I Quit My Job to Start a Research Agency

[ORStrat]

So, a year or so ago, I was talking to some contacts in a certain region of the world and I realised the information I was receiving from them was incredibly valuable and potentially monetisable. This, with my experience in strategy consulting and data analysis gave me the idea to start a research agency consultancy - today I decided to quit my job and go all in!

I started off by doing a few freelance market research projects and finding clients on freelance marketplaces. My intention is to do a few more market research projects to hone in my skills, before hiring researchers/analysts and outsourcing the work.

One thing that I'm not 100% sure on is how niche to go: Do I offer general Market Research services for the region? Or Market Research services for tech firms for the region? Or services for FinTech companies looking to penetrate the UAE? Or just market research services for any location/any industry?

In addition, I'm not too savvy in customer acquisition. Currently, I'm using sites like Fiverr which is working well, but I'd like to understand how to know what companies to target via cold email. I've got experience in sales/meeting setting, but I need to work out how to apply this to my business - how can I best understand what businesses would be interested in my services?

I write this post to share my journey and keep myself accountable. If anyone has run a successful agency/consultancy - feel free to get in touch! I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading - I will keep y'all updated.

 

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[ORStrat]

3 Month Update: All is going ok, but I decided to take 2 weeks off due to feeling exhausted, I have worked non-stop with no break since November 2022. During my time off, I worked a little, but did no big projects. I went on holiday for 4 days and I also went to see friends I hadn't seen in years. Athough I wasn't productive during those weeks, I do feel a lot better, as I was starting to feel burnt out. Now I am working much better and being more productive. Lesson learned, you need time off to replenish your energy and mind!

I have done a few projects in the last couple months and they have all gone ok. One client is still yet to pay and I am having to chase them up. I'm also trying to hire, so I can outsource my work and work on my business rather than in my business. I'm also getting frustrated with clients asking me to do things and then pulling out at the last minute, but I guess that is the service industry for you. I'm still using sites to get gigs, and I need to build some cold emailing system to get new work and automate that as much as possible.

Overall, everything is going ok. I need to hire and get some new projects in this week. Then do cold outreach and start building my social media. I'm also thinking if market research doesn't work, I'll pivot towards media, I'll make a YouTube and build my blog and start a podcast - as there are none of these in my niche. I'm starting to hate service based work as I'm constantly dealing with people and people can often be rubbish.

My goals over the next month are: Hire, outsource work, get better paying clients. If I fail on these, pivot to media.

 

[ORStrat]

3 and a half month update: So everything is going pretty well and although it's not long since my last update, there have been a few changes, so I thought that I'd write an update.

On Friday, I managed to sign 2 clients for a report each. Both beat my record fees so far, I charged $1000 and $1500. Before this the most i'd charged was $500. So, I've gone from charging $500 for a report to $1500 in the space of a couple months.

I'm hoping to continue gaining experience and being able to provide higher expertise and better quality work so I can charge more. More value = more money. I am also a little nervous, as for one of the clients, the report seems quite difficult to do, so I do wonder if I have made the right decision by taking a difficult project on. But my plan is to work really hard at it, communicate well with the client and get it submitted way before the deadline.

I've also had some interest from a prominent VC fund about my software. But I'm thinking of turning that down if they do offer me funding, as I'd rather self fund. And with how my research/consuling business is going, i'm not sure i'll have the time.

A BIG thing I need to consider too is niching down. Initially my niche was going to be a geographic location, as it's my area of expertise. Think helping businesses understand China, for example. But, all the work I'm getting is global, mainly UK/Europe, and for a number of different industries. From event ticketing companies, to battery companies to e-scooter companies. Ideally I want to niche down soon, so I don't have to keep being a generalist and doing different industries. But I'm really not sure what niche to pick and how to quantify the opportunity of each niche (without doing full scale research).

Hopefully, by June I will have completed the two reports mentioned above and received solid testimonials. Going to give it my all for now. Will report back then. Posting this is good for reflection and accountability. Lets go.

 

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[ORStrat]

Thanks for the update! You're making good progress there mate. Make sure you take care of yourself also in the future and keep lookout for any burnout symptoms.

