The Dip by Seth Godin (book review)

I had the great fortune to go to Seth Godin’s book kick off party for his new book The Dip at the Chicago Chamber of Commerce last week.

Yay short guys!

Andy Wibbels and Seth Godin

I’d always heard much about Seth’s recommendation for doing slide presentations with images only and wasn’t sure exactly what that would really look like. But seeing Seth’s presentation on his latest book, The Dip, and the related concepts of the book has me convinced. Now I’ve got a lot of work to do.

You could tell who was at the talk because they were Seth fans (relaxed casual, color) versus the usual Chicago Chamber gang (navy suits as far as the eye can see).

The Dip is what happens after the big success.

It is the escape velocity to superstardom.

It is the ritual hazing of academia.

It is passing the bar exam.

Getting your 2 top abs visible and then wanting to go for the whole six pack.

Memorizing a complete piano concerto.

Taking a microbrewery macro.

Dips are all around us. So are cliffs and cul-de-sacs.

You have an early kapow! and then have to figure out how to sustain the results.

You, um, write a book and am at times terrified of the big fat question What’s Next.

If you’re Jack Welch you drop all business units that are #4 in their segment and focus on what is working.

I think the best way to describe the Dip is you find yourself asking:

Thank God that bullshit’s over. Now what the hell do I do?!

Do you quit and risk being accused of doing a ‘cut and run’? Do you stick it out now matter how painful the cost of quitting and how difficult the uphill slog?

That’s it: the alternate title for this book should be The Slog.

Contrary to the Seth’s enthusiasm for Seinfeld this has nothing to do with double-dipping.

Or that awful rap song by Freak Nasty.

Our acting teacher, the crazier one that enjoyed emotional abuse in a classroom setting, would rail at us if we didn’t have our lines memorized. "You guys! This is the simple part that others don’t do. This is the grunt work of acting."

Every profession has grunt work.

I also call it doing your ‘due diligence.’ Dotting the I’s crossing the T’s. The crosses to bear and bears to cross and burning that bridge when you get to it. The grunt work is the dip – the stuff that not everybody is willing to do but those that stick to it and push through it and – as Seth recommends – lean into it come out the other side with more of everything.

Seth’s big point he hammers home page after page is Stop doing the stuff you’re just okay at. Focus on your greatness. People pay a premium for a superstar. People will pay for excellence.

The old adage Winners never quit and quitters never win is wrong. Winners quit doing the wrong things at the right time.

And yes, yes, yes we do reward mediocrity and probably maybe we should sterilize stupid people but still in a world of instant outsourcing and too many choices – how do you differentiate yourself?

This is the most personal of Seth’s books so far. It edges right up to the self-help section but keeps firmly grouded in the Business section. Your personal problems are your business problems and vice versa. Here he is being more direct and confrontational than he’s ever been. Can’t wait to see what he does next.

Grab The Dip today. It is a compact little firecracker of a book. As always Seth writes just enough – taking what is bubbling up and what is raining down and mixing it into a success flurry.

Andy’s Mindmap

I posted a mindmap last week in image format (click to download). I also made one that is browsable.

Want a free copy of The Dip?

I have four extra copies of The Dip.

And I’m giving them away to 4 random folks that tell me in the comments below:

What is YOUR biggest Dip?


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51 responses to “The Dip by Seth Godin (book review)”

  1. Andy Wibbels Avatar

    My biggest Dip is coming down off the past year with the Blogwild book being out and trying to figure out what is the long-term plan for the Blogwild brand…? How to I deepen and broaden knowing that eventually blogging might because a bit passe (or simply invisible integrated into everything else)? What do I really want to be doing with this visibility? Does everyone else feel like they never fully maxmimize every opportunity and is that just part of the human condition?
    p.s. I love that Seth calls The Dip a mind grenade. I am so using that soon.

  2. Wendy Piersall Avatar

    *Waves hand wildly in anticipation of being a book winner* 🙂
    My big dip came after my husband got sober. I had spent 8 years with him wishing he would stop drinking – then when he actually did, I didn’t know how to function in the relationship. For a while, it was worse than the horrible drinking binges and bouts of rage. And I really needed to become a better person holistically in order to really be present to the new husband that I never knew I had.
    It was definitely a ‘dip’ (a generous word for that time in our lives!!). But today we enjoy nearly a perfect marriage. Sure we have our moments – but we’ve probably fought as much in the last year as we did in the last two weeks of The Dip.
    What a great post, Andy – thanks! 🙂

  3. Jeff Fisher Avatar

    My biggest dip has come after creating a really useful website in British Columbia that helps the public find Counsellors (Canadian spelling) and other professionals. The site works well, but what next? Technology is every changing and sometimes I find that it’s hard to second guess what others will do that’s better than what I’ve accomplished with this project. I have ideas coming out the “ying yang” but finding another one that I feel like sticking with is the challenge for me now.

