http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/garage-sale-warrior/2009/11/flipping-for-fun-and-profit.html

Garage Sale Warrior is my mom’s Chicago Tribune-affiliated blog about the Chicago community of second-hand and vintage buyers and sellers.  You can direct comments to her at didurkes@yahoo.com, or post them on this blog.

I got to wondering, “Why would someone take the time to leave those comments?”  She had quite a chip on her shoulder.  She obviously didn’t want clarification, or even help.  Instead, the whole thing just had an air of defensiveness about it, as though my blog had touched upon a something that she did not want to accept.  Plus, it was clear that she didn’t read most of my actual text, but saw only what she wanted to.

The gist of it is: She thought my message of success was unhelpful.  More to the point, though, she thought my position was, “All you need is to have a successful attitude, and success will be yours.”

What is a successful attitude, anyway?

That isn’t what I say.  My stance is more like, ‘You need to have a successful attitude, or else success won’t be yours.”  In fact, you can invest every drop of time, effort, and energy you have into what you’re doing (successful actions), but if you don’t have The Drive (successful attitude), you’ll probably not get far.  At least, this has been true for me.

It’s like going to church with an empty spirit, or showing up to work but not doing anything productive.  Sure, you go through the motions, but if you’re not really there, it’s just busy-work.

Positivity Is Misunderstood

Having a positive attitude isn’t about feeling happy and cheerful all the time — not even close.  It’s about stopping bad habits of thought: blaming, feeling sorry for yourself, criticizing, and it’s also about staying present — continuing to really care about what you’re doing.

The positive attitude is not comfortable or comforting, because it’s the cold, hard knowledge that only you can do what you have to do.  There is no one there who will take the responsibility off your hands.  And it’s a constant battle to avoid indulging in negativity, but you can’t give in.  If you do, all your attention will be spent thinking, “Poor me,” not on what you gotta do.

Don’t use your problems as fuel for bad emotions.

As any soldier or top athlete will tell you, success is a mental game. It can mean death to indulge in negative emotions.  You should admit the facts, absolutely — if you’re broke, in hard times, in bad health, or otherwise at a disadvantage.  But don’t think, “Oh, I can’t possibly succeed because my kids… my job… my health… my debt.” If athletes thought that every time they got hurt, no one would ever come back from injury.  But they do it all the time, and sometimes it seems miraculous because they overcame so much!

Like an athlete, say to yourself, “What’s the plan for recovery and getting back on the field?  What am I going to do about the fact that I’ve got this problem?”  Start solving the problem, not using the problem as bad-emotion fuel.

If you are thinking about how bad your life is, you are not thinking about how to make it better.

Just keep on; there is no other choice.

If you think that I’m happy and positive all the time, think again.  My writing rings true for so many people because it’s also a constant battle for me!  Yes, some things come easily to me, like expressing myself in writing.  But some things are very, very difficult, like weight loss, and having to attend to a high-need toddler 22 out of 24 hours (that’s not an exaggeration) when I am an extreme introvert.  But, as my friend put it, “You just do what you have to do, because you have to do it.”

If you’re truly success-minded, there is no choice.  You care far too much about what you’re doing to leave it alone, no matter how broke, friendless, stressed, or ill you are.  (Which is why I’m writing this at 4AM while my son tosses and turns due to more inexplicable problems with his sleep and digestion.)

The best thing you can do for yourself is to accept the fact that you’re not going to give up, so it’s no use playing out scenarios where people come to your rescue, pity you because you have it so hard, or help you justify why it was the best thing to drop out.  Face it — you’re in, and you’re in for good. Best to apply your energy to your strategy and tactics, not imagining yourself as a tragic figure.  Maybe your tragedy is justified, but is that the role you really want to have in life?

Just fight on, and remember, that even though it looks like people have it easy, everyone’s got their problems.  Everyone’s involved in their own silent battle.  Even the rich and “successful.”

As far as I know, these beliefs only leads to trouble. I know, because I’ve subscribed to both of them at various points in my life, with no positive results. My thoughts often took the “If I could only…” form: If I could just get a good grade on my SATs… if I could just find three hours to organize all my papers… if I could just fix the graphic design on my website… etc.

The health industry is making a killing because of this tendency — “If I could just buy this home gym equipment, I would be thin and healthy.” I don’t blame Bowflex or anyone else for profiting from it. This tendency comes from within us; it is not created by advertising.

The “one thing” mindset is a completely false belief that we create based on our desires, not reality. It would be so easy if it were true! If I could just find the one workout video that really gets results, I would be fit forever!

But what really works like that? In my experience, nothing.

