I feel like a loser but have so many skills

[Crissco]

Hey, so im having an issues. Im a website developer, marketer, I do SEO, know a lot about a lot. But yet I have $1 in my bank account. Im 29, this is SAD. I have a web development company but I just cant seem to land clients on monthly retainers for SEO, so my selling is off. - Talking to a friend of mind hes in the same issue at 32, so thats just the blind leading the blind lol - So my question is how do I get out of this? What separates me from the rest? - I look at other peoples idea and they are complete crap, dumb stuff usually, my ideas always better and offer more as well yet mine dont take off? I just dont get it, what am I doing wrong? - Sorry for ranting here its just frustering that after 5 years im still a broke loser.

Chris

 

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[TonyStark]

GOLD - How to Learn Code, Start a Web Company, $15k+ per month within 9 months

 

[Crissco]

GOLD - How to Learn Code, Start a Web Company, $15k+ per month within 9 months

I know, i read it lol in the group, theres something im still doing wrong here since im not getting the results i want

 

[Leo Hendrix]

Have you tried outsourcing sales, lead generation and or marketing for your web dev company or had a unbiased 3rd party critique your approach and offers?

 

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[Crissco]

Yes I posted ads, I could of'ed tried harder on that 100%. My fault, and yes I had Neil Patel go over my site actually

 

[Leo Hendrix]

No I mean outbound sales outsourcing, have someone else bring in predictable qualified sales leads for you.

Maybe it's your marketing system you have to look at it, if that not effective.

You could also post your website etc here so people can critique it,if you're not afraid of potential copycats.

 

[Siberia]

Hey, so im having an issues. Im a website developer, marketer, I do SEO, know a lot about a lot. But yet I have $1 in my bank account. Im 29, this is SAD. I have a web development company but I just cant seem to land clients on monthly retainers for SEO, so my selling is off. - Talking to a friend of mind hes in the same issue at 32, so thats just the blind leading the blind lol - So my question is how do I get out of this? What separates me from the rest? - I look at other peoples idea and they are complete crap, dumb stuff usually, my ideas always better and offer more as well yet mine dont take off? I just dont get it, what am I doing wrong? - Sorry for ranting here its just frustering that after 5 years im still a broke loser.

Chris

I think that you must only try to change something.
What?
You know.
Keywords: grit, determination, persistence.

Dale Carnegie Quote (About challenges, discouragement, failure, success)

 

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[BlakeIC]

Yes I posted ads, I could of'ed tried harder on that 100%. My fault, and yes I had Neil Patel go over my site actually

Yes I posted ads, I could of'ed tried harder on that 100%. My fault, and yes I had Neil Patel go over my site actually

Who's Neil Patel?

Your clients must not be seeing the value that you claim to provide.

Maybe you are not communicating it well enough to your prospects?

Do you have a website, freelance profile I could look at to give my thoughts on?

Also,

when you say you are a "marketer" what falls under that category for you?

 

[JacobBW]

I know how you feel man.

For my old biz we had web developers that had an annual support fee that was standard for all of their clients.
I think it was about $250 for the year and gave us a few hours of support throughout the year. Once we used the hours up we had to start paying again. it was a great move because lot of their customers probably only wanted a static website anyway - how much support were they going to need? not much.
They also took care of the domains, web-hosting and google apps - they had them through wholesale agreements and would have taken a small cut on all of them each month/quarter/year.
Lots of small value-adds for each client that added up to quite a bit of predictable revenue for their company.

If you were going to implement these sorts of changes I'd start them on new clients first and then roll them through to older clients as they renew, or with special offers down the line.

 

[Digamma]

What problem are you solving?

The #1 problem I see with so called internet professionals is that they just offer a service, not solve any problem.

"You need more search engine leads" is rarely a problem.
If it's a real problem, usually a company will hire internal marketing.

Let me tell you something. The handle of my bedroom door is broken.
The screw is stripped. I tighten it, every once in a while it comes off and I'm there with the handle in my hands.

Can I afford to fix it decently? Of course. I could buy one on Amazon right now.
Am I going to? Not in a million years - unless one day it comes off and I can't open the door and get stuck in it.

Until then, it's not a problem, although it's a "problem".

The point of the story is that problems are in perception, not in reality.
If the clients you are targeting don't perceive it as a problem, it isn't one.

 

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[Andy Black]

Land them for AdWords monthly retainers instead of SEO monthly retainers?

Remember though that they want enquiries, sales, customers, and revenue... not SEO or AdWords.