My friend had a burnout multiple years ago and still hasn't fully recovered. Its nothing to play with.

What comes to service based business or business in general is that clients can be PITA. The key for me was to charge more, which lead to more respect from clients and less of the cheapskate-with-untealistic-expectations types.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks.

And I thought burnout wasn't real, I think I have binge watched/read too much David Goggins/Jocko Willink etc. but have now realised that self-care is a key to success. It's like caring for your car, oiling it, cleaning it, getting it checked, rather than overusing it.

And yes, I agree, I'm aiming to charge more. To one client, I proposed a seriously reduced rate to close him and he said 'way too expensive' - just shows what sort of people you are playing with at that end. Charging higher is definitely the way to go!

 

[ORStrat]

Maybe your niche is a certain type of problem, rather than a certain of industry?

Thanks for the response. That is something i've considered, but by niching down by an industry will allow me to collect data. So, for example, if I niche down into the Gardening industry, and I've interviewed and researched hundreds of gardening customers and stores, I will be very hot on with what's going on in the industry. I'll have much more data to draw from. etc. etc.

Maybe it's a certain type of problem within an industry. E.g. pricing strategy for the esports industry...

 

[ORStrat]

1 Month Update: So I've been at this for about a month now and it's not going too bad. I've got a few clients here and there. Probably going to hit around the $1500 mark for this month, which isn't amazing but I'm happy. I did about $700 for the last month, but I spent a lot of time setting up and working low level projects.

I had an interview with a client for a $5000 project but I just missed out, they were happy with my desire and communication but said they'd found a firm with more experience - which I fully understood. Hopefully I set a good impression for them as I went above and beyond on the proposal and they seemed really happy with my enthusiasm for their business.

I really need to start finding larger paying clients. My current clients are paying around $500 per piece, i'm hoping to get that up to $1000 in the near future. I'm definitely seeing improvements though as i'm constantly being able to charge more, albeit in short increments.

Overall, it's slightly stressfull and frustrating as it's hard work for little money. I was earning much more than this in my job with less responsbility and work! But hey, this is exactly what I signed up for!

The plan is to hire a freelancer soon and stop fulfilling the work myself. Me and a friend have also built some software which is really cool and we're trying to pitch it to VCs. Onwards and upwards!

 

[Roli]

I'm hoping to continue gaining experience and being able to provide higher expertise and better quality work

Have you identified exactly what that experience is? Sometimes it's easy to tell ourselves "we need more experience" and we kind of lump it all in together. However sometimes it is rarely about general experience we need, it is something very specific, eg. learning a particular bit of software, learning to speak a particular language, or understanding a niche aspect of our business.

I've also had some interest from a prominent VC fund about my software. But I'm thinking of turning that down if they do offer me funding, as I'd rather self fund. And with how my research/consuling business is going, i'm not sure i'll have the time.

This is good, make sure you asses whether self-funding will get you there in the same time, with the same impact as being funded.

If funding will help you realise your dream by a significant amount of time less, then it well may be worth considering.

A BIG thing I need to consider too is niching down. Initially my niche was going to be a geographic location, as it's my area of expertise. Think helping businesses understand China, for example. But, all the work I'm getting is global, mainly UK/Europe, and for a number of different industries. From event ticketing companies, to battery companies to e-scooter companies. Ideally I want to niche down soon, so I don't have to keep being a generalist and doing different industries. But I'm really not sure what niche to pick and how to quantify the opportunity of each niche (without doing full scale research).

The market often tells us what we need to hear, rather than what we want. Make sure you're not just niching down for the sake of it. Perhaps the general approach is what will keep the business rolling in. As you move forwards, you are gathering info from multiple industries which you can reuse time and again.

The fact you are already niching in a geographical sense, may be the only specialisation you need.

Great to hear you've upped your prices, I can see more increases on the horizon as you gain more confidence in the value you offer your clients.

Keep it up!

 

[ORStrat]

Have you identified exactly what that experience is? Sometimes it's easy to tell ourselves "we need more experience" and we kind of lump it all in together. However sometimes it is rarely about general experience we need, it is something very specific, eg. learning a particular bit of software, learning to speak a particular language, or understanding a niche aspect of our business.

