No one will care
and that’s OK
When you decide to do something new, it’s easy to dream about the best possible outcome. Whether it be starting a new business, pivoting an existing one, you picture the end result; all beautiful and shiny. It’s motivating and exciting and you can’t imagine it not working.
The wheels start moving immediately. Days, weeks or months go by while you diligently work on whatever it is you’re doing. So much hard work and effort pouring into it; it’s going to be perfect. You start to share the work in progress with some trusted colleagues and they appreciate how hard you’ve been working and perhaps applaud you for it; fortifying the fantasy in your head.
The big day comes when it’s time to reveal your work to the world. Good-bye comfort zone, hello spoils of success. You launch the web site, tweet it out, email everyone you know, and you might even hire a PR company. There is a spike in your traffic and for a moment people are talking.
Time goes by and the high of the reveal has faded. Your stats have flatlined and the buzz has calmed. The expectations you’ve built up come back down to Earth.
How is this not working?
The fantasy meets reality. No one really cared about what you did, and that’s ok because the launch is actually the first step not the last. So much emphasis is placed on reaching the launch that the supporting infrastructure your work needs to thrive is often overlooked.
The hard work is still ahead of you, but now you are enabled by the fact that you’ve actually done something. This is your fuel.
The key is to not stop no matter how many crickets you hear. Just keep putting more out there, share your experiences, clarify your goal and improve your work. Make the process of doing, sharing and learning a part of your routine. There is no goal line, it’s an ongoing journey and expectations will be met when you can find a process that gets your work to the people that matter.
The days of the big reveal are over so tune your expectations for the adventure, not the overnight success.
