A few Suggestions - Posted by Frank Chin
Posted by Frank Chin on February 10, 2002 at 08:56:13:
Hi Mack:
You sound like someone yelling out in desperation seeking help.
Some years ago, I experienced a bout of depression. It is very debilitating, and you can lay in bed all day not feel like doing anything.
Go see a doctor tommorrow, and get some medication. Prozac works in a day, and you wouldn’t believe the difference. Trust me.
After that, go down to your local church and get involved. Being around people doing interesting things does wonders.
One thought here is you may also sound angry and stressed out when talikg to people in your condition. That really turns folks off.
A word about “they have no idea what I’m talking about”.
A friend and I worked for a company that went bankrupt. My friend tried selling different products and had little luck with different things he tried. He got UPSET over people’s reactions.
So, we went to see a friend, the EXPERT, who started some businesses for advice. The expert asked “did you listen to the people you spoke to and find up what they really want?” HE said "I got many GOOD business ideas from customers who told me they have no idea what I’m talking about.
Give you an example what we did after that. My friend was trying to sell a line of “cooking oil” to restaurants that was much cheaper, and cooks better than any other. He was upset that folks just couldn’t GET IT. The EXPERT said next time, find out if there’s anything these folks COULND’T FIND or BUY, instead of talking about your cooking oil. The expert went on to say how helpful some customers can be.
So my friend and I decided to try this approach and went to see a Restaurant owner about the cooking oil. The owner shook his head and said “NO, and gave the usual reasons, that he’s happy with what he’s got yada yada”. Instead of getting discouraged, my friend asks “is there anything you need that we can help you with??”
Well, we were pleasantly surprised. This restaurant owner said he couldn’t get “fresh water fish” from his suppliers, that he and some other restaurnat owner friends were seriously thinking about doing indoor fish farming. The owner spent a good hour talking about other problems he had and things he tried.
We would had been sent packing in less than 5 minutes had we persisted on the cooking oil.
We tried another restaruant owner and he had trouble finding wrappers for fortune cookies from his regular supplier. The owner explained that drug dealers been buying up the bags. This man said that he even checked into machines that makes these little bags, and thought about making and selling it. Even gave us info on the manfacturer in Germany for these machines.
We then went back to the expert and told him, that he’s right, we got a load of business ideas from folks not interested in our cooking oil. The expert reminded us “business is solving OTHER peoples problems (they need good fish), not solving YOUR problems (selling cooking oil).”
He told us that at one point, he went around selling a product he didn’t really have, and wasn’t sure if customers wanted. So the idea was to get himself in the door and find out what his customers wanted. Its called MARKET RESEARCH.
So my suggestion is:
1- Get medical attention.
2- Get involved with people down at your local chuch.
3- Do some market research AFTER you feel better.
You’ll do fine.
Frank Chin