How I get my work in front of people

Hello! I have a long one for you today! I wanted to break down a really important lesson I've learned when it comes to getting your work in front of more people and building an audience. Because if you invest your time, energy, even emotions into making something, you probably would love for that work to be seen and appreciated by more people. And even though the internet promises infinite scale, it's not as easy as snapping our fingers and harnessing that scale...we're limited by our own means of distribution. So I think a lot about the question, "How do I get more people to see my work?" And after a lot of study, there are really only three pathways that I've found. These pathways are what I hear from guests of Creative Elements, friends, and other creators too. I. Organic Search and Discovery Every day, people are looking for things. And to find those things, they use search engines. Search engines go beyond Google onto other platforms like YouTube and Pinterest. They are the internet's magical, trusted matchmakers between questions and answers; between problems and solutions. As a creator or as a business owner, you're in the business of providing answers and solutions! Wouldn't it be splendid if you had a reliable (even growing!) stream of people with your problems and questions showing up at your doorstep? That's the promise of Organic Search. When you can put yourself into a position of proving that YOU are the best solution to be matched to the problem posed, there is a TON of upside benefit to being one of those first results. Last March, I taught myself some SEO and the result has been consistent month-over-month growth in website traffic. [My WordPress dashboard]()Monthly page views on Freelancing School Then there's a sibling to Organic Search named Discovery. Arguably, things are discovered via organic search, yes. But there's a new form of algorithmic discovery that isn't built on your explicit questions, but what platforms believe they already KNOW about you. Instagram Discover, Instagram Reels, TikTok...social media companies are collecting mountains of data on their users and serving up content they believe will keep their users' attention. I don't know if there is "Discovery Engine Optimization" but a lot of today's creators have the explicit strategy of creating consistent content both in how often they publish but also the CONTENT they publish. By training social platforms what they can expect from your content, you can reap the benefits of being served up in their discovery engines. This has a pretty high level of difficulty. At this point, people understand how to optimize for search. It's still a technical minority of people, but there's always going to be ONE #1 results for a search term – and that minority is gunning for it. So, to get a foothold, you either need to start with lower search volume, less competitive ideas to rank well, or build a LOT of authority in the eyes of search and discovery engines. Authority comes from longevity (web), reach/audience size (social), backlinks (web) or your social graph (social). This can be grown quickly if you're able to build respect within your space – especially respect that others with authority are willing to share publicly. II. Organic Sharing Word of mouth isn't going anywhere. Even if "mouths" become "fingers" and "social profiles," the concept remains the same. There are still a LOT of creators who grow their audience based on their existing audience. And a lot of the content that gets scooped up by Discovery platforms is a result of early traction – from who? Their existing audience! I know that it's sexy to get picked up in big lists of "30 Best Things" from some website or publication – and that's a form of organic sharing in its own right. But the truth is a LOT of your growth will and should come from the people who are already interested in it. We listen to people we know, like, and trust. Every member of your audience has their own world of people who know, like, and trust them. So when they tell someone (or their own social following) about your work, it can go a long way! But the magic here is really in the numbers. Let's say you publish a weekly newsletter (like this one) and each week you can expect 1% of your readers to share the piece. When you have 10 subscribers, that doesn't go very far. You'll get 0.1 shares per article or one share every ten articles. But eventually, you will work up to 100 subscribers. Now, every week, someone is sharing your article. Soon you're at 500 subscribers. Now, every week, five people are sharing it. 10x that to 5,000 subscribers, and now you have 50 people sharing it every week! You can see how this snowballs. But the bar for quality gets higher every day. We see a LOT of content every day and we don't share much of it. For you to stand out and make something that COMPELS someone else to share it is a pretty high bar. Honestly, I don't think I meet that bar very often. And the things that do get shared fall in one of two camps: - Ephemeral/timely/relevant - Evergreen I think it's a little easier to hit the sharing threshold with the ephemeral, timely content because there is inherently less competition – you are one of X people talking about Y thing (which is happening right now in this moment of the culture). Evergreen is harder because it could be created now, years ago, or years from now! You're competing across all of time. And even if your piece is the best now, what about six months from now? Six years from now? I love using [SparkLoop](=) because it encourages people to share my writing. Every referral means and helps so much – and [SparkLoop](=) makes it easy. [My SparkLoop dashboard](=)New Subscribers and New Referrals since implementing SparkLoop III. Distribution Partnerships Of the three strategies, I believe distribution partnerships are the easiest to attain and the fastest