Please slap me in the face with the truth!

[Roland]

I might not be posting that and I apologize if it is inappropriate but I have to say it:

Why the F*** is it not working?

I don't get it.I have implemented everything I understood I had to implement in order to succeed. I have taken action, I am out talking to people from 5 am to 10 pm every day, I have started what seemed to be good ideas, I have outsourced what I wasn't able to do myself in order to test my ideas quicker and kill them if they were not good... and nothing worked. I am again and again back to square 1.

I have tried to reach out to people to get help and don't even get an answer so I MUST be doing something wrong but I don't F*****g get it

So if you see what I need to do, please tell me. I am already all in and ready to do anything to reach my goals but I no longer see what is the next move to make. Be rude if you want I don't mind but please TELL ME what I am doing wrong if you can see it... I can't.

 

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[rblitz]

Maybe you need to be a little bit more specific about the things that aren't working for you at the moment.

 

[Red]

Welp, for starters, this post is whiny as F*ck. And it's too goddamned vague to be looking for any legitimate answers. I'm going to guess that if you go about your business in the same manner as you ask for "help" here, then this may be a clue as to why things aren't working in the manner you want them to in your business.

 

[RogueInnovation]

I don't get it.I have implemented everything I understood I had to implement in order to succeed.

Think bigger, get more specific

started what seemed to be good ideas, I have outsourced what I wasn't able to do myself in order to test my ideas quicker and kill them if they were not good... and nothing worked.

Probably are not scrutinising your work enough, so cannot see the errors, or don't want to

I have tried to reach out to people to get help and don't even get an answer so I MUST be doing something wrong but I don't F*****g get it

It works in a weird way, you have to get most of the direction yourself before others can help

I am already all in and ready to do anything to reach my goals but I no longer see what is the next move to make

Next move is to not give a sh!t and keep going


I know what you are talking about though Roland. The best advice I have for you is that you keep setting the standards higher and meeting them, until you start getting "aha!" moments that cause you to solve whole sides of the problem in landslide thought moments.

There are not too many parts in a business so the real trick is testing smart, and diligence to a degree that is insightful and meaningful. You can have a thought and it mean nothing, or you can find that thought later after six months hard work and instantly recognise its brilliance. I'm afraid business sometimes requires an irrational amount of grinding until you get willing to dust off an idea you already had and use it properly.

Pretty lame, but hey, you aren't alone in it, so chin up, the fact you've done what you've done should be somewhat encouraging x).


I know the real reason you ask is to end that emotional torture rack thing. I kinda have bad news on that, I am only seeing the light after that now, but before I saw any light it really got sickeningly bad.
Mentors have been through that stuff, they don't wanna relive it I don't imagine, so the good news is, you aren't crazy, the bad news is, waving a white flag won't do as much as you hope (you know that already, hence the stress).

I sit a lot. I sit down with the problem and pull it apart and put it back together again. I also drill and train myself on small challenges daily.
I focus on scale, marketting, biz fundamentals.
I make sure to push myself so that I get what guys at higher levels are talking about a little bit better each day.

The fog clears up before the fear rack stops attacking you though. It takes a few months of stomaching really bad fear to get used to it I think.
You aren't crazy man, its hard.

But like MJs avatar says "then I remember if it was easy then anyone could do it, and I don't wanna be like anyone else".
Bigger guys won't respond to you because you are epitomising (as have we all at some point, I am SURE) the attitude that refuses to put your head down and grind through the disillusionment (to them at least, I know you aren't copping out, you are just human and not half cyborg).

On the other side of that disillusionment is "grace". You kinda start skipping through things, and take small creative leaps consistently. Thats where it goes next if you do awesome, best of luck roland, I'm rooting for you.

Its not gonna beat ya, cuz you are just gonna beat it back

 

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[AroundTheWorld]

I agree!

It is too vague to try and figure out. If you want help, you need to be willing to get a little more specific.

Ask yourself these questions:

How many *ventures* have you tried?
Why haven't they worked?
At what point did you quit? Was it an obstacle that *could* have been overcome and you just quit too soon?

If it was some other reason for the failure, WHAT was that?
Identify it.
Learn from it.
APPLY that knowledge.
Do it again.

Failure IS a part of the process
LEARNING from the failure is the key.

 

[DeletedUser2]

keep doing it. dont quit.
you will stop sucking
and you will get better.

just dont quit. because this is EXACTLY the process your suposed to go through.

Z

 

[Mr Cracker]

I don't get it.I have implemented everything I understood I had to implement in order to succeed.

Don't try to become successful by following a formula or recipe. There's no 3 step guide that'll get you there.

I know the feeling... You sound like me when I started this thread.

It's all part of the process, don't quit now.

It'll get better as long as you keep pushing!

Your rant seems too general. Anything more specific?

 

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[Roland]

Yes sorry, I am getting angry at myself for not seeing what I am should be doing.
So to be more specific I have tried a lot of different "ventures" over about three years:
1- I wanted to put compressed air in bottle taken from somewhere and transported in another place in order to re-create a specific atmosphere.. this one was my first business idea and I didn't know enough to do it well.
2- I have tried to write an ebook about how I overcome my fear of Flying (real from really scared after a 9 hour storm to flying 6 times a week and best of all, the solution I have found can work for anybody... have sold 3 of them)
3- I was travelling a lot and finding pretty good deals so people started to come to me when they wanted to find cheap flights. I tried to presell an ebook explaining how I was doing that... didn't get a pre-sale.
4- My first real serious venture was about an inventory control system. I spent all the money I had by this time on the prototype to realise that in order to be competitive, I would have to spend much more money and in the meantime I couldn't get a customer.
5-I have then contacted 900+ private jet companies in order to figure out what their problem are and tried to solve it for them. One of them gave me an interesting project to work on to "test" me. I worked two weeks full time on that and deliver the solution... never heard back. I am still helping out another company that is struggling but nothing to expect from this side. I will keep helping this person out because that how I think we should all do but as I said, there is probably nothing to expect from this side apart from maybe a free flight if one day I go there

After all this, I thought that my problem was probably coming from my lack of marketing and selling skills so I hired someone to do this for me and she was amazing but I am still not selling.

So yeah, I have learned a lot, I now know how to code pretty cool website, I have learned how to write decent copy, I have tons of ideas, I know how to test them but this is not paying the bills and I don't see what is the next thing I need to work on now.

As I said in my first post, I have no problem to give zero F*ck, I have no problem to work damned hard but I don't see what I am doing wrong.

Anyway thank you all for your posts. I will definitely keep going because I have never given up and I am not even close to give up but I still think that I need some guidance because I am wasting a lot of precious time which I should be spending on acting efficiently instead of trying again and again without seeing where this is leading me.

 

[ChristopherP]

<edit> ^^ Hey there you go!

I have nothing rude to say, but would be interested in hearing more details of your failures - I'm sure someone more experienced than I am would be willing to give you some criticism, however blunt.

I imagine you also would probably benefit from this a lot more than from the vague encouragement being posted in response to your vaguely stated problems.

 

[Roland]

Don't try to become successful by following a formula or recipe. There's no 3 step guide that'll get you there.

I know the feeling... You sound like me when I started this thread.

It's all part of the process, don't quit now.

It'll get better as long as you keep pushing!

Your rant seems too general. Anything more specific?

Sorry your link is not working. Do you remember the name of your thread for me to read it please?

 

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[rblitz]

Sorry your link is not working. Do you remember the name of your thread for me to read it please?

Its in the INSIDERS forum, so you can't see it...

 

[ChristopherP]

2- I have tried to write an ebook about how I overcome my fear of Flying (real from really scared after a 9 hour storm to flying 6 times a week and best of all, the solution I have found can work for anybody... have sold 3 of them)

I poked around a tiny bit with this example and all the associated keywords seem to be very low traffic and low CPC in advertising. It makes me wonder if you've been doing things in general without actually verifying that markets exist. Hm?

 

[Roland]

Its in the INSIDERS forum, so you can't see it...

Oh Right, make sense now. I will renew my subscription. I let it go because I was spending my last savings in my business trials but I think where I am now it doesn't really matter. thanks for that.

