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I think after 5 years I quit but what's next?

sparechange

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On a more technical POV, if you are writing sales copy or even getting up a one-liner USP, market feedback is pretty much the bread-and-butter.

You can either go do a survey or do review mining, but even then you need to have a plan for both of them.

I'll give you an example:
A recent capstone unit asked my group to study competitors for a night lamp.
And then come out with a plan for a better product.
I KNEW college students won't know how to pull out all stops to check out competitors and the consumer reviews. So I took an hour or so to look at two.

Some SmartSleep product from Phillips, and another from Panasonic.
I went to Amazon and looked at the 3-stars reviews. (4-5 star reviews don't tell much besides the DESIRED visions of consumers met).

So even though the competitors had 60% 4-5 star reviews, the 3-star reviews were already grousing over common pain-points:

"I needed to muddle through 2 menus and 3 buttons just to turn the night lamp on!"

"But when I wake up, the alarm light indicates that it's been on for an hour! I haven't found a mode to wake deep sleepers like myself. ”

"Light.... It's not bright. Even at the max, you need to sleep very close. The first few mornings it didn't even wake me up at all."


These are pain points I had no idea folks complained about a simple night light!

While it's possible to pour out pain-points and customer lingo from yourself if you are a user of the product itself, I think it's better to look outside the shell.


Facebook ads is a weird machine.
The last time I worked with a telehealth client to write liners for Facebook copy, I found out firsthand I had to write the angles as broad as possible, so as not to trigger 'negative' keywords (e.g. medical terms like pregnancy or gynaecology) and to not seem intrusive to Facebook viewers.

For me, that really felt like bullshit. It was as if Facebook was more interested in keeping businesses mum rather than bringing valuable solutions to its users.

Anyways, I wrote 2-3 ads copy versions for multiple offers, and somehow their Facebook guy ran with it, hit lots of audience groups, and got like a 3.2-3.5 ROAS for weeks, with a few 4 ROAS days.

Which I couldn't believe, as he started off with RM300 adspend (which is not very large) per product, and further increments in budget were like double of it, as far as I remember how our exchanges went. And the photos were very plain. No flashy motion-addons or banner or anything else.

Then later, when I visited their 2-3 competitors' Ads Library, I saw they weren't even running any ads at all...

So I guess lots of businesses tried the FB thing, got burnt and then hopped out of it. Which means depending on the niche, there might be next to little competition?

My one business that I went broke in...there was a competitor of mine that didn't advertise much on facebook if at all, they had some affiliate links and ranked #1 on Amz ?

People are to focused on social media, the real way to make money is focusing on sales, not getting likes or building followings.
 
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Bearcorp

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ZF Lee

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My one business that I went broke in...there was a competitor of mine that didn't advertise much on facebook if at all, they had some affiliate links and ranked #1 on Amz ?

People are to focused on social media, the real way to make money is focusing on sales, not getting likes or building followings.
The ROAS numbers I shared meant they were getting sales and getting profits.
But I wondered if they were gonna be just one-off buys, rather than repeat buys.

That was for channels like emails to follow-up and nurture the customers into further upsells, once they handed in their addresses. But that client was more eager to fire discount code after discount code in the emails.

I told him he could sell in every email, but frame it differently around killing prospects' objections, testimonials and the like. He agreed, but his actions differed real greatly...he was more concerned as to whether something was 'catchy' or the button was bigger...nitpicking on lots of needless stuff.

I fired him around early this month.
 

OneLife

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Hey man. My life does suck outside entrepreneurship because i hate my job and each day i get angrier at myself for losing my previous job and having lost 2 years working at my current job when i could of had a better one 2 years ago but i made the mistake of not accepting a job offer.

In regards what im going to do after making it i wanted always to help others achieve what i achieved and also focus on my other goals.

Reason i want to quit is im worried im on the wrong road and not seeing any results after years. You start to question yourself "is this for me?"etc.

I dont feel burnt out after not seeing friends i used to love staying at home and being productive but recently i feel like i need to get out im wasting my time being at home. Getting bored being inside all the time. Also i go out as a way to escape my problems.

