Yeah that’s a nasty, cynical attitude for this time of the
year, but it is a fact of life, anyone who lives a public life needs a
disposable email address.
You can’t escape it this is an information age. Everyone is
connected or they should be if they want to do business with anyone else.
Artists are particularly vulnerable because we have to
broaden our markets art can’t survive on just local sales.
And because we have to expand our markets we have to be
available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. That means anyone, no
matter how irrelevant, no matter how annoying; no matter how inconvenient can
get to us as easily as the people we really want to hear from.
So sooner or latter the information or the junk will
completely overload our inbox.
What to do?
Make sure that you are using a disposable email address.
Email addresses come from everywhere and as an artist you should
carefully check them out every time you are offered one. Some are very good;
Yahoo, Google and AOL certainly meet that
requirement. But some come with loads of hidden crap, cookies, pups and other
unwanted junk.
First when you decide to get a new disposable address make
sure you read the EULA. That’s End-user License Agreement for those of us who
speak English. It may give the email supplier unlimited access to your
computer, control over your searches online or even send you unwanted adds or
porn.
Yes, the ever-present specter of the internet, porn. You can
run any known search and get nude pictures of Kim Kardashian. It is a sad fact,
but true. So make sure you aren’t signing up for it.
Then when you actually click on the link to download the
email program look again, there are almost always check boxes which will do all
of the things you so carefully avoided when you signed the EULA. Uncheck those
boxes so that you don’t wind up with Porn Surfer as your search engine of
choice.
They also try to add-on unwanted programs so there may be
more than one check box. Uncheck them all unless you specifically want what
that check mark is offering.
Once you have downloaded the program take a few minutes to
read through the Release Notes.
When you’ve downloaded the program take a minute or two to
set it up correctly placing all of the SPAM filters in the On mode.Now you have the grunt work of letting all of your
suppliers, clients and agents know where they can contact you and changing all
of the web sites you use and making sure your own web page has the correct new
email address.
Once you have done all of this make sure that you guard your
private mail address jealously.
Give it only to personal friends and never give it out to
anyone you do business with, that’s why you set up the disposable account. You
want to be able to kill it if it becomes overloaded with junk mail or adverts.
And every time some web page offers you a free email account
check it out, read the EULA and if it passes the smell test do it!
You can never have too many email accounts. Always have a spare
in case you need to dump the one you are using and set up a new home. Sure it
is a load of work to tell everyone you do business with that you have changed
your address but it is better than shifting through two hundred unwanted emails
every day.
If you are a working artist with a desire to actually sell
your work this is one of the things which you have to do to protect you
privacy. On the Net every one is an open book which is fine if that is what you
want but not so good if you are a private person. which many artists are.
No you cannot hang out a sign offering free Hermit Coaching,
that’s no way to get people to want to trade with your brand.
And for a person wanting to build a career as a working
artist making your work a known brand is the single most important thing you
can do. But do it with some privacy so that when the mood strikes you and you
want to go off and sit on a moss covered rock and recharge your batteries, they
can’t come and find you.
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