Pick a “Shiny Object” and Move on
Making the most of every new entrepreneur's worst nightmare
I had very different views about life two years ago.
That, If I followed the rules and did what everyone else said, I’d be fine. I had this bad habit of getting by, by doing the bare minimum as I always sort the easy way out
My reality was to go to school, get a job and every other thing about life would fall into place.
I lived in this delusion for the better part of 2 decades and only after I had worked for another one and a half years did things not make sense anymore to me.
Turns out, Growing up doesn't solve your problems, and playing it safe by doing the bare minimum was never going to be enough
My search online like a host of others before led to how to make money online topics and I never considered the possibility that I’d have to do this( I saw getting a 9–5 as n escape). The world didn't make sense.
So I dug in and in my first year searching for ways to make money online, I tried about everything. This is called the “shiny object syndrome” - A phase any new entrepreneur has to go through especially when your primary motivation is to make money and FAST.
Most new entrepreneurs who want to make money online jump from one program to the other looking for the quickest way to make money online and with so many get-rich-quick schemes promising you it can be done, It becomes enticing.
Every Headline, Every Ad tells you “How easy” it is and that in “7 easy steps”, You would start making huge sums of money, Get the dream body, Lose 20 pounds.
It gets worse with advertisers and copywriters trying to outdo each other and you’re the poor fellow whose pain points are being poked left, right and center.
But in time, You’d realize that no matter how promising the business model is, how easy it’s made to seem at first when you get into any program, It takes hard work on your part to see results.
I did this a lot — Jumping from one “way to make money online” to another trying to find the part of “least resistance” to success. but this led nowhere. I didn't stick with any program long enough to compound, and since I loved to be instantly gratified I took pleasure in my impulses.
I learned Affiliate Marketing, tried e-com, Facebook ads. etc. I was learning skills but not invested in anyone long enough to master them. One of my articles went viral and I loved it. I quickly tried to become a “writer” and stopped working on my affiliate marketing side of things — where I was beginning to see results.
In my 2nd year trying to make money online, I realized I knew a lot about a lot of things but I was not making any money at all. All my time was spent trying to win at everything and hoping I would get “lucky” with one
I was caught in a loop of buying new courses, reading new books, and letting imposter syndrome have its way with me. I realized if I didn't pick a business model and stick with it, There was no way I was going to get the results I wanted.
Looking back at everything I tried and failed at, I discovered most of the skills I had learned could be applicable to one area in my business.
I could have been better served if I stuck with affiliate marketing in my first year and saw results before I tried pivoting and becoming a writer.
But when I read some awesome posts on writing and how much others could earn writing, I stopped writing for fun and tried to start writing similar posts like that to make money fast.
Shiny object syndrome at a point makes you look like a horse that starves to death because it’s confused on what part to follow when it the middle of water and food. Because it’s hungry and thirsty. Indecision kills it.
Instead of trying to be everything at once, focus on one thing first when it compounds you can always pivot.
50 Cent went from drug dealer to shot up rapper to label owner to business mogul to boxing manager and now a bestselling author and movie mogul — That’s evolution.
But this would not have been possible if he was trying to do everything at once.
Take Arnold Schwarzenegger also, In his book Total recall, he details how he wanted to be a movie star one day but knew he had to start somewhere and build on it. He started with being the best bodybuilder and built from there, got into the movies, and became a governor of the state of California
You should have general knowledge but be known primarily for something.
Every great athlete who transitioned into business was known for one thing at a time.
At every point in your journey, your focus should be on finding something you can stick with until you see results.
Find what works for you and stick with it until you see results. No part is easy, forget what the ads tell you.
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