This is was the original subject I wanted to publish when I thought to write about Dribbble. But it was better to tell my success story before to not misunderstood anything.

Like I said in my previous post, I’m a huge addicted to Dribbble, I’m trying several ways to succeed on that community getting new followers everyday. It’s really really hard, believe me.

But I’m not doing it in the correct way because is not working. The gap between me and successful designers (players) is HUGE.

I might not be a good designer after all. I have my problems like troubles with deadlines and that kind of stuff, but I always tried to maintain the highest quality on my work and improving everyday being more professional.

When I see the awesomeness work from designers like Trent Walton, Cameron Moll, Matthew Smith, Meagan Fisher, Tim Van Damme, and others called the “Stars”, I can’t avoid to think that I suck. No matter how hard I try, I suck.

They have 67% more followers than me, they post a shoot and automatically they get 30 likes and 10 comments in 5 minutes. And I’m always following they work as well.

What’s popular on Dribbble today? Certainly not me. 

To be popular on today you will have to design Icons, Illustrations, iPad/Phone UI, or what I found most unfair… to have already >2k followers.

So it’s always the same, the hidden popularity contest is always between the same people. It’s really hard to grow in this community. You will have to play smart.

Wait, I’m not saying that they don’t deserve that, not at all. In fact, they are my idols and I get a lot of inspiration from them. I’m just concern with what I have to do to reach that level of being that influent on the web and this particular community.

Ok, let’s ask them personally. I went to Dan Rubin, one of the “Stars” and asked him this simple question: What I need to achieve to succeed in this business?. He was very kind and he sent me back a great email with tips of how be like him. One of the tips was about to blog about my struggles, this is one, so here I am.

He also said that the gap only exists in my head:

“I’ve seen from you on Dribbble, I’d easily put your work on the same level as the Rogie Kings and Andrew Wilkinson of the world. Your shots appear next to people like Jason Santa Maria and Jesse-Bennett Chamberlain, with no inherent difference.”

I was VERY flattered to hear that from him. But there still a lot of work to do.

This is a game, and I’m playing. Maybe I’m not too smart, maybe my work is not good enough, but I’m playing and I won’t stop until shortening the gap.