Author: Dan Blank

One thing about running your own business is this: you are always having to look ahead, and prepare to build the road you want to travel down. This is really no different from the life of writers who are hoping to build a thriving career, or any other field where part of what you do requires an entrepreneurial spirit.

For me, I am finding room in the next two and a half months to do major planning for 2012. Reassessing, optimizing, opening new doors, and being very careful about putting my resources where there is maximum return on investment. This ROI is not just based on revenue, but on what gets my heart going – who are those I LOVE working with, and what are the projects that inspire me to no end. Those are the activities that will inevitably produce the highest return on investment, not just for me, but for others – those in the writing and publishing community. Why? Because the motivation and the result is about creating, about expanding, not about coveting and taking.

To do this, I am carving out the first two work hours of every day to work on strategic planning for 2012 and beyond. I am careful about where I am putting my creative energy. When I worked in a corporate environment, I remember many people spend their work days constantly “putting out fires” – dealing with the activities that are screaming for attention at that very moment. They start their day with email, and are a slave to it. While there is value in that, the problem is that it rarely allows for you to plan ahead in a strategic manner. Something is always on fire. The long-term result is a career built on reaction, not directed strategic action. And the sum of the parts – of reacting to all of those fires – might not add up to the career one hoped to have.

Many people wake up one day, reflecting on their career, and think, “How did I get here?” It reminds me of that classic Monster.com commercial, where little kids talk about their desire to work dead end jobs:

“When I grow up, I want to file all day.”
“When I grow up, I want to climb my way up to middle management.”
“When I grow up, I want to be replaced on a whim.”
“When I grow up, I want to be forced into early retirement.”

That last one reminds me of a news item I read yesterday from The New York Times:

“We are announcing today a limited buyout opportunity to newsroom volunteers.”

I thought that was a well-crafted sentence, a great spin on what is really happening. I think most people realize: that a one-time “buyout” check is not the same as a thriving career in a world-class news organization.

So these are some of the things I am thinking about, looking ahead at who I can work with, and what we can create. I’ll share news of my plans for 2012 as everything comes together. In the meantime, here are some upcoming speaking events I am really excited to be a part of!

• Self-Publishing Book Expo panel: “Building an Audience,” 10/22/11
  Most authors are so focused on their writing that they don’t devote the time it takes to properly develop an audience. After their books are published, authors suddenly find themselves faced with the challenge of building a platform to market and sell their books. Learning how to strengthen your relationships, network with key members of your communities, identify the right media to approach, and develop a strong presence in your area of expertise, is essential knowledge for all authors. Find out who can help you the most and how to reach them, from this outstanding group of panelists with a wide variety of experience in online book promotion, publicity, and marketing.

• Publishing Business Virtual Expo panel: “Monetizing Apps: The Why, How and What You Need to Know to Profit From This Rapidly Growing Market” 10/27/11
  A panel of experts will share insights with you on what’s working in apps and which apps are successfully bringing in revenue. You’ll learn about different options for sponsored apps, free apps vs. paid apps (and subscription models/challenges), sales methods, what marketers want, and more.

• Folio: Show: “The New Content-Creation Paradigm: Blending Production, Audience and Content” 11/1/11
  For many brands, a prolific digital newsroom is the gateway to audience growth. In fact the two—content and audience development—are entwined. Join us in this session to learn how to not only staff and organize your online content team, but support it with the metrics and analysis needed to optimize content for the biggest possible audience.

• Writer’s Digest Conference
  Becoming an Author Entrepreneur: The Business of Being a Writer and Building Your Platform 1/21/12
  To build a career as an author, you have to have an entrepreneurial spirit – you must take charge of connecting with your audience, grow your platform, share your work, encourage sales and earn revenue. This session is for writers with creative vision who also need the business backbone to support their career.

  Panel: Hardcore Author Marketing – What to Do to Rise Above in the Digital Age 1/22/12
  You’ve heard it a hundred times by now: writers have to be marketers, too. They have to have a platform to succeed. And with more and more writers finally coming to terms with these new requirements, the fight for attention becomes even more important. Before, you had to stand out in a relatively quiet room. Now everyone is yelling and screaming for attention. In that environment, what actions make the difference? What really sets you apart, gets your work noticed and drives your sales? Enough with theories, advice and supposition—here is where you’ll learn exactly what can get you ahead of the literary pack.

