Let´s not beat around the bush.
Running a business is hard.
Heck, according to Forbes 96% of all businesses fail within the first 10 years!
And running an online business is EVEN harder.
Just this year a few of the online entrepreneurs I know closed down their online presence (read: blogs / websites).
Why?
Because they didn´t feel that they were getting a good ROI (return on investment) on the time they put in.
Or in other words: they weren´t making enough money from their online activities.
And I thought they were actually doing well.
Just to make this picture even darker…
Note: Sorry about taking you over to the dark side. But we need to face the facts, so we know what we are dealing with, right?
But then I will promise to lift you up again and make you see the bright shining light. Pinky swear.
Quick recap of what we have just covered:
– 96% of all businesses fail within the first 10 years
– It´s even harder to run an online business (the percentage of people failing here will be WAY higher)
And here´s the hard and unfiltered truth…
THOSE are just the statistics on the businesses who are FAILING (meaning closing down / going bankrupt).
Most business owners that haven´t closed down or gone bankrupt yet…
…are just scraping by (sad, but true).
So how many business owners do have a healthy business…
where they can cover all their living expenses and enjoy a good (not luxurious) lifestyle…
where they can increase their revenue in their business every year…
where they can work every weekday (not weekends) because they CHOOSE to and not because they NEED to…
where they have the time to spend with their family and kids?
The short answer is…
…exceptionally few.
Here´s the thing…
Even though statistics are facts.
You don´t need to look at them as facts THAT APPLY to you.
You can choose to be one of the outliers.
One of those weird people that isn´t a part of the normal statistics.
It took one of the best bloggers alive, Jon Morrow, 5 freakin´ years to make his first dollar online.
5 years!?
That´s a looong time.
Do you know how long it took me to earn my first dollar online?
Less than 3 months.
Yeah, and I made $97 in sales.
And creating and selling an online product is WAY harder to do.
How long did it take me to sell my first online product?
Also less than 3 months.
I made $27 in sales.
So the one million dollar question is…
How the heck could I make several sales online within my first 3 months, when it took one of best bloggers alive 5 years?
Because I decided that the normal statistics don´t apply to me.
And I want you to do the same.
Let´s decide right now that the normal statistics don´t apply to you either, okay?
Then say the following sentence out loud with me: “I am an outlier. Normal statistics don´t apply to me. I am going to succeed in my business.”
Do it!
Have you said it?
Great.
See, I told you I was going to lift you up again 🙂
So how can we make sure that you succeed with your business?
Again we need to do things differently.
While the majority of people that are failing are being mislead by the self-proclaimed experts out there…
and building their business based on their PASSION…
…you need to build YOUR business around your strengths!
When you build your business around your strengths you will have several advantages:
1. You don´t need to spend a lot of time learning a new skill (because you already possess it)
2. You can deliver BETTER results to your clients WAY FASTER (than if you were just learning a new skill)
3. You can build a tribe of raving fans right from the start
4. You can charge higher prices
5. It will help you to position yourself as an authority FASTER
That´s 5 awesome reasons why you should build your business around your strengths, right?
Then it´s time to take some action!
Woot woot!
Exercise:
– Write down 5 strengths
– Are you building your business around these? Write “yes” or “no” behind all the 5 strengths that you just listed
Do that now, and we´ll talk again tomorrow.
Best,
Tor