ASLU 009: How Working Creatives Can Inspire Others By Giving Back
In Episode 9 of the And She Looked Up Creative Hour, we wrap up our April theme of Inspiration by talking about the ways we, as working creatives, can give back to our communities by inspiring others. And, how that in turn, can result in an extra dose of inspiration for us!
If you have ever wondered if your work matters or if you have ever stung from comments like “but when are you going to get a ‘real’ job?” and the like, if ever there was a time in our recent history where the impact of our work is visible, it’s now.
We recorded this episode just as countries all over the world were asking their citizens to self-distance and stay at home. And it’s content creators, artists and makers who are making this situation bearable for many. Crafting blogs, DIY blogs and food blogs are seeing record traffic. People are consuming movies, shows, music and concerts from on-line streaming services with a voracious appetite. Parents are looking for ways to keep their children busy with on-line art classes or virtual museum tours. Adults are bread baking, trying to learn watercolour painting or taking on-line classes on how to doodle.
Without us, none of that content, none of that art, none of that music… none of it would exist. Yes. Our work matters. Every day.
Patrick Stewart is reading a Shakespearean sonnet a day to his audience. The Arkells are teaching guitar classes online. The Vancouver Symphony live streamed a Beethoven performance on Facebook. The Shedd Aquarium is letting their penguins take tours of the facility and sharing them with their audience. All of these groups are finding creative ways to give back to those that support them.
Many of them do it because entertaining and creating for others runs through their veins and it’s something they have to do. Because they feed off the energy that creating for others can generate. They feed off the energy of seeing a fan be inspired to pick up a guitar, a Sharpie marker or make a loaf of bread. And this is why purposefully working to inspire others by giving back to your community can in turn send that creative energy right back to you!
We also want to point out that giving back to your community can send a lot of benefits back to your business simply by word of mouth, increased loyalty or providing more one on one access to you.
Listen To the Episode
Here’s a direct link to Episode 9 or you can listen via the player below:
How Can I give Back to My community?
There are so many ways you can give back to your community through inspiring them. Some are easy and can take a few minutes of your day. Others are more intentional and time consuming but can pay back with bigger rewards. Here’s a few you can try:
Be A Connector
This is a simple one that we can all do. Connect your audience to other creators they might enjoy. Simply doing things like a "#FollowFriday on twitter or Instagram where you give a shoutout to the work of others that you enjoy or profiling other creatives on your website or linking to their work in your own content are all easy ways you can be a connector. Your audience will find new people to be inspired by and the people who’s work you share will appreciate the mention!
Share Your Work
This might sound so ridiculously obvious but if it was that obvious more of us would do it more consistently! Yes there is the obvious way to share your work via social media which, by the way, has the potential to inspire hundreds and thousands of new people if you’re not already using it. But think of other ways you can share your work.
Currently a lot of creators who’ve relied on one or two channels to get their work are finding that some of those channels have dried up overnight with the current health concerns all over the globe. Live events are gone. Craft markets are gone. In person classes, gallery showings and concerts are all gone for the time being. Always be thinking about other avenues to share your work. Don’t be afraid of new technologies that can help you teach on line, perform online or sell online.
If your creative business is on-line what would happen if you lost your social channels or your website traffic tanked overnight because of something catastrophic? How else could you get your work out there? Could you create a physical product or teach a class?
If you only sell on Etsy, you’re limiting the number of people who have access to your work. Where else can you sell your work? On your own website? At markets? Through curated web galleries?
Does getting your work out there have to revolve around getting paid all the time? No not at all. One of the best ways to inspire others is to simply come from a place of service. Find ways you can help make things better for others (it will make you feel good, we promise!)
Could you team up with others and offer a free clinic or workshop?
Could you create something to share for free?
Could you let somebody use one of your photos or recipes or craft templates to open up your work to new audiences?
Could you offer a quick tutorial once a week on Facebook Live?
Nobody can be inspired by your work if they can’t find it. They also can’t buy it if they can’t find it. So share, share, share!
Teach What You Know
Teaching is a very interactive process. And it allows you to deeply impact and inspire others. Think back to your school days - we all have a handful of teachers who made a tremendous impact on the people we’ve become. You can do that for others!
You can teach the technical skills of how to do something: how to paint a bird, how to sew a dress, how to take a macro photo, how to bake a loaf of bread.
Or you can teach your process: how you style a dish to get your signature high contrast overhead look, your process for editing photos that have an ethereal feel, how you go about designing necklaces that are striking and bold.
These are two very different things and attract different audiences but both audiences are looking for inspiration as well as an experience that gives them confidence and skills. And an inspired audience will tell their friends!
Teaching is also a wonderful business opportunity and teaching two different kinds of programs can let you offer different price points. People will usually invest more to learn how to edit their photos in a way that’s inspired by your signature style than they will to learn the basics of how to use a camera.
