Approaching one month at WA, some thoughts I've had in that time.
(Sorry this is quite long, didn't even realise how long until I got to the end.)
As I'm approaching the completion of my first month here at Wealthy Affiliate I just wanted put something out into the community. I wasn't intending to do anything like this (mainly due to the fear of no one wanting to read it haha) or at the very least not do a blog post here until I was successful. As in my mind no one would want to hear from someone who hasn't accomplished anything here yet, ignoring that people might actually want to hear the story as it progresses.
Making the decision to blog here as I go along provides two very important reasons for me to do it. One is people might find some motivation in seeing any potential progress I make, and secondly, it gives me some accountability and motivation myself. If I see people are interested in my story and my journey it gives me additional belief and motivation to keep going and that I can succeed. So here I am, standing at the bottom of the summit starting my ascent.
Throughout my life I've always been a perfectionist, expecting to be a master of something even if I've had little training or are a complete beginner. I'd jump up in the air, use that tenth of a second in the air as proof I can fly and head off to the nearest cliff to prepare for an adventure. I'd be giddy in anticipation, using my newfound ability to fly over the ocean and explore new lands that awaited me. Only to act surprised that upon throwing myself off that cliff, that I actually could not fly, and instead faced a very scary 100ft drop to the bottom.
The constant failing to achieve these very big goals led me to into the depths of self-doubt, lack of confidence and to an extent a victim mentality. But only recently after completing a couch to 5k program did the very simple answer hit me, small steps reach big goals. Sounds stupid I know, but I was very sporty growing up so my natural instinct is to assume I can run 5k no problem, even if I hadn't ran for over three years.
The couch to 5k program plus the training program here at Wealthy Affiliate have shown me that you can make great strides in small steps. But I and maybe others here as well will still have this nagging doubt, can we really achieve everything we want to here? First things first I need to genuinely believe I can do this, I need a way to overcome that constant nagging self-doubt and lack of confidence in myself as a result of previous failures.
My answer to this is I need to change my mindset, I need to celebrate small steps, see them as victories to forge a winning mentality, even create a mantra. And with that will come an increasing belief that I can achieve anything I set my mind to. It will take time, years of failing and asking myself why can't I do this or that will bury itself deep in our psyche and becomes part of our identity. After years of berating myself over the smallest things and telling myself I'm useless, I need to do the reverse. Finish this blog post "hell yeah good job james", release two articles this week "see, I knew you could do it", be kind to myself for a change.
A big fear that myself and a lot of newcomers will have is "how can I succeed when there's already so much competition in my niche?". While there are indeed millions of sites out there in every niche you can think of I'd like to ask you a question if I may.
So everyone has to go grocery shopping don't they, in the city or town that you live how many different supermarket brands are there? Two? Three? More?
I take it you have a favourite so why is the one you go to regularly your favourite? Is it the closest to you? Are they cheaper than other competitors? Do they stock one item that you love that other supermarkets don't sell?
My point is there will be many different reasons as to why one person prefers one supermarket over another even though they are largely the same. There may be many sites in your niche but there can be many factors as to why people searching online might prefer your site over others.
It could be the way you write that resonates with people and draws them to you, it could be the way your site is set up. It could be people see a genuineness in what you are doing, like supermarkets it could be anything and the reason could be very simple.
Given enough time you will find your people, look at real life, the people who are now your best friends, how did they become that? People tend to join various clubs and activities to find like-minded people and sometimes that's where you find the people who get you, because you share the same passions. Same in the online world, people with the same interests as your niche will be drawn to your page. And those who resonate with the way you and your site are will stick around and keep reading the articles you put out.
I think I'll leave it there ("thank god" I hear you say haha), sorry for the long post but thanks for reading.
James
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I felt very much the same when I first looked at WA lessons. Then I thought about the learning curve for some jobs I had started. Learning this turned out to be no more or no less challenging. I guess my thinking was that I had learned lots of new things in my life. I will learn this too.
Hi James and welcome to Wealthy Affiliate.
You brought up some points that I think most beginners have and are normal.
You talked about being perfectionism and questioned how you can compete when there are so many others in your niche.
I would like to share some of my ideas that I think will address your concerns.
I too am similar in that I always wanted to be perfect at whatever I did. to be honest, I often gave up a new endeavor when I felt that I was not excelling at it right away.
Over the years I have learned that consistency over perfection wins the day. We need to have a vision and then take consistent steps to achieve that vision. It takes time. It is a journey. As long as you are persistent you will get there. Instead of attempting to be perfect work at being better. I now feel content with being better every day instead of being perfect. It is a journey and as long I know I am on the journey I can be happy even though I have not achieved the end game yet.
In regards to competition, there is competition in any niche. I believe the way for you to become successful in the niche of your choice is to consistently build up your content and if you are offering good quality content that people appreciate that you will see success. As you build rapport with your customers people will come to trust you and look to you for solutions, regardless of the competition, and it is like this in any industry.
I can tell you this is what needs to happen in any industry. Back in 2006 I opened a solo optometry practice by myself and it took several years for me to become known and successful in my community. I remember having the pressure to cut my prices to match the surrounding competition but I stuck to my principles of offering the very best eye care, eyeglasses, and contact lens services and over time I built up a reputation of having the very best and people started to grant me more business even at higher costs than some of the surrounding offices because they came to see that the quality of what I was giving them was better.
So the bottom line is you should work to be better every day, offer your readers and customers top notch quality content to help them solve their problems in your niche. Over time they will get to know you and trust your expertise and you will see your success grow. And the key is to grow and not be perfect.
As long as you are growing every day and offering help to others that they can appreciate you are on the journey to success.
Wishing you the best of success!
Thanks for the comment Mark and very interesting to hear about your real world business experiences as well.
In your scenario I completely understand the pressure to drop prices to attract customers. But in the end you have to be yourself and be genuine in what you do, that's the best way to go about things.
I always explain this using the local example as well James, in any given city where there is let's say 500,000 people, you have an abundance of different types of stores. Here where I live in Victoria, there are 100's of shoe stores, and that is with a population of around 500,000 people.
So if there are functioning and profitable shoe stores within a city of 100 people, how much opportunity is there in an environment where there is 5.5 BILLION people (the internet). A lot. And you can go granular, you could create your website around a particular type of shoes. Men's Dress Shoes, Shoes for Wide Feet, Jordan's, etc...and still have a massive audience.
That is the reality, there is room for all of us within the internet, we can head in a direction that we love and we are passionate about, and we can create a thriving business...or multiple over time.
Great post here!
Thanks Kyle. I can't remember if I heard the supermarket analogy from one of your videos, if I did I'm sorry for copying your example haha. It is a very apt one though as it's a great example that competition doesn't mean you can't still succeed.
Thanks again.
Length is not an issue when you have covered your topic well and done your blog post justice. I, too, sometimes suffer from being a perfectionist. But with practice, I am learning to let go... You've covered plenty of ground in one post; I want to congratulate you on your one month at WA and wish you great endeavors on your online journey
Thank you Abie. I apologise if I covered too much ground, my mind was just darting to so many different points that I felt I needed to write them down before I forgot them. I agree letting go is a good way to combat perfectionism, as is acceptance I feel. Acceptance of the situation right now, that maybe I'm not an expert right now but slowly but surely that can change.
Thank you for your wisdom, James :)
It's fine. I have a notebook with me. I always think of new ideas and quickly jot them down before I forget them.
Perfect that you've done... I am awesomely happy for you.
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You've got the tools you need, James. You just need to keep climbing to the summit if there is one. I really don't think there is. There's no end to what you can do with this business and you are going to be great at it.