When it comes to starting your own business, be it in publishing, selling your products, or selling your ideas, there are a few practical lessons you need to be aware of first.
Social media provides so many ways to get into your potential customer's homes, but it comes with a huge warning. Like so many businesses, you need to watch your end of the market, find out what's selling, and where the market is falling short, and take advantage of that. Researching your peers can help with this, but here's the warning.
This morning I woke up late, got the kids ready for school, and on the way back from the school run, nipped to the shop. I had to check my bank before making a purchase of £5.07 because I've not been paid yet, so didn't know if I'd have enough. Lucky me, I did. When I got back, I sat down with a cup of tea, went through e-mails, nothing important, and then did a small Facebook post about my book currently being on offer. Nothing that major, right? Wrong, I had to check I had enough to make a meager purchase. This is what we call the force of habit. I know now I didn't have to check. I spent years not knowing if I had enough in the bank, having to transfer .12p to make it up to £5 so I could get essentials. But I didn't put any of that on the post. I don't advertise the struggle, and neither do your peers. It's all smoke and mirrors.
You'll see daily posts on Instagram and Facebook, people sitting in a fancy coffee shop with some ornate coffee, posting about the time of their lives. You've been trying to build your business for the same time as them, and you still have little to show for it. You'll see people posting about not having a set budget for an editor, making you believe they have thousands in the bank. The reality is they usually use a credit card and attempt to pay it back each month. The point is that no one shows the hard times until the good times come.
I'll be the first to admit I've had my share of good times, but I've also had to resort to food banks. I've had to go to my local allotment and ask for fresh fruit and veg just to eat. It's all part of the process and the best thing for you to do is stop comparing your success to others.
When it comes to your business, it is vital you take the time to look at what others are doing but remain objective. The 500 likes a post just got instantly, is possibly because of bots that the creator has paid for. Stop putting yourself down because you're doing the right thing. Don't try tricking your customers or clients into thinking you're something you're not.
This comes after I read a very upsetting post earlier. An author, who had been writing for about a year, paid 2k for an edit and cover, quit their job, begged family members to help support them, and published 1 book. That 1 book has sold around 20 copies, which is good in terms of sales, but wow, quitting your job over one book! That is madness, and it's all because he follows an author who posted regular updates about their sales, claiming that his book was top-ranking and that he makes thousands a month from sales, so I did some digging. It turns out that the author's book is ranked way below mine on Amazon and I have around 8 reviews; I sell around 1 book a month on that book and you'll probably have to go to page 300 on Amazon to even find it. The lesson is, that the author lied, and rather than fact-check, our guy ended up basing everything on a single book.
All the Instagram posts, Facebook posts, and Twitter updates were all lies. To date, I've sold around 2k copies of The Hangman's Turn, I'm nearly at 100 copies for Legend of the Shadows, and as for the rest, I couldn't even tell you. The person at fault here is our guy because he didn't do any research, he didn't ask other authors or even try to form any relationships with his reader base before he even published.
There are steps we take for a reason, and the biggest step is to not compare yourself to others. You don't know how often that other author had to visit parents and beg for money, how often they went without, hell, we don't even know if they have another job and just published one book because they don't have time to write anymore.
Putting a false face on yourself can do more harm than good, be you, and be proud of being you. Your business will grow, but remember, these are the vital moments, the bricks you lay now, of honesty, integrity, and fairness. These are the bricks that will keep a steady foundation for you to build on. You need these morals in order for your business to survive and thrive.
Putting a smile on every day is important. No potential customer wants to see you miserable, but sometimes that smile can slip. That is the moment you need to give yourself a break. Take a breath, go for a walk, spend some time with the family, and go to the zoo on your own. You're an adult now and you can do that! The point is, that you are the face of your business. You started this for a reason, and keeping that reason close is important, but when you get sad because someone sold more books than you, or someone took a client off of you, take a step back, adjust your smile, and carry on to the next. There is no loss, only learning. Every failure, every disappointment, take it as a lesson, heal, and move on. Things will get better. You just need to keep building with honesty and integrity. That is what will make you shine above the rest, not fake coffee in fancy cafes.
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