Scared and not in a good way
Here I go again sharing my deepest fears and feelings on my blog. I dont like networking, becoming a brand, being told I have to be able to sell my work. There I said it.
These are all reasons why business school and I did not get along. I am an introvert and always will be. Check out my personality type here. Just talking about these things stresses me out, makes my heart race and brings a tear to my eye. I am not a salesman, this is not something that I’m good at, I am not a networker, going up to a stranger telling them they should hire me because I am best makes me cringe.
I wish that when I grow up I could work with a handful of really optimistic, fun, creative people and the work we created was so good it sold itself and we didnt have to think about becoming a brand we could just be ourselves.
The End
P.S. on a lighter note check out this funny website.
Grace your going to be fine, I admire your openness and from my experience your not as introverted as you may think.
In terms of how you and business school don’t get along I totally hear you – at the same time Portfolio Center isn’t an art school — it’s a school of design. So if we take design to be somewhere between Art and Business then we have to take the good and bad from both. This doesn’t mean you have to be a super star cocktail party networker but it does mean we have to think about how to sell our work– and before you cringe too much let me explain what i mean.
Selling work is simply about getting your work in front of the right people. It’s about getting your work out into the world. Yes, the work will sell itself once people see it but that is the trick how will people see it?
Branding our work is one way. A brand is allot of things… but it’s mostly the emotional aftertaste we take away from a product or experience. It has little to do with a logo or a tagline or something like that… it’s simply the summation or your style. It’s the hook for people to hang their hat on. It’s the wrapper that lets people know what awsomeness is in you.
Don’t tell yourself what your not good at… Don’t give up on something and walk away. PC is about doing things that are uncomfortable. It’s about breaking out and trying the things we think were not good at…. and becoming better at them.
Look I’m not the best speller. (actually i’m very very bad) I have been my entire life. Getting up in front of a room of people and writing on the board has always scared the shit out of me. Yet, it’s something I had to overcome to teach. I have to be ok with the fact I’m going to stand up at the whiteboard and misspell every other word. For me I make light of the fact. I use spell check. I have other people read my work before I send it out to clients.
Everyone has things they are not great at… it’s ok. The challenge is to work at those things.
woow… ok. thats the end of my rant.
Posted 2 years, 5 months agoi’m an introvert who is a sometimes trained extrovert. in front of strangers, i am hardly able to speak. it makes me nervous and i can’t leave fast enough. i know that i would do well to have someone opposite of me to sell the work if i were in business for myself. but i think you might have misinterpreted some things that have been said. or it could be that the people saying those things are wrong. think about this for a minute…
if you put yourself into your work, you have successfully become your brand. by putting yourself into your work, i mean jumping and then figuring out how to land or jumping and just landing and making the best of it when you get back on your feet. it’s taking chance after chance after chance and not being afraid of any of it. it’s pretending there are no rules and the rules that do exist don’t apply to you. it’s looking at things the way that you truly see them and not the way people expect you to see.
i have not once walked up to somebody and said “hire me. i’m really good.” my work said that for me. some people have that skill of verbally selling themselves, but more often than not, they need it. because often times, their work isn’t as strong. their verbal skills and personality become just as valuable to the employer as their work. nobody hired me on my verbal skills or my charming personality. they hired me because of my work.
i’m not trying to come down on the verbal kids. it’s quite the opposite, actually. i believe we are all given exactly what we need to be successful. it’s all inside of us and it’s different for everybody. there’s no program, there’s no list to follow. start out on your own little path and if the road isn’t clear, pick up a shovel and make it clear.
i hope this helps at least a little bit.
Posted 2 years, 5 months agohi. i think you are one of the loveliest human beings i have ever met. i wish you could step out of your own skin and see your self the way we see you: GRACE POSER CHARMS EVERYONE. your smile says it all.
basically i think you can learn to sell your brand by accepting your introverted and shy nature as being a pitch. you don’t have to be commanding and dictating. you can be the gentle, intuitive, creative person i know with a killer laugh and sassy attitude. Just OWN it. Own those qualities in yourself. and the rest will come.
xo!
Posted 2 years, 5 months agoJessica, well said.
Also I was just reading Jamie’s blog and ran upon this:
“Unless you have a huge flair for self-promotion, it’s going to be tough to get recognized. It’s hard for somebody who’s just getting started. I guess I would say that you should look at every possible magazine and book and European publication to try to see everything that’s being done, now and past.” -Rita Marshall
Posted 2 years, 5 months ago