THE JOURNEY IS THE DESTINATION

SOCIAL MEDIA ISN'T

Do you have a social media "strategy?"  Or, are you like most people, simply trying to figure it all out?  Are you trying to build "conversations," and connect people to your brand? 

As a photographer (or other creative-type), social media can be a huge tool if understood for what it really is.  The problem is, a lot of the research about social media lately contradicts many of the "truths" we have accepted.  Much of the research comes from Dan Zarrella, the Social Media Scientist, and it's not pretty.  

Basically, Dan's research rejects most of the premises that we hold dear in social media.  Things like - more comments on blog posts is better.  More "likes" and comments on Facebook posts is better because more people will see it.  More "engagement" in the social media space leads to higher brand equity.

Now, I'm not the expert on social media.  I don't claim to have a bunch of answers, but I do know that social media has real value when used appropriately.  The problem is - most of us use it in ways that can't be measured.  There's no way to measure whether more blog posts converts to more clients.  There's no way to know whether more Facebook "likes" leads to more people having a positive perception of our brand.  

With that in mind, how are you using Twitter, Facebook, Google +, Instagram, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Ping (does anyone use that?) for your business?  How are you measuring what works?

10,000 Hours

Do you ever wonder what it is that makes some photography businesses so successful?  Is it that they have such exceptional raw talent as photographers?  Is it that they have the world's most wealthy and beautiful clients?  Is it that they are marketing geniuses?  I guess it's possible that one or more of those things are true of them, but that's not what separates them from everyone else.  The truth?  Hard work - a lot of hard work.

If you've read Outliers, by Malcom Gladwell, you're familiar with the idea that it takes 10,000 hours to be truly "great" at anything.  I won't go into all the details of the book, though I highly recommend you read it.  Gladwell makes the arguement that the greatest success stories essentially come down to 2 things: a lot of luck and a lot of practice.

He argues that across industries, across different disciplines, and across artistic endeavors, the standard is the same: it takes 10,000 hours to truly become great at something.  It takes that much practice to truly master your craft in a way that no one else has.  It takes that much practice to become "great." 

Of course, "great" doesn't equal "successful."  That almost always requires something else - luck.  Here's the thing though - I think a lot of people sit around waiting, hoping, praying that they'll get lucky.  Unfortunately, luck is not particularly predictable.  And, even if you get lucky, you still have to be "great."  You don't become great by accident, and you don't become successful just because you got lucky.  

I think this is great news!  I think this is so encouraging for those of us that want to become great artists, and build successful businesses.  I think it's a call to action, for each of us to practice, practice, practice.  It's a challenge to pick up our cameras even when no one is writing a check.  It's a reminder that the more we shoot, the better we see. Since January, I've taken thousands of photos, and less than 10% of them are for paid clients.  I don't know what "practice" looks like for you, but maybe it's stating a personal project.  Maybe it's photographing your kids.  Maybe it's offering your talents to a charity organization.  I'm not even worried about "great," but right now, I'm striving for "better."

Luck, though it's not something you can plan for, is really about what you do with it.  The truly great stories of success are about people who had put in their 10,000 hours and were uniquely able to take advantage of their situation.  The good news is, practice is something you can do something about.  

What are you doing to become better?

What are you afraid of?

What are you waiting for? 

Really, what are you waiting for?  Can you put words to whatever it is that's keeping you from being what you dream you could be?  Can you identify the things that hold you back as you imagine how to move forward with whatever it is you want to do?

Chances are, you're waiting for one of three things:

FEAR

No, you're probably not waiting for fear - you're probably hoping if you just wait, the fear will go away.  It won't.  In fact, there's a reason you experience fear when standing on the edge of making your ideas happen. It's because fear is the signal that you're about to leave your comfort zone.  It's the affirmation that you're about to do something you haven't done before.  If there was no fear, would whatever you're dreaming about doing - really be worth it?  If there's nothing different about where you're headed - aren't you just wasting time?

Fear is the feedback cycle that tells you that you're attempting something you've never done - and isn't that the point?  The fear won't go away.  In fact, my experience has been that the longer I wait, the more the fear grows.  And while some amount of fear is a useful signal, allowing it to grow can be paralyzing.  That paralyzing fear is the reason that most of us just live our lives without ever doing anything exceptional.  Sure, we have ideas, but we spend most of our potential waiting for the fear to go away.  In fact, instead of just waiting, we actually spend more energy hoping that fear will go away - rather than focusing our efforts on our idea.  By the time we get past the fear (if we ever do), we have nothing left for our idea.

SOMEONE ELSE

If you're like almost everyone else who ever had an idea, you want to see your idea come to life.  You want to see it nurtured, see it grow, and see it flourish.  You want all of that, but deep down - what you really want is for someone else to make it happen.  You're waiting for someone else to clear the obstacles, remove the barriers, and assume all of the risk.  And so you're waiting.

Here's the thing - it is your idea.  It's your passion.  It's your calling.  There's a reason this idea started as a tinge.  It began in you, as a brief "what if," and it's in you that it grew roots.  There's a reason it began to grow, and expand, and resonate - within you.  And if there's a reason - why on earth would you wait for someone else?  Maybe someone else has a similar idea, and they're waiting for you...

I can't even begin to count the number of ideas I've had, that never made it in to this world, simply because I'm waiting for someone else to do something.  When that happens, we all lose.  We lose an idea, because I was hoping someone else would have the idea and do something.

On a side note, the irony is, when someone else DOES do something with an idea similar to ours, we often end up bitter and resentful.  "Hey, that was my idea!" we tell ourselves, as if we are somehow entitled to be the sole being with a claim to "our" idea.  Never mind that we never bothered to do anything - we were waiting for someone else.  We were waiting for someone to do something - and they did.  And now, we're somehow surprised that we don't get credit for it.

PERFECTION

Finally, many of us are simply waiting until we have it all "figured out."  We don't want to share our idea with the world until we have it "just right."  And so, we wait.  We wait for things to work themselves out, until the idea is fleshed out, until the edges are perfectly refined, and the plan complete.  Even if we're inching forward, we're still waiting.  

In reality, most ideas don't reach their maximum impact until they've been refined by rubbing up against other ideas.  They don't mature without exposure to other perspectives, and they don't often succeed without frequent encounters with failure.  If we're waiting until our idea is "perfected," the truth is - it never will be.  Nothing great was ever sprung on the world.  Nothing is ever perfect in v1.0. 

I love how Seth Godin puts it: "One key element of a successful artist: ship. Get it out the door. Make things happen." 

If you never shine light on your idea, for the world to share, what's the point of your "perfect" idea?