Saturday, October 31, 2026
Launching into a creative enterprise is lonesome. When does an idea catch on? When does something go viral? When does a product sell like a hotcake? When do you start to gain attention? When does business pick up?
When you look and listen, “out there,” you hear crickets. Faint coyote calls and a wisp of wind. Tumbleweed.
As I reflect on my own life, I gave up everything to become a writer, a sharer of insight, and a speaker. Not a single fan, reader, or admirer has come. Crickets and tumbleweed.
There is so much giving and lonesome work before reaping has a prayer in hell. Radio silence feels endless. It feels like eternal pruning and cultivation. It feels like working underground with no headlamp. New products must be given away – free samples! New music is given away – free samples! New books, blogs, and services are given away or sold at a huge discount. Sowing takes far longer than the harvester expects, and often they give up. No produce to live on.
That’s how we grow strong roots – fondness grows in absence’s presence. The deeper the fond (which means foolishly optimistic), the more flow, the more readiness to be had. And you’ll have gained a strong foundation of insight and wherewithal for reaping. Not reaching.
Sometimes, success is just a young sprout, or an unseen root system. Celebrate the small greenery that wiggles its infancy from just under the soil’s top layer. In other times, harvest avalanches. This is rare. Don’t expect that.
The crying and pain are lonesome. Will my garden grow? Will my seed produce? Remember this: if you ever begin a creative enterprise, sowing is lonesome yet wholesome. No-one can see what you can “see.” That’s a far reach.
Is the mustard seed enough? No.
You must bury it and expect many lonesome, but wholesome nights of “digging in” for reaping.
Eventually, you begin to “dig it,” and enjoy your reaping inwardly.