Yesterday @fiyahlitmag gave me the chance to meet with some legit brilliant ppl & discuss the beast terrorizing most creatives at some point- promoting your work. Frightening, eh? Well, not always.
So here I'm going to share my fav trick to help you get over that hump 1/

Now this convo was in the context of writing, but it applies to anything- art, crafts, your small business. When you spend all day busting butt to make the best things you can, it gets hard to also be your own hype person.

So here's that trick I promised you.

Chop onions 2/

You see, ironically, self hype is a hypeless job. There's no glory in it, its not cool to be good at it. Writing, making, conceiving? Sure, you get to be a "genius" at those. Selling someone else's product? Defo. But your *own*? Nope.

In fact, its a lot like cooking 3/

Everyone knows someone who's a proud chef. You can find people willing to tell you about that one thing they made and at every single social gathering. It might even be you.

You know what nobody brags about? How well they chopped the onions that went in it. 4/

Makes sense, right? I mean, who the hell wants to be great at cutting vegetables? Its not sexy, its not even acknowledged. You'll never meet someone bragging about how they are a savant at onion chopping.

Except without the chopped onions you don't get the dish. 5/

Here's the thing- self promotion is the onion chopping of the creative process. It's not fun, it's drudge work, nobody will ever call you a genius for nailing it and it may even make you cry. But unless you have the money to order in every day, you prolly need to chop onions. 6/

And if you're one of those who can order in or just hire a PR/marketing firm, congratulations! You're in the select set. But guess what, even if you order in every day, you may not find the perfect cuisine every day. At some point you'll need to chop a few onions. Embrace it. 7/

Now, YMMV on this analogy- maybe you're one of those freaks who likes chopping onions. In that case, you don't need this thread. Or maybe peeling garlic is what gets to you. For me, its chopping onions(I REALLY REALLY HATE chopping onions). But I need to eat, so I chop away. 8/

And to come full circle back to our actual topic, very few of us love promoting our stuff to strangers. its hard and agonising and all that jazz. But your stew will not just taste better with the onions, it'll feed more people. And more of them will like it. 9/

Because remember, the onions are a means to an end. You're not doing this to become an elite onion chopper(though that's a great thing to be!). You're doing it because you want to be an elite chef and the onions are good for the recipe- and the kitchen's reputation 10/

And one last thing- the more onions you chop, the better you get at it. In time they'll even stop making you cry as much(its true, promise!) What's more, you get to devise your own way to chop em, the one that's best for you. You're the
One Sensei of Onion Chopping here.11/

So with that in mind, grab that knife and have at those pesky onions. The sooner you chop them, the more you chop them, the closer you get to the day your chefly skills inspire others to eat, cook and even show up to help you. Because it helps them 12/

Because, you see, the very best self promotion is the one others do for you and you don't have to do at all.

And that day too shall come, even if it isn't today.

But until then, chop those onions! 13/

This thread would be incomplete if I didnt link you to those other super smart ppl with their great insights on the subject. So if you'd like some serious smart people in your feed talking creative things, follow @McFlyCahill90 @RASmithPSL @natasha_lane1 @suzusaur 14/

Hopefully this thread aids in some way with that evil mind monster that comes with putting yourself & your work out there. You got this! I'm rooting for you- and so are millions of ppl looking for their new fav person. So you know what, help them find you.

Chop those onions