SUCCESS IS NOT A GOOD TEACHER!
You learned the most when you fail. The greatest lesson in life lies in failure. Sad to say that our society doesn’t allow failure. And I failed many times in life.
I boldly say that I learned precious lessons from those failure which builds emotional and mental muscles. Those mistakes I shall not repeat, and it means I can only get better.
And I just failed in a business. Left the business, and starting from scratch. This is the post if you would like to know about it.
There are a couple of business lessons I got out from this failure. The thing is these lessons may not come from the “triggered” failure. Some come from the whole 1.5 years which I observed in the business.
Lesson #1: Lack of Marketing Skill
This is common sense which any newbie can shout it. That’s true! But not any newbie has the distinction on the LACK. And I’m no newbie.
Where should I begin on Marketing?
Keep It Simple! When planning your marketing message, keep it simple so much so that common consumer understands it. Keep away from jargons or only words that only you can understand.
One example of complicated is try reading an University textbook or a lawyer letter. Those paragraphs can definitely be simplified but they are not. You have to think through it like using the shortest road to reach home.
But Not That Simple! With consumer getting wiser and more informed, your marketing message can’t be that simple that there’s no differentiation.
It’s about striking a balance between simple and complicated. You can test, test and test the message. Get feedback from others, re-read and re-write your message at least once.
Be Specific Not Vague! Marketing message that is vague attract vague audience or no audience. The message has to drive direct to the target market. What you are going to do for the audience has to be specific. How you going to do it has to be specific.
Generate the message from a down-to-earth perspective. Some messages comes from the cloud-in-the-sky perspective. Entrepreneurs see a vision. At times these vision is so far away, only they can see it. They got to create a down-to-earth message to sell their vision.
Services with intangible products easily falls into the the VAGUE trap. Services are only business ideas that can’t really be seen. It’ll take a bit more effort to describe services specifically. Do take note of this.
Lesson #2: Lack of Humility
Business is about people. People buys your products. Talk to people, all kinds of people; not selectively.
Make connection with individual, that’s how trust is built. People buy from those they trust. There are multiple ways of making a connection with today’s technology. Though each has its pros and cons, therefore, use all methods.
Many prospects buy from me because I got connected with them in the first place. Their feedback was trust in me resulted in easier purchasing decision.
Careful of being fallen into humbleness, but no connection situation.
This group are humble, they never felt that they are proud. But they just couldn’t sit themselves down to have a decent conversation with a stranger, or picking up a phone to call a prospect.
They don’t walk the ground to understand the masses. They lose touch with the ground, they do not know what the market wants. They are like the armchair general.
Their customers usually only buy once from them. There will be very little repeated sales or referred sales.
Have conversation without selection. Talk to people from all woks of life, build connection with people. Easiest way is to smile and say HI.
Lesson #3: Overly Optimism
Start saying that things are easy is the downfall of an organization. That’s because things are not easy. Saying things are easy get you into complacency. It gets you into carelessness.
The distinction is saying is easy, doing is not. Like a General in the army who says, “we need to move the troop from A to B.” It’s easy to say. But the execution is maybe a 20km walk.
If you hear anyone saying it’s easy to do this or that. Stay far away from them. Chances are they don’t have the experience of walking that 20km.
Check in with yourself frequently, are you being overly optimistic. Especially when business are doing well, the more frequent you should check in.
When your business is on the roll, you should actually be less optimistic. My dad’s business fell to the ground because of overly optimism. “Wow, the business is making lots of money. Everything we touch turns to gold. We are successful, nothing can go wrong.”
It’s when everything started to go wrong.
These are what I have so far. I will continue to add more lessons as I come across them in my daily life. Also I do know that everyday there are some who will flop in business. If you are one of them, just know that, it’s ok to fail. What will you do after you fail?
