Hang in there!
| Category: Entrepreneurship | Date: 2002-02-19 |
About once a month or so it hits...Burnout to the point where I am ready to throw in the towel and give up all I have worked so hard for 2 1/2 years to attain.
Between software and/or server problems, a bogus spam complaint here or a slap in the face business dealing there, the bouncing email addresses and "user unknown" messages with each issue of Rim Digest I so lovingly send out and all of the other assorted mess-ups and downer days, I sometimes have to force myself to even come near my PC, let alone turn it on and get on the internet.
But...just about the time this mood hits I get these "angel sent" feedback letters from my subscribers, love and support messages from net buddies who were inspired or helped by something I did or that sale or accomplishment message that fires me back up to stick it out for another month...
A typical day of publishing entails a whole lot more than just hitting "send", although some days even that is a feat almost beyond control!
I have had entire ready issues disappear from my disk collection and just lately got enough sense to also save the issues to my hard drive once I have them done! I dont know why I was so good at remembering to mail myself a copy and save it to a disk but saving it to my PC escaped me. Now I even mail a copy to my husband "just in case" and now, no matter what happens on my end or with MY PC, the issue, once done, will be ready to send when it is due.
I have lost my member database both with an editpad pro software malfunction and using optinlightnings add and remove subscribers function and although I loved using the software to manage my lists, there was NO tech support other than an assurance that it had to be MY fault or my host because it could not be a software problem. Strange, even the million and billion dollar software companies have and admit to "bugs and glitches" with their software... so I quit using it in the hopes that whatever "I was doing wrong" could be avoided.
My subscribers will remember a mailing I sent out that came in empty and was followed by a message saying "done". Luckily, I had almost all positive feedback on that one, though quite a few, 20 or more unsubscribed due to that mailing. I have had quite a few other publishers comment that they get these occasionally, too, but again, we are told it is something "we must have done wrong".
Right after this fiasco, I got turned in for spamming from someone on one of "my paid to be a member of opt-in" lists, and that one just about did me in. I have worked very hard for over two years to keep my name spotless and this hurt me much more than anything else that has occurred so far. The letters of support I got from my subscribers and net buddies was unbelievable and once again I was prodded to keep going, at least a little bit longer.
Each unsubscribe still feels like a personal insult, even though I realize that is being thin-skinned and silly, especially when only ONE subscriber in 15 months has been ugly and insulting about me OR my publishing and anyone who read his illiterate and ill-mannered messages to me knows why I do not feel even a teeny loss getting rid of this "person". Most who unsubscribe do not use the option I give in the unsubscribe confirmation to click on the link and let me know why they felt a need to leave, but those who do all have great non-insulting reasons and will always be welcome back if and when the circumstances change.
Last week, I once again let common sense go out the window and got scammed. I know better, my advice to everyone else is brilliant, but then, who of us takes their own good advice? I let greed and a need for speed take over my better judgment and honestly deserved to be taken...BUT I could not stand back and let it go, actually more for the principle than the money...if I do not stand up FOR honest and scrupulous dealings on the net then I am just as guilty as those who are cheating and scamming. Things could have gone so far as to be a legal problem if I had not had the foresight to keep a few friends AND the other people involved in this scam in on things from the beginning. I got lots of great support and this "business person" got a chewing out from some of those involved, without their consent, in a so-called opt-in list sale and happily for all involved, that is another episode that I can put behind me and chalk up to one more valuable lesson.
My point is, no matter how many times I feel unappreciated, unloved and over-worked, there is always someone or something magically reminding me of why I do all this and that gets me re-focused and ready to keep on keeping on for another month or until the next fiasco, which I am coming to accept, will always be around the corner. It is how I face the next one that will tell the story on whether I can "hang in there" or not.