  4. David Krug Avatar

    My biggest dip was selling 100k+ in websites between October and April and then walking away from the industry.

  5. Jennifer Gniadecki Avatar

    Ok *exhale…inhale…relax* my big dip was the first time I went to a networking meeting and really had FUN without feeling like I was going to vomit. I was on point and perfect, I got home, got a client within 24 hours and was on cloud nine. I also have two other potential clients from that same meeting. Every event I go to I’m fabulous and people think I’m great.
    I’ve been asked to speak, I guest co-host numerous podcasts and other things of that nature…
    What the hell do I do with this? How do I take it to the next level? What IS the next level?
    Jen
    p.s. To answer your question, I feel I’m not maximizing opportunities every. single. day. It may be the most frustrating feeling in the world…it’s the anxiety opening act for the panic attack headliner.
    p.p.s. Any way I can get that book handed over in person? It would save on postage. Maybe instead of worrying about The Dip we should go to the Golden Nugget and pretend to be young and drunk.

  6. Pat Gundry Avatar

    My biggest dip came after the publication of my fifth book, The Zondervan Family Cookbook.
    It had received rave reviews, been a finalist for CBA’s Gold Medallion Award, and I’d been to the CBA trade show/convention, wearing my special Zondervan Family Cookbook apron, where people lined up along two sides of the convention hall for me to autograph a free copy of the book.
    It was the featured book on an episode of the cable TV show Cookin’ USA, and was even featured on its own full page color spread in the National Enquirer Magazine. I didn’t even know the Enquirer contained recipes until then.
    But, soon, even after a second printing, the bottom dropped out for the book. Its publishing house was sold twice in a few months, two publishers came and went at the publishing house, and my orphan book, brought out in November, the worst time of year for a gift book, was declared a backlist title in January by the new owners, who also refused to market it with their own cookbooks.
    The new publisher wasn’t interested in selling it, and told me I could buy some of the second printing “at a good price” because he was going to remainder it.
    He said, “We don’t know how to sell cookbooks, and yours is the only one we have.” I said I’d tell them how, that I’d studied it.
    No deal. So I bought all 6,000 copies that were left. Sold them, and reprinted it under my own newly created publishing venture, Suitcase Books.
    It has not been easy to market or sell, for several reasons, including the title, which carries the old publishing house’s name. (Try that one.) I’d like to place it with another publisher and change its name. Anybody interested?
    But, that beautiful book, so long in the making, and so well received, falling down to nothing because of what happened to it at the publishing house, that was my biggest dip.

  7. Chris Owen Avatar

    My biggest dip was last year. I’d been struggling to get a business off the ground, then I’d been carer for my mother in my home with her escalating dementia. No sooner did I get her settled in a nursing home than my knee “went” and i had a Total Knee Replacement. And just in case my body thought the pain was over, then my back became such an issue all i could do was lie around and think about my business. No action possible. For a driven “doer” that’s TORTURE!
    But my eventual recovery from surgery and back pain has seen a surge of energy and creativity. But i have to keep listening to my body because it’s not gonna let me get too carried away or I’ll be back in another dip. So my dip lessons were learned in pain and mainly flat on my back.
    I think my body did me a favour, but shh let’s not let on!

  8. Tom O'leary Avatar

    My biggest dip is after finishing a race like a marathon. A lot of time energy and preparation goes into that one morning and when it is all over I am lost. I’ve learnt to deal with this by being proactive. I know I will suffer the dip after the elation and so I get in early and set myself new challenges and exciting goals before I actually realise the old ones. I always try to have something waiting in the wings to inspire me so that my dips are lessened and I can go from strength to strength. It works for me anyway.
    Tom

  9. Kelly Parkinson Avatar

    I quit my job to start a business, expecting to slog away for at least 6 months before getting any real sustainable clients, expecting it might be a year before I actually might hope to support myself. Stocked up on rice and beans and buckled in for the long haul. Turns out, I was profitable in the first month, and at the end of the the second month I was making more than I did at my job. Dip. It’s hard to sober up and realize I need to focus on doing good work and not try to take my business in too many directions at once. (Too many ideas.) At the same time, now the tough decisions present themselves. There’s always something you should be quitting to make room for the good stuff. I hesitate to start burn away the dead stuff for fear the whole forest will burn down. Maybe the challenge now is not setting bigger goals, but figuring out what it is that I really want.

