|
1. THE MARKET MYTH
The first is
the market myth
. This is where the business owner ignores the
market and doesn’t see relative value as a success metric. This is that poor guy
who “does what he loves” and opens a coffee shop across the street from
Starbucks, offering nothing unique or better. This is the finance dude who writes
the millionth book on the topic of compound interest, 401(k)s, and mind-
fucking frugality, and how it’s going to make you rich by the time you’re ninety
years old. In most cases, none of this shit is needed. The market, the most
important variable in the game, is dismissed. The entrepreneur selfishly pursues
what
he wants
and not what
the market wants
. These failures are the worst of the
flock because they never have a chance.
2. THE ISOLATION MYTH
The second misstep is the most common:
the isolation myth
. In terms of the
dating game, it’s isolating one attribute (attractiveness) while ignoring the rest
(her jealous personality, her 82 IQ, and her self-absorbed 3,000 selfies on
Instagram). Meanwhile, the gal who rocks Mensa, has the Jennifer Aniston
personality, and watches the Blackhawks game with you while drinking beer is
dismissed because she’s not a ten, but an eight and a half. In business, the
isolation myth is the figurative equivalent of going to a gunfight with one bullet
in the barrel, evaluating value and opportunity contingent on one sliding
variable:
price
.
If I offer the lowest price, I will get the sale!
When business is isolated by one value attribute, price, it becomes
commodified. Think gas stations. A ream of paper, flash drives, and commercial
air travel. As consumers, we usually buy these items based on the best price
because the outcomes remain uniformly predictable. An economy fare on
Southwest Airlines and United Airlines both get you to Denver in identical
discomfort—so cheapest price takes all. Loyalty? Bribed by a few bucks.
In a commoditized industry, your customer is indifferent to your existence,
like an Olympic pool misses a stolen cup of water. I’d guess that half the crap on
Alibaba (and then sold on Amazon) is commodified goods, patiently waiting for
another wannabe entrepreneur to join the flooded ranks of commodity pushers,
selling the same stuff and hoping to win the “Cheapest Price of the Day” award.
Operating in a commoditized climate is a race to the bottom as margins
deteriorate with each player deciding, “How small of a profit am I willing to
accept to survive?”
As Peter Drucker said, “In a commodity market, you can only be as good as
your dumbest competitor.” Here’s an impending commoditization (and money-
chasing) tale foretold on my forum:
I used to sell a “me-too” product. When comparing its competition, there were
small things different about it, but I wasn’t truly providing any value. A few
questions nagged at me: Why do I exist in the marketplace? If I didn’t exist, what
would happen?
For me, it was simple: Customers would buy another similar product from
someone just like me and be just as satisfied. Did I provide anything significant
that others in the niche did not? The answer was no. I was chasing money, and in
the end, it wasn’t worth it.
I started selling a new line of products three months ago, and I have already
eclipsed all of my previous best sales marks: best day, best week, and best month.
And that’s why I can confidently say my previous money-chasing was not worth it.
In three months, I got to a place my previous business never got. It’s not easy and
won’t happen overnight, but it’s worth it. My resolution: provide more value.
92
In the example above, the entrepreneur switched to a product predicated on
the Commandment of Need and relative value. As an entrepreneur, you must
always ask, why do you exist in the marketplace? What value are you skewing?
And who will yearn for your company should you close up shop? Or would your
sudden market absence be met with eerie silence?
When dreampreneurs ask mindless questions like, “What’s a good product to
sell on Amazon?” they’re commoditizing their effort with a commoditized
product. And seriously, if Widget XYZ was easily imported and sold on eBay, do
you honestly think you’d be the only one selling it? Nope, you’re immersed in the
mob.
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
