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Making Money For Dummies (And In a Crowded Market)

Greg R

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I meant something similar to Icecreamkid business, some service maybe. The difference is that I can't get large customer base
Wysłane z iPhone za pomocą Tapatalk

Your answer may be found when you revisit CENTS. M.J. created a great video for this (see OP).

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/cents-commandments-or-CENTS-in-pictures.63187/

S
cale and magnitude come to mind. Scale may be harder to achieve so you may want to opt for something with magnitude.

What do rural people spend serious $$$ on? Sheds, horses, trucks?


Side note/ off topic:

Why not farm using Fastlane Techniques or create a service to help farmers?

How about horse grooming?

Male horses collect dirt inside their genitals and it needs to be cleaned to prevent infection. They call it "cleaning the beans."

Not sexy, but watch the money poor in when you invent a product to help horse owners with this humbling task.
 
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Greg R

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What technics do you have in mind? Like copywriting to sell at higher price better quality crops?

BTW do you have any polish roots??
I'm so Polish it's not even funny.

Your main concern right now is; finding a need and a market in your community where you can achieve large volume or high magnitude (Volume is to Walmart as Magnitude is to John Deere or Caterpillar). Service based business may not be your best approach here (if there are any lurkers out there who disagree, please respond).

Can you weld?

Farmers pay good money for skid loader attachments.

I'm out.
 

kkompoti

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Scale and magnitude come to mind. Scale may be harder to achieve so you may want to opt for something with magnitude.

scale can be achieved through time. not so much time.
and it also depends on what country you live in.
for example i can scale my ten beehives to 600 beehives and live fastlnish...
if i scale to 3500 beehives then i can go buy a house in an island of my country and live happily and stress free ever after..

providing a service for farmers is a great idea. people who provide service to farmers such as machinery and stuff are not so well educated...but farmers tend to go to the people they now.
it is really difficult to present an alternative and make farmers to come to your business....
also in lot of countries farming is being done the oldfashioned way... they continue doing what the grandparents used to do. and maybe they buy some better macinery. but thats all... there are not so many farmers going to pay for some tech mumbo jumbo...only well educated ones and maybe some farmers that start right now but they are the minority.
 
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Roberto Zanon

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My primary goal for this thread is to hopefully open your eyes to the fact that although everyone is jumping on the online entrepreneur bandwagon, there is still plenty of money to be made in the offline world. Hopefully it helps somebody out.

You can take almost any old school biz and apply basic direct response marketing principles to the advertising to scale it to a very good 6-figure income. I'm guessing you can scale it to 7-figures as well, but I haven't done that myself nor am I going to pretend that I have.

The Details

Why carpet cleaning?

-Solid profit margins. A $300 job will require $10 worth of cleaning solution. There's also the cost of gas, insurance, etc but the profit margins still remain good if you apply the proper tweaks to the biz. If you play the bait n' switch game like a lot of the competition then you won't last long.

-Recurring revenue. IMO, the greatest benefit of recurring revenue is that it gives you the opportunity to acquire customers at breakeven or even a loss in some cases. I try not to take an upfront loss on a customer though.

-Any ordinary man can learn to clean carpets. It takes plumbers and electricians months or years to get certified, but you can learn to clean carpets in a weekend.

-Low start up cost. If you know where to look and buy used stuff, I'd estimate that you can start the biz for around $1k. As you scale up, you'd want to buy better equipment and a nicer van/truck.

-Unsophisticated competition. It's quite easy to gain traction in this niche because the competition mostly hasn't spent any time learning marketing. Most will just say stuff in their ads like, "XYZ Carpet Cleaning. Call us for the best price". My prices are in the top 10% most expensive for the area. Positioning, positioning, positioning.

-SIMPLE. SIMPLE. SIMPLE. No fancy knowledge needed. EPC, CPC, CPA, none of that.

The Story

I took over the steering wheel of a carpet cleaning biz earlier this year. For years, it was struggling with approximately $50k annual profit. Where I live, you're poor if you make $50k.

I immediately began implementing marketing systems for customer acquisition and customer retention. I never changed the website simply because I'm lazy and running 3 other businesses alongside the carpet cleaning biz. I'll get around to it one day.

There are 2 types of entrepreneurs: the Elon Musk types who create brand new innovative products. They don't need to spend any money advertising because their products are so unique and attention grabbing. Then there's everyone else...the guys who cast a wide net selling many ordinary things. They need to advertise.

The biggest help was that I started using a service called Every Door Direct Mail. This allows you to send postcards to entire zip codes at nearly half the normal postage rate. The postcards had all of the classic elements of direct response marketing.

-Stating the problem

-Addressing objections

-Establishing credibility

-Testimonials

-Risk Reversals

-Described what was unique about our service/product

-Call to action

What I found is that depending on the zip code, I would get back $3-7 for every $1 spent on advertising. Neat. Scaled it like a kid in a candy store once I knew the metrics.

You are literally one direct response marketing campaign away from making a cool 6-figures, perhaps 7-figs...even if you're in a boring niche like carpet cleaning. Study direct response marketing. Once you have the direct response skills embedded into your brain, you can go into almost any niche and make a very good 6-figure income. Or you can just keep it simple and jump straight into carpet cleaning. It's not sexy, but it just plain works.

Here's the YouTube vid that inspired me to jump in. Last I heard, the guy was doing $3M/year in carpet cleaning.


Ask me anything about direct response marketing, the pitfalls of this niche, the process of cleaning, or just anything in general. There are a lot of details I left out simply because it would be too much to type in this already long post.

Jump in. Take action today. Success loves speed.

woohoo, superb thread dude. I really like the fact that you kept it simple. The second type of products/services you mention are essentially commodities and that's why you need to heavily advertise. Cause many other people do it.

I really like the approach you took with direct mail marketing and it sure does show it pays off.

Thanks a lot :)
 

Welder1986

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Wow, this thread is gold for sure, tons of info. I am going to go back and jot down posts that have videos, links, and suggestions. I can directly relate some of this to my Welding biz. This entire forum is incredible. Great thread @IceCreamKid Now time to put in some work..
 

Raoul Duke

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I don't like hi tech, super sexy businesses. I like simple, tried and true, with high probability of success businesses. That's just my temperament.

Examples? Or, how do you go about finding these dinosaurs?
 
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Greg R

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Examples? Or, how do you go about finding these dinosaurs?

Good old fashioned hard work my friend. Everything will not be presented to you on a silver platter. Do the work.

Research (Google, Twitter, Facebook). Validate Assumptions. Execute.

Dinosaurs take years to dig up. A good business takes ten minutes.

Enjoy.
 

Wolf0427

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I always come here and head directly back to this thread, there is something here for me, it is just taking a while for it to finally click in my brain, I just keep reading it over and over and over.
 

DoubleDareYou

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My primary goal for this thread is to hopefully open your eyes to the fact that although everyone is jumping on the online entrepreneur bandwagon, there is still plenty of money to be made in the offline world. Hopefully it helps somebody out.

You can take almost any old school biz and apply basic direct response marketing principles to the advertising to scale it to a very good 6-figure income. I'm guessing you can scale it to 7-figures as well, but I haven't done that myself nor am I going to pretend that I have.

The Details

Why carpet cleaning?

-Solid profit margins. A $300 job will require $10 worth of cleaning solution. There's also the cost of gas, insurance, etc but the profit margins still remain good if you apply the proper tweaks to the biz. If you play the bait n' switch game like a lot of the competition then you won't last long.

-Recurring revenue. IMO, the greatest benefit of recurring revenue is that it gives you the opportunity to acquire customers at breakeven or even a loss in some cases. I try not to take an upfront loss on a customer though.

-Any ordinary man can learn to clean carpets. It takes plumbers and electricians months or years to get certified, but you can learn to clean carpets in a weekend.

-Low start up cost. If you know where to look and buy used stuff, I'd estimate that you can start the biz for around $1k. As you scale up, you'd want to buy better equipment and a nicer van/truck.

-Unsophisticated competition. It's quite easy to gain traction in this niche because the competition mostly hasn't spent any time learning marketing. Most will just say stuff in their ads like, "XYZ Carpet Cleaning. Call us for the best price". My prices are in the top 10% most expensive for the area. Positioning, positioning, positioning.

-SIMPLE. SIMPLE. SIMPLE. No fancy knowledge needed. EPC, CPC, CPA, none of that.

The Story

I took over the steering wheel of a carpet cleaning biz earlier this year. For years, it was struggling with approximately $50k annual profit. Where I live, you're poor if you make $50k.

I immediately began implementing marketing systems for customer acquisition and customer retention. I never changed the website simply because I'm lazy and running 3 other businesses alongside the carpet cleaning biz. I'll get around to it one day.

