Starting from scratch
Starting From Scratch –
I recently deleted five websites that I “started” but never completed. We all have read posts about FOLLOWING THE PLAN, not skipping steps in the training, not rushing thru the training and therefore minimizing the stress resulting from “not making a million dollars” the first ten days in WA. Although I never viewed WA as anything other than a long-term investment in time and training, I seemed to have forgotten that fact somewhere in the excitement of reading what everyone is doing in our community.
Despite repeated warnings from community members and “professionals” who already have functional sites in operation, I failed to heed the warning signals. As I have said before in previous blogs, it has been my lifelong habit to read instructions and manuals only as a last resort when all else has failed. Well, all else HAS failed.
Without getting into a web of analysis paralysis, the explanation for me was fairly simple. When Kyle said not to get too hung up on the niche selection I paid little attention to his advice and proceeded to get HUNG UP. By creating more websites, I was under the incorrect perception that if I kept going creating sites, one of them would jump out in BOLD letters and say……….THIS ONE, follow me!
That did not happen of course! The harder I tried to determine which direction to go the more difficult that task became and I was very frustrated. So after doing some research about “following your passion” which has millions of hits on Google, I found an article which made sense to me. The article suggested approaching this quest by asking the simple question which you have heard before – what were you doing when you lost track of time? I sat down alone in my home office, shut the door and just thought. It did not take more than ten minutes before I came up with three “passions” that caused me to lose track of time. I wrote them down. Then I called three very good friends whom I have had both a professional and personal relationship with for more than 40 years. I ask each of them to do me a huge personal favor. I ask each to send me an email (to take off the pressure of doing this over the phone) with one or two sentences about what they thought were my best qualities! My friendship with each of these friends is solid enough where they knew I would not take offense if they said, well, Steve you are not good at anything, or if they told me they could not think of specific things.
Perhaps it should not have been, but it was a surprise when all three sent emails back which included ALL of the three passions I had written down as described above. So, now I had three areas I wanted to pursue, but I wanted to rank order them. My next step was to evaluate them in an objective manner. I did this by telling myself that I should rank these by “what if there was NO financial or other interest which might be used to evaluate my choices.” I made the assumption that I am independently wealthy and could do anything that I wanted to do in life, and that money, time, and effort, are not to be part of the decision process. It then took only a few seconds to rank order theses passions.
So what next? I took my first choice and………..back to research, looked for training online that would provide me with enough information to be considered a subject matter expert in this field and create a website to “sell this expertise.” It only took a few minutes to find a significant number of Udemy Courses that would do what I wanted. I have enrolled in one course and have completed 50% of the training. My next step is to go BACK and restart the WA Course and lesson process with my passion as the target. I will do these two things simultaneously. I will spend time each day on both the Udemy training and the WA courses. I have “made appointments” on my Cozi family calendar, so everyone knows to “stay away from Grandad” for these blocks of time.
I am NOT expecting miracles, and believe as everyone has mentioned in various posts that the turtle will win the race……..so it is time to transition into a turtle! I hope this does not hurt too much :-)
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, Steve
Recent Comments
82
Great Post Steve,
Don't ever be afraid to fail! Failure is not some bad thing we should be embarrassed about. it's just part of the process. Without failure, there would be no success.
Think of it as a stepping stone. Now you're that much stronger to deal with the next mission.
I'll leave you with a Thomas Edison quote I am sure you've heard.
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work" Thomas Edison
Reading through your bio You have had much success in life and I am sure you will find it again.
Thanks for the motivation.
Tim
Your message is VERY helpful Time, and I thank you very much for taking the time to send this to me as I start my day. I will use your sound advice and counsel!
Without any exaggeration, it is a HUGE help.
All the best,
Steve
Steve, my friend. I learned a lot from the many failures that I encountered in my life. From making the wrong choices, wrong decisions to as simple as saying the word, "no". I experienced joining a few MLM's in my home country before and could not say always "no" to friends thinking that I would be doing them a favour. I was not really interested of joining at that time because it was not my passion. But still I could not let them down without thinking that I was letting myself down just by saying "yes". So, the end result was a total failure. These failures made me strong and a better person. It taught me a great lesson in life. I learned to say "no" everytime I will be approached by a friend to join a MLM that is not within my passion and not to rush in making choices and decisions. I believe in the saying that, "Haste makes waste". So, I vouch you for being brave and doing the right thing even if it has resulted in starting all over again.
Thank you, Steve, for sharing an admirable and informative post. Keep up the good work! Wish you all the best towards your road to success!
