Running a Real Holiday: Journaling 135 Days of Joyful Vacation

Question for you, Staccs:

(I should preface this by stating this is not coming from a place of judgement nor "superiority." Truth be told, my work ethic could use a boost as well)

If you knew for certain this project would be greatly profitable in the near future, and that it'd be a guaranteed home run when it comes time to flip, how would that knowledge affect your drive now?

I ask this because I believe the primary reason a lot of people don't give their 100% is because they aren't certain they'll receive a satisfactory return on investment for their time and efforts.

This issue is compounded by past negative experiences (i.e. hustling hard to build an $xx,xxx website only to have it tank).

So when seasoned vets come around and can't understand why someone isnt throwing themselves into a project 24/7, it's because their wins have outweighed their losses tenfold. They've forgetten what it feels like to approach the base of a mountain with little to no gear, take a deep breath, and begin a terrifying journey to a summit thats obscurred by dark clouds. Will the view be worth the struggle? Will it be as fruitless as my last hike?

If you've successfully scaled several mountains in the past, it's not a big deal when you come across one you've never climbed before.

You might not even be able to see the summit, but based on past experiences, you have a good idea of what lies ahead. You're familiar with the general geography, you know what kind of animals lurk along the trails, and you have enough gear and supplies to bounce back from moderate setbacks. Your mental map of the terrain matches up to the real thing with surprising accuracy. Truthfully, you wouldn't even care that much if you never made it to the top, because you're so comfortable with the process that the journey itself is a reward. Besides, it's no sweat off your back. Your portfolio speaks for itself (rinse and repeat later, baby).

/heavy-handed metaphor

So I guess what this means is that your first major success is the most important. It's also the most emotionally difficult to achieve.

But I think it's worth the struggle and uncertainty, if for no other reason than the momentum it gives you (mentally and financially) to easily glide up similar mountains.

That's what's keeping me going, but I have to constantly remind myself that. I suspect it may be a similar situation for you too, Staccs.

(Am I somewhat close?)
 


Sunday January 4th 2014 - Day 81

GimpSpack said:
I ask this because I believe the primary reason a lot of people don't give their 100% is because they aren't certain they'll receive a satisfactory return on investment for their time and efforts.

This issue is compounded by past negative experiences (i.e. hustling hard to build an $xx,xxx website only to have it tank).
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This is 100% a factor for me. I think I've mentioned it in this thread before, and it is wearing on me. The feeling of never being certain my next move is the correct one, like working on the right thing, is another paralyzing thought that often occupies my mind.

Regardless, I don't think this is a logical way of thinking. It's a thought pattern that has infected my thinking but I think I should know better.

If I can't get this (IM) to work for me I'm going to have to find something else. This trying but not trying hard enough isn't allowing me to improve. That's the reality when I'm freed from posting in this thread 54 days from now.
 
Staccs said:
Sunday January 4th 2014 - Day 81

This is 100% a factor for me. I think I've mentioned it in this thread before, and it is wearing on me. The feeling of never being certain my next move is the correct one, like working on the right thing, is another paralyzing thought that often occupies my mind.
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Right. I struggle with this as well, although I'm finally beginning to figure out how to mitigate this.

I think this mentality (and your situation) is predicated entirely on scarcity. As in -

  1. Lack of resources: You're doing this all by hand. Every article, every backlink, every image, every forum post, every email you send out - it's entirely you. This is a huge project to undertake all by yourself. The amount of time needed for you to properly bring this project to fruition without capital will take much longer than 50 days. It sounds like an overwhelming amount of work.
  2. Lack of Realistic Strategy: Right now, it sounds like you don't have a solid monetization strategy in place. I know Tavin's original threads don't recommend you focus on this for "flippable" sites, but I say bullshit (his most recent 1M flip was profiting like a mofo). If you're going to invest your time and resources into building out an asset you aren't certain will sell for the amount you're hoping for, the least you can do is increase the chances your hard work will be rewarded along the journey.
  3. Lack of Alternative Options: This seems to be your only hope for making decent money and providing you comfort. The psychological ramifications of this are massive.

Regardless, I don't think this is a logical way of thinking. It's a thought pattern that has infected my thinking but I think I should know better.
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If the above 3 factors are mostly true for you, you're probably right in being apprehensive about proceeding. It's actually rational for you to be nervous and indecisive.

