Nothing Up My Sleeve and it's a Problem

It's been a long week.  So long I skipped a party Sunday night so I could rest. This last week was spent taking meetings, talking to people, doing some research, and of course getting out a little.

As I've said before, when you're looking at who you want in your posse it's a really good idea to find people who are outside of your normal circle.  Someone asked me if I've been talking to a lot of photographers as part me figuring out what direction I want to migrate.  To be honest, I haven't talked to many.

One might think it's a good idea, kinda like a meta-apprenticeship or something.  One of the problems with talking to other photographers is that there's a good chance the conversation will end up just talking photography.  That probably doesn't sound like such a bad idea since, hey, we become photographers not because we want to make a fortune and become barons of art, but because we love it and are passionate.  At some level it's who we are and some of us have a fundamental drive to make it what we do

So like I said the problem is there's a good chance you're going to talk about the art.  Certainly there's a place for that conversation.  But just getting out there are some questions that really need to be asked.  And sometimes it's either difficult to figure out what questions to ask of yourself or perhaps answer them when someone else asks them of you.

So who have I been talking to?  Well I've talked to a photographer who has a nationally known blog, a local project management consultant, and an entrepreneur who has an extremely successful Ebay business but is transitioning toward venturing into the blogosphere.  And here's what each asked me:

Photographer  -- What do you want to shoot?

Consultant -- Do you have business plan?

Entrepreneur -- What are you doing every day to drive people to you?

Me (in order) -- Uhhhhh, Uhhhhh, Uhhhhh.

Yeah, I got nothin'. And that's a problem.  Because if I can't answer these questions I'm not going to get anywhere.

So I got to thinking, and I have some tentative answers (and that's quite ok).  The reason I think it's ok at this stage to not have some concrete answers is that answering them actually involves a process in order to arrive a definitive answer.  So here are my answers and the implications of each for this particular juncture:

Photographer -- I want to shoot advertising.  I've always wanted to be an advertising photographer.  Although I like to shoot portraits the work I admire the most and would strive work toward producing often depicts content that is usually a juxtaposition of objects presented in a unique, creative, and completely unexpected way.  The composite work I've done is the closest to this type of work I've produced.

Caveat -- sure I'd like to be the next Chase Jarvis from a business perspective, but nobody in their right mind is going to hire someone that hasn't proven themselves.  So my job is to find the small jobs.  Find the agencies who are willing to take a chance with some small work.  Or even shoot some some campaigns that can't afford an A, B, or C list photographer and maybe even shoot them for free as a way of getting a foot in the door.  Or more appropriately showing what I can do.

Consultant -- No. I don't have a business plan.  But I've bought a book specifically about writing business plans and there are plenty of resources on the web.  Even though I don't have a business plan or even any business, I understand that the process of writing one will really help me focus on what I want to shoot and who I want to be my clients.

Caveat -- I have to actually read the book.  I've started but some other things have popped up and I've directed my attention to them.  It might be a good idea if I can prioritize and make a schedule so that I am able to dedicate time to work on the more important tasks leaving the shiny object tasks for the time in between the important ones.

Entrepreneur -- I have a blog and I use Twitter extensively.  Facebook kind of alludes me and right now it just echoes my tweets.  I've gotten a lot of good information from Twitter and am looking for more interesting people to follow.

Caveat -- I feel I'm a genuine, up front guy.  My blog is honest.  It's not made up.  It doesn't exist to create income or for the sole purpose of marketing.  It's a reflection of who I am.  The other thing is that like many people I get wrapped up in my own stuff and don't have as much of a chance as I'd like to be much a part of the community as I'd like.  It's one of the areas I'm focusing on as a way to spend priority time.

So that's where I am right now.  I've had some people ask me some questions that I need to find answers for.  But again, it's a process.  It requires discovery.  It requires research. It requires me.

Do you have a plan?  If so I'd like to hear about it in the comments.