My List of Failures: Looking Back (Part I)

[Yanezez]

What's this About and Why

I want to write about all the attempts of making a business or sometimes just a few extra bucks I have undertaken. I want to write what I tried to do, if it worked, why it worked, and most importantly, why I think they failed. Spoiler alert, none have been successful.

Yesterday I was advancing on one of the ideas and found that it already exists in the country where I am trying to implement it. Luckily - and thanks to some lessons learned- I did not invest more than I needed to on this. Failed rather quickly. This got me thinking, If I learned and implemented a valuable lesson, maybe there are other lessons in my past I should implement.

I do not claim to be an expert in any of these areas. A lot of the mistakes now look rather silly. I am not trying to show off and if it can help at least one person avoid one of the mistakes below, then so be it. A lot of these attempts came out of necessity when I was younger. Some helped me significantly. They all ultimately ended, for one reason or another. I will write about them in the order I remember them. So here it goes. And remember, these are very newbish mistakes. 99% of the people here are more pro.

Each entry came longer than expected so I will most likely post each one in its own thread. If you have time, feel free to post what would you have done differently.

Here are the attemps:
1. Hand made shoes
2. English lessons
3. Political consulting (attempt 1)
4. Wine delivery
5. Political consulting (attempt 2)
6. Medical supplies (way before Covid)
7. Covid related supplies
8. Digital books
9. Containers (buy and resell)
10. Transportation marketplace


Hand Made Shoes ( Bazar Waina)

One of the first businesses I tried to create came out of necessity. I would be selling original women's shoes from Facebook.

At the time -2013- I was in a limbo area where I had just finished college but due to debt, I could not get my actual degree, which in turn made looking for a job more difficult. I was in my early 20s and I needed cash, I needed my degree.

At the time, my ex-girlfriend was somewhat well-off and bought nice imported shoes once in a while. I lived in Chile at the time and although there are a lot of shoe models and we have all the same brands as New York, there are some particular models that don't reach this side of the world.

I told my ex at the time to show me 5-10 models that she would hypothetically be willing to buy from abroad. I printed these models in a normal piece of paper and traveled to the shoemaker quartier of Santiago, Chile. This is an area famous for hand-made shoes. I wanted to ask any of the shoemakers which models they could theoretically make and how much would they charge me for 1,5,10 or 20 pairs. Out of the 10 printed images, I managed to get a hypothetical supplier for at least six, for a price I considered acceptable.

The next step was my first interaction with e-marketing. I created a Facebook page store called 'Bazar Waina'. Think Waina meant something in Maorí -the language from Easter Island-. So I had the supply and the store. But no demand.

Of course, I began adding people like crazy on Facebook and tried to do the eventual post. I had no idea about Facebook ads or none of that stuff at the time. What was hard for me was just writing the messages in a way that would appeal to women. I would try to do something like 'Hey girls, we received these beautiful shoes made from XYZ'.

After a month or so of trying, and promoting to the best of my knowledge, I did not sell a single pair. My price was correct, but maybe they seemed too cheap even though they were handmade and made of leather. Maybe the women at the time, or at least the ones on Facebook, wanted to show off and the brand itself was important. I had absolutely zero skills I needed to make this a success. After about 3 months, I called it quits.

Results: Zero sales.

Lesson learned and skills needed

- Marketing is essential, at least at some level. I had no idea about digital marketing, let alone any form of ads.

- Copywriting is something I could have benefitted from. I could not deliver the message to the audience I wanted to reach. I did not buy women's shoes so I did not speak the language.

- Brand identity: Even though I was selling cheaper shoes, I did not communicate or emphasize this. Or maybe I needed to focus on highlighting that the shoes are made by local businessmen? who knows?

- Reach: Ultimately, I did not reach enough audience to learn what works and what does not work. Even adding people to Facebook, I managed to get around 500 people - mostly women-. Nowhere near enough.


Back in 2024, I feel that this allowed me to learn about some concept I had no idea about it. A million things should have been done different.

Ill post the second failed business soon (English Lessons)

cheers!

 

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[DonyaSze]

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