How To Beat Depression!

Here's the story of a small, almost successful mail order entrepreneur, and

how he overcomes the blues that comes with his way of conducting business:

What an adrenalin rush! Last week when I visited the post office my post

office box was overflowing with orders.  One day, I had to get a plastic

container just to carry the mail home. At the end of the week, I had made

about $1,200 in orders!

Unfortunately, I spent money to stock up on inventory. I anticipated

receiving the same type of business the next week to make up for any

overspending I had done this week.That did not happen.

The next week brought in a total of $150 in orders _ and the week after that

brought in only $10!       After that,  depression set in. I kept saying

"What will I do now? I spent the $1,200 and only have $80 to my name. Rent

will be due in a couple weeks and I'm flat broke _ simply because I let money

go to my head because I was temporarily "rich."

This is one example of how a business works sometimes and it's important to

not take everything for granted. As employees of other companies, we were use

to the fact of receiving a paycheck every week. Whether we worked hard or

not, our paycheck was always the same and always on time. All we had to do

was put in our 8-hours, 5-days a week.

Also, we were not used to spending any money to fill orders. If we needed to

mail something, we sent it to the mail room or ran it through the postage

meter. As employees, we didn't pay for the postage out of our own pockets.

Our employer took care of it. That also goes for supplies. If we ran out of

paper for our typewriter, we went to the supply cabinet and got a pack out.

We never worried about spending our own money to pay for office supplies.

But when you own and operate your own business money is hard to come by

especially the first few years. You generate your own income! So instead of

thinking about riches and glory _ think about improving upon what you already

have. If you have a $1,200 week pat yourself on the back _ but don't be

stupid like I did and spend it thinking you'll have the same amount next week. This may not happen for another 6 months!

Instead, find out "why" you generated this much money one week and hardly

anything the next week. Did you stop marketing because you didn't think you

had to anymore? Did you spend time filling all those $1,200 worth of orders

and generating back-end sales? (A back-end sale is placing some form of

advertising in with the orders you fill that will generate additional sales.

These items should be for products and services that either compliment or are

the same as the product the customer purchased.)

Were all the orders that made up the $1,200 week for the same product or

different ones? Where did you advertise in order to generate this response?

Was it a specific publication or a combination of several of them? Were the

orders for something that people run out of frequently (i.e., printing,

typesetting and advertising?) If so _ you can have a special offer for these

same customers in a few weeks with a money-saving coupon for them to use.

This will generate repeat business and the likelihood of another $1,200 week

in the near future.

However, if you do spend the money like I did and depression sets i,

just sit down for a moment and reflect on what you do have: a roof over your

head, food to eat, a legitimate business that will grow and possibly steady

out in the future, peace of mind and the ability to work on your own without

employers and people breathing down your neck!

In addition _ if you spend the money and cannot buy the supplies to fill the

orders, DON'T just avoid your customers and hope they'll understand. Instead,

send them a postcard that simply explains that you had such a large response

that you sold out of the item. Tell them approximately "when" their order

will be filled and "when" to expect it. If you can't possibly fill the order

within 30 days, give your customer the option of getting their money back or

better yet _ issue them a Credit Voucher to use on future purchases.

If you have no income at all and cannot possibly refund people's money offer

them something in return that you can provide. You need to find some way to

compensate your customers. Remember that they trusted you enough to see your

ad, write out a check and spend their hard-earned money on you. They may not

have a lot of money either. Avoiding them will turn you into a "rip-off"

artist with no future in the industry!