The Vision of Sellcraft

A Little Context

I'm no expert, by any means, but I have been working in marketing for about 3 years now. Long before that, I used to be a conspiracy-theorist type woke dude who was very anti-capitalist (ads hypnotize the masses, etc.). 

I saw the "Start With Why" TED talk in 2011, started following GaryVee around 2018, and my understanding has certainly evolved over time. After I started working, I saw that the industry was filled with tons of confusion and mixed messages. 

• Clients had little to no understanding of the process, had unrealistic expectations, and their demands often conflicted with their own customers' needs.
• Specialists like graphic designers, photographers, SEO-folks, developers, and performance marketers had little to no understanding or respect for their fellow collaborators.
• There was an appalling disdain for marketing fundamentals, and a lot of entitlement around the table. 

Of course, this was only my personal experience working in Jaipur. Lacking any real mentors or people who knew what they were doing, I turned to the books of Seth Godin, Simon Sinek, Ann Handley, and others to learn the theory. 

I followed Ogilvy online, subscribed to Marketing Monk's newsletter, and spent hours listening to Rory Sutherland on YouTube. This is not too far off for most real professionals, but in my city (Jaipur), I still feel starved for good work. 

Of course, knowledge will only get you so far. As I continue taking courses, developing my skills, and building my portfolio, I've started sharing my learnings on this little blog.

Hopefully, people who come after me won't have to struggle quite as much. If you are one of these people, follow Aarti aka. The Sorted Girl, one of the few people killing it in India (who, once again, lives in Mumbai).

Why Sellcraft?

Many creatives, whether in writing, design, modeling, or other forms of art, find a good place in society through marketing (I myself am an aspiring comic book writer). But of course, clients just want to boost sales, and rightfully so!

My dad has always been a businessman, and mom has been trying to build her own sustainable textile business for more than a year now. I understand this quote very well:

"There are many ways to succeed in business, but only one way to fail: Run out of money."

While I've always tried my best to respect my client's business models, when it comes to many customer-facing aspects (especially for content), they tend to go out the window. It's challenging to justify employees recording videos of themselves when it's a tech company.

The idea behind Sellcraft is simple: it's a place where I can bridge that gap with the basics of business, marketing, and storytelling. This idea may evolve over time and simplify further.

The Business Issue

I've found that many of my clients' businesses often become unviable when faced with growth. It's like fitness: we all know the basics, but actually applying them consistently enough to enjoy the results seems almost impossible for so many.

Initially, I had the bright idea of trying to be a consultant, but that quickly went out the window. As a marketer, the client wants you to help them grow, not tell them how to run their house. Plus, every business is so damn complex that you couldn't really do a good job across the board anyway.

Yet, we need to know the basics of good business for our own reasons:

• To understand which clients we can meaningfully serve with our current offerings.
• For integrating our expertise with the client's mode of operations.
• Making strategies that work, knowing where to invest, and giving good advice.

Marketing does involve manipula... err, I mean, spectacular but often short-sighted practices. While I was dismissive of these at first, there is definitely a time and place for these. That's the "Sell" part of this blog.

The Creator's Conundrum

Most professionals don't see themselves as creators, but based on my experience, clients don't want that. Clients consistently demand "creative" deliverables with a "wow" factor. This can only be achieved when artistic energy is grounded by a systematic approach.

Why artists create:

• To express themselves, explore their ideas, and receive recognition for their work.
• For the simple, personal pleasure of creating things.
• Making something valuable, getting compensated for it, and repeating the process.

Yet it's all too common to get stuck in "production hell," where you end up spinning your wheels, scrutinizing every detail to chase perfection, or struggling to balance "doing it for them" vs. "doing it for you."

A Shared Solution

Business folks just want to make money. Whether they earn it honestly or win by being clever is a personal preference. Meanwhile, creators just want to create, for themselves or for others. 

In an ideal world, industrious people can focus on their work and get paid, while artists can create their vision without worrying about their daily bread. In the barter days, shepherds would tend to their sheep, farmers would grow apples, and they'd exchange what they had to offer.

What's stopping us from achieving that today?

Business folks don't really do much other than work; that's why this blog is not for them. But as marketers, artists, coders, and creators, we can learn the basics of selling our crafts to better empower our clients.

That's what Sellcraft is all about. It's a place where I can discover the type of work I want to do for many years. It's where I can follow my heart and explore my interests as they take me down the rabbit hole of marketing, sales, and business. It's how I want to become a better storyteller.

As a mission statement:

"Sellcraft mixes the art of storytelling with the science of sales."