Several months back I was approached by a site that I sell on with the intent to feature my shop. To be honest, I was surprised. I have sold on this site for several years, and though I haven’t made an astounding number of sales, I have continued to add to my inventory and fine tune my efforts.
As I was interviewed, I couldn’t help but wonder why I was chosen for this opportunity. Surely there were others who made more sales than I, or had been members longer. Why did they choose me? Surely I wasn’t one of their best sellers. Honestly, I knew this wasn’t the case. I had had a different shop with them previously where I had sold far more items.
On the other hand, a feature is a feature! I decided to make the most of it and told my family and enjoyed the interview / follow up process. As Black Friday and Small Business Saturday approached I prepared for an increase in sales. I kept my available online inventory current with what was in the shop. As items sold in the shop, I took them offline so that I didn’t have to worry about double-selling anything. And I even added a generous discount as an additional incentive to buy!
Then, come Saturday, the feature went live! I was overwhelmed with sales and traffic and contacts and all the things every online seller dreams about!
Oops, back to reality – I didn’t have a single sale.
The feature was a flop. (I prefer to think of it that way rather than thinking of myself as the flop!)
No sales, no requests, no items to ship out. Nothing.
I did have one contact through this. A fellow online seller asking for help with how to make sales online. Ooh the irony, I couldn’t help but think, they no doubt think I’m overwhelmed with sales due to this feature. But the truth of the matter is that I wasn’t. Now that isn’t to say that no sales were made, sales were made on other sites and in the shop, but in the online shop that was featured, not a single sale.
How can I help someone else make sales when I can’t even make them with a feature, I wondered. I’ve prayed about it, pursued training, tried different tips and tricks. Why won’t sales pick up? I know just how others feel when they say they don’t know how to sell online. I’ve been there – in fact, I’m there right now!
But the thing I love most about moments like this is what can be learned.
I remember that this is just another opportunity to keep learning, to keep pursuing. Life is a journey, you don’t just achieve it and stop, but rather you keep learning, growing, failing, trying again, and pursuing what God has called you to do. And this is my area to keep growing in! Sure, some days it feels like I hit the nail on the head, and other days I wonder why I don’t just go get a job where making money is simpler and less difficult.
So what advice can I offer this person, offer you if you’re having the same struggle, or even remind myself on days like last Saturday?
If you’re determined to do it, if it is where you are in life right now, then do it. Gather resources, learn from others, fine tune your efforts, and then start all over again. Lather, rinse, repeat. Or to phrase it another way: Ask, Seek, Knock. Again and again and again.
Sometimes we hit dead ends because it’s not where we need to be. That’s when we change course, let some things go and move on. But other times we need to keep pursuing something. Walking away isn’t an option because this is what we are designed for right here and now. Not because we are the best at it or because we are rocking it, but because this is what we are called to do.
So if you are struggling and feeling like you can’t make progress, step back and reevaluate what you are doing. Pray and ask God for direction. It may seem like a petty thing to you, but I promise, God cares about the smallest details in the lives of His people.
If you are called for this, then do it!
Let nothing stand in your way! Keep learning, pursuing and fine-tuning. And if this season has passed for you, that’s okay too! Something will replace it! And you must let this go in order to step fully into what is next.
So do I consider my failure being a flop discouraging? Not at all! It is like fuel, it is interesting information and I am continuing to learn and grow and fine-tune. This is what God has for me to do until He directs me elsewhere!
I pray that this post encourages you! I don’t have the answers on how to reach success, but I can tell you how to pursue it! Our versions of success will shift just like our calling and our goals. We must gracefully adapt and we must also determinedly stand our ground even when things are difficult!
Until Next Time!
Hope.
PS. In case you missed it above, I shared the feature here: https://www.bonanza.com/blog/main/Small_Business_Saturday_is_here_