I recently opened a small business with my girl.
Seven days in, the best advice I’ve received is don’t worry too much about sales in a day to day context. Sales will wax and wane based on a myriad of factors. While you need to monitor them VERY carefully you have to understand that things ebb and flow. This is less than easy.
Equally important is patience. It takes time for people to get to know your business. It takes you time to figure out how it runs optimally.
When I started blogging, I had a notion of what this blog would be. It has not turned out REMOTELY like I thought it would. Finding my voice took awhile (but in the end reflected my personality very closely). Finding people who enjoy reading this nonsense has taken time. In those early days, constantly looking at Google analytics did very little for the blog’s cause (just as looking and reading too much into sales of a brand new business is potentially harmful if not done in the right context)
If you are starting a weblog (hello ’99) – especially if you are doing it FOR a business – your task is to remind superiors/colleagues/the client that the blog should be viewed like a new business. They need to know that, just like a fledgling firm, it will probably suck for awhile as it builds audience, finds a voice, and establishes a rhythm.
The biggest challenge with social media is that the pace of returns is GLACIAL. If you can convey that the early days are not likely to be a bonanza in terms of returns, views, interactions with your audience, you are in a much better position to win.