It's kind of like chicks. If you're obsessed with a particular girl, and you consider her your only chance of happiness and sex, you'll probably never pull the trigger (it's your only chance, right? Want to play it as safe as possible). And if you finally do make a move, your behavior is going to be repulsively unattractive because you're 100% invested in the outcome (you'll be stuttering, emotional, hover-hands, etc). To make matters worse, you couldn't afford to pay for her dinner even if she agreed to go out with you. The blatant risk factors outweigh the (slim) potential gains at this point.

If I can't get this (IM) to work for me I'm going to have to find something else. This trying but not trying hard enough isn't allowing me to improve. That's the reality when I'm freed from posting in this thread 54 days from now.
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So I don't think you should give up on IM. You've invested a lot of time in this shit already, and you probably know more than you think. Plus you're smart. It would be a shame if you let this all go to waste.

The main difference between you and I is that it sounds like you embrace all 3 of the scarcity factors, whereas I only meet 1 (Lack of Alternative Options - don't have viable long-term career options ahead of me). So you're actually more justified in being apprehensive. I'm just being a pussy because I'm irrationally over-invested in the outcome of my website. If I had a great career and tons of disposable income, this wouldn't be an issue. I'd be outsourcing like a mofo, and more excited to learn from mistakes than worried about making them.

As far as what I'm doing to mitigate the 3 scarcity factors, here they are (perhaps some may apply to you):

  1. Make More Money (Resources): I have a decent gig that pays me well over minimum wage. But I've been picking up extra hours on the weekends so I don't feel so nervous about spending my savings (I got bills to pay). I'll be damned if I'm going to do everything by hand. I want this shit to scale, and frankly, I don't have enough time to do everything myself even if I wanted to. I'm outsourcing hella shit, buying paid traffic when appropriate, and building a real fucking social following. At least a $2-5k budget. There's no other way this will work.
  2. Brainstorm MVP Ideas (Strategy): I'm selling info products (Kindle probably) right off the bat. I don't give a fuck. I'm going to be sending traffic to sales pages, and gauging demand by how many people click the "buy now" button. After they've clicked the buy button, they'll be directed to a "Coming Soon" page where they will join a waiting list if they're truly interested. It'll probably take me several tries to find something even remotely viable, but fuck it. Once something sticks well enough, I'm outsourcing the content and launching. I want to make at least a little guaranteed income while I'm growing the site to flip later on. Don't have time to waste testing affiliate offers for a newsletter - must be creative. NOTE: The pros would most likely advise me not to throw MVP sales pages at the wall until one sticks, but I'm doing it anyway. Dunning-Kruger effect to max, but fuck em. Watch me.
  3. Grow Balls (Alternative Options): Still working on this one. I think not having long-term career prospects will actually fuel my ass even more once I have enough momentum. As of right now, I'm too emotionally invested in this shit.

So yeah bro, if what I'm saying resonates with you or applies to you at all, my biggest advice would be to get a part time job and take monetization seriously. It doesn't sound like you're paying a lot of bills, so a side gig will probably go far, even if it's minimum wage. Lastly, you've given yourself a huge ultimatum (if you don't do X by [date], it's all over). Perhaps you should reconsider this mindset, because you're trying to tackle a heavy task while not properly equipped.

You just need more resources and actionable strategies bro. You might be surprised by the amount of mental friction that disappears.

Just some thoughts for you bro, good luck.

(And please wish me luck as well).
 
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Oh, sorry, one more important Strategy element:

Competitive Analysis. I'm studying and documenting everything my top 5 competitors are doing. From social (post frequency, most responsive times, best performing content, etc), to monetization (including taking screenshots of ad placements), to newsletter funnels, to most shared/linked-to content, media buys, Mission Statements/UVPs - EVERYTHING.

This should seem like an obvious step, but it wasn't until a few weeks ago I actually decided to drop my content outlining and actually study my competitors like an autistic fag-boy-man-child.

What I've learned has been paradigm changing.

And the tools I've used offer free-trials.

I highly recommend this step to any noob, because it pulls you out of fantasy world into "Oh-shit-now-I-know-how-resource-intensive-this-really-is" world. I needed that jolt.

But yeah... :)
 
Monday January 5th 2014 - Day 82

Woke up with the flu and spent the first half of the day between my bed and the bathroom.

Second half I pieced together and edited the most recent interview. During the editing I read over the interview 2-3 times and try to tease out powerful follow up questions. I came up with 3 more which I sent out.

