Why Do Most Online Businesses Fail?

[Yelena]

3. People are looking to get rich quick so they invest into things that may not be a logcal investment. Especially in these times of desperation.

4. They don't constantly educate themselves on how to push themselves futher. Not to mention there are always new ways to promote etc. Business is a never ending learning process.

beautifulsoul, these 2 new points are really great!

I watched the free video training from Eben Pagan yesterday, and all I can say is WOW. You would think by now I should be used to the quality of his material, but every time he comes out with a new training, he proves once again that he is the king of overdelivering.

I took a ton of notes. A lot of people are looking for the latest tricks, "secrets", tactics and advanced stuff - heck, sometimes even I find myself sucked into this mentality. But the real secret is to get back to the basics, to get the mindset and fundamental skills right (just like in sports). And Eben has a talent for taking the most complex things, breaking them down and explaining them in a way where you really get them, not just as a mental concept, but as a personal experience. Powerful, powerful training.

If you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend that you do (I don't know how long the training will be available, but I added the link to my sig for now). It's about 70 minutes long, so set aside enough time to watch it without distraction (just don't watch it before bed - I did and couldn't fall asleep until 5am, was still digesting all the profound revelations I got).

P.S. I did the "Ultimatum Game" experiment with my husband, and what do you think? He acted like most people in the original experiment, 70/30 was enough to trigger the "Justice Mechanism". It's one thing to hear about this phenomenon, but it's totally different when you witness it in person. It gave me goosebumps - seeing a human mind basically turning into its own enemy. Crazy.

[aussieroo1]

You all mentioned good points, but I believe that a reason why online businesses fail is because we set goals that are too high to the point of not being able to achieve them. What usually happens is we get disappointed if we fail and lose interest in the business. Make sure that we don't set high expectations and to just go with the flow for the business to work out.

[Yelena]

aussieroo1, I agree with you - I too prefer to set small goals and adjust them/raise the bar often, after I achieve each one. If the goal is too big (for me), it doesn't motivate me. It feels like I'm kidding myself, and I end up doing nothing.

I always need to see at least the next 2 steps, and with a sequence of small goals it's easy and doable.

[Sheraz]

The main reason of Online business failure . . . First! Goals are not define properly. Second! not enough promotional strategies are used to market the business. This is the most important point that cause the failure of online business. Internet is a big market, mass marketing is very necessary to promote the business because the whole world is one click away.

[Yelena]

I just wanted to add another point to the list of reasons for business failure.

Throughout my whole life, I've been used to succeeding in many things on the first attempt. That may seem like a great experience, but in reality it did me a disservice: whenever I tried something new, I expected to hit a home run right away. And when that didn't happen, it was such a blow for my self esteem that my knee-jerk reaction was to quit.

It was only after I changed my self-talk, that I started moving forward. What I used to think before was "If I don't succeed on the first try, I'm a failure" or "It's not my thing, I should be doing something else". But then I heard somewhere about martial arts masters - how they all started with a white belt and worked their way to a black belt by making mistakes, learning from those mistakes and adjusting their approaches. That's a no brainer of course, but this time I really got it.

When you look at successful people, there is a tendency to think that they are special in some way, that they had it easy. But there is no shortcut for anyone, everyone has to go through the same painful process of screwing up.

When I started thinking in my mind "It's okay, I'm learning, and mistakes/failures are a part of the process, making mistakes is GOOD, there is no other way to learn", growth became effortless. I now consider mistakes/failures one of the best things that can happen to a person, because they allow you to really learn something, not just hear or read about it from somebody else's experience. They make you stronger and more powerful - if you look at them from this perspective. I LOVE it when I make mistakes now - they move me ahead so much faster!

So my point is, your ultimate success or failure depends on what's going on in your head. There are so many people who quit right before a breakthrough, because they get impatient and start thinking "This is not working". The people who stick with it and enjoy the levels of success you dream about, have their minds in order first and foremost.


P.S. Has anyone watched Eben Pagan's first training yet? What were your biggest take-aways?

