Just thought it might be interesting to have a general discussion that pulls all the threads together - maybe leading to a poll after we see any common issues develop?

 

Obviously, as freelancers/small businesses we'll probably all face a number of challenges but I was interested to see if different people in different situations have different priorities. It may help others consider their position. I would think that at different times and different stages of business our biggest challenge will change.

 

It's easy to say "Getting paid business" - but what does that mean? Here's some possible hurdles - I'm sure there are plenty more:

• Are you getting lots of traffic but nobody is signing-up?
  
• Are you struggling to get your name out there?
  
• Do your clients want things that you can't offer?
  
• Is it money or time that stops you addressing issues?
  
• Have you "tried everything" and run out of ideas?
  
• Are you new to your business and don't know where to start?
  
• Are you confused by conflicting advice?
  
• Are you having trouble with getting a clear business plan?
  
• Do you think you're over-specialised or too generic?
  
• Is strong competition your biggest challenge?
  
• Is it market ignorance to your products/services?
  
• Lack of 'business confidence' - difficulty in self-promotion? [accredited to notbanksy]
  
• Lack of clear, simple business processes and standard practice? [accredited to expat]
  
• Lack of industry-standard pricing or coping with cheap 'cowboys'? [accredited to expat]
  
• Payment issues - taking, processing and ensuring payments? [accredited to Cats Corporation]
  

By thinking hard about what is the root cause of the challenges you face you might find it more useful than just thinking "I need more business".

 

Just a thought - hopefully you'll all chip-in and some good things will come out of it?

 

My selling stint at ebay isn't doing good. I've been trying to sell digicams for one year but I could not even sell a unit. I was able to get around 7 positive feedback by selling a few stuff that I don't need, but not from those stuff that I intend to sell as a business.

 

When I checked the other stuff being sold by other sellers, it seems that most items do not have a bid either. However, I read stories from business magazines about people getting rich by selling stuff on ebay. I don't know what exactly they did. I'm still not giving up but I might remove it from my top priorities and focus on designing website, which enables me to generate sufficient income to support my lifestyle.

My selling stint at ebay isn't doing good. I've been trying to sell digicams for one year but I could not even sell a unit. I was able to get around 7 positive feedback by selling a few stuff that I don't need, but not from those stuff that I intend to sell as a business.

 

When I checked the other stuff being sold by other sellers, it seems that most items do not have a bid either. However, I read stories from business magazines about people getting rich by selling stuff on ebay. I don't know what exactly they did. I'm still not giving up but I might remove it from my top priorities and focus on designing website, which enables me to generate sufficient income to support my lifestyle.

 

Hi Cats.

 

It is very tough getting somewhere on ebay, its a much saturated market now, everyone seems to be selling everything, and with the cheap prices on amazon and other big players there's a lot of competition.

 

My friend has done particularly well. Starting out 3 years ago in his parents home selling car parts like wheel trims, and other things on ebay. 3 years down the line he has just moved out of a small unit he was renting into a bigger newer facility and has employed another person and has also bought a house + nice Nissan pick up truck.

It's easy to say "Getting paid business" - but what does that mean? Here's some possible hurdles - I'm sure there are plenty more:

• Are you struggling to get your name out there?
  
• Do your clients want things that you can't offer?
  
• Are you new to your business and don't know where to start?
  
• Are you having trouble with getting a clear business plan?
  
• Is strong competition your biggest challenge?
  

 

Hi Wizely - thanks for starting this thread. The above are all issues for me, I have only been involved in this market for 12 months, and much of my time has been and is still spent learning.

I would be very interested to see a discussion about the points you mentioned.

For me, networking with potential clients and letting folks know I am out there is probably my biggest issue. I used to work in sales, but when it comes to selling myself, I need to develop more confidence.

 

I'll be interested in hearing about anyone else's experiences.

My biggest "barrier to success" is not actually on your list, Wizely.

 

Lack of standardised work processes

 

As a start-up, this means that I waste what I consider to be an unacceptable amount of time crafting business processes (it doesn't help that I'm a perfectionist). If everything were written down in one big manual and standardised, it would be a lot easier.

 

The same goes for prices, to some extent; if my prices were absolutely set in stone, I could get on with life instead of spending countless hours dickering over these details with potential clients.

 

Of course, this is something that will come with time.

 

My selling stint at ebay isn't doing good. I've been trying to sell digicams for one year but I could not even sell a unit. I was able to get around 7 positive feedback by selling a few stuff that I don't need, but not from those stuff that I intend to sell as a business.