There are 2 types of entrepreneurs: the Elon Musk types who create brand new innovative products. They don't need to spend any money advertising because their products are so unique and attention grabbing. Then there's everyone else...the guys who cast a wide net selling many ordinary things. They need to advertise.

The biggest help was that I started using a service called Every Door Direct Mail. This allows you to send postcards to entire zip codes at nearly half the normal postage rate. The postcards had all of the classic elements of direct response marketing.

-Stating the problem

-Addressing objections

-Establishing credibility

-Testimonials

-Risk Reversals

-Described what was unique about our service/product

-Call to action

What I found is that depending on the zip code, I would get back $3-7 for every $1 spent on advertising. Neat. Scaled it like a kid in a candy store once I knew the metrics.

You are literally one direct response marketing campaign away from making a cool 6-figures, perhaps 7-figs...even if you're in a boring niche like carpet cleaning. Study direct response marketing. Once you have the direct response skills embedded into your brain, you can go into almost any niche and make a very good 6-figure income. Or you can just keep it simple and jump straight into carpet cleaning. It's not sexy, but it just plain works.

Here's the YouTube vid that inspired me to jump in. Last I heard, the guy was doing $3M/year in carpet cleaning.


Ask me anything about direct response marketing, the pitfalls of this niche, the process of cleaning, or just anything in general. There are a lot of details I left out simply because it would be too much to type in this already long post.

Jump in. Take action today. Success loves speed.
Hi ICK, I loved the post and the video tour. You sir deserve all my rep, hope I had more to send over to you. This is an old post and I know you've already given much, so much golden info to profit from.

My business is already positioned as the best in our local market, but we have had struggles with marketing approaches...there's just too many and we lack the capital to apply trial and error. In order to expand it further I'm going to apply your teachings and will let you know how well I do.

I'm currently making in the range of low 5-figures yearly income. Ours is a very depressed market, but costs are so low that it pays itself many times over. The only drawback is that we’re having a lot of problems with integrity, 99.9% of the candidates available are only interested in quick easy profits, some are white collar thieves, and we often have to deal with a lot of excuses, unpunctuality, and lies. As Buffett's:

“Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it’s true. If you hire somebody without [integrity], you really want them to be dumb and lazy.” ― Warren Buffett

This is becoming an ever growing problem, one that you have to solve early because it scales along with the business and can become catastrophic if left to take over. Once I find a solution for this I'll let you know what my take on this was.

Thanks again for this gem,
-DDY
 
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IceCreamKid

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Examples? Or, how do you go about finding these dinosaurs?
I like hitting the pavement and getting my hands dirty as opposed to researching on the computer. Doing this allows me to dig really deep to find problems that need fixing.

I have a side hustle right now re-selling the surplus inventory from tile companies. It takes up only 30 minutes of work a week.

In the construction industry, the companies typically order approx. 20% of surplus materials because if they don't finish a project by the deadline there are BIG fines in place since you delay all of the other contractors that come in after you. I wouldn't have known this stuff if I didn't dig deep.

Imagine having to install tile in 10 restrooms and during installation you realize you only have enough supply for 9 rooms. Tile can sometimes take weeks for delivery. The fines can easily hit the low 5-figures per day. That's why on a large commercial job they'll buy $20-30k worth of surplus tile, sometimes more. Before I came into the picture, they were just throwing the surplus into the dumpster.

They don't bother re-selling the surplus inventory themselves because one commercial job nets them 6-7 figures in profit so their time is best spent on moving quickly to the next project instead.

There's a lot of tiny niches that you can create within the construction industry and most young people don't even realize it's there because they're hiding behind a computer screen.

I have a few other methods for getting biz ideas, but I'll probably never discuss them on such an open platform. Hitting the pavement can never do you wrong though. It costs nothing to do and is very effective.

Happy Thanksgiving! Thankful for you bro.
 

IceCreamKid

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I always come here and head directly back to this thread, there is something here for me, it is just taking a while for it to finally click in my brain, I just keep reading it over and over and over.
Don't read. Do something. Hit the pavement yo.

Do one thing every day that gets you closer to acquiring a customer.

No customer=no business. People seem to miss that concept quite often.

Forget my mental masturbation threads and try to get ONE customer.

Things you DON'T need to do to get ONE customer:
1. Create a logo
2. File for an LLC
3. Buy a fancy suit
4. Read books

Things you DO need to do to get ONE customer:
1. Sell
2. Follow up
3. Sell
4. Follow up
5. Sell

If possible, try to find a way to provide value/perform services upfront. That alone separates you from the majority of your competition whose only message is, "I provide XYZ services. Let me know if you're interested".