to see results. There are so many other people, brands, and organizations who have spent years building up their own audiences. And with the right relationships and positioning, it's pretty easy to partner with these people and organizations to leverage THEIR audience and distribution. Why build your own following one person at a time when you may be able to reliably reach hundreds or thousands at once? The trickiest part here is finding partners where you can create a genuine win-win-win or 1 + 1 =3 situation. It's very easy for someone with an existing audience to quickly determine if this is truly a win-win-win for you, them, and their audience OR if you're being selfish and not bringing anything to the table. And for a long time I thought, "Well wouldn't I need to bring my own large audience to the table for that partnership to make sense?" But, to be honest, you don't. Other compelling offers: - Contributed content that benefits the partner's audience - A workshop, interview, or mini-course that benefits the partner's audience - A product/service that benefits the partner's audience (bonus if they can be an affiliate) And, of course, putting a partner in front of YOUR audience can be a very compelling offer too, provided you have a bit of a following. My incredible partnership with the Podglomerate works because every week I put the time and expense into creating great content that connects with an audience, and they can leverage those listens to attract advertisers. Instead of being on a content treadmill, that commitment alls on the creator and they work on matching me with great partners. AND the shows on the network can promote each other to their audiences! I've had a lot of fun presenting workshops for Creative Mornings over the past year and other independent creators. I have a workshop I've partnered with someone on this week, and it's already driven 300+ registrations from that partner! Conclusions When it comes to earning a living from your work, math is on your side. It feels slow to build up a following one person at a time, but that's how everyone starts. These three strategies help you grow more quickly and you don't have to pick just ONE of these strategies! I pursue all three simultaneously (some more successfully than others) and that turns the trickle of one subscriber at a time to a more steady stream. Since moving to [ConvertKit]() in 2020 and really putting effort into these strategies, I've seen really strong growth. [My ConvertKit dashboard]()Total Subscriber growth since moving to ConvertKit On any given day, I may gain an extra 15-30 subscribers...which means each week, with more than 100 new readers, that may be one new advocate who is interested in sharing it. That's significant! And it's felt like a slog the whole way. It rarely feels like anything other than really hard work. Every now and then, I get a stroke of luck, but it's not anything YOU couldn't replicate yourself. I hope you try! And if writing is your game, start with my [Email Newsletter Workshop](=). ​ --------------------------------------------------------------- ​ On Creative Elements 👨‍🔬 [Ryan Hawk on Creative Elements]()​ Ryan Hawk is a keynote speaker and the host of the [Learning Leader Show](). The show has been listened to by millions of people in more than 150 countries, and Forbes called it, “the most dynamic leadership podcast around.” He is also the author of Welcome to Management: How To Grow From Top Performer To Excellent Leader. Previous to the Learning Leader Show, Ryan worked in corporate America for 12 years. I started as an entry-level telephonic sales rep and worked my way to manager, director, and ultimately VP of sales for a multi-billion dollar company. Ryan has delivered hundreds of keynote speeches all over the world. He’s worked with Fortune 500 companies, conference organizers, and leaders in the academic world. He has a passion for speaking on stage and immediately impacting the actions of each attendee. In this episode, we talk about leaving his sales job to become a creator, compare our methods of cold outreach, the interviews that still make us nervous, and why his commitment to Preparation has helped him stand out above the noise. ​[Click here to listen]()​ ​ --------------------------------------------------------------- ​ If you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed it. I've been thinking lately that I could be doing a much better job of really investing time into sharing more specifics about what I'm learning in these emails...so let me know if you liked this. I'm getting antsy because I'm in the early stages of a branding project on my personal site, this newsletter, and more...and it's really good and exciting. But I know I need to wait until it's fully ready to unveil! I hope you're enjoying your beginning of summer, some good weather, and some time to enjoy yourself. Have a great week! Cheers, Jay ​PS: Podcast Like The Pros is currently on sale for 20% off via Teachable Discover. [It's a great time to enroll]()! ​ ​ ​ 0 of 3 You're just 3 referrals away from unlocking Access to Life In Progress Next Reward Access to Life In Progress Life In Progress is a private, monthly newsletter that shares a deeper look at the life side of work-life balance. While Work In Progress documents what I'm learning about work, Life In Progress gives a transparent look into what I'm learning about living and becoming a better human. Available Rewards Life In Progress Access (3 refs) $50 off any course (10 refs) Free 1:1 Strategy Call (25 refs) Free Course + Public Shoutout (100 refs) [Share Work In Progress]() Shareable link: [ Want to skip the referrals? [Subscribe to Life In Progress for $5/mo](). [Powered by SparkLoop](=) ​ Thanks for subscribing! You can reply to this email or [contact me]( anytime. Work In Progress is a newsletter for aspiring creators. 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