Is Black Friday Good or Bad ?

Why I Can’t Stand Black Friday

I had a great past weekend with my family. For Thanksgiving, we went over to my cousin’s house for dinner. Both the kids and parents had a good time.

Then I had a great family day on Friday. For most people, it was “Black Friday,” and that meant joining the crazy masses to go shopping.

I had a much better time spent at home. I slept a “record of 10 hours,” and then Kelly and I helped Ethan decorate his first Christmas tree!

We did well… Ethan broke only one glass ornament and the tree came out great. 🙂

There was a huge satisfaction and joy just to being able to stay home and spend time with my three sons.

After the tree was done, I stepped out for a 30 minute bike ride with Ethan. He’s got a pretty cool buggy to hang out in while I get my exercise. Our time on the bike is spent talking to each other, and it’s great bonding time. If we run out of things to talk about, Ethan just relaxes and listens to his Thomas Train songs from the bluetooth speaker that I put inside his buggy.

It was a great Friday, and I had an amazing and memorable time. It was much different than if I had joined the masses to participate in the Black Friday madness.

I’m Totally Turned Off by Black Friday

Black Friday in the USA is the biggest shopping day of the year. Stores give their best deals of the year, and people camp out for hours, some even days, in freezing weather just so that they can be the first ones to get into stores when they open at midnight.

Black Friday started in the USA, and has a version in Canada called Boxing Day. It has slowly spread to other parts of the world like Australia.

Many people love it and look forward to it.

I consider it disgusting and sickening.

Here are Three Reasons Why I Don’t Like Black Friday

1) I’m Anti-Consumerism and Anti-Shopping

The older I get, the most disgusted I am with the addiction to buy and consume more. It’s everywhere around us, but I have learned that true happiness comes from the ability to be happy with less.

That doesn’t mean money is not important. Money allows you to do things.

For me, MLM and money has allowed me the time to do things. I use my money to buy time so that I can workout everyday and do things with my sons, not so that I can buy the latest and greatest.

If I do buy things, it is because of necessity and business reasons, never because I just want to have it.

Recently, I’ve cut down my wardrobe to the basics so that I am wearing the same things over and over again.

Call me boring, but that is a much simpler and happier life than back in the day when I wanted to keep up with everyone.

I do realize that a big part of Black Friday is about buying gifts for others. However, there are many other ways to do that and still save money.

If you are a business owner, and especially a MLM distributor, make sure you pay attention to the next two reasons why I can’t stand Black Friday.

2) The Deals Are NOT Really Deals

I’ve been a serious student of marketing and business for the past ten years, and it’s amazing what psychological triggers can do to people.

Most of the deals that you see out there are NOT really deals at all. You do NOT save money.

Yes, let me repeat that. You do NOT save money.

I’m sorry to make you feel bad…

You don’t save money for three reasons:

1) That Retail Price Was Never the “Real Price”

The things you purchased were meant to sell at that “bargain price” from the begining. Most companies plan out their Black Friday inventory at least six months in advance, and they have that set price determined already.

So, for example, if you got that special bargain price $75 sweater for only $20, it was meant to sell for $20 and NEVER meant to sell for $75.

The marketing departments determined the price way in advance and then chose the materials and created the product to sell at $20 and NEVER at $75.

So basically you just purchased something at the “real price.” You didn’t even get a 1% discount.

I’m sorry, but you just got suckered.

2) You Spent More Than You Planned

Now occasionally, you may get a great deal on something and in this case, for example, you did get a $75 sweater for $20.

But guess what? I bet you that was NOT the only thing you purchased!

I can guarantee that you ended up buying other things that you never intended to buy!

I know because I have been down that road.

You go into the store to buy one thing, and you come out with that one thing and five other items.

That is where the company makes a killing.

They may give you the one bargain price product, but they “ripped you off” with the other products by pricing them slightly higher than normal. Alternatively, just like how they plan things in advance, they will create a $20 product, but price it at $25 to make you overpay. You don’t notice it since the price tag says $25. This prevents you from being able to tell the real value.

3) You Spent Too Much Time Shopping

The last reason why you lose money applies to entrepreneurs, and especially MLM distributors, whose time is valuable.

The last reason why you don’t save money is because you spend too much time.

Now, if you enjoy shopping and get more value out of life, then this point is not relevant.

But if you shop on Black Friday because you want to save money then it’s important to know that you don’t save money. You actually lost money.

The leads to the third reason why I hate Black Friday

3) I Lose Money by Participating in Black Friday

As an entrepreneur, I hate everything that loses money. I like profits and not losses.

Smart MLM distributors know the real value of their time.

If you don’t know what I am talking about, knowing your hourly rate is the first step in my Extreme MLM Productivity Regimen.

You must know what you are worth.

Shopping on Black Friday takes tremendous amounts of time and energy, and if you factor in the lost sales and the lost opportunities that you would have had in your business, did it make up for the amount of money you saved shopping on Black Friday?

Don’t forget when you calculate the time spent shopping, you have to factor the door to door time. The time you left the house to the time you enter back in.

Plus, don’t forget the fatigue!

After a day of brutal fighting with the masses shopping, do you even have the energy to do any work?!

It’s really an entire 24 hour day of lost productivity.

At $250 an hour, that costs me $2,000 to shop on Black Friday, and there is no way I can make up that amount of savings from the deals I get.

My One Positive Feeling about Black Friday

On the business side of things though, I do admire and respect Black Friday and what the entrepreneurs have done.

From a marketing and sales perspective, it is genius.

It takes a lot of creativity and ingenuity to get people to just throw money around and shop like crazy. For most businesses, 40% of their annual profits come during Christmas season.

Black Friday, even though I can’t stand it, does pass the crucial business test of whether it helps someone to live better.

For many, Black Friday does make people happier, and if it does that, then the business deserves to be successful.

So from a business perspective, I admire and respect Black Friday and what the businesses have done with that holiday to drive sales.

What are your thoughts about Black Friday?

Do you think it is good or bad?

Simon Chan

P.S. If you find yourself having trouble to find the time to focus on your home business, I highly recommend you learn and implement some of the 35 Time Management secrets that I teach in my Extreme MLM Productivity Regimen Time Management course. Click Here to learn how to create 2 more hours in your day so that you can build a successful business and still have time to have a life!