• Digital Book World: “Measuring Content Strategy ROI: What, Why and How to Present It” 1/23/12
  With digital books and media, we now have an incredible amount of data at our disposal. And yet, many organizations lack the ability to effectively understand what is working, and more importantly: WHY. This workshop presents effective strategies and tactics to determine the return on investment of your content strategy, and how to use analytics proactively to lead to action that moves your business forward.

• Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCWBI) – I’ll be speaking at a chapter event. Feb 2012
  The SCBWI acts as a network for the exchange of knowledge between writers, illustrators, editors, publishers, agents, librarians, educators, booksellers and others involved with literature for young people.

-Dan

Today I want to talk about the effect that we each have on the world. The legacy you are building.

As I read Tweet after Tweet from people talking about Steve Jobs, the message was clear to me as to his effect: he has challenged people to accomplish more in their lives. That may not have been his intention, but that was his effect:

Now, you don’t have to create some technological revolution in order to have a profound legacy. Most likely, your legacy will be in the hearts and minds of those you know, those who surround you each and every day. It will be small, almost unspoken things. A ripple effect through the world, through generations. Long after you are gone, your legacy lives on in tiny actions and thoughts.

I work with writers, so I am constantly thinking about the power and effect of words. Sometimes I think about this in terms of the legacy of the written work of writers, other times in words we speak every day. And in this process, I have been considering a few words someone once said to me, words that have had a profound effect on my life. It starts with this…

This is the first book I ever made:

I was 17. It was my response to some project in my creative writing class, where we had to package together a few pieces of writing into a complete work (or something like that.) I went WAY overboard. I took dozens of photographs, wrote an original poem, with each line matching a photo, and constructed a book out of wood and sheet metal. I went to the hardware store and bought hinges and a handle.

The inside:

This book had an effect I didn’t plan, one that underscores the power of words. The most powerful result of this book wasn’t the poem within it, but from someone’s reaction to it. A guy in my class, not anyone I was really friends with, came over to my desk during class, and asked to look at the book. He slowly flipped through it, and when he was done said:

“No matter what you do in life, you will be successful.”

At the time, I sheepishly said “thanks,” and the moment passed really quickly. Just another moment in the life of a kid in high school.

But… I have thought of what he said nearly every single month since he said it. That was 20 years ago. Whenever I had moments of doubt, I thought of those words and what they meant.

And I would remember: that everything will work out just fine, as long as I put the same passion that I put into that sheet metal book, into whatever project I was currently working on. That my passion is my greatest resource.

I never told this guy what his words meant to me. In one regard, they were a few simple words, in a small forgettable moment. In another regard, those words helped fuel my entire life.

That is the power of words.

It’s easy to look at Steve Jobs or someone who had a sweeping and obvious effect on the world, and point to how they helped shape your life, how they inspired you. It’s harder to recognize the tiny little things, from the ordinary person, that has had just as big -if not bigger – effect.

This is why, when I work with writers, I never assume their goals. I never assume it’s to be a “best seller.” Because being a writer is a lifelong journey. Every writer has different goals, a different purpose, a different audience. And their effect cannot solely be measured by book sales.

In the past few years, another term has been talked about a lot to measure our individual value: “influence.” This too, is another funny measure. Why? Because we each inspire and shape the world in tiny ways. Some imperceptible even to those you “influence.” For an author, the effects of a book goes beyond the cover price, beyond the purchase. It may even go beyond the words in the book. It can stir an idea, a tone, a moment. Even a tiny movement.

I watched an incredible movie the other day: Bill Cunningham New York. It is a documentary about a photographer in New York who has spent several decades taking photos of “street fashion,” what people on the streets of New York are wearing. After thousands of shots, his conclusion:

“A lot of people have taste, but they don’t have the daring to be creative. We are in the age of cookie cutter and sameness.”

Bill is someone completely dedicated to their purpose. He would never take money from the media brands that hired him. His reason:

“If you don’t take money, they can’t tell you what to do. That’s the key to the whole thing, don’t touch money. They don’t own me. That’s the important thing, not to be owned. Money is the cheapest thing. Liberty and freedom are the most expensive.”

