The busy season hit hard this year, almost overwhelming really. There was a tsunami of orders and we are now just able to breathe again. March was a record month, and we usually don't peak until June, so more record months are ahead. It has been both rewarding and frustrating as unplanned business stretches resources, while you think it should just pad the bank account. Not to mention poor tax and retirement planning, and preparing to launch our most expensive product yet, has made the extra cash flow barely enough.
There were times when the reality of obtaining my goals, which once seemed like a pipe dream, now left me feeling beat up, like when I was a corporate clone. I remember the line in Broadcast News when William Hurt says' What do you do when your real life exceeds your dreams?' The answer 'keep it to yourself.'
The problem with the onslaught of business is, it takes me away from working on the website, creating new features, or promotions, that have never been done before. And creating is really what I like best. Packing, shipping, ordering, all feels like work to me, while it pays the rent, creating builds the house.
In other words creating is really what sets your business apart. That is why I never got excited about cookie cutter online businesses that drop ship products, with pre-designed websites. I want to stand apart, even if it means I won't ever get the 'four hour workweel', or 'Rich Dad' bank accounts. Boredom is the enemy of life, and creation is source of it. What does one do for the other hours of the day if everything is on auto-pilot? For me e-commerce is a game, and if you just build a system that can always win it, then where is the fun? You are done.
Drop ship schemes, have replaced Amway and Shaklee, or at the least provided another get rich quick scheme. The pitches always sound romantic, thousands of people are making thousands of dollars working from their home in their spare time. And I am sure there are people doing just that. I knew one successful Shaklee distributor and she was a very nice and sincere person.
But stamping something with your own personal thumb print is the draw that gets me out of bed every morning. I have more than doubled my income, and I could easily take off more time, and I plan to some day. But do the idle rich really seem that happy? Isn't there really more to life then planning your next vacation, or soaking up your next Mai-Tai, it is fun for a week, but an unending supply of that?
One day I am sure, I will pass off much of the responsibility of my successful venture, but am equally as sure I will have something there to replace it. Something else to build, to create, to put on it a stamp of my own.
So if you are finding your online business a drag, take time out to create anew. A new product line, a new sales page, new copy, new info pages. Try a different marketing tact. Put a personal stake into your business, you will find those juices that brought you to this game refreshed and ready to take you further down the road of online success.
