Do you want to know what hurts like a bitch?
Trying to find your market fit.
And childbirth.
Earlier this month, we took our cards to a Christmas Expo. We spent thousands of dollars on our booth and product. We painstakingly designed our space and spent hours upon hours preparing and setting it up. Ben had many sleepless nights trying to get the app working well. He threw out months of work and added features that we thought people wanted. I packaged cards the night before until my arms ached and my fingers were numb.
We told ourselves that it would be okay. It would all be worth it in the end. People like what we're doing. It's cool!
Guess how many new customers we acquired over those three days? Just throw out a number.
Six. It was Six.
We went home feeling like we sold our house for a product that literally nobody wants. We felt like failures -- Ben obviously felt it even harder than I did.
This experience was painful, but things are going to be okay.
We started out too broad with our messaging, product, and our target customer. We aren't entirely wrong, and everybody that told us that this was a good idea wasn't just bullshitting us. Our customer is more specific than we'd thought, and through this stupid painful experience, we're learning who he/she is. We're also determining what our next products need to look like.
I get really hung up on wasted time and money. I can't stand it when I spend hours on something that then just gets thrown out. It makes my eye twitch when I spend too much money on something that will never be used. I foolishly expect myself to get it right the first time, every time.
But when it comes to new tech and new businesses, no one has all the answers right away. That's why companies seek investment. You're supposed to use the cash to find your solid market fit. To achieve that fit, you have to test products and fine tune them. That costs money.
One thing is finally starting to click in my head -- if you want to make real money, you have to spend it first.
So the Christmas Expo sucked, like really bad. People told Ben to his face that the cards he built on his own were "stupid" and "unimpressive." (Seriously, who does that? Are there really that many people in such desperate need of basic human decency lessons? You don't have to love everything that everyone is doing, but you don't have to be rude.)
The good news is, this is not the end of the world or the company. It's okay to get it wrong the first, the second, and even the third time. Every time you're wrong, you get one step closer to being right. Besides, I think eventually, genuinely successful people learn to wear their failures and rejections as badges of honor.
So here's to failing. Here's to getting back up and trying again. Here's to getting one step closer to being right. 🍻
