If you’re running a website and trying to build it up to be successful, then you are in the fortune position of having a clear goal, or dream even, that you can aim for. Success is something that a lot of people struggle to obtain, but it is always most difficult when you aren’t sure how to define that success. By having a clear idea of what you want to achieve, and of how you’re going to get there, you are already ahead of the rest of the pack.
But the interesting part is what happens when you get there. Once your site is actually a success, then where do you go from there? What does it actually feel like? And are there any downsides? Read on to find out just what your dream feels like, and how to prepare for some of the nastier surprises that you may not have accounted for.
The Moment of Success
The most important thing to realise about obtaining your goal of a successful website, is that it won’t come as a sudden wave. This isn’t like climbing a mountain – there is no point at which you will feel that you’ve ‘made it’ – rather it’s a constant and gradual series of improvements that slowly leads to the dawning realisation that you’re doing well.
This is a good thing in a way because it doesn’t come as too much of a shock, but it’s also a bad thing in others. For one, you’ll never get that satisfying ‘release’ or that feeling of closure having made it. You’ll be perpetually climbing and sometimes it can be very difficult to know when it’s time to stop.
The other problem is that it doesn’t feel quite so ‘concrete’. It’s not like you’ve done it, now you can go home – of course you’ve tried to build this successful site because you want it to remain constantly profitable. This can actually end up causing you to feel quite anxious – you’ll have a moment of joy that you’re doing well, and then suddenly you’ll think ‘what if it’s a fluke?’ and ‘what if it doesn’t last?’.
Then the Work Comes
And while you might think that success would buy you the time you want to relax and focus on the things that are most important to you, that’s not how it will actually go. Rather you’ll find that the success brings with it more work – you’ll get more e-mails from visitors, more offers from people wanting to do business with you, and more bugs to iron out. The work will rapidly pile up, and you’ll often find that you end up doing more on a daily basis than you were when you weren’t so successful.
Floundering
All this can leave you feeling a little lost. You put all your energy into building that site and making it a hit, and now you just have to maintain it. Where do you go from here? Are you a one-hit wonder who got lucky? Have you peaked? (To painfully extend the mountain metaphor a little further there…)
Paranoia, depression and anxiety? Probably not quite what you had in mind!
How to Solve the Problem
The good news though, is that you’re already one step ahead of most people simply for having read this article. By knowing what to expect you can go into this with a level head and make sure not to get too caught up in your victory.
And there will be positives to focus on too. For one, you’ll feel vindicated and successful and it’s a great feeling to be able to buy a nice new computer or suit because you earned the money through your own hard work. This is all the more gratifying too if you’ve previously found people to be disparaging of the work you do. Who’s the layabout now?
So the secret is to focus on enjoying your success, and to make a conscious decision to give yourself a break. Sustaining success is much easier than growing in the first place, so make sure that you don’t lose site of why you started working online in the first place. Enjoy what you do, follow your passions, and let the money be a helpful side effect.
