What Counts as a Real Sale: Money From a Stranger.
What counts as a real sale is simple: one person, under no obligation, moves money into your account. A like, a compliment or "send me the details" does not count. However, the amount does not matter, and it can be for anything you can actually deliver.
The whole specification in one line.
Sell one thing to one person who does not have to say yes. Anything less is you having a conversation with yourself. So you can sell an hour, a spreadsheet, a lesson, a repair or a translation. Also, a price that feels too low is fine, because chapter seven deals with exactly that.
Why friends give you weaker data.
Diego admits his watches went to a captive audience who saw him every day. When selling to friends vs strangers, remember that a friend is buying you. Their money is real, but their yes says almost nothing about demand. Therefore, reach one step further from home than feels comfortable.
Nobody has run a proper study on this, so treat it as reasoning rather than evidence.
Honest selling and what counts as a real sale.
In 1983 Adam Osborne announced two computers that existed only as prototypes. As a result, customers stopped buying his real machine, and the company collapsed. Overpromising to customers works the same way on a smaller scale. Also, negative first impressions resist change far more than positive ones do.
The line is not early against late. Instead, it is honest against not, so describe something small exactly and deliver that.
Test what counts as a real sale for you tonight.
Write one small offer in a single sentence that describes exactly what the buyer gets.
Pick one person who knows you less well than a friend, and plan to ask them.
From the book.
Sell one thing to one person who is under no obligation to say yes to you. Money has to move from their hands into your account. That is the entire specification. Anything less is you having a conversation with yourself.
I Want to Start a Business but I Don't Have Money, chapter 5: The first dollar
Questions about what counts as a real sale.
What counts as a real sale in this chapter?
Money moving from someone with no obligation into your account, in any amount. Praise and interest do not count.
Why is a sale to a friend weak evidence?
Because your friend is buying you, not your offer. Their yes reflects your relationship rather than demand.
Is selling early the same as overselling?
No. Promising ahead of what you can produce is a different act, so stay exact and deliver what you described.
Read the whole chapter.
This lesson covers one section of chapter 5, “The first dollar”. The book goes further, with the full evidence, the stories and every exercise.
Lessons in this chapter.
- 01 Selling Stuff at School as a Kid: The Watch Lesson.
- 02 What Counts as a Real Sale: Money From a Stranger.
- 03 People Underestimate Compliance: How Many Say Yes.
- 04 Implementation Intentions: Turn a Wish Into Thursday.
- 05 Social Rejection Physical Pain: Why a No Hurts.
- 06 Does Selling to Family Count: Why Your Mother Is Not a Market.
- 07 Homemade Pickle Business: Four Kilograms to a Company.