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccognitive dissonance\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 or inner-stress or turmoil, you need to change something in your life.<\/p>\n
Going back to selling yourself as an artist\u00e2\u20ac\u201d I want to share some practical tips:<\/p>\n
First of all, if you have good creative work, publish it. Put it in a magazine, a book, or on the internet. Use whatever platform is best for you.<\/p>\n
If you never publish your work or share it, your work doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exist.<\/p>\n
As a general rule, I like to own my own platform (like owning my own blog, and not just being overly-dependent on social media).<\/p>\n
For example, to build an audience on social media (Facebook, Instagram) is to be a slave of Facebook. Because you might have 100,000 fans on Facebook (or followers on Instagram), but you need to pay Facebook money in order to share your stuff with your fans.<\/p>\n
For example, if I have 100,000 fans on Facebook, and I share a post, I might only reach 1% of my audience. But if I pay Facebook $50, I might reach up to 25% of my audience.<\/p>\n
A better solution\u00e2\u20ac\u201d create a newsletter. I use mailchimp.com<\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and pay money for the service, in order to get email sign ups. This means, whenever I have an update, and I send it out to my newsletter, it gets sent directly to the inboxes of my followers. Whether they open it or not isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t in my control, but the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcdeliverability\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rate is very high, and my \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcopen rate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 for the emails are generally 40%-50%.<\/p>\n Also, I \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcown\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 my platform of this blog. I use wordpress.org<\/a>, and have a self-hosted blog. This means I have full control how to customize the look and interface of my blog. Whereas if you only publish your photos on Facebook\/Instagram \u00e2\u20ac\u201d you are at the mercy of Facebook (and yes, Facebook also owns Instagram, they are the same company now).<\/p>\n So if you want to own your own platform, I recommend signing up for a website (I recommend bluehost.com<\/a>) and installing wordpress.org<\/a> on your site.<\/p>\n This will allow you to publish your photos however you want, thoughts, or ideas.<\/p>\n If you an artist, to \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsell yourself\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d you need to charge money.<\/p>\n For myself, I would rather earn $100 dollars rather than getting 1000 likes on social media. Cold, hard cash will help you pay for coffee and rent. Likes don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pay your heater bill, or keep you warm at night.<\/p>\n So don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get distracted by likes on social media. They really don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean anything.<\/p>\n Charge money for your products or services. If you are an artist, sell your art work. And don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sell it for cheap. Charge 25% more<\/em> than you think you should. Many of us (myself included) are insecure about ourselves as artists. We always under-sell ourselves. My suggestion: over-sell yourself<\/strong>. This is the only way we can build confidence in ourselves as artists.<\/p>\n What is your time worth to you? What is your labor worth to you? Whatever you sell yourself for, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sell yourself for cheap.<\/p>\n As a general business rule, it is always better to price high\u00e2\u20ac\u201d then your client can match you a little lower.<\/p>\n For example, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s say you have a potential client for your artistic services. This is scenario one:<\/p>\n Versus senario two:<\/p>\n No matter what you charge, your clients will always try to under-sell you. But by pricing high, you can end up getting an ultimately higher price. It is better to price high, and offer discounts later, rather than starting off cheap, and trying to price higher.<\/p>\n Psychologists call this \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcframing.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Whoever offers a number in the beginning of a negotiation has a better leverage.<\/p>\n This goes the opposite way. If you want to buy a car from someone, you are better off throwing out a smaller number. So if you think the car is worth $5,000 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d offer them $2,000. Then you will probably meet half-way at around $3000-4000.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcBranding\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 yourself is just building a sense of trust<\/strong>. For example, the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcbranding\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 of Nike is to make you a better, stronger, and more muscular athlete. When I wear a pair of Nike\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, I trust that the shoes will help me perform better in the gym.<\/p>\n When I use an Apple MacBook laptop, the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcbranding\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 of Apple is for creative professionals. I therefore trust Apple to deliver me the best product, to help me be more creative.<\/p>\n When I read the blogs of another individual, I trust that they will give me their non-bullshit and true, honest, opinion.<\/p>\n Trust is everything.<\/strong><\/p>\n Branding isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t having a fancy logo, website, or graphics. Branding is building trust, over a very long time, and not rushing the process.<\/p>\n For example, most people who attend my workshops have read this blog for at least 1-2 years. They trust me, and know what to expect.<\/p>\n So when it comes to \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcbranding\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d just be yourself. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t try to be someone else. And build trust by putting out quality art, on a regular basis, and stay consistent to your message.<\/p>\n For example, as a blogger\u00e2\u20ac\u201d I try to build a sense of trust with my audience by not bullshitting. I share my inner-secrets, my inner-doubts, and try to do it as honestly as possible. People can smell bullshit from a mile away. I show all my scars, my imperfections, like a Christmas tree. And whether people like me or not is outside of my control.<\/p>\n To brand yourself, be consistent with your message. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t flip-flop. Coca-Cola hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t changed their motto or their logo for a century. The same goes with Nike (Just Do it).<\/p>\n The last tip I will give is to realize\u00e2\u20ac\u201d you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need to put an olive branch over the olive oil that will sell (aphorism from Publilius Syrus, over 2000 years ago).<\/p>\n The idea is that you should have a product or a service that can sell itself. And the only way you can do that is to create a product, or a service, that sells itself.<\/p>\n In today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s modern vernacular:<\/p>\n \n Make cool shit.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I like wearing Nike shoes because I think they are cool. The Nike Flyknit shoes cool stylish, are lightweight, flexible, and are comfortable. I of course, get suckered by the marketing of Nike, but at the end of the day \u00e2\u20ac\u201d I think they make a superior product.<\/p>\n I use a MacBook laptop because I love the quality of the product. I love the aluminum. I love the screen. I love the software. I love the integration with programs.<\/p>\n I use a Ricoh GR camera because it is small, compact, sturdy, very sharp, has a lovely black-matte finish, and because the menus are comprehensive yet accessible to photographers. I use it because it is a superior camera.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, try to make cool shit.<\/p>\n I try to write blog posts which are useful. I try to write e-books which are actually informative. I try to make photos which take my breath away.<\/p>\n You can be the best marketer in the world\u00e2\u20ac\u201d but without a good product or service, you can never sell yourself.<\/p>\n All this advice is going to the entrepreneurs out there. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter whether you have a full-time job or not. To me, an entrepreneur is more of a state of mind. To be hungry for taking risks, for not caring about what others think of you, and trying to make \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccool shit.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n But remember, you need to sell yourself. Because if you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sell yourself, nobody will sell you.<\/p>\n Put your guts behind your ideas, products, and services. Have \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcskin in the game\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 as Nassim Taleb says. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t doubt yourself, constantly learn, innovate, and push yourself forward.<\/p>\n Never stop believing in yourself.<\/p>\n Always,3. Charge money for your product or services<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
4. Brand yourself<\/h2>\n
5. Make cool shit<\/h2>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
\nEric<\/p>\n