Sometimes It's Better Not To Know How Much Work It'll Be

Ken's Blog

I'm sitting here in an Anguilla hotel, feeling a little overwhelmed at all the details left to wrap up before we can move into our new home for the next major phase of our lives when I realized...

Everything that I've ever done that turned out to be important and rewarding was never, at the beginning, clear just how much work it was going to be. And even though you love it, the sheer amount of work (to overcome hurdles and ultimately succeed) is always more than anticipated.

Sure, I knew med school was going to be work. But you don't see it ALL on Day one. Over the years, though med school and post-grad training do add up to being a quantum leap more than expected on that innocent first day. The next major phase...

Toy design and licensing. Phew! For two hard years, Janice and I learned the business, travelled the world and developed contacts while we leveraged one small success into the next, slightly bigger one, and so on, until we were well known and respected, and making excellent income at toys. Ten years later, I thought we had retired. Ha ha!

Early into that retirement in a little village called Hudson, I stumbled onto this thing called "the Internet." And then, after an experiment (itself quite a bit of work)....

SiteSell. Needless to say, I never really expected it to grow to this stage. And if I had any idea how much work it would take, if somehow I could see the sheer number of hours involved over a period of 10 years, I'd have to swallow hard before deciding... especially without any guarantees upfront that we'd actually be able to reach this level.

Oddly, enough, an unexpected side effect of SiteSell was discovering Anguilla.

So Janice and I find ourselves building a home thousands of miles away, all while running SiteSell. Phew! Even with a phenomenal builder (and I was lucky enough to find one), this has been a big project for over a year, and for anyone who's built a home, you know how much detail there is as you get to the "finishing stages."

I'm not Bill Gates, with a staff of 20 (and that would be just for the home in his case!) to handle it all for me. So if I'd known (ahead of time) how much work would have been involved in building a home in the Caribbean, would I have done it?

Well, that takes me back to the start of this. Naturally, I don't see how I could do any of this without the passion to fuel the energy to do that work. But passion makes big dreams/project DO-able -- it does not make them "easy." And, to come full circle, that reminded me of Site Build It! and you...

SBI! comes with a roadmap, laying out pretty much the entire process before you even get started. That's a good thing, of course. There's nothing like having all the important issues figured out, with all the tools necessary to execute.

You also know, pretty much, how much work your SBI! business is going to be upfront. You can even tailor it to size, to fit your available hours. And, of course, passion is an important factor here, too, to help drive those efforts to the rewards you deserve.

On the other hand, I understand those who give up in the first week or two -- the whole roadmap just seems too much when you can see it all at once. Once they see the entire roadmap, it's always for the same reason. "Not enough time" or "too much work." I understand them, but I sure do wish I could shake them up somehow, tell them how close they are, and that it does NOT have to all get done "TODAY."

As I've said before, we tend to feel overwhelmed because we feel that we have to "get it all done" NOW... as in RIGHT AWAY. But all you really have to do is break that one big project, the one with a dream at the end of the road, down into bite-sized do-able baby steps. It's amazing how those steps add up and how far you can get before you realize it.

It's the only way to move your dreams beyond the "dream stage." So keep taking those steps... one at a time. You'll get there.

All the best,

 

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Comments

[Andrea Edwards]

I agree with you altogether. I just started a site with you guys last month and my head is spinning. But the best thing about it is knowing how good that feeling will be, when you step back and look at all you've accomplished, and truly be satisfied.

So many people get to those points in their life and absolutely hate what they see. I know with SBI my work will not be in vain and success is already here just waiting to be manifested through me. I love it!

[Gina]

I was feeling very frustrated because I've had to put my website on hold for now. Your "bit of wisdom" came just at the right moment.

You're so right to compare it to building a house: I have renovated many houses, and had I known of all the problems ahead of time, I probably would have stopped after the first one. But I keep doing it. In fact, I've just hit one of those major hurdles, but all I could think was it would make a great story for the website!

Bravo! and thanks for everything.

Gina

[Kevin I]

Great post - a personal story always helps. I didn't know how much work it would be, but now I do tailor it and it isn't too bad. I can see my site growing over time, and I have become somewhat more capable.

I just wish I could do more in the time I have!