A Reality Check for Strugglers and Beginners

Posted On: 2010-12-13

So we're getting to the end of the year and that's a time to look back and take stock of where we are and what we've achieved. If we've done well during the last year and achieved most of the goals we may have set ourselves then we'll probably feel rather good and be encouraged to push on with our online business.

On the other hand if we haven't achieved our goals ... if we're still stuck in Struggle Street and we can't see any way out of the mess we seem to have sunk into then we'll be seriously looking at giving up and moving on to something else.

Now we might think that we're alone in doing this soul-searching at this time of year but we're not. There are a lot of people out there in a variety of businesses and jobs who are thinking exactly the same way that we are. They too are looking at their successes and failures and wondering whether they should try something else in the new year.

Quite a few of those people will still believe that there are truckloads of money to be made in porn so they'll come into the industry and try and grab their share of all that cash that's just laying around waiting for them to pick up. Of course things aren't like that and most of those new people who come into the industry will fail miserably.

However those newcomers may not fail if they're prepared for the reality of doing business here ... and if you've had a tough year and wondering whether you should go on or not perhaps you need a reality check too.

So here is your reality check ... here are a few things that you need to consider before you make any sort of decision about whether to start or continue in the adult online industry.

Do you have any marketing skills?
There was a time when selling porn and other adult products was not all that hard. You could pick up all the marketing skills you needed in the first year or two and you could make money as you learned the ropes.

These days you can still do that to some extent but the chances of you making fast money here are growing less and less. If you're prepared to stick around for the long haul and learn all you can about marketing then you may make money but if you're not prepared to learn and you're not prepared for the long haul then you may as well leave now because there is no fortune for you here.

Do you have a business plan?
I was going to ask if you had thought your business plan through because there are many startups out there who work really hard to get their business up and running and then find that no one really wants to buy their product. Sure, people might want their product but no one is prepared to actually pay money for it.

Then I realized that here in adult a lot of people really have no business plan of any sort. They have a vague idea of where they want to be in a year or two but no clear idea of how they're going to get there. I guess that most of those people think they can just wing it but a business here online is no different to a business out there in the real world so if you don't have a business plan ... a map of how you're going to get from where you are to where you want to be ... then you're not going to reach your goals.

Do you know and understand your market?
Do you really know who you're trying to sell to? Do you know how much they're prepared to pay for whatever it is that you're selling? Do you even know if they are prepared to pay anything for what you're selling?

What's the point of starting a business selling a product if no one wants to buy it?

Do you Know and understand your competitors? Do you know who your competitors are? Do you know what you have to compete against? Some time back a new startup hit the web that wanted to help people manage their personal finances. Wesabe was the name of the business and it had a great idea but they sure didn't look at their competitors.

Their main competitor was Mint ... a business with a website that blew Wesabe away. While Wesabe's site required users to fill in lengthy complex forms Mint's form was a breeze to use. Now who wants to spend time filling in forms for a service when another business offers the same service without all those painful forms?

Mint was recently sold to a much bigger company while Wesabe went broke and shut their doors.

You need to be objective when you're looking at your competitors. Can you do it better than your competitors? Can you offer a better experience? Can you at least match your competitor when it comes to usability?

If you don't know your competitors then you won't know whether you can offer something better than them and until you're at least as good as they are ... or you have a stronerg marketing campaign ... then are you're not going to grow.

I've really only scratched the surface for you in this short column but if you've been in the industry for a while and you're looking back and thinking that you're not where you want to be with your business then measure your business against the points I've raised here.

If you're new to the industry then think about what I've said and don't think that you can just wing your way to success. It's not going to happen. Do the hard yards now before you begin and you just might succeed.