New Year’s URL

Stuck already just a few days after your WPPI resolutions (and only two months since New Year’s)? Me too. Which is both silly and inevitable; I earn part of my living helping people get unstuck. This suggests that I should be unstuck myself. Not so.

Some people feel stuck in bad jobs or without jobs. Some feel stuck in unhealthy relationships or bodies. Some feel stuck in a general, all-encompassing rut. That’s my kind. A friend recently pointed out that knowing me is like knowing someone who’s constantly facing off with January 1, making resolutions all year long.  As proof, she pointed to my promiscuous habit of buying urls.  It’s true that whenever I’m feeling stuck, I brainstorm until I have an idea/grand vision that I think will change everything, then I buy a url to match it. I call these Zuckerberg moments.

In the last two years, I’ve had about 40 Zuckerbergs. At around $10 a pop (the average price for a url these days) this little habit could cost me upwards of five hundred bucks soon. And what has it bought me so far? A mixed bag of total duds, unrealized potential, and a handful of remarkable surprises.

To wit, recently, I found myself seated in the back row of my church in Costa Mesa, California, chastising myself for business myopia, when I started to think about how to make money off of our Airstream trailer, parked (and under-utilized) in a storage lot ten miles away. Despite caring a good bit about charity and hope – the stuff of our family’s church – the unrepentant serial entrepreneur in me won out. Hotelairstream.com was born right there, a site where my silver bullet trailer can be rented to locals looking for a retro good-time. Without any promotion whatsoever it’s been featured on AOL Travel and The Today Show. God loves resolve…Most important, I am no longer stuck feeling like an entrepreneur with one sail.

Of course, the duds are more plentiful.  Last year I bought PhotoMadeSimple.com, a website to help soccer moms use and understand their fancy-pants cameras and “smart” gadgets; then Illumizoom.com, a web application that cross-references aggregate social media feeds and shows commonalities between seemingly unrelated people (think six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon, only without the need for a celebrity); and then MakeYourDayYou.com, an Internet TV show targeting brides who want to make their wedding days unique.

Don’t bother checking those urls out. I’ll sit and wait for a second spark. But I love them no less for sitting. That’s the beauty of this exercise, which I offer to you with relish. Unlike most resolutions, this one requires no guilt if it goes nowhere. Buy the URL, then walk away when a better idea comes along. The Internet won’t hold it against you!

After co-producing eight episodes of the aforementioned MakeYourDayYou, I jumped ship for something I called AskDane.com. Ask Dane began as a series of comedy shorts in which I made fun of myself while educating photographers about some aspect of the photo business. After 24 episodes back in early 2009, I transitioned the site into a free weekly talk show at Fast Track Coaching with me and photo industry leaders (and beyond). It’s now sponsored and I’ve published over 100 episodes. [In fact, Seth Godin is my guest this week. Don't miss it!]

But again, the duds usually do win out. TenacityTV.com, a reality Internet TV show pitting 10 contestants in every major city (ten-a-city… get it?) to see which role in the fabric of society has the most stick-with-it-ness (are fire fighters really more tenacious than plumbers, secretaries and CEO’s…?). WorldIQChamp.com, a site that invites individuals and groups of individuals (think Fantasy Football) to take legitimate IQ tests to see how intelligence correlates to success (global rankings would yield an annual and all-time “smartest person in the world” champion). Photopedia.tv, a wikipedia for visual learners.

Failing has never been so fun!

By laying claim, like a virtual land grab, each Zuckerberg has a chance to take root and grow. This is, if it isn’t obvious, my antidote to the collective empty gesture toward change (a.k.a. new years’ resolutions). Instead of a shopping list of wishes (…lose weight…kiss wife more…get job), what is really needed on January 1 (and on every day following it) is an investment to go with our grandiose and humble visions. Intentions are cheap if they don’t cost us something.

By next week, I will feel stuck about something else; you likely will, too. That is our human, or perhaps, American lot. But, now, for just a few bucks, there is relief from the unbearable need to change.

*Viva Las Vegas Special*

Beyond your genius brainstorms, I thought it might be helpful to share a few more resources your way. My best efforts to help people make a jump with their business are the products below. I thought it might help to extend the WPPI Show Specials for an extra day too. The following deals are good for the next 24 hours…. dot com.

*CLICK HERE* to get to the store… add the codes below on checkout to get the deals listed on the menu.

Use these codes (in brackets) to get the deals…

• Fast Track Photographer (wppi11_ftp)

• Fast Track Photographer Biz Plan (wppi11_bizplan)

• Audiobook (wppi11_audio)

• Book Bundle (wppi11_bundle)

• pDNA (wppi11_pdna)

• bST (wppi11_bst)

• Vision Casting (wppi11_vision)

• Forums & get B School for free… click *HERE* and use (FTPBSCHOOL2)

• Roadshow 2.0 (wppi11_roadshow)

• The Works (email us & we’ll set you up!)

**To qualify for all the awesome prizes from the amazing folks at Triple Scoop Music, Pickpic and WHCC simply tweet this post with #askdane in the body of your message! The drawing will happen next week.

Music & Imagery were made to go hand in hand. When put together well, I can’t tell whether its the high fidelity or the photographs that move me more. In truth, it’s both together that make the sum greater than their parts.

But as a photographer, finding great music without being tempted to lift it from the Internet is a challenge. Same thing for musicians finding stills or moving photographs I’m guessing. When Triple Scoop Music came along though, that all changed. They shifted the game fundamentally so music and photographs could play without anyone being cheated. Plus, the price/song is so inexpensive relative to any other commercial option, especially when you consider the unlimited use rights that’s included.

So, when my friend Roy Ashen (my guest this week on Fast Track Coaching) asked me if I would be willing to hand pick some music for a new collection from TSM, I was totally stoked. Thankfully, Jennifer Herbig (TSM Audio Queen) held my hand through the process and opened my eyes to a whole new world of creativity. The  selections I landed on really inspire me. I’m hoping that when you combine them with your work, they will open up a whole new level of connection for you and your clients.

I’m thrilled to be giving away a free copy of the entire new collection at my WPPI U talk this Friday night.

Also, if you’re at WPPI, swing by TRIPLE SCOOP MUSIC BOOTH #920. They’ll have the entire collection at every one of their listening stations at the trade show.

Here’s a list of my song selections with some descriptions for use:

I hope you love them!

- Dane

When I first started my photo business I had some core values that I idealized more than lived out. For example, my first podcast was called the “Simple Photo Minute” that was neither simple and rarely a minute long. Although I’ve figured a few things out, it was back then that I started my bad habit of spreading myself too thin and I’m still paying for it to this day.

Recently though I visited with a company called Vokle who I’m currently hosting my AskDane show with. What drew me to them was their bare bones elegance. I was nervous to meet them because I thought maybe I’d be disappointed if who they were didn’t match what they showed.

When I saw their “signage” though I was hopeful (see above). Why? Because it reflected who they were, their values, their culture of simplicity.

When I went inside and saw the substantive part of their work (the people, the conversations, the mission and actions of the company), same thing. Their outside matched their insides. It was refreshing.

That kind of syncronicity reflects a focus that impresses me and I crave more of for myself. And, of course, it just makes sense. By choosing to be modest with our metaphorical “signs” it frees up time for focus around things that matter most: how people experience us (aka… our real signage).

So, what can you and I learn from a shoddy little sign? Whether you’re a bride planning a wedding or a creative planning a business or a family planning a life, what do you say we all take a day (maybe even today) and ask ourselves if we’re in sync… if we’re keeping it real… if “cutting out” might free up time to focus on what matters most? I wonder if it might be just the kind of calibration we need.