What motivates you to hustle with hurdles?

Question

Hi All makers,

Being a struggler for 4 years (unfortunately still) now. I have encountered many hurdles and overcome them. There are various phases where you feel demotivated for no solid reason.
The major setback for me was when someone made an app with similar features and got his very first paid customer in the first week of launch, while It took me 2 years.

I sometimes laugh at such situations because we don't know what advantage the other one already has. Maybe he has some following or he/she is financially strong. But it happens anyway.

Did you also face such a situation, how did you overcome the mental trauma?
Is it worth continuing when you know that the other one already has some extra advantages?
 
#PHTalks

Mikk Maal · Accepted Answer

These things happen for sure, but it does make sense to try to understand what made the difference. Not only try out the product, but what's the story that they tell to the client, benefits they promise, and channels they use, etc. For most apps, 2 years for the first paid customer is way too much (assuming the paid version was available for two years and you tried to get someone to pay for that), and you're either not doing enough to push the product, the value proposition isn't communicated the right way, etc. As for continuing or not - I don't think the answer depends on your competitor and advantages they have, unless you're both focused on a really small market.

Valerie Fenske · Answer

@aarvy then start writing yours :)

Valerie Fenske · Answer

@aarvy don't forget to share the results with us :)

Valerie Fenske · Answer

all the strugles shape our personality - but also come from it.
ask yourself WHY for at least 7 times.
why you wok on this app? - because I want...
why do you want...? - and so on.
and you'll find the real motivation.

Rajan Verma (Aarvy) · Answer

@valeryfenskaya that was to the point. I'll do for sure. ;)  Thanks a lot

Sere P · Answer

Personal experience: on a Friday night, the same day we got the first design prototype for our business, we found out another company, much more established than us (we have not even launched yet) had been working on a similar offering in addition to their existing product. I had a breakdown, we had been checking/tracking what that non-direct competitor (they developed only one feature compared to the ones we will be offering) had been doing and never saw the banner/announcement in their website before. They possibly pulled it up lately, so it was totally new to the team.

I had to stay calm although I didn't get much sleep that night. The day after, while talking with a friend who is an entrepreneur himself, I felt better: "This is the kind of validation you were somehow looking for, after all". 
That made me think, especially after I made a few extra research and found that same company had a big round of investments (lots of millions) to invest in that feature, yet it has been two years since they got the money and they have done nothing. I wish I had gotten half of that money, surely we'd have already launched :)

Harri Arain · Answer

The core of every hurdle is the reason for hustle, for me it is a matter of life and death my passion towards my project is everything and that passion motivates me to put Staff Timer App on top

Sere P · Answer

@aarvy We haven't yet, in the engineering development phase still!

Rajan Verma (Aarvy) · Answer

@sere_p Haha, its great to hear that everyone has faced  it once at a time in their life. Just curious, did you launched the product?  :P

Rajan Verma (Aarvy) · Answer

@ideamikk Yes. Right said with exact points i missed. I don't actually regret the 2 years period because I didn't push much. But I have seen makers getting profits even with less efforts. Anyways i was feeling down that time and reading your response did helped. I am feeling better now. Thanks a lot. :)

Rajan Verma (Aarvy) · Answer

@harri_stapp @harri_stapp Life and death. Great. Just checking that app. efforts are clearly visible. Do you also code?

Rajan Verma (Aarvy) · Answer

@valeryfenskaya Yup. sometimes I think I should stop lurking around articles and discussion forums. But those are also my source of learning and reason for anxiety at the same time. I feel down after reading so many achievements. Lol.

What motivates you to hustle with hurdles?

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