Since I have been self-employed for a long time... and a writer for a long time... I often get asked if there's a particular secret or formula for success.
Truth is: Not that I have found.
That said, the two factors that come to mind every time I am asked are "consistency" and "perseverance."
"Consistency," or People Like to Know What They are Going to Get From You!
With both my eBay businesses-- and most of my writing-- I originally chose specific areas, and then relentlessly stuck to them. Over the years, I've watched others come and go in my niche areas... and the emphasis is more often than not on "go."
Sunset over the Olympic Peninsula, WA
People start off with great plans and intentions... but then tend to lose their direction when things don't happen as fast as they feel they should.
When I started my blog on Sensory-Processing Sensitivity in 2002, I had zero readership, even as a somewhat "known" writer on the topic. It took me another six years before I published a post that got 1000 page views! On that same time, I watched several of my colleagues run through a variety of topics and formats before eventually quitting altogether.
These days, it's not unheard of that a new post to that same blog, with that same core topic, would be read 10,000-15,000 times within a month.
All the time, I have stayed on-track, on-topic.
With my eBay shops-- as examples of businesses that involve selling "things,"-- I have succeeded by catering to very narrow niches, but doing them extremely well.
"Perseverance;" or You Can Outlast Your Competition to Success!
Summer sunset
In observing-- and often writing about-- people pursuing some form of self-employment, one of the things I have noticed is that more people fail as a result of "quitting too soon" as opposed to failing simply because their idea was no good.
Naturally, we tend to believe we have "great ideas," so we want them to succeed. And it's easy to get disheartened if success isn't immediately forthcoming.
We can even apply that here on Steemit... people arrive here, full of enthusiasm and start blogging. And then quickly grow distressed because they are not immediately seeing the cash flow in.
Often, this is how we end up with "cheating" and people trying to create magical "systems" to replicate what other people worked to achieve for months or years.
Which brings us right back to where I started... no, there is no "magic pill" I have discovered.
What do YOU think? Are you self-employed? Have you found any "secrets" or "magic formulas" that lead to success? What have you found to be the most reliable path to success? Do you think consistency and perseverance are important traits? Leave a comment-- share your experiences and feedback-- be part of the conversation!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Published 20170726 16:14 PDT
Although I do agree that perseverance is one of the key factors in success, it is a virtue that requires a high level of discrimination to utilize effectively in all situations.
This is because one must also know when to change directions, try another tactic, or even give up because you may discover that the path you have chosen does not actually lead to your goal.
And yet pure stubborn perseverance is probably effective in the majority of endeavors :-)
Persistence with wisdom and ability to pivot - it's no wonder entrepreneurship is not a piece of cake! Excellent post (@denmarkguy) and comment (@onceuponatime)!
I think entrepreneurship is best suited to certain types of personalities @sizzlingmonkeys. If you're someone who "gets bored easily" you better be sure you have a business partner who understands about the daily grind!
Thanks for the comment @onceuponatime; I agree it's not "all one thing," and it's certainly important to not be so locked down in one paradigm that you can't change directions when you need to.
I suppose my perception is also somewhat colored by the fact that I have never been involved with any "runaway successes" but I have done quite well with a number of projects of lesser potential by "simply grinding it out." And heck yes, I can be stubborn!
there's the rub.
Self-employment is choosing to work 80-100 hours a week when needed instead of 40. It's not waking up and calling in sick to go to the beach. If you are not actively working you are usually not bringing in income. Even if you already have things set up to sell if you choose to not be active they will run out. The only “magic pill” is if you are able to find a way to add commercial value constantly to your product, and have customers already lined up. Some people are really good at that and can sell air at a premium when it’s already free.
Most people are just not cut out for it. They like to think they don’t require a boss or a company structure with deadlines. Not everyone is good at time management, finding a commercial use or adding commercial value, talking with customers, resolving customer complaints, troubleshooting technology issues on their own. People often take short cuts thinking they are saving time or money for it to be the opposite. At the end of the day things just take time and move slower then you like. Most are unwilling to put in the required time.
Yes, self-employment requires a lot of self-discipline. It's working 120% without knowing for sure that the effort will pan out financially. It also means always putting other people first, whether it's employees or customers. This might be where many people shoot themselves in the foot by optimizing short-term gain and ultimately losing credibility and trust with their team and clients, both of which are necessary but not sufficient for long-term success.
Exactly! And if you're serious about your business... it's a long-term proposition. You can't afford to just think of what to do for immediate gain.
