Recently I went ice skating with my kids. This is an activity we do once or twice or year, so none of us is all that proficient at it. My seven-year-old daughter, in particular, is still learning the basics. A little wobbly.

During our most recent outing I placed myself a few feet in front of her, then encouraged her to skate to my outstretched hands. She shuffled her feet and grabbed my hands, we celebrated, and then I moved out another few feet.

After doing this several times, I began to move a little further out—five feet, maybe. And again she’d shuffle her feet, intuitively picking up the movements that made a difference.

I was so proud of her. She was boldly moving her feet and making steady progress.

At one point, though, I looked at her face and noticed she was concentrating really hard—almost too hard. I mean, we were ice skating, not performing brain surgery!

“Hey,” I said, looking her in the eyes, “remember to enjoy it a bit.”

She immediately relaxed and kept doing her thing.

Enjoy It a Bit

Anytime we’re learning something new, whether ice skating or audience building, it’s hard work, especially in the beginning.

When you’re just starting, you don’t know anything about anything, so you just start trying stuff. You shuffle your feet. Quickly we can end up getting discouraged or worn out or just simply paralyzed.

That’s why it’s important to have some fun along the way.

If you’re building an audience, remember that every action you take is in one way or another moving you forward.

Even if you do something that seems to shrink your audience, you’re still moving forward because you’re learning. Sometimes you have to do the wrong things to know how different they feel from the right things.

And sometimes shrinking your audience is exactly what you need to do to make sure you have the right audience.

So relax. Have some fun.

Serious Business

You might be tempted to think, “Wait a second! Who has time for fun?! I have to get stuff done, man!”

OK, I respect that, but tell me honestly, do you really think you’re going to get further ahead by screwing up your face and push, push, pushing, working 10-hour days, neglecting your health and family, and so on.

I don’t think so.

Let me be clear. I’m not telling you to be lazy. And I’m certainly not telling you to give up.

I’m telling you to enjoy the journey. If you don’t, you’re likely to burn out and either give up or be angry—neither of which (as long as we’re being honest) is your best look.

My Own Experience

I’ve been platform (audience) building for over six years now, and sometimes the pace of progress is maddening. Even after all this time with hundreds of people who regularly read my content, I get frustrated that things aren’t moving more quickly.

Every now and again I have to catch myself and just smile, knowing that this is my art, my life’s work.

What would I rather be doing than this? Nothing. I can’t imagine a better investment of time and energy than serving the people I’m passionate to serve.

A Few Pointers

So how do we do this? How do we infuse the process with more levity so that we can make steady progress, avoid burnout, and have some fun along the way? Following are some pointers that may be helpful to you.

• Recognize this is going to take some time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither are personal brand platforms like the ones you and I are building.
• Get a guide and a supportive community. Hopefully you have someone helping you, someone who has a little more experience to whose hands you can skate. A good guide can shorten your learning curve significantly and help you avoid painful mistakes. If you’re a writer who wants to get published, consider BookCamp, my mentoring and training hub for writers. Click here to learn more.
• Start shuffling. Go a few feet, then go a few more. What if my daughter kept comparing her ice skating to that of Olympian Michelle Kwan? She’d be endlessly discouraged. Yet that’s what we tend to do with our platforms. It’s good to have goals and a strategy, but once you have these, focus on showing up. Showing up and going a few feet. That’s the win.
• Having a platform isn’t the thing. Building a platform is the thing. I used to think having a platform was the goal, but now I know all the good stuff happens when you’re building a platform. When you’re doing the work of building a platform, you are engaging with people, learning about them. My first product (Book Proposal Academy), for example, was the direct result of listening to the needs of one of the writers I was serving.

OK. You’re ready, brave writer. Whether you’ve been platform building for a while or you’re just getting started, you can do this. Show up and go a few feet. And hey, remember to enjoy it a bit.

Question: What does “showing up and going a few feet” look like for you right now? You can leave a comment by clicking here.