The Journey Doesn't End Here

Let me rewind, a year ago, I was excited as hell to start a new business. Excited to start something I can call my own. Desperate for power, status, and success. So, I started working all day every day to make my website attractive to my target market. I did everything to make it happen and get the startup off the ground. And now, everything looks good enough. I've gotten all the bureaucratic headache out of the way too. I regularly update my social media accounts and I'm back on Facebook just to promote my venture to my own network. I also regularly write content for my own website. I work hard to the point of isolation. Should I start relaxing now and wait for my preferred people to come in? I'm afraid, it does not work that way. The entrepreneurial journey simply does not end here.

There are times that when I don't get immediate results, I don't feel motivated anymore. Part of being human is this need for instant gratification. Whenever this feeling strikes, I always remind myself of what I'm doing here for Steemit. I didn't earn my tiny Steem Power in an instant. It took me more than a year to have a regular Steem income here, writing consistently and only stopping for a few days when I needed some unplug time. I didn't earn followers that quickly either, it also took a while for some whales to notice me. They were not a lot, okay, but I'm happy enough to have had a few in my Steemit life. I was earning a lot at the beginning because I was producing way more unique content out of my recent travel experiences and was qualified to be upvoted by Curie. However, at this moment, I think the most important thing is having some stable income or upvotes, and for that, I can't complain anymore. Now I am trying to look at what I'm trying to establish, it works the same way for my own business. It's definitely not a get-rich-quick scheme, it will probably take a year or more of consistent hard work and dedication to see some good results.

I met up with some business owners in town and I was told that I have a posh website, probably better than their resort or hotel websites. I developed that website to make it look bigger than I am in order to attract the type of clients I prefer. It's normal to get discouraged as I see the fierce competition in the tourism business around here. But like in the art of war, "you need to appear strong when you are weak."

Nowadays, we have a growing problem with massive tourism and it seems that this region only attracts the cheapskate type of party travelers. This used to be not the case though. I didn't realize the severity of the situation until I came back to this country.

Sometimes I ask myself if I should resort to devaluing my services and give it to just any type of clients for now. It's the good old adage, "beggars can't be choosers". Desperate times call for desperate measures. Now I have a think about this and realize that I might even hurt my own business in the long run. I can't afford to have cheap whiners as my early adopters or those who can't even pay for quality service and proper wage of locals. Or those travelers who cannot pay the price to be socially conscious and sustainable. I guess it's better to be consistent right at the beginning and just focus on what I could provide on my website for now, like writing useful travel content about this region. I need to keep my services as it is because that's the only way to attract quality clients. I thought just because I already have a finished product I could now go on sitting pretty and wait for the world to come to me. And no, it does not end here.

To be quite honest, I entered this niche with a quite ambitious motive, and it's not only for massive profit, I want to set the bar. It feels like I want to control the world as funny as it may sound. I cannot stop cheap flights from coming in or the rise of sad young people spending a lot of money to be poor, happy, and annoying. I am desperate for change. Change in my life and in those around me. There might be things that I cannot control, but still, I want to be part of that tiny % who wants to change things. I might appear strong right now, but deep down, I'm just really feeling weak.

The journey doesn't end here