The band.
In my spare time I sing and play in a blues band and, playing in pubs and clubs, the one thing you learn quickly is that at the beginning of your set no one is listening.
The audience are chatting to their friends, they’re at the bar getting drinks, they’re texting, and you’re just another band.
Most of them don’t care if you start playing or not.
So what do you do?
The band has two options; we can either turn up the volume so they can’t talk and thereby force them to listen or to leave!
Or we can dig deep, give it our best and wait for them to start listening.
Usually it’s only in the last hour of a 2 hour set, and sometimes only in the last 30mins, that their complete attention is on us (yes I know most of them are probably drunk by then and will listen to anything).
They don’t clap after each song and they don’t shout out how fantastic we are – but they do turn up again at our next gig and the one after that.
The next time they do clap.
It’s the same when you start a new business, launch a new product or write a blog. In the beginning no one is listening to you.
Don’t be put off by the silence; the silence can be the hardest challenge of all.
And if you’re working from home and you’re doing it all on your own, the silence can be deafening.
It’s scary, it’s lonely and it’s what defeats most people. They get disillusioned and they give up.
Don’t be one of those people.
Keep going, silence is good, it gives you time to get it right, to test stuff, to try stuff and to make mistakes while no one is listening.
In the beginning no one knows who you are, they don’t know what you do or why you do it and they don’t care.
That’s ok. If you keep going eventually they will.
Don’t be too impatient
Too many dreams, plans and goals fail because of impatience. We expect too much too early. We’re not prepared for the long game.
“A genius! For 37 years I’ve practised 14 hours a day, and now they call me a genius!” – Pablo Sarasate – Violinist
