How do you promote a business that you are not passionate about?

[apexstrat]

Most conventional business wisdom says that when looking to start a business you should focus your efforts on areas in which you have experience or a particular interest / passion. But suppose you find yourself in a position where this isn't the case, perhaps you are working on a project for a client or you are picking up the reigns of the family business and you just can't get excited about it.

Another area this would apply is if you start a website and quickly realise that you don't know as much about the topic as you thought and your content ideas dry up!

Is the project doomed to fail? What can you do to overcome this and is this something that anyone has particular experience of?

 

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[Beau]

MJ covers this topic in "The Millionaire Fastlane ", and answers almost your exact question. Reading it should be a prerequisite to posting here.

Can you find passion in building something from the ground up, or making it much better than it was before? That's where I find the joy. Not in the product or service itself, but in the process of creating something nobody else has done before.

 

[apexstrat]

Thanks Beau. TMF is in the post so i'll hold off asking more questions until i've read it!

I guess you are right, it's possible to be motivated by the challenge rather than a interest in the subject matter, but I suspect this is less sustainable than having that underlying passion as people become more results oriented and less persistent?

 

[Entourage]

How will you inspire your clients if you're not inspired yourself? Can you tell us more about the business?

I have to promote other peoples businesses' on a daily basis, and I get inspired by simply listening to their story. Their struggles, their happy moments, etc ...

 

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[MakeItHappen]

Can you find passion in building something from the ground up, or making it much better than it was before? That's where I find the joy. Not in the product or service itself, but in the process of creating something nobody else has done before.

Yeah i agree with this 100%.
The best entrepreneurs are more passionate creating value and improving the world with there business than they are passionated about there product.

For me it's pretty simple... i LOVE TO WIN and i LOVE SUCCESS! I would rather own a successful business with a product that doesn't excite me than have a business that really excite me but there is no success because there is now market or whatsoever.
MJ talks about it in his book and imo he is dead on.

 

[The-J]

To quote andviv: "Boring makes money".

Good luck.

 

[apexstrat]

Thanks for all the responses guys.

I started a business selling imported jewelry in the UK. I had planned to sell mainly online due to better margins and less footwork involved, therefore i'm able to work on this alongside my day job. Shortly after I started by business partner moved away and i'm not sure whether to let the project wither and die (i've not spent a lot of money on it) or try and make a go of it. I'd like to drive more traffic to the site but am struggling for content ideas and don't really want to pay people to work on it.

I have to be honest and say that part of the reason that nothing is happening with this venture is simply because i'm not taking action, but i'm struggling to find motivation.

Is bad / irrelevant content better than no content!?

 

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[bflbob]

If people couldn't succeed at what they aren't inspired by, there would be no Proctologists.

 

[Beau]

If people couldn't succeed at what they aren't inspired by, there would be no Proctologists.

Thank God that's true. If I ever have to visit a proctologist, I'd hate to know with certainty that they became one because of a fetish.

 

[Carny]

Does your partner no longer want to be involved?

 

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[apexstrat]

Does your partner no longer want to be involved?

Partner no longer wants to be involved, he has started a new full time job.

I had an interesting chat with some friends about this last night and showed them the website. They have given me some candid feedback on what I could be doing better and recommended some shops that I should try and sell to. I'm certainly coming round to the idea that I should see this as a challenge and just try to get the job done (even if just to get rid of the stock that i've got).

Anybody have any feedback on the bad content better than no content conundrum?

Thanks again guys.

 

[andyredsox]

Try and go for it, you have to try hard if you want your business to improve, you have to take action. If you really want to continue that business of yours, you have to do everything you can to achieve that. Everything is useless, if you don't take action for that.

 

[Kak]

Most conventional business wisdom says that when looking to start a business you should focus your efforts on areas in which you have experience or a particular interest / passion. But suppose you find yourself in a position where this isn't the case, perhaps you are working on a project for a client or you are picking up the reigns of the family business and you just can't get excited about it.

Another area this would apply is if you start a website and quickly realise that you don't know as much about the topic as you thought and your content ideas dry up!

Is the project doomed to fail? What can you do to overcome this and is this something that anyone has particular experience of?

I have been going through this. I figured you want some realistic advice from the trenches.

Simply put. Dont waste your time if it isn't working out like you had hoped.

I have been working in an industry for 3 years and it has been profitable. The problem I am starting to uncover is that for the time I have put in I could have been much more profitable elsewhere.

It is one of those things you have to decide for yourself. In retrospect I wish I would have considered the opportunity cost of my time and will going forward. Not just something I thought was neat.

I have since started another company, hopefully there becomes no reason to pursue growth in my current company.

 

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[EastWind]

1) Figure out how and then You become passionate about it, then promote it.
2) You don't if you have conflicting values that can't have you passionate about it. ie. A catholic priest might have an issue promoting an aborting clinic. Everything in life is not worth doing if you can't derive joy from it.

 

[apexstrat]

you have to take action

I totally agree with this, regardless of whether I love the product or not, I can still be working on improving the website, link building etc. There is a lot I can do that should increase hits and conversion rate.

Dont waste your time if it isn't working out like you had hoped.

Thanks Kak, I think this is great advice. I was doing some sums the other day and I'm not sure that the scope for this project is huge. If I assume achievable monthly hits of 5000, CR of 1% = 50 sales per month. To make a decent sum of money I need to focus a lot more on the offline business, selling to shops who will promote the products for me and will hopefully give me lots of repeat business.

I am also planning on slashing the number of products I stock and focusing on a much smaller range. Much easier to promote and much easier to manage stock.

Is 5000 hits, 1% CR too conservative / unrealistic?

 

[Kak]

I don't know. I have done very little in internet business. My experience says though if you think you can get 1% CR you probably can't.

 

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[healthstatus]

Anybody have any feedback on the bad content better than no content conundrum?

Keep Your Mouth Shut And People Will Think You are Stupid; Open It And You Remove All Doubt.

Bad content is never better than no content, and good content is VERY easy to produce.

 

[apexstrat]

Bad content is never better than no content, and good content is VERY easy to produce.

I think that's settled then! I'm going to start talking to my suppliers and my target market to get some decent ideas for content and I'll ask them to read it before I post to make sure that it isn't total crap!

I actually had an awesome stroke of luck a couple of days ago, I've had an order by email for 15 units. I think that's a good enough message that i'm on the right track and has given me a boost to invest some more time in this.

I'm not seeing enough traffic at the moment to have a clear pic on the CR but does anyone else have any feedback on what is achievable / realistic?

 

[Bigguns50]

I am NOT passionate about the business I'm working on. In fact, I don't like the business at all. My motivation to do great lies in the reasons for what I want. I want more time to spend with my family, more money to care for my Mother and my Daughter entering College. It goes deeper but I hope you understand. Find deep emotional reasons to motivate you and push and drive until you get what you want.

 

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