112: I tried to ignore posting on social media in 2023

Is this what FOMO feels like?

☕️ One of the things I’m working through right now is, Not posting on social media as often as I did in the past two years. Some people struggle with what to post - I’m struggling with not posting. I’m going to try working through this in today’s note.

Tags: #Workout, #Socialmedia, #growth, #Maintenance #principles

4 years of posting regularly on social media have been really good for me.

Year 1: I experimented with comics on Instagram

Year 2: I developed a consistent comic style and got a commission to illustrate a book as a result.

Year 3: I started developing a children’s picture-book style, got an agent, and signed 4 book deals

Year 4: Signed a further 4 book deals

My Observation -

Social media is a differentiating factor in the most successful companies, individuals, and political organizations over the past 15 years. And while the form of social media and the platforms may be changing, that fact remains.

Why I decided to step away -

When I was thinking about social media, I was thinking of it as a means to an end. It was a way to

1. Learn in public

2. Develop a style

3. Make friends and be discovered by clients

4. Get an agent

5. Get book deals

Check, check, check, check, check. So now that I have all that why not step away and focus on those ‘achievements’?

How is that going -

1. I’m not learning as much other than discovering there’s still so much to learn

2. The style feels like a muscle, and working with clients is more about spending energy than building muscle. Different clients require slight modifications to what I would do personally and that has a destabilizing effect when not paired with a regular practice/project

3. Many of the friends and clients I’ve made on social media have ended up here. So this is a great place to stay connected, but I’m not making new connections as quickly as I have in the past.

4. I have a great agent and really want to spend my spare time working on a graphic novel pitch that she can sell

5. I’m so great full for all the work I’m getting and want to spend as much time as possible on each project.

What was the plan -

I don’t think I made a plan, I just had vague ideas of posting whatever whenever as I did all the other stuff. And maybe that’s been the main difference from years gone past when I had some sort of a regimented plan for posting. Without a plan, I just fell away from sharing and focused on the things I planned to focus on.

Funny Feelings

And that has left me with these funny feelings. The feelings that I’m attempting to get to the bottom of and work through.

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Today’s note is a Supernote, which means if you’re not a paid subscriber, this is your stop, as the door closes and we say our goodbyes, let me just as that:-

• Social media drives your actions, my actions, and the actions of our customers.

• We can choose not to participate in the game, but by doing so we’re choosing not to participate in the upside.

• Will I sign another 4 book deals this year without the thing that helped me sign those last 9? Maybe.

• Is it a career risk for me to not post, I think so. (Though that is offset by having an awesome agent)

• Is it a challenge to do “The work”, and this additional work of managing an audience through social media? (Rhetoric)

• My challenge is to find some way to use leverage to keep this social media going. While I do the rest of it.

For Super Subs:

To Define the problem simply let’s farm it as a question:

“Do I keep posting on social media or do I divert that energy towards my goals of illustrating books and creating a graphic novel pitch”

There are 3 steps I can think of that has worked for me in the past to find solutions to impossible-seeming problems like this. I’ll be applying them to this problem, but I believe they can be applied to whatever you are facing.