If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be.  Now put the foundations under them.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Burn out, frustration, defeat, misery, helplessness and a host of other career-stunting feelings at one time or another affects us all.  As much as I’d love to acknowledge every individuals situation and assure them that everything will be OK, I have to take a step back and drink a healthy dose of humility and suggest that there are so many factors in your success, career satisfaction and work-life balance than I can possibly give an answer for.  Some success is attained overnight, defying all logic. Yet for others it may take decades, or even a lifetime of patience, determination and commitment. 

Unless you have a monster for a boss who likes to micromanage every minute of your day, then the disciplines and behaviors required for achieving your career goals are largely going to be your own responsibility and doing (as they should be.)  So instead of waiting for opportunity and success to come to you, I think it’s best to take initiative and begin taking actions every day that will help improve your reputation, your career and ultimately your level of income.

Awhile back a colleague asked, “How do you keep yourself motivated?  I see that you are very energetic and working well etc. I would like some advice.”  I didn’t even try to answer in a brief Facebook chat, so I resorted to a mention of anecdotes (it takes time, insights, etc…) and headlines of the day (marriage is beneficial for your health, another security breach), at the same time assuring her that I was inspired by this question and that I wanted to make time to write down my thoughts on the subject and share them in my blog.

The short answer is that I don’t know any shortcuts to success.  Most days I struggle just like everyone else to keep up with deadlines, responding to emails, attending meetings and all the while still managing to get real work done and the like.  However, if you are willing to take the long view of your life and career, then I would offer the following habits and attitudes which have proven to be valuable to me over time. 

The long answer:

1.) Align yourself with a larger-than-life issue that you feel passionate about

I will pass on the horrible clichés which other writers have used here, namely that writing down your goals (on paper) and putting them some place where you can see (near your alarm clock, blah blah blah) and reciting them to yourself is bunk.  I’d wonder most about what if what you write down the wrong things?  Have you put much thought into your life goals?  It doesn’t matter if you write them down, memorize them, blog about them, or scream from a mountain top, they would be useless if they don’t help you look at what you care about most and what you’re personally capable of.    Using the S.M.A.R.T (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time based) tool for setting goals is a good way to quickly tell whether you are on the right track or not.  But let’s not stop there.

Many people can too easily get caught up in the aim-to-please mentality, making priorities and setting goals that others expect to hear from them.  But what about you?  What do you want to spend *your* time doing?  Make the time, frequently, to listen to your dreams and aspirations.  Dream big dreams.  Don’t learn from others mistakes, but instead make and learn from your own mistakes and personalize those experiences as your own success stories.  Imagine being the very best in your city, in your state, and in the world at what you do, and then pursue that thing for as long as you can endure it.

As for me? I fantasize almost daily about a time when I wake up and turn on my computer and work to protect national security interests around the globe, and our people from the threats of cyber terror and cyber warfare.  So, every day that I wake up and read blogs and headlines in Google Reader about cyber terror, computer fraud and the like is a renewal of my life’s aspirations.  I don’t have to write it down to remember it.  The context is updated every day by journalists, bloggers and authors all across the country who all work for me, informing me what is happening in business, government and in the world of cyber warfare.  Talk about renewable energy sources!

This brings me to my next suggestion…

2.) Develop your appetite for reading.

I was told very early by a very smart and beautiful lady who I am proud to call my mom that there isn’t much you can’t learn from reading.  I was self-taught in computer programming since the 6th grade and received straight A’s while studying German mostly due to the amount of time I dedicated to reading and self-study.  Reading is important, and in my experience it is the only way to gain a deep understanding of trends in your industry and acquire the perspectives to create value for your employer and its customers and shareholders. 

I have a daily reading schedule where essentially I have a pre-defined reading list of just over 100 blogs that I catch up on (from my mobile phone) every morning while drinking coffee and lying in bed with Cami and Molly.  Blogs are excellent because you can get connected with some of the smartest people in your industry who are willing to share their knowledge and experiences, and who are almost always better trained and more relevant to your day-to-day than newspapers and books.  I use Google Reader and more recently (FeedDemon) to organize, tag, star and share the most valuable posts I come across, and refer to them months if not years. 

