Sales for Creatives Who Hate Selling

Hating sales might be your biggest strength in sales. Here’s why.

Aug 08, 2025

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“Sales” is profanity in the creative world.

It might also be the most emotional challenge I hear about from creative founders.

“I need to get better at selling my work but—I hate it. I feel like selling cheapens my work and I’m not a salesperson. I don’t want to become someone I’m not just to make money.”

We’re getting to the core of building a business around your work with this one. Do you have to compromise the integrity in your work—or yourself—to make a living from creative work?

If I thought the answer to that question was “yes,” I wouldn’t be doing this. No career is worth losing yourself.

But I get it. We’ve all avoided overbearing salespeople at the mall, chasing us down to pressure us into a deal we don’t want. Creative founders rightfully don’t want to become that.

The good news is that you don’t have to. In fact, you shouldn’t.

That sales approach doesn’t work for any business. Especially not yours.

Shifting Consumer Perceptions

The biggest reason it doesn’t work? Nobody wants it. I haven’t researched this, but I’m pretty sure not one person in human history has ever asked for a salesperson to pressure them.

Beyond that, the evidence against high-pressure sales—and in favor of a selling approach that’s more natural for creatives—is overwhelming. Four consumer trends tell the story:

Consumers are more informed than ever. We have the entirety of human knowledge in our pockets. And we use it to make decisions about what we buy before a salesperson has a chance to talk to us. Consumers who show up armed with knowledge are hard to pressure.
We’re also increasingly wary of being tricked. My grandparents inherently trusted businesses selling them the American dream with every purchase. Because why would anyone lie? We’ve since learned our lesson. The belief that corporations serve our best interests is decades behind us.
Yet most businesses still act like dealmakers, the mass market version of that overbearing salesperson you don’t want to be. We’re bombarded by ads all day, every day, in every place that ads can possibly go. The spaces where ads aren’t is shrinking. I’ve heard we might even see them on Substack soon. (Sigh.)
So consumers are tired. In the face of information overload, predatory business practices, and shrinking spaces without them, we’re all seeking meaning and human connection.

Did you catch that last one? Consumers are seeking exactly what you provide as a creative. You’re not selling a product to make a quick buck. You’re providing something valuable that people actually need at this moment.

That sounds loaded with integrity to me.

Your Own Approach to Selling

When you sell something people need, selling is pretty easy. When part of that need is connecting with you? The act of connection is selling.

This means you get to shape your sales approach based on how you naturally connect with people.

Are you a storyteller? Buyers will love hearing stories about you and your work.

Are you a helper? Buyers will love when you connect the dots for them.

Are you altruistic? Buyers will be loyal for life when you promote other artists’ work because you think they’ll love it. (Seriously, promoting others is one of the most effective sales approaches I’ve experienced.)

The point is, your connection strengths become your sales strengths. Because it’s the connection, not the deal, that matters.

Also, Sales Isn’t Everything

Successful sales means you show up as you, not some pushy version of you. Hopefully that’s comforting. But if you’re still feeling unsure, you can actually make sales even easier.

That’s the job of marketing. Great marketing warms people up for a sales conversation so you have less work to do when that conversation happens.

Great marketing…

Introduces people to you
Tells your story to draw them in
Provides a valuable experience that builds trust
Introduces them to your work
Gives them a reason to reach out to you

When you’re good at marketing, sales conversations exist to confirm what your buyers already know—that you’re amazing and they want to buy from you.

Compare that to a sales conversation with someone who has no idea who you are. It’s easier, right?

I’ll talk more about marketing in future issues. For now, just remember that the goal is to keep sales simple: show up, make a connection, be yourself.

This Week

Hopefully I’ve convinced you. You don’t have to compromise your integrity to sell creative work. In fact, you’ll be more successful if you don’t.

So this week, let go of the pressure to be a salesperson. Be yourself and connect with customers like you would any human.

That’s how you hone your own unique approach to selling.

Instead of becoming something that you—and your customers—don’t want.

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