Photo: Stocksy

Margit’s Note: It’s a Flop!

It’s really hard running a website. No, it ain’t brain surgery, as a favorite colleague used to remind me at AOL (no comment). But even for someone who has a gazillion years experience running editorial teams for dot coms, there are days when you want to hit the big red “delete all posts NOW” button.

It’s especially hard when it’s your baby. Your own creation. Your side gig. Your passion project. Your potential business. Your “Hey!! Look over here! Don’t you want to pay me to do this? You know you do.” Wink wink. Hip flick.

Google Analytics tells you no one liked that “PETS” issue, you’re on your sixth Art Director (because your vision, their vision and your micro-manage-y approach has led to you making Picmonkey art at the last minute…more than once) and three people have unsubscribed from your newsletter. I speak theoretically, of course.

The grind of a weekly publication is no joke.

But then, the next sunshine-y day, you get a traffic bonanza for a meaningful essay, 50 people attend your live event and one woman tells you it’s “exactly what she needs during a depressing political climate for women” (and two people subscribe to your newsletter).

Two steps forward, one step back. Is it a fail? A win? Does it matter if we’re all having fun here?

This week, we’re talking about fails. Big ones. Life-changing ones. Crap in your pants ones. How we survived them, wrestled them into a win or a “best thing that ever happened to me!”…or we didn’t. As women 40+, we know from failure.

But I’m also curious about the fails that are less black and white—less splat, blurgh, in-your-face ugly.

Sometimes, we don’t even know when we’re failing. Am I doing this right? Am I lying to myself? Is anyone reading this? Does anyone care? Do I care?

Failure is some equation of risk, time and perspective. When we’re in it, we can’t really gauge it. It’s only years later that we can chalk it up to the natural course of our life. And, almost always, we’re better off for the fail.

This Week:

TueNight Live TONIGHT!

If you get this in enough time to go buy your ticket, we have a few spots left to see this issue LIVE featuring Stacy London, Lynn Harris, Judy McGuire as well as live-only readers Ashlie Atkinson, Jane Condon and Stephanie McRae. Buy your ticket here.

Tomorrow is a Day Without Women

Finally, a note about a fail of a different sort — when women aren’t in the picture. Tomorrow, March 8, International Women’s Day will also be “A Day Without a Woman,” when many of us will not work, go on strike, avoid shopping (or only shop at small, local businesses) or wear red — in an effort to show what the economy might look like without us. For more information, find your way here.

Unfailingly yours,

Margit

Photo: Stocksy

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