  10. Jeremy Weiss Avatar

    In 2003 I was running a business that generated mortgage leads. Then something happened. I have some ideas on what caused it, but don’t know for sure (my inexperience at managing a business played into it, I’m sure). What I do know was that within a two week period I went from $9K a month to out of business. Lost everything that wouldn’t fit into the U-Haul as I moved my family in with a relative.
    I spent the next three years asking what’s next, before attempting to build another business. Things are going better this time around. But, like Kelly said above, I need to trim off some things but I’m concerned that I might trim the wrong things.
    So, got any copies of that book left?

  11. Jean Cannon Avatar

    I am in the depths of my BIG dip! My book “It is easy being green: simple steps to help your business help the world” has been out 2 whole weeks. The eBook will also be available on my website in a few days. The website is up, my main websites are almost up both the overseas and Ausie sites go see http://www.enviro-action.com but be aware that the newsletters may not work yet (eek!) and my Aussie site http://www.enviroaction.com.au is up on the delelopers site but may be another few days. WOW. I Keep getting lovely letters thanking me for the book.
    I feel a mixture of euphoria and total exhaustion! I now have to slog up the other side and turn it all into sales. I have been the world’s best kept secret for too long and I neext to mobilize up the other side to fly into my real potential (I am trying to gee my self up here!)

  12. Jean Cannon Avatar

    YEEKs don’t look at that spelling. I know what I was trying to say!
    Jean

  13. Tracy Avatar

    I’m in a big dip! Last August I quit my good paying job in a field that is hard to get into, sold a beautiful home, talked my husband into moving across the continent to Hollywood to pursue my dream at age 50. Seemed to go great at first: got an agent, small parts in independent films. Then this spring it’s all dried up — not even an audition. A book I wrote has not sold a copy this year. My other books I’ve proposed have been co-opted by others. Oh, my. But in the meantime, I’ve been learning about marketing online and built a website for the first time, though I have absolutely no technical experience. Talk about another dip — got the website up, but taking the next steps seem daunting!
    Hard to face my spouse with the fact that my acting dream is over this fast! I’m pondering what to do next to make income, as not having any for nine months is very challenging in this expensive city, and there aren’t jobs in my field of expertise. I will have to do something I don’t like just to pay rent, which takes time from writing a new book I’m trying to get done. My hope is that I will have success online — that’s how I found your site Andy, as I’ve been exploring what’s out there. I’m at the point of quitting one dream, and let the next one take shape (as long as it’s profitable!)

  14. Corrie Ann Avatar
    Corrie Ann

    My big dip…wow. I worked 14 years at a major automotive organization, hoping to achieve that “dream position.” Last year it happened. I was on cloud nine. I could now contribute my coaching expertise and passion for career development, and make a real difference in the company. Blam! One year later, after traversing up a hill, creating a much needed workshop that would touch a large population, I’ve had a brick wall dropped in my lap. I plummet to the bottom of boredom. Now what? How do I spend my day, how am I suppose to use my skills/talents? What is expected of me in this new arena. Where is the next door? My next dip?

  15. Lyle Lachmuth - The Unsticking Coach Avatar

    My big Dip is going on now…
    quitting a reasonably lucrative contract position to focus on growing my coaching/consulting business focused on Genre Busters(TM).
    To find that growing that focus ain’t easy.
    To find that creative focus are great to work with and also a royal pain in the arse — difficulty focusing, carrying through, COMMITTING, etc. So, they contract you to do work and then bail after one session.
    To figure out how to make money from people who suffer from “Starving Artist Syndrome”.
    Or, maybe I should just quit… and deliver newspapers.
    LL

  16. Susan Avatar

    My biggest dip was the whole of 2006. Both my parents had passed away within 11 months of each other–mom suddenly and dad lingeringly. I was the executrix to my mom’s estate, the primary caretaker for my dad, was spending my time between my home in Virginia and my parent’s home in Pittsburgh, and doing my best to be integral with my clients.
    My dip ended up being a blessing in disguise–they always are. By paring down and focusing on what was really important to me, I discovered the true meaning of friendship, what it means to love and be loved, and how important it is to be deliberate in attracting my perfect clients.

