If you want to become an entrepreneur, your mind plays tricks on you. Can I compete against or successfully leverage the Facebooks, Googles and Amazons of the world? What happens if I can’t make enough money? Am I even capable of this?
There will also be unforeseen issues. Google slaps, Facebook penalties, Amazon account suspensions, lack of self-esteem, overwork, stress…
These problems arise within all entrepreneurs, not just at first, but at every stage of their journey.
1. Overwork
If you have a website, there is always something to do. It’s like a house that always needs cleaning. There’s always something to improve upon and always more content to create.
And that’s just the website. Entrepreneurs work long and varied hours. And these days with smartphones, laptops and wifi, there is the opportunity to work at virtually every moment of the day.
How to overcome overwork: Develop routines of healthy eating, socialising, family downtime and exercise into your daily and weekly schedule. Be ruthless with your time. Pleasure is just as important as business. Read more: how to work from home.
Pleasure is just as important as business Share on X2. Google algorithm changes
I’ve seen this happen many times every year for the last decade: Someone builds their business on Google traffic, Google tweaks their algorithm, and suddenly, their website’s income stream dries up to a trickle. They can stamp their feet, blame Google, blame the world but it’s unlikely to come back.
This happened to me (all of these things have happened to me) during one of Google’s infamous “Penguin” updates in 2012. Google was trying to punish websites that were attempting to game the search results by manipulating the links pointing to their sites. I hadn’t done this but it didn’t matter. I still got hit.
How to overcome Google’s algorithm changes: Vary your traffic sources. Vary your income streams. Collect the emails of your visitors. Build out a presence on different platforms other than your site.
3. Google banning your Adsense account
This happened to Spencer Haws of Niche Pursuits who’d built out hundreds of websites targeting low-trafficked keywords and was making a bit of money on each with Google Adsense ads. Then one day, BAM! They banned his account. No explanation, no discussion, no recourse. That’s the way it happens. If your Adsense account is disabled after approval, you cannot apply for another.
Spencer circumvented this by setting up a new company with a friend and starting a new Adsense account under another name. He has since branched out into Amazon FBA and selling digital products. So he’s varied his income streams.
I had my Adsense account disabled before I’d even run an ad. This was the case for years and years. I posted in Google’s AdSense Help Forum. I eventually got an answer from a Google employee in the YouTube Product Forum and the account mysteriously became active again.
How to overcome an Adsense account disabling: Google’s Product Forums are the only place you can go when Google negatively impacts your business. It’s worth a try. Or you can set up a new business with a 3rd party to get a new account. However, shit happens, so vary your income streams. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. (This will be a recurring theme).
4. Decrease in organic reach in Facebook’s News Feed
Facebook is constantly tweaking its News Feed Algorithm and in 2014 Facebook Business Page owners noticed a dramatic decrease in organic reach for their posts. Cue rage and fury from businesses which had already spent thousands (or more) building an audience on Facebook and now had to pay even more to reach them. Some brands were so upset by the situation that they publicly “˜broke up, with the social network.
How to overcome a decrease in Facebook organic reach: fortunately, there,s much you can do. I explain here how to increase Likes and engagement on your Facebook page by regularly posting image quotes. You can also use Facebook ads and target people to click on links to your site and like your page.
5. Amazon account suspensions
Many entrepreneurs are selling on Amazon. It,s a huge organization that can sell 400+ items a second. Occasionally things go wrong. Amazon can suspend a seller’s account if they get complaints from customers. This leads to a sudden loss of earnings for the entrepreneur.
What to do when your Amazon account is suspended: here,s a great story of a suspension that was resolved within a couple of days. The seller suggests you take complete responsibility for the problem, acknowledge the harm done to the Amazon customer and create an action plan to ensure that this will not happen again.
6. Copyright trolls
A copyright troll is a company who buys or owns copyrights with the sole purpose of suing people for infringement. A good example of a copyright troll is Getty who troll the internet for small sites that have unwittingly used one of their images from a Google search and try to extort hugely inflated damages. It,s estimated that over 200,000 people are victims of copyright trolls.
What to do when a copyright troll demands damages from you: Don,t ignore it, don,t answer it. Lawyer up and fight! Copyright trolls never go to court, they just harass a large number of individuals knowing that a few will pay up. A good lawyer will either force the troll to give up or accept significantly smaller damages. If you pay the inflated fee the troll demands you’ll be encouraging other large companies to go after solo entrepreneurs. Don’t do that!
Oh, and don’t use copyrighted images. But you knew that, didn’t you?
7. Email app (Aweber, Mailchimp) kicks you off for supposed spam
Email marketing companies (Entreport, Drip, Aweber, ConstantContact, etc.) send millions of emails everyday. These companies are in trouble if one of their servers gets blacklisted for sending out spam. That’s why they ask you questions when you unsubscribe: why are you unsubscribing? If “too many people” complain (0.1%, that’s one-tenth of one percent, that’s 1 complaint in a list of less than 1000) they can suspend your account.
What to do when an email app kicks you off: This happened to me at Mailchimp. I’d grown my list to a massive 500 subscribers without emailing them once. I tried to sell them an e-book and BAM! I got banned (maybe because one person complained!)
The solution was fairly simple. I downloaded a CSV of my subscribers and started at another email marketing company (VirtualResponse). I was able to upload them there and continue emailing without having to get them to opt-in again. I stayed with VirtualResponse for a while before I moved again to Aweber.
8. Lack of self-esteem, loneliness and isolation
It’s great when everything’s working for you and you’re making money but there will be low points. Your mind will play tricks on you and you may feel as if the world’s against you.
When you fall foul of a large online company (Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc.) it seems like there’s nothing you can do. There’s no discussion, no recourse and no explanation. It can leave you feeling desperate, hurt and vulnerable.
But that’s not the case. There is always something you can do.
What to do to stop feeling a lack of self-esteem, loneliness and isolation: well, I could write I whole post on this subject alone. In fact, I have. Several.
I’m a meditator. Meditation teaches you to observe the present moment without judgment. Often business issues seem to be overwhelming and immediate. However, they are (when viewed from afar) just minimal blips along the journey.
Meditation allows you to free your thoughts and adds space around the issues so they can be observed from a different perspective. Ask yourself: “what is harming me at this present moment?” I can guarantee you that nothing is. Just your mind.
The other main antidote to entrepreneurial lack of self-esteem, loneliness and isolation is to meet with other entrepreneurs. Go to meetups, conferences and liaise and set up masterminds with other like-minded business-people. Talk to them. They will understand. This is huge.
Meeting other entrepreneurs is an antidote to entrepreneurial lack of self-esteem and loneliness Share on X9. And, why you should be a solo entrepreneur
The last thing I want to do is to put anyone off being an entrepreneur.
I’m really proud of independent entrepreneurs. We go out there and make ourselves vulnerable everyday to the large corporations and we still succeed – no matter what they throw at us. Because of our determination to help others, we prosper because we are trusted within our communities.
I’m really proud of myself as someone who has helped people for nothing. Everyday for the last 10 years I’ve helped people online, built businesses, employed people and provided actionable content that has inspired thousands. Sure as hell there are easier ways of making a living. But this has to be one of the most rewarding.
You can do it, you can become an entrepreneur
You can beat the large corporates and the multitude of pitfalls dominating the online space. There are countless thousands of individuals doing just that. Just go out there and help people.
We are independent, nimble, authentic and ethical. That’s why we succeed.
Hi Rob,
Great article! My website has been visited by claim69526546.copyrightclaims.org – 27 times in the last few days and 44 times in the last month. All of the images on my site are either from Udemy, or paid for from DollarPhotoClub.com or IconFinder.com. I have confirmed with Udemy that all of the images on my site are OK with them, but what if a student uses a “borrowed” image from somewhere, does that leave Udemy liable? which in turn could leave me liable?. Should I be concerned?
Thanks,
Chris
P.S. You may not be a copyright expert, that’s OK, the article just made me think about my situation so I thought I’d put it out there and see if anyone had any thoughts.
Hi Chris, it’s hard to answer this one. I know that, for example, if someone breaches the copyright of a video on YouTube and you paste the YouTube link on your site, that that isn’t your problem – it’s a problem between YouTube and the channel owner who posted the video. However, the law in these cases very often favors those who can afford the most expensive lawyers so it’s best to advise caution. To me, personally, you’re not doing anything wrong but that’s my opinion (and I don’t have expensive lawyers). Good question about Udemy. Not sure about that one either.
Just an extra note on this, Chris, claim69526546.copyrightclaims.org is Ghost Spam in Google Analytics – it’s a fake site and it’s not sending you any traffic so no need to worry about that. 🙂
Hi Rob, it’s good to see that although you’ve had problems, you’ve also got solutions to them too. It’s quite scary how corporations can ban you though without explanation.
I’ve only recently started with a Facebook business page and it hardly gets any engagement at all – it’s quite disheartening. It looks like you have to pay to get anywhere with Facebook now.
I think keeping up with others like you is key. Where do you go to meet other entrepreneurs, and is that people in the web world, or entrepreneurs of all kinds?
Hey Claire, thank you for your comment, as always. I really don’t want to scare you because life always finds a way and all these problems have probably made me a better business-person!
For Facebook, you may find this article about growing your Facebook Page organically useful.
For meeting others, I find Meetup.com really useful. Facebook, could be good. Depends on where you are in the world.
“You can do it, you can become an entrepreneur”
Of course you can. If I could, anyone can.
I was an employee my whole adult life. I tried to start a business when I was 17 and failed miserably. It cured me for good from any entrepreneurial pursuits.
Yet, I started my own side hustle and make it profitable in less than a year.
And yes, my mind plays tricks on me. It’s still possible. Thanks Rob.
Thanks to you, Michal, it was good to see you on video with Akash Karia. Thank you for the comment and everything that you do.
Good points Rob,
I think one of the golden rules is not relying too much on one source for getting sales (i.e. google) and not relying too much on one client. The all eggs in one basket scenario. And remembering that your best clients are often the ones you have already.
All points you’d made in the past on your blog, I’ve made many of these mistakes along the way. But you live and learn and adapt and overcome these challenges along the way.
It can often take time to build a business, I envy the ones who seem todo it overnight or with a year or 2. But its very rewarding to be your own boss and to be able to sing your song so to speak.
Sometimes there are road blocks or dead ends you run into, when you thought it was a great idea. Other times you end up unearthing a niche by accident, that is good for business.
Which I seem to have done lately, for the past few years I’ve passed myself off as a full stack web developer, who could do everything including seo etc ….
But Lately what I’ve found, is by focusing on my strengths i.e. programming / sql … system analysis … architecture .. ( and not stuff like html / css ), I get alot of web designers and front enders etc … coming to me for help on programming / backendy kind of things.
Be your own boss, its great 🙂
Hey Louie, it’s great that you’ve been writing comments here so long and that we’ve grown as business-people alongside each other. It’s great that you’ve found a new direction. I envy you. I seem to change direction every two years or so. You’re right! Be your own boss, its great!
No one for me is really for people to understand what they want in life. I dont see it as us vs them, but more on how you can best use your skills and time to get most of what you want 😉
Hi Mads. Thank you for your comment. I don’t really understand it, especially the first sentence. I don’t know why you’re talking about Us “vs.” Them. I was explaining the situation as it exists for solo entrepreneurs as I see it but I don’t think I made any judgments to cause anyone to think it an Us “vs.” Them.
I’m saying “this is the situation and this is how you deal with it”. The situation is easier for the larger organisations than it is for solo entrepreneurs but that is as you would expect it. It would be strange if it was otherwise. It’s an Us “and” Them situation with no judgment. So, of course, I agree with you, this is about how you can use your skills to make the most of your business.
Hi, Rob
Awesome post, Rob. You are so transparent about you real experience as an entrepreneur. How nice of you provided the solution of each problem. This post will be stored in my file for future reference..
The most common complains about entrepreneurship are commitment (overwork) and isolation. Luckily, you also provided the solutions: – time management and Meetup groups. I am working on my time management. My desire is I am getting better each day. From the Meetup groups, I learn a lot about marketing and blogging.
Thanks for the encouragement.
– Stella Chiu
Thanks Stella. Do all you can to meet others in your situation – not just Meetup groups but mastermind and accountability calls. Do all you can to foster these relationships. It will help.
Great article Rob, I love how you write about both sides of Entrepreneurship – the good and the downright ugly! From someone who aspires (and is working towards) walking this path, your advise is invaluable! I have read many of your articles and I always find something of value that relates directly to my situation!
Thanks again!
Rob
Hey, Rob, so glad that I’ve been able to give you advice that is useful to you specifically!
Is there any reason why you chose the splash screen as opposed to making a watermark? It’s my understanding that you can’t do both, is that right?
I discovered your site while searching for info on Udemy. I did blackhat seo stuff for about 5 years before having to change gears – taught myself javascript and am developing my own courses now.
Hi Patrick, I don’t understand your question but welcome to the site 🙂
You have a 2-second splash screen at the beginning of every video with your branding. Can you also do a watermark – or is it one or the other?
And did I read correctly that you are not allowed to market your paid courses to students signed up for free courses?
thanks
Ah, I was confused because you are asking this question about Udemy after an article that is about something else. Ask these questions to instructorsupport@udemy.com – yes I assume you can have a splash screen and a logo but I’m not sure and no you’re not allowed to create promotional announcements to the students on your free courses.
Hi Rob, Thanks for the article, I have purchased a number of your products and like the down to earth honest approach, I have been trying to find my way for a while I just find it hard to know where to start, as spent alot of money trying to make my own way.
Well I wish you luck and keep it up, I thought you had gone quiet for a bit but glad to see your still here.
Hello Jason, I am so pleased that you’ve enjoyed a few of my products. I’m sorry you thought I had “gone quiet” 🙂 I hope that’ll never happen. You could sign up to my email list and receive some free e-books or you could sign up to one of my free courses – either way you’ll not miss a thing because you’ll be notified by email of anything I’m doing (including FREE offers!) – email list is all important. 🙂
#9 nails it and wins the internet on so many levels! Brand building isn’t just for the big guys (quote from fiverr CEO, Micah Kaufman) and once you understand what that means, you can go forward building literally ‘whatever’ whilst cultivating an audience who will support your vision as you venture on. No one does it COMPLETELY ALONE, but being in the position to move on your own ideation and intuition is doing it APART from bureaucracy which can kill your entrepreneurial spirit along your journey.
Isolation can be an ever-present bummer (even if you rent out and office and work around other people), because I’ve discovered that being a solo internet/laptop entrepreneur is somewhat of an un-relatable undertaking. However, should you learn how to channel your loneliness, you could build that business you’re envisioning in your mind!
Absolutely, Dion, we can go forward and build whatever we like and dodge the spirit-sapping bureaucracy and this really is a great gift we have.
Sure, there are downsides and pitfalls but there is with anything.
All the best to you, Dion, and thank you for your comment.
Hi Rob!
Thanks, your article was a great read, with some really solid points and advice! I really appreciate your first tip about overcoming overwork. This has been a huge one for me and it has taken me a long time to truly understand the difference between “being busy” and using my time effectively. I attempted to start a business a couple years ago and quickly burned out. Now, I am starting my second attempt at a business with more structured routines, time management, and a work/life balance. Things are running a lot more smoothly and I am more in tune and present with myself and my business goals!
The gains of being an entrepreneur are insurmountable, and I would never give it up for one second! Yes, it is extremely difficult and lonely at times, with moments of pure frustration and cursing at the heavens about why you even started this. But in those times I try to take a step back, take in a deep breath, go on a walk and remind myself why I started this in the first place and that usually gets me back on track.
As the internet changes, becomes more saturated and algorithms change we too have to change our tactics and strategy. As an entrepreneur my primary concern and value when it comes to generating traffic is finding people that are genuine and truly interested in what I am offering. Yes, this takes a lot of time and dedication, but the long term benefits of taking time to build a loyal and true following will always be king.
The last thing I wanted to say, is that, as an entrepreneur you never stop learning and growing and that is one of my favorite parts. I am always looking to expand my knowledge and understanding. Some of my favorite resources are listening to podcasts, my personal favorite right now is “A Conversation Among Friends” by BobOlmsteadInk.com, I also love sites like Skillshare, and Lynda.com.
Thanks again for you post!
Hello Tiffanie, I’m so glad you enjoyed this article. I think I’m lucky because my character is one that likes to finish things but it poor with details and perfection, which is good for entrepreneurship. But I have had my share of real disasters, especially in the last 12 months.
Yes, it’s lonely and difficult at times but I wouldn’t swap it for the world and it’s definitely better than working at a job.
Yes, I agree with you that growing a personal brand that is known, liked and trusted among a loyal following is the best armoury against all the changes and rule changes out there.
Thank you very much for your comment and I wish you well on your journey.