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I Got Fired Today. Succeed or Bust!

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

ItsAllBull

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Hello fastlaners, I got fired today! I remember the last time I got fired before this job and i felt like my life came to a park and it was all doom and gloom. This time , its different. I feel peaceful and content. Yet ready for the challenge ahead.


The reason i feel this way is because prior to today I was practicing Facebook Ads and building a website for a business(already have making decent progress) I intended to start soon. Last week I prayed that Id have more time to work on it . Be careful what you wish for ! LOL


I feel this is an opportunity for me to do just that as I already have had in mind and a desire to do and finally take the leap , even though i was more like pushed off a cliff !


I have 4k which is about 3 months of living expenses for me. Luckily my lease ends jan 15th and i Already have the final payment ready. I have kept my apartment in pristine condition so i expect to get $250 out of the $500 deposit i put when i initially moved in. ( I expect some trumped up fees somewhere). I also will get 2 more checks from my job for around $700+ a piece so i should have about $5500 when its all said and done. I own my car outright so i only have to pay fuel and insurance. Also won't have to move out until Jan 15th/18. Planning to rent a room for $400 a month from then on out.


So with my 3-4 months of living expenses here's my plan of attack starting 12/27/17 @ 05:00


  1. Apply for unemployment . the extra 2-300 bucks a week i will get will give me an additional buffer with living expenses maybe an extra 2 months if im lucky. Apply for food stamps if im able to. ( dont shame me , im using the system for its intended purposes : to help me out while i get on my feet as quickly as possible)

  2. I will try to avoid getting a job as much as possible ( unemployment forces you to apply ) until I at least finish my website. (timeframe 2-3 weeks) It will serve as my pitch deck.

  3. When I do get a job which will be unavoidable(due to unemployment forcing applications) as Im a truck driver with a clean record and we’re in high demand , I will only take a part time job. Just enough to cover my expenses to preserve my cash in case of an emergency like my Pontiac G6 with 140k breaks down. One of my realizations is that it is really hard to do much work and focus on a side project when you're tired from working 70 hours a week. (which is what i did in my last job.) This has to be an intentional trap of the script. Deadly. Avoid it if you can.

  4. This is where it gets juicy.I will cold call 100+ businesses everyday and email 100+ business everyday. Mon-Fri. Weekends i will just leave emails. This will give me over 1000+ total out reaches to potential clients every week. I have some sales experience doing cold approach in the malls. By my conservative estimates(based on my sales skills) I predict that I will land clients at a rate of .001% whom i will charge $1000-2000 a month for . So with the number of outreaches i will be doing I plan to get one new client per week. Hopefully my odds to land a client weekly is better than .001% but I am using it as a realistic goal and to temper my expectations. I dont know much about cold calling so I dont expect to get my first client until about 8-10 weeks in. I also believe that is realistic. I mean c’mon after 8-10k cold calls/emails someone has to work with me right?! ( mj’s analogy about the gumball machine echoes in my mind)

  5. If after 8-10 weeks i dont have a paying client then I plan to evaluate(edit: cry on fastlane forums.. LOL JK) something in my business like the sales pitch or whatever i think is wrong. Continue to wash, rinse and repeat until I get a paying client.

  6. After my first paying client , I will get 5-10 more of them paying me 1-2k monthly and stack some cash and hire and train and employee to handle the clients and start a agency and build it out with more services like adwords seo etc.


I decided to write this progress thread for accountability reasons and also for feedback. I feel like young simba praying to the kings who came before him for guidance when i come on these forums. Yes I referenced The Lion King.


Which leads me to my next point. I have a wager to make with you guys. Its just another thing to help out with accountability( other than my burning desire to live unscripted of course.) I promise to update my progress thread regularly ( at least once per week) or else I get BANNED. This wager will last from 12/27/17- 1/1/19


However I intend on updating it 2-3 times per week. As I like getting feedback and advice.


Follow the thread , wish me luck and strap on for the ride because this ride only has 2 possible outcomes : 1. Its going up in the sky and will be glorious. or 2. Its crashing down in burning flames.


Dont Miss It.
 
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livestronger

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In on this. Best of luck, as long as you're tenacious, driven by hunger (no pun intended), and fueled by the rage of having been fired from your last gig (let's be real, there's a little rage in there somewhere) you'll only have increased chances of succeeding.

Don't give up no matter what, even when a full-time job doing what you did before looks easier and more realistic than your initial plans. Carry it out and get yours.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 

RichieKastl

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Good luck! It seems you have a solid plan. I read through a book called The Conversion Code that I highly recommend for any agency. It'll help you use your website to cultivate inbound leads so you won't have to do as much cold calling, your leads will be warm.
 

Van Halen

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I remember seeing cold calling services on Fiverr, they were also Americans (if you're American?).

You consider using something like that once you land a sale, otherwise you're stuck thinking like an employee.

Really you should focus on the product, but it was an idea.
 
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ItsAllBull

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Hey Fastlaners Here is my first Update to this thread.


Day 1 12/27/17


Today I thought the best thing to do is to handle all of my administrative tasks and go over my financials in detail so as I would have definite numbers in which I could plan off of instead of just an estimate. I went to notify Apartment complex of my non intent to renew my lease and i was told id have to pay a fee equals to 1 months rent ($940) for not giving 60 day notice ( lease ends on jan 31 /18 ) even though i couldn't have known because i just lost my job .


