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Free registration at the forum removes this block.Great thread, although your latest posts indicate that something has to change and it sounds as if you're making those changes so that's good.
Once they pass those tests, use them to sell your service so that they start doing the work and you sell / oversee.
Basically, you want to outsource as soon as possible and focus your energy on sales/material/managing.
Just came across this thread today. Thanks for sharing your journey. I recently (a few months ago) started freelancing as a web and mobile developer, so your experiences have shed a lot of light on some things for me. I have found some great information from your process. Thanks... Will be watching this.
You are most kind @Nicoknowsbest!Hi @GregDott, thanks for reading! Awesome to hear that you got value out of it - feel free to ask away and I'll try to help.
Close two open leads and add MRR
Update
Yep, it's been a while. It was one hell of a ride over the last 1,5 years. I learned a few lessons the hard way and now I am back to square one, it seems. But with loads of experiences in your pocket, you are never back at square one, even if it looks like it.
Thanks for your comment @nickgraham1234 - I'll go into detail of what happened down below.
@Ninjakid thanks for stating this fact too - 100% agreed. Without these two, many of us wouldn't be where they are today. Thank you from the bottom of my heart @Andy Black and @Lex DeVille. Without you, life wouldn't be the same.
Before I go into detail, here’s the tl;dr: I was scaling up my revenues until I hit 5 figures a month beginning of the year, was hiring freelancers and thought that I am finally on to something. A few months after that, I crashed, burned and nearly had to file for bankruptcy.
Okay, so here’s what I wrote to two people who have been companions on my journey ever since a few weeks ago:
I thought long and hard about what and how I'll share it, but ultimately decided to share it how it went down, so you guys can all learn from it…
What REALLY happened in the last 1,5 years:
You might still remember my struggles from about 1,5 years ago. Back then, I had a new client, who seemed like a great win, but my feeling was giving me signs already back then.
It was the coach, remember?
The one who made me get a business phone number, because he kept bugging me after office hours, on the weekends, et"C"
Against my better judgement, I went for it.
Why?
Simple...
Because I thought, it was only my comfort zone giving me a bad feeling and I finally wanted to break through. Well... I did break, but not through... I did break a few things on the way, including a few things of myself.
Today, it is D-Day.
Just a few minutes ago I sent this guy an email, cancelling all projects, blocking all contact and warning him to ever come close again.
To send such an email, it takes a lot. Again, you guys might know this... I am a very positive and happy person, usually. I can take a lot of heat, a lot of pressure, a lot of bullshit. But once my red zone is reached, there is no turning back.
Okay...
So what happened?
Let's go back 1,5 years. I moved out of my home office and moved into a shared office in a business park not far from my house. There, I bumped into some weird character, who I found interesting.
Maybe you guys remember “F”.
Anyway, I started chatting with “F” and he became a client for graphic design. We also tried AdWords for him, which you guys know. “F” then introduced me to "C". Sorry guys, I cannot spell out his name at the moment, I am too upset.
Anyway, "F" said I should talk to "C" because he is a super successful business consultant. He was the CEO of big national and international businesses under 30 and lived the life, buying Porsches in cash, until he crashed and had a burn out.
After that, he became an independent business consultant.
Which would help me gain traction. Or so I thought.
"C" then kept bringing up topics that are completely unrelated to business and said I should deal with these, they keep me from having success...
One of these things was a family constellation.
I don't know if you guys have ever heard of such a thing. The basic concept is that information is passed on over generations and that something our grand grandfathers did can prevent us from having success in certain areas of life.
Let's say grand grandfather Albert cheated on his wife. So the theory then says that maybe his grand grandchild Peter lives up to Albert subconsciously and cheats on every partner he has. All of this is not happening on a logical level, but on a spiritual level.
So yeah... Now it begins…
"C" kept pushing me and pushing me. First, he actually paid. I said I'd do some marketing on Facebook and AdWords for him on the side. This didn't work out, for various reasons. Then he pulled the card that I cannot sell stuff I don't know how to do and that I can get sued for that.
Somewhere along the way, I said that this is too much and I want to quit working with him.
