Why does success seem to come so easily to some while many of us are taken down a path so littered with potholes that we’d get a smoother ride driving down a gravel road with four flat tires?
The answer, of course, is that this is pure BS. Yes, some struggle more than others, but more often than not, true success is constructed out of a pile of failures; and the overnight successes that the online business world seems rife with were almost always years in the making.
Mine included.
I’ve talked a lot on this site about how I was able to generate 6 figures from low-content publishing in just 14 months.
But I’d be remiss if I didn’t share with you not only the peaks, but the valleys and plateaus as well. So let’s take a brief walk down memory lane to where it all began, while I share with you 6 key takeaways from my journey so far.
A Swing and a Miss
I started looking into online business ideas back in 2014 because I knew that I’d never be happy working for someone else, no matter what I was doing. Even though I’d landed my “dream job” as an Art Director at a multinational advertising agency I craved autonomy and the opportunity to tap into the unlimited potential for success that I’d never be able to attain in my advertising gig.
I was determined. Especially after reading The Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris. So what did I do? Steamrolled straight into the first online business idea I came up with: a gluten-free meal planning service called Easyliscious.
Never heard of it? That’s because it died a quick and painless death before ever seeing the light of day. But not before I had already built the website, designed the logo, created the content, incorporated the business and set up a bank account.
*Face-palm*
The reason it failed (apart from simply being a bad idea)? I didn’t actually ask anyone on a gluten-free diet if they would use such a service. In other words, I failed to validate the business idea.
So, remember, a website, logo, business cards, bank account and all other related “necessities” should be the very last things you put any time and effort into. I know it sounds simple, but it’s a common mistake.
Key Takeaway 1: Always validate your business idea before creating the business.
Off to the Races
Instead of crying about the behemoth waste of time and energy I’d just sunk into a service that even the crickets refused to chirp to, I refocused my energy into a new business model I’d come across on a tumble down an internet marketing rabbit hole: self-publishing. (You can read more about the business model here.)
The handy little ebook I’d downloaded suggested I start with a nonfiction book, and after doing some initial research on Amazon I had my first idea.
While browsing I noticed that books on The Paleo Diet were selling really well. This got me wondering what spin I could put on this trending topic and I ended up coming up with the Paleo For Vegetarians Quickstart Guide and Cookbook. I know it seems counterintuitive considering the Paleo Diet is all about the meat, but while conducting my research I’d noticed vegetarians in a few online forums wondering how to adapt the diet for themselves.
After investing $100 in having a health and nutrition writer come up with the 30-recipe ebook and designing the book cover myself I launched my book…
…and made my very first online sale!!!
This was one of the most exciting feelings I’ve ever experienced. Honestly, the royalty couldn’t have been more than a couple bucks, but I knew that if I could make even ONE dollar online, I could potentially make THOUSANDS of dollars online.
By the end of the first month I had made $110 on that first book. So, I took that $100 and reinvested it into one other book. After another month I had earned about $200 with both books, so I reinvested that money into creating two more books, and so on and so on.
Operating in this fashion, I have NEVER invested any more than the initial $100 of my own money into my publishing business. At the time I simply didn’t have any more money to lose.
Key Takeaway 2: Never invest more money into your business than you’re willing to lose.
Suppose after my initial success I’d decided that in order to scale more quickly I’d spend a few hundred bucks (or even thousand, which I’ve seen some people do) having several more books created at once, only to experience a series of flops? (I did experience a string of flops, by the way, which I’ll get to in a minute.) I’d be out all that money, utterly discouraged and without the means to figure out where I went wrong and start over.
Did this mean it took me longer to make any real money? Yes. In fact, I didn’t start to actually enjoy any profits from my self-publishing for about a year because I kept reinvesting the profits back into the business to create more and more royalty-generating books. But there did come a point when I started to have money left over each month—hundreds, and then thousands, of dollars.
That’s not to say you have to do it the same way I did, but you do have to decide what you’re comfortable with so that you don’t lose your shirt if things go tits up.
Hitting a Plateau
After creating a few moderately successful books I decided to invest in an online self-publishing program to help fill in the blanks of my publishing knowledge. This helped tremendously, and after about a year I’d published 16 books in my spare time and was generating roughly $2,000 a month, which wasn’t a bad part-time income.
But, almost half of the books flopped.
In an effort to scale more quickly I’d decided to launch about 8 books in rapid succession. I hadn’t validated my ideas properly (again) and it was now biting me in the butt (again).
Sigh.
At this point I felt I’d hit a plateau with nonfiction publishing, and after hearing about someone who was killing it in the romance genre, I decided to invest in her program.
With my new knowledge I was able to take my business to the next level, and was even able to go back and use some of these new techniques on my older nonfiction books and watch them begin to generate more sales.
After experimenting with a few romance genres I came across the underserved and surprisingly in-demand niche of mpreg.
WTF is mpreg? I’ll give you a moment to Google it. Come back after you’ve caught your breath…
My new romance pename started knocking it out of the park, and I soon built a loyal fan base that eagerly awaited each new title I produced. I’d finally broken out of my plateau and my revenue immediately doubled.
Key Takeaway 3: Invest in your knowledge.
It either would have taken me ten times longer to break through my plateau—or I wouldn’t have broken through at all—if I hadn’t invested in both self-publishing programs. Also, I’d never have had the foundation necessary to skyrocket my business once I started publishing low-content books. I couldn’t do it alone and neither can anyone.
A Second Plateau With a Side of Disappointment
At this point I was generating about $4,000 a month in revenue, still just putting in a few hours a week in my spare time. This was a pretty great part-time income but I really wanted to quit my job.
