WHY YOU SHOULD FOCUS ON THE LONG GAME

I’ll be honest, there were so many points in my first couple of years of building this business where I thought, “Is this even working?” I’d spend hours designing, uploading, tweaking listings, trying new mockups, writing blog posts, creating freebies… and sometimes it felt like I was invisible. Slow sales. Low engagement on Instagram. And that annoying little thought whispering, “You should just quit. No one would blame you if you stopped.” So why should you focus on the long game?

Here’s the thing about building a business with staying power: it rarely gives you instant results. And that’s the part nobody talks about enough. They highlight the month they made $10k. But they won’t show you the 9 months before that when they were publishing consistently, posting every day, testing different product types, building systems, and planting seeds.

They don’t show you the flops.

Their messy middle.

The whole long game.

The harsh truth about the long game is that results often lag far behind effort.

I know, it's not what you want to hear. But you're building something sustainable, something that can grow with you. Something that doesn't collapse because you sprinted out of the gate and burned out.

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” -James Clear

That quote changed how I look at everything, from my product launches to my content calendar. When I stopped obsessing over, how can I make more money this month, and started asking, what system can I put in place today that will still be working for me in 6 months- that’s when everything shifted.

I still pay attention to advice other people offer and they focus so much on finding the right first product. The problem with that advice is that if you're someone that launches and it doesn't immediately succeed, then you feel like a failure and worry you'll never be successful.

There are possibly a few people that can make it big on their first launch or two, but gone are the days of simply having a great product and expecting sell out results. You need to know that you're in it for the long haul. Then you develop things that build on each other. You'll slowly start to develop an audience and people will start buying. The big boulder of momentum will follow and you'll be so thankful that you have systems in place to handle the influx of orders and the inevitable customer service requests.

There’s a reason so many people quit just before things start to click. Because it’s agonizing to pour your time, heart, and creative energy into something without instant reward. But if you keep showing up, learning, adjusting, and staying in the game, the momentum does catch up.

“Play long-term games with long-term people. In the long term, you’re only as good as your judgment and your ability to learn.” -Naval Ravikant

You don’t need to be the fastest or the flashiest- as an introvert, I'm so thankful for this. You just need to keep going when it’s hard. You need good systems, that work for you when you can't. And you need to believe in the quiet build. Because once it starts to work, even just a little, you’ll see why it was worth the wait.

If you're in that messy middle right now, keep going. Your future self will thank you. And one day soon, a notification, a comment, or a sale will pop up that changes everything.

And you’ll know: this was never wasted time. It was just time well invested.

Warmest regards,

P.S. If you want to see the systems I use, take a look at our Designed Simply Membership where I walk entrepreneurs like you through creating and scaling a digital or Print-on-Demand business. No risk, just reward.

P.S.S. So what are the long game tasks that help build systems? Create an email list, sooner than you think, even before you have a single follower or email to write. Create a blog, podcast, or YouTube channel to start providing long-form content. And start showing up online somewhere, even when you're in the planning phase because people love to root for others who share all the things, including their heart. Create a workflow that produces consistent products. And I don't mean they need to be created on a specific schedule, I just mean, a workflow where you get from idea to product consistently.