I want to make something. It doesn’t matter what it is as long as I make it. I think I have a penchant for making websites, or that’s what my friend said. Rest assured, I haven’t invested a dollar in any of them.
Yes, a few of them have been successful, one even has 9000 hits, but that’s about it. The rest have been glorious failures.
For the people out there looking to start something on their own, here are some pointers on how not to fail. I think they may be reliable since they come from one who has experienced these failures first hand. So here goes:
1) Whenever you start something new, your first attempt is never your most successful, unless of course, you’re Bill Gates.
➡ Personal experience: This blog trumped my first one by a mile. It took 2 months to gain the viewership that the first one garnered in a year. ( https://thecarmaniac.wordpress.com )
2) When you venture into a new field, always research it extensively before you start something of your own.
➡ Personal experience: This summer, during a series of long showers, I decided to open a math help website. Unfortunately, I only thought about it in the shower because when I did make the website and showed it to a friend, he made me aware of WolframAlpha. Turns out, Stephen Wolfram didn’t win the Turing Award for taking long showers! Still, if you do need math help, drop by my website, WolframAlpha can’t solve word problems you see. ( https://mathematicsgenie.webs.com )
3) Market your product like it’s the last thing you ever did.
➡ Personal experience: I learnt about Internet marketing from a year of futile efforts and constant head banging. Considering my hashtag on Instagram with about 50000 pictures tagged and the 9000 hits on this blogs, I may have finally struck some solid ground. How did I do it? Turns out, everybody loves some positive feedback, give them that, and they wag their tails around you like a pack of Dalmatians.
4) Be consistent in your output, unless you are content with your fifteen minutes of fame.
➡ Personal experience: Whenever I slacked off on any of my websites for a sustained period, I noticed that my viewership declined substantially and trust me, there is nothing more difficult than getting up from a slump, and I think this applies to every part of life. Always remember, you are not the only one with something to offer.
5) People will tell you that you are not good enough. Ignore every single one of them! You can only succeed if you are mentally prepared to succeed, and negative comments are like unwanted weeds that need to be uprooted.
➡ Personal experience: Most people at my school thought I was just a kid who studied too much. Nobody thought that people would like to visit my websites and read what I write. When my initial attempts at wooing page views didn’t work, I actually believed them for a bit, but then I realized how wrong they were, and proceeded to run my websites with full force. I guess my realization worked for the best.
6) Last but not the least, be patient. This is something that a lot of people ignore. One must understand that it takes time to reach out and showcase what you have to offer. Even Google takes a few weeks to list new websites on it search engine database.
➡ Personal experience: It took seven attempts over five months for my first publication in Wheels Magazine and the much needed Blackberry that I won for it. As for my blogs, I started my first blog site on March 18, 2011 and the second on January 6, 2012, but I only won my first award on May 2, 2012 , in the form of the Liebster Award for my second blog.
So these were my six tips to avoid failure. I’m afraid I can’t offer any tips for success, not yet at least. A man once said, “Success is of your own making and no one can help you with it.” Something tells me I’m that man.
Bullet in a Maelstrom 