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 in,

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!