After first getting into publishing and seeing the success that others were having, I’d set a goal to quit my job in January of 2015, almost one year after starting. But when the date arrived I was still nowhere near that goal. Pulling my socks up, I decided to give myself until January, 2016. And when that rolled around…
…I still hadn’t made it.
Should I have just quit my job anyway and went for it? Maybe. But I was still in debt with bills to pay so I wanted to be smart about my decision. I had to at least get myself out of debt first.
Finally, a Breakthrough!
Still hammering away with fiction and seemingly unable to break past the $5,000 a month mark, a friend of mine whom I’d met through the romance publishing course introduced me to lined journals, which she’d been publishing by the dozen with great success.
I didn’t pursue the idea initially, but I did explain the process to another close friend of mine. This close friend of mine ran with it and within just a few short months was already doubling my revenue—and because she was creating the books herself it was pure profit!
I. Was. PISSED!
Honestly guys, after almost three years of working my buns off in my spare time and not being able to push past $5,000, only to share the business model with a friend who almost immediately began enjoying 5-figure months, made me feel like A) an idiot, and B) a complete idiot.
This is when I shifted my focus from fiction to journals and other low-content books and when I FINALLY was able to break out of my plateau and blow past the 6-figure mark.
In fact, in less than a year of publishing low-content books I was able to generate over $100,000 from all of my books combined, and in just 14 months I was able to generate over $100,000 from my low-content books alone.
Key Takeaway 4: Always be ready to adapt.
You never know where any given path might lead and you need to be flexible and recognize when it’s time to change course. There were many times when I didn’t seem to be gaining any further traction and wondered if I was ever going to reach my goal of creating a full time income from my business and quitting my job.
Sometimes you just need a minor course correction and to hang in there just a little bit longer before experiencing the breakthrough you’ve been waiting for.
Persist, Persist, and Then Persist Some More
Despite the heightened success I’ve enjoyed with my publishing business over the last couple years, it often felt like a complete mother effer to get here. I had many moments of self-doubt and still do, even now.
But throughout the entire process, through the blood, sweat, and yes, tears, I always knew that giving up just wasn’t an option for me. The pain of not trying at all was far greater than the pain of trying and failing. So I just kept going.
Did others on the same path get there sooner? Yup. But countless others on this journey quit at the very first sign of difficulty.
And it’s because of my persistence with my business that I’ve been able to:
- Pay off $45,000 of debt
- Save up a downpayment for a house in one of the most expensive cities in the world
- Top up my husband’s and my retirement fund
- Take regular family vacations all over the world
- Conduct my business from anywhere in the world
- Create my own schedule
- Take months of time off after my baby was born while still generating tens of thousands of dollars of passive income
But I couldn’t have done any of this without consistently cultivating a success mindset.
Key Takeaway 5: Persist, persist, and then persist some more.
Most people give up when things get difficult. They think that successful people got to where they are because they have some sort of innate talent or skill-set that sets them apart from the rest of us.
The reality is that things get tough for all of us, and the real difference between those that succeed and those that don’t is that successful people just keep going—even when things get hard, even when belief in themselves falters, even after a string of failures.
If you’re not willing to stick with something when the going gets tough, then I can promise you that you will NEVER reach your dreams. You’ve got to do whatever it takes in order to just keep going.
The last thing I’d like to say here is that if you have a dream—whether it’s to quit your job, start a business, try a new hobby—START TODAY.
There were plenty of times when I wondered if I’d be 40 by the time I reached any of my goals. But it wouldn’t have mattered even if it did, because I would get there eventually. And time is going to pass anyway, so wouldn’t you rather be using it to at least try to reach your goals?
And make no mistake, you will fail.
But remember that success is constructed out of a pile of failures, so without those failures you’ve got nothing on which to build your dreams. And in order to fail you need to take action.
Key Takeaway: Start today.
So, whatever it is that you’ve been waiting to try, stop waiting and take that first step in your journey today.
Key Takeaways
- Always validate your business idea before you start your business.
- Don’t invest more money into your business than you’re willing to lose.
- Invest in your knowledge.
- Be ready to adapt.
- Persist, persist, and then persist some more.
- START TODAY
Slammed through some potholes and have some key takeaways on your own journey toward success? Share them below!
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This is SOOO good!! What a great read to start my day 🙂 Thanks Rachel!
I think I’d be content with making 4K a month on niche romance genres–I’m currently making half-that at my day job, albeit at a business I really love. it sounds like you’ve found a really good system. Nice work, Rachel! I’m always more impressed the more I learn about your work methodology.
At risk of adding more competition to the pool one day, I’d love to chat about validating business models and how that works. I have a feeling I might not have a mind for this kind of entrepreneurial high-level thinking, but if you have tips for people who are detail-oriented in the way that leads down rabbit-holes in putting their strengths to work or building out missing tool-sets, that’d be interesting to read or chat about, too.
Thanks for the comment TL! I’m open to chatting about any of my processes, anytime! It’s always one of my favourite things to talk about.
Don’t sell yourself short when it comes to imagining yourself as an entrepreneur! Just like your ability to create beautiful and compelling artwork, entrepreneurship is a skill-set that can be learned. Much of what’s involved comes down to habits and systems that anyone who is dedicated to the process can implement and build slowly over time—and usually, as I mentioned in the article, on a pile of failures. And as someone who has gradually improved at their craft over the course of many years, you already know what that feels like, so that’s a great start. You didn’t start out an amazing artist, but you are now!
I’ll be releasing a pretty juicy freebie in a couple days that goes into a lot more detail about exactly how to publish your first low-content book on KDP (journal, planner, notebook, etc.) Stay tuned!