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It's not you, it's business

by Hopeless Bromantic
7 replies
Do you get the feeling that you must be a failure because your business isn't booming? Or maybe you're just so frustrated that you're sure that you are missing a critical piece of the puzzle.

The reality is that preparing your offerings and launching a viable online business (or any other kind of business) is just plain hard. Making a profit from that business is many, many times harder. Even the planet's most brilliant and experienced entrepreneurs often can't pull it off.

As if that weren't enough, there is also no way to get masses of new customers overnight, no matter how big or small your business is. Not even a multi-billion dollar ad campaign can do that.

So if it seems like your business isn't making progress, stop wasting time trying to fix yourself, and focus your energies instead on fixing the problem. Analyze the problem and frame it logically. For example, if the conversion rate in your industry is 5%, don't try to completely revamp your strategy just because 19 people said no. Once you understand the problem, come up with as many solutions as you can brainstorm. (Just don't drop everything else while you do this. Your business still needs you.) If you're totally lost, find a mentor you can meet with every two weeks or so. Test and measure the results both before and after you try your solution.

Over time, two things happen. First, your ability to solve problems improves. Second, once your business is past its first stretch, its momentum improves. You will no longer just be putting hard work into your business; you'll be putting in effective work.
#business #problem solving #self-improvement
  • Profile picture of the author Auzan
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author Hopeless Bromantic
      Originally Posted by Auzan View Post

      Thanks for the great post.
      For me, if I think properly, i will act properly.
      ' Think right, do right the thing, get the right result'.
      That's why, whatever happen in our life, we must fix ourselves first.
      You're welcome. But remember, even though self-improvement will help you, it won't help the problems that your business has.

      Think of yourself as a doctor, and your business as the patient. Your job is to make the patient healthy and keep him healthy. When the patient is sick (or in other words, unprofitable), you have to diagnose the illness and find the treatment.
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      Bros find strictly platonic dudes on seekBromance.com
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      "It's pretty simple. You work hard, you believe anything is possible, and you try to make the world better."

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  • Profile picture of the author kellyyarnsbro
    Nice one i totally agree, there were times that i feel my business is a failure and me also when it isn't booming. Then i start to figure things out, brainstorming is one effective way and is one best tool for problem solving. Once you have good results it becomes addictive, then your problem solving skills improve.
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  • Profile picture of the author TimK06
    Wow Dave, Awesome post! I had to find this out the hard way I kept doing the same thing over and over again and wondering what's taking so long

    Not ever taking the time to think if you want a different result then maybe it would help to test different methods. I really enjoyed this post.

    Kind regards
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  • Profile picture of the author aliveder
    Whenever I earn a cent, I feel successful. I know that penny was earned through my hard work, at least I earned something today. Thankfully I am not earned pennies.

    Almost everything that you do in the beginning is hard, you are picking up new skills, learning new things, discovering qualities about yourself. If you do a good job though, things do begin to snowball. That is what happens in my businesses, that do not use any advertising. It is super slow, though slowly but surely I wake up to emails from facebook saying somebody liked my business page, and sales confirmations.

    People just have to keep chipping away, soon it will be second nature. I still laugh remembering how I was following a tutorial to set up a wordpress site years ago.
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    Don't Forget To Give Thanks to Those That Have Helped You!

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    • Profile picture of the author Kotkov
      I had smth like this years ago... long story how I ended up thinking other way...

      Do what you like and help people, work on your relationships and remember that you are wonderful... money will come... lots of money...
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    • Profile picture of the author Hopeless Bromantic
      Originally Posted by aliveder View Post

      Whenever I earn a cent, I feel successful. I know that penny was earned through my hard work, at least I earned something today. Thankfully I am not earned pennies.

      Almost everything that you do in the beginning is hard, you are picking up new skills, learning new things, discovering qualities about yourself. If you do a good job though, things do begin to snowball. That is what happens in my businesses, that do not use any advertising. It is super slow, though slowly but surely I wake up to emails from facebook saying somebody liked my business page, and sales confirmations.

      People just have to keep chipping away, soon it will be second nature. I still laugh remembering how I was following a tutorial to set up a wordpress site years ago.
      It's very true: no matter what your business is, there are things you will simply have to chip away at, bit by bit, to achieve your goals. But you still have to examine what you're working on and make sure that each chip is actually bringing you closer to your goal. There's no point in doing hard work every day if it brings you no benefit.
      Signature

      Bros find strictly platonic dudes on seekBromance.com
      _______________________________________________
      "It's pretty simple. You work hard, you believe anything is possible, and you try to make the world better."

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  • Profile picture of the author Kathy Bell
    There is definitely a learning curve when it comes to building an online business. There is no getting around that; you just have to go through it. But you can accelerate your learning through, for example, the guidance of a mentor. And then, as you say, it becomes much easier to work effectively as things become more second nature.
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