HOW TO BEAT DEPRESSION!

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!