Show Your Work and Don't Fear Criticism

Hey, everyone, it's Chris. I just thought I'd drop a little mini podcast episode today. I haven't done a lot of these in the past, but I'm thinking about doing a few more of them on singular topics. And just getting in getting out in under five minutes. You might have caught a couple of my recent what is a chef many episodes with guests. And I wanted to kind of get on the mic and talk about a few things myself. So this first thing I really want to talk about this week is criticism of your work. And mostly in the context of online and even when it comes to dealing with internet trolls. You know, I'm at the point where I'm fairly confident in my work. But I know there's a lot of younger creators out there who are maybe just starting to share what they're doing. And it can be really hard. You know, the first time I had something in a major publication, it was garden and gun a few years ago, they published one of my cocktail recipes on their website. And I was super excited for it. This was a big deal for me. And they published the content on their Facebook page as well. And the first comment was, what a waste of good bourbon, I would never make a cocktail with that. And that was really hard. Like I had spent a lot of time and effort in this. And the very first comment was some random person kind of digging at what I did. But that was like, almost 10 years ago, and I'm over it. So why now why do I want to talk about this now? Well, a couple of weeks ago, I was making bagels at home just for my family. I had never done it before. Kathy Baro, who is a previous guest on the show, she is putting out a book on bagels, that's going to be out in March. And I got an advanced copy of the book, which is really awesome. And Kathy is gonna be on the podcast this season as well before that book comes out, so check that out. But I made a video I thought it'd be fun. I put it on Tik Tok. And I put it on Instagram reels. So a couple of days after I dropped this person who I don't know, doesn't follow me at all. Just came on and said that's some ugly looking bagels. Okay, like, yeah, it was my first time we enjoyed them. They were delicious. But what, like what makes a person think that that's okay to do that. Right? So I kind of employed Gary V's tactic, which is, you know, come at it with empathy. Maybe this guy is going through something, you know, I don't know. So I responded to him. Thanks for the feedback. It was my first time. I hope you're amazing. The first time you do anything new, I feel bad that you need to come on a stranger's page and leave negative comments. I'm sorry for whatever you're going through. And I checked out his page, he makes pizza and the pizza looks great. And I commented on some of the posts great looking pizza, the dough looks amazing. Like, I don't need to fire back. And I thought it was done. And I moved on again. I don't really care what this guy's opinion is. But what was interesting was he DM me and said it was purely meant to be a banter, nothing less, nothing more. Sorry, I can definitely drop some great bagel making tips if you would like thumbs up emoji. And then he proceeded to send me like four pictures of his bagels. You know, he probably thought that he was just gonna come in, drop some wise last remark and bounce. But I came back. And now he's backpedaling. Like, well, well, whoa, like, I just wanted to help you out. But let's be clear, if you really want to doubt someone out, you would have maybe come on in the first place and said, Hey, great job for the first time you did that. I would love to give you some tips if you would like. So this is for both like the people who want to go and just drop some crap comments on people's content. Don't be that guy. But what is really for are the people out there making content. This is just what's going to happen to you. You don't need to reply. In fact, 99% of the time, I just blow it off because it is no big deal to me. But I don't want that to stop you from putting out your work. Keep going, put up that recipe, put up that video. Put out that podcast, write that article. There's always going to be people on the sidelines. wooing you, and they're usually the people who don't know you, right? This is nothing new Brene Brown talks about this all the time. You know, I have kids, and I want to be a role model for them. I want to show them that I'm going to go out there and try new things, and that they should too. And yes, you're going to fail quite often, and you need to pick yourself back up. But don't let the people especially the ones you don't even know stop you from doing something amazing. I am 45. And I just started taking karate with my son. I go out there on the mat, and I'm practicing with a bunch of nine year olds while a bunch of adults are watching me. If I can get over that fear, I can definitely deal with some guy thinking my bagels aren't perfectly round. Now, don't think I'm going to be responding to every public comment with a podcast episode. But I just wanted to get in here and say this for a couple minutes. Because I do think it's an important point. Just do your thing. Get it out there. I'd love to see your work. You know what? tag me in your work. If you're putting out food related content, I would love to see that. And for all of you people not in the food world. I hope you're putting out your content as well. So have an amazing day and I'll see you around.