3.) Find a Mentor

Mentors help keep me motivated, and help me to learn things about myself (strengths, weaknesses) that my friends and family might be too afraid to share.  Mentors can come from unexpected places, but in every case I think it’s important to identify with someone who you admire and feel you could learn things from or at the very least who can ask challenging (and revealing questions) that get you to see problems from a new perspective.  I sometimes get made fun of by my wife because often after I buy a new book or discover a new blogger I will email them directly, initiating a dialogue to see what may become of it. It doesn’t mean I send emails with a biographical sketch and a dozen of questions, but rather, a quick introductory note with how you are using the knowledge and skills the author writes about, and that may lead to a single question which perplexes you the most.  Chances are the author or blogger may see your question as a challenge and be willing to impart with insights to fuel your innovation.

Once you find a mentor and see your relationships grow, so does the frequency of contact and these should come as a welcome break from being in the trenches as the “technician” in your business. The main thing is to let you spend time thinking about the big picture and receiving feedback and suggestions from somebody who has overcome the same obstacles.  That is to say, it should focus on you and your opportunity for growth and development in your career, not about ways to give more of yourself to your current employer.  As you spend time developing and refining your sense of vision and direction for your career, you will indirectly benefit your employer which can in turn lead to an internal job promotion and pay raise, a well-deserved recognition or bonus pay.

4.) Walk the halls

This and the next suggest are about honing and developing excellent social, verbal and writing skills, without which your career will progress at a much slower pace, preventing you from being as effective as a professional as you can and should be.  Unfortunately the programmer stereotype of a geeky looking guy or gal with glasses, working 15 hour days and sleeping under his or her desk is a poor self-image to nurture of one’s self.  While this might be OK to do occasionally, the path to progress and accomplishment, working on personal and career related goals must go hand-in-hand with communicating clearly with those around you and developing meaningful relationships with peers and managers who can help promote and support your cause.

There is nothing like being greeted with a smile by someone who sees you infrequently, who has positive experiences with you and understands and is willing to support your “great cause” (discussed in my first suggestion) which you no doubt already spend countless hours/days/years of your career working on.  I make appointments with myself to walk the halls through my company twice per week (when I’m at HQ anyways) with the sole purpose of finding hallway conversations that can spark interesting ideas, resulting in a lunch date or a deeper conversation which can greatly help you innovate in your career.

5.) 1500 words at a time

I never really considered myself to be a writer.  In fact, for years I struggled with writing effectively and thought that any form of writing was for English majors and college students working on their thesis.  I constantly had “writers block” and dreaded being responsible for preparing documentation or email correspondence.    But at some point in time I hope you will come to realize the need for and benefits of effective writing as not merely a responsibility but much more of an opportunity for having your ideas heard by your colleagues and helping management make decisions that can have the net result of positive change in your organization.

Now with that said, your writing does not have to be like Tom Cruise in the movie Jerry Maguire writing about a moral epiphany that is going to get you fired.   Unless, of course, you feel compelled to write that way, but to be clear that’s not the style of writing I am recommending in a business context.  Writing in a plain, concise manner that primarily aims to clarify and elaborate on a given topic is a more productive style.  Occasionally there will be a need to write persuasively about something you feel strongly about, but I have found that writing more frequently in a short and informational format is more effective than ranting and complaining once per quarter.

On a final note, have fun with your writing.  I have enjoyed writing 1500 words per month for a column in a popular photography magazine, which has proven to be more beneficial to me in building the discipline and skill of writing than any material benefits it otherwise provides.  It’s a sufficient amount of space to convey ideas, to inform others and increase your influence within your organization.  So borrow from writing editorial style if it helps.  Introduce your subject by making an outrageous claim (as long as it’s true) or rendering your opinion, provide supporting evidence and then go out with a BANG!  It may feel awkward at first, but like anything, it takes practice.  The more you do it, the better you become at not only writing as a way to get work done, but also gaining authoritative expertise as seen by your industry.

So let me know what you think.  Share the love, or leave a comment.

