The Wimp's Guide to Going Fastlane

[jazzfreak11]

Let's start out by being totally honest here. I am freaking scared of going fastlane. It scares the living crap out of me. What if I go for one of my ideas and it doesn't work? What if I invest ALL that time and energy, and end up with nothing? Where the heck am I going to find the people I need to help me- cheaply? Designers, coders? How can I get the funding I need, how can I guarantee I'll pay any debt off, how can I guarantee success?

For me, the best option seems a little counterintuitive, but trust me on this one. My plan is to go slowlane.

WHAT?! "Ryan, you're throwing your life away!" you might be screaming (in your head at least). Before you go throwing full wine bottles at your computer, allow me to explain.

My plan is to start slowlane, make the money I need, get credibility and all, and THEN go fastlane. I do online marketing work for local businesses. A few months ago, I had literally 2 clients paying me ~$225 a month each. Just because this is very public and all, I don't want to go into detail, but I now have a lot more clients at a little over double that rate (on average). I've started taking things seriously. I'm marketing myself, going to networking events, sitting down and doing consultative selling, learning about branding, and training myself to be the best damn internet marketer in all of New Jersey.

So where does the Fastlane come in to play? Well, at my current rate of growth, and with my current plans and goals, I'll be able to pay my way through college no problem. Between my income, savings, parent's savings, and with a little luck, a scholarship or two, I'll be set. Notice the complete lack of student loans in that plan. I'm getting my slowlane to the point where I have a pretty good intrinsic value of $100-200/hour. In college, I'm looking to study entrepreneurship. I need to get some background in finance and business law and management, all of which I am clueless in. After that, I'd like to overhaul my marketing business AGAIN to the point where I can turn it into a Fastlane business.

It's all about systemizing my processes, automating what I can, and outsourcing the work to others. Eventually I'd like to be a Virtual CEO, having my own employees in America, but not being tethered to working in an office.

Let's talk about customers and the needs I'm filling. My current target market is small businesses around central jersey. The problem with the other competitors in my area (and luckily, there isn't any really stiff competition in my immediate vicinity) is that they're incompetent, they're an expense, and they overcharge. They don't know what they're doing, they're not delivering results, their marketing is an expense rather than an investment, and they just plain and simple charge too much for it. On the contrary, I have a firm grasp of marketing, experience marketing online, and I dedicate myself to learning everything I can about social media and SEO and online marketing. These other competitors are just web design companies who think that they can call META tags SEO, or ad agencies that think they know how to do social media. I'm very focused in what I do and don't do, I deliver an ROI, and track everything carefully to report back to my clients. All at a reasonable rate

So that's my plan. Start slowlane, increase my intrinsic value, get more clients, systemize, automate, outsource, and then expand and go Fastlane.

...and I'm doing pretty well so far. I currently have 2 contracts signed and ready to go, a 3rd proposal waiting to be turned into a contract, 2 consultations scheduled, a guy who'd like to schedule a consultation, and a woman who needs a Facebook page made that I haven't gotten back to yet. I'm working on building up an AdWords campaign, looking into redesigning my website, and started a brand new facebook page.

I'm working through a book called Guerilla Marketing in 30 Days, which is helping me build a marketing campaign around my business. There's business networking events in the area to attend, and my "brand" already has some kick-butt advocates who happen to be very influential people in the area (thanks to my volunteer marketing work for nonprofits like the local library). Let's see, what else.... oh yeah! I got some new full-color, nice and thick business cards made up with a mobile phone QR code on the back as well. There's a little advertising strip on the bottom of the ones in this picture, as I just ordered a free test pack of 50. I really like them, so I think I'll go ahead and get 200 without advertising.

Here's a picture of me during a free period in band class with them.



So, things are really taking off. There's so much to do, and I'm really psyched to get to work on all of it. Here's what's on my to-do list for the near future/summer:

• Start blogging about local marketing on my website
• Have a designer make a logo
• Come up with a decent slogan/tagline
• Possible website redesign
• Write/self-publish a book to sell to prospects who don't want to work with me (possible way to recover an otherwise lost sale, builds credibility)
• Do a kick-butt case study of my methods

That's all for now. I'll keep you guys posted as more clients come in and I do even more stuff to build a kick-butt slowlane business and transition it into a kick-butt fastlane business!

