Menu

• Dictionary
• Hot Shots

Directory

• Sponsors
• Billing Options
• Content Providers
• Web Hosting
• Traffic Counters
• Website Designers
• Resource Sites

Well there's no doubt that this has been one very interesting week and it's not even over yet.

We've had a client call us to tell us that they've picked up a very large contract thanks to an Adwords campaign that we've been managing for them ... we've picked up yet another order for an online shop because the person who owns the business has seen examples of our work and they were impressed ... and my business is growing out of its skin yet there are lots of people trying to tell us that economic times are tough.

Well maybe they are right if the number of empty offices and shops around this town are anything to go but if times are so tough why is my little business just getting busier and busier? Why are several other business owners I know just getting busier and busier too?

Personally I think that there are several reasons that some of us are surviving while others are fading away at a fast rate and it's worth talking about those reasons here because they apply just as much in the world of online marketing as they do in the bricks and mortar world.

It's all about attitude
Quite a few years ago when my partner and I were just starting out things were tough. We were putting in a lot of hours and seeing almost no return for it. Other newbie who were hanging out on the same webmaster board as we did were also experiencing the same situation.

I don't recall that Steve and I said anything at the time but there were plenty of cries of woe and despair from the others because times were rather tough back then and many who had made a good start were seeing sales evaporating at an alarming rate.

One very experienced webmaster on the board gave us all a good piece of advice ... one that Steve and I have remembered over the years. If you want to succeed in the adult online industry you just never give up and that piece of advice is just as applicable to mainstream marketing as it is to adult marketing ... if you want to survive and grow you just don't ever give up.

Within a 50 mile radius of here I can think of at least six web designers who were here two years ago and are nowhere to be seen today. They simply gave up when times got tough.

When times are tough it's all about attitude ... you don't let yourself get so scared that you run away and hide ... you don't give in to that fear ... you just get up every time you get knocked down and you keep on moving forward.

Have the attitude that you're not going to let the world beat you and you'll survive while others are not.

Be prepared to evolve
If Darwin's theory of evolution is right then it must surely apply to businesses just as much as it is supposed to apply to the creatures that live here on Earth.

If you're not prepared to evolve ... to grow your business in directions that you probably never considered when you started here ... then pack up now and go home because the chances are that your days are numbered.

Within that 50 mile radius of here I mentioned before I know of at least another three web designers who have either gone bust ... or are on the verge of going bust ... because they weren't prepared to evolve. One is stuck back in the pre-CSS and pre-CMS days and now that everyone wants to manage their own sites they can't provide what their customers want and they're getting no work.

Another doesn't like building online shops and turns that work away ... the silly man. Right now well over 50 per cent of the enquiries we're getting are for online shops and for the last few weeks every enquiry has turned into a paying job.

If you came into this industry with the idea that all you would build is free sites or galleries and you would never go beyond that then it really is time that you woke up to reality. If your business is not evolving then your business is dying. So it's time to look around and see where you can take your business tomorrow ... next week ... and well into the future.

Sure, that's going to take you out of your comfort zone but if you're not prepared to get out of the warm fuzzy shell that you have built around you there will be no future for your business.

So if things are tough for you right now ... or if you've been doing well but now you're scared about what is coming in the near future ... it's time for you to toughen up and look for ways to grow your business.