Wait, what?
What’s that even mean?
Listen, a lot of people, especially when they first start out in business, are hell-bent on getting sales.
Any sales.
All sales.
And that can cause some major issues, both in the short term and long-term.
Short term issues include:
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Over promising and under delivering
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Charge-backs and refund requests
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Sales in the wrong niche
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Sounding desperate
Long term issues are even worse:
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Labeled as a scammer (yeah, it can happen)
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Inability to gain actual traction in your business
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Not actually making money in your business
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Burnout
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Giving up
I have been there, done that. And it got me nowhere.
I hopped in anywhere and everywhere I thought I could ‘help’ and pitched to anyone looking.
Thankfully, I was generally able to deliver
Unfortunately, I over-stretched myself, got into stuff I wasn’t an expert in, and didn’t deliver stellar results.
It resulted in some really tough lessons learned, including needing to refund a good deal of money I was counting on keeping.
So, how do you avoid the ‘oh my gosh I need to make this sale no matter what’ mentality?
Start by doing a few things:
Insert Cliche ‘Be Yourself’ Advice here
Look, I know.
Everyone says to ‘be yourself’ and blah blah blah
But do you realize how super freaking EASY it is to hop online, see an entrepreneur CRUSHING it, and then try to copy exactly what they are doing?
Super freaking easy.
I know because I’ve done it.
And I have seen hundreds and hundreds of others do it.
It. Never. Freaking. Works.
Sure, you can make some sales from it. Sure, you can grow your followers from it.
But then, the sales will slow. The flood of followers will slow.
Because you can only keep the act up for so long before you begin to struggle.
Start out figuring out what it is that you love, are passionate about and you’re good at.
Then do that thing, with your own flair and personality.
Those who want what you, specifically, have will come to you. Trust it.
If you are dreading the project before sending the proposal, don’t do it
Listen, every single one of us has, at one point or another, tossed a proposal at a project they didn’t really want to do.
But the idea of having money coming in was too good to pass up, especially when you’ve got bills to pay.
So you toss your name in the hat, put out a proposal or offer for a project you really don’t want, and low-ball it so you get it.
And you do get it.
The money comes in and all is well with the world.
Oh, except you have to actually work on that project you didn’t want.
And deliver a product you may or may not be capable of doing.
Whoops.
You get the work done, as best as you can, at the last minute because you put it off because you hated doing it.
And both you AND the client suffer, because the work they got wasn’t the best and you feel awful.
Had you just waited until you found the right opportunity, OR better yet, gone out and found that opportunity, none of this would have happened.
Don’t make a sale for the sake of making a sale. It does you, and those you’re doing the work for, a disservice.
Listen To Your Intuition
Again, cliche. I know.
But, it’s true.
If it feels wrong, don’t do it.
If you feel like this client will be unreasonable, don’t do it.
The biggest and be piece of advice I could ever give is to just trust yourself and your intuition.
It will save you loads in the long run