Guys, you have to imagine, this guy was obsessing over single letters on whole posters, texting me last thing at night, first thing in the morning, calling me multiple times a day.
He then suggested that he coaches me to success as a compensation for me doing work for him.
And I agreed.
And this is when it all started. He literally dragged me into his world and suddenly we ended up doing all sorts of things that had nothing to do with business after all.
The tricky part comes now...
You might ask yourself: "Why the hell would you do this Nico?"
Well... I was very, very desperate in terms of finally having money and success, that I would have done a rain dance in order to break through. Well, not so far from the truth actually.
The thing is, that my revenues did pick up for a while, and some months, I earned quite big.
But here's the thing... He only sent me his clients, who would of course also do what he said. I got tricked in the beginning of the year, because he sent me a few clients that I closed immediately and I had a revenue of over €10.000 in January - in only ONE month.
A year before that, I earned around €700-800 a month, so of course I was thrilled.
But yeah, bummer...
Until June, I didn't sell that much anymore. So €10.000 a month quickly stretched out over the next 6 months and I was running thin. Also, because making a deal on paper is one thing. Having money in your account is another thing.
Somewhere along the way, he told me that every human being has a mission on this planet. And if you don't follow that mission, your calling let's say, life will punish you for it. And of course he is the one who can tell you your calling.
I was interested, just out of curiosity...
So my calling supposedly is to bring other people into financial freedom through online marketing. With the emphasis on OTHER PEOPLE.
Funny, right?
He needed online marketing a while back... How convenient... That I supposedly become the next prodigy in this field...
I was a bit stunned and skeptical, but hey, I was done with the graphic design stuff, so why not try this. Oh boy, was I naive.
So, on top of him coaching me to success (or was it success?), he offered to buy an online coaching program about online marketing from the German market leader. I think it was around €6.000...
Since it was my reward for work I already did in the past for him - because he stopped paying at the point where we would exchange him coaching me for my man hours - I didn't see a conflict when "accepting" this "present".
Anyway, the training was okayish, but not really worth €6.000. I would have been very upset if this was my money.
Short sidenote...
Don't forget, I had daily contact with him. Never hearing a positive word, only getting pointed out my mistakes, that I am an amateur, etc. My girlfriend's alarm bells were already ringing like crazy, but since he was so close to my thoughts, he navigated all these things like a wizard.
Meanwhile, I did loads of work for him and his clients. The work I did for his clients was paid, otherwise I would have gone broke loooong time ago. But he insisted that I do his things always first and always as quickly as possible…
Why did I do this?
Because I felt I had to pay back for him sending me clients. Multiply that with the thought of me going broke without his clients and you have a super dangerous cocktail of “obedience”.
Meanwhile, I disconnected with many, many people. I disconnected partly with my parents, because successful people cut out everybody that doesn’t follow their rules, right?
I disconnected with my friends.
Slowly slowly, people started wondering what was going on with me. They started worrying - most of all my girlfriend together with my parents.
“Who are you becoming? You are not yourself anymore…” was a daily comment.
I didn’t see it, because I didn’t want to see it. I was on my way to my first million, and nobody would stop me. And successful people burn bridges, don’t they?
So all cool, right?
Well yeah…
So I was heading full speed towards a frontal crash into the wall, without me even thinking that this was an option.
The breaking point
Ha, I bet you wondered already when that would come up, right?
Sooo… It was December. Meanwhile, I was working like a maniac. Late nights, super-early mornings, weekends. ALL THE TIME. I went to the office at 4 am in the morning at times. I worked so much and let "C" create so much pressure for me that I literally couldn’t stand anymore. I gave up everything else in life.
No parties. No drinks. No gym. No boxing. No soccer. No friends. No family. Nothing.
I wanted it so badly. I wanted to finally be a success. I forgot about everything else.
One Sunday I get a text from him, that I need to check something out. At that point, we had already talked about advanced visualization techniques for more success, meditation, etc.
