Hi! I'm a drawing of Catherine. She does most of the writing here, including this blurb. (Does this count as writing in the third person?) Catherine believes that websites don't really run on technology, they run on emotions. If you agree, then she wants to help you rock it out and be awesome online.
Go to some of your earliest work, pages and posts you were proud of. Pretend that you’ve never seen them before and don’t know who wrote them, and just read them for enjoyment. Laugh at the jokes! Nod thoughfully at the insights. Read the comments. And the instant you find yourself thinking, “That’s great advice, I wish I’d known that when I was starting out” or “Yes! I should do that more”, remember that you wrote this. This funny, wise, practical, entertaining, well-researched, highly-commented article was written by you. You do great work! You made someone laugh until coffee came out through their nose. You helped that woman reach a better understanding with her son. This matters, this is working, and all you need to do is keep it up.
I wrote this article this morning because I need a boost.
- I helped some friends move house yesterday and so today I feel lightly bruised all over.
- We’re now in what Seth Godin calls The Dip. The initial excitement of starting a business has worn off, and we’re in the hard slog period where lots of websites fail. I’m confident this business can be a success, and we’re certainly not howling alone in the desert (thank you, commenters and subscribers!), but this has stopped being a fun hobby and has started being fun work.
I know some of you are in the same place. If you’ve assessed your website and found it’s not a viable business, well, it’s probably time to consider if this is a good use of your time and talents. But if the numbers add up and you can really make a go of this, and you still look at today’s to-do list and groan, take your five minutes to see how far you’ve come.
Has this helped you out, or given you house-moving stories to tell? Tell us in the comments!