P.P.S. Eben has released another bomb - free video training called "5 Powerful New Techniques for Growing Your Business". It's a compilation of of some of the best sections of a program that cost $10,000 to attend. You will learn:

>How to create what's called a "Customer Avatar" so you
can talk to your customers in a way that feels PERSONAL...
and compels them to buy what you're selling

>How to design your website to increase the conversions
and sales (the tips in this section are GOLD)

>How to get customers to "stick" - and KEEP what they
buy from you (refunds are expensive for everyone... here's
how to minimize them)

...and much more.

[Yelena]

For those of you who didn't listen to Eben's teleclass, here is his list of 5 top mistakes people make with their online businesses (with my notes from the call):


Starting a business that you don't understand or a getting into a get-rich-quick scheme

- Warren Buffet is a great example - when he chose to pass on the .com boom, everyone thought he was getting senile. After the bust, he was probably the only one who was not affected - he actually came out ahead (despite "missing out on the great opportunity"), because he remained true to his investing principle (which is to invest only in the businesses he understands).

- there is no fast and easy money, even though most marketers make you believe that (and a lot of people actually want to believe that)

- common myth #1: "Do what you love and the money will follow". Instead, find a solid business idea, then find an aspect of it that you will enjoy doing.

- common myth #2: "Build it and they will come" - something that only sounds good, but doesn't work in real life.



"Trying" an online business

- trying/stopping/distracting is like taking surface streets instead of a freeway route to destination.

- expecting instant gratification, when in reality everything worthwhile takes a lot of time to develop.



Treating a business as a job

- need to shift your mindset from "employee" to "business owner". In a job you get paid for work, in a business you only get paid for results.

- Failure/mistakes are frowned upon in a job, but in a business failure is an answer to the question "what if", it's a prerequisite to success, it's just a result of testing. Most of what even successful people do doesn't work - so you simply check it off your list and move on to the next thing to try.

- poker players and stock investors lose more often than they win, but they let their winners run.

- you never know what will work until you try.



Not realizing that a business is only about 3 things:

- marketing: give away your very best stuff for free (what they do in Hollywood with movie trailers, or in music industry with singles).

- products: they must pass the following checklist:
1) is my prospect experiencing pain or urgency or irrational passion?
2) is my prospect proactively looking for solutions?
3) does my prospect have few or no perceived options?

- relationships with existing customers (it's 8 times more productive to focus on repeat sales than on trying to get new customers).



Focusing on getting money before creating enough value for other people

- create 10 times more value than you charge for.

- don't let "Justice Mechanism" prevent your success.


That's just in a nutshell - the teleclass was more than an hour long.
Hope my notes make sense!

[Yelena]

If you can't afford to buy Eben Pagan's programs, watch all the free trainings he released, before he takes them down. Don't let the fact that they are free fool you - those trainings are the compilations of his actual paid programs, and very, very powerful (people paid thousands of dollars for them, and you are getting some of the best parts for free).

They will be available for a few more days, so don't snooze!
(the links are in my signature)

[sallywu123]

Originally Posted by beautifulsoul

A really good topic. So many good responses. Here's my list. I'll try not to repeat to much of what's been said.

1. People give up too fast. They don't get the results they expect to get in a certain time frame so they quit. They are naive about the time and persistence that has to be put into work for it to suceed.


2. A lot of people want the money but aren't willing to do the things it takes to get it.

3. People are looking to get rich quick so they invest into things that may not be a logcal investment. Especially in these times of desperation.

4. They don't constantly educate themselves on how to push themselves futher. Not to mention there are always new ways to promote etc. Business is a never ending learning process.

5. They haven't done enough research on their field. So they jump head first without truely knowing what they are getting themselves into. Research, research, research and looking at the business from every angle before jumping in is essential. I personally don't like surprises.

Not too much to add because it's all been said.

You said great! Business can exercise people's willpower.

[fong47]

I think because they don't treat their business seriously. If you treat them like hobby, you'll get hobby result. Just my 2 cents..

[ipnllc]

I believe it's a lack of timing in the market the person chooses. You have to catch the market at just the right time to make the most gains. Tried and True advice!