No Thanks. I Would Rather Write
After driving my recent startup Proxies API to some success, I evaluated my journey. One of the things that contributed to its success finally after about seven failures earlier was this mantra I had developed when I was inevitably distracted with all the “startup marketing porn” out there.
If I ever came across an article or a podcast or a conference with yet another trick, secret tactic, or “growth hack’ or new channel for 2020, I would find myself saying to myself, ‘No thanks! I would rather write’
Whatever quick gains that new technique would shower me with was always weighed against the possibility of me losing the peaceful habit of writing every day for my startup, was not worth it. Ever. And even if there a loss of potential traffic, etc., it was nothing writing a few more blog posts couldn’t replace. I would come back to this line in my head. ‘Its nothing a few more well-written pieces of content could rival.’
To me, I have realized that building a startup is just building a couple of essential habits. That’s the real asset. For me, at Proxies API, it is just two habits.
- Make the product slightly better every day
- Write something that you can market every day
I don’t need a third. I have to make sure these two are not disturbed ever. That’s my job. To build a moat against something touching it, even if it means leaving money on the table.
I don’t remember the last time I went a day without doing these two things, and that is my real asset — That’s my tortoise to your latest, violently effective, growth hacking hare.