Relationship with family is ok they dont really support anything i do lol. they only look at things from their perspective. No its pretty bad from a support point of view. If they dont like it they won't even attempt to understand it.

No supporting gf but would be pretty good to find someone in the entreprenurial game. Though thats pretty hard to come by, maybe at a networking event.

Should of could of would of, I feel like you're focusing on your past failures/mistakes too much and letting it get to you. Take a break and go enjoy life for a little without thinking too much, realize that what has already happened cannot be changed - then come back with new goals, a stronger purpose and start again, only looking forward.

Just my opinion
 
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Vito

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My message certainly won't be as motivational as the ones that some of the fine folk on here have for you and it might not even be what you want to hear but your current struggle or your current mental state is not unique to you and although it can feel lonely, most people on this path have been or are currently in the same position as you are now. Constantly striving is what will get you where you want to be and some people through skill or pure luck just manage to get there much quicker.

I live a very happy life overall but the truth is I first read MJ's MF book close to 10 years ago (I still have the order email from Sun, 10 Apr 2011, 22:38), and yet here I am all this time later on a Friday night slogging away still trying to 'make it' when I know others are chilling out, relaxing, and having a few beers.

This year has been my first hint of success. I launched something in January which is the first thing that has ever clicked for me – within a few months, I'd received around 600+ orders with a fairly limited ad budget and a good profit margin, around 10% of my customers left reviews most of which are glowing, heart-warming 5-star reviews saying they love the product...I thought I'd finally cracked it. Alas, Covid came along and I had an initial dip which was expected but manageable until, out of the blue, FB disabled my ad account around April, and still to this day I cannot understand why. It has really screwed me over (obviously a huge lesson to be learned from that alone).

Since then I tried a separate ad account which, again, was disabled. After that, I completely rebranded, changed domain, changed ad account, BM account etc. and launched very similar ads with very similar targeting, and guess what? Crickets. I just can't seem to sell this product that people love and people have bought in numbers before.

My point is that it's very easy to feel sorry for yourself and down, sometimes it's warranted and truth be told I'm currently swaying in and out of that myself for the last couple of months, but at the end of the day if you want it enough you just gotta keep chipping away. Unfortunately, I don't have much marketing experience or connections with loads of mentors to guide me through the problems I've had/am having and I don't have the answers, but I'm desperate to give myself and my family the best possible life so I'll just keep working and tweaking and testing until it all finally clicks.

Take some time away if you need it but you've got this. Even if takes another 5 years I'm looking forward to posting my own success-story thread on here and likewise, I'm looking forward to reading yours.
 
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Eric Flathers

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I'll try not to bitch and moan on this thread but it's been about 5 years since I've started this journey I'm not even 1% to getting where I want to be. My most recent effort includes running a dropshipping store for a year learning some really great stuff about marketing and business probably the best experience I've had so far where I've generated over 150 sales (not much and at a massive loss) and I recently started another store where same thing except I was almost profitable among my facebook ad sets I've tested lots of products but nothing that has gotten me to a profitable stage.

Recently I had a product that had over 50 add to carts but no purchases (over $800 in profit lost) and I think it may be the product that is the problem but I'm not sure. But either way I've lost all energy to go forward. I thought a break is what I needed but I noticed no matter how many breaks I took, I would be back to square one.

I got a bunch of value providing ideas written down, but I get the feeling the same cycle would continue of no motivation, energy, etc. I don't know what to do next just looking for some advice if possible. While I don't feel like working on any projects at the same time when I don't it's affecting my quality of life much more where I'm bringing my personal problems to my workplace and it's affecting my mood and day. Starting to think have I just been on the wrong road the entire time?

From what you are saying you are in the wrong business. You are trying to do drop shipping because some guru told you to or you think it is how you will get rich. To stay motivated you have to do something you are passionate about or at least interesting in. Write down 10 things you would do if money was no object. Then write down 10 skills you have that you are good at. Find the two that intersect and start there. I can't remember who turned me onto this but it has worked for many people. And passionate as in something that will keep you going when times get hard not I'm passionate about drinking beer and watching sports. Like I love to surf but I'm not going to be a pro surfer and giving surf lessons doesn't pay enough so that would get crossed off the list.

