The Tortoise Or The Hare?

I am sure we have all heard the story about the tortoise and the hare. If not let me give you a quick recap. The tortoise and the hare are in a race and the hare takes off like lightning but quickly tires out and the tortoise passes him and wins the race. The moral of the story is slow and steady will always win against something fast that quickly tires out.

The reason this story came to mind was because as web site owners we tend to want to be like the hare when we should really strive to be a tortoise. To me this seems to be very common in folks just starting out, a lot think they have the next million dollar idea and after a few months of being unsuccessful they give up. When in fact their idea maybe the next big thing but they didn’t plan or wait long enough in order to reach that goal.

As a prime example I have seen people work on a site for months and months and never launch. Or after they do finally launch don’t see the initial response they had hoped. Which would cause any of us to loose that drive. A better option may be to get started with something or really anything and then gradually build it up. By doing it slowly you can build your customer base and also receive feedback on what your customers like and dislikes. I can honestly say this is vital in my opinion and if I would have only considered my own ideas for 68 Classifieds then it would have never reached what it has. Customer feedback is one the easiest and best ways to find out what is needed and what isn’t.

What do you think? Is it better to be a tortoise or a hare?