In the past few years, I have been asked a lot of questions by people…
- “Who are you doing this for?”
- “Who really reads this stuff?”
- “What is in it for you?”
- “Why do you do all this for free?”
- “Why do you care so much?”
I wanted to take the opportunity to explore these questions and explain…
A few years ago, when I started in Digital Asset Management (DAM), there were a few conferences, a few books, an expensive journal and experts who knew what they were talking about. All those still exist, but now DAM is growing.
- “Who are you doing this for?”
It all started when I was frustrated and had very few people to discuss DAM (how many can relate to this?). I learned about DAM myself, I volunteered to work on DAM, but in the past, found it difficult to communicate with people who knew little or nothing about DAM. I learned how to explain how and why DAM is important. I also wondered why I could not find much on the first-hand experience with DAM explained, specifically the user and administrator perspective of Digital Asset Management. I knew I was not the only person with this question. So, out of frustration, I started blogging about it.
After my second blog post, I was contacted by people who relate to what I write about and love/hate my blog to this day. I was even offered to be paid to blog for them. The day I drafted my first blog post, I decided early my blog was for everyone to share openly and learn about DAM in the user and administrator perspective. I do not talk about using DAM X or vendor Y, but rather stay vendor agnostic. In order to stay vendor agnostic, I would not take money from DAM vendors (and I still don’t). If you have read my blog posts before, you will note I hold very little back and I am very open about what I talk about.
- “Who really reads this stuff?”
Literally, thousands of people all over the world read my blog posts every month. My blog is aggregated on other sites which get a lot of traffic. Some of my posts are more popular than others. Content is king. I deliver a fair amount of content in many of my blog posts. There are other DAM bloggers as well. I happily list them on blog roll when I find out about them. Sharing the experience is good. DAM is all about sharing. I know most people read about DAM during weekdays (I don’t blame them), so that is when I normally schedule new posts to appear. DAM users, potential DAM users and DAM vendors tell me they read my blog regularly.
When I have the energy, time and a DAM related idea to write about, I blog about it. I do this on my spare time. Blogging is a hobby. DAM is my career. Due to the popularity of my blog posts, I am invited to speak and moderate at conferences around the United States. When I go to events, I get to meet like-minded people…eager to share experiences and best practices about DAM. If I have a DAM idea to blog about, but don’t have the time to blog about it, I make a quick audio recording with a speech-to-text app which sends me an email with what I said, so I can revisit it later when I have time.
- “Why do you do all this for free?”
To this day, I am not paid to present at conferences nor to blog. Yes, that is correct. I don’t charge the people I mentor on a monthly basis either. I get motivated by helping others understand the subject. If someone really wanted me to consult their organization, they could ask me directly. For the most part, I write in general terms about DAM. My generosity of information pays a multitude of dividends. People have told me and written that I happen to be one of the top bloggers in the field of Digital Asset Management. I don’t believe this is by accident. How do you communicate you are experienced and knowledgeable about a subject such as DAM? hint: you genuinely share that knowledge by blogging about it. People read and hear about it. People recognize what you write makes sense. People learn and benefit from what is shared. And you repeat this often.)
My goal is write and share 52 blog posts per year.
- “Why do you care so much?”
Yes, someone actually asked me all these questions. I love this question so much, it inspired me to write this specific blog post. Why should I care so much? Why should anyone care about the DAM community? Not only will you learn first hand you are not alone in thinking about and using DAM, you can be part of a group of people who want to learn, get/give feedback and share experiences. It can be a career. It is for me and many others. You will soon find out I am not the only one. These days, it does not matter where you are geographically located because you can be a member of the DAM Community in person and/or online. What matters is whether you are willing to learn and share your interest in Digital Asset Management to not only survive, but thrive with DAM.
