14 things we learn about growing our online brands from Austin Kleon’s book: Show Your Work!

The internet has made building an audience and establishing a personal brand easier than ever.

Yet, many creators hold back, waiting for the ‘perfect moment’ to share their work. What happens? Missed opportunities, hours of self-indulgent sulking, and ideas that we never get to enjoy.

Austin Kleon’s book Show Your Work! helps us flip this. Instead of hiding your process, Kleon argues that you should put it on display.

Here are 14 lessons inspired by reading Show Your Work! to help you grow your brand with confidence:

1. Share Your Process

Most creators focus only on the finished product, but people are often more interested in how you got there.

Sharing your process allows your audience to see the human side of your work — the struggles, breakthroughs, and lessons learned along the way.

For example, as well as sharing posts that teach, you can share an article about how you found an idea for a course you’re developing. This builds trust, advertises your new course, and shows that creativity can be messy.

Action Step: Choose one recent project and write a short post or email about a specific part of the process.

2. Embrace Being an Amateur

You don’t have to be an expert to share your ideas. This holds many back.

People often find amateurs more relatable because they’re learning, experimenting, and figuring things out in real time.

The key is to lean into your curiosity and share what excites you, even if you’re still learning.

3. Think in Small Chunks

Your audience doesn’t need a 5,000-word essay every time you post.

Breaking your ideas into bite-sized pieces makes them easier to create and keeps your audience engaged.

Think about sharing snippets, questions, snapshots, doodles, or even “unfinished” thoughts that invite your audience to engage with you. This approach works especially well on platforms like Substack Notes or Twitter, but it can be equally effective in newsletters and blog posts.

There’s no rule to say what type of content you share to stay in the minds of your followers.

Action Step: Take a larger project or idea and break it into smaller pieces. Share one piece as a standalone post or email, and invite your audience to engage with it.

4. Teach What You Know

Teaching is one of the fastest ways to build trust and authority. And no one has the experiences you’ve had — good and bad.

You don’t need to be an expert, only one step ahead of someone else. By teaching what you’ve learned, you help others avoid pitfalls, save time, and make progress faster.

You can teach through blog posts, social media updates, or even quick videos explaining how you approach a problem.

Action Step: Write a ‘How I Do It’ guide for something you know well, like your writing workflow, how you organise ideas, or a productivity hack that works for you.

5. Document, Don’t Create

If coming up with clever content ideas feels overwhelming, focus on documenting what you’re already doing. Gary Vaynerchuck also echoes this approach.

Share the books you’re reading, the projects you’re developing, details of your workspace and process, or even lessons from a failed project. It’s also a great way to build anticipation around upcoming new products.

Documentation turns everyday experiences into content. It helps you build a habit of sharing regularly because you’re not constantly searching for ‘original’ ideas. You’re just sharing what’s already happening.

Action Step: Post a ‘Day in the Life’ thread, blog, or email. Highlight small moments that reflect your creative process, like what inspired you, what you’re working on, or what you’re struggling with.

6. Tell Good Stories

Stories are one of the most powerful tools for connecting with your audience.

They make your ideas stick in their minds and create an emotional connection. Instead of just presenting facts or tips, frame them within a story.

Action Step: The next time you write a post or email, include a personal anecdote, funny moment, or story that illustrates your point. Think about a moment of struggle, triumph, or discovery your audience can relate to.

7. Don’t Wait for Perfection

Perfectionism gives you an excuse to avoid creating.

Be willing to look imperfect.

Sharing your work and its messier elements while it’s in progress shows you’re human on a path of growth (like they are).

8. Be Generous

Adopt a generous mindset.

You have endless things to share and infinite reasons to bring attention to your brand. Generosity is the foundation of trust and will serve you well when it comes to selling your products.

When you give freely — whether it’s advice, resources, or insights — you show your audience that you care about their success.

9. Create a Scenius

A “scenius” is a creative community where you exchange ideas and support each other on your creative mission.

Instead of working in isolation, surround yourself with other creators, engage with their work, and contribute to the conversation.

Action Step: Reach out to three people today who do things similar to yours. Talk to them without expectation. Make friends.

10. Show Up Consistently

Consistency builds trust and visibility.

Even if you don’t always feel inspired, shipping posts regularly signals reliability to your audience.

Documenting, curating ideas and sharing your own allows you to do this without stalling.

Action Step: Commit to a schedule that works for you (e.g., one weekly post or newsletter). Use a content calendar to plan your topics for the next month.

11. Learn to Take a Punch

Not everyone will love your work, and that’s okay.

Criticism is part of the process and should be expected. Instead of escaping to distractions because you’re sad, see it as feedback to learn from or use this as an opportunity to master handling criticism.

Action Step: The next time you receive criticism, ask yourself: Is there truth in this? If so, what can I learn? If not, let it go, see it as a sign you’re in the game, and keep creating.

12. Stick Around Long Enough to Get Lucky

Success takes time and many accumulated efforts.

As I’ve seen over the years, the longer you keep showing up, the more opportunities will come. Consistency and persistence often lead to the ‘lucky breaks’ or visibility surges people envy because they think it came all at once.

Action Step: Look back on one small win from the past month. Celebrate it with a cheeky dance, and use it as motivation to keep going.

13. Focus on Connection, Not Numbers

Your audience isn’t an amoebic mass of faceless entities. It’s a group of individual humans.

Focus on helping one person at a time. When I write, for example, I write to one person like I’m having a chilled discussion in a pub over a ginger ale.

Building meaningful relationships creates a loyal audience, even if your numbers are tiny.

There’s far more power in nurturing stronger individual connections than having loose connections in huge numbers.

14. Let Your Audience Shape Your Work

Your audience’s questions, struggles, and feedback are invaluable.

Listening to them helps you create content that aligns well with them and keeps you connected to exactly what they need help with. People love empathetic leaders.

Action Step: Ask your audience one question (e.g., “What’s your biggest challenge?”).

Use their responses to inspire your next piece of content.

If you’re looking to build your online brand this way, but you need help writing words that resonate more with your ideal readers, you’ll want the Online Writing Alchemy course, which shows you the 16 secrets that will transform your writing fast.

And if you’d like access to hundreds of locked articles like this one, you’ll want to become a paying subscriber here on Substack for less than the price of a couple of coffees each month: