Why men fail and two ways to stop it:

It’s the beginning of the week so let’s talk about something that has to do with beginnings.

In the beginning of your career, you’re willing to take loads of risks, simply because frankly, you have a lot less to lose. After all, what’s your downside?

You start all over again?

That’s no big deal when you have nothing to lose, right?

But as time goes on, your income increases, and presumably, so does the amount of “stuff” you now have at risk. And at some point, another thing should start happening, which is that you realize your most important asset isn’t money, it’s time.

See, you can always make more money, but you can’t ever make any more time.

So not only do you now have assets at stake when you consider doing something, but you also have an opportunity cost.

Meaning, if you do “this thing,” you know for a fact, you’re going to be losing “that much” money simply because you’re using time which you can otherwise “spend” on something else that’s known.

Make sense?

The thing is, one of the reasons why so many businesses fail is because you can’t tell what’s going to work, and what’s not. The only way to find out is by trying, right?

Actually, that’s wrong.

See, unlike being pregnant, there is a way to be “sort of” trying.

For instance, I’ve just started up another publishing company myself, and my partner and I are sitting here looking at over 60 different niches to choose from.

And after 9 years, at this point, selecting the wrong one carries a lot of risk for me — some financial, but mostly in the form of opportunity cost.

Now there are a number of different ways to mitigate this risk, but let me tell you two of the most important ones.

First, if you are doing something brand spanking new — meaning, if you are the first to market — with few exceptions… chances are good this might not be a good venture.

Why?

Because although on the surface, you may be filled with youthful optimism and enthusiasm that’s telling you “Oh great. No one else is doing this”… reality is usually different.

Typically, there’s a reason why no one else is doing the thing you’re looking at. Few people come up with the next Walkman or iPod.

Not that it doesn’t exist, but don’t take virgin territory to mean “wide open field waiting for me.” I’ve done that before and failed a number of times.

An existing marketplace (meaning, other people are doing what you’re thinking about doing) is actually your BEST sign that what you’re about to do, at least has the potential to succeed.

The second thing you want to do is to run a test to see if you’re idea works. Run a small space ad to generate leads… or drive traffic to your website… or do a small direct mailing of one or two-thousand pieces.

And then, based on your response… you’ve got real market data about your project. And now you can use this to evaluate whether to move forward or not.

Gut feelings are good when you’re working with things you know. But they’ll ruin you when you’re trying to navigate uncharted waters. Always use facts to make decisions, and if there are no facts available, go out and create them in your own lab, via some testing.

That’s how to figure out if something’s worth your time.

Or not.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. Most valuable and longest-paying sales letter I ever wrote, all 40 pages of it for you: http://www.kingofcopy.com/dreamscometrue

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