Yes, I have - I need to develop my research methods toolkit along with project delivery skills. I'm noticing a correlation between my experience and the amount I charge, so it's going well. All in all, just need a few more projects under my belt. Each project also exposes me to different research methods which broadens my capabilties and allows me to charge more.

This is good, make sure you asses whether self-funding will get you there in the same time, with the same impact as being funded.

If funding will help you realise your dream by a significant amount of time less, then it well may be worth considering.

For sure, totally agree on this.

The market often tells us what we need to hear, rather than what we want. Make sure you're not just niching down for the sake of it. Perhaps the general approach is what will keep the business rolling in. As you move forwards, you are gathering info from multiple industries which you can reuse time and again.

The fact you are already niching in a geographical sense, may be the only specialisation you need.

Yes, that's so true. The market is the best test for us. I think I probably should stay general for now. I'm just trying to niche for 2 reasons (that are very interlinked):
1) I'll have expertise of said niche, so i'll be the go to guy and I won't have the challenge of learning a completely different industry each project
2) I'll be doing projects all in the field, which means more data, more expertise -> I can charge more & really become an expert in the field.

I've tried to niche down in a geographic said, but most of the work isn't even coming in for that region. It's all EU/UK. Maybe I should reconsider this niche, because as you said, market tells us the truth! I think it's best though I stay general for now for a while!

Thanks for the response btw!

 

[ORStrat]

4 MONTH UPDATE:

So, one month since my last update and four months since I started this thing. The other day I felt like i'm no acheiving enough, but then I looked at my journal and realised how much I'd progressed. This time 12 months ago, it was all just an idea and a website with a vague value proposition. Now it's all starting to seem real!

On major positive: I think I've hit the niching down part. I know what I want to do now. I'm going to offer customer insights research and analysis, which involves interviewing customers, analysing customer data, researching customer profiles etc. I've really found this interesting and I've done two-three projects like this which have gone really well and I've enjoyed. I'm going to try and do this generally, and eventually niche down into an industry. For example, a consultancy that helps cyber securities understand their customers. Then I can use all the data I collect to produce and sell reports.

I'm taking it pretty slow. I had a few new clients this month and delivered great results for them. Really enjoyed the work too. I have a habit of trying to push myself and take on as much work as possible, which often fogs my brain and makes my performance worse.

I also said in my last post: "I am also a little nervous, as for one of the clients, the report seems quite difficult to do, so I do wonder if I have made the right decision by taking a difficult project on. But my plan is to work really hard at it, communicate well with the client and get it submitted way before the deadline." - This didn't end great as the client wasn't happy with the work I produced but I thought that they didn't communicate what they wanted very well. I ended up putting in extra effort to deliver something of worth and charged them 30% of the project. I think they understood that they hadn't communicated well and I admitted I was a little ambitious on taking on the project. They appreciated my honesty and the fact I was apologetic and that I never never blamed anyone and they said we'll have a call again soon to work together on a smaller project.
LESSON LEARNED: Some projects are too big! Know your limits (Which I never do!).

I also tried hiring, that went rubbish, but it's taught me a lot. I now need to develop a more rigorous interview process which asks more specific questions and gives a test similar to the work we would do in real life.

The plan is in the next month to just keep delivering good work, develop a hiring and cold outreach process and not to try and push myself too hard and grow too fast. I need to take it steady and grow slowly.

This is the first time during my journey where I've felt confident. I now know my product, my offering, my value proposition, my ideal customer, my [future] niche and my plans for the future. In previous months, i've always felt less confident.

 

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[ORStrat]

Thnks for the update, good to see your progress and lessons learned. Regarding hiring, you already reached a revenue point where you are able to pay a wage?

Yes, but for a freelancer only.

The revenue is not completely stable. but I can definitely afford a freelancer. I'm just posting a job as we speak to be honest.

 

[ORStrat]

That's great progress for 4 months in business. What sort of skills and work experience are you looking for?

Thanks, it feels like i've not achieved much. So i'm glad to hear that.