All in the light of bringing my full power on the road and becoming a huge success… Or so…
So, I should check out some sort of Yoga to get ahead even quicker. That’s what all millionaires do. In my mind, I was already a billionaire. So I went to this weekend course that turned out to be a one on one spiritual coaching in this yoga teacher’s run down flat.
It was cold, dirty and I was wondering what the hell I was doing. That was the first moment after months in which I woke up.
After this experience, I was so shocked, I couldn’t think straight for days, if not weeks. I nearly lost it guys… I didn’t know how this would fit in the picture of me becoming a millionaire.
So I confronted "C" with this and he just said that most people don’t understand it at first, but that I should trust him.
Yeah well…
The second breaking point came soon after. He invited me for a coaching to his office as a reward for the “great” work I had been doing for him at this point.
Oh boy, now shit hit the fan…
He told me that he recently did a course on hypnosis and that he wants to help me to success quicker through hypnosis. First, I was like: “What the hell?”.
But then I thought, okay, let’s test this guy. I thought, let’s see what he really wants. I blocked the hypnosis and listened to every word he said during this time span.
Afterwards, I had to digest what I heard for a few days and weeks. It didn’t make sense to me and I couldn’t fit it in the picture of me becoming a millionaire...
Anyway, I laid low for a while and hoped that all would make sense at one point.
Oh, before I forget… Before the coaching unit mentioned above, he made me sign up for a 12 month group coaching for entrepreneurs. We would meet up once a month and work towards our goals, create synergies, etc.
Yep, I did that too…
Don’t ask.
While sitting on the floor for hours (the meeting was scheduled from 7 till 9 pm, but often lasted until midnight - and remember, his office was 350km away from me and I went there and came back straight away, working the day of the meeting and the next day) we started talking about how we all love each other and world peace and that sort of stuff…
I told you not to ask ;-)
The final act
While all these things were happening and I was running out of A) work and B) money, "C" said that my final break-through is about to come.
There is just one thing left to do. Create a full-blown, fully automated online marketing system for him, that sells his products day and night.
That was the topic of the course I took that he paid for…
I was telling myself that this is the final act and then I will quit. Remember, I NEVER EVER quit. At least that’s what I kept telling myself.
For some reason, I couldn’t do it. Literally every time I started working on it, my brain froze.
It’s hard, "C" said, because this is the final stage. I have to push through. I need to work more, best 2 weeks non-stop, with only 2-3 hours of sleep a day.
Don’t forget - I was already in the red zone for months at this point. I was completely destroyed physically and mentally. I jumped through all the hoops there were.
And now I should push more?
There was no more. I gave it all I had, but I ran out of gas. Around that period, my girlfriend and me booked a small vacation. It was planned as a vacation, but actually it was some sort of rehabilitation camp for my burn-out, or whatever that was.
I sat on the beach for hours, not talking, not sleeping, not doing anything, except for staring at the sea.
After days of doing this, I started feeling a bit better. Somewhere deep down, a new flame started lighting up. So I started feeling a bit better.
After we returned home and hell started from scratch. Now, the pressure of running really low on money was added to the mix and again, this was a deadly cocktail.
I started ignoring "C", not taking his calls, not responding whatsoever. He even started texting my girlfriend and my brother, which was the last, but not least line he crossed.
I thought: “Okay, hey, let’s deal with it like men do.” and I went to talk to him. Don’t forget, it is 350km away. Don’t ask me what happened, but after coming home, I was in some sort of tunnel. AGAIN.
I thought okay, let’s finish this for him. Maybe it really is my breakt-through.
Can you guess what happened next?
Right. I went bankrupt. I had to borrow money from E.V.E.R.Y.B.O.D.Y.
When I told "C" that he had done a good job coaching me to success, he told me that life is forcing me now to finally live my calling and do online marketing which of course would start with building his system first. And that I should ask my parents for money. He said I should take 3 months off, build his system while living off my parents’ pockets.
And this is when I saw red.
I got the signs a long time ago.
I ignored them all.
I saw red.
All of a sudden.
Not a little red.
F.U.L.L. R.E.D. all the way.
I took a bit of time off last week and thought to cool down before I say stuff that would hurt people.
Wrong decision, again.
Because, yeah, you guessed right.
