9
years ago we wanted to sell printable curtains. A new type of business
at that time, it was a small competition and a minimum budget for
promotion. We launched an advertising campaign in Google, and that's all
the work we did with marketing.
Our first
money in business was earned at that month. Small money, but first
money. In June, we had 500% Return on Investment, in July we had losses
that covered all Junes profit, and in August we closed the business on
one day without trying new sources of traffic or anything else.
Although, it was already well-developed system of production of the
curtains, there were first clients and the first good reviews. I am sure
that if we did continue our work, we would definitely be entrenched in
this market and would work till now.
When
you observe the systematic deterioration of the core business indicators
such as traffic, clients, profit, you do not need to immediately
include youthful maximalism, as we did, and without bringing it to
completion, strive to build something new.
2. Do not inspire trust.
Trust,
one of the most important factors in the business world, played a
significant role in this my project fail. I decided to combine all the
marketing channels into one proposal and put a big price on it.
Logically, the proposal was profitable - if you order each marketing
channel separately in different marketing companies, the total cost of
services would be higher than my cost.
But
from the point of view of human psychology and business, it is logical
enough that I did not have a single client. No one would pay such an
amount to an unknown company and would not trust such a budget right
away. Trust is built gradually and in small steps. I needed not to spend
money on paid traffic, but to do content marketing and create a
reputation instead.
3. The routine.
When
you are engaged only in the current issues that constantly arise very
often, you can lose the overall view of the situation in the business.
When this happens, it is important to get away from everything for at
least half an hour to understand in which direction your business is
moving. Tactic without a strategy is ineffective.
In
my case, I came across this one time. When I was engaged in affiliate
marketing, I did not take into account that there could be technical
problems, because all profitability of the project depended on it. I
used third-party software, but when support stopped because of the
massive influx of people like me, and the owners have stopped selling,
some guys who understand the technical nuances, made their own software
and continue to make money. It was a key moment in the project and I had
not foreseen that. It was a great need to learn while there was time
because the work was organized and in mysubmission there were 8
employees, and thanks to them I could not work more than an hour a day.
It was necessary to use this time rationally and to obtain new knowledge
that would make it possible to survive after this situation painlessly.
4. The cash gap.
This
is the time when there is not enough money. There is not enough for a
salary, taxes, rent, payments to suppliers and in general for any
payments. If you are not able to find finance in a timely manner or do
it to the detriment of something by setting priorities, then this is the
cash gap. One of the most troubling symptoms, and this is one of the
most popular causes of closure of many businesses.
You
must find out the reasons for the lack of money - low sales, small
profits, inflated payroll or something else. The main thing is to find
the reason. And the amount of the shortage will increase with each
month. I have to admit that we did everything that could not be done -
we were looking for ways to close the gap, not understanding its causes.
We coped with this - borrowed, shifted and transferred payments and
carried out other activities aimed not at the removal of symptoms, but
on unsuccessful recovery. For that mistakes we paid a lot.
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