One of my all-time favorite wedding & portrait photographers, Marcus Bell, just announced his new blog.  Is it a coincidence that I recently wrote an article on blogging awhile back, and now Marcus has a new blog that’s off the hook?  I know it’s probably been in the works for awhile, and its wishful thinking that someone of Marcus’s caliber (one of Austrailia’s top 3 photographers) would be reading my articles.

I don’t know about you, but I especially enjoyed looking at all his personal favorite photos, and also a ton of free e-seminars that Marcus gave, and there are links to them on his blog. 

I’m working on a writing project right now that talks about how accessible top notch information is today for those wishing to go pro, and at such an unprecedented rate.  The line between information “haves” and “have nots” is disappearing…  Creativity, imagination, ambition and suave personal skills are the key ingredients to reaching remarkable levels of success in the photography industry, and that is what will separate the wannabes from the diehards.  It’s the diehards that can bring us average joe to tears with the single click of the shutter, and that’s who I want to shoot my family’s portraits.

Anyways, Marcus has amazing images, and is a photographer’s photographer.  He wrote an amazing book a little over a year ago, and now has a blog that takes his personal work for photogaphers to the next level. I hope you check these out and use them to get inspired and work hard at being great.

Greetings, photographer friends –

This post includes samples of my own work, a special offer and awesome ideas to inspire and inform you all about the brave new world of blogging for pro photographers.  First of all, this is a blog post to share the work from a recent wedding.  While I could have spent hours developing the software to provide the same great services, thanks to Into The Darkroom’s Slide Show Max, it couldn’t have been easier to set up and share my favorite images with the bride and groom and their guests.

The folks over at Into The Dark Room have created a new offering to help pro photographers easily and affordably get hooked up with a custom blog for their website.  Their new product, HyperLyte, comes with Twitter integration, a Flash Header, and tons of room for large images. An add-on for HyperLyte, BlogShow (which is currently in Beta) helps you show off large photos without abusing your customer’s poor scroll bar. BlogShow (Beta) oozes efficiency providing more interactivity and less wasted bandwith.   Contact anyone on the ITDR sales team and ask about the HyperLyte special offer for readers of my column.

 To make this blog post even more valuable, here is an online preview of my upcoming Rangefinder column on blogging applications.  If you are considering ways to jump start your blogging strategy or just get a different perspectives on an existing one, I think you will enjoy reading my October column.  As always, I love hearing from you and if you would like, do share your comments on the article here in this blog post (which means click to comment below)

http://www.stevetout.com/articles/blogging-applications-for-photographers.php

Happy blogging!

I just wrapped up another article for Rangefinder which I think will help photographers decide on the best sales solution for selling images online.  If you already have a selling system in place, I think it will provide some food for thought.

After completing my article I asked Tim from PicturesPro if I could evaluate Photo Cart.  I wanted to see just how much PHP or MySQL I would need to know in order to get up to speed and productive with his system.  As I expected, from my experience in installing similar systems, there are only a couple of config changes that you need to make to a setup file prior to and after installion.  Everything else is scripted with a Web based installer and through the Web based administration GUI.

Perhaps I have an advantage that most do not (having software/web development background) but with this experience I feel like I can provide a better guide as to the real level of effort is required to get the system deployed on your host’s servers.  In fact, there are a few templates that you can use right out of the box which offer a reasonably nice looking solution.  I myself would opt for customizing from the start, which consists of pointing to my existing CSS file with a few customizations here and there, and editing some settings through the Admin interface.  So far I have not edited any PHP code or done any customizing of MySQL database. 

If you are interested in this system for your own website, take a look here.  Let Tim know that you heard about it from Steve Tout.

Photo Cart by PicturesPro

Here are some quick, if not obvious (to me) strategies to help improve the quality and effectiveness of your website.  I just browsed several photog websites, so please bear with me while I think out loud.  Feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts.