Work With Other Age Groups
This also falls into the teaching realm to a certain extent, but working with other age groups (and peer groups) outside of your own is a wonderful way to give back and to receive inspiration.
Young children have a remarkable curiosity about everything, rampant imaginations - not to mention an innate need to create. Spending a few hours with kids can make you see things that normally pass you right by and remind you of the joy of just messing around with finger paints, decorating cakes with gummy worms or making up a story about monsters that live in the garage.
Teens question everything - they can challenge you and your thoughts and make you see outside the box. They’re usually also by fare the tech savviest of us all and know how to get people to notice things. You can learn a lot from working with these kids!
Seniors have a wealth of knowledge and experience to draw on. They want an outlet to tell their stories or a chance to try something new - often in a social setting. Creating with them is as much a social experience as a creative one. They also tend to be much less uptight about exploring something new and less afraid of it not turning out perfectly.
Working with seniors grappling with dementia or physical difficulties can be very rewarding and art can be a form of therapy for them while give us lessons in patience and persistence. The same can be said of working with any age group that is struggling with physical or developmental challenges.
Offering People a Mental Health Outlet
While very few of us are licensed therapists or councilors but, don’t underestimate the impact we can have on the mental health of others. As mentioned above, working with people with physical, developmental or memory challenges can help both them and ourselves.
But even those who don’t have to manage those kinds of challenges can benefit from doing something creative. You can offer them that outlet. It could be creating free colouring worksheets people can download from your website, teaching an on-line class on how to make sticky buns, or offering free patterns for beginner knitters. Or it could simply be creating content that entertains or soothes: like a short comedic film or painting that makes somebody smile or a YouTube video speed paint set to soft music.
Mentoring
One of the reasons behind the name And She Looked Up is that through most of her career, Melissa struggled to find strong female role models in her various positions. She really wanted to “look up” and see that person who went before her succeeding. She wanted to find a woman a few rungs above her on the ladder reaching back with an outstretched hand to give her a boost up. We are all looking for that. So when she felt like she had some expertise to offer, it was important for her to find a way to give it back to others who might find it useful.
This is where mentoring can be such a powerful experience for both the person mentoring and the person being mentored. It’s a way to give back what you have taken out. You will learn just as much from the relationship as the person you are working with. And it’s a wonderful way to pay forward any help that you’ve received from others in your career and give back to your industry and your community.
Mentoring is a one to one relationship. Usually you won’t have more than one mentoree at a time and the relationships are usually long term - anywhere from a year to a lifetime in some cases. A mentor is not a paid position - it really is rooted in developing new talent, giving back and future planning. You’re not intimately involved in every aspect a person’s career. You’re more of a guide who waits in the wings until you’re needed, offering advice when asked, providing networking opportunities and introductions and providing honest feedback.
In return you will find inspiration from somebody who comes at things with fresh enthusiasm, brings new ideas to the table and you may find they breathe fresh air and influence your own work as much as you inspire them.
Finding space to give back
Finding space to give back is both a literal and figurative piece of the puzzle.
Finding Places You Can Teach Or Share Your Experiences or Your Work
How do you find the spaces to give back? Here’s a list to help you get started: (obviously some of these will need to wait until we can stop responsible social distancing!)
on-line teaching portals
your social media channels
networking events
speaking engagements
physical spaces you can rent to teach or run workshops: try libraries, rec centres, churches, shared office spaces, apps that specialize in short term rentals, shared art studios
seniors community centres or care homes
your local parks and rec department who plans children’s and adult programming
your local school district’s night school or community ed programs
community colleges
your alumni association
your local business improvement association or chamber of commerce
veteran’s organizations
Finding The Time
It’s important to be intentional about giving back - especially when it’s more than simply writing a cheque. You need to carve out time to be of service in your calendar just like you would doing your books, marketing your work and actually creating.
Don’t push it down because it’s not an obvious revenue generator (although it certainly can be!). It gives back in ways other than money that can be just as important to your work and your mental health.
Getting paid
Giving back isn’t about getting paid. But at the same time, it can have a real monetary benefit to your business. A lot of the teaching opportunities will be paid. But more importantly, the connections and relationships you develop through giving back will usually pay you back in ways you can’t even imagine - and yes, a lot of them will be financial.
Developing new ways to meet your audience on their terms and serve them can open up new revenue streams you never even considered before, which can make your business more resilient when it faces unexpected challenges. It gives you options for pivoting when new technologies or opportunities present themselves. It can inspire ideas for new products or services you can offer and new directions from your creativity.
Don’t be afraid to be compensated for your work - just recognize that compensation doesn’t have to be money. As long as you receive value in return for the value of what you give then everything will work its way out.
But at its heart, what we do has to come from a place of service, of giving to those who support us. And you’ll be rewarded in return.