HOW TO BEAT DEPRESSION!
Here's the story of a small, almost successful mail order entrepreneur, and
how he overcomes the blues that comes with his way of conducting business:
What an adrenalin rush! Last week when I visited the post office my post
office box was overflowing with orders. One day, I had to get a plastic
container just to carry the mail home. At the end of the week, I had made
about $1,200 in orders!
Unfortunately, I spent money to stock up on inventory. I anticipated
receiving the same type of business the next week to make up for any
overspending I had done this week.That did not happen.
The next week brought in a total of $150 in orders _ and the week after that
brought in only $10! After that, depression set in. I kept saying
"What will I do now? I spent the $1,200 and only have $80 to my name. Rent
will be due in a couple weeks and I'm flat broke _ simply because I let money
go to my head because I was temporarily "rich."
This is one example of how a business works sometimes and it's important to
not take everything for granted. As employees of other companies, we were use
to the fact of receiving a paycheck every week. Whether we worked hard or
not, our paycheck was always the same and always on time. All we had to do
was put in our 8-hours, 5-days a week.
Also, we were not used to spending any money to fill orders. If we needed to
mail something, we sent it to the mail room or ran it through the postage
meter. As employees, we didn't pay for the postage out of our own pockets.
Our employer took care of it. That also goes for supplies. If we ran out of
paper for our typewriter, we went to the supply cabinet and got a pack out.
We never worried about spending our own money to pay for office supplies.
But when you own and operate your own business money is hard to come by
especially the first few years. You generate your own income! So instead of
thinking about riches and glory _ think about improving upon what you already
have. If you have a $1,200 week pat yourself on the back _ but don't be
stupid like I did and spend it thinking you'll have the same amount next week.
This may not happen for another 6 months!
Instead, find out "why" you generated this much money one week and hardly
anything the next week. Did you stop marketing because you didn't think you
had to anymore? Did you spend time filling all those $1,200 worth of orders
and generating back-end sales? (A back-end sale is placing some form of
advertising in with the orders you fill that will generate additional sales.
These items should be for products and services that either compliment or are
the same as the product the customer purchased.)
Were all the orders that made up the $1,200 week for the same product or
different ones? Where did you advertise in order to generate this response?
Was it a specific publication or a combination of several of them? Were the
orders for something that people run out of frequently (i.e., printing,
typesetting and advertising?) If so _ you can have a special offer for these
same customers in a few weeks with a money-saving coupon for them to use.
This will generate repeat business and the likelihood of another $1,200 week
in the near future.
However, if you do spend the money like I did and depression sets i,
just sit down for a moment and reflect on what you do have: a roof over your
head, food to eat, a legitimate business that will grow and possibly steady
out in the future, peace of mind and the ability to work on your own without
employers and people breathing down your neck!
In addition _ if you spend the money and cannot buy the supplies to fill the
orders, DON'T just avoid your customers and hope they'll understand. Instead,
send them a postcard that simply explains that you had such a large response
that you sold out of the item. Tell them approximately "when" their order
will be filled and "when" to expect it. If you can't possibly fill the order
within 30 days, give your customer the option of getting their money back or
better yet _ issue them a Credit Voucher to use on future purchases.
If you have no income at all and cannot possibly refund people's money offer
them something in return that you can provide. You need to find some way to
compensate your customers. Remember that they trusted you enough to see your
ad, write out a check and spend their hard-earned money on you. They may not
have a lot of money either. Avoiding them will turn you into a "rip-off"
artist with no future in the industry!