@enjar, not that many people I have met have been that well suited to self-employment... I'd almost say they were better "contractors" than self-employed people because they couldn't handle the long term grind.
You have to be ready to be "on" pretty much all the time. I sit here and type these words while at work at the small art gallery my wife and I have... and use the spaces in between customers to post on Steemit, which might also throw a few dollars our way.
Reminds me a bit of the old self-employment joke:
"Wow it must be great to work for yourself and not have a boss! You get to set your own hours and have freedom"
"Absolutely! I can work ANY 80 hours a week I choose to!"
::: crickets chirp :::
I live from what I generate in steemit, without any doubt the consistency, perseverance, empathy and dedication were the key to being able to live from what I earn here on the platform.
It costs me a lot since my forte is not writing and writing, I was learning here on the go, as it is said to trial and error, luckily there are many people willing to help.
Excelnte work dear friend @ denmarkguy, thank you very much for sharing this wonderful work
I wish you a beautiful day, surrounded by family and friends.
So cool that you've been able to make a living from Steeming!
As you can see there is not much that I earn for each post, but it serves me to live worthily, I have something in my favor, I have no debts, I have my own house, I do not pay rent, my expenses are minimal, if not for these attributes It would be something different, thank you very much dear friend for your comment.
Have a great day dear friend @ kus-knee
@jlufer, that's an impressive accomplishment! And the fact that I see your name "everywhere" on the platform is a good illustration of how your dedication to working here is paying off.
What's even more impressive is that you are accomplishing this in two languages... as I recall, English is not your first language, and you're also very busy with the Spanish language community on Steemit.
I have to confess that in English I am totally null, I do not understand anything of the language, all my works I do with the translator of google, that is one of my barriers, although I must admit that with this tool I defend very well.
Thank you very much dear friend @ denmarkguy for this nice return.
I wish you a great day, with your loved ones
Con practica poco a poco iras aprendiendo ingles.. intenta con los juegos online alli es super facil aprenderlo. ^^.
That's it! I've held a lecture on the same topic 11 months ago. That's the 'big secret'. These two skills are basically my only weapons.
I'm not talented and my copywriting is an ugly attempt to imitate the masters. I'm still missing on using thousands of synonyms that are making every story an exciting journey. English isn't my native language. And I'm still trying to overcome all those facts.
By the way, what I like is that we are almost in the same boat: I have one main eBay store. Will be soon testing with a separate eCommerce store. And I'm currently trying to be a writer - in reality I'm simply trying to improve my writing skills.
@steemfluencer, you touch on something I was thinking about, as I was responding to comments on this post: I don't have a great deal of natural creative talent at anything; nor am I brilliantly inventive. In a sense, I guess we are able to "fill in" where we feel we are lacking with a "workmanlike" determination. I know I have what it takes to do "well" at many things, but harbor no illusions that I have the brilliance that will make "front page news."
And I am really OK with that. And English is not my native language, either...
Cool @denmarkguy! Let me add one last sentence that I feel we are missing here. No matter where our starting point is, we should never forget that consistency and perseverance made people Olympic champions, they've broke any kind of records and many of them are today's role models and legends that kids are imitating and following.
I'm reading inspiring stories everyday and working on improving my writing skills. I think I already have the potential to perform a small contest or better say a challenge on creative writing. I would choose @merej99 as a patron (hopefully I'm using the right word) of the event.
It will involve 9 rounds and each challenger will have to participate with 9 different posts over a certain period of time - 9-12 days sounds reasonable.
For me @merej99's challenge was designed to help few of us in their routine building activities on writing regularly and interacting consistently in a genuine way. The creative writing challenge will open another kind of opportunity and help people practice their creativity. At this stage any kind of opinions will be highly valued.
I am currently working on a post about Elon Musk and one of the main indicators of his immense success has been his perseverance. Example: everyone thought his tenacity was singular - source
Elon is maybe the most successful person on earth (at least in terms of business success) and if his main virtue is perseverance then that is something we should all aspire towards having more of.
ronni
@ronni, I happen to admire Elon Musk's business talents considerably. He seems to take things the world says "You can't DO that!" about and then he makes them happen... often through sheer tenacity; x.com, PayPal, Space-X, Tesla... each time he's breaking new ground, doing things others might say "this might happen in 20 years" to.
And he's very good at being a leading-edge inventor, but creating things people can actually use and need... "transferring money witout a bank," what a great idea. "It takes the resources behind a national government to have a space program." WRONG.
