Over this past week I have seen some mentions about products and services not being delivered and discussions about what or how things should be done to stop those people from taking advantage of others. I don’t want to start another conversation about that specifically.

What I do want to ask and get your thoughts on is what would you do in a similar case of a product or service not being delivered, but when the owner of that product is an authority figure, someone who you look up to, someone who is recognized in the community as being an honest hard-working individual who gives a lot of themselves to help others.

Just to be clear on what I mean. I don’t mean what someone should do in the case of a scammer or someone who is “shady”. The type of person I am talking about is someone who you like, trust, and look up to, but for whatever reason is not (or possibly can not) deliver on their product or service.

Please keep in mind that the product/service does not necessarily have to be an internet marketing product, or even to be online, but I’m not sure if your answer would differ for online products/services. But I suppose that the price of the product could matter. Personally I don’t think I would do to much if it was a $20 ebook. So for this example, let’s say it’s a higher end product that comes with some kind of service or coaching attached that isn’t being delivered.

So for this first part of the question, I’m looking for your thoughts about these topics;

• How would you handle a situation like that?
• How long would you let the situation go? Would you eventually take any action?
• What action would you take?
• How many times would you contact them?
• Would you even consider asking for a refund? What about a payment dispute?

For the second part of this question, let’s expand it a bit further. What would you do now in the following situations;

• What if the product/service was purchased 1 year ago with a promise of delivery within a month, but you are still waiting. What if purchased 6 months ago with a 2 month delivery promise?
• What if during the wait time for the delivery, you saw no improvement or work being done? What if you did see some work being done, but it’s still not complete?
• What if you had little or no communication about the progress of the product/service?
• What if there was communication and added promises were made, but delays still occur?
• Would you consider asking for a refund? What about a payment dispute?

I also wanted to mention that we can’t really forget about the side of the product owner. We don’t really know what they might be going through, business wise or personal. But then let me ask, should that matter? (short term delay vs. long term delay)

Maybe this is a new product for them and they are still sorting things out, or maybe they are unorganized? What is an acceptable excuse on the part of the product owner for not delivering?

I realize that this is a hypothetical situation, so you can’t answer specifically. But I think it can open up some good dialogue, helping us all deal with situations that we all face as business owners.

Post your comments, let us know what you think.

Is now the time for you to step it up?

This past year or two has been hard online (and offline) for a lot of online marketers, in terms of their business growing or slowing down.

Whenever you start a business, it WILL take time, and probably years before seeing a substantial income from it… this includes online business as well.

It takes time, patience, and sometimes money to see an internet business grow to the point where you can leave your current job or make a nice side income.

I see a lot of marketers for far too long slacking off and coasting by… leaving a lot of time and opportunity on the table. I have been guilty of this myself.

It’s time to step up and TAKE CONTROL of your business future… no longer is “I’ll do it tomorrow” an excuse!

You may be confused or frustrated at where to turn, what type of online business you want to start. Or maybe you already have one but you realize that it’s not what you want… so you want to start something new.

I can’t tell you what to do or what type of online business is best, as they all involve different amounts of work/time, money, and skill.

But whatever you decide to do… do it 100%. Don’t let anything stop you!

Here’s a few of the many possible online business ventures:

• Building multiple websites that rank high in the search engines that you can earn advertising revenue from (like Google Adsense and others).

• Become a freelancer. Offer writing services, programming, graphic design, etc.

• Create digital products to sell, like ebooks, videos, software.

• Teach people how to do something, via a blog, online course, etc.

• Create websites for the purpose of selling them.

• Build a website design service business, building sites and offering other related services to clients (Hot topic right now for helping offline businesses).

All of these things require work and time. You WILL have to invest time to learn, don’t expect to know how to do your work well with just a few hours of trying it out.

But also don’t get stuck in the learning phase. Many people will stay there and never think they are good enough to be paid for their work.

Let me be honest and say… working online for yourself might not be the best thing for everyone. It takes work and a lot of discipline, but if you can handle that, then it might do very well for you.

Push yourself to work hard, push yourself to continually grow your business. Get started NOW!

Here’s what you can do…

1. Sit down today and write out your goals and where you want to be a year from now (be realistic).
2. Write down how much time and effort (and money if needed) you are willing to use to help you reach your goal (full time or part time?).
3. Consider what type of online business will help you get there. I listed a few above, each of them containing many different ways to do it.
4. Write out weekly and monthly goals as to what you will do starting tomorrow to reach your goal.

I realize that you won’t have all of the answers yet, and that’s ok. Over time as you start learning and making progress, your immediate goals will change and things will become a lot clearer.

Just take the first step.

Please send me your goals. Post a comment and tell me what you plan to do, and make sure to come back in a month from now to say how you’re doing!

Have a great week,
Joel Osborne