Adel :)
Your confirmation that I am doing the right thing means a lot. Especially coming from you Adel.
Thanks so very much for taking the time and effort to provide me with some additional "justification" for changing my direction!
Thanks my friend,
Steve
You're most welcome. This is what WA COMMUNITY is for. It's our second family. Always supporting and helping each other towards reaching each other's individual success in life.
Do whatever your heart wants you to do. I always follow my gut instinct because this always lead me to the right direction.
It has proved to me many times but we also need the guidance from above, which is the most powerful of all.
All the best and God bless you, my friend! :)
Thanks for sharing this post, Steve, and I must admit, all this about being a tortoise is so right, I am at last enjoying the learning, taking it slowly, learning each lesson and going from A-B rather than A-S-Z-Q-C and getting totally confused as to what I am doing. Kyle's training is very good and if we can just follow it properly, no, we won't be overnight millionaires, as the scams say, but we will get there, for sure.:-))Steph
We are surely soul mates in this opinion Steph. I love the going from A-S-Z-Q-C part............that is exactly what I was doing. Oh look, there is a shiny object, let's follow that one. Like you I am going back to take it SLOWLY.........if it takes a little longer........so be it. No one has a stopwatch on us!
Thanks so very much for taking the time to let me know that I am not the only member who has had the experience, and I am not losing my mind!
This helped a LOT.
Steve
Thanks Steve. I have just realized that I skipped ahead of the lessons too. I only made one website though. Im using it as a learning site but I think I'm having problems because I didnt follow all the steps. I too was thinking about going back to at least the part of bootcamp that I got off track. I'd advise new members to follow the training step by step. I was anxious to start another website that was my passion and I tried to move ahead too fast.
Been there done that Jean...............hopefully for the last time !
Thanks for taking the time to add perspective !
Stay well,
Steve
I can completely see where you're coming from Steve as I am very much in the same position at the moment. I will take the idea of sitting quietly and thinking about things in the way you have. I am also going back to the start of the training to work on a different site to the one I began with.
All the best moving forward my friend :)
Hi Steve,
I read all of your story and it is easy to get side tracked ,i all ways find it hard to focus one of the things i like about WA is the training and the back ground help.so the best of luck you will get the journey finished with help from your friends from WA.
Regards,
Gerard.
Thanks, Gerard - As you just mentioned it is "friends in WA" that makes it possible to make course corrections!
Thank you for taking the time to respond!
Steve
Its a journey! I recently told someone that choosing their niche was probably the hardest part in this business, it's definitely the bit that most people rush and fail to take real time to consider.
The other hard part is deciding when to stop something or when you should keep struggling through, and that's also a huge step in development so i wouldn't see any of these things as set backs they are simply part of the next step in the journey forward. Great post thanks for sharing, Marie
What! I was shocked to find out that you didn't make a million dollars in the first ten days! Isn't that against the rules?
You are going to have to lay off the scotch now.
I hope it's all about balance balls and how to fall of them? You are very passionate about them. I have never known anyone as passionate as you are about balance balls.
I am sorry for the vulgarity but ................LMAO. You are a prize Michael and can turn a cloudy day into one with sunshine in an instant.
Wait..... I just fell off my balance ball from laughing, so would you please do this when I have my desk in the standing position?
All the best brother,
Steve
PS Really? No more single malt? Isn't that a little extreme? Cruel and unusual punishment as they say. By the way........have you ever found who "they" are?
ROFL ! I reckon you've now worked out how to fall off your balance ball without dropping a single drop of malt, it's the circus for you my lad!
I am hearing so much about 'they' so we must be getting close?!
Alright the single malt stays, I am not one for extreme punishment, just make sure you have some good deals on the balance balls!
Wow, I did not realise that you were not doing something that you did not love. I should have been more open, or checked your site.
Even my new sites that I am starting to build, are my passions, and love of life. They are also of my working background from the last 40 something years of what I do and know.
I hope you have found the right answer, it sounds like you have.
Have a great night and as you get this done if you need help, ask my friend.
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Thanks for sharing your personal struggles Steve. I've been distracted lately and haven't done much on my blog or in the training. Got a short term JOB with immediate money - shiny things - lol. Need to get back on track. I think we all struggle from time to time. You are not alone.
Thanks, Lu - On September 19th I am starting a short term JOB also (same money issue), so I need to get my act together BEFORE that date. Your encouragement and comment that I am not alone are very helpful.
Thanks again for taking the time,
All the best, Steve