  17. seth godin Avatar
    seth godin

    What a great review! Totally different take than most. Thanks, Andy. Much appreciated.
    Seth

  18. Bill Perry Avatar

    I was going to say “I want a free copy!!!”. but I doubt that would stand out from the rest. How do I make the “best” comment to get the book without knowing what future comments might outshine mine? So, I guess, “I want a free copy!!!”

  19. Mark Siegal Avatar
    Mark Siegal

    My biggest dip is about writing fiction. I’ve gotten better in recent years, writing and submitting more stories and successfully doing Nanowrimo three years running. But lately I’m struggling to write a novel that’s good enough to submit to agents and publishers. It’s time I either quit or push through this dip.

  20. aeriol Avatar

    Listening to The Dip, I got dome different angles on it than you did Andy. I got it as a slump that happens when you are at the end of something that isn’t working or when you pull yourself out of a culdesac and head in a new direction. There is a dip before you re-group.
    One dip I had that came after a success was a few years ago when I finished a house I had just rebuilt and done a stunning job on it… There was a big letdown after the job was all finished…yes a dip… it took several weeks to pull back up and move to the next thing.
    Best Aeriol.

  21. Cynthia Morris Avatar

    I love the idea of the dip – is that different than the plateau?
    My dip: I’ve been writing a novel since 1999. We could say that this iteration of it has been working its way out since 2002. Revision after revision, editing, editing, editing. November and December in a creative cocoon.
    Finally, it’s done and I sent my pitch materials to agents. Some nibbles, some no’s and the dawning realization that the crucial first pages are not grabbing the reader like they need to. (You have two seconds! First paragraph! First sentence! Has! to! be! Perfect!) No pressure.
    I’ve gone back to those first pages and am getting more editorial support.
    To survive the feedback burn and the pain of endless revisions, I’m going to Europe. Because I seem to enjoy the steep climb of the learning curve, I’m taking on podcasting and will send out Bisoux, Kisses from France, a 2-5 minute (daily, I hope) podcast. I’ll also continue blogging and will relax my writing mind with drawing and painting.
    Oh, and as much dips of gelato as I can take in.

  22. Cynthia Morris Avatar

    As many dips of gelato.

  23. Dave Clarke Avatar

    I was head of business development for a research group . The biz. dev. groups role was to commercialise research. First let me say I really loved the research guys. But that’s not the point! Initialy I worked with the director to try and identify commercialisable research from the department and find consultancy work to bring in new partners for the centre. This did work for a while, but as the potential deals got bigger the interest from the staff to do the work started to wane, sort of the inverse of a normal business. Nobody wanted to say it, but the guys really did not want to do any consultancy work that got in the way of their research. I decided that I could better spend my time working on something else, as it happens both the director and I left almost in the same week, he also felt the dip. It was a tough call but I still don’t regret it, and the academic team are still happy doing what they do best!

  24. Andy Wibbels Avatar

    Great stuff guys – keep ’em coming! I figure I’ll wait until maybe Friday @ noon to choose the book winners to give everyone an equal chance.

  25. Kat King Avatar
    Kat King

    Andy love.
    My dip came after a successful and exhaustive consultancy with one of the number one brands in the world. It’s usually at that time one considers parlaying all that toil and prestige into something more, into a book, a technique, a boutique agency — something glittering. And all I wanted was less. I was also conflicted and “shoulding” all over myself: I should be working on building this momentum, blah blah.
    I wound up going abroad several times, studying with shamans in Nepal, doing futurist Gestalt stuff in Greece. I felt like a very important part of me, of who I am, this song I’m singing was missing from my earlier ascent. Now there’s an under-addressed subject: soul-loss at work and the undernourished, partially present.
    So The Dip can be a return to holism, a time to reconfigure the hard drive of being.
    I’m waiting for Seth’s next book, THE SIP, which encourages everyone after dipping, and not knowing what to do next, to take a small amount of something that excites you, to savor and investigate, to make happy. The Sip.
    Ah…the pause that refreshes ; )
    Kat

