8 things that bug me about doing business onlineWritten by Jeffrey Lant
Been trying to do business online awhile? Then you already know it ain't a bed of roses every day. Here's my personal list of 8 biggest irritations about doing business online.#1 People who are looking for a sure-fire "get rich quick" scheme I don't know about you, but well-off people I know worked their behinds off for their money (unless they were lucky enough to have a rich old aunt kick bucket in their favor.) Personally I've never yet met a person who has actually gotten rich from a "get rich quick" scheme, but I've encountered THOUSANDS who tanked trying to get rich without work. P.T. Barnum was right about a sucker being born every minute. The Internet has empowered these people. They literally can't wait to get online to get taken advantage of. It's sickening. You want to get rich? Work! #2 Expecting to create a profitable online business without making any investment These people often overlap with group above. They're really gullible ones. Despite massive evidence to contrary, they expect to go online, invest NOTHING, and make their fortune lickety- split. It NEVER happens. Having encountered a ton of these people, however, I've become a critic of educational system which produced them. What are we teaching people in schools that leads them to think that merely showing up is going to make them rich? #3 Expecting to create a business without knowing products How many times have you asked someone for information about products sold by their company and gotten a bumbling, non-sensical response? The sad truth is that first thing people ought to know about their businesses -- namely what they're selling and what's so good about it -- is actually last thing you can get an intelligent response about. How can people expect to prosper selling things they cannot explain and know so little about? Yet that's precisely what far too many people online are doing! #4 Changing your online business over and over again I know a woman who's into a new online "business" every few DAYS. One day she's selling herbal products... next day it's online services... then it's fake noble titles. She cannot decide what business she's in and because she's afraid she's missing out on a couple of nickles somewhere, she jumps from "business" to "business" faster than a flea jumping onto a new dog. Her sales are pathetic, of course, her credibility non-existent, but her unshakable optimism just cannot be dented, despite mountains of evidence that she's a fool. Lord, spare me from those with ability for unlimited self-deception, especially when they keep emailing me with their latest and greatest "sure-thing" discovery. #5 The Non-Readers The Internet, premier means for transferring information cheaply worldwide, has exacerbated trend towards non-reading. We see this all time at Worldprofit, Inc. at http://www.worldprofit.com We spend huge amounts of time and money creating user-friendly information. All too often, however, a dealer or customer will sniff at this information, find out that to know what it says you actually have to READ it, then loudly scream "Wolf," by emailing that they cannot understand what they have never made any attempt to learn. Folks, like it or not, Internet is new technology and you've got to allow for a learning curve to master it. There's just no way around this. I doubt that anyone would have arrived at their college freshman year and said, "Hey, I don't want to read all these books. Just tell me what's in 'em." Yet that's precisely how plenty of knuckleheads approach 'net.
| | If only You Could say "I am making money now!" Written by Laurie Meade
You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated. Mailto:editor@you2cansellonline.com If only You Could say "I am making money now!" by Laurie Meade © 2002 If you could write how others do, And make it come out loud and clear, If you had a thousand bucks to spend, To grow your business online this year. If you could make your web site sticky, If you could get that traffic jam to come your way. If only you could figure out that Java stuff, And get that CGI code working right today. If you could find where to promote ezine, That everyone says you have to do, If you could keep your files organized, If only you had help, if it wasn't all up to you.
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