Success Is A Complicated Combination Lock

A better metaphor for success is a complicated combination lock, the kind where you have to put in a parallel row of numbers. Once we get the right combination, though, we’re often faced with another lock to get to the next level. You have to expect that, to survive in goal achievement. If you’re completely convinced that you’ve got the key to success, and it doesn’t work, it creates a void of helplessness from which you have to recover. “Well, what do I do now?”

Success, whatever your definition of it may be, is a combination of things all done basically right, continuously.  For example, success in health is a continuous combination of:
- healthy eating
- healthy sleep
- exercise
- mobility
- positive mental attitude.

Without all of those things, total health is incomplete. And, even worse, the combination is different for everyone.

Success in writing is so much more than just language ability or “talent.”  You see plenty of “talented” writers never even finishing a single story!  Success in productive writing is a continuous combination of storytelling, self-honesty, being aware of the world, discipline, focus, and much humility.  And those are just some of the things that one has to do right in order to be a writer.

Success in business is also a combination of factors, and depending on who you are, they may be different for you than for other people.  You cannot expect to take one class and have all the knowledge you need.  It’s more realistic to expect to take class after class or read book after book, forever, as your success maintenance program.

In business, there is no one key to wealth. There is so much emphasis on breakthrough thinking, but that is because a breakthrough is dramatic, easy to understand, and makes everyone wish / hope that a breakthrough will “happen” to them.

Breakthroughs are nothing more than the last number in your lock.

I think of achievement as the output of a machine.  This machine has many parts that all have to be in good working order to produce results.  It may be that there is one major thing holding you back, but all too often, that one thing just covers up another thing that you have to see to.  Is it frustrating?  Yes!  Especially when you buy a book or take a class promising you a “fast, easy way” to build a business and start getting money TODAY.

That is why I’m never going to tell you that there is a fast, easy way to build a good business — any more than there is a fast, easy way to learn to play the violin (I do play fairly well, by the way, so I know what I’m talking about here.)  I will never promise that there is ONE key to success in business.  In my experience, there are several keys, and they are all equally important.  Only when you have all the numbers will the combination be right, and the lock unlock.

Do something worth doing.

This is why it is so important that you are doing something worthy of your time and energy.  If you aren’t, you will look back five years from now and it will feel like wasted time, no matter how much money you get (success is not only measured in dollars!)  How do you know if you’re doing something worthy?  Only you can know that — see the section on The Drive in “What It Takes” and “A Day Without Action,” two of the chapters in my free business course.

You see, I brought this cold on myself.  No, really.  I know my “machine” very well, and I know that I opened the door to sickness by staying up too late, too many nights in a row.  It happens every time.  I know this compromises the immune system — everyone’s, but mine especially, and I somehow thought I was the exception.  So, when my two-year-old’s nose started running, I didn’t think, “Oh boy, I better do everything right so I don’t get sick.”  Nope.  I didn’t think at all.

Therefore, I have absolutely no cause to whine, even in the theater of my mind.  Instead, I am using this opportunity to practice discipline and responsibility.  All day long, I was teeth-grittingly perfect.  I ate every 3 hours even though I had no appetite.  I even took a nap when I was tired.  I drank water.  I exercised heavily in the morning (it’s just a cold, not a reason to throw me off my schedule.)

Even though none of this was pleasant — what is, when you have a cold — I was able to feel good about myself.  I was able to gain back the responsibility points I lost by staying up all night.  But even better, I turned my cold into a real opportunity to teach my readers about opportunism!  (This quality is featured in “What It Takes,” the first paper in my free business course.)

Opportunism is turning adversity into real opportunity, not just thinking positively through a bad spot, finding hacks around a problem, or acting cheerful.  No, it’s the ability to really and truly turning it into an unique advantage for you, and use it as a springboard for success.

In martial arts, Shr Fu often talked about this.  When I heard my teacher — who has real-life combat experience — speak about fighting, it was clear he never stopped strategizing, even when he was getting a blow to the stomach.  He taught us to use our sparring partners’ energy to give our strikes more power.

This quality comes from physical training, but it’s an example of “the body trains the mind.”  Opportunism comes from being mentally ready and open to opportunity.  You have to constantly ask yourself, “How can I use this to my advantage?  How can I make the situation even better because of this opportunity?”

If I had been in the mindset to act cheerful and weather the storm, I would be focusing on distracting myself from my cold.  If I slipped into self-pity (yep, I am quite a baby about being sick), I would just be making myself miserable.  But because of my opportunism, I actually was grateful for the chance to practice my responsibility, repair my self-image as a healthy and disciplined person, and have ready inspiration for this blog!

Now, I’m off to bed at a reasonable hour so that I can feel as good as possible tomorrow…

Yesterday was a cold, sort of wet day — not good for an active toddler!  We strolled around downtown and went in different stores to pass the time.  One of these stores was Design Within Reach.

