Does Your Marketing Advice Smell of Desperation?

You know, maybe I should have started this as something more akin to an actual desperation thread, because then I might have gotten the answers I expected instead of good answers.

I'm thinking perhaps I weeded out the clueless by mentioning that this was a test, thus, only people that had a clue actually answered.

So, pat yourselves on the back because, unless I've overlooked it, I don't think anyone had a wrong answer.

The actual test here was one of scalability.

Too many people, I think, especially those with limited experience, believe in unlimited scalability. They too often become victims of math.

That is, if Bob has $50, he can buy ten domain names, set up ten websites, sell each for $45 and he earns his $400.

Likewise, Joe could buy 100 domain names with his $500, set up 100 websites, sell each for $45 and earn $4,000.

And so on up.

But, not everything is scalable like that. True, as the starting money increases, it's easier and perhaps more affordable to outsource a lot of the work, but the tough part becomes sales. It may be easier to sell ten websites in 3 months than it would be to sell 1,000 or even 10,000 websites, especially since, the more websites you build, the harder it is going to be to come up with unique ideas and not flood the market being your own competition.

So, what works to generate $400 may not be reasonably scalable to generate $40,000 or even $400,000.

And, as you start with more money, the more opportunities you have for putting that money to use. Someone with $50,000, for example, could spend $10,000 on a highly rated copywriter to craft a high-converting sales letter whereas someone with $500 or even $5,000 doesn't have that option.

A one-size-fits-all approach isn't a practical plan in a lot of cases. It's like, all I need to do to make a $100 is to sell one something for $100. So, to make $1,000, I just need to sell ten of those. How hard is that? If I could sell 100, that's $10,000. Easy, right? For $100,000, I just need to sell 1,000. That's about a dozen sales a day for three months. Can't be that hard. I'm almost a millionaire... All I need to do is sell 10,000 and I'm there! That's just 112 sales a day.

You could outsource and use affiliates and such, but typically, people who come up with those ideas, who are thinking in scalability in terms like that, aren't really thinking that far ahead. That is, let's say you've sold 100 widgets for $100. With $10,000 in your pocket, would you continue selling widgets for $100? Why not move up to $250 or $500 gadgets now that you have something to invest? Sell 100 gadgets for $250. Now, you have $25,000 in your pocket. Are you going to keep selling $250 gadgets?

Also, the more money you have, the more you can diversify. If you have $500 to invest, that can only go so far. If you have $50,000, you could try five different things at $10k each, or two at $25k each. You could even spend $1,000 here and there and $20k somewhere. You have more possibilities.

Of course, a lot of people that have never had more than $500 to spare aren't as likely to think of all the possibilities that $50,000 can offer them because they've never thought in such a scale except in their imaginations. So, they are likely to think along the lines of, well, if I can buy 50 things for $10 with $500, and sell them for $20 to double my money, I can buy 5,000 things for $10 with $50,000 and double my money!

And maybe they could. Or maybe it would be easier to buy 50 things for $1,000 and sell them for $2,000. Or develop an information product for $5,000, hire a copywriter for $10,000, build a website for $1,000, drop $10,000 into an advertising campaign, put the balance in the stock market and sell 500 copies (or more) at $200 a pop.

So, the thing is that each scenario shouldn't have the same answer. What works to generate $400 starting with $50 may not be practically scalable to generate $400,000 starting with $50,000.

Which, again, I think that everyone who responded, unless I missed a post, grasped that concept.

Unfortunately, I think that people that don't grasp that concept are too often advising people that need help from those that do grasp it.