Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

Everyone knows something
I found a great story while browsing through the SiteBuildIt! forums today. It seems one couple had worked for 20 years trying to build a real estate investment business, buying old houses, renovating them, and selling. They studied every real estate investment book they could find, went to every real estate investing seminar they heard about. They knew the theories, knew the techniques.

But bad decisions dogged each house they bought—the wrong place, the wrong time, falling in love with the wrong houses and putting more money into renovating them than they had any hope of recouping, renting out to tenants who trashed the newly renovated houses even as the couple was lining up buyers. Nothing ever went right for them, and after 20 years of hard work, they had nothing—absolutely nothing—to show for their efforts.

Frustrated with their lack of success, they decided to try one last seminar—this one on web marketing—to see if there was anything new they could learn that might salvage their smoldering dreams. There, they had a chance to talk to one of the speakers, marketing guru Sean D'Souza.

They told him their story. They told him how there was so much the books and seminars hadn't prepared them for, so much they learned from their own mistakes, so much they would do differently if they could just do it all over again. And they asked D'Souza if there was any hope of salvaging their dreams.

Their conversation went something like this:

D'Souza said, "Why not write an ebook about it?"

They balked. "There are so many books written by successful investors out there. Why would anyone buy a book by a couple of failures?"

"Because no one has written a book from your perspective," D'Souza answered. "You said yourself that the books you read never prepared you for the situations you actually faced. Wouldn't other investors like to know what pitfalls are out there and how they can avoid them?

"Tell your horror stories. Explain what you did wrong and what you now know you should have done. Interview successful investors and have them comment on how they would have handled your situations. You'll be providing other investors with a book that's ten times as valuable as all of the idealized books that assume that everything will always go as planned."

Now, I don't know how the couple has done with this excellent idea; the story of their new venture is still unfolding. But it does show one thing: everybody knows something that's of value to others. I've heard dozens of stories just like it:

• the mother of a disabled boy who thought she knew nothing of value because she had devoted 20 years to tending him, but found she had a wealth of information that others who had just been thrust into that situation desperately needed
• the truck driver who thought he knew nothing of value because he had spent his life on the road, but found he had a wealth of information about long distance driving that many travellers found invaluable

Everybody knows something of value, even if it comes so naturally to them that they dismiss it as nothing more than common knowledge. But don't ever think that you can't provide information or a service that others won't find useful. Look at how you've spent your life. Look at the situations you've had to deal with. Look at your passions and where they've led you. There are others out there who can benefit from your unique knowledge and experience.

Most people, when they go into business on the Web, assume they'll have to fit into somebody else's mold. They look for a generic product to sell and then struggle to make a living doing what they feel everybody else is doing, in exactly the same way as everyone else is doing it. But look at yourself and what you have to offer and you'll find a much more profitable and much more enjoyable way of earning a living—by doing what you were uniquely designed to do.

Jeff

P.S. Happy 24th birthday to my daughter Rachel!