  26. Jill Chongva Avatar

    My dip came in September of last year when the Doctor said the words “brain tumour”.
    I was feeling like I was at the top of my game in my biz – full roster of clients, kids were healthy and happy – and all of a sudden the rug was pulled out from under me and thrown out.
    I crashed hard. Lost long-term clients. Had to spend days literally in a ball in my cozy chair trying to work on the laptop and deal with the migraines, dizziness and kids.
    But that kick in the ass woke me up. I have changed my diet. The tumour is not cancerous (thank you Universe) but I have learned that dizziness can be a trip when you are sitting still, I know how to ask for help, and losing that major client forced me to re-evaluate what I do for a living.
    So onward and upward 😉
    Jill

  27. D. A. Tod Smith Avatar

    Ooh, Ooh (white stuff forming in the corners of my mouth – in German I think these kids are called “Schleimers” in school – not unlike the earlier responder waving her hand)!
    OK, I left ministry after 24 years…. just knew it was time. There had been an inevitability about it, but I kept fighting the urge, thinking I can make this work. But, one day, just “knew.” But, whether it was arrogance, or naivety, I hadn’t prepared a back up. Just thought I could find something. So, after six months of coaching/handyman stuff, I’m exhausted, broke, and preparing to move from the amazing NW to the sweltering MW where it’s cheaper to live.
    Still wanting to “coach” and developing a wedding business (see this web site: http://www.weddingpastorsusa.org and look for me in Iowa).
    Who knows what’s next.
    Thanks for the book – maybe?
    Dats

  28. barb elgin Avatar

    two dips to put out there – one is my own biz dip (or shall i say dipS)????? i’ve had several periods of up then down as i grow my ‘brand’ – Coach Sappho – and i believe i’m getting closer to the big thing each time i survive a dip.
    closely related is a dip i want all of you to contemplate – that ‘dip’ that happens AFTER a couple has their proverbially ‘honeymoon’ – that entre into the conflict phase – the phase a couple must ‘thrive’ through if they are to stay together happily. that dip preceeds true love and intimacy so you have to ‘slog through it’ if you ever hope to experience true love. remember that the next time the road gets tough.
    to wendy piersall – the woman with the husband in recovery who says her dip is learning to adjust to somewhat ‘scary’ changes his sobriety has brought into their relationship. i say to you – hang in there, if BOTH of you stick with it, it WILL keep getting better and better!!!
    interesting discussion – thanks for it, andy!!!

  29. Marie Merritt Avatar

    Ah, The Dip….much more preferable that the trough. The challenge is to bounce back after the dip to reach new heights rather than getting bogged down and spending the rest of your life in a rut of “woulda – shouda – couda’s”.
    I’ve experienced both in my life. Dips are challenging. Troughs are deadly. They lead right to the grave.
    I lost weight and got in great shape. Then when I reached my fitness goal, I took a break. I quit doing what got me to my goal and eventually slid right back to where I started. Now, I’m climbing that mountain again. It isn’t easy nor fun, but I know what the rewards are, and they are WORTH the effort.

  30. Andrea Williams Avatar

    After a six-year run of successfully starting and building an in-house agency to develop and produce collateral to support internal (newsletters, displays, brochures, rack cards, etc)and external (annual reports, advertising, magalogs, brochures, etc.) communications, last summer I quit my managerial position to return to self-employment to write and pursue my new love of coaching.
    The dip, for me, was choosing to leave the predictable, steady stream of accomplishment and recognition to follow my passions. I sold a house, , quit the job, relocated, and remarried within six months.
    This produced a high and truly wonderful set of new circumstances. But then came “dip” part II.
    After a bit of rest and the typical “down” time during the transition, I truly hit the big wall. I missed my jugggling, the press of constant deadlines, and the rush of delivering top-notch product on a regular basis.
    In addition, my husband sunk into a depression that impacted all of our communication. I doubted my talents. I felt isolated. I was unsure what to do from moment to moment, while at the same time overwhelmed by all that I could be doing.
    But then I realized what was driving me and all of these changes. I wanted to create compelling learning opportunities for myself and others. I wanted to gain clarity about and commitment to what I am most passionate about. Creating awareness, developing plans, and moving forward. I can’t tolerate stagnation.
    So, I’m on the upswing again, about to execute my 12-week coaching program for female boomers wanting a ton more fun and fulfillment out of life. I’m writing a book to support the program.
    And the biggest surprise of the past week (discovered during the stress of having my husband’s sister with us while waiting for space for her in an addiction treatment program… bring on the stress already!), is that I miss writing… truly writing for the rush *I* feel from connecting the dots of experience and melding myth and reality to create stories that impact others. Not to meet a deadline or to fill web pages, but to entertain and/to teach myself and others.
    The recurring “dips” in order to find myself back on the crest of new experience is more than worth it. Quitting what doesn’t work to find my next challenge and ongoing growth is the carrot.