Oh, and as to your thread title... all the technical skills in the world mean little without commercial skills. Focus on street smarts.


How much time do you spend on diesel and coffee?

 

[JacobBW]

Land them for AdWords monthly retainers instead of SEO monthly retainers?

Remember though that they want enquiries, sales, customers, and revenue... not SEO or AdWords.

Indeed - close friend started her own AdWords business - now has 4 full-time employees and was trying to figure out if she should buy herself a Porsche or hold off just a little longer and put another worker in to grow revenue even more.
**note** her business is now quite heavy on the staff management side of things...

 

[Andy Black]

Indeed - close friend started her own AdWords business - now has 4 full-time employees and was trying to figure out if she should buy herself a Porsche or hold off just a little longer and put another worker in to grow revenue even more.
**note** her business is now quite heavy on the staff management side of things...

That's a no-brainier for me... having made the wrong decision in the past.

 

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[G-Man]

If the clients you are targeting don't perceive it as a problem, it isn't one.

Understand sales in a single sentence. Rep+

 

[Argue]

The #1 problem I see with so called internet professionals is that they just offer a service, not solve any problem.

This.

So called internet professionals focus on jargon, technicalities, and are self-focused. They're a "me-too" business.

Change your marketing approach.

When Steve Jobs introduced the iPod to the market, he didn't tell the market about 5 gigabytes, lithium batteries etc.

He connected to the audience with excitement and provided a need for people's problems. He said:

"1000 songs in your pocket"

genius

People buy from people.

 

[juan917]

It can always be that your product/service just isn't in demand. I recommend focusing on a product that's in DEMAND.

 

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[Evil_Jester]

It seems like web development and SEO is dwindling these days? Anybody can do SEO with wordpress plugins. Facebook and youtube are probably the platforms to base your traffic/business on

 

[biophase]

HI have a web development company but I just cant seem to land clients on monthly retainers for SEO, so my selling is off.

I do SEO, know a lot about a lot.

I'm going to call BS on this. If you knew SEO well, why don't you go prove it? People who keep landing clients and keeping them are proving their skills by delivering value. If you can't keep your clients, there is a value problem here.

What are some examples of SEO clients that you've delivered for?

Why don't you take one of your clients and SEO them to the top, then go and show them what you did for free?
Or how about SEOing your own website to the top for keyword "SEO services" so that you can get more SEO clients.

Or how about starting your own business and using your SEO skills on that business.

I made a post years ago about SEOing yourself vs. competitors hiring it out. If you can SEO your own business, you will pull away from your competitors just based on your SEO margins alone. Let's say both you and your competitor are paying $2000 for SEO services. Well, since you are in house, I assume that you are getting $2000 worth of SEO value. Your competitor is getting $1000 worth of SEO because he's hiring someone. Over the course of a year, you get $24k of value, he is getting $12k of value. Your website will pull away from his.

 

[Chopwood]

Self doubt and negative talk won't get you anywhere. If we keep doing the same thing and expecting different results is not moving forward. Adapting and changing.

I own a retail business with online. With a past business I have paid for a number of different SEO 'experts', they never had a good ROI for me. So with this business we look for platforms with built in SEO. Currently on Shopify and use Google Analytics (plus adwords and facebook ads). Google provides us with an inhouse account manager that helps us tweak/advises. Adapt your skill set to be able to offer your services on platforms like shopify, squarespace, wix -- thats where I see business needing help.

 

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[Kung Fu Steve]

I'm going to call BS on this. If you knew SEO well, why don't you go prove it? People who keep landing clients and keeping them are proving their skills by delivering value. If you can't keep your clients, there is a value problem here.

What are some examples of SEO clients that you've delivered for?

Why don't you take one of your clients and SEO them to the top, then go and show them what you did for free?
Or how about SEOing your own website to the top for keyword "SEO services" so that you can get more SEO clients.

Or how about starting your own business and using your SEO skills on that business.

I made a post years ago about SEOing yourself vs. competitors hiring it out. If you can SEO your own business, you will pull away from your competitors just based on your SEO margins alone. Let's say both you and your competitor are paying $2000 for SEO services. Well, since you are in house, I assume that you are getting $2000 worth of SEO value. Your competitor is getting $1000 worth of SEO because he's hiring someone. Over the course of a year, you get $24k of value, he is getting $12k of value. Your website will pull away from his.

100% Agree.

My first response was "how much are you ACTUALLY working?"