I had only seen the catalog, so I was interested in looking around and sitting in all the chairs.  I couldn’t believe the price tags!  $1000 for what looked like a silver lawn chair… $180 for what appears to be a simple children’s coat rack (I actually own this.)  $3000 for simple glass tables and simple couches.

But I had to admit, there was *something* about every piece there that set it apart from its IKEA and Target knock-off cousins.  Everything seemed so thoughtfully designed, and all the couches and chairs were actually comfortable.  I was surprised, having only shopped at IKEA and Target for furniture, at how sturdy the pieces seemed.  This was not disposable furniture, but stuff that you could give your children for their first apartment so that they would have at least one classic work of design.

The store had no music playing, which I really like.  Everything was quiet, spacious, and inviting.  The price tags were not paper, as I had originally thought, but magnetic holders with printed magnet labels stuck on them.  How smart!

The one sales person greeted me politely, but left me to meander around.  He did not say a word about my son trying out all the chairs (I did make him take his shoes off.)  When he saw me looking at a particular couch, he engaged me in intelligent discussion about design.  He told me that he has several of the pieces in his own house, including the couch I was trying out.

My son started getting bored, so we had to go.  On our way out, I noticed this quote printed on the glass wall:

“The details are details. They make the product. The connections, the connections, the connections. It will in the end be these details that give the product its life.”
Charles Eames

For those of you who read my paper, “The Difference Between Something Good and Something Great,” this should serve as a real-life example of how excellence makes vastly more money than simply good.  Design Within Reach produces the equivalent of First Class tickets.  Yes, they are basically the same as the cheaper IKEA products, but DWR totally outclass IKEA in its attention to detail in all the areas that count… not just the products, but the entire customer experience.

I, for one, will be thinking about how to apply this to my life, and certainly my business.

What is the #1 skill you need to run a successful bath and body business?

Without this most valuable skill, all businesses are doomed to fail. With this skill, though, your chances for success are astronomically improved. This skill is at the heart of every business from the smallest card table at a craft fair to, well, Bath and Body Works! Before you read on, try to think of what it might be.

Is it creativity? Or problem solving, positive attitude, innovation, persistence, or a strong work ethic? No, although those are strong contenders for #2.

In my experience, the most important skill for a business owner is selling. If you cannot sell, you don’t have a business. Instead, you are just “playing business.”

It may seem obvious, but if businesses cannot get enough sales, they go out of business. They may have everything else – a great location, good looking packaging, lots of walk-in traffic (or website traffic), unlimited startup capital, fantastic products. But if they don’t exchange those products for money, they are not a successful business.
Don’t let this happen to you! Here’s a cautionary example…

I worked with a business that had exactly the things listed above: a large, beautiful retail space, professional packaging and graphic design, good quality products with a high percentage of natural ingredients, a chemist from Bath and Body Works, and nearly unlimited startup capital (they burned at least one million dollars). But they could not sell the products.

I joined the company about six months after they opened, and I stayed until almost the bitter end. I became close with the owners and heard a lot of “behind the scenes” stuff that I wasn’t supposed to hear. What it came down to was that the owners knew nothing about sales. Not one of them had worked in retail, or even sold Girl Scout cookies door to door!

They hired a good sales staff to represent the products in person, but when it came to promoting the store, they just couldn’t do it. They couldn’t “sell” the store well enough to get people in the door. They had no idea what to do, and they were stupidly doing the same few things over and over, expecting different results.  (Why did this happen?  My take on the situation can be found in “What It Takes,” the first installment of my free course on cosmetic business success.)

And worse, because they didn’t know anything about selling, they were slower than a sloth when it came to trying out new products and promotion methods. It took them a month to put out a mailing list signup clipboard. It took them three months to make up a new flyer. Instead, they made themselves feel busy by hiring a designer to make new labels, hiring more lab staff, making someone a floor manager, shuffling papers, etc.
What does this mean for you?

Some of the most common questions I get from aspiring business owners have to do with trademarks, business names, tax IDs, registering a business, bookkeeping, packaging, business cards, storefronts, and stuff like that. It’s all irrelevant if you can’t sell your products.

Ockham’s Razor

Everything you do, especially in the beginning, should be the most direct, short path to selling. All the “extra stuff” should be minimized as much as possible. For example: if you need a book keeping system, but how ’bout a pen and notebook? Don’t spend time and money learning Quick Books – it will take you at least a month to get comfortable with the new software.  Once you have a high enough volume of sales, you can always hire an accountant to help modernize your system.

You may need to register a business in your state, but don’t worry about a cute name! Start by doing business under your own name, use your social security as your Tax ID. You can worry about business names and trademarks later. Having a catchy name isn’t nearly as important as getting your products in front of potential buyers. They won’t care what you’re called, just as long as you sell things they want to buy.

