I failed - On to the Next One

[Zulu]

I decided to stop my business last week. A business I should never even have started.
​

Sun Tzu— 'Every battle is won before it's ever fought.'​

Sometimes the battle is lost before it is ever fought. I lost my battle well before I started trying to sell security cameras. I lost my battle when I decided to be a ‘me too’ business. I read biophase’s ecommerce thread and thought ‘If he’s doing it, I could do it.’ Started doing my research…saw that security cameras had 40,500 exact monthly searches. ‘If I could get to number 1 I’d be rich!’ Famous last words – check the similarity to: “If I can only get x percent of the xyz market, I’ll be a billionaire!!!”?

So I started the website. You can check it out if it’s still up: southerncircuits.com . Since last year June I’ve been trying to rank in google. I’ve also scrambled back and forth between doing PPC/FB Marketing and forum posting. I have made zero completed sales. One guy bought a product..but it turned out the company had just closed down, so I had to refund the order.

All in all I blew about five thousand USD trying to get this to #1 and or get some sales through FB/Adwords[and having the site made – should have just used a standard template].

When I look at it now, I violated a lot of CENTS.

Need – with the number of camera suppliers in operation, there was no excess demand to be filled. And I didn’t have an original product/service/sales process, so why would I be able to better fulfill someone’s needs than my competitors?

Entry – basically anyone that could contact drop shippers and pay for a bigcommerce store front could be in the market.

Control – I really relied on google too much in the beginning. I had to change the domain name because of a penalty I got, and getting traffic was hell. I also didn’t have control over the product itself – as evidenced by the drop shipper not having any stock because the manufacturer closed down.

I realized last week how futile it was after trying FB ads for a couple weeks. Forum posting for sales is not a viable method of business.

So I decided to stop. To stop and come up with something that satisfies a need in a market. I’ve started making calls to businesses in industries I’m interested in. Asking them about problems they have. [Following MTF’s model].

I still have some cash – thank god I didn’t run it down to zero and go out with the ship. And I might be able to salvage some more by selling the private blog network I created and the site templates to some camera retailers here in Jamaica.

There are a lot of small take-aways for my, but the big takeaway is, follow CENTS as much as possible, and avoid trying to be a ‘me too’ business.

My biggest regret is honestly the 6 months I've wasted. Money I can get back, time..not so much.

There's no time to mope around though - it's time to solve some peoples problems.​

 

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[SteveO]

You traded time for knowledge. That is a positive.

 

[Zulu]

You traded time for knowledge. That is a positive.

Knowledge that I will be putting to good use brother.

 

[SteveO]

One more thing. Remove the word "failure" from your vocabulary when it comes to anything that has to do with your experiences. Even the framing of the idea should not be thought of. You mentioned plenty of items that you learned through the process. That is all you need to focus on.

 

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[Genium]

You understand what you did wrong and that's key. You learned. Gained knowledge. So it's not a failure, just a cost of getting closer to success I think

I also feel like I have made the same mistakes that you did, starting my first product business. It's all about taking what you (and I) have learned and getting up off the mat and trying again with a clearer focus on what has to be done. Can't wait to see whats next!

 

[100k]

Loving the attitude!

Scratch that idea off the list, on to the next one - make sure you follow the fastlane principles this time!

Go get em! By the way, KICK a$$ SITE!

Looks really nice and sleek - I'm sure you would have gotten sales if you had ranked in Google. If you have nothing to lose with the project then make a JV thread on BHW (blackhatworld.com) and partner up with one of those SEO geeks and split everything 50/50..... he ranks it, make some $$$ for 3 months then flip it and move on (this way you will at least get a good chunk of your investment back).

 

[Bandy]

“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”

Thomas Edison, inventor of the lightbulb

 

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[bensonj]

Been there - got a few t-shirts to prove it…

You are aware and now you are moving forward.

I firmly believe that all of my mis-fires contributed to every bit of the success I'm experiencing today.

You'll look back and say - thank God it only took 6 months. One of mine took 2 years!

$$RepTransferred

 

[D11FYY]

You have tried and learned..

