Food for Thought #11: The Dark Night of the Soul
Today’s food for thought is a result of a couple of conversations I had about the level of effort required to be successful here at Wealthy Affiliate.
It began with a post by Mark (@MThompson3) talking about how he had worked for six months, putting in over 1000 hours, creating content for his site and he had earned a whopping $8 for his efforts.
Sometime later, I was speaking to new member, Taiyangkonauna (@Nauna—give her a follow, she’s awesome!), about how we all start out so excited in the beginning, but at some point, we all come face-to-face with what I call the "dark night of the soul".
The DNS
The dark night of the soul in our business is this: at some point, sooner or later, we realize that we are working extremely hard, for months or even years, and have very little—if anything—to show for it. Tons of effort, little reward.
At this point, when we are completely exhausted and mentally burned out, we begin to think it’s just not worth it. And it is precisely at this point when we shouldn’t.
I recently listened to a podcast where a blogger stated that she worked on her site, creating content seven days a week for an entire year, and had made less than $2000 by the end of year one. But... by the end of year two she had made close to $70,000; and by the end of year three she was at $300,000 plus!
The point is not that that will happen to us, because of course we don't really know, do we?
The point is that had she given up at that proverbial $8 point mentioned earlier, she would never have reached the hundreds of thousands.
The key to success is not doing everything right, it's not quitting when everything goes wrong.
Stay the Course
When you hit your dark night of the soul, keep going.
Yes, yes, I know. Easier said than done. But that’s why you’re here. I have said multiple times that the true power of WA is not the hosting or site support, although it is excellent. It’s not even the training, even though it is the best in the world.
No, the true power of WA is us. It’s the community. It is the love and support we each provide to one another.
The Promise
So, I want each of you reading this to post your promise in the comments…
If (when, rather) you get to that point, when you are staring down the dark night of the soul and wanting to throw in the towel and walk away, I want you to promise everyone that you will reach out to the rest of the community.
Many of us have all been there and we can help guide you through with no judgement, only love and compassion. As the saying goes, none of us is as strong as all of us.
YOU CAN DO THIS! :-)
Recent Comments
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Hi AJ,
Another awesome post! Thanks for sharing. It's nice to know that I (we) have such a wonderful and caring community of people that are willing to help all in need! :)
Hope you have a wonderful evening,
Donna
Absolutely. As I noted in the post, for me the community is the best part of WA. Stay in touch and let us know if you need anything. :-)
I’ve been there, I spent eight months in the virtual wilderness in the middle of last year.
The only constructive thing I did during this time was to analyze where I was failing and what I could do to start moving forwards again.
I rebooted my online presence last November, joined Premium in December and now with the help of this excellent community I know I’m here for the long haul.
I can accept now that I have a lot of work to do and that it may be sometime before I see any financial reward.
If I can help anyone else here get through the DNS stage, I will be happy to.
Best wishes,
Steve.
Thank you, Steve. It is experience like that that will help get a lot of new members through. As we always say, it's simple, but it ain't easy. Thank you, friend. :-)
Thanks AJ, this was a brilliant post. That's actually one of the reasons I took advantage of the Black Friday special late 'last year'! I'm locked in now, and since I'm already paid up, quitting just ain't an option!! Thanks for the inspiring message.
YES! Perhaps the the best reason to go yearly... it's not about the savings; it takes away the option to quit. Very good point. :-)
AJ,
Simply put??? Moving!!
You speak true! Time, effort, and energy will pay off... maybe not today, but it will!
Shaunna
So right on -- Thanks for writing this post. We just have to keep trying what we learn and learning what we can, and when we are stuck or losing momentum we can call on the wonderful people in here to help us get back on track.
Thanks for the shout out AJ. I realize not everyone can spend the amount of time I spent here in the last 6 months. I am single, no kids, no living relatives, and do not have another job or any other responsibilities. I retired from the rat race 12 years ago and became a very successful personal trainer.
I can work Jan-March and it affords me the absolute freedom lifestyle most WA'ers are chasing. I enjoy helping others and my happiness is not dependent on how happy I am, but how happy others are around me. If I have encouraged or helped one person I have met here in the last 6 months to achieve their goal, then I am happy.
If I never make a cent here at WA, it has been a grand ride. I have met people I call friend from all over the world. I have 4 sites that are gonna make me a 5 figure month by the end of the year and I knew squat when I started.
WA can change lives! WA can make dreams a reality!
All it takes is hard work, perseverance, tenacity, and a willingness to learn and help others. It really is that simple.
Make a living, make a difference.
Mark
True, true... but it's not the time you have, it's what you do with the time you have. You clearly display a work ethic that even if you only had 10 minutes a day, you would make that 10 minutes count. It's all about maximizing opportunities :-)
AJ, a well written piece that reasonates with me and I’m sure many others as well.
The secret to success is keep following the training,put what you learn into action and most importantly never give up.
I think that by talking to others it does help to balance out your thinking.
If business was easy we would all be so happy!
Thanks for your post
All the best
Fintan
Talking to others is key. With WA being around as long as it has, at this point I would be surprised if there is any challenge that we may come across that someone here hasn't already been through and can help.
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Yes we can. The proof is in the actually doing not mere contemplation.
Agreed. Sometimes our biggest enemy is contemplating too much. The solution? Take massive action and work so fast that we don't have time to even think about failure. :-)
Thanks for sharing.