I have never been extremely talented at anything but I have persevered and managed to succeed with several endeavours by applying what you wrote about here.
Interesting to hear you say that @kus-knee. I'm not particularly "talented" nor "lucky" when it comes to anything I have undertaken, but I have built a measure of success simply on learning to do things really well-- often through sheer determination-- and then "still being there" when other people decided to pack it in.
Sometimes I feel like I am able to make up for what I lack in inspiration and genius simply by being patient.
Gee, I read a post a few minutes ago about how to be a successful entrepreneur and it said you have to have an enthusiastic spirit and take risks.
Somehow I think yours might be the better advice.
Consistency, perseverance and an insatiable appetite for studying the field you're trying to entrepreneur yourself into.
And then work your ass off.
The "secrets" and "magic formulas" have been available for a long time, I think most people don't want to work that hard though.
If you're lucky, you'll have been kicked out of the job world and you either sink or swim so you've got good motivation.
But it's not fun, exciting or glamorous, you know, like it is on TV.
There are pros and cons to both of those kinds of attributes. Enthusiastic spirit can definitely drive home your finer points to angle inverters and get employees on board in a startup. It can also lead you to have tunnel vision and being blindsided. There is a big difference between taking a risk and understanding the opportunity risk presents. Sure if you're a youtuber and you skydive out of an airplane with no parachute on you will get lots of views from your death-- you are also dead.
Both of these attributes can result in great success, but can also cause you to overshoot and miss the target altogether. Often times people let greed get the better of them. It's more about creating, and taking advantage of the opportunity you find in life. Even something with very little risk can yield far better long term results than a high-risk opportunity. These things are rather complex issues entrepreneurs face every day.
To me, saying "you have to have an enthusiastic spirit and take risks" sounds like something a 26 year old college grad who sells iPhone cases out of a kiosk would write after having read it in Cosmo.
Or someone trying to sell you on a program based on “enthusiastic spirit and risk taking” Where oddly enough you feel like you learned nothing. The program was them over selling it with their enthusiastic spirit, and a dumb risk of someone buying it hoping it leads somewhere hehe.
I'm not suggesting my way is always right @theblindsquirl, but they have served me well, as they have for others I have known.
Risk taking and enthusiasm are important, too. But I tend to apply those to the confines of a carefully defined space. If it involves developing my specific expertise, I might take some risks there... but I'm not going to suddenly jump from writing to having taco stand, just because it sounded like "the hot deal of the day."
It's definitely not as exciting or glamorous as they show on TV!
I somehow believe that your suggestions have a lot more "real world" experience behind them than some of the other posts I've seen lately @denmarkguy. ;-)
I think you're right, and it never hurts to hear it again and again. It's so easy to get swept up in the "win now, go bigger, easier, faster, better!!" mentality...but slow and steady is usually the key, even if it doesn't seem that way when things finally do break through. Thanks for your post!
@uniwhisp, it seems to me the value of long term thinking and building has gotten a little bit lost in our ever faster world of Instagram and 140-character tweets.
For example, here on Steemit we have a bunch of people "self-upvoting" their own comments... philosophical/ethical factors aside, it's a reflection of wanting things NOW... why take the time to create things and build a long term following if you can just "print money" and put it in your own pocket?
'tis true. Hopefully the quality work will eventually rise to the top.
Thought provoking post. I would add determination as its a bit more action-orientated than perseverence. My thought is that the latter could result in doing the same thing time and time again & getting the same result, but maybe that's my interpretation of the meaning of the words.
Also I would suggest that creativity and flexibility are required to think through problems and find a way over, around or through that problem, and adjust to the marketplace, or identify future trends and make changes earlier than competitors.
The latter point being relevant to our presence here on Steemit!
@jouster, "determination" is definitely a good word to apply here... it could easily be a "third part" to what I was getting at, here.
Creativity is absolutely important... I think I tend to apply mine within a fairly narrow range, and more problem solving than to trying to strike out in new directions.
This has been my issue over the years, consistency and discipline. I either get into something, succeed somewhat, then decide I want something else, or I get into and it's harder than I thought, I find no success and give up. It's a constant struggle. I find steemit to be a new opportunity for me at the right time. Not so much to make money but to become more consistent in my writing. I'm leaving on a round the world trip this fall and plan to write extensively about it on here. Somebody said, if you want to become a good writer, you write and keep writing. I'm paraphrasing and I forget who said it, but I always think about that, just keep at it.
