• Find a Scenius (a group of people who share their work, and knowledge, learn from each other’s work, take ideas, and give ideas). If we look back at history most of the people we now consider as genius were part of Scenius. With the internet, one can easily be part of Scenius via email groups, social media, forums, blogs, and so on where there is no entry barrier.

• Be an amateur who is not afraid to learn and make mistakes. Find something to learn and make a commitment publicly. Be part of Scenius and look at what others are sharing and if there is any void that you can fill in.

• Read obituaries every morning. Learning about people who are dead today and did something with their lives can make you think about how you want to spend your time while you have it.

• People are curious by nature and are interested in what other human beings do. Sharing your process, (not just the result) can allow people to have a connection with you and grow your audience.

• Document your work, take photos, and shoot videos. Even if you don’t share this at the beginning, just keep on documenting, this will help you to look at your work and the progress made clearly. If someday you decide to share, you will have a huge amount of content.

• Success doesn’t happen overnight, it’s a process. So, start focusing on a single day and share something every day which can be a tweet, a blog post, an email, a video, or anything. If you find a new platform, look if there’s something you can do in it.

• Not having time is just an excuse. You might have to miss an episode of your favorite TV show or sleep a little late but there is always time if you look for it.

• Share something useful or entertaining. Wait a couple of minutes, hours, or days if you are unsure about whether your content is useful or entertaining. Don’t overthink but also don’t share everything.

• Each feed that you share is your flow. When collected, and organized together it can become stock. After you have shared for some period, you will find patterns and trends among the flow and you can gather those bits and pieces together and create your own stock.

• Make your own website. Register a domain with your name, if your name is already taken create an alias for yourself. Learn and build your own website or hire someone to do it for you. This domain is your own, build on it. Whether you have traffic or not, you’re out there doing your work, and you have it when you need it.

• You can start by sharing other people’s work, and thoughts on them before you start sharing your own work. Things like – who inspires you, the book you read, sites you visit on the internet, movies you see, a celebrity that you admire, and so on. This gives people the idea of who you are as a person.

• If you are sharing someone else’s work, always give the credit, and treat it with respect and care. If someone inspired you, let people know about that so they can find the source of inspiration.

• If you enjoy something, be open and honest about it, and don’t feel guilty. This is the best way to connect to people who like that too.

• Every part of the work you share, every blog, and every tweet are pieces of the big story you are telling. You are already a storyteller, but you need to understand how to tell a good story to become the best.

• When someone asks you what you do, don’t lie. You should always keep the audience in mind but should be able to explain your work to a kindergartner as well as an old man. You don’t have to invent things, always tell the truth with self-respect and dignity.

• Share your knowledge. Sharing doesn’t reduce your knowledge but adds to it. Think about what you have learned from your process that can be valuable to the people you are trying to reach.

• Some people don’t want to pay their dues, they don’t want to go through a process, they just want the result, and they don’t want to listen to ideas but only tell theirs. Don’t be human spam of this type. Always be thoughtful, considerate, and open to feedback.

• Do your work and don’t waste time following people hoping they would follow back. Provide value, make stuff you love, and talk about that stuff. Don’t be a jerk and waste people’s time.

• Don’t hang out with a vampire, when you hang out with someone and feel worn out the person is a vampire sucking out your energy. If you fill full of energy or fill inspired, hang out with these people who are not vampires.

• As you start putting your work out there you will find people with similar obsessions, who have similar goals. There can be just a few people. Keep this person close, make and maintain a relationship with them, and share your work with them before sharing it with everyone else.

• If you have friends on the internet, meet them in real life. If you have a community, plan an event where you can meet and interact in real life.

• When you start putting work out there, be ready for both good and bad. Relax, take a deep breath and accept whatever comes your way.

• Keep putting out your work, even when you get bad comments keep moving. Eventually, more criticism makes you realize, that it can’t harm you.

• If you have work, that can create high criticism then keep it hidden. But also remember, if you avoid showing all your work, you will never truly connect with people.

  “The trick is not caring what EVERYBODY thinks of you and just caring about what the RIGHT people think of you.” – Brian Michael Bendis

• Don’t engage with people who are only provoking you with hateful or aggressive talk. If the troll lives in your head, block those people, and delete the comments.

• Don’t be jealous when people you like make progress, celebrate their progress as your own.

• If you want to take a leap with work but lack funding, ask for donations, crowdfund or sell your products or services. Do this only if you feel your work is worth something.

• Charge a price for your work you think is fair.

• Many technologies used to exist and have become extinct, but the email have existed all this years. Even if you don’t have anything to send or sell, collect emails of people who like your work and want to connect. Always keep a mailing list but don’t add someone to the list without their permission.

• Keep exploring new areas, taking chances, and moving forward. Be ambitious, keep yourself busy, expand your audience, and think big.

• When you have success, help the people who have helped you to get where you are. Be grateful, throw opportunities their way, and provide them a chance to share their work.

• Every work you start will have ups and downs, the good and the bad days. The secret is consistency. People who experience success are the people who are consistent for a long time, and who don’t give up easily. Just keep moving.

Fav Quotes

Amateurs Know What Contributing Something is better than nothing.

Talk about the things you love your voice will follow

If you want people to know about what you do and the things you care about, you have to share.

No one is going to give a damn about your resume, they want to see what you have made with your own little fingers.

When you find things you genuinely enjoy, don’t let anyone else make you feel bad about it.

If you want followers, be someone worth following.

You can’t control what sort of criticism you receive, but you can control how you react to it.

Every piece of criticism is an opportunity for new work.

You just have to be as generous as you can, but selfish enough to get your work done.

You can’t plan on anything; you can only go about your work, as Isak Dinesen wrote, “every day, without hope or despair.”

Here’s how you do it: Instead of taking a break in between projects, waiting for feedback, and worrying about what’s next, use the end of one project to light up the next one. Just do the work that’s in front of you, and when it’s finished, ask yourself what you missed, what you could’ve done better, or what you couldn’t get to, and jump right into the next project.