The bar for doing business, in my opinion, has never been lower. The average business is barely capable of functioning. About 3 weeks ago I put out an request to multiple suppliers. I needed large quantities of silk and a few things taken care of with it. Cash in hand, First in best dressed wins. Only a couple of requirements.

Over 100 suppliers in the timespan of about 3-4 weeks have not responded with a quote at all. Let’s clarify a few points before the comments section thinks this is troll: 1) it’s not a MOQ issue, 2) it’s not a price issue, 3) it’s not a design issue 4) it’s not a matter of them not providing the service.

For all 100ish of these suppliers it’s “Hey, get me your best price on this quantity as soon as you can and provide me a few specific pieces of information on your supply line.” That’s it. I am very, very flexible on my requirements for this purchase. One of my only requirements is that at no point in time can this touch China, which isn’t a big deal because none of these suppliers were from china and they all proudly proclaimed on their site that that we’re 100% made in their country.

Easy, right?

Not. A. SINGLE. PROPOSAL.

Not one has been received. A few asked some basic questions. The irony is, if they read the inquiry I sent them, they already had that information. But I obliged and gave it to them again anyway. Several bounced me around to different contacts in their company. But at some point the conversation has fallen off on their end.

The moral of the story? The bar to winning in business couldn’t be lower today and people who manage to stay in business still can’t even do basic things like fill orders or take requests. It never ceases to amaze me how bad people are at actually running their businesses. If you were ever unsure about starting a business, just do it. The bar is so low.