He spent 6 months, No, Sorry 8 months, that's a lie, "a whole year" without sales, not one single customer.
How? Well...
First month - writing a Business Plan, (with the help of one of the best "investment analyst bankers" in the country, 40 pages long).
Second Month - Market Analysis (without actually speaking to the actual customers who will use this product)
Third - Sixth Month - Registration of Business, Creation of E-commerce website, Generation of suppliers for products, Business letters, Business Cards, Seal, Online Payment Gateway.
At this point, He is so far off into his mental progress that He doesn't know who his customers are anymore, neither has he approached them, or validate a need, a market, a pain to solve.
Seventh Month
He goes into operations trying to gather sales, He tells himself "I will just probably upload products online, advertise on Google and Facebook at least we have a few followers there, i'm sure with time we would get some sales". 31st of seventh month - No Sales
Eighth Month - Now things are getting tricky, His Pops just called him in asking about his plans, he can't keep on going like this, but he is stubborn, he doesn't want a job, people have invested into this business with him, this gives him sleepless nights, his investors skype him every morning about his progress, nothing to report except some gibberish about how tough it is to gain market share, His investors know crap about the market they have invested in, neither can they had value since both of them are slowlaners and are looking for a fast exit.
Ninth Month - His Mom, Brother, Father's tenant and family friend makes a few purchase, this gives him a false sense of progress and he believes he just had his first sale.
Tength Month - Now He is Desperate, He is cold calling, cold emailing every possible lead of customer he can get, trying to ram down his products into their lives, still no response, still no sales, How sad is this? Very sad, I Guess.
Eleventh Month- He reads The Millionaire Fastlane , through the book learns, about a forum in which the book is based on, He has made so many mistakes that cannot be covered in a single article, but yet he is stubborn, yet he doesn't give up, His competitors are selling, there must be something they are doing right, he didn't try to reinvent the wheel, but he isn't getting response, he isn't getting sales, something is wrong.
Twelve Month
His birthday was yesterday, everyone on Facebook was praising, "Entrepreneur of the Year" "I can't Believe your passion" He isn't fooled by this, HE HAS HAD IT, but still He is stubborn, He keeps asking himself "Have I Done All I can to make this business work" the answer is always no, His gut tells him to keep on trying, But he is not sure if he can trust his gut anymore, its so corrupted at this point, He has contacted every major leader in his industry, trying to see if he can solve their problems, sent proposals to them but still no reply, He is doing something wrong, what could it be? he has no idea, maybe you reading this has an answer, but what is his question, what's really bothering him, what's the main point and essence of this really long post, here it is:
In an Entrepreneur first Journey of business when does he know its time to Quit? and when does he keep on going and pushing it?
As you must have probably figured out, He is Me, and I believe a lot of Newbies in the business world face this when to keep on going and when to call it quits dilemma, I hope I learn something from this all, but I must say it has been a refreshing exercise writing all this.
How? Well...
First month - writing a Business Plan, (with the help of one of the best "investment analyst bankers" in the country, 40 pages long).
Second Month - Market Analysis (without actually speaking to the actual customers who will use this product)
Third - Sixth Month - Registration of Business, Creation of E-commerce website, Generation of suppliers for products, Business letters, Business Cards, Seal, Online Payment Gateway.
At this point, He is so far off into his mental progress that He doesn't know who his customers are anymore, neither has he approached them, or validate a need, a market, a pain to solve.
Seventh Month
He goes into operations trying to gather sales, He tells himself "I will just probably upload products online, advertise on Google and Facebook at least we have a few followers there, i'm sure with time we would get some sales". 31st of seventh month - No Sales
Eighth Month - Now things are getting tricky, His Pops just called him in asking about his plans, he can't keep on going like this, but he is stubborn, he doesn't want a job, people have invested into this business with him, this gives him sleepless nights, his investors skype him every morning about his progress, nothing to report except some gibberish about how tough it is to gain market share, His investors know crap about the market they have invested in, neither can they had value since both of them are slowlaners and are looking for a fast exit.
Ninth Month - His Mom, Brother, Father's tenant and family friend makes a few purchase, this gives him a false sense of progress and he believes he just had his first sale.
Tength Month - Now He is Desperate, He is cold calling, cold emailing every possible lead of customer he can get, trying to ram down his products into their lives, still no response, still no sales, How sad is this? Very sad, I Guess.
Eleventh Month- He reads The Millionaire Fastlane , through the book learns, about a forum in which the book is based on, He has made so many mistakes that cannot be covered in a single article, but yet he is stubborn, yet he doesn't give up, His competitors are selling, there must be something they are doing right, he didn't try to reinvent the wheel, but he isn't getting response, he isn't getting sales, something is wrong.
Twelve Month
His birthday was yesterday, everyone on Facebook was praising, "Entrepreneur of the Year" "I can't Believe your passion" He isn't fooled by this, HE HAS HAD IT, but still He is stubborn, He keeps asking himself "Have I Done All I can to make this business work" the answer is always no, His gut tells him to keep on trying, But he is not sure if he can trust his gut anymore, its so corrupted at this point, He has contacted every major leader in his industry, trying to see if he can solve their problems, sent proposals to them but still no reply, He is doing something wrong, what could it be? he has no idea, maybe you reading this has an answer, but what is his question, what's really bothering him, what's the main point and essence of this really long post, here it is:
In an Entrepreneur first Journey of business when does he know its time to Quit? and when does he keep on going and pushing it?
As you must have probably figured out, He is Me, and I believe a lot of Newbies in the business world face this when to keep on going and when to call it quits dilemma, I hope I learn something from this all, but I must say it has been a refreshing exercise writing all this.
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