Career Cheat Codes and Building a Personal Brand: ART WORLD EDITION with Courtney Johnson

<p>In this episode, I sat down with Courtney Johnson, career strategist, social media expert, and author of <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Career-Cheat-Codes-Unspoken-Unfiltered/dp/0349447659" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">⁠Career Cheat Codes.⁠</a></p><p><br></p><p>Courtney is someone who built an audience of <em>millions</em> by loudly and openly sharing some hard truths about career advice:</p><ul><li><p>Working hard in silence is not a strategy, and it won’t get you extra “humility” points.</p></li><li><p>Visibility is a skill.</p></li><li><p>Knowing how to make the right people aware of what you do is just as important as doing it well.</p></li></ul><p>Her “<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@courtney..johnson/video/7306635423173086510" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Problematic Career Cheat Codes</a>” series went viral on TikTok before becoming a book, which is itself a masterclass in the very principles she writes about.</p><p>In this episode, we talk about <em><strong>what personal brand actually means</strong></em> for people who would never describe themselves as content creators and about <em><strong>how the art world might be one of the industries that needs this conversation most urgently</strong></em>. We get into the unspoken rules of competitive, gatekept industries, <em><strong>how to convert visibility into opportunity</strong></em>, and what it looks like to <em><strong>build a career with intention</strong></em> rather than just accumulating experience and hoping someone notices. We also compare notes as two authors who have recently released books on career-building in very different worlds, which made for a conversation I found incredibly useful not only for listeners but also for my own thinking and growth.</p><p>I think this episode will resonate whether you work in the arts or not, and if you do work in the arts, it might reframe a few things you’ve been told in terms of what it means to go down predetermined paths or what it means to create your own from scratch.</p><p>Thank you Courtney for coming on the podcast! </p><p><br></p><p>- - - - - </p><p>If you love what we do, support ALL ABOUT ART on PATREON!  <a href="https://www.patreon.com/allaboutart" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">⁠https://www.patreon.com/allaboutart⁠</a></p><p><br></p><p>Keep up to date on Instagram @allaboutartpodcast  <a href="https://www.instagram.com/allaboutartpodcast/ " target="_blank" rel="noopener norefer