Edit: subscription renewed, on to the next step.

 

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[Roland]

@Mr Cracker thanks for the link. I can recognise me in some of your first posts but I now need to get to the next stage.

I am a bit lost at the moment, I need to get my head around all this and find out another idea and start once again.

 

[mayana]

1- I wanted to put compressed air in bottle taken from somewhere and transported in another place in order to re-create a specific atmosphere.. this one was my first business idea and I didn't know enough to do it well.

I had to read this like five times. Please excuse my ignorance, but is there a market for this? If there isn't a big market for this, then that might be why this idea failed.

2- I have tried to write an ebook about how I overcome my fear of Flying (real from really scared after a 9 hour storm to flying 6 times a week and best of all, the solution I have found can work for anybody... have sold 3 of them)

How are you marketing this book? I agree with @ChristopherP that there just might not be a lot of people who want a book like this, but there are probably more than three people who would read it/pay for it. And if there really isn't a lot of keyword competition for this, then you should be able to cream whatever competition there is fairly easily.

3- I was travelling a lot and finding pretty good deals so people started to come to me when they wanted to find cheap flights. I tried to presell an ebook explaining how I was doing that... didn't get a pre-sale.

Again, how did you market it? Who did you talk to? What kind of research did you do that made you know that you were talking to the right people?

4- My first real serious venture was about an inventory control system. I spent all the money I had by this time on the prototype to realise that in order to be competitive, I would have to spend much more money and in the meantime I couldn't get a customer.

Ah, yes. That pesky barrier to entry. Was your prototype working well? What did it do that is different or better than the existing systems already on the market place? If you are capable of designing something this complicated, you could have talked to existing businesses first to figure out what kind of unmet needs they had.

5-I have then contacted 900+ private jet companies in order to figure out what their problem are and tried to solve it for them. One of them gave me an interesting project to work on to "test" me. I worked two weeks full time on that and deliver the solution... never heard back. I am still helping out another company that is struggling but nothing to expect from this side. I will keep helping this person out because that how I think we should all do but as I said, there is probably nothing to expect from this side apart from maybe a free flight if one day I go there

Kudos for reaching out. How many did you hear back from? Was the solution that you developed something that could be adapted and sold to other companies?

It makes me wonder if you've been doing things in general without actually verifying that markets exist. Hm?

This!! I think that this is one reason that you are having trouble.

The second reason that you (might) be struggling is that you might be giving up too early. How long do you usually give your business ideas before you decide that they aren't working? Maybe it's not the ideas, but the execution?

 

[Mr. Tycoon]

Yes sorry, I am getting angry at myself for not seeing what I am should be doing.
So to be more specific I have tried a lot of different "ventures" over about three years:
1- I wanted to put compressed air in bottle taken from somewhere and transported in another place in order to re-create a specific atmosphere.. this one was my first business idea and I didn't know enough to do it well.
2- I have tried to write an ebook about how I overcome my fear of Flying (real from really scared after a 9 hour storm to flying 6 times a week and best of all, the solution I have found can work for anybody... have sold 3 of them)
3-I was travelling a lot and finding pretty good deals so people started to come to me when they wanted to find cheap flights. I tried to presell an ebook explaining how I was doing that... didn't get a pre-sale.... didn't get a pre-sale.
4- My first real serious venture was about an inventory control system. I spent all the money I had by this time on the prototype to realise that in order to be competitive, I would have to spend much more money and in the meantime I couldn't get a customer.
5-I have then contacted 900+ private jet companies in order to figure out what their problem are and tried to solve it for them. One of them gave me an interesting project to work on to "test" me. I worked two weeks full time on that and deliver the solution... never heard back. I am still helping out another company that is struggling but nothing to expect from this side. I will keep helping this person out because that how I think we should all do but as I said, there is probably nothing to expect from this side apart from maybe a free flight if one day I go there

After all this, I thought that my problem was probably coming from my lack of marketing and selling skills so I hired someone to do this for me and she was amazing but I am still not selling.

