He sat across from me in my office, crying.
He had invested $400,000 into his new venture, and it wasn’t working. By the time he came to me to ask for advice, the only thing left to do was stop the bleeding and get out. What made this situation so much more painful was the fact that if this person had sought advice from someone sooner, he may have been able to turn the situation around, or at least cut his losses.
“How do you define growth?”
Most of my articles, as you’ve probably noticed, are geared toward business owners, managers, and entrepreneurs. But if you’re an employee at a company who wants to know how you can grow professionally, advance in your career, and boost earning potential, this one’s for you.
(And if you’re a manager who wants to understand how to help your employees grow, this one’s also for you.)
As the UX (user experience) strategist at Fowardslash, Sholom leads a team of researchers, web developers, copywriters, and designers to create conversion-focused, strategy-driven websites that result in optimal conversions for our clients. He’s also Chief of Making-It-Happen-in-the-Most-Efficent-Way-Possible and is always educating himself and the team on what’s next in the digital space.
I asked him if he’d share a taste of his vast web wisdom—and here’s what he had to say.
Have you ever been on the verge of giving up? Have you ever hit a wall, looked in the mirror and thought, “I just can’t do this”? Have you ever experienced the pain of self-doubt, of believing with every fiber of your being that you simply don’t have what it takes to succeed?
It is a dark place to be. There is no doubt about that. And it’s in these moments where we can be our own worst enemy—where we can lose the will to keep going. And that would be a big mistake.
When is the last time you hired a salesperson that you think is absolutely perfect for the job, only to find out they can’t close a sale if their life depended on it?
If this has happened to you, you’re in good company.
For a long time, I wondered why this is such a common scenario—why is it that someone can seem like a great salesman, but when it comes down to it, they have a hard time gaining the full trust of clients?
There’s a knock at your office door.
Your employee peeks their head in innocently.“Do you have a quick second?” “Can I just have 2 minutes of your time?”
OK. It’s just two minutes, you think.
How many of you fall for this on a daily basis?
Though the person doesn’t usually intend it as such, it’s a trap—and we know it. A second is never a just second. A minute is never just a minute. Even if it were, all those second and minute interruptions really add up … to more than you might think.
Maybe you’ve just started selling on Amazon. Maybe you’re already an established seller with great sales. Either way, one thing is certain: If you want enduring success in the ever-changing world of Amazon, you can’t ignore the importance of having a strong brand.
Ask the sellers who have seen the most consistent, reliable growth on Amazon how they achieved so much success long term. They’ll likely tell you that optimizing their listings, using the right keywords, and hiring a listing expert got them to the top, but it was their brand that helped them stay there.
