I know that this is going to sound weird coming from me but I have such a hard time finding things to blog about. I am mostly speaking about this blog. I have a photo blog and a tech blog that I keep a constant stream of content flowing through but what I am really passionate about is sharing ideas and helping people. I know that there are a lot of people out there who do what I do for a living and even more who just do it on the side for fun. I come across things quite often that I have to figure out because I can not find a reliable source online to explain it’s process. My problem is that I don’t have the time to write about it in a way that would adequately explain it to all levels of Photographers, Programmers and Graphic Designers. On top of that, the fix or how to that I just got done describing in length could come out in the form of a simple plug-in or add-on with in a matter of weeks rendering my work worthless. Nevertheless there are blog posts that I wrote years ago which still get a lot of traffic even though they are out of date and in my mind are worthless. Then the thought of creating content for the sake of creating content enters my mind. I don’t want to be that guy who blogs all day about stuff that is irrelevant a few days later. Now I am starting to judge how long this paragraph is getting…
Staying Focused
I am an observer and most would explain me as a person who pays attention to details and notices things that most do not. However when it comes to blogging and online ventures I have severe ADD, no ADHD. When it comes to the things that others care about I try to put on my brakes because I want to pay attention to what matters to them. Sometimes I am not good at this, my wife would question my last statement, but in truth I really do pay attention and listen well. When it comes to myself I am often all over the place, indecisive and borderline neurotic (unusually anxious). My focus is needed in so many different places that it makes it hard for me to concentrait on something for myself.
I have considered starting over with my blog. I have actually done that a few times but I always end up importing my old blogs back in. I would like to say that you could look at all of my past blogs and see where I was at in life at any point but the truth is that I have not been very good about blogging since I started. Maybe I should have challenged myself to writing a blog a day instead of taking a picture each day.
Finding Direction
Over the last several years I have been blessed to be busy with work. Because of that I have had to teach myself to say no and put limits on the work I accept. There are a lot of things that I know how to do that I don’t even let myself do anymore because it’s not a good use of my time and it’s not my current definite purpose in life. I say current definite purpose because I have changed definite purposes many times in my life. I have learned that you have to define your purpose, even if it’s only for the time being. Nowhere does it say that a clearly defined purpose has to remain the same throughout your life. It can change and in this day and age it does more often than ever before. This has made it hard for me to decide on a specific topic to blog on. I have been blogging for over ten years now in one way or another and in so many different directions that some might think I have no idea what I am trying to accomplish. I guess you could say that my blog is a place for whatever I happen to be passionate about at the moment. Being that I have been at it for so many years and still have yet to find a niche I can blog on for the long haul kind of frustrates me.
Finding Time
One of the things that blogging takes is time. Many bloggers simply look at other blogs or news topics for ideas but I truly want to offer something that is unique and that takes time to properly execute. One of my goals for 2011 was to make more time for that. It was actually a goal for 2010 that did not happen. Three weeks in to 2011 and I can tell you that if I keep things up the way they are going so far, I will be making this goal once again in 2012.
Last year I sent a lot of work away. Mainly because I was either to busy or it did not fit into the specific industry categories that I decided I was going to service. I did this because I wanted to free up time. I know how busy I need to stay to keep my families life comfortable so I decided to narrow down my offerings. Those of you who know me know that I used to perform all sorts of tech related services. Now I primarily focus on Wedding Photography and Website Design. I am not sure how much more I can specialize.
Deciding to specialize has done several things for me and could probably be a blog post in it’s own. My description of specializing may be a bit different than yours. I specialize in Wedding Photography. I specialize in Website Design for small business. I specialize in producing short demo videos for software developers. In my opinion that is specializing because in each of the three businesses that I currently have running I am promising that I will be amazing at one thing. I have been fortunate enough to be able to run these three businesses by myself for several years. However I do realize that if I want to become a better blogger, or not so much a better blogger but a more regular and consistant blogger I will have to start to delegate some of my work, or turn even more of it away. This really is important to me.
Finding Value
I know what I offer the world is valuable which is why I feel I can charge accordingly however everybody has to learn from somewhere. I taught myself how to write code (HTML, CSS, PHP, Java, some Ruby and ColdFusion), how to build computers, how to wire computer networks, how to use a DSLR Camera and so many other things. Almost all of the useful information that I gleaned to achieve all of this was from blogs and forums. Those who believe in the concept of Open source have given me so much that I have a constant desire to give back. This is also why I love talking about what I do to those who aspire to do similar. This is why I blog. I could have never afforded an education in all of these fields, I would still be in school. In most technology related fields, school moves to slow.
Money is for making things happen!
I love this quote from Sir Richard Branson’s book, “Screw it, let’s do it!”. I understand that there are responsibilities that we have to take care of in which money plays a big part but for me, more money means more possibilities. I always want to offer the best I can and that means having the best tools to do the job. I know that great things can be done humbly. Trust me, I have been there. Most of my 20’s were really humbling (yet another blog post or 20). It really does take money to make money. It is our entry fee for life. Everything will cost us in one way or another whether it be our time or our means. I consider it investing in myself and I constantly keep in check to make sure I am not just spending for spending sake. I am an impulsive person at times but my impulsiveness has led to some of the best victories I have had in life to date.
Back to finding time.
I think what I really need more then anything is time. Time can bring clarity and focus, two things that I know I need in order to obtain direction. I thought January was going to be that for me but so far it has not. If you are still reading at this point you can probably agree with my need for more time. You probably are also subconsciously recommending therapy as well. Funny, real funny! Here is my two step process to getting clarity, focus and direction.
1. Get back to business!
Completing all open business and find a more productive way to continue servicing my long term clients.
2. Back to the drawing board!
I need to remember to stick to the expectations I have for myself. I pride myself on meeting the expectations of my clients and over delivering if possible. I need to also make sure that the expectations I have for myself remain upheld during that process. I also need to make them known to the rest of the world so they can get a better idea of what I stand for and how I operate. Expectations are only good if the other party knows about them. All good relationships involve expectations and I think that it is time that I start putting mine out there.
Here is to 2011 not being like the years before!