I've been exchanging PMs with a Reddit mod for the past hour. I'm not sure if I'm going to get the sidebar link today, but even if it doesn't turn out I'm planting the seed for later. My site is already the best resource in its niche 80 days in, in my biased opinion, it's only going to get better as I add to it. If I get rejected today I can try again in a month or two.

Replied to GimpSmack's monster PMs which he's welcome to post here (publicly) if he wishes. My problem with strategies that involve utilizing competitive research:

There are only a handful of direct competitors in my niche. I can think of 2 off the top of my head.

Aside from these two (still very small) sites my niche will get the occasional article written on an authority site, but has almost no websites completely dedicated to the topic.

This voids any strategy that uses competitive research. I want to connect with their social followings, but aside from that they have nothing I can use to propel myself forward. No quality backlinks, no highly shared content, no traffic leaking via comments.
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I have an idea on how to leverage the Instagram niche relevant hashtags with my interviews, but I just don't have enough interviews to make it sustainable. I do think there is potential for a relevant side project that would be a link bait magnet and could drive traffic back to this site. My concern would be diverting focus from this project, but really, if there's no content to be written on a daily basis I think I could pull it off.

Is it too early to create a similar pumper site?

53 days left
 
I'll give you a more adequate reply via PM, but for now, I'll just say this:

You may have stumbled upon one of those rare niches that may actually be too narrow for the business model you're using. Obviously, I'm not an expert nor do I know your exact niche, but based on what you've told me, there seems to be a few red flags:

Why is there such a lack of competition? Typically, profitable niches (even narrow ones) have at least a few moderately big players with enough momentum for you to learn from.

Is your primary niche topic(s) something that's usually only (occasionally) touched upon by bigger brands that encompass tons of tangentially related stuff? If so, that might tell you something (this is why I'm putting more effort into competitive research now).

Not saying your niche is a dud, but perhaps you should approach it differently. It may be too narrow to approach it from a magazine-esque, Big Brand informational site angle (the sort of sites Tavin flips for mid $xx,xxx).

Since your sites focus seems laser targetted, do you see potential for a product? Your audience might be much smaller, and therefore traffic potential limited, but could you still capitalize on it with the proper monetization?

Are there directly related products on amazon that look somewhat popular?

Have ran your primary KWs through Google Trends to see if demand for your topics is picking up steam? or stagnanting?

Idk, just throwing out ideas.
 
Also, you're going after a 90k exact match term. How do you only have 2 useless competitors?

What's your end game plan? I'm really confused. Who else occupies those SERPS, and why?
 
GimpSpack said:
Make More Money (Resources):
Click to expand...

This should be first priority before starting any project. Mainly because if one doesn't have monetary security, and by that I mean some sort of cash flow besides their current project, it will lead to increase in stress and a fixation on making "it" work while at the same time being hesitant to take risks that might jeopardize the project.

Taking risks is one of the major factors of success and if one can't take those risks without the constant fear of failure then that will be the cancer that slowly kills the project.

Of course if the project has already started, it might mean slowing down or delaying the project while a cash flow is built.

And while it might suck not to going balls deep in to a project and having to delay or even postpone it entirely, what will suck even more is spending 50% of each day worrying where the next dollar is coming from while the project gains traction.

The way I view any project is I have a plan but its fluid. It can change as needed when the situation calls for it.
 
Tuesday January 6th 2014 - Day 83

The discussion here as of late is probably of more value than the majority my updates (aside from the lesson that you're not going to accomplish anything significant if you're not willing to work hard for it).

@GimpSpack - Most of page 1 is a relevant page from authority sites. About.com type stuff. I have signed up for affiliate programs with relevant products. I'm not sure this matters too much yet because traffic is so low.

@acidie - Thanks for your input.

I didn't end up getting the Reddit link, but I did get a detailed response as to why. They were constructive points that I can work on. I ended things by asking if I could PM him again a month or two from now to have him review the changes. My comments are being increasingly well received in the subreddit he mods.

The most recent interview has been published. I also heard back from the 3rd interviewee who sent me answers to half the questions. He said the 2nd half will come over this week, but I'm not betting on it. I've been looking around for more appropriate candidates but haven't seen any with the qualifications I'm looking for.

Found a web 2.0 site I can write a guide for and drop a link. I've been getting 1-2 visits a day from this comment I dropped on this site a month or so ago. If I can get my guide to outrank the existing guide on the community site I'd imagine that number would increase.

