Starting a new thread on the suggestion of @Andy Black . My previous thread is a long one about my experience with the process principle. Here are some points to summarize:
— and here’s where our story begins —
That employer was embarrassed about their website so I offered to redesign it (it was a $1mil+ ecom site with an awesome product, but the design needed improvement) — got paid $7k (took me about 40 hours from start to finish; she was very very particular about what she wanted). Then I took May to October (2024) off aside from here and there type stuff.
On October 24th, I decided to go into business for myself making websites for tradespeople full-time. The first thing I did was call a plumber friend to pick his brain about the biggest pain points plumbers have with websites and getting customers online. Turns out, he didn’t have a website and he became my first customer. Made his website for $3k which he is super stoked about. Then I ran a direct mail campaign for $1,000 ($800 went to the service that did all the work), and it failed miserably. He was still happy that it got his name out there though.
He said trust is the biggest problem for tradespeople. So I figured I’d offer websites where tradespeople don’t pay until after it’s done to mitigate their risk. To differentiate myself from other designers, we can do monthly payment installments until it’s paid off. Enter the JIT Learning in Unscripted : I needed to make a sign-able pdf TOS agreement with box (free), but I wanted it connected to an entity, not my name. The next step was to get an LLC (like $89 with Harvard business services). After that, I needed a way to process credit cards so I made a Stripe account (free), but they require a website (cheap)… so I put together a 1-page site that literally is 3 paragraphs only. And I didn’t want a businesses taxing my SSN, so I made an EIN (free).
Next, @Johnny boy told me about data scraping with Apify (free credits got me what I needed) and Ringless vm campaigns ($10 for 100 drops). I followed his advice and spent a few days cold calling, but before I closed anyone from that cold call campaign, reaching out to a bunch of people in my warm market gave some real results. Someone needed a website. Someone else needed help with Google Ads.
My sister hit me up about Christmas this week. After talking to her, my brother-in-law, who I haven’t spoken to in a year, called me. He started a coaching business for tradespeople a year ago and made over $1mil in revenue. He needs help with a bunch of stuff and wants to partner up. We haven’t ironed out terms or anything yet because I jumped right in and started working with his web designer, doing copywriting projects, building his project manager and CRM, etc. I’m gonna jump on a sales call with him to see how he does it in a couple days.
Yesterday, I got a referral from my previous employer (the one who had me redesign their site)… she referred her cousin to me to build his ecommerce store. She also is interested in something I pitched her about a CTV campaign. (I have no idea how to do that, but at this point, I have enough experience with figuring stuff out.)
Somebody else I spoke to is building an AI-powered lead-gen thing that he's excited about. I asked "How can I help?" -- and we have a meeting after the holidays.
I'll keep you guys updated. And for anyone just starting out, it all started with a Udemy course after reading TMF and helping my barber friend with Google Ads stuff that I learned from @Andy Black .
Stay blessed.
- It all started with a udemy course on digital marketing after reading TMF . Read everything @Andy Black had written about Google Ads. COVID happened and I ran ads for a panicked barber friend.
- Joined a BNI group and got like 6 clients mailing me checks for $300 each per month.
- Having 6 clients across different industries, platforms, websites, companies, and ad funnels was a pain. I wanted to make 1 website for 1 industry using 1 ad funnel that scales across infinite companies.
- Spent 1.5 years sinking $10k into a website that never made any money while working different restaurant and sales jobs or driving Uber eats.
- GF dumped me, she kept the apartment and dog. Massive depression, living on credit cards, racked up $35k in credit card debt. All bad.
- Got a sales job and paid off all the credit card debt in December of last year. Left that job in May...
— and here’s where our story begins —
That employer was embarrassed about their website so I offered to redesign it (it was a $1mil+ ecom site with an awesome product, but the design needed improvement) — got paid $7k (took me about 40 hours from start to finish; she was very very particular about what she wanted). Then I took May to October (2024) off aside from here and there type stuff.
On October 24th, I decided to go into business for myself making websites for tradespeople full-time. The first thing I did was call a plumber friend to pick his brain about the biggest pain points plumbers have with websites and getting customers online. Turns out, he didn’t have a website and he became my first customer. Made his website for $3k which he is super stoked about. Then I ran a direct mail campaign for $1,000 ($800 went to the service that did all the work), and it failed miserably. He was still happy that it got his name out there though.
He said trust is the biggest problem for tradespeople. So I figured I’d offer websites where tradespeople don’t pay until after it’s done to mitigate their risk. To differentiate myself from other designers, we can do monthly payment installments until it’s paid off. Enter the JIT Learning in Unscripted : I needed to make a sign-able pdf TOS agreement with box (free), but I wanted it connected to an entity, not my name. The next step was to get an LLC (like $89 with Harvard business services). After that, I needed a way to process credit cards so I made a Stripe account (free), but they require a website (cheap)… so I put together a 1-page site that literally is 3 paragraphs only. And I didn’t want a businesses taxing my SSN, so I made an EIN (free).
Next, @Johnny boy told me about data scraping with Apify (free credits got me what I needed) and Ringless vm campaigns ($10 for 100 drops). I followed his advice and spent a few days cold calling, but before I closed anyone from that cold call campaign, reaching out to a bunch of people in my warm market gave some real results. Someone needed a website. Someone else needed help with Google Ads.
My sister hit me up about Christmas this week. After talking to her, my brother-in-law, who I haven’t spoken to in a year, called me. He started a coaching business for tradespeople a year ago and made over $1mil in revenue. He needs help with a bunch of stuff and wants to partner up. We haven’t ironed out terms or anything yet because I jumped right in and started working with his web designer, doing copywriting projects, building his project manager and CRM, etc. I’m gonna jump on a sales call with him to see how he does it in a couple days.
Yesterday, I got a referral from my previous employer (the one who had me redesign their site)… she referred her cousin to me to build his ecommerce store. She also is interested in something I pitched her about a CTV campaign. (I have no idea how to do that, but at this point, I have enough experience with figuring stuff out.)
Somebody else I spoke to is building an AI-powered lead-gen thing that he's excited about. I asked "How can I help?" -- and we have a meeting after the holidays.
I'll keep you guys updated. And for anyone just starting out, it all started with a Udemy course after reading TMF and helping my barber friend with Google Ads stuff that I learned from @Andy Black .
Stay blessed.
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