Hey! Alex from Build Grow Scale here. I’m a Revenue Optimization™ expert, and I help ecommerce businesses grow and scale through optimizing their store.
This article is going to be a little different than usual in that we’re going to focus on mindset instead of tactics and strategies. Having the right mindset is absolutely key to success in any area, so let’s talk about the number one concept you need to understand and internalize if you want to succeed in ecommerce (or anything in life for that matter).
To have a successful ecom business, you must be able to embrace sucking.
By that, I mean you need to understand and accept the fact that whenever you do something you haven’t done before, you’ll probably suck at it. It doesn’t matter how great you are at a hundred other things, when you do something for the first time, you most likely won’t be very good at it. And that’s OK!
Think about it … Did you learn how to ride a bike on your first try, or did you fall a few times—maybe a lot of times—until you finally learned how to hold that balance and confidently ride? Or let’s go back to when you were a baby. Did you successfully walk on your first try? Heck no! Babies fall and get up over and over when they’re learning to walk.
Falling off the Horse
Now, this is the critical part that I want you to understand: When babies fall, do we scream at them, “Get up, dummy, you should be walking perfectly by now!” Of course not … because we understand that it’s a process and it takes time. Not only that, but how long it takes to learn to walk varies by individual. Some will be able to master it faster than others. And it’s no different when it comes to your ecom business. But as long as you keep getting up, there’s no failure, only feedback … And you will eventually succeed.
Why Are We Afraid of Failure?
What I’m talking about is such a basic concept, and yet most of us are still afraid of failing. But where does this fear come from? I mean, if we’re able to embrace failure as babies, where along the way does “embrace” turn into “fear”? While it can have many (and simultaneous) causes, I believe a big part of it stems from the grading and testing systems in school. They literally condition us to be scared of failing, because heaven forbid you get anything lower than an A or B on something. And if you do, you may be seen as incompetent, disappoint your parents, or end up the laughingstock of the class. We’ve all been conditioned to be afraid of “failing” … But when you become aware of and understand this false belief, you can start to do something about it and take action in spite of it.
So, it’s very simple: Learn to embrace sucking and understand that it’s OK to fail. Repeat after me:
- “It’s OK that my first product didn’t work.”
- “It’s OK that my second/third/fifth product didn’t work.”
- “It’s OK that my first 10 ads didn’t work.”
Put whatever fits your situation into the sentence “It’s OK that _______________.”
As long as you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, learn from your mistakes and try again, you will eventually succeed. Heck, it took Thomas Edison a thousand attempts to successfully invent the light bulb. He understood and lived by the principle I’m talking about today, and if he did it, you can do whatever you need to do to make your ecom store succeed.
Wrap-up
Now the only thing left for you to do is accept and start living according to this principle today. The quicker you do, the quicker you will get to where you want in life. So, the next time you try something new, expect to not be good at it, and keep getting back up on the horse until you’re able to stay on. Your business will thank you.
That’s it for this mindset training. I hope you liked it! If you’d like to learn more about what Build Grow Scale does or find out how we can help build, grow, or scale your ecommerce store, go to workwithbgs.com and schedule a free strategy call with one of our Revenue Optimization™ experts. We’d love to learn about your business, where you want to take it, and help you formulate a plan to get there.
