Let’s face it - almost everything is seasonal

No matter what kind of business you are into, most likely it is seasonal, at least to some extent.  The e-commerce business is really no different.

Even though, I know that certain seasons mean that business will be down, when the downward trend starts showing up, I worry.  After I’ve been on the low end for a while and it’s time for things to start picking up again, I worry more.  Will my business just stay down this time, or will it come back as it always has?  It’s something you can’t take lightly.

I’ve been in business on my oldest e-commerce site for about 6 years now.  Basically, the same trend has always been followed.  I have extremely busy times for Christmas and Valentine’s Day.  By the end of May, things start moving slowly, and generally come back pretty strong in late August or early September.  That is the trend.  It’s been like that, with slight modifications for 6 years now.  So, why would I worry?  Well, when this is the way that you feed your family, worrying is human nature, I’d say.  When things are slow, you certainly wouldn’t want them to stay that way!  When it’s a busy season, you certainly hope and pray that things will keep moving just as busily after your peak season.  But, things always ebb and flow.  The river is never straight, it always has bends.

I’ll tell you one thing, though…. regardless of the seasonal ups and downs, the general trend is up.  My valleys are never as low as last year’s valleys.  My peaks are always higher than the peaks from last year.  How do I do this?  Well, the key is to always do your very best to make your customer happy.  I find this to be the case especially during peak times.  For example, my main e-store sells gift items that are given by boyfriends to their girlfriends.  In this type of business, Valentine’s Day is probably our best selling season of the year.  Well, we break our butts to make sure that we do our very best job at this time, because we want to impress our customers.  If the customer makes a mistake and forgets to order on time, we do everything humanly possible to make sure his late order is delivered on time.  If it is order too late and can’t be delivered on time, we will even tell the recipient that the lateness of the delivery was our fault.  The customer really appreciates something like this, and he knows that we will take care of him.  Because of this, he tells friends, and we pick up new customers.  So, next year, we will do even better than this year.

These days, our very slow times of year are probably matching our peak periods from a few years ago.  Our peak days now match maybe a week’s worth of business five years ago.  Growth is a good thing, and it’s an excellent measure of your success.

I keep spreadsheets that compare today’s date with last year’s same date so I can see how our sales are trending.  If you want to push yourself to be more successful, I think that would be a good tactic for you too!

Do you want to sell something online?

A good friend of mine recently wrote me a note.  This person, I’ll call him Jerry, has been a friend for many years, and I consider him to be quite close.  In his note, he told me that he wanted to start selling an e-book online.  He wrote this book some years ago, and it is related to the business that he and his wife are in, and how being in business together was such a blessing for their relationship.  Knowing Jerry, if he says this is the case, you can take it to the bank!  He has always been very honest with me.

Jerry has never had much of an internet presence.  Oh, he is on the net and he participates in some forums and online e-mail groups.  That, in fact, is how we met.  We went on to meet in person many times, and have formed a long lasting friendship.  However, when it comes to selling something online, Jerry really has no presence to give him the credibility that he needs.  As I said, he is a good and an honest guy, but frankly, other people don’t know that, and really wouldn’t know him from the next “get rich” schemer out there.  Jerry doesn’t want to get rich, he just wants to sell a few e-books, and spread the good word of what has been good for him so that it will benefit others as well.  Since Jerry is not well known on the net, though, others don’t know that he is trustworthy, and has something important to say.

As I said, Jerry has asked me what path he should take to make his goals become reality.  Well, I think that I can help him accomplish this, but it’s going to be a longer path than what he expects, I think.  You see, before starting to sell anything online, I think that Jerry needs to build up an online presence.  He needs to establish at least one website where he can talk about the business that he is in, offer advice for others, and generally build up some credibility.  You see, over time, if people visit his website and get advice and helpful hints from Jerry, they will soon come to know and trust him and his opinions.  If he does this over a couple of years, he will garner quite a following of people who will genuinely  want and appreciate the e-book that he wants to offer.  Not only that, after they have come to know and trust Jerry, they will certainly pay more for the e-book than they would have without knowing anything about him.  I know that when I run across a website trying to sell me advice, I generally browse off to a different site rather quickly.  If I don’t know the author, how can I value his advice?  However, if I go to a website that I visit regularly, and I have developed a trust, even a relationship with the author of that site, and I see that he is offering a new e-book, I am more likely to buy that.

At this point, Jerry is asking me about the mechanics of how to set up the sales of the e-book.  The mechanics of accepting payments, offering the e-book for download, etc.  I think it’s too early for Jerry to even think about this!  Right now is the time to get online and build up a following.

What do you think?  Do you have any advice for Jerry?

Do you have to work to make money?

What do you think? Do you have to work to make money? I’m not talking about earning interest on money you already have, or getting stock dividends. Nothing like that…. I mean that if you have no money and need to earn some, so you have to work?

Well, of course you do!

Right?

Well, sort of.

I am not a rich person, I don’t have a bunch of family wealth filling my drawers with money. I have to earn the money that I need to keep my kids in school, keep dinner on my family’s table, etc. But, when I think about it, I don’t really feel like I work. I am sitting here in my office on the second floor of my house right now. Next door, they are building a new house. I see a bunch of construction workers carrying around stuff, pushing wheelbarrows, doing all kinds of manual labor. Yet, I am sitting here typing, and am probably earning more than most of the crew combined. Sometimes I feel a little guilty when I think about that. However, what I do is not exclusive. It’s not limited to just me. Anybody can do it!

So, you ask, how do I earn my money? I earn my money on the internet through a variety of methods. OK, now you are thinking that this is some kind of “get rich quick” scheme, and I am going to be asking for your credit card number soon, right? Nope. Ain’t gonna happen! I don’t want or need your credit card, because I am not selling you anything. I just want to teach some people how they too can earn a good living without having to go out and work!

The actual ways that I earn my money are two-fold. The method that I’ve been doing the longest and is the most profitable for me is through a number of e-Commerce websites that I own and operate. A lot of you know what e-Commerce is, but maybe some don’t. e-Commerce means selling things through the Internet. Don’t worry… I already told you, I am not going to ask you to buy anything! I have several different specialty stores on the Internet that sell products, which I ship to customers all over the world! By doing this kind of business, I have been able to earn more money now than I ever did when I went to my “regular” job. And, now I am working on another way of earning money too - by publishing content on the Internet! What does that mean? Well, I publish information - like this information that you are reading - on the Internet for free, but I have advertising on my websites, and the ads help me earn money. I just started with trying to earn money through content websites last year, and so far it is doing well. I know it can do better, so I am working on creating more content, improving the ways that I present my sites, etc.

Hang around this blog, and I will start showing you how to do it yourself! You don’t have to buy anything… you don’t have to send me any money…. just devote a few minutes a day to read. Then, when you are ready start devoting more time so that you can duplicate what I teach you here on the “Virtual Earner” blog!