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What No One Tells You About "Making It" As A Creative Professional Nailing the work is just step one. Here’s what actually moves the needle.

You’ve done the work. You’ve created the thing.

So… why aren’t they coming back?

👀 The real reason might surprise you: shorturl.at/AKl3Q

This ONE Thing Will Determine Whether You Finish Your Project This WILL Make The Difference Between Stuck and Shipped!

Professional Creatives Ship. Amateur Creatives make excuses for why they didn’t ship.

Here's how to make sure you ship...

‪substack.com/@realjaylan...

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Want to know how to create Marketing that WORKS? (e.g. Marketing that brings you MONEY?) I've got more than 15 years of experience diagnosing and correcting underperforming Marketing. Drop me a DM and lets talk!

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*Simple... But not easy. Every one of us have been marketed to for our entire lives so to some extent we ALL intuitively know what "works on us." The problem is that if you don't push beyond that, you'll always end up marketing "to yourself." Which DOES NOT WORK for a variety of reasons.

BONUS REASON: You've confused Marketing with Sales and treat them as the same thing, rather than 2 distinct roles with different skills and requirements.

5. You approach marketing with an attitude (probably unconsciously) of: "if I build a good enough thing, people will just 'get it,' and marketing becomes nice-to-have, but not necessary."

4. You have no idea where in your funnel you're losing potential customers so you don't know there's a leak to fix. (Depressing Fact: Your funnel has LOTS of leaks.)

3. You don't clearly understand the difference between Marketing and Branding, and aren't covering BOTH of these necessary bases in your promotional efforts.

2. You've incorrectly identified who your target market is, so your messaging doesn't convert browsers into buyers. (Hint: your target market is NOT "people who have already bought your product/service.")

a man is driving a small yellow vehicle in a tunnel with the words all aboard the struggle bus below him . ALT: a man is driving a small yellow vehicle in a tunnel with the words all aboard the struggle bus below him .

5 simple* reasons your company is struggling:

1. You create your Marketing materials as though YOU are your target market.

⤵️⤵️⤵️⤵️⤵️

Your problem isn't creative block.



It's that you're unwilling to stay in discomfort as you work through all those bad ideas to start finding the good ones.



Seriously, try ACTUALLY MAKING every crappy thing that comes to mind and you'll be amazed how many good ideas show up!

The internet is flooded with countless answers. That's why I ask myself this:

"Is this THE answer, or just AN answer?"

More often than not, it's merely AN ANSWER. Knowing that makes it 1,000% easier to tackle the crucial question:

"Does this answer actually work for me?"

You're making it more difficult than it needs to be.

It's an almost universal truth that Creative Professionals tend to make what they're working on WAY more complicated than it needs to be.

Ask the question below (made famous by Tim Ferriss) and then...

Do that instead!

Nobody can MAKE you get started.

All the tips and tricks and guides and coaching and accountability won't get you there if you don't. Just. Start.

Where you're at. With what you have. Right now. Even if you're not ready. ESPECIALLY if you're not ready.

Don't wait. Just start.

As a creator, your BEST work will be...

A mashup of who you are, plus a handful of things that deeply resonate with YOU. That’s your "secret sauce!"

That’s the thing that can’t be copied or imitated. THAT is the “perfect union of contrary things” that makes you a category of 1.

In one way or another all completed projects are "a disaster" behind the scenes- even the really famous ones! It's never going to be perfect, only (as the saying goes) abandoned.

The lesson: just go NOW! If you try to "write the great American novel," you'll likely never start.

Trying to make it perfect is a trap!

I've worked with some very well-known makers and creators over the years... One thing I've heard over and over from them is:

"If I'd known it was going to become THIS well known, I would have done a better job making it."

The truth is:

Smart creatives know that you must schedule regular, purposeful rest into your life, or eventually you will experience crippling health problems and burnout.

You cannot "hustle culture" past this truth: rest on your terms, or be forced to rest anyway.

There is no third option.

Sometimes when the "season" of a job, project, or relationship is up, we're not quite ready to let go.

No matter how difficult, do the work to let it go anyway- as quickly as possible.

Clinging to that which is, in fact, already gone can only damage the legacy of what it was.

"Putting in the work" can be like going on a really long hike:

You don't always know exactly what obstacles you're going to find, but you DO know parts of it are going to be hard- and not all of it will be super fun.

But... If you don't actually go, your view will never change.

Reminder: you're a HUMAN, not a freakin' robot! 🤖

Optimizing and efficiency are good habits, but... It's EQUALLY important to build "fudge factor" into life.

You're not doing anyone any good if you've burned out 'cause you tried to squash your humanity with rigid discipline.

💡 I hope you've found this thread helpful.

👉 Follow @jaylance for regular content about starting and maintaining a creative practice without burnout or creative block!

🙏 Like/Retweet the first tweet below. It really helps!

Bottom line:

- If you don't know your prospects needs better than they know themselves, and
- If you make your prospective clients do your homework for you, and
- If you waste folks time because you're not confident in your pitch, or offering...

Then you've already lost them.

5. They got to the point quickly.

Forget "can I pick your brain" exploratory calls. If you can't tell me what you want and how it benefits me in 5 minutes or less, you've already lost me.

Remember: I'm not here to do you a favor, you're here to do ME a favor. Get to the point.

4. They were upfront with their pricing.

If you're pitching and I can't afford to buy, you're wasting my time, AND YOURS.

"But wait," you say... "My <thing> is too complicated to discuss price!"

No it's not. You're being a coward about sharing your price and wasting my time.

3. They did their research BEFORE reaching out.

If I had a nickel for every sales pitch I've heard with NO IDEA what I actually need, I'd be able to buy myself a very nice steak dinner.

It's YOUR job to figure out my needs, and THEN show me how your offering solves my problem.

2. They knew what their offer was and didn't try to "kitchen sink" me.

If you're truly GOOD at a thing, that is what you should pitch. People who throw a laundry list of "services" at me are not very good at any of them and are hoping I will "pay them to get good."

I won't.

1. They understood the only thing that matters is to save me time, save me money, or (holy grail!) BOTH.

I already KNOW what's in it for YOU!

I don't care that you're a fan, that it'd be an honor to work with me, or about your company's history. Skip it and get to the point...

In my work I get pitched HUNDREDS of times a month by folks trying to get me to buy their product or service.

I can count on ONE HAND the number of pitches that have caught my attention over the years.

Here's what they had, that you're probably missing: