The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

AndyTalks to Random_0 about Growing a Local Lead Gen Business

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,698
Ireland
AndyTalks to Random_0 about Growing a Local Lead Gen Business


10 weeks in and @Random_0 is no longer answering his phone for work calls. He's got it all outsourced.


He's been a plumber for a couple of years working with his dad who is also a plumber.

The call is week 10 of a "project" whereby:

Week 1) He starts getting lots of calls. He realises he can't close as well as he used to, and comes up with a theory why.

Week 2) We design and build a new landing page.

Week 3) He was right. Now he's getting less calls (per visitor) but is closing more of them, and at twice the price.

Weeks 4-5) Gets too much plumbing work and is ill from working too many hours.

Week 5) Makes the critical and pivotal decision to NOT reduce the amount of plumbing work he generates, but to subcontract the work out.

Week 6) 92 calls and 30 jobs.

Week 8?) He's the bottleneck for calls. I suggest he uses a call-centre. "No way. A plumber needs to answer the phone."

Week 10) He's using a call centre and no longer answering the phone or doing jobs.

Weeks 10+) Stabilising profitability and scaling to other cities.




You all think this is "throw up an AdWords campaign then pick colour of Ferrari"?

Here's the stats for the first few weeks of our project (revenue is hidden):

hvQQTBB.png





> Click here to access the recording <

What were your takeaways?

What will you do differently going forward?



(For other recordings click HERE.)

 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,698
Ireland

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,698
Ireland
Below are some great takeaways by @tonyf7 that he originally posted here.


My biggest take away from your interview with Random is that just because you own a business doesn't make you a business owner.

The business can very well own you.

This isn't my first time learning about business systems that run independently of the owner's involvement and I understand the concept, but I was completely blown away by how unaware I had become to the fact that I am the one being worked by my business instead of the other way around.

Even after reading @MJ DeMarco book I saw myself as having at least one foot in the Fastlane door simply because I owned a business, but in reality I've just created another job for myself.

Just like a fish who isn't aware it lives in water because it was born there, I also wasn't aware I was still swimming in the slowlane ocean because it's all I've ever known.

I should be the one providing jobs instead of working one.

Aside from that revelation I also realized how little I've utilize resources that are right in front of me.

AdWords have been around for ages. I see them every time I Google something, but not once has it ever occurred to me to utilize this tool. Honestly, I didn't think AdWords worked. I can't remember the last time I've clicked or even paid attention to one. But it's obvious by Random's results that they do indeed work. It's also possible that the AdWords I've seen are ineffective at making me click or that I've desensitized myself to them because of a false belief that they don't work.

Hearing Random talk about his fear of losing control also rang a bell. I'm so used to BEING my business that delegating aspects of it makes me nervous. I've been my own employee and boss for so long it's hard to think of giving up control. But now I'm also curious as to how I can start delegating more so I can actually get down to running a business.

Hiring contractors and/or consultants is something I've been reluctant to do, partly because we need to make more money, but also because I've been trying to do it all myself. Although I give myself credit for getting as far as I have, I now realize that hiring a pro could have saved me a ton of time. It's comparable to people who spend a whole Saturday morning trying to repair their own washing machine when they could have just paid us to do it in 30 minutes so they could enjoy the rest of their morning playing outside with their kids. Who knows what potential I could've reached by now with the help of a solid team.

I think Random said it in your interview that you just can't do it alone.

Another take away is the concept of upgrading your problems. Currently our problem is that we want more customers so we can make more money. But I want to upgrade that problem to the next level which would be having an abundance of consumers and not enough time to meet all their needs, which in turn would require/allow us to expand. Realizing the problem is there, looking to solve it and seeking bigger problems is an eye opener for me.

My mind is racing with ideas, questions, desires and fear.

Feeling overwhelmed because there is so much I don't know but also excited because I have so much to learn.​
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

FastNAwesome

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
117%
May 23, 2011
1,116
1,301
Ok, so I don't feel qualified to "spill wisdom", as this forum hasn't seen a success story from me yet.

So I'll just mention two of the many takeaways, which really stood out to me.


- If you're stumbling upon the same problem over and over again, it means you're stuck. Solve it already and move on.
This doesn't apply to business only but life too.

It's too easy to dance around the real problems, to focus on something else, to deal with them over and over when they come up.
But this can so easily lead to procrastination and not doing anything. Many problems occur when you try to do something. So by
doing nothing you easily avoid all of that kind of problems.

But it's so powerful to address the real issues and then solve them. Sometimes it's hard as it may take raw honesty.
But the feeling of finally having something handled and getting unstuck, getting moving, is really gratifying.


- Random_0 is a plumber by trade. But now he's turning into a businessman. Others do the plumbing. Others bring in the leads.
And his view expands. He now realized he can do this for other verticals too. As he won't be the one doing the work anyway.

So yes, being a plumber steered him towards making a business around that.
But when broke down the way his business currently works, the realization came out that...

It's possible to do the same thing he does without being a plumber at all.

He's on top of it and earning cash.

And it's not like it's passive yet. He still does plenty of stuff. But it's different stuff that he does.
Stuff that will put him even more forward.

He's not fixing yet another sink today. He's working on expanding, improving and automating his business.
 

Studious Nomad

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
109%
Apr 11, 2016
11
12
40
Portland, Oregon
Ok, so I don't feel qualified to "spill wisdom", as this forum hasn't seen a success story from me yet.

So I'll just mention two of the many takeaways, which really stood out to me.


- If you're stumbling upon the same problem over and over again, it means you're stuck. Solve it already and move on.
This doesn't apply to business only but life too.

It's too easy to dance around the real problems, to focus on something else, to deal with them over and over when they come up.
But this can so easily lead to procrastination and not doing anything. Many problems occur when you try to do something. So by
doing nothing you easily avoid all of that kind of problems.

But it's so powerful to address the real issues and then solve them. Sometimes it's hard as it may take raw honesty.
But the feeling of finally having something handled and getting unstuck, getting moving, is really gratifying.


- Random_0 is a plumber by trade. But now he's turning into a businessman. Others do the plumbing. Others bring in the leads.
And his view expands. He now realized he can do this for other verticals too. As he won't be the one doing the work anyway.

So yes, being a plumber steered him towards making a business around that.
But when broke down the way his business currently works, the realization came out that...

It's possible to do the same thing he does without being a plumber at all.

He's on top of it and earning cash.

And it's not like it's passive yet. He still does plenty of stuff. But it's different stuff that he does.
Stuff that will put him even more forward.

He's not fixing yet another sink today. He's working on expanding, improving and automating his business.


This is the ultimate business model honestly.

Uber doesn't own one vehicle (well probably do by now)
AirBnB doesn't own one piece of real estate
etc. etc.

I am working out this current business model for my own city, I first am building a lead generation site. I then find a service provider to take and close the leads. I either get a commission from each lead or I charge a flat rate to rent out my lead generation site. I started last month and currently have 5 clients and am attempting to scale as fast as possible. I know a little about the services industry as I used to own a small odd jobs business. Now, I am involved in a lot of other services that I know nothing about. This is a great post :)
 

welshmin

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
202%
Feb 4, 2016
138
279
31
Brisbane, Australia
Did you get to listen to this @welshmin? What were your takeaways?

@andyblack I think it was an interesting conversation, though very long and at times distracting. The main takeaways have been covered above and there is little for me to add. Would love to get into some of the deeper details of how his business works. To get to that level THAT quickly is absolutely amazing and deserving of a deeper case study.

But more important than the nuts and bolts of his business are the concepts behind. Outsourcing, freeing up time, going all in, etc. All of which are covered above.

I don't have much to add. But what you guys are doing here has once again disproven my cynicism. Anyway I have thought of it or theory crafted, I have been unable to make the numbers work for a lead gen business (direct lead sales). But at even a very reasonable $ per lead, with your cost per enquiry, you will be immensely profitable.

Better yet, it's massively scalable.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,698
Ireland
more important than the nuts and bolts of his business are the concepts behind. Outsourcing, freeing up time, going all in, etc.
Yeah... those were my own take-aways / reaffirmations from the call.
 

B V Marlon

Connecting Dots
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
201%
Oct 29, 2016
78
157
UK
Thanks for a great talk. I've listened to it twice now and have had more and more thoughts every time. It's demonstrated to me how a service business can be truly Fastlane. I've understood the concept of divorcing income from time, but not quite how that can be applied to a service business.

As a consequence, I've been more obsessed with the idea of physical products, but then that often requires a fair amount of up front investment, which scares me.

My biggest takeaway from the call was that you don't have to be a 'technician' to start a business, you need to have the concept and the wherewithal to put it into action. You then need to automate and outsource what you can. Essentially, you need to work on your business and not in it.
 

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,698
Ireland
Thanks for a great talk. I've listened to it twice now and have had more and more thoughts every time. It's demonstrated to me how a service business can be truly Fastlane. I've understood the concept of divorcing income from time, but not quite how that can be applied to a service business.

As a consequence, I've been more obsessed with the idea of physical products, but then that often requires a fair amount of up front investment, which scares me.

My biggest takeaway from the call was that you don't have to be a 'technician' to start a business, you need to have the concept and the wherewithal to put it into action. You then need to automate and outsource what you can. Essentially, you need to work on your business and not in it.
Exactly!



I also currently provide a service, but am slowly divorcing my earnings from my time.



Here's a couple of podcasts that I found very helpful:
They mention that selling a service is the quickest way to get started in business. You either sell your time or your skills.



They also talk about a 1,000 day plan of:
  • Year 1: Learn the skill
  • Year 2: Sell the skill
  • Year 3: Scale the skill

For @Random_0, he spent time learning the plumbing skill, then he lived off that skill as a sole-trader. He's now in phase 3.

For me, I learned a skill back in 2009, even taking two permanent jobs to reskill into an area I saw more potential in than IT contracting (even though IT contracting was €500-600/day for me at the time). I've been selling that skill ever since as a contractor and freelancer. I'm now scaling that skill by building a wee agency, and creating "productised services" (cookie cutter rinse and repeat), and then ultimately I'll be creating a platform.


The Tropical MBA podcasts mention a "sliding scale" for service businesses. I've modified it for my own journey here:
  • Student > Intern > Employee > Contractor > Freelancer > Agency (Business) > Productised Service > Platform



The book "Built to Sell" is excellent. I did a short video of my biggest takeaway and dropped it into this thread:


Some more of my own thinking is in this thread:



Here's another great podcast of theirs. It summarises the route I stumbled on by trial and error.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,698
Ireland

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,698
Ireland
Would love to get into some of the deeper details of how his business works. To get to that level THAT quickly is absolutely amazing and deserving of a deeper case study.
Hi @welshmin...

@Random_0 made it up as he went along. So did I.

We have a continuous cycle of improvement. Each week we try to take just one action. It requires we review the numbers and get an insight from them that we can act on.

If there was to be a case study HOW it was done, then it wouldn't necessarily help you.

We have a shared direction we're heading in - an agreed "vision".

And then we've just attacked each problem as it arose, so that we get to the next problem.



This is how I work:


This is what I think of problems:
 

Random_0

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
150%
Aug 4, 2016
80
120
29
I think the most useful thing that has helped improvement of the whole thing is smelling out failures quickly and getting them corrected ASAP

Andy can't see all of the operations from my end, so when something goes south we have to change direction as soon as possible, this is occurring a lot lately with all the new changes. Rapid communication and being super pro-active are a must.

The size of the problems get larger and larger, but the longer you go at it the more you can't turn back
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

welshmin

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
202%
Feb 4, 2016
138
279
31
Brisbane, Australia
Hi @welshmin...

@Random_0 made it up as he went along. So did I.

We have a continuous cycle of improvement. Each week we try to take just one action. It requires we review the numbers and get an insight from them that we can act on.

If there was to be a case study HOW it was done, then it wouldn't necessarily help you.

We have a shared direction we're heading in - an agreed "vision".

And then we've just attacked each problem as it arose, so that we get to the next problem.



This is how I work:


This is what I think of problems:

@Andy Black, that's interesting. I've been working on something for a while (very focussed) and that's much the same as how it has been for me so far. I have a vision, I know (broadly) how to get there, now I just solve the problems that arise and adjust or correct as necessary and stay the course.
 

Waspy

Float like a butterfly
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
461%
Dec 6, 2016
480
2,214
30
U.K.
Truly exceptional.

Just listened to this while working on my website. Such insightful knowledge (from both sides!) in such an easy to listen to format.

I have never run an Adwords campaign, so I am completely new to the topic, however I am in full "sponge mode" at the moment, absorbing as much info as possible so I feel ready to get started in the next couple of weeks. I can't wait! And this was a great listen, so thanks!
 

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,698
Ireland
Truly exceptional.

Just listened to this while working on my website. Such insightful knowledge (from both sides!) in such an easy to listen to format.

I have never run an Adwords campaign, so I am completely new to the topic, however I am in full "sponge mode" at the moment, absorbing as much info as possible so I feel ready to get started in the next couple of weeks. I can't wait! And this was a great listen, so thanks!
You're welcome @Waspy

Thanks for listening and commenting.



What are your main takeaways?

What will you be applying going forward?
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Waspy

Float like a butterfly
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
461%
Dec 6, 2016
480
2,214
30
U.K.
You're welcome @Waspy

Thanks for listening and commenting.



What are your main takeaways?

What will you be applying going forward?

Honestly, my main takeaway is the sheer power of a well executed adwords campaign. In my head I totally underestimated it. Random is a case study for how important getting it right is. 10 weeks is staggering, but I am sure he isn't alone.

Knowing when to leave it to a professional was something else that hit me in the interview (around when you guys were talking about decorating the house). I'm the kind of guy who will set out with great intentions of learning a new skill, so I can implement one little extra feature on my website. The training will take me 100s of hours and at the end I will have a new feature, poorly executed. But a programmer would have charged £50 and got it finished same day. I get too caught up in the learning and forget about my own time value. I like learning, but I must be self aware as to my time value.

So going forward I am going to be paying a lot more attention to correct execution of Adwords campaigns, and evaluating my time intensive decisions a little more carefully (although that started following the completion of TMF ).
 

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,698
Ireland
@Elon's Musk listened to the recording and wrote the below in his progress thread.

I can't even remember saying it, so thanks for pulling it out and posting your takeaway from the call.

I really must work out how to get all these calls transcribed.



At the 43:00 minute mark, you hit the nail right on the head for me.

"The idea is to grow with your clients. You help your client to grow, and then you grow with them. And then they grow, and you grow....it's no longer a client relationship, they're your partner. You're going after something together."

"You're creating a win/win/win. For your partner, their customer, and yourself."

That's what it's all about! Clients aren't clients, they're partners.

As always Andy, thanks for the Gold.
 

Random_0

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
150%
Aug 4, 2016
80
120
29
The bumps along the way are testing and stressful.

As good as everything seemed at the time of the recording, I've since halted AdWords to focus on completely flipping the model my company was operating with

I encountered some pretty severe hurdles that could force my company out of business, due to rushing certain aspects (and they came back to bite me)

Trading was almost halted for over a fortnight, but as of today i'm angling my efforts differently

Things that f*cked me up

- Tunnel vision for profit
- Moving far too quickly
- Thinking too short term


The main part is picking yourself up. Stress is real. It can and will mess with your head & decision making. It's a cliche but it's easy to spiral into negativity and just quit, but the lessons you learn through these F*ck ups can't be taught in school, uni or anywhere else. You've got to get your hands dirty and just f-in roll with the punches.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

MarcUK

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
180%
Jul 24, 2017
41
74
UK
My biggest takeaway from the call was that you don't have to be a 'technician' to start a business, you need to have the concept and the wherewithal to put it into action. You then need to automate and outsource what you can. Essentially, you need to work on your business and not in it.

Totally agree. I can't remember where I read it but a few years ago read about this SEO guy who developed a lead generation website for garden clearance (or similar, can't recall the exact niche). He knew nothing about the niche it but started getting traffic but then struggled to find a reputable business to refer the leads to.

To cut the longer story short, he ended up dumping all his SEO clients, replicated the garden clearance website across multiple geos, then just employed people in those cities via Craigslist or similar to do the work for him and ended up owning a huge garden clearance business which he completely outsourced to trusted and tested workers, with him being the automator.

From what I remember he ended up FASTLANE.

Given me even more food for thought this morning - will listen to the audio shortly.
 

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,698
Ireland
Totally agree. I can't remember where I read it but a few years ago read about this SEO guy who developed a lead generation website for garden clearance (or similar, can't recall the exact niche). He knew nothing about the niche it but started getting traffic but then struggled to find a reputable business to refer the leads to.

To cut the longer story short, he ended up dumping all his SEO clients, replicated the garden clearance website across multiple geos, then just employed people in those cities via Craigslist or similar to do the work for him and ended up owning a huge garden clearance business which he completely outsourced to trusted and tested workers, with him being the automator.

From what I remember he ended up FASTLANE.

Given me even more food for thought this morning - will listen to the audio shortly.
Great story, thanks for sharing.

People with commercial skills employ people with technical skills.

(BTW... people go to college to get technical skills.)

If we want to grow a business then we typically need to improve our commercial skills more than we need to improve our technical skills.
 

MarcUK

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
180%
Jul 24, 2017
41
74
UK
Just listened - thank you for this one. Resonating soundbites:
  • treading water not progressing, worried about time.
  • positioning - cheap vs premium
  • better sales processes can lead to being able to outbid competition (adwords)
  • help your client to grow, then you grow with them
  • hiring people who are better than you so you can make better use of your time
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top