I'm looking for researchers and data analysts. I'm thinking students could be a good market to tap because they have research skills so can help me with things like interviews etc. and their rates would be reasonable. Also considering hiring from abroad.

 

[ORStrat]

Hey Man! Just finished reading this thread. Great progress! btw I'm a data/ business analyst based here in the Philippines. Maybe I can help you

Send me a DM. I''ve actually just started hiring process!

 

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[ORStrat]

5 Month Update
Summary:
- On for a record month
- Got my first client where we've done more than one piece of work for them
- Hired 2x people (this should give me 30 hours of help per week) (hopefully they are good)
- Got 2-3x good projects in the pipeline
- Had a final stage interview for an accelerator

So this last month has been good. I've only taken on work that I know I can fulfill and taken charge of everything. Not having to take every single job on has left me feeling less stressed; it's good to have a choice. I've been working with some cool companies and startups doing some cool projects. Revenue and profits are constantly increasing, I just want them to increase more! But that will come with time.

I've also been working with a client on small research projects, I did one, they liked my work, so I've now done another two projects for them. I'm hoping to scale the size of the projects and eventually get them on a decent retainer if it's in both of our interests.

I've also recruited. This time I tested all applicants with a short project, this really worked in weening out bad/lazy applicants. I should have done this before, but it's good to learn. I'm just hoping that the candidates who have interviewed well and completed the tests well are able to work with me and produce good quality work.

I've also been building some research software with my cofounder over the last 6 months which I think I have mentioned. It basically saves hours of time for researchers. We've had some interest in this but nothing materialised and had 2x final stage interviews with accelerators. We had one of them today and it went really well, I'm hoping we get onto it. I know my research agency can be a solid business, but the software business could be 1000x bigger, so the opportunity is incredibly enticing - but we shall see. The accelerator would give us infrastructure to build, access to coaches and funding if we need it. It's also fully remote and only ten hours per week.

I still haven't decided on my niche yet, but I'm not rushing into that. I'm really thinking of trying to go for the sports niche, because that's my passion and obsession, so I think i'd have a lot to give to that niche. But then, part of me is thinking to go for the edtech niche because of the size of the opportunity, the growth of the industry and the fact I've done a little work in the industry before. I'd also consider crypto niche cause that's another love of mine. I'm really stuck in analysis paralysis on this one, but I guess i'll just keep general and then decide in the near future.

Overall, i'm incredibly happy with how everything is going, business is going great but it's manageable and I don't feel under too much stress, which is good. So i'm able to build my business and enjoy my life. A lot of this doesn't even feel like work at the moment, it feels like fun. I guess i'm doing it right, as Naval said "I’m always “working.” It looks like work to others, but it feels like play to me. And that’s how I know no one can compete with me on it. Because I’m just playing, for sixteen hours a day. If others want to compete with me, they’re going to work, and they’re going to lose because they’re not going to do it for sixteen hours a day, seven days a week."

 

[ORStrat]

7 MONTH UPDATE

Everythings been going well the last couple months business wise. In September I caught covid and had a family bereavement which slowed progress down, but made me realise that business isn't the most important thing, health and family are. So I was happy to sacrifice a month of profit to recover.

I recently got my first referral too. Someone said that my work was great and referred me to one of their VC friends who needs some similar work doing. I'm also working on a really fun project right now too.

I have also picked my niche too. I'm going to start marketing hard around Linkedin also, as I haven't been doing this. But now i've found my niche it has informed my future marketing strategy.

The other day I got a customer for my software too which is really exciting. We are currently building it out for his business and excited to get feedback on it. I think my software, if it is as valuable as we believe, will be a great business. As we can build it and sell it to multiple businesses, which will earn me much more than the consultancy would.

Overall, everything is on the up and I will be back in the next month to update. Hopefully I'll have had the custom software purchased by the client on a long contract! That's the main goal!

 

[ORStrat]

9 MONTH UPDATE

So, everythings been going pretty well. I've managed to hire a good freelancer after countless terrible ones. I've also worked on some interesting projects too.

I managed to land a big client, one of the worlds biggest companies. I'm over to moon about this, but the work they want me to deliver is tough. So I'm grinding away and trying my best to complete it and being as creative as I can to drive the best results possible.

