Throughout my journey, I’ve built 2 successful 6 figure business and I’ve also failed several businesses along the way (3 online businesses) and burned a lot of money on ads, effort and time. These are the 8 mistakes I made that I wish knew when I started my online business
1. Jumping onto the hype train
I was in the middle of starting my digital marketing agency, but everyone was raving about dropshipping and I decided to stop everything I do and jumped the hype train
Happened to me several times with several other things, and I made a whooping of $0
At first, I was bought into dropshipping, I failed. And then I invested into bitcoin, lost money. And then it was doing affiliate marketing, failed. The list goes on.
“Gurus” will always hype them up to sell their courses. On paper, all these opportunities make SO much sense and it always looks so much better than what you’re currently doing. But the reality it’s rarely the case with false expectations “gurus” lured you in with their sales copy on facebook.
Don’t get me wrong, people DO make money at dropshipping, bitcoin etc. But just like anything else, it’s not as easy as it sounds and it requires hard work, consistency, and investment
Focus on what you do and become the master of it. Don’t let the hype trains distract you, don’t listen to other people rave about the new “hot” opportunity or the next bitcoin
I was talking to local business owners and sales reps the other day and some of them are doing 7 to 8 figures in local, brick and mortar businesses. One local wholesaling business selling niched imported products to local convenience stores are doing $600k/month. I could not believe it. People who succeed did it by focusing on what they are really good at and not doing what everybody else is doing and not buy into the guru’s sales copy on the next hype train
I decided I’m going to focus on my online coaching business and stick to it for a long time and I made more money than all other hype trains I jumped
2. Focusing on competitors instead of bringing your client results
When things get traction and finally moving forward, I looked at my competitors and I felt like crap afterwards. Then I started self-sabotaging myself and started doing what competitors are doing and everything went downhill.
Competition is for pussies, seriously. If you’re offering the EXACT same thing as your competitors, of course you will be competing.
It’s okay to look at competitors to gauge the market needs/desires and what they are doing - but offering the exact same thing as your competitor is a surefire way to be price shopped. Come up with unique angles and offers and create something totally unique to the marketplace that solves the market needs/desires. If you can’t make it unique, make it 10x better and offering what your competition don’t and make sure you’re miles ahead of everyone
Focus delivering EXCELLENT service, not focusing what competitors are doing, not marketing gimmicks with a new widget, design etc
If you have a really good product/service that solves a strong need/desire, people will naturally spread the word and your customers will willingly spread the word out. There’s no need to look at competitors and compare yourself to them
3. Thinking it’s all about me
No one cares about you in business. They only care about getting their pain fixed and the result they want. It’s not about what you wear, the design of your logo, your qualifications, your awards with google etc. People ONLY care about how you can help them with their problems and the results.
E.g
Do you pay an SEO agency for how fancy their office is, how many staff they have, how good they look when they consult you OR do you actually pay for your site to be ranked on the top on the first page?
Do you pay a basketball coach on how he presents himself with certificates OR do you pay a basketball coach to win the game?
Do you pay a personal trainer based on what kind of certificates he has OR do you actually pay a personal trainer to get results for yourself?
You get the gist - people pay for results and how you can help them. Focus on the results of your clients and not the “image” you put it out there
4. Selling to the wrong people
It happened to me a several times. I was speaking at an event and no one signed up for my offer despite having a huge audience, which I normally do with about 30 - 40% signup rate. My mind started going crazy thinking and doubting about my offer, my niche, everything. Later then I found out the people that came to the are not the people who fit in my target audience
Create your ideal customer avatar, know EXACTLY who you are selling it to. That way when you write your ads or market your services you know exactly how you can attract to your ideal customer instead of scattergun approach targeting everyone to buy your product/service which most people won’t.
On the phone or through online, qualify the prospect properly and make sure they are a good fit AND can afford your product/service BEFORE pitching and selling them your product/service - ask them qualifying questions without sounding like you just wanna close them. That way it SAVES you time and headaches wondering why can’t you close.
There are enough people in the world for what you sell, as long as it solves a strong problem/need/desire
Talking and selling to 100 wrong people vs 100 the right people makes a HUGE difference. Not everybody buys your stuff. ONLY sell to the right people, people who need and will benefit from your product/service
Don’t waste your time with the wrong people. The last thing you want is selling someone who doesn’t need your service/product because that is only going to cause you pain and troubles (worst case you’ll be in a legal situation).