In a business, job 1, 2, and 3 is customer acquisition.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say you are like MOST "seo companies" out there and put up a web page and just hope people are going to call.

Tell me you're making 100-200 cold calls per day, tell me you're out at every local networking event there is, tell me you're attending conferences where your potential clients are, tell me you have a booth at every business expo, tell me you are running FB ads, tell me you are out there DOING things to acquire customers.

What are you doing to acquire customers and how many hours per day are you actually doing it?

 

[lowtek]

100% Agree.

My first response was "how much are you ACTUALLY working?"

In a business, job 1, 2, and 3 is customer acquisition.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say you are like MOST "seo companies" out there and put up a web page and just hope people are going to call.

Tell me you're making 100-200 cold calls per day, tell me you're out at every local networking event there is, tell me you're attending conferences where your potential clients are, tell me you have a booth at every business expo, tell me you are running FB ads, tell me you are out there DOING things to acquire customers.

What are you doing to acquire customers and how many hours per day are you actually doing it?

This is most likely the problem. Lack of action around customer acquisition.

SEO should be a straight forward sale. It's something business owners know/think they need, but don't have the time/skillset to do themselves.

You just need a large enough volume of sales outreaches to know where your process breaks down. So go forth and get that data!

 

[Amon]

Talking to a friend of mind hes in the same issue at 32, so thats just the blind leading the blind lol

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” - Jim Rohn

What separates me from the rest? - I look at other peoples idea and they are complete crap, dumb stuff usually, my ideas always better and offer more as well yet mine dont take off? I just dont get it, what am I doing wrong? - Sorry for ranting here its just frustering that after 5 years im still a broke loser.

Chris

I'm sorry dude I'm just not buying this. Pay less attention to other peoples ideas and put 16 hours a day (or more) into yours.

If you really wanted it, you'd find a way to get it.

The market is the market is the market. If you're good, you'll get paid.

 

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[SquatchMan]

Hey, so im having an issues. Im a website developer, marketer, I do SEO, know a lot about a lot. But yet I have $1 in my bank account. Im 29, this is SAD. I have a web development company but I just cant seem to land clients on monthly retainers for SEO, so my selling is off. - Talking to a friend of mind hes in the same issue at 32, so thats just the blind leading the blind lol - So my question is how do I get out of this? What separates me from the rest? - I look at other peoples idea and they are complete crap, dumb stuff usually, my ideas always better and offer more as well yet mine dont take off? I just dont get it, what am I doing wrong? - Sorry for ranting here its just frustering that after 5 years im still a broke loser.

Chris

Your problem is fairly obvious from a few paragraph post and even the title of thread. You have an ego and it shows while reading your post. So I'm sure it shows in your interactions with business owners.

You have so many skills?

Cool story. How do your skills make me money?

If you're trying to sell stuff to people by telling them how skilled you are, then you suck at selling. Also, people that mention their smartness or greatness are usually neither smart nor great.

I'm smart. I have the best ideas. Everyone has dumb ideas. My ideas are always better.

Look at some of the successful business owners here and see how their mindset is radically different from yours. Here is a start with my two favorite threads on mindset:

GOLD - The "Astonishing Secrets" Thread
Rep bank $0? You're probably broke in real life too.

 

[The-J]

I look at other peoples idea and they are complete crap, dumb stuff usually, my ideas always better and offer more as well yet mine dont take off? I just dont get it, what am I doing wrong?

As someone who has sustained his business (read: job) for the last few months about 98% on inbound (after recovering from a near-fatal business slump)... it seems you're just not offering enough value.

If I had to throw out an educated guess, I'd say it only takes about 10 satisfied clients to create a business around this kind of thing entirely on inbound leads. Key word is 'satisfied'. Satisfied clients bring more clients.

Competition isn't an issue if you become 'the guy' among several circles of people. This takes work. Constant communication, asking questions... even to the unsatisfied. Even unsatisfied clients can become referral sources if you have them convinced that you did all you could, but it just didn't work out between the two of you (I got you the traffic, but the numbers don't work out, etc).

Why are you not the guy? Ask yourself that, and maybe you've got a shot at fixing your business (and your life).

