(Note: I woke up to 4 inches of snow on the ground this morning, so this post seems kind of appropriate.)
Think about this:
You’re in grade school. It’s recess time during the winter and you are gathering your friends to build the biggest snowball ever. The excitement is enormous as sugary-snack induced hyperactivity is rampant in your group of snowball making friends.
When you first start making the snowball, the group is huge and the ball is small. As it starts to grow, the going gets tougher, but as long as you keep the ball rolling, it will get bigger. It can be hard to roll a huge snowball around when you are so tiny, though! As the ball slowly gets bigger, the group helping you in your quest starts getting smaller. Short attention spans give way to the slow progress that comes with making the coolest snowball ever.
As the bell that signals the end of recess time approaches, you keep pushing forward. By now, you are the ONLY ONE left. You determined little bugger. You finally decide to show off your hard work, and start getting great reactions from friends. Your snowball rocks! It’s a huge, icy manifestation of your hard work.
What I’ve been writing about so far in this post is an illustration of the snowball effect. The illustration just happens to include an actual snowball, but it could be anything you want.
The basic idea of the snowball effect is this: Small actions performed over a (usually long) period of time add up to create something wonderful. If you can stick with it long enough, you have a very good shot at seeing the results you want.
In your efforts to become location independent and create your ultimate lifestyle, can this principle apply? It sure can.
One thing that I think about when it comes to the snowball effect is blog comments. Do they really matter that much? Are they worth the effort? I’ve read some stuff where productivity “experts” will say that blog commenting isn’t worth the effort it takes. I couldn’t disagree more. I get a lot of my traffic and subscribers from my hard work commenting. Sure, I’m only succeeding on a small scale, but this is why we love the ever-so-cool snowball effect. Small scale has the chance to become large scale if you keep at it.
One more thing that I think about in regards to the snowball effect is social media ROI. Probably the most debated concept in the area of social media marketing for businesses is how to measure ROI. This problem arises, I think, because social media is more of a return-on-effort than a return-on-investment. It costs virtually nothing to create an online presence, so this makes analysis kind of hard at times. BUT, remember our wicked cool snowball? Think about it here. Small actions (retweeting, commenting, blog posting, guest posting) add up over time. Before you know it you’re everywhere, and it shows.
With the snowball effect, your success might not always be easily measureable, but you will known when it’s real.
So how do you get through what Seth Godin calles “The Dip” without losing your mind? You just keep plugging along. Keep pushing that snowball.
Keep commenting on blogs, keep retweeing stuff, keep posting on your blog even though nobody seems to care about what you write. Make sure to find places and things that inspire you to keep pushing forward.
Don’t be like the kids that quit making the snowball at recess. Stick with your goals and reap the benefits that come with always moving forward.
MOMENTUM. That’s what it’s all about. Which way is your momentum going?
Build your snowball.
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
What I think is great is that we’re all building snowballs, and in the end we’re going to have one hell of a giant, caterpillar-like snowman. Great metaphor!
Keeping momentum is SO important. I can always feel it when I love my momentum, and it takes some time to get back into the swing of things. If you can keep it going, though, you’re gold.
Enjoy the snow! It’s been rainy here in BA, but it hasn’t been very fun…taxis don’t run in BA when it rains too hard, apparently.
Great post, Nate. I just wrote a post about something similar with the Japanese word “kaizen” (essentially meaning daily, incremental improvements have the ability to compound into exponential results).
I love the snowball metaphor because it’s so true. Most people seem to forget that before the snowball is big enough to build upon its own momentum, we need to give it that initial shove to get the ball rolling. I think that’s what we are doing now – just getting that ball rolling….
Paul
Great advice about social media. I have created an online presence for myself but frequently neglect to update it, which more or less defeats the purpose. Such little things can make a world of difference in the long run. Thanks.
Nice metaphorical post, Nate. To everyone reading this–keep plugging and chugging away!
Nate:)
Cool post man! Really dig it. I haven’t seen snow in ages, it doesn’t happen here in South Africa. I really miss it, I used to go skiing every yeas when I was little but haven’t gone for the last 6 years or so. Last time was in the middle of the dessert in Dubai ;) In the indoor slope inside Emirates mall.
I totally hear what you are saying about the little things seemsing a lot of work, but this is the momentum thin, Id say the first 12-24 months are the hardest with anything, and that is when lots of effort produce little results, until you reach a point and the results are exponential of the amount of effort put in.
I also keep doing the little things, keep it up, commenting, retweeting,stumbling, connecting with others and keep on writing. That is why it is so important to choose a blog that is about a topic you are passionate about and will keep on writing about even if you only have 5 readers:)
Cheers! :)
Hi Nate,
I have been thinking about the value of comments recently as well.
The best part of commenting is that it is a great way to connect with like-minded people like yourself. In that sense, commenting is essential.
However, when you look at blog celebrities, commenting on other blogs is not a particularly valuable use of their time. They can focus on higher value activities like conferences, ebooks, television interviews etc. because those activities will bring more traffic.
From what I see, the amount of comments you can afford to make is inversely proportional to the amount of money you are making. The people who make the most money, comment the least because it has a lower ROI than other promotional efforts.
For most businesses, commenting on blogs is probably not a good investment of staff resources. For an independent blogger with more free time than money, it probably makes more sense.
Really enjoyed this metaphor Nate! :-)
From what I have seen with blogging, you’re spot on. My stats are gradually growing, but like Diggy said if you are passionate about it, it really helps to keep you going.
Thanks for a great reminder
Jen
I am not into snow, but I can see where you are headed and it is so true. Not all steps need to be huge to make forward progress.
Also, there is a vast difference in blogging for your readers; your community FIRST and for your profit SECOND. Depends on your priorities.
Engage a readers mind and you will get a believer who will invest of themselves in what you are creating.
Pretty inspiring post Nate!
So inspiring, I decided to leave this comment. :-)
Sorry I couldn’t write anything more thoughtful, my focus has been in and out the past few months.
Ciao!
Cool analogy. What I,ve found though is that as you make the blogging snowball, more people tend to come to help over time. We are all helping push each others snowball.
Right on, Nate!
I gotta say, though, that I’m a little worried about how much effort and time must go into creating a meaningful social persona. Why? Well, because ultimately, the kind of success I want to have will eventually mean being away from my computer more often. But following this path–the one you wrote about and the one that I’m also on–requires spending more time at your computer and putting yourself everywhere on the Internet.
I don’t have a problem with that…for now, but in my lifestyle design, I want more freedom, not more obligations and requirements. Know what I mean?
Does anyone else fear this path?
Great analogy, and it applies in many aspects of life. Tack onto the list: education, money, blogging, health, etc. The accumulation of many small decisions results in a huge positive gain.
Hey Nate, awesome post! I couldn’t agree more about the snow ball effect, it really works that way.
Thanks so much for the comments everyone! I have the best readers in the world :-)
Excellent post.
The snowball effect can also be used to look at saving and compound interest. Much like a snowball at the top of a hill gets large exponentially as it rolls down so does savings and debt over the long term.
Very cool post – and check out the snowball of comments following it! Well done.
hey nate.
awwwwsome post :)
even if all the things you’re doing aren’t actually having major impact (good ol 80/20 and all that), every little thing you do reinforces a constructive overall mindset that MAKES everything you do work like magic.
just keep in mind that it doesn’t have to take long and be a gradual snowball thing. momentum is magic but duddn’t have to take long :)
awwwsomeness
alex – unleash reality