Seeing that glistening prize, whatever it may be, at the end of your rainbow is enervating and seductive. It pulls you along, entices and enthralls, but then, you find yourself at the top of a cliff. Oh, it’s a beautiful cliff with an amazing view, but you have to make the decision whether to jump or not. And you can’t predict quite how or where you’ll land.
Do it! Fight the Fear!
When Erik and I first started talking about Squink Games, it was easy to get caught up in the excitement of creating our own company with our own credo, developing our own games, having children playing something that we’d poured so much of ourselves into and enjoying it!
I imagine that every person that starts their own business feels similarly – looking out at the grand vision, sure that the end of this dream will result in everything you could wish for. Seeing that glistening prize, whatever it may be, at the end of your rainbow is enervating and seductive. It pulls you along, entices and enthralls, but then, you find yourself at the top of a cliff. Oh, it’s a beautiful cliff with an amazing view, but you have to make the decision whether to jump or not. And you can’t predict quite how or where you’ll land.
You start making plans, digging into the details, and soon, you find yourself down in the trenches, mucking about with inches of mud on your boots. It’s overwhelming. It’s hard. It’s exhausting. You’re putting yourself out there – putting your soul on display, and what if nobody appreciates it? What if they hate it? You start wondering if it’s worth it.
It’s about the Journey
It is worth it. It already has been. Even if we never make a cent on Gummies Playground Erik and I have already gained so much during this journey. We’ve learned a lot. Not only about marketing and websites, SEO and blogging, but about ourselves. We’ve learned we can rely on each other to get the job done, to discuss and debate without arguing and anger, to look at problems from all angles, and that being creative can happen outside a pencil and sketchpad or Photoshop program.
We’ve learned that we want to follow in Google’s footsteps and have informally adopted their motto of “Don’t Be Evil.” We want to give a quality educational experience that is fun and safe for kids. We want parents to feel like they got their money’s worth and that the game is worthwhile for their children to play. But most of all, we want to be proud of what we put out there. We want the part of us that we’re putting on display to be something good.
We’re standing at the top of the cliff, with the wind whipping in our hair and the clouds covering the ground below us. We’ve got the website looking the way we want it (did you see our new logo? Meet Squinkers!), we’ve got the game “feature complete,” we’re looking at little gifts for those kids that will be testing for us; we’re making progress. Progress we can be proud of – but there is still so much left to do. We could quit, and take the lessons we’ve learned and move on. It would be easier to quit, certainly. We wouldn’t have to take the risks we’re taking. But, for us, it’s harder to live with the regret of not even reaching for our dreams.
We’re at the top of a cliff, yes, but we’re standing hand in hand and our dream is strong. On the count of three… let’s jump!!
photo credit: mortimer via photopin cc