 

[ZeroTo100]

Hey, so im having an issues. Im a website developer, marketer, I do SEO, know a lot about a lot. But yet I have $1 in my bank account. Im 29, this is SAD. I have a web development company but I just cant seem to land clients on monthly retainers for SEO, so my selling is off. - Talking to a friend of mind hes in the same issue at 32, so thats just the blind leading the blind lol - So my question is how do I get out of this? What separates me from the rest? - I look at other peoples idea and they are complete crap, dumb stuff usually, my ideas always better and offer more as well yet mine dont take off? I just dont get it, what am I doing wrong? - Sorry for ranting here its just frustering that after 5 years im still a broke loser.

Chris

Hey Brother,

Ever think about training people/businesses in SEO/Adwords? Building sites can be time consuming. I learned to build sites on the Thesis theme but used that skill for my own personal use. In your case, I would package that SEO stuff up and sell it as a digital product to newbs or sell your SEO service to local mom and pop shops . If you're any good, you should be able to rank for SEO for yourself on your own stuff.

Maybe you can help me out with something...I've been researching a type of business that I would love to get into. My issue is after researching keywords and using some software I have, it seems like it it will be super competitive to rank for these keywords but there seems to be only 5 big players. None of them seem to do paid ads, all are ranking organically. CPCs are anywhere from .50-$4 a click. My question is, should I let the ability to not be able to rank stop me? Probably smarter to focus on Adwords and scratch the worry of SEO, no? I have the $

 

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[Roli]

Hey, so im having an issues. Im a website developer, marketer, I do SEO, know a lot about a lot. But yet I have $1 in my bank account. Im 29, this is SAD. I have a web development company but I just cant seem to land clients on monthly retainers for SEO, so my selling is off. - Talking to a friend of mind hes in the same issue at 32, so thats just the blind leading the blind lol - So my question is how do I get out of this? What separates me from the rest? - I look at other peoples idea and they are complete crap, dumb stuff usually, my ideas always better and offer more as well yet mine dont take off? I just dont get it, what am I doing wrong? - Sorry for ranting here its just frustering that after 5 years im still a broke loser.

Chris

Sorry to point the obvious here, but you say you know a lot about a lot when it comes to SEO and marketing; however you can't land clients on a monthly retainer.

This says to me that you aren't quite as good as you think you are; because if you were, then the SEO/marketing you're doing for clients would work and they would come back for more and more.

Your better ideas don't take off, yet other people's crap ideas do?

Perhaps those ideas aren't as crap as you think they are...

I'm sounding harsh, however I'm just giving you the same speech I gave myself when I ran my video production "business". I gave myself a reality check, realised I wasn't as great as I thought I was, and those "others" were way more professional than me. What's more, I realised I wasn't prepared to do what it took to become great at that; and ultimately it was an industry which had less and less money to go around, well for the likes of me at least.

You ask what separates you from the rest? Only you can truly answer that...

My guess is, you need to focus on the marketing/adwords side of it rather than SEO. I believe it was somebody on here (can't remember who) who said; "I've never met an SEO millionaire, however I've met several adword millionaires..."

Not having money in your bank account is not always down to not having enough work; remember, having more money won't sort out your financial woes; getting a handle on your spend/save ratio will do that.

So in conclusion, do something else; find a need from within your clients, or further afield, and then have a go at fulfilling that need in a unique way.

 

[Crissco]

What problem are you solving?

The #1 problem I see with so called internet professionals is that they just offer a service, not solve any problem.

"You need more search engine leads" is rarely a problem.
If it's a real problem, usually a company will hire internal marketing.

Let me tell you something. The handle of my bedroom door is broken.
The screw is stripped. I tighten it, every once in a while it comes off and I'm there with the handle in my hands.

Can I afford to fix it decently? Of course. I could buy one on Amazon right now.
Am I going to? Not in a million years - unless one day it comes off and I can't open the door and get stuck in it.

Until then, it's not a problem, although it's a "problem".

The point of the story is that problems are in perception, not in reality.
If the clients you are targeting don't perceive it as a problem, it isn't one.

Best answer so far in this thread IMO. - Explained very well and clearly to me, thank you.

This.

So called internet professionals focus on jargon, technicalities, and are self-focused. They're a "me-too" business.

Change your marketing approach.

When Steve Jobs introduced the iPod to the market, he didn't tell the market about 5 gigabytes, lithium batteries etc.

He connected to the audience with excitement and provided a need for people's problems. He said:

"1000 songs in your pocket"

genius

People buy from people.

I read that before, and yeah its how you sell it, literally my cold calling phone sales suck. That is something im working on every week(yes week not day, I admit it)

I'm going to call BS on this. If you knew SEO well, why don't you go prove it? People who keep landing clients and keeping them are proving their skills by delivering value. If you can't keep your clients, there is a value problem here.