Jan T-D
Copyright © 2000-2001 All Rights Reserved
About the Author
Jan Tallent-Dandridge is the Marketing Warrioress at marketingwarrioress.com
Advertise Free in RIM Digest, send 2 free ads per week! Also some terrific paid ad rates! To subscribe: rimdigest-subscribe@topica.com
jtd@marketingwarrioress.com
http://www.marketingwarrioress.com
Between software and/or server problems, a bogus spam complaint here or a slap in the face business dealing there, the bouncing email addresses and "user unknown" messages with each issue of Rim Digest I so lovingly send out and all of the other assorted mess-ups and downer days, I sometimes have to force myself to even come near my PC, let alone turn it on and get on the internet.
But...just about the time this mood hits I get these "angel sent" feedback letters from my subscribers, love and support messages from net buddies who were inspired or helped by something I did or that sale or accomplishment message that fires me back up to stick it out for another month...
A typical day of publishing entails a whole lot more than just hitting "send", although some days even that is a feat almost beyond control!
I have had entire ready issues disappear from my disk collection and just lately got enough sense to also save the issues to my hard drive once I have them done! I dont know why I was so good at remembering to mail myself a copy and save it to a disk but saving it to my PC escaped me. Now I even mail a copy to my husband "just in case" and now, no matter what happens on my end or with MY PC, the issue, once done, will be ready to send when it is due.
I have lost my member database both with an editpad pro software malfunction and using optinlightnings add and remove subscribers function and although I loved using the software to manage my lists, there was NO tech support other than an assurance that it had to be MY fault or my host because it could not be a software problem. Strange, even the million and billion dollar software companies have and admit to "bugs and glitches" with their software... so I quit using it in the hopes that whatever "I was doing wrong" could be avoided.
My subscribers will remember a mailing I sent out that came in empty and was followed by a message saying "done". Luckily, I had almost all positive feedback on that one, though quite a few, 20 or more unsubscribed due to that mailing. I have had quite a few other publishers comment that they get these occasionally, too, but again, we are told it is something "we must have done wrong".
Right after this fiasco, I got turned in for spamming from someone on one of "my paid to be a member of opt-in" lists, and that one just about did me in. I have worked very hard for over two years to keep my name spotless and this hurt me much more than anything else that has occurred so far. The letters of support I got from my subscribers and net buddies was unbelievable and once again I was prodded to keep going, at least a little bit longer.
Each unsubscribe still feels like a personal insult, even though I realize that is being thin-skinned and silly, especially when only ONE subscriber in 15 months has been ugly and insulting about me OR my publishing and anyone who read his illiterate and ill-mannered messages to me knows why I do not feel even a teeny loss getting rid of this "person". Most who unsubscribe do not use the option I give in the unsubscribe confirmation to click on the link and let me know why they felt a need to leave, but those who do all have great non-insulting reasons and will always be welcome back if and when the circumstances change.
Last week, I once again let common sense go out the window and got scammed. I know better, my advice to everyone else is brilliant, but then, who of us takes their own good advice? I let greed and a need for speed take over my better judgment and honestly deserved to be taken...BUT I could not stand back and let it go, actually more for the principle than the money...if I do not stand up FOR honest and scrupulous dealings on the net then I am just as guilty as those who are cheating and scamming. Things could have gone so far as to be a legal problem if I had not had the foresight to keep a few friends AND the other people involved in this scam in on things from the beginning. I got lots of great support and this "business person" got a chewing out from some of those involved, without their consent, in a so-called opt-in list sale and happily for all involved, that is another episode that I can put behind me and chalk up to one more valuable lesson.
My point is, no matter how many times I feel unappreciated, unloved and over-worked, there is always someone or something magically reminding me of why I do all this and that gets me re-focused and ready to keep on keeping on for another month or until the next fiasco, which I am coming to accept, will always be around the corner. It is how I face the next one that will tell the story on whether I can "hang in there" or not.
Jan T-D
Copyright © 2000-2001 All Rights Reserved
About the Author
Jan Tallent-Dandridge is the Marketing Warrioress at marketingwarrioress.com
Advertise Free in RIM Digest, send 2 free ads per week! Also some terrific paid ad rates! To subscribe: rimdigest-subscribe@topica.com
jtd@marketingwarrioress.com
http://www.marketingwarrioress.com
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