Yes, you do take a hit when you have to do make-up work or fix messes after the fact, but if you wait until the time is just right to start selling, you will be waiting forever.  Plus, you can outsource your cleanup to people who are experts.  It’s not as expensive as you think.
“But I don’t know anything about selling…”

You may not know how to sell, but that’s okay. There’s always a lot of learning involved in any new job. At your first craft fair, you may feel uncomfortable even looking people in the eye when they come up to your table. You may have no clue what to put on a flyer or ad. You might not know how to “close” a sale, especially when you write Etsy listings. But you will figure it out, don’t worry!

Everyone has to start somewhere.  Don’t worry about being sophisticated.  You get knowledgeable in selling with sales experience.

Previously, I had some specific “action steps,” but those particular techniques aren’t as effective anymore.  The artisan cosmetics market has exploded since 2007, which is when I first wrote this article; the bar has gone up for reaching customers effectively.

How To Take Action.

For your own action steps, I suggest making a list of every way you can think of to promote your products.  List at least 20.  It may take you a couple hours to come up with that many.  Start putting them into practice, from the fastest / easiest to the hardest.

Not all of them will work, and that’s simply a fact.  In advertising, no matter how good the advertiser is or the products are, over half the ads don’t get results.  Don’t let that stop you; let it instead make you aware of how many times you have to try before you may see results.

Want to sell your own line of bath and body products? That’s what this section is all about, but it’s kind of a secret. I don’t publicize it on my main site because… as you can imagine, many people are interested in this topic. I get flooded with questions as soon as I post anything business-related on my website.

Since people are vitally, almost desperately, interested in selling their products, they are easy to take advantage of. The topic of “how to start your own home-based business” provokes a desperate fever in people. They will buy anything that might help fulfill that dream – and usually, the material disappoints. Usually, you get stuff like:

If you want to sell your own line of:

• Perfume
• Bath and body / toiletry products
• Home fragrance
• Mineral makeup
• Spa products
• Hair care / salon products
• Even anti-aging treatments

You should read this website; it contains some of the most practical, usable information you’ll ever find about marketing, selling, and building your own brand of boutique products.

Due to tough economic times, more people than ever before are interested in selling their handmade products.  They dream of turning their hobby into a business, or taking their “hobby business” further.  But only a few dare to imagine turning their tiny operation into a true boutique brand.

This website is for those adventurous and ambitious leaders in products, who want to be the next Fresh… or the next Voluspa, or Kai, or Diptyque, or Archipelago…  If that describes you, and you…

- are willing to invest everything you’ve got into getting there

- know that there are no guarantees in life

- think that the journey will be worth it, even if your success isn’t guaranteed

…then this website is for you.

Note: this takes investment, even if it’s not money.

On this site, you will find white papers, articles, posts, and video presentations on building your artisan cosmetics and scented products business.  Most of the information doesn’t cost any money, but none of it is free. There might not be any charge, but you will still make an investment with your time, energy, emotions, and thought… resources that are more precious than money.  (You’ll learn more about that in Success Paper #4, “Invest In Yourself.”)

The good news is, there is no better investment than your own business education, if you are a serious player.

Where to start.

I strongly suggest – no, absolutely insist – that you start with my no-cost course about achieving success with your business.  It is a series of four PDFs that are useful not just to people in a cosmetic business, but, as one reader noted, for anyone who wants to achieve anything.  These papers have gotten an overwhelming positive response from readers, and there is no monetary investment for you, only your time.

“Hey Katherine!
“Listen….first off, I want to thank you very much for your helpful hints and tips,
motivation and encouragement.  I love your website and love receiving your
emails and pdf documents…

“…You may not remember me, but you mentioned a quick story I shared with
you about the ladies at LUSH grinning when they saw me coming because
I was coming into the store.  I appreciate your mentioning me in your newsletter
once way back.

“Keep up your good quality down-to-earth writing.  I always feel like I’m talking
to a girlfriend or getting advice from a girlfriend trying to break into this business.

“Thank you for being there for us home-girl.  (I live in (city withheld), IL)

“Take care!
Love,
Jenni Johnson”

Why it’s “free.”

Writing these papers cost me considerable time, effort, and money, because I have invested thousands of dollars in my own success education, but I chose to make it available at no cost to you for a few important reasons.

1. It started as a gift to my list members and friends, who give me the “currency” most favored by writers: feedback and fan mail.
2. It’s a way for you to evaluate my ideas and teaching methods.  In the future, I may recommend courses, books, and reports that do cost money.  If you like my style, chances are, other people’s products I stamp with my approval will work for you.

Download the papers here.