9. If It's Working, Don't Break It - Business Bits - 30 Days Challenge
It’s already the 9th post from my 30 days challenge here on Steemit and I have to say it, I don’t really know when time passed. I’m really enjoying being here, writing, interacting, learning and being part of the community.
In today’s post I’m going to tell you a real story, something that really happened (I was planning to keep this more theoretical, but this was too good not to be shared).
So, one of the interns at the hub I’m managing right now (called Connect Hub) has his own business. He’s a former professional poker player who quit half a year ago and now sells custom teeshirts (made in China, of course) using Shopify.
Apart from the actual online shop, he has only a small Facebook page, with less than 100 likes.
An important part of our whole internship deal is that, in exchange from their help and support, they receive not only a place from where they can work, but also coaching and guidance from me. During one of these coaching sessions -which happened yesterday - I learned that he already had his first sale.
I was very surprised, as it’s kind of difficult to leverage a Facebook page with only 100 likes. But not impossible either. So I asked him directly: “How did you make your first sale?”
“Well, he replied, I did a little research on Facebook trying to find pages similar with my page and then asked them if they take sponsored posts. To my surprise, one guy, running a page with a few thousands likes, answered and asked me $15 for a simple post. I paid and in the next 24 hours I had like $300 worth of income, as a direct result of that small post on his page.”
“Congrats! And what are you doing now?”
“Well, I invest my time and the funds into growing my own Facebook page.”
“Why?”
“Because, well, I’d like to sell through it too.”
“Ahem. But when do you think you’ll reach 5000 likes and how much it will cost you?”
“A few months and probably a few thousands dollars in promotion, he answered, after a few seconds of thinking.”
“Well, wouldn’t it be better to just find more Facebook pages like the one you used and sell directly through them, until you reach a more stable income?”
It took a few minutes for him to digest it, but in the end he agreed.
The main goal is to sell. If you have a predictable selling channel, why not using it? Why spending 2-3 months and 2-3000 dollars growing your own page, if you already have a few high-income avenues lined up?
It’s all about accessing the most liquid form of revenue. It's the difference between selling now and cash in, or selling later, and keep spending on promotion.
It’s true that if you have your own platform, you can control much more form the selling process, and I always advice people to be as independent as they can, but when you don’t have a selling channel yourself, when you didn't have time to grow an audience yet, any channel is good. Especially if the channel is tested, proven and predictable.
Way to often we seem to lose track of what really matters and we get stuck in strategies that are no longer attached to the current reality.
Or, in much simpler words: if it’s working, don’t break it.
image source
This post is part of a 30 days challenge on business, you can find the entire list of articles here.
I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running.
