Why it took me 2 years to write this

Published in

Coming in Last

4 min readSep 16, 2016

I waited.

I watched as other ambitious creators stepped into the light launch their services, hawked their products, and screamed “I’M! HERE!”

I waited.

I saw them connect with influencers, watched as they shared inside jokes on webinars, thought…“That could be me.”

I waited.

Now they’re on their “How to Have a 6-Figure Blahblahblah” kick. A little corny. Some jealousy. A lot of inspiration.

I’m done waiting.

But why did it take me so long? What was I waiting for?

(I need to know so I can avoid going through this hellish process again.)

I was waiting for the epiphany

It was like I was wanted God herself to come down from the heavens and appear to me as a GIF telling me exactly what my business should do.

I was waiting for perfection.

The victory of knowing what I wanted to do (of finally having a clear path!) got lost in my never-ending quest to do it right.

I was waiting to be found.

There comes a time in everyone’s life when you just know that your brilliance is shining so brightly that they can’t help but to see you. That time only passes when you realize that, while you may be special, you’re also quite ordinary. It took me a while to understand this.

I can feel you shaking your head at me.

I can hear you saying, “Goodness, she’s slow.” And you’re right. It took me way too long to get here; I did way too much waiting.

But.

I learned some things during my sluggish journey. You see, I’m used to this… this slow journey to enlightenment… being the last to get to the finish line… but being the first to do it my way.

One good thing about going slowly is that every time you come across a lesson, you’ll take the time to examine it, learn from it, then reshape it to work for you.

Here are some lessons I’ve learned

Examine them, learn from them, then reshape them to work for you.

Lesson 1: There is no epiphany

You’re going to have a lot of ideas for your business, but one of them is going to stand out to you. Maybe because it’s the one that makes you smile. Maybe because it’s the easiest to do. Maybe because there’s a demand for it. Whatever the reason, it stands out.

That’s the idea you go for.

You’ll really go for it (like, blood/sweat/tears go for it). You’ll blog about it. Advertise for it. Get fans for it. But mostly, you’ll stick to it.

Until you start to hate it.

Maybe because you can’t stand to write one more word for it. Maybe because it bores you to tears. Maybe because nobody is picking up what you’re putting down.

That’s OK. That’s when you go back to your list of ideas and see what stands out.

Lesson 2: There is no perfection

You’ve heard this before. You’ve definitely read about it.

There is no perfection.

But you have high standards, right?

Right.

You also have choices. Choice 1: have high standards and keep waiting and Choice 2: have pretty good standards and get moving.

I’m really hoping you go with Choice 2.

An easy way to beat the curse of perfectionism: schedule it.

Write down when you’re going to hit publish. Or send that email. Or open that account. Or join that group.

Lesson 3: There is no being found

There is only seeking.

At least for now.

You want clients? Go find them. Discover where they kick it. Go there. Kick it with them.

You want followers? Ask for them. Almost all successful writers on Medium ask for recommendations, shares, and/or follows. There’s a reason they do that. It works! Be like them.

Turns out you only need 3 things to get started.

An email address (Gmail: free)
An email marketing tool (ConvertKit: $29/mo.)
A platform (Medium, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook: free, free, free!)

Now can I ask you to do something?

You’ve read this far and I thank you. But you’re still stuck. You’re still waiting.

Can we change that?

Close your eyes for a second and imagine what it would feel like to finally be moving forward. What would you do every day? Who would you talk to?

How would you feel?

Now, tell me: what’s one small action you can take TODAY that gets you closer to having that feeling?

PS: I’m running an experiment

If you’re at all interested in connecting with me to figure out this online business thing, let me know here. I’m a tech-challenged, no-social-media-skills-having nerd, who’s figured out a thing or two about helping and learning from people and would love to help and learn from you.

The idea is to spend 30 minutes on the phone with you doing 3 things: finding out where you’re stuck in your business, building a clear roadmap for your next 30 days, and leaving you renewed, re-energized, and inspired to get your business going the way you want it to.

If you’re ready to join forces with a like-minded entrepreneur who is also just getting started and is ready to fail up, click here and sign up.