There are million reasons that an entrepreneur stays up too late. At least 99 of those are actually related to doing the real work that brings in business and enables you to serve more people and make the world a better place.
And so, this weekend, my former Online Empowerment partner, Corinna Rake, who is still my website angel, stayed up entirely too late last night to work on my site. The night before, I had pushed myself well past bedtime in order to get her everything she needed to do her tech magic.
This morning, any observant website visitor would spot new sidebars with clearer email opt-in invitations and streamlined categories. Soon, you’ll copy about my approach to making connections and building your online presence through storytelling in a new text area on my homepage.
Thing is, no one is really going to notice.
This isn’t a “poor me” statement. It’s experience speaking. And it’s me taking a deep breath and assuring both Corinna and myself that all of our hard work was important even if no one seems to see it.
The need to be seen and recognized
Raised to make a difference in the world and to always be at the top of class, being invisible seems like utter failure. Working hard on something that no one is meant to notice seems like a bad joke come true.
I know this isn’t the only way to look at the world - it’s the limited perspective of an American perfectionist born in the last quarter of the 20th century. It’s the lament of the individual snowflake who can’t believe she might get lost in a great white sea of sameness.
If I weren’t so tired after all the website-related sleep deprivation, I might be able to call to mind an Eastern parable about the value of work that goes unrecognized or at least temper these statements as a woman who has grown past that competitive ethos of high school.
Right now, all I can do is picture the sand art scene from last season’s House of Cards. I’m feeling just as baffled as the type A White House residents who couldn’t imagine toiling so hard on something that would just get swept away.
But that’s a different story about a different kind of work.
The website work that we did is easy to see, though it’s invisible to most. The web is a volatile realm, but those coding changes were not necessarily transitory. Corinna’s redesigns will help support my message and my work for the next few years until some shift in design and accessibility trends means “that site looks so 2016” becomes an insult.
It’s OK that some good work is invisible.
It’s also OK to writer and create arts that wants to be seen.
After years helping to build websites and write copy that gets a point across and makes people act, I understand the value of work that fades into the background. I understand it, but I can never love it. That’s why I have dedicated myself to storytelling and mentoring other writers, not to churning out sales pages.
This April I am launching a new course called Tell Stories that Matter: Write Online Content that Your Readers Care About. We’re going to explore how to craft stories that connect - not just copy that converts.
This online course will launch in April and I would love to have you with me from the start. Please join the interest list to receiving VIP updates and special pricing. Learn more about the storytelling course