Did you never try making a packaged deal , learning basic installation and going out offering them to homes and small business's? I know it wouldn't be much that you would be making but Id rather still have something coming in that than depending solely on the internet.
If the business got going you could have even charged so many dollars for yearly maintenance and it could have spread through word-of-mouth if your package was cheap enough and your business and self seemed reputable. Everyone wants to be secure these days still keep your eyes and heart open my friend for your new venture

 

[BaladOfARichMan]

 

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[Zulu]

You are aware and now you are moving forward.
I firmly believe that all of my mis-fires contributed to every bit of the success I'm experiencing today.
You'll look back and say - thank God it only took 6 months. One of mine took 2 years!

Well, I hope to be able to say the same a year from now! Thanks for the kind words and rep, much appreciated.

You have tried and learned..
Did you never try making a packaged deal , learning basic installation and going out offering them to homes and small business's? I know it wouldn't be much that you would be making but Id rather still have something coming in that than depending solely on the internet.
If the business got going you could have even charged so many dollars for yearly maintenance and it could have spread through word-of-mouth if your package was cheap enough and your business and self seemed reputable. Everyone wants to be secure these days still keep your eyes and heart open my friend for your new venture

I had basically gotten blinded by the efficiency of SEO and the tone of customers that was going to be right around the corner. At one point to have some income coming in I decided to sell the cameras here, but the duty was prohibitive[the people currently selling, get around the duty by various means], so I doubled down on IM. In retrospect the cleanest way to have validated/disproven the idea and save myself a good amount of time/money would have been to do a 14 day free trail with BC, put up some images, buy some FB/Adwords traffic[targeted] and see if anyone came close to converting/just see how costly it would be to buy traffic/test my conversion rates. But, you live and you learn, I'm sure this experience will help me going forward.

 

[Andrew C]

I understand where you are coming from man.
It takes a lot of guts to avoid the temptation of "throwing good money after bad" and trying to keep a business venture alive with more cash out of your pocket when you recognize the market isn't responding the way you like.
Sounds like a great "learning experience", I don't see any failure here at all.

When I look at it now, I violated a lot of CENTS.

MJ's concept of CENTS has caused me to kill several "great ideas" I was putting together.
In the end, they all were all about chasing money or a trend and not really addressing the needs of the market and adding real value.

So I decided to stop. To stop and come up with something that satisfies a need in a market. I’ve started making calls to businesses in industries I’m interested in. Asking them about problems they have. [Following MTF’s model].

Brother, it sounds like a major victory has already been won.
Continued success to you.

 

[Andrew C]

Also,

If you have nothing to lose with the project then make a JV thread on BHW (blackhatworld.com) and partner up with one of those SEO geeks and split everything 50/50..... he ranks it, make some $$$ for 3 months then flip it and move on (this way you will at least get a good chunk of your investment back).

This actually doesn't sound like a bad idea.
I have seen sites on Flippa.com sell with much less content than what you have.
The difference is that they often had better keyword-rich domains and they ALWAYS have traffic and revenue stats.

But as D11FY suggested, you may be able to find someone who will partner to get the site ranked so you can have organic traffic stats.

Since you have moved on from the business, it wouldn't make a lot of sense to pour all of your time into this anymore.
But if you can hand off the SEO to someone else while you work on another venture, you wouldn't really lose anything.

There may be another distributor/affiliate in that niche who would want the site as well, since there are new distributors/affiliates signing up every day for that business.

Maybe you can sell it to them.

Just some ideas on re-capturing your investment, but I have spent a ton of time trying to recoup lost money on business ventures in the past, and sometimes the best thing is to just move on.

Again, continued success!

 

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[biophase]

The website looks great. What was the issue that you were having with sales? What was your traffic like? I don't like the domain name. Were you dropshipping everything? I think you were missing a couple of big brand names and certain types of cameras. PM me if you don't want to disclose any of this info.