"C" kept texting me in my vacation. And just now, around an hour ago, I cut A.L.L. cords. I told him to never call me again. To never text me again. To never come close to me again. To leave my girlfriend in peace.
It was a very slick, but crystal clear email. If you want, you can read some threat between the lines. That was also the intention. Because I felt threatened. Not only did I see my well-being endangered, but also that of the people around me.
While I am sitting here typing these words, I feel sick. Sick of myself. For somebody with half a brain, all of the above would have been very clear. I know I have a well functioning, whole brain, and all I can ask myself now is…
HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?
WHY THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?
This is my story. This is what really happened over the last 1,5 years. It’s the main plot, while there are many more details I spare you at the moment. Maybe I’ll write a book about it one day, who knows.
All I can ask of you is to try to understand me. And don’t judge me. I know I would judge somebody telling me such a f*cked up story. But the truth is, and I never believed this, it happened to me…
I hope you guys can learn one or two lessons from this.
Oh, and feel free to ask away anything that comes to mind. Literally, anything. No borders. I think part of me dealing with this is to be brutally honest about it. And that encounters brutally honest answers to brutally honest questions.
Even if it hurts…
P.S. I am unbelievably grateful that I can share that with you guys. You have been there all along, and this I will never forget.
Oh, and feel free to ask away anything that comes to mind. Literally, anything. No borders. I think part of me dealing with this is to be brutally honest about it. And that encounters brutally honest answers to brutally honest questions.
This reads like a story straight out of "Combatting Cult Mind Control" and you don't need to feel any particular way about it except what you already feel with regard to anger and frustration.
Cults and the gurus who run them target intelligent, hard-working producer types. They don't want stupid people. They don't want lazy people. They want producers who will produce for them. They want people who think they are too smart to fall for the traps because their guard is down.
Gurus and the cults they form center around pulling people in and keeping them so busy and confused that they don't have time to think. Members become mentally exhausted and vulnerable to concepts such as hypnosis, which it sounds like he was using from the start, not just at the point when he mentioned it.
Based on what you've described here, you took the best action. Cut ties. Never talk to him again. You have everything you need to create a $10k/mo business on your own even if you have to start from scratch. Good for you for realizing it when you did. Could've wasted a lot more time and energy and wound up even worse off.
Where will you go from here? What's next? How will you start to pick up the pieces and put them back together?
1. Then you shouldn't try to sell your product by relating it to ROI. Maybe there are other benefits of having great graphic design - a website that you're proud of and that represents you, etc. Maybe it will be really hard to track the ROI and see how it improves it, but we all intuitively know that better, easier to understand design that is neat and clear WILL make you look more professional and bring in more buyers. And you have the stats to back it up. So don't give up on it. You've uncovered a problem. Solve it!! Start blogging about it, educate your market, and they'll flip out their wallets like you've never thought possible before. That's where it's at nowadays - education. It's all about that.
- Graphic Design projects are freaking hard to sell. You cannot really measure ROI on investments and it is hard to justify asking for more money at the end of a project if you haven't moved the needle for the business. Moving the needle always means more leads, more sales, more revenues.
- It is sooo tiring to sell one-off, smallish projects, month after month. No matter if it's a $100 flyer, a $1000 logo or a $5000 All-In Deal (I have sold all of these and more), at the end of the day, at one point, the project is finished, the client is served and you have to start from scratch. Building a business that way is very, very hard, since it's not predictable.
Great post!Hi Nico! Sorry to hear about what went on with you... definitely something to watch out for, and I hope more people on this forum read your story and learn from it.
I think another important point is that you need to get your priorities right: money is important, but it's not the MOST important. For example, it wouldn't be worth having all the money in the world if you had to be a slave for it.
Money is valuable because it helps you achieve FREEDOM. So tying yourself to "mentors", "gurus", and the like is the opposite of freedom. You're exchanging your freedom for money, and the whole point was to get money to increase your freedom. So if you lose sight of the real purpose, then you can easily fall into traps.