Sometimes all it takes is something simple like, "Hey I just left a 5-star Yelp review for you guys. Got a minute to chat?". Provide value.
 

jazb

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Examples? Or, how do you go about finding these dinosaurs?


Open the yellow pages. you'd be surprised of some of the niche businesses in there. Then you can look at buybizsell to see if anyone is selling a biz in that niche so you can check out how much money is in it.
 
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Andy Black

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Don't read. Do something. Hit the pavement yo.

Do one thing every day that gets you closer to acquiring a customer.

No customer=no business. People seem to miss that concept quite often.

Forget my mental masturbation threads and try to get ONE customer.

Things you DON'T need to do to get ONE customer:
1. Create a logo
2. File for an LLC
3. Buy a fancy suit
4. Read books

Things you DO need to do to get ONE customer:
1. Sell
2. Follow up
3. Sell
4. Follow up
5. Sell

If possible, try to find a way to provide value/perform services upfront. That alone separates you from the majority of your competition whose only message is, "I provide XYZ services. Let me know if you're interested".

Sometimes all it takes is something simple like, "Hey I just left a 5-star Yelp review for you guys. Got a minute to chat?". Provide value.
I love this.

Provide value up front.

You don't need permission.

All you need to be in business is sales.

Do something every day to move you forward.
 

Bigred1011

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Hey Ice cream Kid,

I have a ton of stuff to ask. Would you be willing to PM me? I have been planning a carpet cleaning/cleaning business for a while now and am just looking for some insite. Thank you so much!
 

Andy Black

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Hey Ice cream Kid,

I have a ton of stuff to ask. Would you be willing to PM me? I have been planning a carpet cleaning/cleaning business for a while now and am just looking for some insite. Thank you so much!
Welcome to the forum @Bigred1011

There's a load of insight in this thread and others.

I suggest you read the book if you haven't already, and the first bolded link in my signature.

@IceCreamKid is successful because he focuses on serving his clients - which means you're going to have to bring him value first if you're to get some of his precious time from him.

Check out all the threads where people ask for mentorship and you'll see a common theme where people advise to give to receive.

Ask yourself: What value can I add to @IceCreamKid that would cause *him* to PM *me*?

Then do it.

(See my post directly above yours, in particular the quote from ICK himself.)
 
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Gabriel1997

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@IceCreamKid

Thank you so much for this post. I think since joining/browsing the forum, this is the one that has added most value to me and pointed me in the clearest direction. I haven't started my fastlane yet but I think I can soon thanks to you.

My father is in the construction business and is a self-employed contractor. He's hired me for jobs on multiple occasions and I've learned a lot about the business along the way. I have also learned that I'm an excellent painter. Combining this along with your thread, I've decided I want to start a side business painting houses, mainly interior.

My question is how did you begin? How did you get your first client(s)? Develop a good advertising and marketing strategy? (I'm sure word of mouth works wonders in niches like these.) How can I ensure repeat customers and build a good reputation? I have the resources and skills to begin NOW, I just need to get my first job to truly catapult me into the business.
 

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Seriously ICK, thank you for this. Such an inspiring read that is also insightful and helpful - for newcomers that are a little confused. I'd recommend this read. I think i'll give Millionaire Fastlane a read and probably buy the rest of it this week. Thanks again ICK.
 

Mckenzie

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Thanks @IceCreamKid. I'm in! This post is very timely for me. I've been thinking about this biz for awhile to help unemployed people & friends around me to earn a living .
I'm gonna to follow your advices here closely . Thanks so much to @andyblack for the link to this post.
 
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Mckenzie

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You want to know the truth? EVERYONE has some type of limiting belief inside of them. People somehow have this perception that I am some invincible dude that plows through obstacles with ease. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

I am human. I feel fears just like you. I feel uncertainty just like you. The moment I “overcome” some limiting belief, I discover another one. Hah!

The major shift for me occurred when I changed my beliefs on what it means to be a man.

MOST MEN ARE FULL OF CRAP

Most will never admit that they need help. They’re full of crap. I was one of them.

If you were to ask me not too long ago what it means to be a man you would’ve heard stuff like, “bold, fearless, strong, blazing your own path like a beastly warrior, 100% zero F*cks given”.

In reality, I had this fearless outer shell but I was deeply insecure about how others perceived me. The simple thought of asking somebody else for help was painful for me because it meant that I was unable to achieve my goals on my own accord, which I interpreted as a sign of NOT being a real man. This is all BS. Ego. Pride. Bravado.

