I used to chide my wife for her impulsive buying of clothes, bags, and other women thingies in the mall (or just about anywhere). She just can’t resist the urge to buy these things especially when the magic word ‘sale’ is visible near the merchandise.
But these past few months, I myself have fallen under the spell of the same addiction. Of course not with clothes or even gadgets but of digital information products. In my pursuit of success in my venture into the online arena, I have purchased ebooks, software, wso’s, and online courses that promised me financial freedom so I could ‘buy all of the things I never had‘*.
I have particularly found myself almost unable to keep away from some forums that I frequent. Whenever a new wso or offer comes up, almost always I’d purchase it. I blame it on the very articulate squeeze pages or very expertly crafted sales pitches that makes one believe that this product is the best product that would put to rest all other products of its kind.
Just 3 days ago, I have promised myself to never buy another digital product. I will stay away from my favourite forum. I’d go back and review all the products I’ve bought so far and put all that I’ve learned into practice. You know what happened? Yesterday, I purchased another one. I accidentally opened a page in the forum through a google search page after entering a search phrase I was researching. It was like one of those hypnosis sessions shown on tv where the subject awakes from his trance not knowing what he’d done while he was under. I just found myself with another digital information product in my harddrive and a few bucks less in my paypal account.
I actually have a few purchases which I would consider treasures and was thankful for having bought them. But the majority of those purchases were those I would now call ‘crap’. Their sales pages promised to reveal some secret seo techniques that would change how I would look at seo forever. Well, a complete newbie who has just picked up the very first material he’s read about seo would have been entranced at the contents. But to me, they’re all rehashed information which I’ve already read from other blogs free of charge. I just wonder at the gall these folks have at selling information which are actually freely available in the internet.
And do you know that products that sell at $47 to $97 were actually sold initially at their real values of $3 to $10 in some forums? They then continue to fool others into thinking that their products are selling hotly and create urgency by raising their prices every week. Because of this, I sometimes find myself praising those guys who upload ebooks and software at some sites so they could be (illegally) downloaded by everyone without paying for it.
Alright, I think that’s enough ranting about digital product creators and their crap products (with due respect to those who actually deliver great quality). Going back to the original thread of this post, I am presently trying to keep my buying impulse in check. I have of course avoided being chided back by my wife by not informing her of these purchases. After all, I did not use actual conjugal physical money to buy them. I used digital money (money I earned online and stored in my paypal account) to purchase the digital products. Ok, whatever your thoughts are about this, just don’t go telling my wife.
For the time being, I would
- Stay away from my favorite forums.
Could I actually do it? What if some great product comes up? One that isn’t just rehashed crap. One from which I’d get real golden nuggets about better seo, better conversions, etc. I would have missed the first few introductory low prices. Darn. - Review all the products I’ve purchased in the past and put the methods and techniques into actual practice. Sometimes all that’s needed is to actually put those ideas presented in the books into action to gain the success that their authors promised.
- Devote time into planning my goal of starting a list. I’ve just opened an account with imnicamail and is availing of their 30-day trial. I’ll be working also on my free mailchimp account which I’ve left untouched for sometime.
- Give serious focus on the goals which I’ve set for this year. I’ve posted these goals a couple of months back in this blog in a post called “My Goals for 2011“. I remember that it was Patricia of lavenderuses and Sire of wassupblog who inspired me to really put into writing my goals, so they’d have a better chance of being given attention and thus have better odds at being fulfilled.
- Gain 10 pounds weight. Oops, ok, this is really not a necessary part of my anti-impulsive buying strategy. But if spending time eating more would help me stay away from the sales pages, I think it would be worth it. Besides, the fact is I’m really a few pounds underweight. I probably could help ease up my wife’s anxiety by meeting her halfway in the weight arena. As I’m writing this (in a coffee shop), she’s in a nearby gym working her butt off to lose her extra pounds.
Hey, I’m sure there are a lot of folks who are experiencing this same thing. Maybe these few points I’m planning to do could also give them ideas towards overcoming their impulsive online buying. I believe that when I finally find myself earning the kind of income I aspire for, the impulsive digital product buying would stop. After all, the reason I buy is because I wanted to know how to earn my dream income online. Perhaps, when that time comes, I’d have turned the tables and, instead of buying digital products, be the one selling digital products, hopefully good value products, not crap.
*From I Wanna Be A Billionaire by Bruno Mars