Does any of this sound familiar? Uncompromising vision, with a single focus? As my friend Kevin Smokler describes Steve Jobs:

“He wore the same clothes everyday, bought two giant fancy houses and never moved into them. He was worth nearly $8 billion but how many times did you read about his hot air balloon races, his antique car collections or other wild excesses? Never. There weren’t any. Mr. Jobs wanted everyone in the world to have great technology.”

I love writers because of their passion and their vision. And because words provide and unending resource for what we need most in life: Words allow you unlimited capital to invest in others.

That a simple compliment can fuel someone for decades. That one can create a world that inspires, or a doctrine that provides direction.

That there is exponential value.

The words you write and speak, will oftentimes be your legacy.

And for all that Steve has meant to each of us – total strangers – there is one photo that shows the power of his words, his being, to one individual: his wife (and vice versa, what his wife meant to him):

It was a photo taken at his last public speaking performance on June 6 by Lea Suzuki of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Maybe we each won’t change the world in sweeping dramatic ways that Steve has, resulting in a long list of patents. But we can all aspire to the image above. Effecting one person’s life in profound ways, with a power that is so great, it is immeasurable.

I will leave you with words that many others have quoted from him this week, from his 2005 Stanford University commencement address:

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

-Dan

I am inspired by those who put themselves out there. Those who take a risk in order to create something of meaning.

Most of us feel that way, but we tend to focus more on those who put themselves out there and succeed, than those who did so, and failed.

This week has seen several large web companies putting themselves out there in order to find continued growth:

• Google+ opened its doors to everyone. The jury is still out with article after article describing it as either a wasteland or burgeoning community filled with engagement. Will it work? Who knows. But they are making bold choices.
• Netflix split itself in two, keeping the Netflix brand focused on the future: streaming video, while a new company takes over the slowly dying DVD portion of their business. Will it work? Who knows. But they are making bold choices.
• Facebook made massive changes to their platform this week. Will it work? Who knows. But they are making bold choices.

If we only reward bold choices that find success, then we effectively diminish our approval for taking a chance on what you believe in. If taking risks is only allowed when we are assured success, then it really isn’t a risk at all.

Inherently, an action of choice means that you will likely be making someone happy, and pissing someone else off.

Putting yourself out there is only bold if there is a chance you will fail.

You know, embarrassing, ego-reducing, shameful, the-seed-that-launches-a-thousand-therapy-sessions, FAILURE.

Or…

Your idea will work and you could be seen as a brilliant visionary.

Even when we reduce the ACTUAL risk of failure, oftentimes we can’t reduce our perceived risk of failure. This is why your best friend in 8th grade would swear to you they were going to fail a quiz, only to have them get a 98%, while you were happy with an 84%.

Or we stay in the jobs we HATE because we can’t imagine who else will hire us for the salary we want. It’s easy to justify inaction with sweeping vague excuses: “If only the economy were better.”

Or we stay in unhealthy relationships for similar reasons.

This is why we write books, and leave them in drawers.

Why we are boastful of how WE would run Facebook (or do someone else’s job), when we may be stuck in a role we don’t like, and unable to take a risk to get out of it. It’s easy to be a backseat driver, a sideline quarterback. All reward. No risk.

I have been obsessing about the value of online video recently – about putting yourself out there on a site such as YouTube, and speaking to authors I work with about the pros and cons of leveraging it. I recently interviewed author Jackson Pearce, whose use of video is astounding to me. Simple. Yet astounding.

People will give you a thousand reasons that they won’t do video:

• “There’s no ROI in it.”
• “I don’t have a webcam.”
• “I have no time.”

And while these things may be very true, there are often other answers that go unspoken:

• “I have a zit on my forehead.”
• “I am in denial about my receding hairline.”
• “I have a lisp.”
• “I would, after I lose 20 pounds.”
• “I’m scared that I will sound like an idiot.”
• “I’m scared no one will care.”

All of this applies to the things I mentioned above: why we stay in broken relationships, careers, and leave those big ideas in the to-do list. Undone. If we aren’t honest about what keeps us from taking risks, then how will we ever overcome them to reap the rewards that we dream about?

