Fire Tips: 7 Ways to Market Yourself and Create a Personal Website

My ultimate guide to building, designing, and promoting your persona and portfolio.

Earlier this week, I was listening to the latest episode of my favorite podcast, Giggly Squad, and the hosts, Hannah and Paige, brought up a topic that made me feel like they’d been spying on me. They both admitted that they “were sick of themselves.” They were tired of being in their heads, wrapped around thoughts about their own issues, to-do lists, concerns... They wondered if it was a side effect of being in your thirties and if becoming a parent forces you out of that narcissistic, narrow focus.

The parenthood point took their convo in a different direction, but I was blown away by how, mere days earlier, I had personally told several people, “I’m sick of myself.” Maybe it was the post-birthday guilt of attention. More likely, it resulted from a five-month stretch of writing about my career journey, promoting my work, and pitching new people with my story and services.

I had given myself the ick. (Has this ever happened to you?)

And we know how strong the ick can be once it hits… so how do you recover from it?

I listened to Giggly as I drove to Westport, CT, for a special book signing. Gray Malin, the LA-based fine art photographer famous for his aerial shots of iconic beaches worldwide, was launching his latest book, DOGS. Gray and I went to college together. We had great conversations and laughed at parties, and I visited him when he first moved to LA. It’s been years since we’ve seen each other but I’ve been cheering him on since his farmer’s market days when he set up a booth to try and sell his photos. Now, his work is everywhere, from celebrities’ living room walls to swim trunks, luggage sets, and phone cases. I’m so damn proud of him, and his hug was as strong as if we’d seen each other last week.

The line for his book signing snaked far beyond the door of Serena & Lily. People (including me) brought their pups to meet Gray, who had staged elaborate photoshoots for this book with various fluffy friends in infamous locales like The Beverly Hills Hotel and the ski slopes of Aspen. To celebrate his work, Gray met stranger after stranger and nuzzled dog after dog, smiling for a photo with each person and writing a cheeky note like, “Let’s pawty!” in each attendee’s copy.

It was so much work. Plus, he had just done the Today Show that morning and was heading to Brooklyn to do a second signing that night. That is one full self-promo day. Still, Gray had not one inkling of ick emanating from his gracious and lovely demeanor.

I realized that’s the key. As much as you may be sick of yourself, when it comes to promoting yourself or your work, you need to realize that these pursuits are bigger than you. And, they’re not really for you—they’re for the people who benefit from your talent. The people who find joy, inspiration, or community in what you’re putting out into the world. You owe it to them to keep publicizing what it is you’re trying to do or accomplish, even if you personally feel like it’s played out.

That’s how you get un-sick of yourself.

So, thank you, Gray, for that reminder. I’m back in the right headspace with the right motivation (you, my readers) to keep sharing what I have to offer to the greater good.

---

Let’s start with some of my fire tips for how to market yourself and create your own personal site: