The Number One Reason Why Online Retailers Fail
I already know that this post is going to touch off a pretty sensitive nerve with a lot of people. Nobody wants to hear it, and the natural reaction is to become defensive, but it must be said. And more than that, you — the new online retailer — must hear it, especially if you need to be successful.
Like many of you, I myself am an entrepreneur. I started my first Internet business in 1998 shortly after dropping out of college. The last 11 years or so have made up the bulk of my schooling as I’ve had various, albeit temporary, successes littered with many notable failures.
Over the last decade, I’ve learned two things about running an online business:
- Failure is a choice. It happens when you fall down and choose not to get back up again.
- Motivation is underrated. Having some form of motivation — something that absolutely compels you to get up each time you fall down — is critical to your success.
My motivation is the financial well-being of my wife and three children, and the story of John Paul DeJoria, cofounder — along with Paul Mitchell — of John Paul Mitchell Systems (which is best known for their Paul Mitchell line of haircare products) always helps me to focus whenever the need arises.
According to his Wikipedia entry, John Paul Jones DeJoria was born the second son of an Italian immigrant father and Greek immigrant mother in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. His parents divorced by the time he was two years old, and at nine he began selling Christmas cards and newspapers with his older brother to support his family. When his single mother proved unable to support both children, they were sent to an East Los Angeles foster home.
DeJoria spent much of his youth in a street gang in East Los Angeles, but changed when he was told that he would “never, ever succeed at anything in life” by a math teacher at John Marshall High School. He graduated in 1962 and spent two years in the United States Navy, after which he floated through a series of jobs ranging from janitor to insurance salesman.
In 1979 Dejoria met Paul Mitchell and together, with a $700 loan, started John Paul Mitchell Systems. Times were tough when they first started out, and by Dejoria’s own account, they never should have succeeded. But through sheer determination and implementation of truly visionary strategies unheard of at the time, the two business partners made good. Dejoria, once homeless, is now a reported billionaire.
Dejoria often sums up the secret of their success with the line, “Successful people do the things that unsuccessful people won’t.”
Are you a doer… or a won’ter?