So yeah, I have learned a lot, I now know how to code pretty cool website, I have learned how to write decent copy, I have tons of ideas, I know how to test them but this is not paying the bills and I don't see what is the next thing I need to work on now.

As I said in my first post, I have no problem to give zero F*ck, I have no problem to work damned hard but I don't see what I am doing wrong.

Anyway thank you all for your posts. I will definitely keep going because I have never given up and I am not even close to give up but I still think that I need some guidance because I am wasting a lot of precious time which I should be spending on acting efficiently instead of trying again and again without seeing where this is leading me.

 

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[Roland]

I had to read this like five times. Please excuse my ignorance, but is there a market for this? If there isn't a big market for this, then that might be why this idea failed.

That was definitely not a good idea, my first one. Didn't do any good due diligence, started straight away without really planning what I needed to do... well a sure way to fail right from the beginning.

How are you marketing this book? I agree with @ChristopherP that there just might not be a lot of people who want a book like this, but there are probably more than three people who would read it/pay for it. And if there really isn't a lot of keyword competition for this, then you should be able to cream whatever competition there is fairly easily.

I no longer market it. In all my attempts, I remembered the "test it fast and if it doesn't work kill it" thing. So the problem was probably more coming from the process itself than from the way of marketing.

Again, how did you market it? Who did you talk to? What kind of research did you do that made you know that you were talking to the right people?

I assumed that as a lot of people was asking me for booking them cheap flights, there was a need for a book teaching them how I was doing that.

Ah, yes. That pesky barrier to entry. Was your prototype working well? What did it do that is different or better than the existing systems already on the market place? If you are capable of designing something this complicated, you could have talked to existing businesses first to figure out what kind of unmet needs they had.

My prototype was not working well enough on one side and on the other, I discovered too late in the process that there were another technology that was way better than mine and it was too late for me to go for it.

Kudos for reaching out. How many did you hear back from? Was the solution that you developed something that could be adapted and sold to other companies?

I won't write the exact number here because I am quite ashamed of the low number of answers I got. The solution I developed might be adapted and sold to other companies if there is a need confirmed. to be hones, I hadn't thought about this possibility before. I just need to find a way of confirming this need and that might be a way to explore. Thank you for that.

This!! I think that this is one reason that you are having trouble.

Agreed. I think I still haven't fully get how to do that before it seems to be a recurring problem with my projects. Need to work on it. If you have any tips on it, they are more than welcome.

The second reason that you (might) be struggling is that you might be giving up too early. How long do you usually give your business ideas before you decide that they aren't working? Maybe it's not the ideas, but the execution?

Yes you may be right. I am usually giving up when I can no longer cope with the expenses and need to rebuild some savings to keep going.

Thank you so much for taking the time to help me with that.

Rep transfer to you and all the others who helped me.

 

[Roland]

@Mr. Tycoon: Sorry I didn't get what your point was here.

 

[Mr. Tycoon]

No 3..You might travel to much without to be focus on your goal.

Stay at home and start to use your brain..

 

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[Roland]

Well I am still working a day job to pay for all the rest. The good thing of travelling often for a job is that you get paid, you have internet access in the lounges and a lot of time during the flights to work on whatever I want so not so bad at the end...

 

[Red]

A mistake that many people (myself included) make is feeling they are owed a certain level of success after a certain amount of pre-determined effort has been exerted. When those ridiculously stupid expectations of success are not met, you get the anger & frustration you exemplified above.

I'm guessing that if you've truly contacted over 900 private jet companies in a meaningful manner (and NOT just sending an email).... well... I simply don't believe you've done that. And if you have, no one believes you in what you're trying to do. If you truly had something someone needed, you couldn't keep them away.

Are you flying blind & asking for direction from the strangers you contact (because that would piss me off, as a business owner, if you just called me out of the blue & knew nothing of the issues in my industry & were simply picking my brain for business ideas)? Or do you have an idea of what you're trying to do & simply trying to refine & build upon that idea to solve known issues? After reading the above posts, it sounds like you need do more homework on your proposed projects before jumping in with both feet.

I'm a fan of your spirit & your determination, but if your idea of "contacting over 900" businesses is buying an email list, typing one email & hitting "send" then you have a long, frustrating road in front of you.

