What's the brits problem

FOURCANDLES_2

Reading a story on an Ebay trader success story and the comments made by the British public all comments about the guy were negative as have other articles on Brits who DO well , WHY WHATS THEIR PROBLEM??.
To make money on ebay is rather easy I managed to become a power seller by selling average priced antiques and collectables, although I have now lost that status due to my main business taking up to much time so I now list half the items and I have half the time to source the items I sell the ebay business still makes me 15k profit a year , this is after paypall fees and Ebay fees COMBINED WITH MY MAIN BUSINESS I have managed to achieve a far better standard of living . We have far to much negative comments from people who are employees and lack the courage to jack the 9-5 secure salary job in but seem quick at putting the get up and goers down . I worked with a chap who had lived in canada for 10 years and the USA for 27 he came back home to shropshire to retire and said the one thing he noticed within months of coming back to the UK was how quick the brits are at putting people down who try to better themselves it is al very mind boggling . To the brits who get out there and give it a go keep it up.:T CANT AND NO ARE WORDS YOU SHOULD NEVER RECOGNISE.

JAYk_2

Jealousy.

I see what you mean. Overall it seems that the Americans have a different and more positive attitude towards work and entrepreneurial ship in general. They are more open and ask for help if they want to make it in life. They tend not to be too quick to judge either. Some Brits are starting to think about starting their own business along side their part/fulll-time job as apparently there's going to be another recession.

flossy_splodge

I've long thought about this and have come to the conclusion it all goes back to the fact that as a Nation, we do not give praise readily.
Now I don't want to be flooded with people saying I do. Of course there are exceptions but as a matter of course we are poor at acknowledging others skills, actions, attributes etc.
This means that subconsciously we are then disinclined to be positive towards others as we have not received it ourselves.
I think it's really hard to get out of too as it's a culture thing.
So we could ALL try and give one instance of unsolicited positive feedback every day for a week and see if we make a difference?
I'll start shall I?
Hey FOURCANDLES, what an interesting topic, thanks for raising it.;)
:T

PasturesNew

I earn my money online and I find myself embarrassed to tell people... as if I'm useless and a loser. I dread being asked what I do as I know they'll just give me that look.

And I am scared of success, so don't actively chase the success, because I just know I wouldn't be comfortable being a success at what I do because it makes me feel "dirty" that I earn the money doing something so simple.

PasturesNew

flossy_splodge wrote: »

we do not give praise readily.

I've never known praise. People will always tell you when you did something wrong, never when you got stuff right.

I've got a letter for an award I won in a job for "going the extra mile, above and beyond what was required" - apparently it caused a big stir as I wasn't staff, I was a contractor, yet was still put forward for this award and it caused big rows. So I hide the letter, don't pull it out in interviews as "evidence" of how great I am.

I fear if I did, I'd be labelled a loony

paulwf

The American "can do" attitude can be very open and refreshing.

OTOH the British negativity can also be seen as realism, especially in business where real money is on the line. I saw competitor after competitor in my business sector go bust because their online prices were unsustainable. We'd do well to remember that when journalists report on the handful of success stories.

It's a fine balance to reach between praise and healthy skepticism.

FOURCANDLES_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

I earn my money online and I find myself embarrassed to tell people... as if I'm useless and a loser. I dread being asked what I do as I know they'll just give me that look.

And I am scared of success, so don't actively chase the success, because I just know I wouldn't be comfortable being a success at what I do because it makes me feel "dirty" that I earn the money doing something so simple.

The Nail has been hit straight on the head here, if you make money by to be honest not doing a lot the moaning brit will jump at the chance to call you a waster . Simply because you do not got to work 9-5, 5 days a week with a face like a smacked arss plus they are grieved in my case I started to earn more then my MORE SO CALLED EDUCATED work associates and I was called a con man???.
I left my long term job for an ebay business did well on that and started another business with the wife an average weeks work for us is about 30HRS but on occasion it can be 70hrs . But even now we get people say cant you get a proper job as Ebay is not a proper job and your other business cant pay that much LOL it is all assumptions and when they do find out our charges etc they run you down calling you a con man and we work for our money ???. As some one has said perhaps a culture thing .:mad:

FOURCANDLES_2

paulwf wrote: »

The American "can do" attitude can be very open and refreshing.

OTOH the British negativity can also be seen as realism, especially in business where real money is on the line. I saw competitor after competitor in my business sector go bust because their online prices were unsustainable. We'd do well to remember that when journalists report on the handful of success stories.

It's a fine balance to reach between praise and healthy skepticism.

Correct, However it boils down to what you are selling EBAY is not always the cheapest, but can be the easiest place to get your hands on exactly what you want with out much leg work THAT'S WHAT MOST PEOPLE WANT.... and that is what mine is all about people know what they want search for it and see it on my site which is all buy it now/make an offer items, and many items are set at double what I paid for them so profit is always there.I will point out however WITH my Ebay story it was 4th time lucky and that was because I started to sell what I knew about . A friend of mine is a platinum powerseller imports from china vat registered and I can assure you he is making a very very good profit however his involved going to china sourcing the items importing etc etc a lot more hassle

patman99

There was a story about a guy from Essex who became an Ebay millionaire this week, I remember his shop in Colchester well. It just goes to show that if you concentrate on a particular genre of product you will make a good living out of it.

I would never have thought of selling DJ kit, although now may be a good time to jump on the bandwagon.

An old school friend of mine works in security, he reckons if he only earns £70k in a year, he has had a bad one. Considering how much time he puts-in keeping-up with latest technologies, he deserves to earn a 6 figure sum, unlike the wasters in charge of our banks and NHS trusts.

FOURCANDLES_2

More negative brit comments the 2 guys on dragons den with the magic wand , great idea and I think will be a popular gift this xmas . Comments on one newspapers website by the british public (majority negative).

flossy_splodge

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've never known praise. People will always tell you when you did something wrong, never when you got stuff right.

I've got a letter for an award I won in a job for "going the extra mile, above and beyond what was required" - apparently it caused a big stir as I wasn't staff, I was a contractor, yet was still put forward for this award and it caused big rows. So I hide the letter, don't pull it out in interviews as "evidence" of how great I am.

I fear if I did, I'd be labelled a loony

That's a REALLY sad story.
I think you're really great for being able to say how you feel. That's not a skill I find many people have so there you go, genuine praise.
Maybe those of us who feel a lack of acknowledgement in our lives should have our own thread on here where we can exchange plaudits - the money saving aspect of it could be that we will be more productive if feeling appreciated?:p:j