A dance with possibility and empathy.
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Notes
The fear: selling is taking from the person you’re selling to. “Small-scale theft, all day every day.”
Reframe: selling is the chance to solve a person’s problem
- Doctors prescribe insulin not to sell it, but to save a life
- Car dealers (who can have a bad reputation) create value if they steer you away from a lemon and into a car that will serve you well
- Songwriter who promotes a song is creating a hit that becomes “part of your history and cultural vocabulary.”
“Selling is simply a dance with possibility and empathy.” See and serve the audience, and one of two things will happen:
- You will learn what’s not working in your craft; or
- They’ll learn that you’ve created something magical, that they’ve been waiting for
Thoughts
It’s interesting that the example of selling that the songwriter does involves “creating a hit.” That’s a big ask, given the previous two chapters about types of good and the confusion around “hits.” One might say it’s confusing, even.
That said, I appreciated the reframing of selling. I don’t know if it will ever work in my mind; I am that “amateur” that feels like selling is taking (even though it’s actually exchanging, and even if it’s done ethically). This is especially true when my “audience” is, as it is now, primarily friends and family.
And, in typical fashion, I suffer under another double standard. I am eager to pay friends and family when they put things in the world. I’ve bought books by colleagues, friends, friends’ relatives, my own relatives. I’ve hired friends for artwork—and not only have I been happy to pay, I’ve insisted that they charge me more.
Yet when I consider what I’ll do when I finish the album (and I like the optimism of “when,” not “if I ever”), I’m pretty squeamish.
One thing that makes it easier, I guess: it’s common to put music up on streaming services, which people can enjoy for free. So no one has to pay to access the music. Maybe that will ease the pressure of my double standard.
This series is meant to capture my thoughts as I work through Seth Godin’s The Practice. It’s a book with over 200 (very short) chapters, which I hope to work through and, I further hope, to implement over time.
If you’re interested in more of Godin’s ideas, or my thoughts about them, you can check out this collection of posts. Note that if you’re more interested in the former, you should probably get Godin’s book and read it yourself; my notes will be both incomplete and idiosyncratic, and my thoughts will relate to my own experience.
But if my thoughts resonate with you, or if you think I’m just silly, I welcome your comments.