 

When I checked the other stuff being sold by other sellers, it seems that most items do not have a bid either. However, I read stories from business magazines about people getting rich by selling stuff on ebay. I don't know what exactly they did. I'm still not giving up but I might remove it from my top priorities and focus on designing website, which enables me to generate sufficient income to support my lifestyle.

 

Specialisation in a valuable market is a big key to eBay success. As Mark said, eBay is quite saturated now so this is hard to do. Electronics are also EXTREMELY tough, not to mention that most bidder fraud occurs with electronics (mobile phones and computers mostly).

 

Once you've identified a potential missing market, you have to look at the bottom line too. Ideally you want something where the profit margin will be high and your expenses will be low (duh! ). Again, this makes electronics prohibitive because you can't have $0.99 starting bids (well, you CAN but you need to weigh the risks very carefully!) due to your own costs, but if you start with a high opening bid then your listing fees will be higher.

 

But you can get creative. Mobile phone sales are saturated and prohibitively expensive to start-up but there was once a gap in the market for accessories. Mobile accessories (faceplates, little dangly phone jewelry, etc) are cheap to produce and people are voracious about buying them. Obviously, this gap in the market was filled years ago, but someone found it, got rich, and others followed. If you can produce something unique that people want, you will make a ton of money.

 

(My first self-employed job was making a full-time living selling on eBay when I was barely 18. I was able to do it because, at the time, I was the only person selling certain items and there was a market for it. Fast forward a few years and there are now more than a few copycats and I've long since gotten away from that business.)

Hi guys - thanks for raising some more points to 'add to the pot' - hopefully by identifying different issues we can all come up with some recipes for overcoming these hurdles? Already there are different aspects being raised so, if others contribute it looks promising.

Here's my brief thoughts on what you've raised so far (I reckon we want to build-up info before we look too hard at it?):

 

@Cats Corp - to me the root cause there is competition pure and simple. Like Mark said it's a saturated marketplace.

 

@notbanksy - thanks for the support. I've added a point to the list about 'business confidence'. Not to imply you're a shy wee mouse, but it is a difficult thing to 'push' yourself as a business and it's something I shy away from too.

 

@Expat - I hear you! I was a Business Analyst for many years until I started copy writing and I was basically paid to sort the messes companies got themselves into over processes and practices (and they weren't small businesses either). I've put a couple of points in the list to bring those up.

 

Thanks guys - we're already making progress! I reckon we'll try to see if more people will expand the list then, when new ideas dry-up we could edit, trim, consolidate etc. to create a concise list and then put it to a poll? After that, if there is feedback to any of this of course, the list could be ordered in terms of votes and then people can start advising on how to overcome them!!!!

 

Well that's what I'd hope we'd achieve anyway.

A great post, wizely, and very relevant to me at the moment!

 

I think I agree with notbanksy - I find selling/promoting myself to be a huge hurdle. Confidence is a major issue. And I think some of the other issues you list can contribute to that lack of confidence. I have found that when I have been approached 'cold', it has often been to enquire after services I can't provide ('Do your clients want things that you can't offer?) which leads to another - 'Do you think you're over-specialised?' Not being able to offer a whole solution deters me from attending networking events as I fear many of the people attending will be after the whole shabang.

 

Pricing (& indeed business processes) is another issue - you need to be confident in your pricing structure in order to sell your services, however if you find you tend to get stuck at the quote stage and never get beyond, you start to question your approach. Is it your pricing/quoting that's wrong or the kind of client you're pitching to? I also am terrible at deliberating over processes and pricing, despite having these in place. Its scary how much time I will put into a proposal that potentially may amount to nothing.

 

I guess as freelance designers/copywriters/developers etc, we are more professionals in those occupations, than 'business people'. It stands to reason that we would struggle with sales & marketing as they aren't necessarily part of our core skillset. When I worked for a company I had no problem thinking how I would promote 'our' services, but self-promoting seems to be a million times harder!!

 

I have thought long and hard about where to pitch myself so that I can play to my strengths and avoid areas that are out of my comfort zone, but at the end of the day, it all boils down to 'putting yourself out there' - certainly my greatest weakness of all!!

 

A bit of a ramble, but just had to get some thoughts down!

Yes, I also noticed that the sale of electronics are very saturated in the internet. Even though I already noticed it, I thought those who are browsing the net must be tech savy, and therefore, the demand must be high as well.

