The Importance of Timing in Business

Let me share a true story I witnessed. Some businessmen once tried to introduce iced tea to the Kazakhstani market in the early 2000s, but they couldn’t succeed. They couldn’t sell the stock they imported. A few years later, Nestlé entered the market with iced tea and has been selling it successfully ever since. Nowadays, iced tea is sold everywhere because Nestlé launched the concept at a time when the market was finally ready for it.

What I mean is that those early entrepreneurs were simply ahead of their time, and that’s why they failed while Nestlé succeeded. Who knows which brand would dominate the market today if those early movers had waited just a bit longer?

Another example is a Dutch-made dairy product under the brand name Dutch Lady - evaporated milk. The Kazakhstani market was absorbing it well, but the shareholders weren’t wise enough to invest further in market expansion. Instead, they (shareholders) decided to focus on the Middle East, particularly the UAE, and remained satisfied as sales stayed strong and their growth curve looked positive. You’ve probably seen the 410 ml cans of evaporated milk under the brand name Rainbow.

A similar story happened with the energy drink HYPE, also from Holland. It was a popular drink in 2007 in the Almaty area and competed with Red Bull at the time. However, they lost the market because the sellers didn’t believe in its potential and refused to invest a single penny in marketing.

If you look now at the shelves of any store in Kazakhstan, especially gas stations, you’ll notice how crowded the energy drink section is. The clear market leader is Red Bull. Congratulations to this brand; their marketing strategy has always been smart and consistent.

That’s a glimpse into the FMCG field (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods). The key point here is distribution. It was one of the major business trends back then, what we might call the Era of Distribution.

We could continue listing such marketing failures. What about high-tech? Remember Nokia? You already know how that ended.

Why am I bringing up these stories? Because timing matters. Once in a while, an opportunity comes along that you simply can’t afford to miss. I assume readers understand the era we’re living in, but just to refresh your memory, here’s a quick reminder:

The Distribution Era is still alive. It came before the eras of Technology, Information, Techno-Info-Entertainment, and, most recently, the Era of Partnership and Collaboration. Thanks to cloud-based services, HUB-centric business models and AI automation are now the latest revelations.

Tech and Business

Can I afford to sit on the fence and just watch things happen?

As I ask myself this question, I realize that sometimes I fall into a state of inaction, almost as if I’m waiting for something to occur on its own. And sure, something might happen, but not on my terms.

It makes me a spectator rather than a participant, watching the news instead of making it.

Coming from a corporate background, I know that the best thing I can do is look outward and leverage my efforts through the modern tools available. That’s why I want to talk a bit about website building and the add-ons that make it such a powerful tooll.

As I build my website, I constantly face challenges and moments where it feels like I’ve hit a dead end. In those cases, I often reach out to the support team for help.

By the way, this post isn’t only about building a website. And even if it were, there would be plenty to say about WordPress. The countless WP plugins alone can make your brain spin. Some plugins don’t work well together, which forces you to find better solutions and commit to one direction, using only the most reliable and familiar UI/UX tools for your project.

For Your Info: If you’re looking for website creation tips using WordPress together with ELEMENTOR, feel free to explore other sources. I recommend checking out the free tutorials by Ferdy Korpershoek.

Why Relying on Others Slows You Down

If you’ve ever asked a support team for help, you know that you must first explain exactly what the problem is. As you start organizing your thoughts and trying to describe it, you dive deeper into the issue. Quite often, during that process, you suddenly realize how to solve it yourself.

That’s why I started asking myself: Can I fix this on my own without waiting for someone else to act the way I want?

The answer is simple: do your best. When you truly can’t solve the problem, then reach out for support.

These recommendations are general, so let’s get closer to the main point. Here’s the tool, and here’s the business model you can build with it.

If you’re a Content Marketing Manager, a UI/UX specialist, a startup founder, or even a freelancer in IT, you must have a HUB—a platform of your own to rely on.

For instance, if you’re a blogger and you write articles as I’m doing now, why not have a backup? Why not publish them under your own domain?

Own Your Platform or Risk Losing Everything

Apart from Facebook, blogging platforms like Medium, Substack, and LinkedIn work beautifully across all devices. You post your articles, hoping to gain visibility or drive backlinks to your main site. But what happens if one day you’re suddenly banned or removed after building a strong following?

You lose everything, because those platforms don’t belong to you.

That’s why it’s necessary to build your own blogging platform and invite people to it, just as I’m doing now. It’s risky to rely entirely on someone else’s space. Owning your platform is much safer.

Fair enough? I think so.

We all know that blogging drives traffic, especially since you can control your SEO settings: descriptions, keywords, and key phrases. By the way, I’m not writing these notes with keyword targeting in mind. I’m simply expressing my thoughts naturally.

It goes without saying that the best approach is to publish your articles on your own platform while also sharing them on Medium, Substack, and LinkedIn.

If you have any comments, questions, or recommendations, feel free to drop them below.

Thank you for reading this post.