Anytime you embark on something new, it’s best to do research online to get a feel and better understanding for what you want to accomplish.
However, some people just aren’t suited for some things.
Case in point, Da Hustler has been dabbling in online sales for a little while now, and every so often everyday I come across people who just don’t have a clue. People who ask stupid questions, and the ones who take their precious time to respond to them. It’s infuriating only because many times you hope to connect with others who have intelligent commentary, not those who are a few cards short of a full deck.
Online sales requires many things, not the least of which include:
- time
- money
- passion
- drive
- determination
- resourcefulness
If what you are asking for amounts to someone else doing the work for you, you either need to hire an assistant, pay people to carry out your vision, or abandon the idea altogether.
Here’s one example of a post that was placed on a forum I’m part of:
How did everyone’s January sales go? We have had a frightening slow January. The worst January ever and we’ve been an [store] merchant for 10 years. How does everyone else feel about this January?
Many of the posts in this particular thread were lamentations of many individuals who can’t for the life of them understand, grasp, or comprehend that the problem is not the month of the year, the season, the platform, or the perceived experience of the seller.
The problem is the seller themselves.
There were many posts and I didn’t go through all of them because 1) I don’t have that kind of time, and 2) midway through I was laughing on the inside too hard. When I see something like this, the reasons for reduced success usually amount to a few things:
- the product the seller is marketing
- the lack of marketing/promotion
- price points
- seller metrics
First off, you can never totally trust what a seller tells you online, because it is the internet and frankly, people lie. These sellers would have you think that they found the cure for cancer and the common cold, and served as the voice of reason for Ghandi and Mother Teresa. But more often than not, they fail to state that their feedback is poor, they have many complaints from customers, or the platform they are selling on has had issues with their account for one reason or another.
The best thing for you to do if you come across one of these types is to stay far, far away from them, and seek your knowledge and camaraderie from other sources. These people will not add value to your life, and will end up bringing you down quicker than the iceberg that hit the Titanic (or more recently, the captain of the Costa Concordia). Like anything else, online sales is not for everyone, and it’s better for you to figure this out sooner than later, or else you’ll be spinning your wheels trying to ice skate uphill.