Hope this helps.
 

LiveEntrepreneur

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From what you are saying you are in the wrong business. You are trying to do drop shipping because some guru told you to or you think it is how you will get rich. To stay motivated you have to do something you are passionate about or at least interesting in. Write down 10 things you would do if money was no object. Then write down 10 skills you have that you are good at. Find the two that intersect and start there. I can't remember who turned me onto this but it has worked for many people. And passionate as in something that will keep you going when times get hard not I'm passionate about drinking beer and watching sports. Like I love to surf but I'm not going to be a pro surfer and giving surf lessons doesn't pay enough so that would get crossed off the list.

Hope this helps.
I got into this business from frustration of not making progress lol and was hoping to make quick money via facebook ads. Which I did, but not a profit.
 
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GravyBoat

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but I get the feeling the same cycle would continue of no motivation, energy, etc. I don't know what to do next just looking for some advice if possible. While I don't feel like working on any projects at the same time when I don't it's affecting my quality of life much more where I'm bringing my personal problems to my workplace and it's affecting my mood and day. Starting to think have I just been on the wrong road the entire time?

I was caught in this for years.

Guess why?

It's because I was chasing "quick money" and not providing value.

It's because I was building inauthentic business that did not align with my values.

It's because I didn't know WHAT I wanted, or WHY I wanted it.

You need to stop what you're doing and take some time for yourself to figure out the world's biggest question:

What do I want in life?

It seems very simple, but from here is where it all stems.

Go buy yourself a whiteboard. Ask yourself the question: what do I want?

Ask it 1000 times if you have to. DIG DEEP. Realize WHY you want "money." Why do you want xyz material item? WHY do you want "freedom" or to "not have a job" etc.

Once you understand WHY, THEN, you can choose a business that you ENJOY working on, that is AUTHENTIC to your personality, and something you can be PROUD of building, through the rough months/years where it's probably losing you money.

Stop drop shipping other people's products in hopes of making a quick buck. I've done the exact same thing you've done, multiple times. Losing money is losing money period, it means what you're doing is NOT working, in some way shape or form.

Instead of looking for the next FB ads "Hack," I would give some serious consideration to your values and life's mission in general.

Take personality tests. Find what you're good at. Sell something related to your skills, interests, and things you know.

If you want to make money fast, just start a home service business. You can literally be profitable day 1.

If you want to build something big, that you enjoy waking up each morning to work on (your goal), you need to take it back to the drawing board.
 

LiveEntrepreneur

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I was caught in this for years.

Guess why?

It's because I was chasing "quick money" and not providing value.

It's because I was building inauthentic business that did not align with my values.

It's because I didn't know WHAT I wanted, or WHY I wanted it.

You need to stop what you're doing and take some time for yourself to figure out the world's biggest question:

What do I want in life?

It seems very simple, but from here is where it all stems.

Go buy yourself a whiteboard. Ask yourself the question: what do I want?

Ask it 1000 times if you have to. DIG DEEP. Realize WHY you want "money." Why do you want xyz material item? WHY do you want "freedom" or to "not have a job" etc.

Once you understand WHY, THEN, you can choose a business that you ENJOY working on, that is AUTHENTIC to your personality, and something you can be PROUD of building, through the rough months/years where it's probably losing you money.

Stop drop shipping other people's products in hopes of making a quick buck. I've done the exact same thing you've done, multiple times. Losing money is losing money period, it means what you're doing is NOT working, in some way shape or form.

Instead of looking for the next FB ads "Hack," I would give some serious consideration to your values and life's mission in general.

Take personality tests. Find what you're good at. Sell something related to your skills, interests, and things you know.

If you want to make money fast, just start a home service business. You can literally be profitable day 1.

If you want to build something big, that you enjoy waking up each morning to work on (your goal), you need to take it back to the drawing board.
Hey man, thanks for posting I can see what you mean. With the "inauthentic" part of business I agree, I'm not proud of dropshipping, even if I was to make 10k a month I wouldn't really be proud. The money would be an accomplishment but not the mission.
 

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