Ryan Deiss does something I admire.
He takes complex business problems and wraps them in simple metaphors that stick in your head.
The half-built bridge is one that stuck with me.
A half-built bridge is worse than no bridge at all.
Because you spent the time. You spent the money. You did the work.
And you have nothing to show for it.
How many half-built bridges do you have?
A squeeze page that never got its opt-in form working.
A product that is 90% done but never made it to a marketplace.
A blog that was set up and never posted to.
A YouTube channel with a banner and zero videos.
Social posts that get replies you never answer.
Each one is a bridge that leads to nowhere. Your prospect wants to cross the bridge but falls into the river of “what could have been” because the bridge is not complete.
I have built more half-built bridges than I care to count.
The membership site that was almost ready. The product that just needed one more thing. The funnel that worked perfectly except for the one broken link at the end.
Here is the truth I have learned in 26 years of this.
We do not fail because we cannot start. We fail because we do not finish.
So how do you complete the bridge? Here are three ways.
Build one plank at a time.
The reason bridges stall is that "finished" feels overwhelming. So stop thinking about the bridge. Think about the next plank.
One blog post. One working button. One reply to one comment.
The bridge gets built plank by plank, and before you know it, people are walking across.
Fix the missing plank first.
What is the ONE broken piece that makes your bridge unusable? Find it and fix it.
If your opt-in form does not work, that is the only thing that matters today. If your sales page has no buy button, nothing else on that page matters until the button exists.
A bridge with one missing plank is still a broken bridge.
Cross with a guide.
The fastest way to finish a bridge is to work beside someone who has built one before.
A guide can see the missing plank you have been staring at for weeks. A guide knows which wood to use and which will rot. A guide has stood exactly where you are standing and made it to the other side.
That is why I joined my first mastermind years ago. And why I run one today.
Because half-built bridges are lonely places.
And the other side is closer than it looks.
If you are standing on a half-built bridge right now, reply and tell me what you are trying to finish. I read every reply and I can almost always help.
Because completing a project - especially one that can make you money - is a beautiful thing indeed.
Charlie
P.S. If you want a guide to help you finish your bridge, Master Membership is exactly that. Someone in your corner until you get to the other side.