 

[Brander]

You might need bigger ideas.

Some things to get the idea juices going:
book - Inside The Box
tip - the simplest form of innovation is taking steps away from a process (usage process or assembly process)
video - http://www.freeofnoise.com/who-is-worth-listening-to/

Remember - Opportunity cost is the most important principle in business and life. Why spend time on something with a 5 million ceiling on earnings if you can spend the same amount on something with a billion dollar ceiling.

I gurantee you'll think of a million dolalr idea if you go throught the resources above.

 

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[snowbank]

1- I wanted to put compressed air in bottle taken from somewhere and transported in another place in order to re-create a specific atmosphere.. this one was my first business idea and I didn't know enough to do it well.
2- I have tried to write an ebook about how I overcome my fear of Flying (real from really scared after a 9 hour storm to flying 6 times a week and best of all, the solution I have found can work for anybody... have sold 3 of them)
3- I was travelling a lot and finding pretty good deals so people started to come to me when they wanted to find cheap flights. I tried to presell an ebook explaining how I was doing that... didn't get a pre-sale.
4- My first real serious venture was about an inventory control system. I spent all the money I had by this time on the prototype to realise that in order to be competitive, I would have to spend much more money and in the meantime I couldn't get a customer.
5-I have then contacted 900+ private jet companies in order to figure out what their problem are and tried to solve it for them. One of them gave me an interesting project to work on to "test" me. I worked two weeks full time on that and deliver the solution... never heard back. I am still helping out another company that is struggling but nothing to expect from this side. I will keep helping this person out because that how I think we should all do but as I said, there is probably nothing to expect from this side apart from maybe a free flight if one day I go there

Holy shit dude, diversify more!

Kidding. Stop that. Read this: http://foreverjobless.com/entrepreneurial-diworsification/

Not only are you trying all sorts of projects, but they're not even related. So, you're splitting your time into so many different things that aren't even related to each other, so won't add value to the other projects.

Focus on ONE thing, after you solve a need, and the ability to market it.

Step 1: Find market you can offer value to BETTER than what already exists in some way.
Step 2: Can you reach that market?

If so, calculate how much money you'll make and decide if it's enough for you.

Sounds like you're spending all your time on projects without solving these two things first, so of course you're going to be frustrated from spinning your wheels.

 

[Mr. Tycoon]

Well I am still working a day job to pay for all the rest. The good thing of travelling often for a job is that you get paid, you have internet access in the lounges and a lot of time during the flights to work on whatever I want so not so bad at the end...

Ok..I see
Why not quit your job for good..
The problem might be you are not too focused to get somewhere..you are too comfortable,having a job.

The mindset should be of a leader..very aggressive in your approaches.

You might need more pressure.
Everything or nothing..

 

[alexanderkjones]

It makes me wonder if you've been doing things in general without actually verifying that markets exist. Hm?
This!! I think that this is one reason that you are having trouble.

Agreed. I think I still haven't fully get how to do that before it seems to be a recurring problem with my projects. Need to work on it. If you have any tips on it, they are more than welcome.

Roland, I'm new here and am really impressed by the level of advice your getting on this thread. If I could add, it does sound like one of your struggles is finding a valuable product/service that people want. I heard this great saying once that the size of your paycheck is exactly relative to the size of the problem you are solving. So how expensive of a problem are you solving for customers? Generally I like to gauge my opportunity by a 10x multiple. If I can solve a $1,000 problem for a client I charge them $100.

A second note on marketing and customers, who's your ideal client and where are they? Your ideal client is a qualified client meaning they A) Urgently need your service and B) Can afford a price that makes it worth your while. If you marketed a leather bound book on destroying your fear of flying for $500 to CEO's who were missing deals because they were too afraid to be in the air you'd be focusing your efforts on ideal qualified clients. Maybe you go to a watering hole like an an international business conference and start talking with people, see who hate's flying, ask them why, find their challenge and solve it for them. Find your ideal clients.

