Back on track after first failure / How do you guys deal with failure

[rsj]

Yeah thats the problem-when you say you were advertising what avenues did you explore with this?

I have tried adwords and this did drive more customers to the site it has to be said-Issue I have is the home page gets the vast majority of hits -Bounceability.

I am also on facebook and twitter.

What does other ppl think-What type of product motivates you and how do you get excited by small profits?

I used adwords but other companies spend way more on PPC then i could, i got the most success from Instagram, specially with videos on Instagram.

 

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[rsj]

If you ever played a game, would you quit after the first negative occurrence?

A strike out?
A fly out?
An incompleted pass?
A missed spare?
A double-fault?
A shanked tee-shot into the woods?

No, you shake it off and go at it again.

Entrepreneurship is no different -- a game where failure is merely an occurrence. If you quit after a negative outcome, you're not really playing.

thanks for the advice MJ, it does help when you view it as a game, life is no different honestly.

 

[rsj]

Lesson #1: Cash Flow Management.

I'm assuming you're bootstrapping this business:

IF you are going to sell something with a small profit margin, then it better have a low COGS, and you better have short lead times and a fast turnaround on your cash.

High product price with a low profit margin is a cash flow nightmare. If you're going to tie up large amounts of cash for a high COGS product, then the returns need to be worth it, or at least negotiate net 30-60 payment terms to ease the pressure.



Lesson #2: Don't sell the same products as someone else. If you're going to compete against companies with deep pockets, then you need to have a product that is significantly different or improved in some way. Otherwise, all you can do is compete by lowering you're price, and you'll always lose, because a big company is going to have lower COGS than you, buying in larger bulk.

Yeah I learned the hard way, I was competing in price but not by much, and I agree I feel like if I would've been selling a product that wasn't so expensive I could've won. I'm only 20 so I don't have anywhere near the capital needed to compete in the market I was trying to compete in

 

[lowtek]

What is working for me is "getting zen". Emotionally divorce yourself from the outcome of any particular experiment and look at things with pure logic and reason. It's obviously difficult, and an ideal one will never perfectly attain. However, even starting down this road has given enormous benefits for me.

It's allowed me to think more clearly and stay in motion when confronted with difficulties.

Another thing I do is stay focused on the big picture. I'm not a detail guy, so I need to see how what I'm doing now fits into my 3, 5, 10 and 20 year "plan". Staying focused on where I'm going and not being emotional about my current situation and setbacks is what I do.

Your mileage may vary

 

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[LPPC]

This is not a failure per say, it is literally a function of paid traffic, and if you're going down this route you will have to get used to it.

You've spent money to see what doesn't work, you just have to keep going, spend more money. more products more ads. When you find a winner you scale it and it'll cover your losses many times over for all the "failures", Also..

Have you isolated why it didn't work?

Is the product just bad?

Is your targeting off? Were you trying to sell to the wrong crowd?

Do your ads suck? Are they relevant to your target audience?

Does your landing page do a bad job of selling?

Did you spend enough money to get statistically significant data or did you pull the plug too early?
​

I know it's emotionally distressing to spend money and not see results but if you keep going you'll eventually learn to take it in your stride and realise that "failure" is just part of the process.

This is exactly how I see it too. You have to see paid advertising as ''buying data''. You are spending money to find a winner, scale it and cover the ''losses'' you made before. My first time buying ads and testing a product failed too, but I just saw it as a learning experience. Now I'm on to my second product.

And as @lowtek said: take massive action and care the most , while simultaneously detaching from the outcome. It's a fine line and it's a paradox. Very helpful video on this:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWaDDCjuM0w


You may want to get into spirituality to deal effectively with the ever changing and dualistic nature of the external world.

 

[Hassen]

I lost quite a lot of money last Christmas bc half of my products wouldn't sell & half that did sell were seasonal and arrived too late at FBA centers. Still trying to pay off the debt resulted from taking loans to purchase inventory.

I don't especially mind having failed though! Really pushed my life in a new direction, now freelancing part time in a completely new industry to pay the bills, trying out other forms of ecommence now, still making time to pursue hobbies & enjoy myself, met a lot of new people & did lots of things I'd never done before just during the last three months.

What's so terrible about failing anyway? Money goes, money comes back. Your experience and good memories stay with ya.


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[OldFaithful]

Still trying to pay off the debt resulted from taking loans to purchase inventory.

This is an example we should all learn from...

Care to elaborate?

 

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[Hassen]

This is an example we should all learn from...

Care to elaborate?

Nothing much to elaborate really, took out some loan for Christmas seasonal products since the year before the profit during the year-end season was ten times the usual and I didn't do anything about Christmas. Thought I'd better actually take advantage of the holidays and put in some effort, and just downright lost money. In the end I still didn't prepare in advance enough to cut down on shipping, also Christmas wasn't exactly a good time to launch new products or jump on the seasonal stuff bandwagon, some stuff just never sold. I figured it would be better to stock up on the usual inventory.

I don't think any of these would 100% apply to anybody else though, so not sure what you can learn from it. I mean, investing in the wrong products really could have happened at any point, I think.


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[amp0193]

One rule of thumb that has kept me safe:

Don't take inventory loans for products that I don't know will sell. If there's any question or doubt... no loan.

 

[OldFaithful]

Don't take inventory loans for products that I don't know will sell. If there's any question or doubt... no loan.

This, exactly, would be my take-away!

 

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[NFT]

I used adwords but other companies spend way more on PPC then i could, i got the most success from Instagram, specially with videos on Instagram.

Hey I want to ask you something.
What kind of business do you do that allows you to boost your income with social media?
I am currently building a website to sell an infoproduct and after some time I hope that I can apply some PPC (I dont have a huge budget).
It would be highly appreciated if you could tell me a little bit about what you do and your usage of social media.
Cheers

 

[Evil_Jester]

Everything is an experiment, not a failure. Look up the scientific method for the exact steps

 

[The-J]

I eat some humble pie and keep going.

What's that MJ quote? About him missing 9000 shots in his career?

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

- Michael Jordan

See that? Not only has he missed shots, he's been trusted to take the game winning shot... and missed.

In entrepreneurship, you're gonna let people down. You're gonna F*ck up, hopefully not too big. Eat your humble pie, bow to the floor and apologize, and keep going.

 

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[rsj]

Hey I want to ask you something.
What kind of business do you do that allows you to boost your income with social media?
I am currently building a website to sell an infoproduct and after some time I hope that I can apply some PPC (I dont have a huge budget).
It would be highly appreciated if you could tell me a little bit about what you do and your usage of social media.
Cheers

shoot me a message