That's interesting @travelman... quite a few of the things I have gotten into over the years were projects others had given up because they were "harder than expected." That seems to be what I do best... things that have a slow growth curve but few "violent swings."
Steemit came along at a fortunate time for me... I was looking to resume more "general interest" blogging and there it was; after just six months I have become rather "protective" of this community... and I have managed to get back to blogging almost daily, for the first time in almost 10 years.
Your trip sounds intriguing... so you just got yourself another follower!
I totally agree that there is no magic pill to anything in life. It's just really really hard to do your best and still fall short of your own expectations. It takes courage and perseverance to keep going when it seems like you are just running in circles. Besides, if everything is so easy, then it won't be worth the effort anyway.
Interesting and important point @dali.soh... people value things about as much as they had to pay or work for them... which is why we often see lottery winners being penniless a few years after they won. Had they had to work for those millions, they'd probably still have most of the money.
It does take courage to keep going when things get extremely "thin." And maybe "grit," as well as courage.
Timing is the biggest factor for success imho. I'm into micro stream incomes as I transition into homesteading. Several irons in the fire at a time and you will be able to flex if one comes up short. Like being a noob on Steemit...
Timing sometimes can be extremely important... my wife and I both wear "multiple hats" as part of our own quest for as much independence as possible.
In a sense, Steemit is an interesting microcosm when it comes to timing: I could feel sad about getting here "too late" and not being part of the early adoption group who made $100's and $1000's per post... on the other hand, I'm grateful for my perseverance and constant publishing this spring when Steem went down all the way to 7c...
Hindsight being 20/20, it's easy to make the what if leap. Steemit is an interesting platform but appears the quailty suffers with all the bots and nice post crap that I see every day. Can be discouraging at times. Again, the reason to diversify.
Usually the platform I use has died before my enthusiasm. I feel hopeful here and invest all my spare time and SBD in STEEM hoping to grow as you have. Thank you for the encouragement and guidance..
@wandrnrose7, I have had similar experiences (wrote a bit more about that in today's post) and mostly it seems that venues with good ideas have fallen prey to human greed.
Great article my friend.. I recently found out the value of consistency and how to turn it to something pleasant.. Great to see other people sharing the experience..
Is like to wish you all the best in your stern it future and much love.
Goldie
Thanks for the comment @vangelov-- I think a lot of people are simply impatient, so they move around from here to there and to elsewhere, but whatever the undertake (except in a few instances of extraordinary luck) never gets a change to "take root" and grow.
Well, I’ve been persistent for a long time, but now and then I’m told that while I’ve got creative talent, unless I get lucky with gaining exposure, nothing I do will amount to much. Hmm...
@arekwolf, not to make light of things, but that sounds like a veiled sales pitch from someone who's skilled at "personal branding."
Without doubt, we do have to "make ourselves visible" with some kind of personal marketing, but I would say whoever said that to you made a rather harsh indictment.
Ha ha ha, it kind of sounds like that, but it’s got stuck in my mind because only yesterday a writer who’s been around here for ages told me the almost exact same words. Now I don’t know how much trust I should put in him, but the fact is the particular story of mine we were chatting about has been featured in the O.C.D. Curation Daily and yet garnered only 40 views in four days. That’s really not a lot, considering the size of the platform. Anyway, I’ll keep trying for that lucky break, I suppose.
Perseverance is key - I work for myself and that rings soo true.
This image helped me a lot - I also share it with my kids when they feel like giving up...
Yes, I have seen that one before... and it's always a good reminder!
Oh, this one is one of my favorite pictures. I've sent it to at least few people for various occasions.
I sure like those two, since I believe in both Persistence and Consistency. It's something I strive to become better at. Great post.
What was often appealing to me is that if you have those two, you can take a merely "good" idea (it doesn't have to be "superb") and get it to work well, in time.
Good Morning with spirit of preservance and consistency
.. beautiful post .. loved it
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Thanks!
truly helpful post for success we should have to follow consistent path
Thank you!
I am far from self employed. With that said, I have found there is a difference between having success and feeling successful. When I would get lots of upvotes, but very little comments I didn't feel successful.
The financial success wasn't my goal or purpose just a byproduct.
I stopped using some of the bots, I stopped asking friends to read my post, and I started focusing on my writing. I feel successful because the comments are still low but more engaging.
I don't know if that answered your question or not, but it is what came to mind.
Love the post - Great content - Great Pictures and the perfect outlook .