This brings up my last point and I'll leave the rest to the professionals. How big is your playing field? Your playing field is the number of potential qualified customers you think are out there, multiplied by the net revenue you'll make per sale after accounting for marketing and operating costs. For example, if you want to sell a leather bound $500 book for CEO's on how to overcome their fear of flying you may sell 10 copies, but CEO's are pretty adventurous types there's probably only 100 out there in the world that actually need the book. You'll run out of customers really fast and you'll hit a ceiling on your company's growth.

On the opposite end maybe you've got a product that's only $10 and if you just got 1000 people to buy it you'd be thrilled. How much money does it cost to market to 1,000 people. If you don't know what your doing it could be a lot, especially if you want targeted ads to get the best results.

Your playing field is how much room you have to grow your business. Mitigate as much risk as possible, find an expensive problem with a lot of potential clients. It's not so hard, start by focusing on small businesses in a certain industry and ask them what their challenges are. Find a big problem and help them out. You've got the tenacity for this. Remember, Business is about service, service is about results, go change people's lives.

 

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[Tony I]

Focus on ONE thing, after you solve a need, and the ability to market it.

this is SO key.

 

[LeungJan]

Where can I find a link to your fear of flying ebook? I would love to read a copy.

 

[CommonCents]

What did you uncover from the private jet companies? Did they say anything about monetizing parked jets and dead head legs? My buddy has a private charter co and has this issue. Really needs to be one major booking service that has all the last minute inventory of most of the charter market. It should probably be synced w/ regular flight booking in case you can only book a private jet one way, and take commercial home.

 

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[Mike351]

I might not be posting that and I apologize if it is inappropriate but I have to say it:

Why the F*** is it not working?

I don't get it.I have implemented everything I understood I had to implement in order to succeed. I have taken action, I am out talking to people from 5 am to 10 pm every day, I have started what seemed to be good ideas, I have outsourced what I wasn't able to do myself in order to test my ideas quicker and kill them if they were not good... and nothing worked. I am again and again back to square 1.

I have tried to reach out to people to get help and don't even get an answer so I MUST be doing something wrong but I don't F*****g get it

So if you see what I need to do, please tell me. I am already all in and ready to do anything to reach my goals but I no longer see what is the next move to make. Be rude if you want I don't mind but please TELL ME what I am doing wrong if you can see it... I can't.

It is not Forking working because you haven't failed enough...sounds silly hey? I'm constantly failing, but I see others out there who have failed worse than me, for instance that bloke who lost $1 million from his start up. What did he do? He certainly didn't post on here going "FML WHY THA FORK NO MONEY". He kept grinding away until he not only paid it all back, but became a millionaire anyway....you see, once you have found your licence to print money, you just keep printing it....but the secret is to not chase the printing of money, its nurturing the machine and making sure it needs what you have for it so that it keeps printing money in order to say "gee thank you Mr Start Up for solving a problem to one of my needs!" I sound like I know it all, I know nothing. I am full of fluff. But I guess with me there is no turning back. Once you have read the book, there is no turning back. For as long as there is breathe, I will try each day big or small in order to get away from the slow lane or that crusty sidewalk. I will not rest until I am overtaking people on the fast lane waving from a Ferrari.

When I am serious and when I have serious cash, I will be donating to a charity of MJ's choice and gift a percentage of a Fastlane business too. Whats this got to do with anything? Too many people on here come on here straight away going "FML why isn't it working!?" Instead of saying "Thanks man your book changed my life an future lives when I get reincarnated" at least start with that before dissecting your business failures.. But like the naysayers have always said, I am all talk until there are some solid bundles of notes thrown at the waitress at Applebees just for looking good. Ok that sounded unethical, but you know what I mean. Do not rest until you have made it by your own blood sweat tears failures and complaints. Just keep finding a way. It is frustrating at times, but do you honestly think MJ and the others out there didn't feel like ripping their hair out with plastic tweezers yelling WHYY THE FARRRRK?!?!?!?! Of course they did. If they didn't they wouldn't be where they are today. Which brings another point. Nothing good comes easy. Come on, you've read the book. Rise and Grind! One more minute complaining is a minute you could have used to figure out WTF went wrong...