☀️ [30DC] Day 2 » My first time…

The first time I stuck with 1 idea for 30 days was eye opening, but shouldn’t have been a surprise.

It was around 2006 and I’d just started getting my hands dirty with coding websites… back when the best option was to hand-code, long before WordPress gained steam.

I was doing a lot of brand and corporate design work, and found the easiest way to share files with my clients was via my own web server.

Today, we throw files up onto Dropbox or Google Drive, hit the “share” button, and grab a sharable link.

Back then, you needed FTP access to your server, and in my case, nerves of steel to trust that I wouldn’t break anything.

To ensure I wouldn’t have to give potentially damaging access to my clients, I built a mini website to manage how clients could view those files, download them, and also share files with me. It wasn’t too different to how printing companies used to get design agencies to send them large design files (the alternative was a burnt CD sent by courier). It basically looked like a one-page website with a a few buttons and forms on it.

One of my clients used the web tool, understood the (mild) technicalities behind it, really liked it, and asked what it would take for me to build them something similar.

Most of my other clients didn’t really take to the tool – some were still getting used to using email – so I said they could let me know what it needed for their specific use, and I could modify and sell them this one.

They made a high 4-figure offer I wasn’t expecting, provided I could deliver it by a certain date (roughly a month out).

My focus shifted entirely to getting that tool finished for them.

The critical difference for me at the time, was that I did have some client work that I juggled around it, but rather than put client work first and this project second (like I did with other side projects), I flipped it and gave this the full focus it needed… squeezing client work into the gaps.

Procrastination could SO EASILY have derailed me. Had I bumped it to “side-project-status”, there’s no way I would have finished it in time.

It wasn’t exactly 30 days but it was close, and long enough to feel the ache of having to drag myself to my desk to finish it.

• I really wanted to do it.
• I knew they wanted it.
• The payday was waiting.
• Everything was telling me to get it done.

But my brain was still able to find other things it thought I should do instead (queue one of my favourite Ted Talks on Procrastination – oh man the irony).

Battling that was a mission – one I’m not typically good at unless there’s a seriously strong motivator. I had a good payday waiting if I got it done (and even that almost didn’t get my brain firing!).

No task today, but something to think about:

👉 What’s the “payday” at the end of this for you?

What’s gonna keep you moving from just Day 2 here today, aaallllllll the way to Day 30?