My wife and I are starting a podcast (Stay tuned for The Shuda Show…).
I’m experimenting with video.
I’m trying not to worry about what someone might think or how people would react if these experiments fail. It’s more about trying new things because if you stand still in life you’re going to get passed.
In my life, there have definitely been times when I’ve worried about what other people would think. I don’t know what it is, but we have a culture that kind of focuses on the things people don’t do well.
For example, when a favorite music act tries something a little different on an album. It comes out and it’s not what fans expect or want. The album is panned and the act might have a bad reputation for the rest of their career.
That happens throughout life and it seems that as we get older we get more fearful of trying new things for fear of failure and ridicule.
I’ve tried to fight those fears in my life.
Blogging
In 2009, I started blogging for the first time. I had no idea what I was doing. I broke a lot of unwritten rules in the blogging world. I read a lot of blogs and figured I could do it, but I had no idea what I was doing.
I didn’t really tell a lot of people about it for fear that they would make fun of what I was trying to do. In fact, I had no idea what I was trying to do. I was just experimenting with something that I had some interest in and that seemed to be popular with others.
Flash forward a few years and now blogging is my life’s work. Well, it’s my life’s work up to this point. We have Ghost Blog Writers, which I love having and love managing.
It’s save to say that blogging as an experiment has panned out so far.
Podcasting And Video
Now I’m experimenting with podcasting. My wife and I will be putting out commentary on business, design, content and what it’s like to both work from home and to have a husband and wife with their own small businesses.
We don’t really have any expectations, but we’re trying it. We’ll probably be horrible starting out, but I’m excited to see where it could go and what opportunity it could bring.
Nothing might come of it, but that would be okay too. It’s just an experiment.
A couple years ago I also started filming my deer hunts. This year I’m going to get back into doing that regularly again. I hope it turns out to be worthwhile. So far it’s just a hobby and I’m fine with it being that way. It’s another experiment.
Expectations
I think it’s fine to go into experimenting with expectations. But as an example, a friend of mine commented on my early blogging days by asking, “You’re blogging? What good can come of that? What’s in it for you?”
He was talking about money. I really had no idea if money would come of it. I was just trying something.
And I think that if you’re good at something and if you pay attention to what people need then you can figure out the money side of things.
We’ll see what podcasting and video bring, but right now I have no expectation of money. There are greater rewards in life.
All I know is that experimenting in life and in business have worked out well for me so far. I plan to keep trying little things here and there in my spare time.
And I think you could benefit as well.