Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

Leveraging What You Have
Let's say you've come to the end of the line with your online business. You're out of money and out of time to make it work. What do you do?

You have two options. You can pick out the things that are working best in it and focus your energy on building on those successes. You can focus on getting more out of those things that have proven successful. You can apply what's working well in those areas to improving others that lag behind.

Your second option is to latch on to some totally new product, tool, or promotional strategy you've never tried before. You can gamble that something you have no idea how to work with, something you have to learn as you go, will be the instant home run you've never been able to hit by any other means.

When I put it that way, the choice sounds pretty obvious. But I've seen the vast majority of business owners who, when faced with this situation, almost invariably jump at door number 2.

Why is that? It's every bit as dumb as in those horror movies where the vulnerable young woman discovers a psychopathic killer in the house. What does she do? She immediately runs up the stairs, into her room, and into a closet that makes the killer's job of trapping her a cinch.

Yet when we as business owners see that psychopathic killer of business failure approaching, what's our first inclination? Exactly, WE RUN UP THE STAIRS! We trust our entire business, our entire dream, to succeeding at something we have no idea how to do.

Unconsciously, we look at our struggles as being because of us. We overlook the things we've created that really work well. The fact that there are more things that don't work convince us that we cannot trust ourselves to reverse course.

So instead of incorporating what works into improving other parts of our business, we turn to something outside of ourselves. We give up and trust something we have no experience with to save us—ALL ON ITS OWN.

But there are no products, tools, or strategies that will save us on their own. Success lies in our unique knowledge and experience guiding the way we use them.

If you latch on to something totally unfamiliar as a last gasp attempt, you double your chance of failure. Not only do you still have to make that new whatever work, but you have to learn about it—from scratch—as you try.

That's about as dumb and leading a homicidal maniac upstairs to trap you in your closet.

If you're facing a crisis in your business, don't look for some product, tool, or strategy outside of your experience to rescue you. Your best chance is to focus on what's working and build it stronger and wider and deeper. Never run into the closet.
Jeff