Tiny hardback books that cost more than $10 or so are a turn off to me.
However, I was on vacation and for some darn reason that stick figure on the cover of Seth Godin’s most recent book the dip
As the subtitle reads, The Dip is “a little book that teaches you when to quit and when to stick.”
As someone who preaches the virtues of goal setting, it’s rare that you’ll hear me say “quit”. However, there are times I do. Especially when I hear someone putting their life savings into some pyramid scheme or on a day trading venture. Telling them to quit is rendering good service. Blindly following some goals is a waste of time.
But sometimes knowing when or when not to quit is not so clear. The Dip promises to give clarity to these situations. The Dip can be defined as a “slump” or what appears to be moving backwards when you are trying to move forwards. In business you usually want to see an increase in your customers, money and rewards. What if there is no increase, but instead it stays the same? Or worse, decreases?
As I stood there in the bookstore reading the dust jacket, the dip’s message of how to recognize when your business or project are in the dip started to grab me. Because, my friends, I learned at that moment that I was in the dip. I began to think about the past 6 months. My business has been “plugging away” for the past couple years, however I’d say the last 6-8 months were uneventful. Not that sales were going down, but they weren’t going up either. I had hit a plateau and was smack dab in the middle of it.
So I decided to go ahead and buy a copy. Those familiar with Seth’s writing style won’t be surprised. He is a lively writer who is good at grabbing and holding attention. The chapters are good at getting to the heart of the problem. Someone who is in the dip naturally feels like giving up. It’s the way human nature is. You start a business and it’s fresh and fun. A year or two in and it’s not as fun – it’s a lot of work.
The book makes deciding whether to quit or stick it out simple. Not that I was considering quitting this blog or my business, I was certainly feeling sort of blah about it. But like him if it’s going to fail eventually, I want to fail sooner rather than later so I can go on to bigger and brighter things. After using his figurative calculations, I concluded that yep… I’m right there in the dip. The Dip is neither fun, nor pleasurable. In fact, it is quite the opposite.
Godin makes some great arguments for how the dip is necessary for success. He argues that the overwhelming majority of people quit in the dip. Those who work through the dip reach success the quitters never see.
Where I felt the book really shined was in his discussions of how to handle the dip. These parts rejuvenated me and gave me new hope.
I recommend it to anyone who is starting a business, has started a business but it’s floundering or anyone who likes small business books that are fun to read.
More information: the dip
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I’m not familiar with Godin, but at any rate his blog looks like it has some nice nuggets of information. I might have to look into the book eventually as well.
It’s worth subcribing to his blog. He always has something good to say.
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