Apr 11
False Positives: Chapter Nineteen
Creative people who put their work on the internet for the public ~ are the bravest people in the working world. Hands down.
This is the false truth of a positive experience which is being creative ~ for a living.
It’s eas?. Nope.
It’s liberating? Nope.
It’s a preferred way of life? Hell no. But also … yeah.
Many creative people are also introverted or quiet and they enjoy their privacy. Having to be online to sell their work? Whew! That’s a tough one.
Finding a creative way to be creative online while also sustaining your financial health is the key.
The way the internet just shreds people on a professional or personal level, is NOT easy, effortless or enjoyable.
The creativity is such a strong calling that it is worth the risk.
Some people are showing us how they are making a very lucrative career out of being creative online. An example is one woman shared a video in 2022 that she made $300,000 selling candles in just 2 years? Another has million followers and $178,000 in just one year by holding writer sprints and publishing as a ghost writer.
I just saw a job on a large freelance page where someone was offering to pay a writer just $250 for 120,000 words. So? Where are all these 6-figure gigs coming from?
Some are grinding 14 hour days and others? Lying about it with the ‘fake it ‘till you make it, philosophy.
I got on TikTok last November after my dog died ’cause I was heartbroken and needed a distraction. “It’ll be funny,” they said. “You will laugh more,” they said.
In the first two months after adjusting my algorythms to NOT see a whole lot of saucy Tok ~ there were two people who were shock-value controversial with 2–3 million followers each, implode. Hundreds of others talked about the implosion which lead to 90 million people seeing the final confession of shame/blame/drama/soap opera shinanigans …. and BAM! They are both gone.
I think.
I unfollowed all of that ~ why on earth is THAT how we’re entertaining ourselves these days.
Find your niche! Try different things!
My kid’s high school friend now has over a million followers ~ making a very successful living as an entertainer with a unique niche. He’s funny and … I’m happy for him. He got his ask kicked in high school for being himself, which is now, his super power.
I was posting nice things, upbeat stuff and cats. I had “liked” this one licensed therapists’ content about 200 times. Not a word back and I was okay with that. Then, he used a quote from a toxic, awful yet, popular person in the psychology world ~ opening the can of worms was ~ he was part of the toxic masculinity cult following of some giant controversial (he-man, woman-hater- club researchers) ~ I said, “Why did you choose him?”. No other context.
He immediately slammed me by calling me a ‘gaslighter’ … this dude works with narcissists and trauma survivors :o And yet … immediately ACTED like one!
Not sure why I’m so shocked every time to discover that a toxic creator who bullies people is doing that to every and anyone who disagrees with him, but it is what it is.
I blocked him and clearly …. unliked his page. + now, I feel deeply sorry for his clients ~ after doing a little recon ~ I also found out where he works ~ a male dominated, dangerous location. It’s the thug life all around for that ‘bad ass dude’ … **rolls eyes back into her head** I learned that several of the male psychology content creators LOVED that toxic waste that is their cult leader. It’s so flipping sad.
He was a fan of the now disgraced professor who is infamous for manipulating and harrassing students AND, was fired from a tenured job (one where you can’t get fired unless you do something horrendous).
He turned to his ability to look cool and edit TikToks to the tune of 500,000 followers. The dude I blocked and unfollowed.
Me?
Cats and positive supportive, nice things to say ~ 100 followers ~ 1/2 of whom are also trolls that immediately started following me with their faceless, nameless identities, immediately after I commented on someone else’s post. I think I have a whole 144 now, but when I started talking about women aging … I lost a few who liked all the filtered pics. *eye roll*
The TWO times I said, “come on psychology, we can do better” ~ got hundreds of views. Scandal!
It’s as if social media is a breeding ground for toxic sludge OR, popularity contest for the controversial.
Chris Kardashian is the best marketing content creator out there ~ look at how she turned her family into a product/brand/social media phenom. Say what you want ~ those people are in ALL the mouths of all the people, who love them and hate them. They don’t care. They get paid either way.
So? How do the creative do it?
- They are sexy and just narcissistic enough to play into sex appeal or other base human desires.
- They are miraculously talented at a particular skill set.
- They drum up scandal so that the addicted to drama types will follow them.
- They are the human epitome of the Artful Dodger!
It’s all working!
Some people are using quotes from books by typing them in a pre-made font onto nice paper and selling it on ETSY ~ not their paper, not their words, and not their font ~ NO credit given to any of the originals but they know how to upcycle other people’s work as their own ~ then calling themselves cultivators.
Or, there are those who sell playlists ~ calling themselves ‘curators’ of culture, then ~ without a single original idea ~ selling “concepts” … digital art … NFP’s are the biggest con job I’ve ever seen ~ and I have lived a life under the shadows of conmen. I saw an ad on YouTube where a woman was bragging about having a six figure book gig wihtout having to write a word! She was selling her ‘course’ on how to get away with stealing from actual writers!
Creative people ~ are creative to say the least but … there is a down side that’s so much bigger than anyone who works in an office, a bank, a school, a corporation ~ their work is out there in the wind to be criticized by the public.
People who do or do not have an eye for the work ~ it’s criticized.
Art when exposed ~ it’s the bravest thing any artist can dream of.
Music when shared ~ is open season for listeners.
Writers ~ will be publicly hung to dry if they … well, breath.
Someone somewhere is going to HATE your work.
Someone somewhere else is going to love it to the point of needing more of it.
So if you are crafting digital content, or words to page, or paint splatters to fit a mood, or fabric to garnish a human body ~ you are the bravest creators out there.
No matter what
No matter where
Somebody somewhere is going to love you for doing what you do.
Instead of focusing on the ONE time someone hurts you, focus on the 200 times that someone supports you.
Then ~ figure out how to get paid for your work.
Remember ~ “It costs that much ’cause it takes us f*cking hours. It costs that much ’cause we don’t have super powers” ~ I know you were singing that and can hear it in your head.
Peace, love and all things creative.
KH
K. Aren Henry, @InkHoneyPub & @HappinessNoir dot com
You can find me on Insta @inkhoneypub and henryhealing.com
On TikTok, I’m @Ink1925 on Instagram, I’m @Inkhoneypub ~ same for Twitter.
i’m happy to align with nice people ~ trolls ~ i’m at the point in my life where I am not afraid to talk about what monsters do. Just sayin’, not sorry.
