The not so novel way of networking and growing our independent careers

Karma on social media

Hi there!

In one of his most recent articles,

Ted Gioia

writes about the karma principle on social media and I think it sums up all the teachings on the subject perfectly.

—> When I set out on substack soon one year ago, I started at ground zero in terms of readership for Follow Your Gut. The twist: I had a backpack of 7 years of experience leveraging social media for my independent artist career.

The first few weeks I received a lot of questions as to why I didn’t migrate my list over here, or market to my socials (500k+ across platforms) and the answer was: I wanted to see if I could do it again. To grow an audience on a new platform and new medium from scratch (my main business is in modern hand embroidery and illustration).

It worked.

6 months later I had a couple thousand readers and reached bestseller writer shortly after. Then I exhaled and what happened the following three months is written Here.

Even the post bestseller-sprint experience comes back to Karma, I just hadn’t articulated my whereabouts as clearly as Ted just did.

I grew it with Karma and I had a Karma-driven energy crash right afterwards. I’m not alone by the way,

Remy Bazerque

recently wrote about Substack burnout in his own version of incredibly-relatable-rambling (so excited for his novel progress too - allez Remy!). There’s probably such a thing on every platform until we get our karma in balance, don’t you think?

So why do I find this wording to be such a lightbulb moment?

For the simplified energy flow illustrated by the concept of karma.

We get out what we put in. We receive the energy that we send out into the world.

That means, when we have clear missions of service and to show up, we’re more likely to receive more in return. There are never as low-income-seasons as when I need the money the most (so paradox, I know!). When we channel “I need to make money” vs. “I bloody love this work and would do this no matter the financial outcome”, we almost always make less.

The more we give the more we get. On Substack; the more one posts on Notes, the more one gains exposure and traffic (conversion and engagement are two other completely different things, but increased posting naturally equals increased traffic, which in turn equals increased opportunity for increase in engagement, conversion to paid AND IMPACT… phew).

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Ted also mentions influence, specifically the absence of his use of the word when referencing social media growth. He’s right in that the more we build authentic audiences, the more we channel the type of karma that we want to receive, the more influence we have as a natural byproduct.

But to focus on becoming influential is a bit like channeling the energy “come listen to me, because I know best” rather than “hey, look at this, you might love it too!” (The latter placing the receiver on the same wavelength, not below nor above, SAME).

Another example related to engagement, and something that we often get adviced to do here on Substack is to share thoughtful comments on other writer’s work. It’s true, of course, in the name of karma that we’ll build a stronger mutual karma exchange when we comment more thoughtful responses. But as

Tom Kuegler

has written about recently in his more personal musings, it’s not possible to keep it up at a constant at all times (Tom, btw, I enjoy your personal writing a lot!).

Not only do platforms change constantly (and I don’t think I’m alone in feeling like Substack is currently in a massive growth spurt with new changes every week?!), but the artists change constantly too.

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I’ve not had capacity to be as present on here over the summer as I was the first 6 months. It’s not that I’m less disciplined, less interested, less motivated. I just entered the season of recovery, reflection and tending to other parts of my personal and professional artist life.

The irony is that to just “let it be and hope for the best”, isn’t the solution either. It’s not like, “Ok then, f*ck it, I’ll just write whatever and not promote because it makes me feel yuck and it may disgust the audience anyway”.

There’s still a need to be actively involved. To channel your karma to your network. To actively try things; Just be intuitive about it.

The longer I write this publication Follow Your Gut, the more it gets clear that we all need to SIMPLIFY and listen to our guts more. Me included.

What makes sense? And what doesn’t?

• Overly generous can channel naivety or invite for less well-meaning readers to step over you like you don’t matter. Your kindness can be mistaken for naivety, and you don’t want to deal with the after-mess of that shit.

• Overly promoting can take away the love for the craft and make you disgusted by the entire thing. The audience may also recognize the disingenuous vibe and be less likely to connect with you (or buy).

• Overly personal can also steal the show. You may get curious and attached readers, but at the expense of what? Your own personal dignity and right to a private life? (Ps.

  Jojo Moyes
  wrote a brilliant essay about this recently Here )

I think, like with everything in life, that there are times for it all.

There are moments, like when in the midst of a campaign, during which you can show up and promote more. Those intense promotional seasons are ok (and your fans who wants to see you succeed don’t mind), if you allow yourself and your readers a break afterwards.

Be personal, but don’t step over your own boundaries. You’ll have an easier time to walk down the street without feeling like you have your entire life on display for Mr. Everybody.

Everyone doesn’t need to know everything about you. You can still be personal and intimate while keeping parts of yourself for you.

Relating it all to Karma, I think that by being intentionally intimate, as in writing about things that you want to share, channels the energy that you respect your own boundaries.

By asking people to upgrade in a matter-of-fact way rather than attempting to hide the sales pitch behind beautiful prose, you channel the energy that you value your own work and are confident about selling it.

People respect people that respect themselves, and by channeling respect you’ll set yourself up for a more mutually fulfilling exchange.

Just think about it, the overnight successes are almost always the result of years and years of nurturing. This doesn’t mean zero sales. It just means intuitively leaning into the seasons of ebb and flow in a natural and human way (reflecting the natural human existence of the receivers too.)

I can’t think of a better example of this than

Beth Kempton

and her soulcircle here on Substack. What an absolute inspiring story in every way; she’s an inspiration to us all for showing up genuinely and generously while recognizing her own value and asking readers to pay (which a thousand+ did within a short few months!).

All in all; Yes, social media just like real life is about karma. We get what we give, even if it doesn’t (rarely) feel that way, which probably reflects more about ourselves than others.

Thanks for reading!

Elin, xx

What’s your thoughts on social media Karma?

Ps. Looking for a mentor in the online art business space? I offer limited mentoring spots exclusively to my waitlist. You’re warmly invited to sign up Here to be notified when a spot opens ✨

For more reading, here are a couple recent pieces:

The myth about consistency that nobody talks about

The most important thing an Artist must do to grow their income

Pps, don’t miss to download “When Will You Get A Real Job” when you upgrade your readership 🥰