How To Handle It When Nobody Listens To You

I poured my heart and soul out into that blog post. Why didn’t they read it?

I spent every day when I got home from the job I hate doing writing that novel. Why didn’t they buy it?

I put my blood, sweat, and tears into building a platform that I believed in. Where were my users?

I had a dream that meant everything to me. Where was my audience?

I had things I wanted to say, burning words that I wanted — more than anything — to get out of me and into the world. Why wouldn’t they listen to me? Why won’t they listen to me?

I’m asked these questions all the time. These are hard questions to answer. They’re questions which don’t always have an easy response. Making a dream happen is about a lot more than just hard work.

It’s Okay

Sometimes, nobody reads your blog. And that’s okay.

It’s about a lot more than just “crushing it” — it’s about a combination of luck, timing, hard work, consistency and focus, all coming together the right way.

And the hard part of that is recognising that they’re not always going to align. There will be times when folks just don’t give a shit about what you’ve built. It happens to me, too. I’ll pour everything I’ve got into something, and the response will be…crickets. It happens to us all.

The message here is that when it happens — we don’t throw in the towel. Fuck no. We don’t stop doing our best work just because there’s been no huge spike in traffic, or downloads, or purchases.

Iterations Matter

I started the first iteration of what is now Creatomic almost 10 years ago when I was 18. My first business had failed and I wanted to share information about why, and how, and what path I was going to take with my entrepreneurship and creativity.

For most of those 10 years, people didn’t listen, read or care. Today, they mostly do. It didn’t happen overnight, and I didn’t stop just because there was silence on the other end.

When you’re building something you love, they aren’t always going to come. Sometimes, they’ll act like you don’t exist. That’s okay. You know you do. You know you’re doing your best work.

You know that if you keep at it long enough, the right elements will come together and folks will start to take notice.

You can do it, if you stick with it. You’ll regret it if you quit. That’s the honest truth. So don’t quit.

Eventually, someone will break the silence.

[This post by Jon Westenberg first appeared on Medium and has been reproduced with permission.]

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