Can't Make Up Your Mind

Posted On: 2014-03-13

There are some weeks when I'm sure I most have done something really terrible in a past life because, if I didn't then why am I being punished by having so many things going wrong now?

It has just been totally incredible ... all week. A change in the law here in Australia has had us racing all week to bring a lot of our clients' websites into compliance. That then put us behind with several other websites that we have been building for clients and they began to get a bit grumpy about that.

Then just to add something extra to the equation a third-party server decided to lock us out as we began to upload a 13,000 page website that was to go live yesterday. By 11pm last night that server issue was solved but we had to put off the launch of the website till later today so there was another client who wasn't happy.

Fortunately things are starting to calm down today and we're slowly getting on top of things ... even the clients who weren't so happy with us are beginning to understand that we're not super-human ... but for a while there I was ready to run out the door screaming.

One of those clients who hadn't been so happy with us came in today. She was scheduled to have a meeting with my partner so that he could get a clearer idea of just what she hoped to achieve with her website ... a site that required potential clients to register and pay a monthly fee for some unique services ... and what level of services she was going to provide for that fee.

I think Steve could see that there might have been some buyer remorse from people who had signed up and paid their subscription once if they hadn't fully understood what they were going to get for their money and he wasn't sure how to overcome that.

So when the client mentioned another project that required a website to him ... a project she had briefly discussed with me ... and she seemed more enthusiastic about the second project than the first ... it didn't take Steve long to steer her thoughts towards that second project.

The second project offered her some obvious benefits and Steve could see that it would be a lot easier to get that one off the ground so he let her talk about it. Occasionally he would ask a question ... offer some insights ... and in a matter of 20 minutes or so she had made the decision to halt the first project and have us come up with some figures for the second project.

She even admitted that she had been spending a lot of time thinking about that second project and even begun to wonder if she had made the right choice when she asked us to start on that first idea of hers.

While she had spent a lot of time thinking she hadn't actually stopped to talk about her ideas with anyone but once she started talking about it with Steve she began to see just how much potential there was in the second project. She also began to get a feel for it and understand what sort of programming would be needed to make it happen.

She and Steve even talked about how she would market the project and she is one of the few people who knew that Google was not going to be the key to her success even before she walked into our office.

Before she came in today she had not been able to make up her mind about whether she was working on the right project or not. After talking with Steve she's fairly sure where she wants to go with both projects and now she's really focused on moving ahead.

So what do you do when you have some great ideas going around in your head but you can't make up your mind as to which one to run with? Do you keep on turning over the possibilities in your mind ... looking at the issues from every angle ... and finally making a decision that you're never quite happy with?

Or do you talk about it with someone who understands where you're coming from ... who can relate to your ideas and who can help guide your thoughts towards making the right decision?

If you're an adult webmaster then ... because of your isolation ... you will probably have some difficulties in finding someone to talk to face to face who would understand what you're talking about ... especially if you keep thinking about it in adult terms.

But then there's very little difference in the dynamics of selling porn compared to selling widgets so why can't you talk about your ideas in non-adult terms? If you can do that then you probably already know people who are worth talking to so why not try it?

And if you genuinely are isolated then start talking about your ideas on your favourite message board. You don't have to go into specifics and you just might get some suggestions from people that will help focus your thinking.

So if you're faced with a situation where you can't make up your mind ... where you don't know which way to go ... talk about it with people around you. There's a lot more wisdom out there among your friends and family than you might realize.