[mrhahn]

Great progress and gj starting young. + rep

[alankong]

what's up ryan...look at you...starting young as hell..that's great..keep it up man.

where in central jersey are you located? i graduated from rutgers a few years ago and i'm working on building internet businesses...perhaps we can chat on your marketing service my friend

pm me if you're interested!

thanks

[ntapia]

Sounds like you are off to a great start! Congrats on getting started so early in life

[FastNAwesome]

Sounds like an awesome plan! Nothing wrong with slowlane in this case, as you do it all with purpose and plan.
To answer some questions:

What if I go for one of my ideas and it doesn't work?

Take a lesson from it, pick yourself up, and try again - with same or another idea,
depends on you. Nobody hits it every time, but... You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.
(Wayne Gretzky)

Where the heck am I going to find the people I need to help me- cheaply? Designers, coders?

Freelance websites, just be very careful who you choose. But most of these websites have solid rating systems + reviews of previous employers to help you. And yes, things can be done cheap - but if someone offers you unreasonably cheap price, think twice.

How can I get the funding I need, how can I guarantee I'll pay any debt off, how can I guarantee success?

I'm not sure you or anyone can ever guarantee success, but you can provide reasonable assurance that your ideas are sound by presenting the success you already achieved on a smaller scale, and some research and numbers that would show why you expect it to be feasible on bigger scale as well.

Also always have your exit strategy in place, and don't risk more than you can afford to lose - that should at least keep you safe.

But I think you're already playing it wisely, so just go ahead and best of luck

[andrewsemi]

Good job dude. Stay Motivated.

I skimmed you website really quick and noticed that you are offering lots of different services. All of them are marketing based but are vary different from each other. That is fine for now, but after a year or so, you should look at which portion of your business is thriving the most and focus all your attention to make it fastlane in that area. Video commercials and SEO along with PPC are usually handled by separate companies and require different education/research/lots of time to perfect and be truly the best

But other than that. WAY TO GOOOO>

BTW. How old are you? Im 20 and just started fastlane a few months ago...

[Hokoleskwa]

One of the things I love most about this forum is that someone of any age can walk in and be taken seriously. Of course, it helps that you've obviously got your head in the game. So often it seems slowlaners scoff at the idea that a 17 year old, or even a 24 year old like me, could do anything of consequence. Fastlaners know better.

I know exactly where you're coming from, I deal with those fears too. But when I step back and look at it objectively, just the fact that we're getting out there and DOING IT puts us at the front of the pack. It's easy to look up from here at the bottom of the mountain and think, "What if I never make it?!" But when I imagine myself working at being an entrepreneur for the rest of my life and NEVER having any of the spaghetti stick to the wall, so to speak, that seems even more unlikely to me.

[jazzfreak11]

Take a lesson from it, pick yourself up, and try again - with same or another idea,
depends on you. Nobody hits it every time, but... You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.
(Wayne Gretzky)


I'm not sure you or anyone can ever guarantee success, but you can provide reasonable assurance that your ideas are sound by presenting the success you already achieved on a smaller scale, and some research and numbers that would show why you expect it to be feasible on bigger scale as well.

This sparked an idea. Fake it till you make it. Ever seen a beta list signup page for a new web startup? They look nice, but it's just a paragraph of text explaining what the site will be, and a spot to put in your email so that they can notify when the beta opens.

Why not just put one up, collect as many emails as possible, and once you see a lot of interest, pay a coder to make it?

Anyways, I digress...

I skimmed you website really quick and noticed that you are offering lots of different services. All of them are marketing based but are vary different from each other. That is fine for now, but after a year or so, you should look at which portion of your business is thriving the most and focus all your attention to make it fastlane in that area. Video commercials and SEO along with PPC are usually handled by separate companies and require different education/research/lots of time to perfect and be truly the best

But other than that. WAY TO GOOOO>

BTW. How old are you? Im 20 and just started fastlane a few months ago...

I'm 17. You're right though- I list an awfully wide range of services. My website needs an update though. Just to start systemizing things, I have a pretty standard core "curriculum" per-say of 7 months of tasks that will get somebody's online marketing campaign off to a great start. Of course, I sit down for each new client and create a customized plan, but it's always based off of the core.

There's a guy in the area who does media production, and produces videos that i've been meaning to get in touch with for a while- he was referred to me by a traditional marketing strategist/marketing message consultant that I met whom I'm doing social media for. My "video marketing" consists of taking pre-existing content and promoting it, or creating slideshow videos, or when appropriate, just having me talk on camera.