I'm happy to hear that you're restarting if you want any pointers or advice at any point feel free to reach out. I own a direct response agency, and we work with many entrepreneurs online selling all kinds of products and services. I'd be happy to help you out with advice if you ever need it (not with our services because we're quite expensive and most people can't afford haha).
One piece of advice:
1. Then you shouldn't try to sell your product by relating it to ROI. Maybe there are other benefits of having great graphic design - a website that you're proud of and that represents you, etc. Maybe it will be really hard to track the ROI and see how it improves it, but we all intuitively know that better, easier to understand design that is neat and clear WILL make you look more professional and bring in more buyers. And you have the stats to back it up. So don't give up on it. You've uncovered a problem. Solve it!! Start blogging about it, educate your market, and they'll flip out their wallets like you've never thought possible before. That's where it's at nowadays - education. It's all about that.
2. Yes, the project is always finished and the client is always served, BUT... what's your referrals strategy? Every client should mean more clients. Have you thought about that? What about follow-up strategy? Keep your clients updated with news about graphic design through a newsletter. Then every once in a while you publish an article like "How A Well Designed Brochure Can Increase Your Revenue" and offer them a discount coupon for a brochure. If you build your list out the right way, these people are going to buy from you...
Remember - don't run from problems. The obstacle IS the way.
Good luck!
I think another important point is that you need to get your priorities right: money is important, but it's not the MOST important. For example, it wouldn't be worth having all the money in the world if you had to be a slave for it.
Money is valuable because it helps you achieve FREEDOM. So tying yourself to "mentors", "gurus", and the like is the opposite of freedom. You're exchanging your freedom for money, and the whole point was to get money to increase your freedom. So if you lose sight of the real purpose, then you can easily fall into traps.
I'm happy to hear that you're restarting if you want any pointers or advice at any point feel free to reach out. I own a direct response agency, and we work with many entrepreneurs online selling all kinds of products and services. I'd be happy to help you out with advice if you ever need it (not with our services because we're quite expensive and most people can't afford haha).
1. Then you shouldn't try to sell your product by relating it to ROI. Maybe there are other benefits of having great graphic design - a website that you're proud of and that represents you, etc. Maybe it will be really hard to track the ROI and see how it improves it, but we all intuitively know that better, easier to understand design that is neat and clear WILL make you look more professional and bring in more buyers. And you have the stats to back it up. So don't give up on it. You've uncovered a problem. Solve it!! Start blogging about it, educate your market, and they'll flip out their wallets like you've never thought possible before. That's where it's at nowadays - education. It's all about that.
2. Yes, the project is always finished and the client is always served, BUT... what's your referrals strategy? Every client should mean more clients. Have you thought about that? What about follow-up strategy? Keep your clients updated with news about graphic design through a newsletter. Then every once in a while you publish an article like "How A Well Designed Brochure Can Increase Your Revenue" and offer them a discount coupon for a brochure. If you build your list out the right way, these people are going to buy from you...
Remember - don't run from problems. The obstacle IS the way.
Yes, I see. The interesting bit is where does the "softness" come from? Why do you give?100% agreed. Here's how it came to it... If you check this post here you'll see that I doubted myself for being a giver. I was taken advantage of for many years, in all areas of life. At one point, I thought, heck, I am too soft for this stuff.
My answer to this was: "Ok then, now it's only money that counts. I will only focus on money." This is how my head twisted this idea of being too giving into something more "business minded".
But that's resolved now ;-)
Yes... why did you outsource your thinking? What's the advantage out of that? Because there must be an advantage, why were you doing it?Hell yeah. And, something I JUST realized is, that you also OUTSOURCE YOUR THINKING. You automatically take every word these people say for granted and stop thinking for yourself. It went so far that I got so tangled up that I even asked for advice on how to write emails or on how to drink my coffee.
I handed everything that makes me me over to somebody else.
Yikes.
I don't "enjoy" many aspects of my work. I think there are always things you don't enjoy. It's not enjoyable per say to work out. It's hard, it's painful, it F*cking hurts man! You have to push yourself through feeling that you can't go on... it's not easy. Entrepreneurship is not much different. You will struggle, and you will suffer. So why do it?This is really interesting. I haven't looked at it that way - thanks for making me look The truth is that I am in two minds about graphic design. It is something that has kept me afloat twice in my life before, but it is something I don't enjoy 100% anymore. I now have to figure out if my love for it is diluted by my previous experiences, or if it is the actual skill/work that started to bore me.
