Fail To Succeed

Fail To Succeed

Posted on 05. Aug, 2009 by Michelle in Virtual Real Estate Development

If you grabbed your free copy of my latest ebook QuikCash Convertor and read it right through to the end you would be aware that I’m offering some great prizes to the top three quality responses to a survey I’m conducting.  The survey is all about what your fears, worries and goals are when it comes to selling virtual real estate (VRE).

Thank you to all the subscribers who’ve taken the time to answer the survey so far, the responses have been detailed and very helpful in terms of giving me a good understanding of how I can best help you.

One concern a number of the survey participants have shared is the worry of investing time and money into sites, listing them for sale only to find the auction listing ends with no buyer. This is a legitimate concern and one that I feel compelled to address.

This is a legitimate concern and one that I feel compelled to address.

If there is one problem with selling VRE this is the most significant, there are simply NO GUARANTEES that the sites you build to sell will meet the minimum amount you’re willing to sell them for, even if you just aimed to break even. (Custom builds ‘prepaid’ are of course guaranteed. More on that another day. ;) )

There is risk involved with developing virtual real estate, why wouldn’t there be? It’s very similar to bricks and mortar real estate; you can buy a house, do it up and put it up for sale but there are no guarantees it will sell for the amount you hoped for or even to cover the costs of the renovations. The good news is that unlike a house where you’re investing hundreds of thousands of dollars, a $10 domain name and a $19 listing fee at Flippa.com is a little easier to bear.

So here’s the deal. Not every site you build to sell will be snapped up by a buyer so keep that in mind when deciding on how much you’re willing to invest to begin with. I have listed sites for sale and they haven’t sold first time around, but I’ve either been contacted after the auction and sold the sites or re-listed them and sold them second time around, but still, there are no guarantees.

Flippa’s % of sites sold runs at around 35%, that’s a whopping 65% of sites listed that end without the reserve price being met. If you fall into that 65%, (and you will if you get busy earning money this way) try not to take it personally. It can indeed feel like some type of rejection, like your site isn’t good enough and people don’t like it . I can assure you that if you have done a great job of your site it won’t be that no one doesn’t like it but rather they just aren’t in a position to pay you what you want for it. “That’s all well and good but what will I do with the sites that don’t sell?” you ask.

Q. “That’s all well and good but what will I do with the sites that don’t sell?”

If you ensure you build sites that can make money one way or another, then you know you can recover your costs by marketing it yourself. You then might decide to keep the site long term once it starts generating income or sell it as established with revenue a little further down the track.

Not every site will be a winner but if you let the failures stop you then you’ll certainly never succeed.

10 Responses to “Fail To Succeed”

  1. Josh SpauldingNo Gravatar (6 comments)

    05. Aug, 2009

    EXCELLENT post, Michelle!

    And that video is my new, favorite video of all time (honestly!)

  2. MichelleNo Gravatar (309 comments)

    05. Aug, 2009

    Thanks for stopping by Josh!

    Yes, 30 seconds of brilliance that video is!

  3. KellyNo Gravatar (5 comments)

    05. Aug, 2009

    Great post Michelle. The video really puts things into perspective. I never would have used the words “Michael Jordan” and “failure” in the same sentence!!

  4. Ruth - Web Career GirlNo Gravatar (17 comments)

    05. Aug, 2009

    Michelle thanks for sending me the link to check out this post. I’m scared of failing but WOW that video is amazing! Great thing to remember :D

  5. Donnie @ Chattanooga Web DesignNo Gravatar (7 comments)

    13. Aug, 2009

    The Michael Jordon video does put it in perspective…in a powerful video. Just the right juice to keep you going instead of sleeping all day.

  6. Suite JNo Gravatar (1 comments)

    08. Sep, 2009

    Hey Michelle,

    Great post. It’s also important not to take it personally when a site doesn’t sell. There are so many variables that can affect the sale (time of listing, competing sales in same niche, etc).

    Evaluate it and look for reasons why it may not have sold, but don’t get down about it. :) Lots of peeps give up when their first one doesn’t sell, but as you pointed out, overall it’s only 35% on Flippa, so keep that in mind. :)

    Cheers
    Jay

  7. MichelleNo Gravatar (309 comments)

    08. Sep, 2009

    Hi Jay, great to see you ’round these parts. :)

    There are indeed a load of variables, you’re spot on there! And the 35% might seem not so palatable to some but that’s a pretty good strike rate in itself and many sellers (like you, me and even a few newbies I’m helping out :) ) have much higher sell through rates….gotta love that!

    Looking forward to following your blog….I see it’s one teeny tiny step closer to being back up. :) (I loved the video page too though! It made me laugh!)

    Thanks for stopping by.

  8. JoeNo Gravatar (3 comments)

    28. Oct, 2009

    Love it! This is like anything in life. You have to not give up or you shall surely fail.

    Great post! Thanks for sending it my way!

    Joe

  9. MichelleNo Gravatar (309 comments)

    05. Nov, 2009

    Glad you liked it Joe.:) I can’t bring myself to remove the video from my sidebar but I think it’s time for a change soon. :)

    I need to get over to your blog more often, I see you’ve got some great tips going on over there!

    Thanks for visiting. :)

  10. BryanNo Gravatar (1 comments)

    30. Nov, 2009

    I am enjoying you site, the video is powerful when you really understand what is being said.