Then one day I had a 2 hour long talk with a guy I highly admired. Many of you are familiar with his name. He was running a $120k/mo SaaS biz in the real estate niche. This guy flipped everything around for me. He had all of the qualities that I perceived a real man has: strong, powerful, confident, successful, blazing his own path. BUT he also possessed many traits that I formerly perceived as beta male/weak: patient, loving, humble, willing to openly admit REAL flaws and personal failures to the world.

There are guys whose humility is their form of pride then there are guys who are genuinely humble. Who is this guy? How is he so different?

He introduced me to his biz partner. The partner was also the same way. I had never seen successful guys on that level being so ridiculously honest about their weaknesses, failures, hopes, and dreams. It was the most empowering thing I’ve ever witnessed. Somewhere along that line I subconsciously finally gave myself permission to act in a similar light.

I can think of a handful of men in my network who are ultra successful, but deep down they’re unhappy and aren’t asking for help because we live in some bullshit society that tells men that we’re weak if we talk about our deepest insecurities and failures.

We ALL need help once in a while. We ALL need somebody to lean on.

I don’t know anything about you, but I know me…and I’m just a regular guy who has his ups and downs like everybody else. I’m learning and growing everyday. I’m not who I was. The beginning of wisdom starts by saying “I don’t know”.

If success means having all the answers and having everything sorted out then I’m not successful and very much at peace with that.

Thank you IceKreamKid. This definitely applies to woman too. I myself experiencing every single "weaknesses" you mentioned here.
 

Otis Bogue

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THIS. This is where I am at. My business is currently on the absolute bottom of the price scale for what's being charged in my STATE, because the competition in my AREA is lower priced than the rest of the state.

Can someone tell me what "USP" is? (Maybe it was in the book?)

I am working on ways of adding value so that I can leverage the perception of my clients and not only dominate in customer acquisition (as my competition is pretty unsophisticated in marketing) But also increase my pricing to a level that's more towards the premium end of the spectrum. This conversation is FABULOUS, as I have watched 2 carpet cleaning companies start, struggle for years with little to no profit, and eventually SINK as the sole proprietors basically burned out.



The older I get, the lazier I become. Back when I first started I would try to build my own systems from scratch. It would take FOREVER to get something that was streamlined and running like a well oiled machine. Now I just ask successful people what systems they use to automate their biz then find some way to apply that same methodology to mine.

The most important one IMO is the marketing system because that's what generates leads. No leads=no business.


Yes and no. The USP is one of the most misunderstood concepts in business. Most people think it's a sentence that you'd put in an ad.

Does Starbucks have the best coffee in the world? Absolutely not.

But they give you the entire experience. It's the smell of freshly ground coffee beans when you walk in. It's the carefully chosen audio tracks playing in the background. It's the beautifully decorated walls, vintage looking furniture, it's the attitude.

The USP is the entire experience. This is what allows them to charge ridiculous prices for what was formerly a commodity that was sold for 50 cents per cup.

So what is the USP for carpet cleaning? Proprietary cleaning solutions that give you a more thorough, deeper clean. Licensed and certified employees that care about the work they do. Faster drying times. Friendly customer service that calls 1 week after the cleaning just to make sure that you were thrilled with the work done. We send you 2 physical letters in the mail after cleaning just to say thank you and to ask for referrals. We don't treat you like a number. We treat you like a friend and actually show it. We care. We care. We care.

That's what enables you to charge higher premiums. Showing that you care and are willing to go the extra sMile for the customer.

It's the bigger picture. The entire experience.
 

B_Mac

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THIS. This is where I am at. My business is currently on the absolute bottom of the price scale for what's being charged in my STATE, because the competition in my AREA is lower priced than the rest of the state.

Can someone tell me what "USP" is? (Maybe it was in the book?)

I am working on ways of adding value so that I can leverage the perception of my clients and not only dominate in customer acquisition (as my competition is pretty unsophisticated in marketing) But also increase my pricing to a level that's more towards the premium end of the spectrum. This conversation is FABULOUS, as I have watched 2 carpet cleaning companies start, struggle for years with little to no profit, and eventually SINK as the sole proprietors basically burned out.

Yeah, it's in the book. It is your Unique Selling Proposition. Or what makes you different than others, and why a customer would want to come to you instead of someone else. I read this thread late last night, so maybe my memory is fuzzy, but one of ICK's USPs is the formula he uses for cleaning carpets. It gives a look that POPs that a homeowner won't achieve using something like RugDoctor.
 