What are some examples of SEO clients that you've delivered for?

Why don't you take one of your clients and SEO them to the top, then go and show them what you did for free?
Or how about SEOing your own website to the top for keyword "SEO services" so that you can get more SEO clients.

Or how about starting your own business and using your SEO skills on that business.

I made a post years ago about SEOing yourself vs. competitors hiring it out. If you can SEO your own business, you will pull away from your competitors just based on your SEO margins alone. Let's say both you and your competitor are paying $2000 for SEO services. Well, since you are in house, I assume that you are getting $2000 worth of SEO value. Your competitor is getting $1000 worth of SEO because he's hiring someone. Over the course of a year, you get $24k of value, he is getting $12k of value. Your website will pull away from his.

I worked off of Craigslist for the past 5 years for throw and go jobs, making 2k a month here, 700 a month there, 0 a month(like this month). So i dont have consistent clients. Lesson learned, I should of got them on hosting years ago which would of helped me keep contact and get referrals big time. And I did do SEO work for free. I ranked a construction company to number 2 on Bing for 4 keywords for their local area and page 2 on Google for just one keyword. - You guys do realize, I CAN and will outsource alot of my work eventually correct? I have to focus on sales and making the process easier. - And yes, I am working on ranking my self as well for San Diego website development (Where I recently moved to). But I put money into ads and wasn't getting conversions so im doing A/B split testing and testing my own site to increase the conversion rates.

This is most likely the problem. Lack of action around customer acquisition.

SEO should be a straight forward sale. It's something business owners know/think they need, but don't have the time/skillset to do themselves.

You just need a large enough volume of sales outreaches to know where your process breaks down. So go forth and get that data!

Yup! Data IS king.

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” - Jim Rohn


I'm sorry dude I'm just not buying this. Pay less attention to other peoples ideas and put 16 hours a day (or more) into yours.

If you really wanted it, you'd find a way to get it.

The market is the market is the market. If you're good, you'll get paid.

Im burnt, burnt and tired and I still keep going(Sure like 90% of the people here do that too)..And no if your good youll get a job. You have to sell sell sell, show clienst your good and you'll get referrals. That was a very broad statement to make.

Hey Brother,

Ever think about training people/businesses in SEO/Adwords? Building sites can be time consuming. I learned to build sites on the Thesis theme but used that skill for my own personal use. In your case, I would package that SEO stuff up and sell it as a digital product to newbs or sell your SEO service to local mom and pop shops . If you're any good, you should be able to rank for SEO for yourself on your own stuff.

Maybe you can help me out with something...I've been researching a type of business that I would love to get into. My issue is after researching keywords and using some software I have, it seems like it it will be super competitive to rank for these keywords but there seems to be only 5 big players. None of them seem to do paid ads, all are ranking organically. CPCs are anywhere from .50-$4 a click. My question is, should I let the ability to not be able to rank stop me? Probably smarter to focus on Adwords and scratch the worry of SEO, no? I have the $

Funny you mention this, about a week ago I turned my old dating blog into a internet marketing / seo / web dev..etc consutling landing page with optimize press. I still need to finish up, but still. It's already being done

What softwear, SEM rush? - I say try your best to rank them anyway. Even when I create random websites for myself no matter how competitive I still give it a go. So do, do it anyway because you will rank for long tail keywords as well (If done correctly). And theres 5 big players? How big? If its Microsoft, apple big...Different story IMO...And make sure to set a lifetime budget, for testing purposes..In the beginning TESTING is your best asset. And not what the niche is or your site is about, I highly suggest looking into / using JavaScript heatmaps as well.

 

[oimate]

Hey, so im having an issues. Im a website developer, marketer, I do SEO, know a lot about a lot. But yet I have $1 in my bank account. Im 29, this is SAD. I have a web development company but I just cant seem to land clients on monthly retainers for SEO, so my selling is off. - Talking to a friend of mind hes in the same issue at 32, so thats just the blind leading the blind lol - So my question is how do I get out of this? What separates me from the rest? - I look at other peoples idea and they are complete crap, dumb stuff usually, my ideas always better and offer more as well yet mine dont take off? I just dont get it, what am I doing wrong? - Sorry for ranting here its just frustering that after 5 years im still a broke loser.

Chris

Try and combine MJ's work with Gary Veenerchuk (Daily Vee on youtube) and this should should steer you in the right direction

 

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