  31. Jaunesk Avatar

    What would your friends and associates or rather what do you feel when you tell your MLM upline leader, “You can all all my groups, I quit!” You were passing up to him a groups that consist of 2 highest pin members, couple of second highest pin members and half of your state sale volume.You might think I am nut or crazy but when you came to a cross road of choosing between ethically run your business or succumb to their unethical practice, you have to make a choice.
    Well this phase best describe it, “Thank God that bullshit’s over. Now what the hell do I do?!” We left with heavy heat as many of our members are becoming good friends, some left shortly after we left.
    The last thing we heard after 8 years, the company had headed into financial difficulty and have to sell the business to a rival company.
    Now what the hell do we do? We (my wife and I) went on to invest in properties, she is good at it and also started her own small business and I still maintain my day job but working slowly but surely building up my Online Business.
    If the dip is the time to have a reflection of your life, stay there for a while and see how you can get out from there, sooner or later but don’t live in there. 😉

  32. Andrea Williams Avatar

    After a six-year run of successfully starting and building an in-house agency to develop and produce collateral to support internal (newsletters, displays, brochures, rack cards, etc)and external (annual reports, advertising, magalogs, brochures, etc.) communications, last summer I quit my managerial position to return to self-employment to write and pursue my new love of coaching.
    The dip, for me, was choosing to leave the predictable, steady stream of accomplishment and recognition to follow my passions. I sold a house, quit the job, relocated, and remarried within six months.
    This produced a high and truly wonderful set of new circumstances. But then came “dip” part II.
    After a bit of rest and the typical “down” time during the transition, I truly hit the big wall. I missed my jugggling, the press of constant deadlines, and the rush of delivering top-notch product on a regular basis.
    In addition, my husband sunk into a depression that impacted all of our communication. I doubted my talents. I felt isolated. I was unsure what to do from moment to moment, while at the same time overwhelmed by all that I could be doing.
    But then I realized what was driving me and all of these changes. I wanted to create compelling learning opportunities for myself and others. I wanted to gain clarity about and commitment to what I am most passionate about. Creating awareness, developing plans, and moving forward. I can’t tolerate stagnation.
    So, I’m on the upswing again, about to execute my 12-week coaching program for female boomers wanting a ton more fun and fulfillment out of life. I’m writing a book to support the program.
    And the biggest surprise of the past week (discovered during the stress of having my husband’s sister with us while waiting for space for her in an addiction treatment program… bring on the stress already!), is that I miss writing… truly writing for the rush *I* feel from connecting the dots of experience and melding myth and reality to create stories that impact others. Not to meet a deadline or to fill web pages, but to entertain and/to teach myself and others.
    The recurring “dips” in order to find myself back on the crest of new experience is more than worth it. Quitting what doesn’t work to find my next challenge and ongoing growth is the carrot.

  33. Andrew Joy Avatar

    My biggest dip came 25 years ago when doctors informed my ex-wife and I that our first born was severly handicapped. Prior to his birth I’d had all sorts of films running through my head as to what we would do together in the years to come. One short conversation shattered those dreams. However, he grew to become the BIG MASTER in my life teaching me about unconditional love, unconditional approval and unconditional acceptance. Today, he has out grown some of his autistic traits and gives one of the most beautiful and special hugs to all who are close to and support him.

  34. Steven White Avatar

    Andy, my biggest dip was when I transitioned from a 10 year mortgage career that covered 2 housing booms and 2 refinance frenzies into a financial services field. I saw the mortgage bust coming and at the same time got board with the industry.The transition period was not only an eye open it challenged me to focus on my future and,thus helping me form my practice to the needs wants and desires of my clients.