That, inherent in this, is accepting what we don’t know, and taking action anyway. Accepting what we look like, and taking action anyway. Of accepting that we don’t have a perfect plan, but take action anyway. How can we each put ourselves out there? Every day we are confronted with opportunities to do so.

We can speak up at work. Not with complaints, but ideas. That you can’t kill someone else’s idea without presenting your own alternative. In many work environments, there is the perception that when you speak up, you put your head on the chopping block. That you are taking a risk, and even though you could be rewarded, you could also be punished. That speaking up only leads to more work.

We can put ourselves out there in deciding where we put our resources. I remembers some quote like this: “What you do is who you are“. Meaning that if you write every day, then you are a writer. If you just keep planning to write, but never do, then maybe you AREN’T a writer. So where you put your time, where you put your money, this is a critical way that you put yourself out there. We each have limited amounts of both. And we sometimes use that as an excuse for inaction.

“I can’t afford it.”

“I have no time.”

So we stay with what we have. We don’t take the risks, because we don’t feel we have the luxury of doing so. Action is not a luxury. It’s simply a choice. How you leverage your resources is part of this. It is not easy. Success often looks easy and obvious after the fact. That’s because we didn’t see the hard choices that a person made at the beginning, when nothing was promised, when they took a real risk.

One of my favorite quotes: “Caring is a powerful business advantage.” (thanks Scott Johnson!)

Your motivation and level of caring is another big way we can put ourselves out there. Caring. Some people find it embarrassing. In many circles, it is cool to act jaded and say snippy ironic things. I don’t get that. Or if I once did, I am over it.

I’m bored of irony. I am bored of jaded. You know what I admire? A Richard Simmons-esque level of excitement over something. A level of excitement that leads to action. That we are not embarrassed to care, to take action, to put ourselves out there.

None of this is physical: what you wear, how you do your hair, what car you drive, what size latte to buy, and whether or not you want “drizzle” on it. (Yes, I am writing this at Starbucks.)

This is one of the lessons of the recession. A Tom Robbins quote I’ve used in the past: “Should you fail to pilot your own ship, don’t be surprised at what inappropriate port you find yourself docked.”

That yes, we are a society, a culture, a community. Yes, we have obligations to family, jobs, schools, friends, and other affiliations.

But…

That as individuals, we are the only ones who can choose to take a risk that builds a life we want. No one will take the risk for you.

That was the lesson of the last (much smaller) recession. When the dot com bubble burst, many folks sat back and laughed at those trying to make millions selling dog food over the internet. When it all crashed and burned, they said: “Ha! I was right. You were crazy. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.”

But some individuals didn’t say that. They worked quietly – building. Separating the BS from the value of what the web could provide. They created YouTube and Facebook and Twitter and others and reshaped culture and business in ways that we are still only comprehending. People call it the “tech” space. But it was not the technology that did it. It was people. People who took a risk.

Some people won.

Some lost.

Many who lost tried again and won… eventually.

But they didn’t sit on the sidelines thinking up witty commentary. They got in the game of their OWN life.

These are the people who inspire me. Those who are – in small ways – making choices and taking risks. These are the people I interview every week. Some recent examples:

• Jackson Pearce – who I mentioned above, with how much she connects with her fans via video.
• Heather McCormack – curses like a pirate and has strong views on the role of libraries.
• Bob Mayer – sharing financial numbers that few others do about ebook sales, promoting it as an empowering option for writers.
• Richard Nash – He spent more than a year taking a risk to build a new type of publisher. Did it all work? Nope. Are we better off for him trying? YES!
• Joe Pulizzi – A colleague who has been an entrepreneur for several years now, and just held his first HUGE conference in Cleveland. Hundreds of people attended and loved it.
• Jenny Blake – Is helping people “Make Sh*t Happen” (literally, that is the name of her program) and being painfully honest of her process, her ups, her downs.

And there are so many others. These are just regular people, taking risks to build something they believe in.

This is the challenge we each wake up to every day, whether we know it or not. To take action or just be a cog in someone else’s machine. There are no easy answers here. It’s a challenge I try to live up to. My wife and I made some HUGE decisions in the past year. I started a business (leaving a cushy corporate life), we had a kid, and my wife quit her awesome job as a tenured art teacher. (you can read about it all here)

If I can help you take a risk that brings you closer to your dreams, just let me know.

Thanks!
-Dan