 

One of the solutions I am currently studying is to acquire a Paypal account. Many people here in my country prefer to pay on installment basis, and perhaps by acquiring Paypal account, I would be able to accept credit card payment. Hence, I get a bulk of money as payment, while my clients pay on installment basis.

 

Even if this solution does not work for on-line selling, I can still use it to acquire web design jobs from outside my country.

 

A great post, wizely, and very relevant to me at the moment!

 

I think I agree with notbanksy - I find selling/promoting myself to be a huge hurdle. Confidence is a major issue. And I think some of the other issues you list can contribute to that lack of confidence. I have found that when I have been approached 'cold', it has often been to enquire after services I can't provide ('Do your clients want things that you can't offer?) which leads to another - 'Do you think you're over-specialised?' Not being able to offer a whole solution deters me from attending networking events as I fear many of the people attending will be after the whole shabang.

 

Confidence was a major problem for me around four years ago. I designed aesthetically good websites but I cannot find a web design job. It was only 9 months ago when I figured out the importance of SEO and using CSS. Now, I am confident that I can do freelancing instead of applying on web design company.

 

Perhaps, one way to overcome self-confidence problem is to market yourself through a network of friend and relatives. My parents work in real estate, and has lots of connection. They help me market my web design services. Hence, even though the website of my own web design firm is not yet done, I already have projects on the line. Though I wish I had more time to finish my website (and my calling card) before accepting more clients.

 

My problem in web design is that some clients tend to be slow in providing the write-ups and pictures that I need. I can take pictures, but I think the write-ups should be their job since it is them who best know their company.

A great post, wizely, and very relevant to me at the moment!

Thanks ceebeedee - let's hope we can help out! It sounds like you just need to fuel up on some business bravado and just get out there and flaunt your wares! I'm not one for hippie mumbo-jumbo, but I reckon a lot has to do with the right attitude. If we question ourselves and doubt what we're doing - who will believe that we can do the job for them? Easier said then done though eh?!

 

Good advice and good points there Cats Corp. I think self-promotion is getting to be a recurring theme for us all?

 

One of the solutions I am currently studying is to acquire a Paypal account. Many people here in my country prefer to pay on installment basis, and perhaps by acquiring Paypal account, I would be able to accept credit card payment. Hence, I get a bulk of money as payment, while my clients pay on installment basis.

 

I'll add something about payments to the list as it's a good point and ties in with other threads about taking deposits and how to avoid getting stiffed by non-payers.

 

My problem in web design is that some clients tend to be slow in providing the write-ups and pictures that I need. I can take pictures, but I think the write-ups should be their job since it is them who best know their company.

 

What I have found best in other businesses is to write the best you can trying to write what you think they will write and then send them it to review. They might rubber-stamp it and then you get what you want. Or they might say "No, that's right" and 9 times out of 10 rush their version to you. Either way it helps get them into action!

 

Thanks for this.

Very good thread! Relevant to me atm too.

 

I got a client (my first one at the time) last summer, and had no idea what the going (hourly) rate was for a webmaster, so just went with whatever I was offered cos it sounded too good to be true! I have to invoice them with how much time I spend on things, and for me this is actually the hardest thing to do.. I've been mucking around with web stuff for so long it feels wrong to ask for money for it. Even after 8 months.

 

Anyone else have that or am I just strange?

Very good thread! Relevant to me atm too.

 

I got a client (my first one at the time) last summer, and had no idea what the going (hourly) rate was for a webmaster, so just went with whatever I was offered cos it sounded too good to be true! I have to invoice them with how much time I spend on things, and for me this is actually the hardest thing to do.. I've been mucking around with web stuff for so long it feels wrong to ask for money for it. Even after 8 months.

 

Anyone else have that or am I just strange?

 

No, just you - you are strange, it feels so right for me to invoice people!!!!!

I know what you mean though - I've got sucked right into WDF and this pro-bono stuff is going to stop Mrs. Wizely getting new boots and that means poor Wizely suffers for eternity!!!

 

I think it's a valid point though and something anyone starting out in any new venture will feel - especially if that venture is born out of something they've been 'dabbling-in' for a while before.

 

I think it's related to the Business Confidence and Self-promotion confidence thing (and of course in a smaller way - to the lack of industry standards to give you a simple hourly rate).

 

Look at it this way... if someone wants to pay you then you know you're getting it right - feel better for it and then get more people to do the same!