If I were to sell a weight loss program to a guy who is fit and lean - doesn’t matter if I’m a sales gun with the world’s best weight loss program. He’s not going to buy because he’s doesn’t need it
5. Avoiding fears
This is huge for a lot of people including myself. I used to be paralysed by my fear and not being able to take action because I was so afraid of failure and what other people think about me.
This reframe that helped me a lot: Acknowledge the fear, embrace it and do it anyway. What’s the worst is going to happen? If I don’t take action, I’ll regret that I didn’t even try and that’s a 100% failure for me. Or I could just embrace fear and do it anyway, at least I know I took action and tried my best. And if it didn’t work out at least I’ve gained feedback and experience that will allow me to succeed in the future.
Spending $2,000 a week on Facebook Ads not knowing if it’s going to work is scary (and $2,000 a week is nothing in the fb ads world)
Writing a controversial copy you know will offend other people is scary
Picking up a phone talking to potential clients is scary
People saying no to your offer is scary
People hating you on the internet is scary
But that does not mean you’re giving up
Take it as an experience, learn and iterate from there
6. Not listening to people who have actually done it and succeeded
I used to think:
“He’s successful because he’s in a different situation, his advice won’t work for me”
“Why sign up to programs and buy courses when I can just do it myself”
“He’s naturally confident and bold. His advice only works for people like that. I’m not like that”
“His advice is horrible I can do a better job myself”
By not listening to people who have actually succeeded brought me to nowhere but broke and wasted a bunch of money on useless stuff that I thought it’ll work
Then I started looking at people who are successful, start taking on their habits and their principles and look at what they are doing - started taking their programs, reading their books, taking their courses and that helped me to start my first successful online coaching business
If I were to do it all by myself there is no way I will be here today
7. Not validating with the market - thinking of what YOU want instead of what the market actually wants
I’ve spent 2.5 months working 12 hours a day to create a info product to find out that nobody wants it. That moment was the worst feeling I hope no one will ever go through
Don’t think about the next “cool” thing or how what awesome product you want to create. It’s irrelevant. Come from a mindset on how can my service/product solve my customer's pain.
Instead of boiling up ideas in your own head (which a lot of us entrepreneurs do, I probably come up with 2-3 new ideas every single week) start talking to people and figure out what problems/desires do they have and come up with a solution to solve that problem instead of coming up with “cool” ideas.
Ideas in your head are what YOU want and NOT what the market ACTUALLY wants.
My first successful online coaching business is teaching men how to meet and date women. Initially when I started this business, I thought every single man wants to know how to attract girls they like with their own personality. But after taking my time out and actually talk to a lot of men to further understand their pain/need/desires, I then realized what they actually need/want is to know how to meet them and how to maintain attraction without blowing it up - and that’s how my first coaching business got successful. If I were to go with the original angle of attracting girls with their own personality, it would be a 100% failure.
8. Not believing and underestimating yourself
The biggest amongst all - is that you need to believe in yourself that you can start a successful business. If I haven’t believed in myself, I probably would not start a business and probably will still be working at a job I hate.
Mindset is everything to success. Belief in your ability to make it work and seeing failures as feedback on how you can do things better
We HIGHLY underestimate ourselves and the amount of abundance there is in the world, and it all starts from the mind on actually start believing that you can bring value to people and change their lives with your expertise
I hope this helps you to empower your journey. If you do want to start your online coaching business - you’re in the right place
I help people start their highly profitable online coaching business and grow it to 6 figures. If you have something you’re good at or passionate in, why not turn it into a business by offering high-ticket coaching to help people/businesses make a transformation?
If you’ve failed at starting an online business in the past, its not your fault. If this appeals to you, let’s talk. I’m currently offering a free strategy session for a limited time - on the session we’ll dive deep on what’s actually holding you back on starting a successful online business, then we’ll map out exactly what your goals are, how to launch your coaching business and how we can bridge that gap and make that a reality
https://www.yikhaiwong.com/letschat.html
P.S If you're lazy and think this is just easy money where you can just sit back and click some buttons to make money and not helping people, save both of us time and don't apply. I will ONLY work with highly motivated individuals who are serious about starting their coaching business and willing to commit and start putting things in motion
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