I do agree 100% with you though.
What I am planning right now is not to cut it completely, but to stack my skills on top of each other and give it a unique twist, as @Andy Black suggests to do here.
I think the issue is that the products weren't fulfilling a need. They weren't solving a problem. I mean if I hire you to design a brochure for me (let's say), and then you advertise a T-Shirt design to me, why should I care? What's in it for me? If you don't educate your market before you sell, nobody is going to buy. Remember: people who buy graphic design etc. are typically people who own businesses in some form or another. This is a tough market. They're not the kind of people that you can sell Reiki crystals to just because they look good... There are such people as well out there, but they're unlikely to be the kind of people who pay you for graphic design. So you must create products aimed at these people - things that will be useful TO THEM.Good spot - caught me there. I neglected referrals as well as educating my existing clients with a weekly newsletter. Definitely something I could have done much better.
What I did do was monthly offers: I would decide upon a deal of the month, pick a product (for instance a T-Shirt, or a shopping bag), offer them the design at a discount and also handle the production. They only had to say yes and have it delivered to their doors.
Although it was a super warm list of around 35 existing clients that were also paying me at that time, nobody every took me up on this. So either I got the products wrong, the execution wrong, or it was just something that wouldn't work in my specific case.
Sometimes the biggest breakthroughs come not from giving up your goal, but changing the methods you're using to achieve it. There is a time for giving up, and a time for persisting... the challenge that few people know the answer to is when to give up, and when to persist...It's just sometimes that you have to have the distance to say: "Hell, f*ck it. This doesn't work. Let's change it."
I doubted myself so much that I was ready to f*ck everything and go back to a job. Until I realized that entrepreneurship is not a personality trait (good with numbers, good with people, outspoken, etc.), but a way of thinking. I realized that I ultimately cannot run from it. So better get to it right away
Yes, I see. The interesting bit is where does the "softness" come from? Why do you give?
Think about it...
Why is it that you want to give?
Seriously... just take a few moments and STOP what you're doing, and think about it.
Are you giving because others have something that you want, and giving is your way of obtaining it? Or perhaps of not losing it if you already have it?
Or are you giving because it's something that comes from deep inside... you are overflowing with something, whatever it is, and so you give... you get it out?
Because the two forms of giving are very different... one is giving from weakness, because you're looking for something to fulfil you on the outside, and giving is merely the means of getting it, and the other is giving from strength, because you have too much and it overflows...
And then... if you are giving from weakness, the real issue lies deeper. And until you find that strength within you, until you discover that you yourself are incredibly rich (maybe not financially yet), you will keep searching for something to fulfil you on the outside... and you will remain a slave to other people, since they will have the keys to the kingdom...
Yes... why did you outsource your thinking? What's the advantage out of that? Because there must be an advantage, why were you doing it?
What do you get by not having to think? You avoid making decisions to begin with... others make them for you. And what's the advantage of that? You no longer have to question yourself. And what's the advantage of that? You no longer get to experience fear and anxiety... When you no longer have to choose between A and B, you're no longer anxious which choice is going to be better than the other... You will no longer experience those ugly and nasty feelings of fear...
So outsourcing your thinking is a way to deal with fear. Find another way to deal with fear... and then this won't ever be a problem for you again.
I don't "enjoy" many aspects of my work. I think there are always things you don't enjoy. It's not enjoyable per say to work out. It's hard, it's painful, it F*cking hurts man! You have to push yourself through feeling that you can't go on... it's not easy. Entrepreneurship is not much different. You will struggle, and you will suffer. So why do it?
The most mundane answer for me is that you will suffer less than if you hold a job. If you hold a job, you won't feel the fear, but the risks will be there... getting fired and not being able to provide for your family (because remember, you don't know how to earn money another way), getting humiliated at work, being forced to do something that you don't like... is that the kind of life you'd want to live, or would you be willing to face your fear to discover another kind of life on the other side of fear?
