Upon entering the valley of death and remaining here for 6 grueling weeks, here are some reasons to quit that I've come up with:
Cut my financial losses: Google adwords is eating up my money every day, I should just quit and say I gave it a shot and failed. Better than spending more money and failing in a few months, right?
My Ego: You see if I quit now for some personal reason (i.e. I'm pregnant and I can't handle the stress) than I didn't really fail because I quit. So, I save some face with you, my 4 followers, my friends and my family. But, mostly, I save face with myself. I've done a lot of things in my life, and I've pretty much been successful, why stick a big failure in there.
Avoid the Big Risk: If I quit now, I never have to take the leap into asking my customers for money. That's the leap that's dangerous because I'm bound to be told "no." And, I'm no sales lady, so really the easiest thing is to avoid asking the question. This also gets me out of deciding when I should start monetizing, which, at this point, seems like the impossible question.
A good friend of mine reminded me, although it may sound cliche, failure would have been to never begin the adventure. I'm taking a risk, I'm living and I'm going to succeed at life.
And, Seth Godin reminded me in this way:
"Living with doubt
... is almost always more profitable than living with certainty.
People don't like doubt, so they pay money and give up opportunities to avoid it. Entrepreneurship is largely about living with doubt, as is creating just about any sort of art.
If you need reassurance, you're giving up quite a bit to get it.
On the other hand, if you can get in the habit of seeking out uncertainty, you'll have developed a great instinct."
So, I press on. But, trust me, I can't wait to be out of this valley, one way or another.