PPC-wise, I'm doing all of this work for small local businesses, and the markets aren't too competitive. At my level, it's very easy to be in that top 10% of PPC specialists so that I can really crank a client's campaign. I'm working on becoming a Google AdWords Certified Professional, but first I have to manage $10,000 of ad spend in a single month.... so....

SEO has and will continue to be my main thing.

But when I imagine myself working at being an entrepreneur for the rest of my life and NEVER having any of the spaghetti stick to the wall, so to speak, that seems even more unlikely to me.

And ya know what, you're probably right. But hey, I'm a wuss sometimes. What can I say? However, trust me, failure is not an option. No getting a job, no giving up, and no marrying into money just for the money :P I mean, with my dashing good looks (and apparently, my baby-face) it might be easy, but.... hahahahahahahaha I kid, i kid.

-----

Thanks for the well wishes everybody! I'll keep you guys posted, probably monthly, with how I'm doing!

[jazzfreak11]

"All entrepreneurs are aspiring entrepreneurs" - Hugh MacLeod

I honestly wish I had some more updates to share with you this month, but here's the news anyways.

I ended up getting only one new client for July, and he's only on a lower price point package (he honestly didn't need the more expensive stuff, so why would I pressure him into it? The ethics of this industry are crap, so that's one of my differentiating factors).

My PPC campaign hasn't been going so well- I'm paying high CPCs, getting low CTRs, and almost no conversions. I know I'm in the worst possible market because I'm competing against PPC professionals, but I'm still not sure that I could provide clients with the highest quality PPC services. I've begun looking into White Label solutions with a few professional PPC firms at reasonable prices.

I've been kicking things up on my social media work. My facebook page is still going well, and although it hasn't grown in terms of Fans, I've been posting great content, integrated it with other sites, and I have a plan to drive people to it using my client's pages, but I'll have to wait a little while for that to happen. For reference, here are my profiles and what I'm doing with them:

Facebook (content gate "Like for a free consultation", welcome video, information tab) : Ryan Lucht Marketing | Central NJ Internet Marketing | Facebook
Twitter (nothing fancy here, just a normal account): Ryan Lucht Marketing (RyanLuchtIM) on Twitter
YouTube (autoplaying welcome video on channel, custom background): YouTube - ‪ryanluchtmarketing's Channel‬‏

I also started a blog on my domain, and linked to it from the homepage. I only have one post up there, but I plan to build it and use it as a mechanism to move outside of my local area and promote my message about online marketing globally. http://ryanluchtmarketing.com/blog/

I really fell off the bandwagon with the Guerilla Marketing in 30 Days book, but I'm back on track with that and some other methods working on improving my Word of Mouth marketing (i know that's the least controllable form of marketing, but it's also the most effective. so, i'll do awesome things to create legit buzzworthiness).

I've also noticed a need in the marketplace during all of my interactions with local business owners and consultations. I've also come up with a way to fill that need with a legit fastlane business, so I'll be working on that very soon. It's not extremely lucrative, but with the Law of Effection, it'll take off.

Portions of my business are starting to become outsourced- I currently have 2 workers for me on oDesk that handle one of the many things I do for my clients, and I use WSOs on the Warrior Forum for services to take care of other aspects, because believe it or not, those are more cost-effective sometimes and deliver more results. I'm going through some training courses to start outsourcing more, so hopefully those will help me automate, systemize, and outsource even more of my business.

That's about it. My current clients are really pleased with the work and results they're getting, so that's encouraging! I'll keep you guys posted

[MJDeMarco]

Thanks for the update Ryan; I'm enjoying reading about your process.

[Jonleehacker]

My PPC campaign hasn't been going so well- I'm paying high CPCs, getting low CTRs, and almost no conversions.

The best way to improve PPC performance, is to do better keyword research. There are *always* keywords that are not being targeted that will bring in motivated traffic, you just have to dig in and do the market research to find them.

Go to amazon and search for books on internet marketing. Look for results that have "search inside" feature, then go to the table of contents and index and start harvesting ideas from as many of these books as possible.

