I’ve been selling online for 3 years now exclusively and I’ve had ups and downs, it was a lot easier when I had another income coming in and it was a part time thing. I notice when I have slow sales I sometimes become morose and just generally down and when I have good days/weeks/months I am much happier and not as snappy with the family.
I was wondering if other sellers go through this and what they do to try to minimize the effects their sales have on them. It’s easy to say just try not to focus on it or whatever so i’m looking for things that actually help.
Not concern too much on daily sales,but try to pay attention sales of a longer time period(2weeks,1 month…),then sales show more steady.
It is quite common for every seller there is ups and downs on daily sales.
Not really care about if the days are slow or not. I use this as a way to sell things I don’t need anymore. Also there are several other fun things to do than spending my day worrying about things you can’t control or why there are low sales on a website
You have picked the right place, so many others posting on this forum are down in sales and feeling lost. Nothing you can do about the low sales, its ALL out of your control.
My opinion would be to reach out to a professional support group or professional individual before things get any worse.
Here is something that I guarantee will help. Do whatever it takes to make yourself laugh. Watch the funniest movies, read the funniest books, tell stupid jokes, go out and do something wacky. Laughter gets the endorphins flowing, and it will make you feel good enough to get back to work.
Motivate yourself to be on top. I do all the time. In my personal sense I have bills due this week I can’t pay because money is “reserved” in Amazon’s interest account. I work 9am to 12am every day.
I’ve been selling online for almost two decades and have experienced many ups and downs. Having a big down right now. And yes, it does get me depressed and anxious. I think that’s normal. For me, the biggest help is to recognize the cause, because otherwise I’ll go around grumbling, “What the heck is the matter with me???” But if I talk back, “I’m broke because no money is coming in and it’s scary,” that does help a lot.
I also often go through my books and sell them as an individual seller on here when that happens. I have a lot of books. They have saved me more than once financially.
Im semi retired but my businesses are spread out I have 3 so when online sales is not making money i just put more time into the other two Try to not worry about things I can not control
Ups and downs are just apart of entrepreneurship , Amazon is my part-time right now, I have a stronger , healthy, and more profitable business outside of Amazon, and right now we dont have a “making money” issue. Im doing better financially than I ever have. However im more stressed than I’ve ever been in my life, from dealing with employees, growing pains, efficient operating systems, quality assurance issue etc…Its hectic my mind seems to never stop running and I cant sleep sometimes, I’m gaining weight because Im stress eating, I’m not as happy as I should be giving the level of success I’ve achieved. Because its just "SUPER HARD’ right now. But Its just apart of the process, no matter how well your doing, when you have a family and your #1 goal is to protect and provide for them, and its your responsibility to create money out of thin air for them, you will have your ups and downs. Your mind will play tricks on you, you will be afraid of losing it all. But stick to the course. And dont be mean to the ones who support you. You will need them. They should be your release, when you see them they should take the stress and pain away. Because it for them.
Your very bold and courageous for writing this, most people would never admit the vulnerability and Im glad you wrote this. Your hard work has gotten you this far, keep going, adjust, always seek more knowledge and give it your all…Thats all you can do. Good Luck, and remember its almost Christmas time. This is when you make up for lost profits. Q4 saves lives…LOL
GOOD LUCK
It sounds like your business only has one customer (amazon), If Amazon has problems or decides they no longer want us, it severely impacts the sellers revenue. It is not good for a business to have only one customer.
Instead of treating Amazon as a main source of income, have you thought about going back to a 9-5 job with benefits and a matching 401K and using Amazon as a secondary income? Apparently jobs are coming back and unemployment is very low.
Small business management is mood management.
Even after 10 years of online selling, sometimes I find myself worrying over a decline in sales. Then I remind myself of the sentence above, manage my mood and start looking for the possible causes of the decline. Most of the time it’s the regular up and downs.