1. Instead of Googling for “10 tips on Landing Page design,” pay 10 people $20 for an honest critique and to create some lists for you to maximize the effectiveness from your feedback system.
2. Do NOT show a .wav, .mov or .fla movie, especially if it’s larger than 200px or if it wasn’t professionally edited.  Not everyone’s browser/Internet speed is optimized for videos.
3. Avoid showing a “Click here for HTML” and “Click here for Flash” links.  You should know your target audience well enough to make an informed decision about how they use the Internet and their preference for HTML/Flash.  The medium (html or Flash) should reflect the sophistication/style of your own work, once you make a decision about which way to go, accept no apologies.
4. Offer a simple navigation with clean lines.  Make use of drop downs or fly outs where it makes sense to keep the user interface uncluttered, not as a way to show off your Flash or JavaScript skills.
5. Make it clear what you want me to do and provide a navigation that makes it easy to accomplish those goals.  E.g. 1.) View Portfolio, 2.) View Weddings 3.) View Testimonials 4.) View Schedule 5.) Contact me for appointment.
6. Try variations using Google Website Optimizer. (See previous blog entry) This is a perfect way to test the effectiveness of multiple landing pages and check which messages make the most sense to your website visitors.
7. Your blog is important, and fun, but don’t forget that you need to leverage your website to make a clear, concise and compelling call to action.  (Others might call this creating “Emotional Selling Points” or ESPs.) Blogs are often too unstructured and confusing for this.  So let your website do the heavy lifting and then relax and have fun with your blog.

If you are like me, inspiration comes and goes, and when it comes it is always a delightful surprise.  In reflecting back over the years, I admit that I have always held a private curiosity about writing for pleasure and for publication.  Everyone has at least one good book in them somewhere, or so we are told, and at least enough ideas for an article in a magazine or newspaper of their interest.  The prospect of writing for publication, the act of putting my ideas on paper for so many people to read and critique, didn’t seem so bad except that I was preoccupied with the idea that someone in my audience would be more creative or more intelligent than I am,  who could point out that I didn’t introduce a single new idea or suggestion in my work.  (My worst nightmare)  My fears about that type of criticism disappeared one night after a serendipitous encounter with personal performance coach, Gregory Lamothe during one of my (many) stays at the Sofitel San Francisco.  Here’s what he said (Let me paraphrase)

“It seems like you put a lot of thought into the idea for that article.  But there’s no reason to have those kinds of fears.  Why don’t you start out by saying something like, ‘In light of what has been said about this topic in the industry, I would like to make these 5 suggestions to help you accomplish <insert action> faster or better than previously possible.’  Once you get that out on the table, your critics will appreciate your modesty and efforts to advance the body of knowledge in your industry.”

Gregory Lamothe must be my angel, sent from up above.  My impromptu meeting with Mr. Lamothe was unexpected, and best of all I didn’t pay a dime for his advice.  So, being the good citizen that I am, I now pass his advice on to you.  I have long advocated the principle of never giving up on the ideals of one’s youth.  Whatever your dreams may be, don’t give up on them.  It’s with a bit of luck, patience, persistence and hope that my writing will appear in Rangefinder Magazine.  I can’t take all of the credit.  Thank you, Gregory Lamothe.  I don’t think I would have taken the risk of submitting my writing or contacting the editor without your kind words of encouragement.  If you are ever in San Francisco on business again, and plan a stay at the Sofitel, let’s chat!

2008 has had its disappointing moments, but it has also had some unexpected blessings as well.  After my 15-minute coaching session with Mr. Lamothe, my aspirations to writing about things that had been stewing around in my brain were reinforeced by an editor that I had recently become acquainted with; Valerie Geary of Focal Press.  I shared my writing projects with her, and I find myself still unable to fully realize all of her valuable advice.  Then in February I bought and read the book Get Slightly Famous by Steven Yoder, which absolutely convinced me of exactly what I should spend this year doing.  I decided that 2008 should be a year dedicated to writing, giving back to my friends and the professionals of the photography community that have inspired me and given me a vision for my own photographic interests.

I also want to give heart-felt thanks and a shout out to Bill Hurter, who listened to my rants about the photography industry and still gave me a chance to write for Rangefinder Magazine.  I feel extremely fortunate (and lucky) that the sun, moon and stars aligned on the day that I first met Bill (through email), and I hope they remain so for the better part of 2008, or at least until I wrap up my writing assignments on Profitable Website Management.

There are many more credits and stories I could share, but you will have to tune into the May issue of Rangefinder (and my blog) to read about them.