Then for each book, scroll down to the "Inside this Book" section and check out the keywords, especially the "statistically improbably phrases" SIPs, these are gold. Example here for this book: Amazon.com: Web Marketing All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies (9780470413982): John Arnold, Ian Lurie, Marty Dickinson, Elizabeth Marsten, Michael Becker: Books

Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)

search marketing, placing ads, writing copy that sells, researching your audience, social media marketing, landing pages, traffic sources, floor plan, styling text, managing content, site usage, target customers, mobile messages, tab size, collecting contact information, spam laws, list brokers, absolute unique visitors, mobile marketing application, sneeze principle, mobile marketing program, connection aggregator, demographic bidding, educational content pages, using pinging

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)

Google Analytics, Google Reader, United States, Using Yahoo, Live Search, Movable Type, Including Links, Laying Out Content, Using Google, Edit Campaign Settings, Understanding the Many Paths, Short Message Service, Making Friends, Internet Service Provider, Offering Incentives, Click the Save Changes, Internet Marketing, Submitting Your Post, Click Save Changes, Discovering the Ways, Homemade Video, Exploring Social Media, Setting Up Your Social Media Desktop, Harrison's Bikes, Creating Your Social Media Desktop

At the very least you'll have a big pile of new keywords to test, but if you really dig in, for certain you will find gold that other people overlook where you can buy keywords at a low cost.

[jazzfreak11]

As 2011 comes to an end, I thought it would be about time to update this thread with my progress.

Since July, a lot of great things have happened for my business. I'll just summarize a few of them here:

• Made a much better Welcome Video for my YouTube page and put up some new content there
• Stopped splitting up contracts into "months" and totally reworked my proposal format to be more professional and persuasive
• Raised prices and got over my fear of charging too much (well, maybe not quite yet, but almost...)
• Took that blog on my domain I set up, and used it as a place where I publish industry news and Q&A posts for link getting
• Started a podcast of short, actionable news bites called "Internet Marketing Clips"
• Completely redesigned my website (still in progress)
• Started working with Getting Things Done and improving my workflow
• Continued to learn more and improve my services

So that's all great. December was a tipping point in a lot of ways though:

• Won a "Young Entrepreneur Award" from the local business partnership that included a $1k scholarship, and lots of press and political accolades
• Signed $2k+ in new contracts, with another $4-5k in contracts currently out, and another $6k in contracts I still have to finish writing
• Got my first global client- an icelandic travel agency, found me via YouTube
• Set my income goal for 2012: $40k. It'll be a lot of work to juggle that with school, but possible
• Bought the MyGreenlight training program about business relationships, my goal from that is to land a large, corporate client

Now wait a minute, this is supposed to be gradually getting fastlane, right? I've got two tricks up my sleeve here:

• I've (slowly) begun research and testing for one or two different training products to offer as a supplement to my services, adding a passive income stream to the business
• I've also been conceptualizing (and constantly checking against the Fastlane Commandments) a brand new, independent web startup that allows small businesses to take online marketing into their own hands and exercise complete control over a project, without doing any of the work themselves.

As for that second one, the true fastlane business, I have to meet some coders and designers who can help me, so I'm hoping to pull a Mark Z in college and find some talent there. I'm working on it as a side project right now, but I think that may be my key to true fastlane speeds right there...

I'll keep in touch, I promise.

[Vigilante]

My comments from the sidelines :

I love your ambition. Your attitude is contagious. Your ego is in check, and your potential is understated. I would not be surprised at all to read about you in the papers a few years from now as one of the young kids that made it huge. You are making your own "luck" and you have a huge future in front of you.

Keep driving and keep pressing.

[MJDeMarco]

It truly is awesome watch some of you young guys OUT THERE and getting things done. The value of these experiences cannot be measured. On the flip side, you have some young guys DOING NOTHING while crutching the excuse "that isn't Fastlane". Gaining business experience is ALWAYS Fastlane -- sitting on your ass is not. Glad you know the difference and a big congrats.

Onward in 2012.

[Pete799p]

It truly is awesome watch some of you young guys OUT THERE and getting things done. The value of these experiences cannot be measured. On the flip side, you have some young guys DOING NOTHING while crutching the excuse "that isn't Fastlane". Gaining business experience is ALWAYS Fastlane -- sitting on your ass is not. Glad you know the difference and a big congrats.

I totally agree with this statement. In my school days I passed up some great biz opportunities because I didn't view them to be profitable enough or was told they wouldn't make money etc. I missed out on some great learning experiences because of it.

Keep up the good work.