This article is an excerpt from the upcoming Quit Aspiring, Vol. 2 – join the waiting list for upcoming pre-order access.

Did you know that Scrooge McDuck (yes, the famous Disney animated character) is the treasurer behind a completely legitimate, actually printed, worldwide legal currency?

In 1986, the Walt Disney company began issuing currency called “Disney Dollars” – complete with Mickey Mouse on the front, of course.  While you may think these were a fake currency used just to gain attention and be a souvenir for children, they are also legitimate legal tender pegged 1:1 to the United States Dollar and printed with actual anti-fraud measure embedded exactly like any other worldwide currency!

Though they were discontinued from printing in 2016, if you happen to have one, you can still exchange Disney Dollars at any Disney resort, cruise, private island, or for a tremendous markup on eBay.

Now, if it sounds like it would be fun to gain attention and print your own money like that, but you’re thinking to yourself “certainly I don’t have the resources or a working money printer…” well, I’ve got good news for you.

In this chapter, we’re going to cover 3 ways that you can consistently print your own social currency by demonstrating your audio experience, and grab the attention of hiring managers (who would be happy to give you a currency you can easily spend) in the process.  Such as…

1. Building a proper website that showcases your work
2. Consistently publishing short sound redesigns on social media
3. Regularly ‘documenting’ your work and ideas, wherever you’re most comfortable

Everyone knows that they need a website

But we’re also the worst at making websites that are an effective showcase of ourselves and what we do.  Instead, “make a website” is a project in our heads that we get excited about, spend 300,000 hours on, and then abandon forever because we’re exhausted from making it perfect.

But hey, our reel from 2 years ago that we also need to update is on the front page, right?!

A great professional website for your career as a sound designer or composer can look more like an ever-changing art gallery than it does a blog.  If a visitor (such as a hiring manager) came to your space and wanted to know more about you – they would want to experience the content you’ve made and get an idea of what you’re like as an artist.

In an art gallery, we can just walk in and see a collection of paintings by one artist and get an idea of what their work is like.  You want to create the same idea – but just keep it updated.

My favorite example of this is from sound artist, musician, and founder of Glitchmachines – Ivo Ivanov.  Below is an image of the “Modular” section of his site circa 2022 where he showcases music sketches he creates with his modular synthesis setup.

Ivo has work like this categorized all over his website (https://ivanovsound.com) for sound design, modular synthesis, albums, even custom built/painted instruments.  Including a bio, Ivo’s website is very literally a consistently updated gallery of his work – that’s it.

By putting this simple concept to use, you great a one-stop shop for prospective hiring managers to review all of your work (even relevant interests) and get a very clear picture of who you are and what you can do.

A personal gallery seems like it would be a lot of work, but it doesn’t have to be

You’re likely already putting out content on social media or some other platform – albeit most likely inconsistently.  I understand that it’s hard and frustrating to keep up with social media, and that’s a really good thing, because lots of people think it’s the magic bullet to get a job when really it isn’t.

But notice, Ivo has created a gallery of YouTube clips.  For you, this could be the same, or could be Instagram posts, Soundcloud links, whatever you tend to find yourself active on.

What I encourage is for you to consistently publish short (5-30 second) sound redesigns on social media.  This works well whether you’re a sound designer or composer – as if you’re a sound designer you can replace the sounds with your own, and if you’re a composer you can replace the music with your own.

Like Ivo, you can kill two birds with one stone through these posts – sharing and creating a gallery of your work on your own website.

(And yes, your reel on the front page is still a very good idea – and it can be built from content that’s in your “gallery”!)

In addition to the benefits you get from showcasing this work, you can also socialize by stirring up conversation around your work.  This takes a while to get going if you’re really starting from zero, but that’s okay.

First, I suggest posting quite a bit without expectation of anyone caring or noticing.  Then you’ll want to comment on design posts from other people and share encouragement about what you like about their work – this will slowly get those same people to share their thoughts with you.  Finally, you can reach out and ask designers you admire for specific feedback about one specific sound, layer, or idea from one of your posts.

Though this engagement is unlikely to get those at AAA companies hiring to notice you directly, it’s a great way to engage with people who work at said companies and begin to have them conversing with you.  Hopefully, they turn into friendships that blossom over time.

But remember, consistency is the key to this.  You don’t need to post publicly every day or even every week.  Though it can be impressive to see 100’s of posts, and designing every day will certainly improve your skills via rapid practice – constant sharing isn’t always necessary.  Just pick a schedule that seems to be attainable to you, and make a commitment to show up.

There are limitless ways to do this, so do what’s comfortable to you

Another option is to document your work via other means.  This could mean blogs, videos like Ivo has done, or other unique and interesting ways that pop up in the future.

Personally, I’ve become disengaged with social media more and more over time.  My work primarily lives on my own sites, however I still have to share it.  My sharing comes in the form of numerous smaller communities where I can still engage with peers and prospective clients through conversation and feedback.  And, I show up in those places consistently.

The key here isn’t for you to post on social media every day or follow and do exactly what everyone else is doing. What’s most important is for you to be practicing the act of auditory creativity, documenting it in the way that’s comfortable for you, creating a gallery, and sharing it with others.

(And, putting that gallery on your resume, of course!)

“But Adam I don’t get it.  Why do I have to make content all the time?  I don’t want to be a “content creator” – that gets exhausting!  Can’t people just come find me and appreciate me for my brilliance?!”

While it would truly be great if the phrase “if you build it, they will come” were true – you do need to engage other folks for them to pay attention to what you’re doing.

The good news is, as I said, you can do this on your own terms.  You don’t need to care about getting subscribers, followers, or likes – at all.  You don’t have to become a personality – at all.  You do need to create a body of work, and it’s wise to engage with your peers in game audio and talk about your work and theirs.  That doesn’t require anything but saying hi and trying your best to be friendly and positive.  No “Hey everybody – in this episode, like/subscribe/follow me on” or anything of the sort required.

And if the idea of creating things to share consistently feels intimidating – come up with one type of content to create and share (again, I suggest super short redesigns), create yourself some simple DAW and post templates to speed up the process, and get to it!

Okay, so we’ve talked a lot about making and sharing, but in specific we talked about:

1. Turning your website into an up-to-date “art gallery” (including your reel)
2. Create short redesign content that you can share in your gallery and on social media to share with others
3. You don’t need to be limited to social – create what comes natural to you, and you can even share it in smaller communities, but don’t create in a vacuum!

The coolest thing about currency is that it increases in value over time…

Those Disney Dollars that I mentioned before?  You can find them on eBay now for 30x or more above their original value.  One Pirates of the Caribbean dollar is selling for literally $100,000USD as I write this!

Just like those dollars, the more you keep this work up, the more the work you put in grows in value over time.  Hiring managers and peers value growth and consistency – so get started, and don’t give up on yourself!

Before you move onto the next chapter…

Decide what type of content you want to commit to, and start crafting a plan for how you’re going to redo your website and build content so that it’s easy for you to make and keep up-to-date.

I don’t want you going out and building a bunch of content.  Just write some ideas down that sound fun, then you can come back to them later.  Again, make them as small and as easy as possible!