It's also useful to remember that you should be afraid of both A and B... typically we're afraid only of one thing, and forget about the other. Say you're afraid of a surgery (option A). Typically you forget to also be afraid of option B - not having the surgery. Many times carefully looking at my fear actually made me realise that I fear one option more than the other, and one option is riskier than the other. That has helped me take many decisions.
I think the issue is that the products weren't fulfilling a need. They weren't solving a problem. I mean if I hire you to design a brochure for me (let's say), and then you advertise a T-Shirt design to me, why should I care? What's in it for me? If you don't educate your market before you sell, nobody is going to buy. Remember: people who buy graphic design etc. are typically people who own businesses in some form or another. This is a tough market. They're not the kind of people that you can sell Reiki crystals to just because they look good... There are such people as well out there, but they're unlikely to be the kind of people who pay you for graphic design. So you must create products aimed at these people - things that will be useful TO THEM.
This is the biggest problem I encounter at the agency. Most people struggle because of having an offer that doesn't fulfill a market need. Look at the stats... 42% of startups fail because there is no market need... people create a product, and then FAIL to find a market for it... because they approached it the wrong way around.
You need to start understanding your market. Are these the kind of people who think very rationally and long before taking a decision? Do they buy on impulse? What are their needs? What are their problems?
Sometimes the biggest breakthroughs come not from giving up your goal, but changing the methods you're using to achieve it. There is a time for giving up, and a time for persisting... the challenge that few people know the answer to is when to give up, and when to persist...
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYYJDsj-rzI
This video contains much the same message that you have realised (even though it's more about life in general) - there are no Teachers in this. Entrepreneurship is a lonely road, and you have to figure out things for yourself. Every entrepreneur has figured out HIS or HER way... and they have barely managed to do that. Whatever they have figured out may have been saving grace for them, but may be poisoned water for you. Ultimately, YOU ALONE are responsible for your failure or success, regardless of what other people advise you...
@Nicoknowsbest sorry to hear about your story, Nico. I’m glad you are back on track and restarting!
I’ve had similar “horror” story, where I was approached by a friendly gentlemen dressed in a suit in the business section of the book store and was offered some coaching to become wealthy.. turns out (5-6 meetings later) it was freaking AMWAY and I was being suckered into it.
So, after a bit of blah blah, what are my next action steps?
What happened meanwhile?
- I will finish my concrete framework for my offer this week. I call it a framework because it's just a hypothesis I want to test. The market will tell me how to adjust.
- I will spend exactly one week (next week) to find a new client for this new offer. If I don't, I will pivot. No business cards, no logo, no website, no bullshit.
- Closed a deal for €500 for a brand design and got paid in advance this time, which was a nice experience.
- Closed a smaller deal for €100 probably resulting in more work later on. But if not, no worries. Give without expect anything in return.
- Will start working on a €1000 deal that is still open from the previous month.
- All of this will give me a bit of peace of mind.
Interesting. I’ve always said that I can’t NOT do what I do. If I don’t get my thoughts and writing down on paper then my head will get all jammed up. I need to get it out to get head space, and it has the added benefit of giving me more clarity.Are you giving because others have something that you want, and giving is your way of obtaining it? Or perhaps of not losing it if you already have it?
Or are you giving because it's something that comes from deep inside... you are overflowing with something, whatever it is, and so you give... you get it out?
I would say to train yourself to be aware and notice it as it is happening. The moment you notice something, you have already disengaged from it, it is no longer part of your identity, of who you are.Now that I have discovered a deeper issue, do you have any idea of how to proceed in this @Black_Dragon43?
From my experience, overthinking comes from not knowing how to take decisions in a particular situation. I don't mean not knowing what decisions to take, but rather not knowing HOW (the process of taking) decisions.This overthinking concerns many aspects - from detailed business questions to overall life path decisions. To date, I haven't really found a means to deal with this efficiently, despite trying various strategies, such as mental training, meditation, etc.
Good question.How do you deal with fear?
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