For our software, we did a build out for a company, but it wasn't for them, so we ended up not working together. We've got a meeting in a couple weeks with another potential customer, which we are excited for. We keep getting closer and closer to our first customer, receving feedback, constantly improving and learning from our mistakes.

The only difficulties have been managing the cylicality of the work. In October we were mega busy, Novemberwe were quiet and in December we have been mega busy. I sometimes wish it was a little more constant and predictable - but hey, that's the life of an entrepreneur right!

I still feel like my business is very average. I'm not making mega money and it's a constant grind! But, if I look how far I've come in the last 9 months, it's way further than I'd have expected. Hopefully in the next month I can get a customer for our software and also deliver super results for our current big name client. I think from there, it will be onwards and upwards.

It's been quite a successful year, hopefully next year will be even better. Merry Christmas and a happy new year to anyone reading this!

 

[Roli]

One thing that I'm not 100% sure on is how niche to go: Do I offer general Market Research services for the region? Or Market Research services for tech firms for the region? Or services for FinTech companies looking to penetrate the UAE? Or just market research services for any location/any industry?

My advice is, unless the area you were working in as a job is not very lucrative, niche down there. If it isn't particularly lucrative, then follow the money. For instance is Fintech more lucrative than tech? Are companies just looking for general research going to pay as much as those looking to move to the UAE? Is the UAE the best place to niche?

they were happy with my desire and communication but said they'd found a firm with more experience - which I fully understood.

Hopefully you have rid yourself of this mindset, of course you can't compete on experience, what you do compete on is value. You started this business because you realised the info you were privy to was valuable. Don't ever accept a client going to another company based on "experience". Next time you need to outline ex

I really need to start finding larger paying clients. My current clients are paying around $500 per piece, i'm hoping to get that up to $1000 in the near future. I'm definitely seeing improvements though as i'm constantly being able to charge more, albeit in short increments.

Again this comes down to value, I would check out @Fox's thread on starting a web business, he has some real insight into value and how to convey it to clients.

I'm also getting frustrated with clients asking me to do things and then pulling out at the last minute,

This sounds like you aren't billing properly or you haven't made your billing policy clear to your clients.

The saying "time is money" is even more relevant for someone like yourself, considering you are literally charging for the time used to research for your clients.

Therefore you have to make it very clear to everyone from the start, that once things go beyond a certain level, they should expect an invoice for your time.

It's good you are hiring a freelancer and the business seems to be going well, it just sounds like you need a bit of confidence in your own ability, which in turn will have a positive effect on your pricing policies.

 

[ORStrat]

That's a blanket statement that may be true for some business, but not others. The fastest way is whatever way works best, which he'll only discover after some trial and error.

Yup, and I still have customers. I just need to improve my acqusition system.

 

[ORStrat]

My advice is, unless the area you were working in as a job is not very lucrative, niche down there. If it isn't particularly lucrative, then follow the money. For instance is Fintech more lucrative than tech? Are companies just looking for general research going to pay as much as those looking to move to the UAE? Is the UAE the best place to niche?



Hopefully you have rid yourself of this mindset, of course you can't compete on experience, what you do compete on is value. You started this business because you realised the info you were privy to was valuable. Don't ever accept a client going to another company based on "experience". Next time you need to outline ex



Again this comes down to value, I would check out @Fox's thread on starting a web business, he has some real insight into value and how to convey it to clients.



This sounds like you aren't billing properly or you haven't made your billing policy clear to your clients.

The saying "time is money" is even more relevant for someone like yourself, considering you are literally charging for the time used to research for your clients.

Therefore you have to make it very clear to everyone from the start, that once things go beyond a certain level, they should expect an invoice for your time.

It's good you are hiring a freelancer and the business seems to be going well, it just sounds like you need a bit of confidence in your own ability, which in turn will have a positive effect on your pricing policies.

Yeah for sure, just think I need a bit more confidence, improved value proposition and an improved customer acquisition channel.

