Failure Sucks! I mean, the title says it all. Today we’re going to talk about what to do when you find yourself falling short of your goals. So stick around.
This probably isn’t going to be one of my most popular posts, but I felt it was one I had to make. If you’ve been watching me for a while, you know that I have a family, a full-time job and I found time to self-publish over 160 books. You’ll also know… I’m not perfect. We all have hiccups along the way and instead of acting like these speedbumps don’t happen, I wanted to be as transparent as possible and let you know that they are real and I run into these hurdles, just like you. You’re not alone.
I feel it’s super important, whether you’re self-publishing part-time or a full time author, that you are setting self publishing goals for you and your business. Both large, big picture goals as well as smaller, more deliberate goals. So if you’re a writer, you might be setting writing goals, like number of words a day. If you’re self-publishing no content and low content books, then your no content book goals may be to knock out 10 books a day or 10 books a week.
If you want to know how to handle low book sales, people will tell you “put out more books.” But the truth is, first you should have a goal. If you know where you want to go and set goals to get yourself there, you have a much better chance of reaching your destination.
What happened to me recently has probably happened to you in the past or may happen in the future. I hit a detour! I had my goals set and a great plan on getting myself there and, well, life happened and I found myself falling short of the goals I set for myself and my business. And it SUCKS!
But what I want you to know is that, you’re not alone. This happened to me, more times than I’d like to count. The real question is what are you doing when you find yourself falling short of goals you’ve set? Do you get back on the proverbial horse and try again? Are you learning from your past mistakes? If so, then you haven’t FAILED…You’ve LEARNED!
When I realized that I wasn’t going to meet my goal, I sat down and decided to write down everything I did for the next few days. Every time I started a new task, whether it was work related or not, I wrote down what I did and when I did it. Getting the kids up in the morning, going to work, picking the kids up from school, etc. It didn’t matter what it was, I jotted it down and you know what I found out?
I found missed areas of time where I could have been working on my business. For example, I absolutely love the self-publishing books business and follow quite a few amazing self-publishing blogs and youtube channels. And I know I don’t know everything about this industry, so I make it a point to learn from these other content providers. What I found out was that I’d been spending too much time, on a daily basis, researching this industry and in the end, it was hurting me and my business.
See I didn’t FAIL…I LEARNED!
Now, I’m not saying I’m going to stop watching self publishing youtube channels. Not in the least. But what I LEARNED is that I need to:
- Focus on the few channels that best benefit my business
- Use these as a reward (after I’ve met my daily goal, then I can watch the videos)
- Set myself a time-frame, so I don’t get sucked into a rabbit-hole (sorry YouTube)
So, I’ve decided that the best channels for my business are: Self-Publishing with Dale(for his all-around knowledge of the industry), Kelli Publish(for the no content books and merch aspects of my business), Book Launchers(for dialing in my non-fiction brand), and Chris Fox(to help my fiction author side improve) and I’ll drop a link to their channels in the description, in case you want to check them out.
So, again, know that if you run into a detour, you’re not alone. It happens to all of us. And, eventhough Failure sucks, especially when you’re falling short of your self-publishing goals, as long as we’re analyzing and learning from our past mistakes, then we’ll always come out better informed from the experience.
Remember to Write Right!
Let me know what you thought of the video in the comments below.
🔴 Subscribe for more free YouTube tips: CLICK HERE
Channels discussed in this video and post:
🔴 Self-Publishing with Dale: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKv8xcrFntOERL7NUXgkypg
🔴 Kelli Publish: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtIrgxIAX9x6nu3rJ_vfGiQ
🔴 Book Launchers: https://www.youtube.com/user/julieabroad
🔴 Chris Fox: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu6RYg6_-pTQxLVq3Fv6lYg