Should I close the business?
- Thread starter Tim86
- Start date
Maybe look at it from a different angle,and ask yourself the question can you enjoy and do this form of work for the rest of my life,and I think most businesses in this line of work are highly competitive from what my daughter tells me who is in the final year in her masters in Psychology,and there seems to be a massive employment both government - private sector for rehabilitation psychology,as long as they don't end up their own patient..
For a 100 bucks a week ? Even at mates rates ? Someone can get you on the top list ?
Be very careful about this. Google's algorithms and page ranking are incredibly complex for some guy to understand and master. If someone actually did, they'd be the most wanted fella in the advertising industry. Heck, I will get him worldwide clients for a lot more money. And Google is very apt at finding workarounds. If caught, you will probably fall back a few pages. Here's a fairly old example : http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/ne...googles-penalty-box-over-links-discounts-deal
Personally, I will almost immediately rubbish off anyone who would come to me with such a claim.
Hi aussieB, this isn't SEO, but do you think the advice provided in this article for Google+ is sound?
My view, if you are asking the question at this early stage then I think it's time to wrap it up. If it's a 50/50 then forget about it. Unless you have a real passion to make this work, better off doing something else. I started a business in 2010 that will have revenue of $15m this FY. It takes lots of energy and is far, far more than a job. I have two friends who have been in your position in the past, neither businesses worked out as they were not 100% committed. The concept of just giving it a go for a little while and then pulling the pin if it doesn't work almost guarantees failure. Real success takes longer and is more work than most expect.
I know you're really good at doing the property thing and property lends itself nicely to being a money making venture.
From my point of view, counselling is not something that is best done with the primary motivation of making money - and therefore isn't as well suited to being a business set-up.
It's not much good sitting there resenting someone who didn't turn up last week and is half an hour late this week and off her head to boot. Plus, how would you go with 20 clients every week for the foreseeable future?
The good thing about dealing with this type of work in someone else's business is:
1/ you can leave it at work - as you've already mentioned
2/ you get paid no matter what so you don't have to deal with your fear while you're trying to listen to someone else
3/ your focus can be on the client and not on marketing and self-promotion
As far as dealing with the pressures of working for someone else - these are skills and strategies that you can pass onto your clients.
The main thing to remember is that you do a good job and the marketing and money-making is your manager's problem, not yours. Managers are often motivated by their own greed or desire to look good - it's important to comply with their wishes and at the same time detach from their anxiety so that you can do a good job.
I would save the counselling business for when you're older, richer and your sole motivation is to give something back. Then you won't have to have heaps of clients and it won't upset you if someone doesn't turn up.
I admire your ability to do any counselling at all. It would drive me nuts!
From my point of view, counselling is not something that is best done with the primary motivation of making money - and therefore isn't as well suited to being a business set-up.
It's not much good sitting there resenting someone who didn't turn up last week and is half an hour late this week and off her head to boot. Plus, how would you go with 20 clients every week for the foreseeable future?
The good thing about dealing with this type of work in someone else's business is:
1/ you can leave it at work - as you've already mentioned
2/ you get paid no matter what so you don't have to deal with your fear while you're trying to listen to someone else
3/ your focus can be on the client and not on marketing and self-promotion
As far as dealing with the pressures of working for someone else - these are skills and strategies that you can pass onto your clients.
The main thing to remember is that you do a good job and the marketing and money-making is your manager's problem, not yours. Managers are often motivated by their own greed or desire to look good - it's important to comply with their wishes and at the same time detach from their anxiety so that you can do a good job.
I would save the counselling business for when you're older, richer and your sole motivation is to give something back. Then you won't have to have heaps of clients and it won't upset you if someone doesn't turn up.
I admire your ability to do any counselling at all. It would drive me nuts!
My 2 cents. Stick at it for at least 3 years and aim to automate it by leveraging on other peoples time and expertise (hopefully passion as well).
Find out where your target market hangs out online and position yourself as a specialist in that community. This will generate clientele if you take a problem solving/educational approach as opposed to a salesy one.
Find out where your target market hangs out online and position yourself as a specialist in that community. This will generate clientele if you take a problem solving/educational approach as opposed to a salesy one.
Just paying for adwords is better.
It took me 18mths to 2yrs of hard work to get my business established then it rolls itself. I would not be going the google pathway. I have a psychologist friend and she operates from an office in her backyard. Very profitable makes an extremely good living from it. She canvassed all the doctors in her area and got them to recommend her. You could also set up in an offic in the local clinic. Turn off your mobile after hours and get another for private. For hols just tell people you are fully booked that week/s and book them in for the next week
How would you enforce it for a new customer? Mail them an invoice and hope that they pay it?
To chase them after the fact may not be all that fruitful (or worth it) but if someone knows there's a cancellation fee they may take their appointment more seriously and turn up when they may not have or cancel well in advance as they may not have otherwise done.
Get their credit card up front; Tell them it won't be charged till the appointment unless cancelled <24 hrs. Lots of practitioners do that.
Thats more than fair. Reminds me of people who contact me to "have a look" at a complex scenario. In good faith I spend several hours mapping out a strategy and never hear back. Mmmm food for thought
For a 100 bucks a week ? Even at mates rates ? Someone can get you on the top list ?
Be very careful about this. Google's algorithms and page ranking are incredibly complex for some guy to understand and master. If someone actually did, they'd be the most wanted fella in the advertising industry. Heck, I will get him worldwide clients for a lot more money. And Google is very apt at finding workarounds. If caught, you will probably fall back a few pages. Here's a fairly old example : http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/ne...googles-penalty-box-over-links-discounts-deal
Personally, I will almost immediately rubbish off anyone who would come to me with such a claim.
Hi, I'm mindful that I probably make "the guy" sound a bit dodgey because I don't actually know what I'm talking about lol. But I'm pretty sure he knows what he is talking about. He already makes a LOT of money doing what he does. If he wasn't mates with my brother, the very first email with a bit of advice in it that he sent me would have cost $1000 normally, luckily he did it for me for nothing
He isn't even interested in taking on clients, apparently he prefers to write the software and then sell that for heaps of money to other people that then use it for optimisation. From the stories my brother tells me, apparently people will happily pay him $1000 for a 30 min chat. I think he is a bit of a legend in my brothers eyes lol.I think for my webstie he will do something with making youtube videos with links and stuff. Don't really know any more than that haha.
I've got to deal with a removal house this coming month and then I'm going to go ahead with the google optimisation. I'll let you know how it goes and if it does get the business ranking right up there.
Just wanted to say thanks for everyone's replies. I've read them all multiple times so far. Lots of good advice, and lots to consider.
I think the biggest challenge is finding the energy for the business on top of everything else. No energy = no motivation. I've probably been working 60-70 hours a week for a fair while now so I'm pretty buggered. And I can't really remember my last holiday...maybe 3 years ago?
I don't think I'm going to be so rushed with the building work now though, so I think I'll be able to cut back maybe 10 hours per week and put that 10 hours into the business.
I think the biggest challenge is finding the energy for the business on top of everything else. No energy = no motivation. I've probably been working 60-70 hours a week for a fair while now so I'm pretty buggered. And I can't really remember my last holiday...maybe 3 years ago?
I don't think I'm going to be so rushed with the building work now though, so I think I'll be able to cut back maybe 10 hours per week and put that 10 hours into the business.