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Mckenzie

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I think that’s one of the coolest things about getting older…you just develop less tolerance for garbage behavior because you start coming to terms with the fact that you aren’t going to live forever. As a result, you focus solely on high leverage activities.

OMG, I'm I hearing this wise wisdom from a 29 years old person? (you mentioned your age somewhere in this post). I have so much to learn from you ICK. Thank you for such an enlightened message!
 

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
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IceCreamKid

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Holy shnykies I completely forgot this thread existed.

Folks, this thread was created in 2015 and quite a few things have changed(at least in the carpet cleaning arena) so if you’re looking to get into this niche then I want you to be aware of a few things.

Direct mail doesn’t work nearly as well as before. It still works, but the conversion rate is definitely on a downward slope.

I’ve shifted to using FB advertising as a result. I’m not sure how long the party will last, but right now $1,000 in ad spend yields 300 leads. Results may vary based on your area and I happen to be in an incredibly good area for this type of biz. This stuff reminds me of the glory days of AdWords when clicks were dirt cheap.

I’ll upload my funnels on here when I get a chance. The marketing principles remain the same. Use some good bait to get the lead then wow them with great service so that you keep them forever. The backend targeting stuff does get a bit technical, but if a simple guy like me can do it then so can you.

Party on and keep moving forward, folks!
 
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chabs

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Hi @IceCreamKid this thread is fantastic and thank you! Read through it all

I have a side hustle right now re-selling the surplus inventory from tile companies. It takes up only 30 minutes of work a week.

In the construction industry, the companies typically order approx. 20% of surplus materials because if they don't finish a project by the deadline there are BIG fines in place since you delay all of the other contractors that come in after you. I wouldn't have known this stuff if I didn't dig deep.

There is a place in my city (a competitor of mine, as I also sell tiles) who used a similar business model. He invested in buying left over and clearance tiles from suppliers or from commercial projects, often he would get them for a fraction of cost, sometimes free! These tiles were then sold with a healthy mark up in a "factory outlet" and "discount tiles" setting. No other business was quite as effective at the time he grew the business. People flocked to get discount tiles, some of them pretty good - although some were pretty dodgy.

Marketing was mostly done online, and worked well. Now their marketing is everywhere and apparently they're profiting in the low 7 figures per year..


I’ve shifted to using FB advertising as a result. I’m not sure how long the party will last, but right now $1,000 in ad spend yields 300 leads. Results may vary based on your area and I happen to be in an incredibly good area for this type of biz. This stuff reminds me of the glory days of AdWords when clicks were dirt cheap.

Is there a reason you are not able to get stable repeat business with existing customers? I feel like with only two vans all you need to do is focus on retaining customers and their networks, it really can all be word of mouth. My business hasn't "advertised" for a very long time, its all word of mouth & some attempts at SEO. My problem is systems, and am struggling.. Employees are difficult to find, train and retain!

Anyway I digress, on the topic: advertising will only get more expensive over time as you compete with more and more people trying to spend $ to get time in front of peoples eyeballs on facebook/google/etc. Real case scenario: 2 years ago advertising on facebook was about $200 to hit about 5-10x returns minimum, gradually costs rose over time until any advertising would cost a lot but reach very little.

You can get serious leads through old school methods like strategic partnerships with others who would have the same customers as you, such as flooring suppliers, "maid services" companies & Hotels. Also anyone who knows how to sell you, or basically guarantee you a sale, they better be getting referral business/commissions back. My business' life blood is the tradesmen/builders who send in their customers or "sell us" to the customers so well the people come in super excited to be spending literally $1000's.



edit: Had $20 spend on facebook to hit 10-50x returns, I did math wrong!

edit 2: Just thought of carpet layers, which would be strategic partners similar to flooring/carpet stores. Often people who have carpets that need cleaning will ask or call them and ask them what to do. For e.g. my business gets asked who we know to do things like strip tiles, clean bathrooms, or what products we know to seal grout, glass, etc. The most common questions are asked about who we know to install bathrooms/tiles/kitchens, what do you think we do when we're asked this? ;) There's a lot of offline stuff out there..
 
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Deri

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I love this thread. Probably because I relate better to a hands on type business rather than digital and online etc...
ick has a fantastic attitude it seems in both life and business so please keep the ice-cream coming.
This thread could be a book in itself!
Many thanks
 

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