Starting New Again

Today's Sales Training came in an email from Craig Garber. His contact info is included.

It's the beginning of the week so let's talk about something
that has to do with beginnings.

In the beginning of your career, you're willing to take loads of
risks, simply because frankly, you have a lot less to lose.
After all, what's your downside?

You start all over again?

That's no big deal when you have nothing to lose, right?

But as time goes on, your earnings grow, and presumably, so does
the amount of "stuff" you now have at risk. And at some point,
another thing should start happening, which is that you realize
your most important asset isn't money, it's time.

See, you can always make more money, but you can't ever make any
more time.

So not only do you now have assets at stake when you consider
doing something, but you also have an opportunity cost.

Meaning, if you do "this thing," you know for a fact, you're
going to be losing "that much" money simply because you're
using time which you can otherwise "spend" on something else
that's known.

Make sense?

The thing is, one of the reasons why so many businesses fail is
because you can't tell what's going to work, and what's not.
The only way to find out is by trying, right?

Actually, that's wrong.

See, unlike being pregnant, there is a way to be "sort of"
trying.

For instance, I've just started up another publishing company
myself, and my partner and I are sitting here looking at over
60 different niches to choose from.

And after 9 years, at this point, selecting the wrong one
carries a lot of risk for me -- some financial, but mostly in
the form of opportunity cost.

Now there are a number of different ways to mitigate this risk,
but let me tell you two of the most important ones.

First, if you are doing something brand spanking new -- meaning,
if you are the first to market -- with few exceptions...
chances are good this might not be a good venture.

Why?

Because although on the surface, you may be filled with youthful
optimism and enthusiasm that's telling you "Oh great. No one
else is doing this"... reality is usually different.

Typically, there's a reason why no one else is doing the thing
you're looking at. Few people come up with the next Walkman or
iPod.

Not that it doesn't exist, but don't take virgin territory to
mean "wide open field waiting for me." I've done that before
and failed a number of times.

An existing marketplace (meaning, other people are doing what
you're thinking about doing) is actually your BEST sign that
what you're about to do, at least has the potential to
succeed.

The second thing you want to do is to run a test to see if
you're idea works. Run a small space ad to generate leads...
or drive traffic to your website... or do a small direct
mailing of one or two-thousand pieces.

And then, based on your response... you've got real market data
about your project. And now you can use this to evaluate
whether to move forward or not.

Gut feelings are good when you're working with things you know.
But they'll ruin you when you're trying to navigate unchartered
waters. Always use facts to make decisions, and if there are
no facts available, go out and create them in your own lab, via
some testing.

That's how to figure out if something's worth your time.

Or not.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. Most valuable and longest-paying sales letter I ever wrote,
all 40 pages of it for you:
http://www.kingofcopy.com/dreamscometrue

***

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