Self promotion, pride, hierarchy and ego - The Bear and Badger

Billy

I'm self employed, so should be fighting for work. And while I go to industry events to have a good drink and socialise I don't tend to bother with business cards, I figure those in the same industry as me should know my work by now. Wrong, I need cards, new people coming in don't have a clue what happened 3 or more years ago.

But I'm just not that bothered, I've always preferred to make friends rather than contacts. Worked so far, have some.long term friends in the industry who I see occasionally which is lovely, and some I work with more regularly.

What about on facebook, I'm in some fairly good and active groups where people in my field of work discuss various issues. There's a lot of chest beating to be sure, tends not to be from Brits, the Americans are more blatant about it, but lots from all over do it even if its subtly woven into a constructive reply where you also big yourself up.

I tend to stop myself from getting involved in such discussions online, firstly I think its highly unlikely any really good exposure or work would ever come of it, but it just seems so meaningless, I don't mean in the way that facebook often consists of cat pictures and people moaning. All this content is on topic and focussed, but in so many posts there's seems to be some kind of effort to gain a 1 up. Fuck the 1 up why aren't people humble.

Anyone else have this? Have you replied in a drunken state and called someone out for being cocky? I sure as fuck would but it doesn't help anyone so thankfully I haven't.

Eh, pride, ego, hierarchy, social media, not a pleasant cocktail.

Just a rant, feel free to leave your own bizarre work/image/pride related rants below, I wont judge.

g.man

I'm self employed and I enjoy my work. If I did social media I'd probably be out of a job by Monday, so I don't.

Brooks

The way many private lives have had to become a 24/7 Branding Exercise to survive is one of the surest omens I can think of that capitalism is due a crushing.

Brooks

Webcomms are turnbased gaming where IRL is action gaming so irl always betar

Billy

g.man wrote:

I'm self employed and I enjoy my work. If I did social media I'd probably be out of a job by Monday, so I don't.

Do you have an long term relationship with clients? I would assume (forgive me if I'm wrong) that you are in a pool of go to guys for particular job and therefore you are generally busy and have nothing to gain for other means of promotion? Some people have a knack for self promotion on social media and I definitely don't, so I'm with you there, far too blunt and opinionated to be allowed to express actual real stuff on social media.

I use social media for mainly keeping in touch with friends and occasionally showing off if I've gone to a nice part of the world or done something worth of sharing. I also use it for occasional questions about work stuff where I'm mindful of my wording so as not to sound like a twat to my peers.

Brooks you're right it can become a bizarre turn based game where each person is trying to answer the others question, 1up everyone, make themselves look cool while still being busy and humble. The mind boggles, yet it infuriates.

I think some people are good at doing it without pushing it too far, so while I may see it, as a massive sceptic, others might get right involved.

Got a macallan on the go now, much better

b0r1s

I'm self employed but contracting now as I couldn't be arsed at being in the business and running the business. It's a hard slog. When I was running a web business all our work came from recommendation from previous work we had done. Enough to keep two guys going for 5 solid years, but it just became a ballache.

Not sure about other industries but the freelancers that do well in the web industry and I'm talking really well are those that evangelise a particular specialism and do it really well. Social media doesn't really come into it, except maybe to push out content. It's more showing ability and knowledge through a combination of portfolio work and thought leadership type articles. That in itself is still hard work having to write good articles, manage your site and run your business.

[Deleted User]

Facebook is for my personal life not work.
LinkedIn I use a fair bit, it is handy for picking up last minute jobs. People show off their work often but not in a bulshy way and generally open to a mix of compliments and crit.

People tend to be pretty humble in what I do, there is a culture of helping each other, likely developed because the software is so complex and varied. Even the best of the best will forget things or not have used certain techniques.
That being said there is a distinct lack of industry events beyond tech tradeshows. It's not like film/tv /music where getting smashed every few months appears to be standard.

Gamermike

I was self employed for 3 years in motion graphics, and like Boris, I was lucky enough that I didn't need to do much self promotion as one video/animation often snowballed into more work. Then suddenly, out of nowhere last year, business all dried up. I blame a few things for this happening and it was a learning experience, but doing very little self promotion certainly contributed to this and should have seen it coming.

