I have been working in the digital space since 2012 and in that time I have had exponentially more failed ventures than successes! The saying goes that only 1 out of every 10 ideas fail, and for me, that would be more like 1 in 2,500; in other words, I have failed a lot! The key to my failures is that I have not skipped a beat when they happened; I analyzed what went wrong, salvaged what I could (contacts, assets, skills, etc) and moved on to the next idea.
The great thing about the internet is that the gap to entry is smaller than ever; in other words, anyone with an idea can turn it into a reality if they are willing to go for it. This said, one idea probably isn’t going to cut it and it is important for any new entrepreneur to have his next idea in their back pocket.
I was recently talking to a business partner about her father who was a very successful businessman for his day. During his life, he owned and ran three separate highly lucrative companies. The only problem was that there was a 7-year gap in between each one because all three left him filing for bankruptcy. What he never learned was how to transition from one idea into another and this cost him millions of dollars and countless years of his life.
As for me, I have tried a countless number of different online accounts and mediums. For me, my one and only requirement being that I am actually making something. It is so easy these days to be successful curating content other people have made and then offering a nonstop flow of media to viewers in a single subscription or follow. These types of account based businesses gain traction for a while but have limits. For me, it is about actually making meaningful content that connect with viewers.
One of my first ventures was reviewing technology on YouTube. At the time I was still in middle school but had an older brother who was consistently buy new tech for himself and I leveraged this access to new tech for views online. I was able to connect with other teens and middle school aged students who had an interest in tech but had to be selective as to what they could actually purchase. At the time I didn’t know how successful I really was, but looking back I received amazing engagement of those videos. That said, my interest was in the making of the videos and not the tech-based content in them. Over time they became work and the videos suffered for it. Views went down and I stopped making content on that channel.
Skipping ahead a couple years, I became really interested in learning how to grow social media accounts and began making a new style of social media brand ever half a year. From cooking, to style, to comedy, filmmaking, music videos, etc; I would make a set of 25 or so videos to learn best practices in the space and then would move on. At the time I had no reason for doing this other than it was fun, but over time I learned this info was highly valuable and that I could sell my expertise to others.
This brings me to where I am today, a 21-year-old with industry-leading insights on social media strategies and content management. It was actually by chance that I started taking on clients. Businesses started seeing what I was doing and came to me looking for guidance on how to better use the online space to drive traffic and leads. After five or six different companies reach out, you start to get the idea. This leads up to me signing celebrity clients which include some of the leading TV and social media talent of our day.
So here are my tips:
- Allow for every ideas 6+ weeks before you scrap it for another one. I can not count the number of people I have seen try strategies for a month and then stop right before it would have taken off! Ideas take time!
- Don’t take yourself too seriously! The quickest way to turn a good idea into failure is to treat it precious! No one cares about you or your brand until it’s success. Be smart in your decision making but don’t give up a good opportunity because you felt it was below you!
- Think of your business as a journey and take it one step at a time. My dad and I were finishing my childhood homes attic and each took a different strategy. I carefully measured out each stud and placed it on the wall while he chose to constrict his wall all at once. In the end, I finished in 60 minutes while he took three hours and it didn’t end up working. It is ok for you to take the time and focus on each task. Every experience adds up to make the final product!
- Lastly, add as much value as possible! For me, I spend my days working in the online media space; helping social media creators and running my own entertainment brands. I have seen so many people in my space fail because they are only adding one source of value. They may be entertaining or show personality or have life-changing info, but they do not infuse their content with all three and therefore they end up failing. In any endeavor, if you can add more value to your product or service, do it!
The best part about life is that it isn’t possible to be the winner! There will always be someone else smarter, prettier, better at whatever it is that you value. The key to making it at any level is to just do. You want to film something?… grab your phone and head outside! You have an idea, to quote Nike, ‘JUST DO IT’!!!
