6 challenges to building in public

I’ve been building in public for over a year now. And there are many many challenges I’ve discovered along the way. The truth is that build in public is not easy. Here are 6 challenges I’ve encountered personally & learned how to deal with from Kevon Cheung.

Six challenges for building in public

1. Loneliness. In the early days it often feels like you’re shouting & writing into the empty void. No one cares, no one listens. You have to push through it and persevere.

2. Imposter syndrome. You might not know whether you have the ability to do a good job in Building in Public. Maybe you’re not worthy. You think you’re not qualified. But everyone feels this way. You ARE qualified.

3. Motivation. It’s tough to stick through when there’s no immediate reward. Traction is hard to achieve, no help is in sight. So focus on small, achievable goals to make sure you keep going.

4. How do you measure success? Is it thousands of views and interactions? $$$? New signups or product feedback? Success is relative. Don’t compare yourself to the large accounts out there. Try and beat your personal best. Zooming out also helps!

5. It’s not about glory. It’s not about the likes. It’s about engaging and building your community. Change your idea of what success looks like to be more manageable and authentic.

6. Your idea won’t get stolen. Building in public risks others taking your best insights. Many worry about this. Don’t. Most ideas are never stolen, because execution is really hard. And if it is, that’s ok — you’ve already built up trust along the way with your audience.

What are the challenges to be aware of before building in public?

Those are 6 challenges I’ve encountered over the past year building in public.

1. Loneliness 
2. Imposter syndrome
3. Motivation 
4. Measuring success
5. Glory mindset
6. Copy cats 

Keep these aspects in mind when you build in public. Never be afraid to reach out for support.

These learnings are straight from an audio course by Kevon Cheung on Alpe Audio. You can follow along our own building in public journey here in our blog.