My Overnight Success….

A few days ago, I was having a glass of wine with one of my girlfriends in my backyard.

She’d come to ask me some advice about getting her new jewellery-making business ‘out there’.

“Well, nobody is going to know how beautiful your jewellery is, if you don’t show it to them – so you’re going to have to share photos of it, post videos of you making it, do some live streams of you making it-  to get started…”, I told her.

She looked at me like I’d just shoved a wasp up her nostril.

“But Sarah, you’re not listening! I don’t have any followers yet! 

How can I share all of this stuff, if there is nobody there yet to like it?” She snared, almost throwing her wine all up the wall behind her.

“What exactly are people supposed to come and follow, if there is nothing there to like?”, I asked in reply.

“The trudging horse must come before the loaded cartfuls of fans and cash, my friend”.

“But Sarah, it’s so easy for YOU, you are already successful!!” she squealed in defeat.

Oh boy.

Now she’d done it.

This bit was going to require calories.

I shoved a fistful of Bombay Mix into my mouth, swigged a gulp of Shiraz to wash it down and stared her dead in the face.

Then in a low, calm voice said “MATE”, in the same way a dad would when initiating a talk with his teenage son about contraception.

“You speak of being ‘successful’ as if it is a personality trait, gifted to a select few, born under a special intergalactic constellation.  

Success isn’t something that you ‘are’, it’s just a simple, inevitable consequence of input = output.  

It’s not magic, it’s just the outcome of work in = rewards out”.

I sipped my wine, but didn’t give her a chance to butt in.

“I didn’t have a SINGLE Page like, or follower, or website, or blog post, or YouTube video, or ‘thing’ to sell once too, you know!!!

I posted to empty pages.

I spoke to empty rooms.

I made videos for an empty channel.

And I just kept going.

For years.

And years.

I kept going when I was tired.

I kept going when nobody liked, commented or acknowledged ANYTHING I created.

I kept going when I was brutally trolled by psychopaths.

You wanna know how much I KEPT ON GOING???”

She just stared at me, blinking. 

So, I continued….

“I’ve just published my 67th online course.

I’ve just uploaded my 500th video on YouTube.  FIVE HUNDRED videos.

I’ve just published my 400-and-something blog article.

Excluding my tenure as a Director at a university, I’ve posted on social media every single day for over 6 years.  

I’ve written and published 12 books…..  Do you want me to keep going?!!!!”

I stared at her for a moment, daring her to say ‘yes’.

“DUDE!”.  I exclaimed.

It’s not like I just woke up one day, and was “successful”.

I’m not some magical sorceress who has a secret weapon that nobody else does.

I just did simple things, that ANYONE can do; and I did them consistently.

Here is my little badge from ‘TubeBuddy” that pinged in my notifications this week, celebrating my 500th video upload to YouTube.

ANYONE can do ‘success’, it’s just that not everyone puts the effort in and sticks to it for the time it takes to see results.

The difference between success and failure is little about skill or blessed talent.

It’s just purely and simply about consistent effort in stepping forward towards the thing you want.

And I hope that gives you confidence.

I’m literally writing this blog on a Saturday morning here in Australia, in my dressing gown, with my kids drawing on my legs and rubbing Vegemite toast into the carpet under my desk.

It’s not magic.
It’s self-discipline.

Yes, it’s scary to put yourself out there.

It’s as confronting to get NO response for a while, as it is to get mean comments from people who have enough courage to criticise, but not enough courage to create – like you are.

However, there is no other way in the world, whatsoever, that you can change somebody’s life for the better, than just going out there and trying.

So whether you are ‘tippy-toes on the starting line’ about to take your first step on this amazing journey, OR you are decades into following your dreams – never forget that the ONLY thing between where you are now, and the next milestone you want to hit, is nothing more than a little bit of action away.

Be gone mystical wishes.

It’s plain old implementation that wins.

Never stop moving forward.

Never give up on yourself and your goals.

You can TOTALLY do this one step at a time.

Keep going!

I’m cheering you on!

Sarah x

……

PS – Don’t forget that you can join my ‘Edupreneur Academy‘, getting access to over 30+ of my online courses, a monthly live call with me and much more: www.sarahcordiner.com/academy