I spent Jan-April last year sorting the website, updating the showreel etc. The worst of it was that 90% of the content I created within the 3 years previous were under NDA so I couldn't use them to promote myself, so had to rely on what I could get permission for and the odd personal project. Thankfully during this time I had something else to fall back on so I was still working.

I'm now in full time employment doing the same thing without the stress/worry and leaving the freelance stuff as the odd job now and then, which has been great for me. It obviously has its pros and cons, but for me, the motion work has gone back to being a hobby again. So whenever I post something new on my website, update something on Facebook/Linkedin/Vimeo, its just showing friends, family, colleagues a glimpse what i'm currently working on, or the finished video (NDA permitting). I link all the posts so that on the odd occasion I do share something on the website, it will then spread across all the social media sites, and I can track where its been the most successful in terms of clicks, views and responses. I actually find the analytics side of things interesting. LinkedIn has been useful as I get far more business related enquires through that.

I don't post updates to show off or boast though. its just not me, but I do take great pride in something I have enjoyed making and am excited to show it. My animations are designed to be watched of course so it makes sense for me to want to share them. Comments, positive or critical, are part and parcel obviously. I do get asked the odd technical question, or 'how did you do that' and tutorial requests. I guess thats the opportunity for me to show off a bit, but I much prefer and welcome those sorts of responses.

poprock

Gamermike wrote:

I 90% of the content I created within the 3 years previous were under NDA so I couldn't use them to promote myself ….

That is a universal pain. I chose the company/studio route for myself rather than sole trader and we still hit that problem.

[Deleted User]

I gamble a bit with NDA stuff.
A lot of presumption involved, although a suprising amount of companies forget to get me to sign anything.

The worst NDA stuff I get is interior design work. As it is someone's house the NDA lasts forever.

Matt_82

My life for the next few years will be self promoting on Facebook and whatnot while I get my photography business up and running. It's not something I'm looking forward to.

b0r1s

Liveinadive wrote:

I gamble a bit with NDA stuff. A lot of presumption involved, although a suprising amount of companies forget to get me to sign anything. The worst NDA stuff I get is interior design work. As it is someone's house the NDA lasts forever.

NDA's don't come into play that much, unless you get into that competitive area then they could fuck you.

I remember I had a client who was friends with another client. Anyway, not thinking (stupid) because they were friends I let slip something about a new business venture, not the detail just the gist. He obviously mentioned it to her and she emailed me threatening to sue my ass. I obviously shit it for a second, but managed to patch up the relationship.

I've now got £2m worth of professional indemnity insurance to cover me for legal shit. £20 a month, but so worth it.

g.man

Billy wrote:

g.man wrote:

I'm self employed and I enjoy my work. If I did social media I'd probably be out of a job by Monday, so I don't.

Do you have an long term relationship with clients? I would assume (forgive me if I'm wrong) that you are in a pool of go to guys for particular job and therefore you are generally busy and have nothing to gain for other means of promotion?

Yes and no. I'm certainly known for certain types of work, but you can always be better known. A lot of people in my business do the old social meedja, but me, I wear my heart on my sleeve and have never been much of a shmooser. I prefer to let my reputation do the talking probably more than I really should.

I do alright tho

g.man

Facewon

Brooks wrote:

The way many private lives have had to become a 24/7 Branding Exercise to survive is one of the surest omens I can think of that capitalism is due a crushing.

This might be one of your best posts.

Escape

g.man wrote:

I'm certainly known for certain types of work

Friend of a Facebook friend (who isn't really a friend) is one of those pyramid types. The confidence of those people is astounding. A sociopathic warping of reality for your own ends is bad enough, but to do it behind a shield of miss-world-bunnyisms - you know, yer 'wellness' push - is absurd. Especially in mind of the money she makes.

The more humble we are, the harder it is to get lucky.

poprock

Escape wrote:

The more humble we are, the harder it is to exploit others for personal gain.

Billy

Interesting reading here, hats off to all of you who've been a sole trader, small company whether you still do it or not.

Recently an old friend who started working in games a couple of years ago and who I don't see often, asked me on Facebook if I'd left the video games industry as he had heard as such. Well I must be doing something wrong if an old friend doesn't know that all I've done is start up my own company doing stuff for games and film. I'm possibly too afraid of coming across as a self promoting twat that I don't do enough!

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