Two weeks ago, an unknown user signed up for Signal, my AI-powered coaching product, and by unknown, I mean I didn’t know this person or recognize their name. They must have found Signal through my paid ads on YouTube or Instagram.
During their free trial, they exchanged 954 messages with the platform over fourteen days.
I had to reload my Twilio account three times during this period to account for the volume of messages. This user cost me $35.
When their free trial ended, they canceled, citing a lack of need for the product.
My first reaction was to flip out and be super pissed off about it.
My actual reaction was one of gratefulness.
Get Scott’s article every morning
No spam. Just straight-talk career advice, every day.
The Signal product is designed to be a 24/7 SMS service you can use to interact and exchange messages, hold yourself accountable, check in on your goals, brainstorm, and much more. On average, I assume most users will exchange four or five messages per day, probably five days per week. So let’s assume the average user exchanges about 80 to 100 messages in a month. This user exchanged 954 in half that time, and there is no message limit.
I am so happy they did. I learned more from them in this period of time than I ever could have imagined.
From the day they signed up until the day their free trial ended, I shipped two dozen improvements to the product simply because their consistent messaging showed me where the product failed, where it worked, and where I could improve it for future subscribers.
It would be easy to be frustrated at this free trial experience, but without them, I would still be two dozen improvements behind.
Sometimes, you learn more from the perceived moments of failure than you ever learn from the successes.
A lot of people quit right before the lesson reveals itself. They encounter resistance, a setback, a rejection, or a result that didn’t match their expectations, then immediately label the experience a failure. What they fail to realize is that feedback is often disguised as disappointment.
“Feedback is often disguised as disappointment.”
If that user had signed up, exchanged twenty messages, subscribed for a year, and never challenged the product, I probably would have made less progress. Instead, they stress-tested the system in ways I never could have imagined. Every question they asked exposed an opportunity. Every limitation they found became a roadmap for improvement.
The irony is that success often hides weaknesses while failure shines a spotlight directly on them. Success has a way of convincing you that everything is working perfectly. Failure forces you to pay attention. Failure asks harder questions. Failure demands that you get better.
Looking back on my career, many of the moments I was most frustrated by ended up becoming the moments I am most grateful for. Jobs I didn’t get led me to opportunities I never would have pursued. Mistakes I made taught me lessons that still serve me years later. Short-term disappointment often creates long-term growth.
The challenge is having enough perspective to recognize that while you’re living through it. Sometimes the thing you think is costing you money, time, or progress is actually giving you an education you couldn’t have purchased at any price. When that happens, gratitude becomes a much more useful response than frustration.