Online Business Success Through Failure
Years ago, when I started practicing Aikido, I was constantly humiliated by my inability to perform the most simple of techniques. I was really bad. Very bad. Nothing ever ended up in the right place. I couldn’t keep my balance, turn, attack, fall or roll. My techniques resembled a old Gumby film with missing frames.
Hardly anything done in Aikido is what a normal person would choose as a first option. It takes a lot of practice to overcome the basic instincts of avoiding punches and kicks, instead stepping into them. Do you know how much confidence it takes to realize just when your attackers think they have you where they want you, they just gave you a great opportunity to introduce them to the Earth… very suddenly.
An internet business is much the same. You’re going to start out doing everything badly. The first product will squeak and whine and you’ll say too little in some parts and cover too much in others. The conversion rate on your first sales page will probably be less than 1%. Benefits instead of features? Not likely in a first draft! When you start blogging, the posts will be short and me tooish or too long and cumbersome. Articles will be hard to come by and lack lustre. You’ll struggle for traffic and sales will be dismal.
But it’s important you do them AND you release them. When they’re released they generate feedback. It’s similar to the time I was performing a technique (poorly) and my partner thought I should have been doing it better. So she (all 5′ 90lbs of her) countered and introduced me to the mat, sharply. Embarrassing? Most definitely. Did I survive and learn my lesson? Yes. Have I had similar lessons since then? Of course, both in Aikido and in my online business. But I’ve improved both because of these lessons. Moving on and getting better is what you should be focused on, not where you are today.
Here’s 3 reasons why being bad at something is good:
1. For the ideas. Everything you have problems doing is a potential product/blog post/article - once you find an answer. Don’t understand what FTP is? There’s a blog post. Did you find a nifty combo of techniques for bringing traffic to your site? There’s an e-book. Can’t find a plugin to display a collapsible list of pages in WordPress - develop the software to do it. My suggestion: If you’re having problems with something - WRITE IT DOWN! Put it in a text document specifically for product ideas or write it in your personal journal. I personally keep a list of product ideas in a Writeboard in Basecamp.
2. You get better at it. Even the master was once a beginner. Leonardo Da Vinci started out drawing stick figures. But he drew those figures and then drew something more complex, until he was able to paint the Sistine Chapel. You don’t get better my reading, you get better by practicing. My suggestion: Consider every action between now and whenever it is you consider yourself a master to be practice and for fun. If it’s for fun, there’s no pressure to do it well. Just do it better.
3. It’s fun. Maybe it’s just me, but I find learning to be fun. You can’t learn about things you’ve already mastered, so most of the things you need/want to learn about you’re going to do badly! And everyone is bad at something. My suggestion: Children find everything fascinating. Adopt an a child like attitude towards your tasks. Enjoying the learning process is probably why children learn so fast and innately. Make the discovery process fun.
So get out there and be horrible at something. If you keep at it, in a couple of months/years, you’ll actually be good at it. That’s how the masters got to be masters.
Visit my blog and learn the art & science of converting your personal computer into an automated personal cash register -Steven Lohrenz. Here is the URL: Internet Business Automation
- Steven Lohrenz
:: Nov.13.2008 :: Business :: No Comments »
