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- Dec 24, 2016
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I want to make a post to help people overcome the crippling guilt that comes with missing or foregoing opportunities. If this post just helps one person, I'll be happy.
Just about everybody at one point or another in their life will miss an opportunity that would drastically change the direction of your life. Some people have only one - and some people have several. Some people choose to have only one because they let the "that was my one chance" mindset crush them to the ground. They settle. They don't seek new opportunities. They don't look for the silver lining. They can no longer adapt to the mindset that put them in front of the opportunity in the first place.
When I was just 16 years old (2005) I ran a website that pulled over 100,000 unique visitors per day. I, along with a couple of other entrepreneurial minds, was among the first people to take advantage of the cash-cow that was streaming TV shows online. Long before netflix, long before hulu, and long before websites like project free tv.
Armed with very basic HTML and css knowledge, I made a website which was the first website ever to stream family guy episodes on the internet. Initially, I just had a "donate" button that linked directly to my paypal to help me pay for the host. After picking up a bit of traction, I'd pull about $5 a day. WOOHOO! But once I started to realize I was onto something, I looked into a service called "adbrite" - long before the days of google ads and ppc mastery, this would load up your site with shitty text ads that were completely irrelevant to your viewers.
Here's a rough idea of how my website traction was broken down.
Week 1 - 2-5 views per day. $0 revenue. 20 hours per week
Week 2 - 100-200 views per day. $0 revenue. 10 hours per week
Week 3 - 1k - 2k views per day. $5 made per day. 5 hours per week
Week 4 - 10k-20k views per day. $20 per day. 5 hours per week
Week 5+ - 100k+ views per day. $200+ USD per day. 3-5 hours of work per week.
This was with absolutely zero marketing knowledge, a laughable understanding of html/web design, and a 16 year olds mindset. With today's PPC I'm sure I would have made 5x-10x that amount.
And seemingly in the blink of an eye, I lost it all. Fox began to become aware of the website. First they attacked the website I used to host, then they came after me. Within the blink of an eye every single video lost it's host. As a 16 year old with no experience in the world of law, I tucked my tail and ran. I didn't even know that there WAS a market for selling websites - I just took my money and was on my way. "On to the next" I thought - why care? I had my whole life ahead of me.
It wasn't until I was older that I realized how much this website was worth. I've heard quotes over the years - anything from 150k to 500k. Do I care? Abso-****ing-lutely. I filled a barrel with cash and lit it on fire. But I'm over it. Why?
Because I make my own opportunities. And so do you.
That stock you missed out on two months ago? There's plenty others like it. What about that cryptocurrency you saw when it was pennies that's now gone up 5000%+? Same answer.
It's all too easy to get caught up in your head and beat yourself up about the thing's you've missed out on and the checks you didn't cash - but every second you spend beating yourself up is another second you're not pushing yourself further to present more opportunities.
When I first realized how much money I had missed out on, I beat myself up. Quite a bit... but after that period of self-loathing, I looked deep down to find out how I can turn this situation into a good one. Where's the silver lining?
At that point I took a course on web development, made a few free (or cheap) sites, and within a few months was fully committed to a career in web development. Through this, I've realized just how powerful web knowledge is, and I've already planted three more money trees. All three of these money trees has the potential to make 10x what I was making on my first missed opportunity.
So what's the takeaway here?
Don't kick your own a$$ for being a human. Humans make mistakes - we present, we take, and we miss opportunities. Look for the silver lining and always learn from your mistakes - because the opportunity you missed may just have been a gateway into the real opportunity that's right before your eyes - the very same opportunity that you will miss if you let the guilt overwhelm you and keep your head in the sand. Always learn from your mistakes, and do not let self-guilt detract you from the shining beacon that life has placed in front of you. Opportunities are everywhere. It's up to you to take them.
Just about everybody at one point or another in their life will miss an opportunity that would drastically change the direction of your life. Some people have only one - and some people have several. Some people choose to have only one because they let the "that was my one chance" mindset crush them to the ground. They settle. They don't seek new opportunities. They don't look for the silver lining. They can no longer adapt to the mindset that put them in front of the opportunity in the first place.
When I was just 16 years old (2005) I ran a website that pulled over 100,000 unique visitors per day. I, along with a couple of other entrepreneurial minds, was among the first people to take advantage of the cash-cow that was streaming TV shows online. Long before netflix, long before hulu, and long before websites like project free tv.
Armed with very basic HTML and css knowledge, I made a website which was the first website ever to stream family guy episodes on the internet. Initially, I just had a "donate" button that linked directly to my paypal to help me pay for the host. After picking up a bit of traction, I'd pull about $5 a day. WOOHOO! But once I started to realize I was onto something, I looked into a service called "adbrite" - long before the days of google ads and ppc mastery, this would load up your site with shitty text ads that were completely irrelevant to your viewers.
Here's a rough idea of how my website traction was broken down.
Week 1 - 2-5 views per day. $0 revenue. 20 hours per week
Week 2 - 100-200 views per day. $0 revenue. 10 hours per week
Week 3 - 1k - 2k views per day. $5 made per day. 5 hours per week
Week 4 - 10k-20k views per day. $20 per day. 5 hours per week
Week 5+ - 100k+ views per day. $200+ USD per day. 3-5 hours of work per week.
This was with absolutely zero marketing knowledge, a laughable understanding of html/web design, and a 16 year olds mindset. With today's PPC I'm sure I would have made 5x-10x that amount.
And seemingly in the blink of an eye, I lost it all. Fox began to become aware of the website. First they attacked the website I used to host, then they came after me. Within the blink of an eye every single video lost it's host. As a 16 year old with no experience in the world of law, I tucked my tail and ran. I didn't even know that there WAS a market for selling websites - I just took my money and was on my way. "On to the next" I thought - why care? I had my whole life ahead of me.
It wasn't until I was older that I realized how much this website was worth. I've heard quotes over the years - anything from 150k to 500k. Do I care? Abso-****ing-lutely. I filled a barrel with cash and lit it on fire. But I'm over it. Why?
Because I make my own opportunities. And so do you.
That stock you missed out on two months ago? There's plenty others like it. What about that cryptocurrency you saw when it was pennies that's now gone up 5000%+? Same answer.
It's all too easy to get caught up in your head and beat yourself up about the thing's you've missed out on and the checks you didn't cash - but every second you spend beating yourself up is another second you're not pushing yourself further to present more opportunities.
When I first realized how much money I had missed out on, I beat myself up. Quite a bit... but after that period of self-loathing, I looked deep down to find out how I can turn this situation into a good one. Where's the silver lining?
At that point I took a course on web development, made a few free (or cheap) sites, and within a few months was fully committed to a career in web development. Through this, I've realized just how powerful web knowledge is, and I've already planted three more money trees. All three of these money trees has the potential to make 10x what I was making on my first missed opportunity.
So what's the takeaway here?
Don't kick your own a$$ for being a human. Humans make mistakes - we present, we take, and we miss opportunities. Look for the silver lining and always learn from your mistakes - because the opportunity you missed may just have been a gateway into the real opportunity that's right before your eyes - the very same opportunity that you will miss if you let the guilt overwhelm you and keep your head in the sand. Always learn from your mistakes, and do not let self-guilt detract you from the shining beacon that life has placed in front of you. Opportunities are everywhere. It's up to you to take them.
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