Rework jason fried

The myth of the overnight sensation 
 
You will not be a big hit right away. You will not get rich quick. You are not so 
special that everyone else will instantly pay attention. No one cares about you. At least 
not yet. Get used to it. 
 
You know those overnight-success stories you've heard about? It's not the whole 
story. Dig deeper and you'll usually find people who have busted their asses for years to 
get into a position where things could take off. And on the rare occasion that instant 
success does come along, it usually doesn't last--there's no foundation there to support it. 
 
Trade the dream of overnight success for slow, measured growth. It's hard, but 
you have to be patient. You have to grind it out. You have to do it for a long time before 
the right people notice. 
 
You may think you can speed up the process by hiring a PR firm. Don't bother. 
You're just not ready for that yet. For one thing, it's too expensive. Good PR firms can 
cost upward of $10,000 per month. That's a waste of money right now. 
 
Plus, you're still just a no-name with a product no one's ever heard about. Who's 
going to write about that? Once you have some customers and a history, you'll have a 

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story to tell. But just launching isn't a good story. 
 
And remember, great brands launch without PR campaigns all the time. 
Starbucks, Apple, Nike, Amazon, Google, and Snapple all became great brands over 
time, not because of a big PR push upfront. 
 
Start building your audience today. Start getting people interested in what you 
have to say. And then keep at it. In a few years, you too will get to chuckle when people 
discuss your "overnight" success.*Pilar Viladas, "The Talk: The Slow Lane," New York 
Times Magazine, Oct. 9, 2005, www.tinyurl.com/ychqtup