Prepare to Fail

I’ve worked closely with nurses for almost two years now, but it wasn’t until recently that I realized a fundamental difference between them and me.

I fail much more often than I succeed, mostly because patience and planning are not strong suits of mine. The Internet makes it easy to just throw something out there and see if it actually works in reality — rather than just in theory — so that’s what I do. In the words of a great philosopher, “We have 150,000 users. Let them test it.”

Nurses don’t have that luxury. If they try something and it doesn’t work, someone very likely could die. I’m glad I don’t have that pressure.

Failure Is Part of the Game

If you’re worried about failing, relax. You will fail. Ask anyone who’s successful how many things they tried before finding something that really worked. And it never ends. There’s truth to the saying that “If you’re not failing, you’re not trying.”

So don’t think that just because you tried something and it didn’t work that you’re a failure and you’ll never be able to do this. You might end up being right, but one failure is definitely not enough of a test to know for sure.

And don’t give up too early. It took me a year and a half to get Nursing Jobs.org running on all cylinders. It’s not always overnight.

It’s Never Too Late To Fail

The flipside of that is once you’re having success, you need to remember that failure is always right around the corner. Success today is no guarantee of success tomorrow. Ask yourself what could cause you to veer off course. Do you have a defensible site?

It’s the same online as it is offline. Look at the UFC. Just a month ago, they looked invincible — the 800-pound gorilla in the hottest sport in America. With the loss of just one fighter, though, suddenly they look very, very vulnerable.

What’s the one thing that could hurt you seriously overnight? Is it that you get too much traffic from Google? What if they changed their algorithm and you lost all your rankings? Would your business survive?

Know When to Get Out

Finally, it’s better to get out too early than too late. If your site isn’t very defensible, and you can sell for a very nice sum right now, that might be something you want to consider. It’s always a risk-reward equation. Yes, you might be able to get significantly more a year from now, but what if the wheels start to come off? (We’re seeing a possible example of that play out right now with AuctionAds. Did ShoeMoney get out at just the right time, or did MediaWhiz just mess it up?)

You may regret selling too early, but you’ll definitely regret it more if you wait too long and end up with next to nothing.