  35. Cheryl DeMarco Avatar

    I’m in the midst of a secondary dip. The first dip occurred a few years ago when I decided to take early retirement from my position as a prosecuting attorney. The negativity of the system and the people involved was bringing me down in a big way, and the decision to leave was logical but not so well thought out. I tried private practice for awhile and hated every minute of it, then stumbled on coaching. I took the training, followed by more and more training. Meanwhile, I was in a floundering second marriage and in the depth of depression at having “failed” at both love and career. Eventually I went back into criminal law. I figured I’d go back to the place where I fell off the tracks and see where they lead. After regaining my confidence, not to mention some income, I left the practice of law completely last month, and now I’m in the BIG DIP. I’m out there networking, have my face and articles in a county-wide newspaper, and am working on a business plan that includes coaching, speaking and lots of writing. It’s all happening in fits and starts, with the crumbling marriage coming to a pitiful end at the same time. I know great things are ahead for me, but right now I am living with lots of questions and not so many answers.

  36. Jeffrey Kishner Avatar

    I’ve reached a plateau with traffic and subscribers to my blog, and the “slog” is writing every weekday (despite the fact that I enjoy it) in the hope that the blog will become more profitable and that I will get business from it.

  37. Glenda Watson Hyatt Avatar

    I am currently in my biggest dip. After thirty years of dreaming, researching, planning, writing and editing, I self-published my autobiography I’ll Do It Myself in early December. Sales to friends and family were brisk; it was encouraging. In January I began a gruelling yet exciting virtual book tour and was building momentum in terms of exposure. Right after the tour ended, I was down with bronchitis for five weeks. I lost my momentum and am not sure how to jump start exposure and sales again. After all that work, it is heartbreaking and somewhat discouraging to see 5.5 of 7 boxes from the first print run still sitting in my living room. I’m seeking a way to get going again so that this great book gets into the hands of readers who need it.

  38. Jennifer Louden Avatar

    My biggest dip was after I was on Oprah — having worked so hard to get there and then having that unbelievably cliched moment afterwards: oh shit, this is it????
    It took years to translate that into real spiritual growth–that the ultimate it is right now, writing this.
    It’s all a process – which is the good news. Most days.
    P.S.
    Hi Andrea Williams who commented above – duh, of course you miss writing. Do I need to tell you how much you love to write???? Big hugs to you!

  39. Joan Schramm Avatar

    Wow — cool idea, Andy. Thanks for giving us a chance to weigh in.
    My biggest dip was a few years ago when my husband and I had a chance to buy what we thought was the perfect business down in Beaufort, NC. We were ready to go — quit the jobs, move, run the business and change our life completely. In my mind, I had already packed up the house, sent the movers on, and was heading south on I-95 with the dog in the car. We were within a day of going to NC to sign the papers when the seller called and said he had sold the business to someone else who had shown up with cash in hand. I was crushed — there went all my dreams (I thought). I slid into a depression that took therapy and those little pink pills to get through. Now I see that I had so much invested in that ONE thought, that the loss of it threw me overboard. I also know that, whatever I thought at the time, it clearly wasn’t the right opportunity for us otherwise it would have worked out. So I work on my coaching and keep an eye out for the right opportunity to come along.

  40. Ruth Russell-Stern Avatar

    My biggest dip is NOW as someone else said. I returned to school after being a mother/housewife and became a PH.D. psychologist for 26 years. I was exposed to coaching and fell in love! I was exposed to Positive Psychology and Authentic Happiness and fell in love! I quit psychotherapy and began working on a website and coaching. I can’t figure out how to persuade people that it’s a good thing to work to be as happy as they can be. BIG DIP. I am plodding along, will never give up and spending much moola on marketing. I’ll get it!

  41. Ellen Britt Avatar

    Wow Andy! This topic is hot…it’s great to be able to read about other people’s dips.
    Hmmmm…which Dip to pick? At midlife, they are numerous. Right now, we’ve had a great launch of our EveryDay Qi Wellness teleseminar series and I’m down in the Dip every day working to keep the momentum going.
    And I have learned from my other Dips that yes, God is truly in the details.
    Keep on dippin’!
    Ellen

