5 Vital Business Lessons From Lifetime Deals Gone Wrong

This former LTD addict has some pearls of wisdom you don’t want to miss (irony intended)

Photo from Libreshot, hand drawn elements by the Author

I’m a recovering LTD (life time deal) addict, and a small business owner.

Between 2018 and 2021, before I started simplifying in earnest, I bought an embarrassing number of LTDs from sites like Appsumo. Yes, I know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of get-it-while-you-can marketing!

While there have been some stellar deals in the mix, I’ve also seen one or two shocking responses when things went south.

Life time deals are a two edged sword

When lifetime deals are handled well, no one gets hurt.

If you’re a business with a life time deal going, you’ll be getting an injection of funds from people who will hopefully spread the good word about your offering in exchange for continued access to your product at no further charge.

It seems like a fair deal, and in many ways it is, but sometimes things don’t go as planned. Whether or not the outcome is what you were hoping for, customers and business owners alike will benefit from walking a mile in each other’s proverbial shoes.

Here are five things I’ve learned about business and about life, from the perspectives of both the customer and a business owner. Neglect them at your peril!

1. Don’t expect a shiny new tool to save you

You’ve heard it before, but here it is again: tools are there to make things easier, not to do the work for us. The best hammer in the world can’t compensate for faulty blueprints, an unsound foundation, or unfocused workers.

Learn to recognise when you’re falling under the thrall of a cleverly put together marketing campaign. Marketers, tell us how we’ll benefit from your product, but don’t try to imbue it with supernatural abilities. More on this in the next point.

tools are there to make things easier, not to do the work for us

This was the first trap I fell into, and I can thank plain text for pulling me out. My interest in the simplest, most futureproof of digital record keeping shows no signs of waning.

2. Set a realistic budget, and stick to it

Look, if buying LTDs is your thing, know that I totally, 100% get it! It’s exciting to get in on the ground floor, and there’s something magical about having a wide range of tools at your disposal even if you don’t end up using them all. (And as a notes app butterfly, I should know!)

To avoid a world of regret, what you must do is make and stick to a modest budget that makes sense in your circumstances. The only excuse for going over budget is if the tool in question is one you needed to purchase anyway, and the higher price of the LTD will save you money in the immediate future.

You’ll win some and lose others, so don’t spend the rent money on a maybe.