 

[chrisbiz4444]

I decided to stop my business last week. A business I should never even have started.
​

Sun Tzu— 'Every battle is won before it's ever fought.'​

Sometimes the battle is lost before it is ever fought. I lost my battle well before I started trying to sell security cameras. I lost my battle when I decided to be a ‘me too’ business. I read biophase’s ecommerce thread and thought ‘If he’s doing it, I could do it.’ Started doing my research…saw that security cameras had 40,500 exact monthly searches. ‘If I could get to number 1 I’d be rich!’ Famous last words – check the similarity to: “If I can only get x percent of the xyz market, I’ll be a billionaire!!!”?

So I started the website. You can check it out if it’s still up: southerncircuits.com . Since last year June I’ve been trying to rank in google. I’ve also scrambled back and forth between doing PPC/FB Marketing and forum posting. I have made zero completed sales. One guy bought a product..but it turned out the company had just closed down, so I had to refund the order.

All in all I blew about five thousand USD trying to get this to #1 and or get some sales through FB/Adwords[and having the site made – should have just used a standard template].

When I look at it now, I violated a lot of CENTS.

Need – with the number of camera suppliers in operation, there was no excess demand to be filled. And I didn’t have an original product/service/sales process, so why would I be able to better fulfill someone’s needs than my competitors?

Entry – basically anyone that could contact drop shippers and pay for a bigcommerce store front could be in the market.

Control – I really relied on google too much in the beginning. I had to change the domain name because of a penalty I got, and getting traffic was hell. I also didn’t have control over the product itself – as evidenced by the drop shipper not having any stock because the manufacturer closed down.

I realized last week how futile it was after trying FB ads for a couple weeks. Forum posting for sales is not a viable method of business.

So I decided to stop. To stop and come up with something that satisfies a need in a market. I’ve started making calls to businesses in industries I’m interested in. Asking them about problems they have. [Following MTF’s model].

I still have some cash – thank god I didn’t run it down to zero and go out with the ship. And I might be able to salvage some more by selling the private blog network I created and the site templates to some camera retailers here in Jamaica.

There are a lot of small take-aways for my, but the big takeaway is, follow CENTS as much as possible, and avoid trying to be a ‘me too’ business.

My biggest regret is honestly the 6 months I've wasted. Money I can get back, time..not so much.

There's no time to mope around though - it's time to solve some peoples problems.​

Your site came out great. Did you hire someone to build it? Also what was your cost to have it built before all the seo expenses ?

 

[Zulu]

Your site came out great. Did you hire someone to build it? Also what was your cost to have it built before all the seo expenses ?

Cost about $1,500 - in retrospect it was unnecessary - the standard template would have been fine until it wasn't.

The website looks great. What was the issue that you were having with sales? What was your traffic like? I don't like the domain name. Were you dropshipping everything? I think you were missing a couple of big brand names and certain types of cameras. PM me if you don't want to disclose any of this info.

The traffic was poor for a time because I was trying to do SEO exclusively. Then I messed up with a private blog network around September and had to change the site - it was originally called securitycamerascenter.com . I rebuilt a blog network but it was taking so long I decided to start doing ppc[4 months in and no sales]. Eventually I get a customer...that I end up having to refund because my drop shipper didn't carry the product anymore. I was exclusively drop shipping. Wen I was doing PPC[FB ads] I got a couple thousand visitors. I stopped when I looked at the product I was funneling them to and realized the drop shipper had changed the price without notification...and it occurred to me how arbitrary so many things in my business were.

Again, continued success!

Thank you man, definitely not letting this stop me.

 

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[talentedavatar]

I feel your frustration and disappointment, but I admire your commitment to putting it to action. Sure you violated CENTS, but you went forth with an idea, which though it lost you time and money, you learned some invaluable lessons. That's a hell of a lot better than most people sitting on the timelines who are wasting time not doing anything. And like you and I and many here know, it's actually time that's the most valuable asset, which if you've learned from your experiences, is not a waste at all. Keep fighting the fight.

 

[tafy]

Takes balls to admit that you failed in a project, but admitting failure and moving on is a winning personality. Keep like this and you will make it someday.