The Self Employed Movement has been around for 11 days so far and the response has been overwhelming. In the 11 days it’s been “live,” I’ve gotten over 1,100 views from over 600 visitors. I’m not sharing these numbers to brag or boast, but to show you that you don’t know how things will turn out until you try; until you go “live.” You can prepare and plan all you want but that doesn’t mean shit if no one knows about you.

I was expecting to maybe get 5 views the first day so I was ecstatic when I got 72 that day. It also got the gears turning in my head: “I need to get hosting…I need to look into SEO…I need to create a profile on all these social networks…I need to grow my email follower list…so on and so forth.”

There were a number of things that I thought I should do to take advantage of my new found following but then I remembered some lessons I learned from a past blog failure: Don’t try to grow too quickly and stick with what matters. That’s what I didn’t do with my last blog, the Micro Business Kid.

Just as I felt like I was starting to “make” it, I tried to do too much too quickly. You can spend an entire day just setting up a profile on social networks. I know from experience. You can spend hundreds of dollars on templates and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) but that really doesn’t matter if your content is shit. (Again, been there, done that.)

Before I knew it, I had a kick ass Facebook page, but shitty content because I rushed to publish posts even though I didn’t think they were ready. Things weren’t fun anymore and writing turned into a negative experience. That’s more than likely why that blog isn’t around today.

So I took a step back and figured out what really mattered….what really has gotten me that many views from so many visitors. And that was writing some bad ass blog posts that you, seemingly, give a shit about.

I’ve decided that what’s best for the blog and for me right now is to keep on producing quality content that you guys will enjoy. That’s the core of my “business.” Sure, I haven’t made any money from this blog just yet, but I’m hoping to eventually turn it into some consulting sometime in the future. But before I can get to that point, I have to do what I do best and that’s creating kick ass content which is my product. I’m nothing without that.

You and your business are nothing without a kick ass product. Focus on creating the best widget that you plan on offering and stick with that. The rest will follow.

Think about it, there’s no need to pay for marketing to drive traffic to your site if your product is shit. It’s pointless.

There’s no need to try to get people to sign up to receive email notifications if they don’t give a shit about your product or whatever you have to say.

Some takeaways:

• Figure out what has made you successful and make it a priority to keep doing that thing. Make this the core of your focus for growth.

• But don’t be afraid to experiment. Make whatever has gotten you successful your main business but set aside some resources to try something new. It’s good to fail. It’s good to create.

• Don’t spread yourself thin; especially financially and with your time. Thinking about paying for advertising? Don’t. Thinking about making a profile on every single social network? Don’t. Put all your resources into making a kick ass product instead and enable your customers to spread the word for you. Your product is the core of your “marketing.” If it’s awesome, they should have no problem doing this for you.

• Make things as simple as possible. Less is more. Less time spent on upkeep and maintenance, more time creating. Your fans will thank you.

• Speaking of fans, be fuckin’ grateful that you have them. There’s no point in creating your product if no one cares. You aren’t shit without them. Reach out to them and let them know that you appreciate them. Don’t copy and paste a response to them either. That’s half-assing things. Make it personable.

In what ways do you think this post will impact your business? What changes are you thinking about making? Comments are always appreciated!