Chaos breeds Chaos

Milestones, no matter how big or small they might seem, must always be appreciated. They are the rocks we use to travel across the river of life, and if we skip one, or fail to acknowledge its weight or size, we may very well trip and fall, leading to a much longer and heavier burden than we were meant to carry. Every achievement a person makes in life will lead to another, and though we may one day reach our ultimate goals, another road will always be waiting for us there to lead us down a new and even more exciting adventure that we never once thought we wanted until our final milestone had been completed.

I bring this up because in the last couple of days, I’ve achieved two milestones that are just the first steps in reaching the end of the horizon. The first is getting my 1,000th view on this very blog. Now, I know for some, views might not be as important as followers, or even comments, but what’s the use of having followers (or the occasional comment) if the majority of them aren’t even reading your posts? (Of course, with the way the WordPress reader works, this number can be a little deceiving, but then again, you have to take the good with the bad, right?)

What this tells me is that I’ve written enough compelling posts in the last six months to elicit people to continue to visit (and hopefully read) my blog. I will say that a lot of these views are for the Home Page, and whether or not anyone actually reads any of the posts — or how long they stay on a particular page — is unknown (which is actually where comments come into play — and I can certainly use more of them; that and likes).

Some might think this is a small number for six months, but for a very private guy like me, who likes to keep his thoughts and feelings to himself (or at the very least within his inner circle of family and really close friends), to be doing something like this is still very new to me. So to believe that over 120 followers (and still others who randomly click on the site or a post every now and then) are interested in what I have to say (if not compelled to actually like or comment on the post) is in some ways scary, in others exciting.

Regardless, it’s time now to look ahead to my next milestone — doubling those numbers in the next six months. If I can do that, I believe I’ll be right where I need to be in both my comfort level with social media, as well as my popularity, which may still be miniscule by comparison to other such blogs, but still quite important to me and my ultimate goal. If not, it’ll simply tell me I need to do a little more work to make it happen. And that’s okay, because without work (and failure), I’ll never reach my true potential.

The other goal I achieved this week was finally securing my first client as part of my new business, Phoenix Moirai (outside of family, that is). They have hired me to rebuild their company website and I will not be taking that honor lightly. The first client in any endeavor is your most important, as they will help define how you and your company are perceived in the future. Do great work and it could lead to much more work; do a piss-poor job, and watch your reputation flounder.

Although there will definitely be a lot riding on this first job, I’m super excited to get started. I still have yet to sign the contract, but I’ll be meeting with them on Monday to go over some specifics, make sure all of our ducks are quacking in line, and have the contract signed. Then it’s all on my shoulders to do some of my best work ever, making sure to keep the lines of communication open and doing everything to the best of my abilities so that I may earn both the status of having a professional design company and gaining the respect needed to continue to build my client base.

It’s certainly a frightening thing to think about because I don’t want to screw it up. But on the other hand, when it is completed, it’ll be a great feeling to have that first job under my belt.

Both of these achievements are the start of something new and fresh and different and exciting, and there is no way I am going to underestimate either one as being too small. It’s in the little things that make one the happiest, after all, so I’m going to savor these milestones and use them to drive my courage to continue on the rough and daunting road that still lies ahead.