BIO: Michael Maher is a musician turned business owner. He runs his own Amazon Managed Services Agency called Cartology, and he loves it.
STORY: Michael’s e-commerce business was not doing so well, and he thought putting in more money would help. So he went to a cash advance merchant and blindly got $14,000. Unfortunately, only a day after signing the loan papers, he realized he had gotten himself into a horrible deal.
LEARNING: Money doesn’t solve all problems; sometimes, the solution is to sit through your problems and find the cause. Seek help from a trusted friend or community.
“There was always time to solve any issue I was facing. But I didn’t notice that at the moment because I was so panicked on trying to fix it.”
Michael Maher
Guest profile
Michael Maher is a musician turned business owner. Yes, he once dreamed of being a Rockstar and even dropped out of college to pursue that. But reality set it. Now Michael runs his own Amazon Managed Services Agency called Cartology, and he loves it. He now spends his time helping his clients translate their brand story into highly engaging product listings and artfully utilizes Amazon’s Advertising Platform to insert their brand into the conversations consumers are having with them.
Worst investment ever
Michael started selling back in 2010 when he was working a job that he hated. He was able to build an e-commerce business while working this other job. He finally quit and went into entrepreneurship full time and launched on multiple channels, including eBay, Amazon, and Sears.
The business owner without any business skills
Michael was not a trained business person. His college degree was in Asian Studies. So he built this business not knowing anything about it. He got an accountant friend to teach him some finance basics.
Doing whatever it took to succeed
Michael had this desire to grow his business and almost desperate to take whatever means possible. He had this idea of what he thought success looked like, and the success of his business was very closely tied to his self-worth. So if his business wasn’t succeeding, he wasn’t succeeding.
A couple of years into his business, Michael didn’t have the cash he needed; it was tied up on credit cards, inventory, paying himself and other people. So he placed immense pressure upon himself to get his business to perform.
The worst deal ever
Michael thought that pumping in money into the business would help. So he started researching places to get money. And, of course, the easiest places to get money are cash advance merchants. Michael went ahead and locked in on one and got an advance of $14,000. Unfortunately, while he did a pretty good job researching the merchants, he did not examine the deal itself.
The deal was terrible. Michael had to pay monthly payments and tons of interest upfront. It was the day after he signed the papers that he realized he had made a colossal mistake. After he reread the terms and conditions, he realized that it was a terrible deal.
Lessons learned
Sometimes you just need to sit through your problems
Sometimes you can’t get out of your own crap; you’re just stuck in it. Just sit in it and look at what you are doing and where the problem is. Find a solution slowly instead of acting so quickly.
Money doesn’t solve all problems
When you’re having problems in your business, putting in more money will not necessarily make the problems go away. The solution is to find out what is causing these problems.
Andrew’s takeaways
Join a community of fellow entrepreneurs
When you’re an entrepreneur, it can be very lonely because you have no one to share your fears and struggles with. Find a community that you can be part of to help you tackle these difficulties instead of trying to do it all by yourself. Your problems won’t go away, but you can use your community as a resource.
Go to your trusted friend
When you face challenges, you need to explore all the options to overcome them. The best way to do that is to find someone you trust, sit down, and talk about your challenges.
Actionable advice
Running a business can be very stressful. So now and then, take a step away from that, take a breather, sit in a park and journal or walk around, think, talk out loud, pray, whatever it is that you want to do, and just try to gather yourself. Secondly, find someone who you trust, be honest with them and ask for their help. Then listen, don’t just ask for help; listen to what they say if you trust them.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months
Michael’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to be able to help more people. The goal is to double his clients. Michael is also about to launch a podcast and a blog that he intends to use to be seen as a trusted source of information. He wants to help people create real honest growth.
Parting words
“Take your time, people.”
Michael Maher
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