What to Do When Nobody Is Watching Your Work
You made the thing.
You posted the thing.
And then...
12 views.
Two likes.
One of them might be your mom. 😂
There is a particular kind of disappointment that comes from putting something you care about into the world and hearing almost nothing back.
It can make you question the idea.
Your talent.
Whether you're growing.
Whether you should even bother making the next thing.
But here's something I wish every creator knew:
Being unseen and being unsuccessful are not the same thing.
Especially at the beginning.
First, some numbers
Let's put 12 views into perspective.
A recent Ahrefs study followed 1 million newly published web pages to see how many would reach Google's top 10 search results within a year.
Only 1.74% did.
Even when they narrowed the dataset to 2 million newly created pages with non-empty English content, only 6.11% reached the top 10 within their first year.
And among pages that did eventually reach Google's top 10, almost 73% of the pages currently ranking there were more than three years old at the time of the study.
So if you published something three weeks ago and the internet hasn't dramatically changed your life yet...
You're probably not behind.
You're early.
1. Separate the work from the response
This is hard.
But these are two completely different things:
Was the work good?
and
Did a lot of people see it?
A photograph can be beautiful and get 14 likes.
A brilliant video can get 83 views.
A thoughtful article can sit quietly on your website for months before the right person discovers it.
Reach tells you how far something travelled.
It doesn't automatically tell you how valuable it was.
Don't let one number answer two questions.
2. Look for the signal inside the small numbers
Let's say your video gets 100 views.
Our brains immediately compare that number to:
10,000.
100,000.
1 million.
And suddenly 100 looks like nothing.
But imagine putting 100 actual humans in your living room.
That's a lot of people.
Now ask better questions.
Did anyone save it?
Did someone watch until the end?
Did someone send it to a friend?
Did one person leave a thoughtful comment?
Did somebody click through to another thing you made?
Those are signals.
Pay attention to them.
3. Make your first 10 before judging your first one
Here's a rule I love:
Don't make one thing and ask the internet who you are.
Make ten.
If you're starting a YouTube channel, give yourself ten videos.
If you're developing your photography, create ten shoots.
If you're writing, publish ten articles.
If you're experimenting with short-form content, make ten versions.
Then look backwards.
You'll have actual evidence.
What did people respond to?
What did you enjoy making?
What became easier?
What would you never make again? 😂
One piece of content is an experiment.
Ten pieces start becoming information.
4. Turn 10 views into your laboratory
Having a small audience gives you something creators with millions of followers would probably pay good money to get back:
room to experiment quietly.
Change your editing.
Try the weird idea.
Use a completely different title.
Talk differently.
Photograph something unexpected.
Make something that might fail spectacularly.
Ten people are watching?
Perfect.
This is rehearsal with an audience.
Use it.
5. Make every post teach you one thing
If the only definition of success is:
Did this get a lot of views?
most of your early work is going to feel unsuccessful.
Give every piece another job.
Maybe this photograph teaches you lighting.
This video teaches you storytelling.
This article teaches you SEO.
This Reel teaches you how to make a stronger first three seconds.
This project teaches you what you never want to make again.
Now even something that reaches 20 people can move your creative life forward.
I call that a win.
6. Create things that can be discovered tomorrow
This changed how I think about posting.
Not everything has to succeed during its first 24 hours.
Some things can sit there.
Waiting.
An article can appear in someone's search months later.
A YouTube video can be discovered after you've published twenty more.
Someone can find one photograph, visit your profile and suddenly start exploring years of your work.
So alongside things that make sense today, create things that will still make sense six months from now.
Tutorials.
Stories.
Answers to questions people keep asking.
Resources worth saving.
Things someone might search for on a random Tuesday two years from now.
Build a body of work that can keep introducing you while you're somewhere else creating the next thing.
7. Give people somewhere to go next
Imagine someone finally discovers you.
Amazing.
Now what?
Don't make them start from zero.
If they loved one article, show them another.
If they found you through a photograph, let your profile tell them what else you create.
If they watched one video, make another video that naturally continues the idea.
Your work shouldn't exist as hundreds of tiny islands.
Connect it.
One person discovering one thing can become one person discovering ten things.
8. Remember the 1 → 10 → 100 → 1,000 rule
When the numbers start getting into your head, come back to this:
1 person: make something worth finding.
10 people: notice what resonates.
100 people: start recognizing patterns.
1,000 people: strengthen what works.
10,000 people: don't forget why you started.
You do not need to create for 10,000 people when ten are currently watching.
Create something so useful, interesting, funny, beautiful or human that one of those ten wants to come back.
Then do it again.
Save this for the quiet days
When nobody seems to be watching:
Don't disappear.
Create the next thing.
Study the last thing.
Improve one thing.
Experiment with something.
Connect your work.
Give people something worth finding later.
And keep going.
Because there is a strange thing about building anything on the internet:
For a while, it can look like absolutely nothing is happening.
Then somebody finds you.
Then somebody else does.
Then someone discovers something you made six months ago.
Then 10 becomes 100.
Then a stranger tells you they've been quietly following your work for a year.
And you realize something was happening the whole time.
You were building the body of work they eventually found.
Don't wait for an audience to become someone worth watching.
Become someone worth watching while nobody is watching.
The audience can catch up. ✨