  42. Angela Avatar

    I’ve had several dips in my life, but none as impactful as the recent one. I’m grateful to be able to say that I have been wildly successful as an EFT practitioner, author and online marketer, also teaching people how to do it, too.
    I did so great that I took the entire month of December off last year. When I got back in January, I couldn’t get my momentum back; I got sick in February; and March, April and May have sucked bigtime. It was as if my mind had gone through a seive and I just had no way to focus it – I scattered myself all over the map from creating 2 new stress books, three new websites, doing video illustrations and packaging design for someon else, and various telclasses on marketing, EFT and money. I felt so frustrated!
    But I had an awesome turnaround yesterday with a friend who does hand analysis (Beth Davis – chk her out), and what she told me effectively plopped me right back into my Real Self again as if I had only been off a notch and just needed a nudge.
    What she told me was that my purpose – well, part of it, I don’t need to say it all – was that I had a message to deliver.
    When she said that, she stopped, and the silence on the line was huge. My mind looked around, looked around, tried to find Some Great Message, and all I could find were these simple words: “I love you.” So I said to her, “if I have any message at all, it’s ‘I love you.’ ”
    When I said that, it was as if every last thing I had been struggling with fell into place under one enormus umbrella of that one simple line. Who needs more than that? I love you. Everything I do from now on will be based on htat. Feels really good, and this morning when I checked my stats I’d already made more in online sales while I slept than I had in the whole previous week. Something really has shifted! And I know that with the profuound sense of peace I feel that things can only get better.
    Thanks for this – I love your posts – you have gorrilla’s balls! Lucky you to meet Seth – his mind is Beyond Edge –
    aloha –
    Angela Treat Lyon

  43. Jennifer Gniadecki Avatar

    Aw man, now I know I won’t get a copy of the book. You know Seth Godin is going to win. This is totally fixed. (I’m trying so hard to keep a straight face…like you could see me laughing…I’m such a dork.)

  44. Janmaree Carmody Avatar
    Janmaree Carmody

    I am not sure if I’m in a dip. It’s very deep and the sides are very high. I would read your book and tell you if this is a dip.
    I moved from Australia to Bali 20 years ago and became a production agent with a US based company, overseeing their production for ladies clothing here. I became so frustrated with dealing with factories here I ended up opening my own and learning the garment business from the ground up.
    Everything came crashing down in the asian economic crisis…. I divorced my Indonesian husband at the same time and lost all my possessions… but I kept all the kids (five of them!)
    After wallowing for a time and feeling sorry for myself I have started a new business borrowing capital from a friend I purchased an embroidery machine and started a small sewing shop.
    I was dumb and desperate, made all the mistakes I now know I shouldn’t have made… my machine is too small and being the rolls royce of embroidery machines, too expensive to make enough money from doing coporate logos or piece work. There are much bigger machines out there.
    But I know I’m better than them! I decided to concentrate on quality, doing the designs and quality work that no one else could. I also want to sell my own product, embroidered bedding, kids pyjama’s and the like.
    No money to do it with… no way to get a loan as I’m a foreigner in a foreign land, I don’t even have a real legal right to work here! But I don’t know if I should or even could quit!
    Don’t think I can sell my business, not even the machine because it’s too small for what most people need here. I have land and a house that can’t be sold so easily either…. I have great staff, great idea’s…. ARRRRRGHHHH!!!!!!! I’m up to my neck in debt. everyone is relying on me….!
    Don’t know what to do…. want to keep trying but scared I’m doing the wrong thing. Want to quit, don’t know how and don’t have the resources to do that either!
    Is that a dip?

  45. Jeanne Avatar
    Jeanne

    Owning a deli for 3 years realizing how could I have quit my job to work with my Husband for 3 years and still current. With 4 children that need my attention more now than before. What was I thinking. Sometimes I want to quit but more I want to continue and succeed to the fullest and own something bigger and better. But sometimes I want to Quit!!!!

  46. Paul Morasse Avatar
    Paul Morasse

    My biggest dip is actually taking place right now. I moved to Montreal from Brazil and I found that this city is far from what I thought it would be in terms of career advancement. I’m faced with the option of making the best of it or moving to another city.
    I understand what Seth Godin wants us to get. The oriental concept of Yin and Yang tells us that what we see is only a part of it all. The other part is composed of certain aspects we don’t see. We got to get into it to notice the not-so-clear aspects and that’s no use in sticking to the outside appearence of it (or only to it). We gotta get going. The interaction of yin and yang must ideally generate movement.
    Thanks you folks for all the inputs.

  47. […] post more about Seth Godin’s little book “The Dip“. I came across this blog post here by a guy named Andy Wibbles that describes it really well and I wanted to share […]

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