I wish I knew this a decade ago...
I started working on a website builder project in 2012, it was exciting at start, intoxicating and challenging, but I couldn't stay consistent.
I abandoned it because I got sucked into Youtube, the ads and algorithm annoyed me, so I wanted a focused feed for Youtube videos, so I built an app called Wedeo, just adding a list of channels will give you uninterrupted viewing experience, no ads, no unwanted random suggestions. Fun project that some of my friends and relatives started using it.
A huge festival was getting ready in my city (Dasara), and someone in my friend's group came up with this idea, "How about we build an information website for our city, a lot of people visiting the grand festival will be benefited, we could become famous and that will open more doors." and there it is, another hop, we called it VisitMysore, launched it and nobody had time to market it, so it died even before the festival was started.
Hop, hop, hop, hop, hop.... 25+ failed projects, $0 revenue, a lot of years and money wasted.
I don't think this is just my story, it is yours and everyone else's here. People keep jumping between one or the other things in the hope of going viral, becoming famous and getting rich quckly. But, we do not acknowledge the fact that everything requires consistent effort for unprecedented time.
Every now and then, people kept asking me if I can build them a website, their budget was small and I didn't want to waste my time in small projects. I told myself "I was meant for bigger things" than building a small budget websites. I used to simply direct to Wix or give contact details of one of my junior developer who were doing such small projects.
Now looking back, I refused my call so many times. That was just my way of ignoring conversation with customers. I looked at those websites opportunities in the lens of "time = money", not as a "customer insights = product opportunities = recurring revenue with least effort", I wasn't thinking long term, I just wanted to be special and get rich quick.
Those businesses who contacted me for a small website is still running, and their website still stays alive even after a decade with minimal to no change and they keep paying for it year after year.
I always told myself, if you're not building big, you're wasting your life here on earth.
I realixed it is a lie that I told myself over and over and I believed in that lie.
The effort to build those websites were so small, they sometimes just wanted to pick a free template and change the logo and content. I had plenty of time to waste on all the social media and news platforms, but if I had spent 1-2 days to build those websites, I would have had 100s of such websites running with minimal effort and I would still be making a decent money every year that would easily pay many months worth of bills.
I used to look at all those PR articles, see those small effort product getting funded in millions, and think to myself I am capable of more than that, I have better tech experience and I can build a better product than them, and I will also get funded once the product is launched. Crickets....
The realization that I had was, in reality, we simply chase the opportunities that is run by millions of unknown variables. Those opportunities feels naturally easy, because that is how everyone tries to portray it, people generally don't tell their struggles and those countless unknown variables that led to their success.
"Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life." - Steve Jobs
If you keep running towards someone else's guts, destiny, life, karma, based on all those PR hyped stories, technological advancements that promises to change the world, and many more things that isn't your life of dots, you are really going keep circling and will keep failing no matter what.
You simply have to look at your surroundings, your own life, your own opportunities, your own connections to decide what is best and what is that you can achieve with all the things that is at your disposal to have an initial success. In this process, you will eventually expand everything that is mentioned above and that will open more doors for you.
So, look around, observe, realize what "you are" capable of and hold on to that and endure in that.
Now with all of these clarity that came after a lot of failures and hardships, I am now finally building the same website builder with endurance and customer insights, I did a lot of micro pivots, reduced my ambitious goal of becoming a billion dollar business, making the world a better place, into something tiny that is easily achievable.
I am now trying to foothold as a baby into financial needs and walk ahead and then climb the stairs one step at a time. I am going to keep walking up, look up, look down, look where I am standing, and once things are stable, I would place my next step and keep moving, no matter what.
With this mindset, I was able to turn from $0 with 25+ failed projects into a project that is paying few months of my bills already and that's recurring revenue for years in future. It's the same dream, but with more clarity. It is now beginning to manifest.
So, look around, observe, realize what "you are" capable of and hold on to that and endure in that. You will succeed.