It’s ok to pave your own way

There’s a songbird by me who loves to sing. 

I think that’s the best way to describe it because its repertoire is vast. There are trills, chirps, elongated melodies. You might be thinking that this is a pointless observation, because songbirds sing and it’s mating season.

It caught my attention one day because 1) there aren’t that many birds nearby that sing and 2) it began its trills at 10 pm. It was loud, clearly the only bird awake and active. So persistently active; the melodies didn’t repeat and each tune only went for a few measures. I was fascinated. Clearly, this bird was off-schedule, or maybe it just flew in from the East Coast. That first night, I don’t know when it stopped singing. When I went to bed at 2:30 am, it was still going hard.

This scene repeated every night for about two weeks. I could only admire its steadfastness and song variation. I cheered it on, hoping it would find a mate just as unique as it was. There were a handful of days where it stopped and my hopes went up. I had even heard it for a bit during the daytime! Since then, it has restarted its tunes a few nights a week, and for a handful of minutes, another bird chimes in and overlaps.

For whatever reason, this bird went against the grain. It’s certainly not an evolutionary advantage to show off your songs when everyone else is asleep. But maybe it’s playing mind games with its competitors. Listen to my songs, I’ll keep you awake. It also seems to be influencing others to join in at night.

When you’re just getting started in something, whether it’s a new industry, role, or hobby, you grab onto the first search results that come up. You learn a little more by clicking around, and go further down the rabbit hole. You may look at the current leaders in that space and see (or not see) someone reflected back to you. 

“The templates of the past can be an inspiration in the beginning phases, but it’s helpful to think beyond what’s been done before. The world isn’t waiting for more of the same.”
— Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being

You find role models, people whose careers you aspire to. This is all well and good. But maybe you’re like me, or the songbird, someone who doesn’t do well always going with the grain. Instead of taking the paved path ahead of you, there’s a destination in a different direction. This path is much narrower, with tree branches reaching across. Or, it’s not a path at all, at least not when you first go in that direction. With every step you take, you pave it a little more for someone behind you.

Marketers love to talk about unique selling points. What makes you, you? Yeah, maybe we have doppelgängers out there. I doubt they have the same lived experiences as you. As I’ve been expanding more in the photography world, I’ve had to pull myself back from incessantly researching everyone out there, my “competitors.” Are their photos better? How much are they charging? What do they deliver? Why do these people keep coming up in search results and I’m not?? 

There’s market research and then there’s market stalking.

But in the end, I learn, again and again, after yet another hour of market research, that I have my own experiences and perspectives that bring value to my clients. Not every brand wants to work with a freelancer. But the ones who do, are really choosing someone’s personality and perspective. (If you don’t like a photographer’s style, find a different person!)

In Season 2, I’m exploring the theme of “new directions.” At the moment, there are more career and business-oriented topics than I expected (careers before & after coffee, letting go of a business, when to know to rebrand or change tunes). Conversely, I also expect to see more topics with a culture angle crop up. I need to trust that this is part of the process. Not everything can be planned. 

I’m inviting you to join in and suggest topics that you think would fit in and be interesting to explore. You can always reply to a newsletter send or email me at hi [at] jennchen [dot] com. 

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