Lessons from My Conversation with Janine Bolon on the Sales Made Easy Podcast
Many authors and creatives pour their heart into their work. They write books, create art, build something meaningful. Then they watch it sit on a shelf collecting dust.
They know they need to sell, but the idea feels gross, pushy, or slimy. So they jump straight into marketing (social media, ads, content) hoping it will magically bring in revenue. It rarely does.
On a recent episode of Sales Made Easy, I sat down with Janine Bolon, serial entrepreneur, scientist, and author of Published Profitability, to talk about why this approach fails so many authors and creatives, and what actually works instead.
If you are a creative who wants to get paid for your work without compromising your values, this one is for you.
Sales First, Then Marketing
Janine’s core message anchors everything else she teaches:
“The biggest thing is it’s sales first, then marketing. Because marketing people are so good at what they do, an unwary business owner, somebody who maybe has never run their own business before, the thing that they struggle with is they start marketing before they’ve done sales.”
Too many well meaning business owners and creatives, especially authors, start with marketing because it feels safer and more “professional.” But without sales conversations, marketing becomes expensive guesswork.
Janine put it plainly on the show. If you are running a business without revenue, that is not a business. It is a hobby. That line has stuck with me since we recorded. Revenue is what lets you publish the next book, create the next project, or take the next vacation. Without it, even the most beautiful creation stays a hobby.
In my view, sales isn’t about being pushy or manipulative. It’s about helping people solve real problems, saving them time, money, or sanity. When you see sales as service, everything changes. That is the whole philosophy behind selling with dignity, and it is exactly what Janine has built her career around too.
Change Your Identity Around Selling
Many creatives say things like “I’m not a salesperson” or “sales feels gross.” That identity keeps their work hidden.
Janine had a client make her first sale of $125 and break down crying when Janine told her she was now a successful artist. That moment gets at something Janine believes deeply, that sales is not something done to a person but something done for them. Her real gift is helping people see that the sales they think of as gross were simply done by people who never learned how to do it well.
Start by defining what success actually means to you. Is it $125 from your first sale? A certain number of readers? Enough revenue to fund your next project? Clarity here removes the vague pressure that keeps so many creatives stuck.
Master Your Contact List
The simplest, most effective place to begin is your existing network.
Janine teaches what she calls the Master Contact Sheet, and it is the very first thing she covers with anyone who comes to her:
“Every business starts with the people that you know. You are not pitching to them, you are not selling to them. But what you are doing is you’re taking every contact that is in your phone and you download it into a CSV file or into a spreadsheet, and you just start calling everybody you know. That’ll keep you busy for the first year.”
You don’t need thousands of strangers. Janine has seen people discover they know far more people than they realized once they actually sit down and count. A few hundred quality connections, followed up with consistently, can change everything.
Practical Steps to Get Started
Spend one focused hour a week making calls (smile and dial). This goes back to the earliest days of sales training, when a shaving mirror sat next to the phone so you could watch yourself smile while you dialed.
Follow up with texts and messages. If someone texts you back, that is your permission to follow up again.
Share your work genuinely. Tell people what you’re creating and why. One of Janine’s clients kept calling her own paintings trash, until she simply told people she was working on something new. That painting sold for twelve to eighteen hundred dollars.
Send handwritten notes or cards. High touch plus high tech wins.
Focus on outcomes. How does your book, art, or service actually help them? Nobody sells teeth. Dentists sell relief from pain and a better outcome. Your book or your art works the same way.
In my view, you don’t have to become a high energy pitch machine. Just be real. Share your passion. Let people know what you’ve created and how it can help them. The right people will respond.
Final Thought
Your work has value. Hiding it because “sales feels icky” doesn’t serve you or the people who need what you offer.
Janine said something near the end of our conversation that I think about often:
“Who are you not touching that needs what you have? How dare you not sell your product? How dare you not sell what you have as a message? Somebody out there needs you.”
Sales made easy starts with mindset, discipline, and genuine care for the person on the other side. Start small. Reach out to people you know. Have real conversations. The revenue will follow, and so will the freedom to create more.
What’s one small step you’re willing to take this week to start selling your work? Calling people, updating your contact list, or sharing your latest creation. Share it in the comments. I’m reading every one.
Listen to the full episode of Sales Made Easy with Janine Bolon for more practical wisdom on sales, revenue, and thriving as a creative. Link in comments. 🎧
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