Understanding The Dip
There is no smooth path to success. Even entrepreneurs or startups that have massive early success have usually laid the groundwork beforehand and built the relationships they needed.
I’ve been thinking about this recently as I build Macho Republic and continue supporting founders in my day-to-day work. The dip is something we all face, whatever the endeavour. It usually comes after we’ve already put in a lot of work, when progress slows and the excitement starts to wear off.
This is when people start questioning whether any of it is going to work.
You’ve probably heard that it takes ten years to become an overnight success. That obviously isn’t true for everyone, but most things take much longer than you expect.
I tend to think there’s a period where you have to prove to yourself, and possibly to other people, that you really want to do this. Are you prepared to put in the months or years of work and learning needed to build what you want to build?
And just as importantly, are you prepared to build the emotional capital your potential customers need before they trust you?
Anyone who has read The Alchemist will remember the idea that when you really want something, the universe conspires to help you. Whether you see that as divine intervention, luck, or simply what happens when you stay in the game long enough, persistence matters.
But that raises another question: is there ever a good time to quit?
Seth Godin has written about this, and there are three useful questions to ask when you’re tempted to walk away:
- Am I panicking?
- Who am I trying to convince?
- Am I making measurable progress?
You might still decide to quit tomorrow or next week. But quitting while you’re panicking means making a big decision at the exact moment your judgment is probably at its worst.
It’s rarely a good idea to make that kind of decision from a place of fatigue or despair, even though we all go through those moments. You can wait it out. You can speak to someone you trust. But give the panic time to pass before you make the call.
It’s also worth asking who you’re trying to convince.
If you’re trying to convince one person, persistence has a limit. Maybe it’s your boss, a customer, an investor, or someone you want to work with. At some point, they have enough information to make up their mind. Asking for the tenth time probably won’t change much.
A market is different.
A market is made up of lots of people, and most of them probably haven’t heard of you yet. Ten people saying no doesn’t necessarily tell you what the next hundred will say.
So before you quit, ask yourself whether the opportunity has stopped working or whether you’ve simply been talking to the same people for too long.
Finally, you don’t need huge progress. You need some evidence that what you’re doing is moving somewhere.
Maybe you’re getting better. More people are responding. Revenue is growing slowly. Your work is improving. You’re learning what works.
If you can measure progress, even small progress, there may still be a reason to keep going.
The dip is real. Most worthwhile things seem to have one.
Before you quit, ask yourself those three questions. You may still decide that walking away is the right decision. But if you’re making progress, your judgment is clear, and there are still people you haven’t reached, it may simply be too early to stop.