 

[ORStrat]

Okay I think this comes back to your previous work around your job? Have you utilised contacts as much as you can? I understand some companies in certain industries make you sign stuff to stop you contacting clients for at least 2 years after you leave, however if you haven't got any such restraints, keep plugging away.

I need to do that, I've not been doing too much outreach as I have a solid steady flow of work to last me.

Yeah best to and if you're ever in the UK (London), hit me up!

I'm based in London actually!

 

[ORStrat]

I'm glad that everything is going well for you and it is great that you took a break to rest.

I know that you have already made the decision, but I want to add my two cents in the hope it will be helpful for someone else.

Choosing between market research services and services for FinTech companies depends on the specific needs and goals of a business. Market research services can provide valuable insights into customer behavior, market trends, and competition, which can be useful for any industry. However, if a business operates in the FinTech sector, it may be more beneficial to hire fintech consultants who have specialized knowledge and experience in areas such as financial regulations, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies. If this is your case, I suggest reading the information here https://devspiration.com/blog/guide-on-hiring-fintеch-consultant/ Hopefully, you will find it useful.

Thanks for the response!

I decided to stay completely away from finance and FinTech as although they are my interests, it could potentially cause a conflict of interest with past/current employers (I have a part time job in banking). But yes, agree on the hiring a consultant with relevant experience for sure.

I've been doing lot's of general work and my plan to niche is becoming clearer as I go. I'm currently doing a lot of competitor analysis and customer interviews. So, I'm going to stay general for a while and then try and work out which industry has the most demand for me to niche down. I'll then be able to use all my data that I have gathered from that industry to provide better quality consulting, research and information. So I'll specialise in that industry and focus on competitor analysis and customer intel. E.g if I work with lots of gaming clients, and there's lots of demand for gaming market research, i'll specialise in gaming and leverage past work. Then I could hire someone with expertise/passion for gaming.

 

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[svekk1]

Thnks for the update, good to see your progress and lessons learned. Regarding hiring, you already reached a revenue point where you are able to pay a wage?

 

[ORStrat]

Congratulations on taking the bold step towards starting your own research agency consultancy! Your journey so far sounds exciting and promising. Focusing on a niche can be a strategic move that helps you stand out and attract a specific client base. Consider evaluating the market demand and your expertise to decide which niche aligns best with your skills and the potential for monetization.
When it comes to customer acquisition, leveraging your sales and meeting-setting experience is a valuable asset. Researching potential clients before reaching out via cold emails can be effective. Look for companies that align with your chosen niche, show growth potential, or could benefit from your specialized services.
Networking can also play a significant role in finding potential clients. Attend industry events, webinars, and connect with professionals on platforms like LinkedIn to expand your reach and gain insights into the needs of your target market.
Lastly, reaching out to experienced agency owners or consultants can provide valuable insights. Their guidance and advice can help you navigate challenges and make informed decisions.
Best of luck with your consultancy journey, and keep sharing your progress to stay accountable and motivated!

Thanks, some great advice in there. I'll definitely be doing these. I've currently got a nice stream of work, and actually recently got my first client by cold outreach. Very soon I intend to start going to industry events.

 

[ORStrat]

I'll work for you for free for a week.

How is that appealing?

I'd rather just pay someone. When people say 'i'll work for you for free', it's not a good offer, it's actually more work for the business to work out where to fit you in, what you can do etc.

I respect your offer though.

 

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[ORStrat]

You joined in 2018.

This is your first post.

I don't know whether a blast you for being self-promotional, or applaud you for finally stepping up and trying to offer some assistance to somebody.

What have you been doing for 5 years Arthur Pritt?

You have taken the words from my mouth.

 

[ORStrat]

1 YEAR UPDATE

Sooooo it's been just over a year since I lauched. Things have gone well but not perfect, which is expected. I'm definitely happy with the progress I have made, but eager for more!

Revenue was approx $30,000 for the year
Gross profit of $20,000
Net profit $12,000

Tax is a killer; my biggest expense at approx 40%.

Did work for some big clients who are household names and worked on some cool projects.

Still no software customer but it is what it is, I'll keep going on that.

