Success is easy.

Wake up today, do one thing every day for 10 years.

And then let’s catch up on where we all end up.

That sounds almost too simple. But the truth is becoming an “overnight success” can sometimes take about a decade to pull off.

I’ve been drawing daily quotes for about seven years now. Started with simple sketches. One color plus some gray. Posting them daily on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Nothing too fancy. Maybe they stopped the scroll a little? It’s hard to say.

But it was important, for me at least, to keep showing up day after day.

In fact, for many of my earlier quotes, I was counting the days we were home during the pandemic (made it to 500+ if you were wondering how high I counted).

Now, almost 6 years later (or 7 if you’re counting from when we started RedTale Communications), I’m getting to a place where I want to be. The work flows a bit differently. The opportunities come along more often. The confidence is growing.

When I show up to for a sketching event or post something online, it might appear as if everything came quickly. It didn’t.

It’s been a slow and steady climb from sketching enthusiast to visual professional.

If you’re somewhere in the middle or the beginning of your own decade, you know what the slow climb actually feels like.

It feels like one sketch, one day, one small improvement at a time.

The Evolution You Don’t See

Looking at my work from 2020…I see simple line drawings, one color plus gray, basic lettering. But you have to start somewhere.

Seven years later, the complexity is, well, more complex.

Multiple colors, layered compositions, confident line work.

To me, it’s really something and deeply moving looking at them together.

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One might see today’s work and assume it was always this way. In reality, there have been thousands of sketches in between. Along the way, for me at least, was a gradual shift from tentative to confident.

The slow evolution from amateur to professional.

People see the highlight reel at year 10. They don’t see the bloopers from years 1-9.

Every single day of practice has led up to this moment. Every sketch that felt “not good enough” was still part of getting better.

When You Finally Make It

The strange part about reaching your goals? There’s no parade.

No confetti bombs. No congratulatory phone calls. Just another Tuesday morning when you wake up, realize something has shifted and sit down to sketch some more.

The recognition comes quietly.

Maybe it’s booking a project at rates you used to dream about. Or creating something that flows effortlessly when it used to feel forced.

Or simply waking up excited about the work instead of dreading it.

Seven years in, I’m not “there” yet. Wherever “there” is.

But I’m definitely somewhere I didn’t imagine when I started. The daily practice has built something I couldn’t exactly see even while I was building it.

Patience + Persistence = Success

Not the flashy kind of success. The quiet kind. The kind that lets you sleep well at night while waking up excited to create something new.

Want to pick one thing and stick with it for a decade? Great! Don’t do it because it’s easy, but because it’s worth it.

Becoming an overnight success might take years. Why not start today?

Grateful you are here,

Wade

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