52 days left
 
Staccs said:
52 days left
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This might be your biggest progress yet. Adding this line.

A REAL end date. Counting up, 80, 81, 82, 83 is mind-numbing, but counting DOWN makes it tangible. No 'guru' ever said "start counting how many days in a row you can exercise." Nope. It's set a short term goal, hit it. Start over.

Perhaps take a moment tonight and write down a few things you want too accomplish in the next 3 days, do or die, like a mini-count down.

Short, tangible, exact goals are quite helpful.

Also, read Gimp's words a few times more. Sick insight.
 
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Wednesday January 7th 2014 - Day 84

The reality is my heart isn't in this anymore. I no longer want it bad enough. Perhaps this was how I felt since the beginning of this thread and I'm just coming to the realization now.

Creating this thread was me trying to rekindle the burning desire I had before I had a couple failures under my belt. Creating this thread was like having a baby or getting married in an effort to save a relationship.

I think the best thing for me is time to think about what I really want to do. It may be IM related, it may not be. I don't know. I do know that I've lost touch with where I want to be and what I want to do career wise and it's been showing in my behavior throughout this thread.

I feel continuing this thread is only delaying the inevitable introspection and really thinking about what my options are, but I've still got 51 days left under the promise in my OP, and I can't responsibly afford to drop $100 to buy out.

Despite all this I found this thread to be a growing process to me and still overall beneficial. I think there is enough knowledge shared by others to make it a decent read. It is a failure if you consider the original "goal" and I will treat that failure as information going forward.

I can't continue to post updates with such little substance without sharing these thoughts first. I feel it would be disrespectful to all of the well intentioned people who have helped out in this thread and/or answered my PMs.

This is where I am at right now, with 51 days left in the original challenge.
 
I'm not going to continue posting every day in this thread without having intentions of progression. That's dumb. It would take away attention from other threads in this sub-forum and be a complete waste of my time and everybody reading this thread.

I need to wait 1-4 business days for a payment to go through. Once it does I will post proof of my donation.
 
Fair play Staccs. That must have been a bitter pill to take and I think you've probably learnt enough lessons from this exercise.
 
Staccs said:
I'm not going to continue posting every day in this thread without having intentions of progression. That's dumb. It would take away attention from other threads in this sub-forum and be a complete waste of my time and everybody reading this thread.

I need to wait 1-4 business days for a payment to go through. Once it does I will post proof of my donation.
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M9ca4jM.png


I don't think I can provide further evidence without revealing personal information. It has a tracking number on the receipt but I'm not exactly sure what that's for.

Regardless, I will sleep well tonight now that I have closure with this thread. I'll end it with a post I made that I feel sums up my final thoughts about this experience:

Staccs said:
Wednesday January 7th 2014 - Day 84

The reality is my heart isn't in this anymore. I no longer want it bad enough. Perhaps this was how I felt since the beginning of this thread and I'm just coming to the realization now.

Creating this thread was me trying to rekindle the burning desire I had before I had a couple failures under my belt. Creating this thread was like having a baby or getting married in an effort to save a relationship.

I think the best thing for me is time to think about what I really want to do. It may be IM related, it may not be. I don't know. I do know that I've lost touch with where I want to be and what I want to do career wise and it's been showing in my behavior throughout this thread.

I feel continuing this thread is only delaying the inevitable introspection and really thinking about what my options are, but I've still got 51 days left under the promise in my OP, and I can't responsibly afford to drop $100 to buy out.

Despite all this I found this thread to be a growing process to me and still overall beneficial. I think there is enough knowledge shared by others to make it a decent read. It is a failure if you consider the original "goal" and I will treat that failure as information going forward.
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At least you learn something about yourself, which one cant put a price on.

Side thought, I don't know what you're doing with the site, but since you have been posting articles to it and it's relatively active right now, someone would be willing to by it, even if it is only for a couple of $100.

Better than leaving it to stagnate.
 
Previous calendar blunder redeemed sooner than expected.

Glanced at the Twitter and cracked up. Even when playing the frontin' motivational philosopher, his true essence shines through...

Jamie @JamieStn · Nov 24
There is a positive correlation on the outcome of my day on days I make my bed
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Which corresponds to this wonderful post, which starts off like this...


Staccs said:
November 24th 2014 - Day 40

I didn't get up on time today
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This thread is the gift that keeps on giving.
 
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