Hoping to double revenue next year and get some bigger clients on bigger contracts as well as getting some retainers signed. Every client we've worked with has been projects hear and there, nothing retainer based. So i'd like that to change to get more reliable income.

I'd also like to add that I've been working on this for 2/3 days a week whilst also working part time, which is why the figures aren't amazing.

Overall, I'm happy with my progress and looking forward to building this business for a second year. Hoping to do some big increases in revenue, sign some big clients and start creating linkedin content for marketing purposes.

Let's go

 

[Practic]

So, a year or so ago, I was talking to some contacts in a certain region of the world and I realised the information I was receiving from them was incredibly valuable and potentially monetisable. This, with my experience in strategy consulting and data analysis gave me the idea to start a research agency consultancy - today I decided to quit my job and go all in!

I started off by doing a few freelance market research projects and finding clients on freelance marketplaces. My intention is to do a few more market research projects to hone in my skills, before hiring researchers/analysts and outsourcing the work.

One thing that I'm not 100% sure on is how niche to go: Do I offer general Market Research services for the region? Or Market Research services for tech firms for the region? Or services for FinTech companies looking to penetrate the UAE? Or just market research services for any location/any industry?

In addition, I'm not too savvy in customer acquisition. Currently, I'm using sites like Fiverr which is working well, but I'd like to understand how to know what companies to target via cold email. I've got experience in sales/meeting setting, but I need to work out how to apply this to my business - how can I best understand what businesses would be interested in my services?

I write this post to share my journey and keep myself accountable. If anyone has run a successful agency/consultancy - feel free to get in touch! I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading - I will keep y'all updated.

>In addition, I'm not too savvy in customer acquisition.

Without customers you have a hobby, not a business.

The fastest and cheapest way to acquire customers is via referral, revenue sharing, or income sharing program.

 

[Kevin88660]

So, a year or so ago, I was talking to some contacts in a certain region of the world and I realised the information I was receiving from them was incredibly valuable and potentially monetisable. This, with my experience in strategy consulting and data analysis gave me the idea to start a research agency consultancy - today I decided to quit my job and go all in!

I started off by doing a few freelance market research projects and finding clients on freelance marketplaces. My intention is to do a few more market research projects to hone in my skills, before hiring researchers/analysts and outsourcing the work.

One thing that I'm not 100% sure on is how niche to go: Do I offer general Market Research services for the region? Or Market Research services for tech firms for the region? Or services for FinTech companies looking to penetrate the UAE? Or just market research services for any location/any industry?

In addition, I'm not too savvy in customer acquisition. Currently, I'm using sites like Fiverr which is working well, but I'd like to understand how to know what companies to target via cold email. I've got experience in sales/meeting setting, but I need to work out how to apply this to my business - how can I best understand what businesses would be interested in my services?

I write this post to share my journey and keep myself accountable. If anyone has run a successful agency/consultancy - feel free to get in touch! I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading - I will keep y'all updated.

Investment research has more than enough paying clients.

Seeking alpha is one on general securities. Biggest market for mainstream retail investors to gain access to good editorial. 2-300 dollars a year for subscription.

In Crypto there is Delphi research that charge 100 USD per month for subscription.

 

[Creator]

Congratulations on your new business! Try not to get overwhelmed with all the work setting up everything in the beginning.

Do you mind to elaborate, what kind of market research do you plan doing? What is the stereotypic customer you plan to serve? What is the problem of theirs you solve?

 

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[ORStrat]

Investment research has more than enough paying clients.

Seeking alpha is one on general securities. Biggest market for mainstream retail investors to gain access to good editorial. 2-300 dollars a year for subscription.

In Crypto there is Delphi research that charge 100 USD per month for subscription.

Yes, I am definitely considering this in my business plan.

 

[ORStrat]

Congratulations on your new business! Try not to get overwhelmed with all the work setting up everything in the beginning.

Do you mind to elaborate, what kind of market research do you plan doing? What is the stereotypic customer you plan to serve? What is the problem of theirs you solve?

So far I've been helping tech firms understand how to penetrate markets. For example, I did a market analysis of Qatar & UAE for a mobility firm that wanted to launch there. Then I helped an Events app understand its competition and the local market—things like that.