Expletive.


However the lady told me that instead of just losing my $940 I could game the system by putting in a 60 day notice and I’d still have to pay the $940 , however that would be going towards my rent thus giving me an additional 30 days of time! The only catch is Id still be liable for 2 months of living expenses.


Still sucks but not as bad.


My Total Cash on hand is $4752 + I still have 2 checks left from my job totaling of at least $1300 giving me $6400+ cash on hand. I am liable over the next 2 months taking into account food , bills, cancellation fees ,etc for $3233.


After my remaining 2 months here and my debts are all paid off Ill have $3165 left or 4 months of living expenses. I also have some gadgets i can sell that will net me conservatively $800 which means an extra month.


T.L.D.R ; I have 6 months of living covered barring any catastrophes and not receiving unemployment or a positive tax return or not working. If I receive unemployment I will get an additional 4.5 months of living expenses covered before i have to get a job.


Potential time to make this work without a job? 6-10 months.


If I get a part time job working 20-30 hrs a week my time will be indefinite.


I will spend the rest of today mapping out an exact process to move the needle. I will be back to update with that , but for now in my head its roughly looking like :


Finish site: By 2-3 weeks in

Begin selling: By 3 weeks in

Start looking for part time job ( only to preserve nest egg in case of no sales) : 8 weeks in

Revaluate (In case of no sales) : around 2 weeks in or so.


Thanks for taking the time to read guys!Feel free to leave Feedback! Happy Hustling!
 
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ItsAllBull

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In on this. Best of luck, as long as you're tenacious, driven by hunger (no pun intended), and fueled by the rage of having been fired from your last gig (let's be real, there's a little rage in there somewhere) you'll only have increased chances of succeeding.

Don't give up no matter what, even when a full-time job doing what you did before looks easier and more realistic than your initial plans. Carry it out and get yours.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

Thanks man! I will keep this in the back of my mind!


@RichieKastl thanks for the recommend i also have that book and it is what i am basing my site off of! However , I wont begin inbound marketing until the business is making money. Planning to bootstrap this thing all the way! Also I dont believe in just relying on inbound marketing but eventually planning to have a hybrid sales process that includes both strategies. ;)

@Van Halen cold calling on from fiverr? definitely sounds like an avenue i can explore once i start getting revenue to hire out sub contractors. My goal in the long run is most definitely to be working on the business instead of in it. Thanks for the idea man.
 

Sully1994

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start a agency and build it out with more services like adwords seo etc.

Hey man, I admire your hustle and will definitely be watching this thread. So I'm not exactly sure what your business is, but from the above snippet, I'm assuming it's a marketing agency?

Some advice for getting clients:

Instead of cold calling 100 + prospects a day, do your research and find 1 client who you know is a perfect fit for the value you provide.

First, figure out your buyer persona.

What kind of businesses are you targeting? Small, midsize, large, multi-location?
What industry are they in?

Retail?
Restaurant?
Entertainment?
Technology?

etc....

Are they B2B, or B2C?

Next, determine exactly who you're going to be reaching out to. Is it the V.P of sales? is it the chief marketing officer? ( personally, I would email first - as businesses generally don't like calls from random people without a prior appointment)

Once you determine the EXACT person you want to contact, then you'll need to figure out a specific problem they are having, and offer a solution to help fix.

Example using content marketing ( could be applied to any category of marketing):

Bad: " Hi I'm random person you've never heard of and I want to help you with your content marketing!

Good: I noticed that your blog doesn't have any content that addresses problem ( x). After doing research, I found there's a high volume of searches from people in your target audience asking questions about topic (x), so I wrote an article that answers their questions.

One approach delivers value up front, the other is just taking up time in their already busy day.

As you can see, scaling this approach up to 100 clients a day would be impossible for one person to tackle. It takes time to research a client enough to be able to properly communicate the value you can bring to their business.

But that's exactly why it works. They notice that you've put in the time to understand them. It impresses them enough to respond.

Most people will talk about themselves in their cold outreach emails. " these are my services, here's how they can help you" etc.

Talk is cheap. Everybody says they can help you.

SHOW them that you can help them.

Note: The only way the volume approach works is when you already have a track record and a massive list of client success stories to leverage- and at that point, they're calling you.

If you reach out and close just 1 client per week at the $1000- $4000 per month range using this strategy, it's worth it.

Last tip:

Find companies who you know are actively looking for someone to solve their marketing problems by browsing job boards.

Upwork and Angel List are a good place to start.

Hope this helps!
 
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Last edited:

B. Cole

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You seem pretty driven, hopefully you persevere. I am going to vent on you a little though, hopefully for your benefit, and because this is one of many "I just got fired" threads I've seen.

I don't know your story, nor do I need to. My lineage is that of truck drivers, so I know the struggle. But I hope you know that there is no glory in getting fired. That means someone else decided they were better off without you, and whatever you did to get fired will be the downfall of your own success if you fail to correct it within.

There is also no glory in milking unemployment. That is a sidewalker trait, taking rather than giving. Get off it as soon as you can.

That being said, good luck. Just wanted to leave these thoughts with you, for your benefit. Use them as you wish.
 

ItsAllBull

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Hey man, I admire your hustle and will definitely be watching this thread. So I'm not exactly sure what your business is, but from the above snippet, I'm assuming it's a marketing agency?

Some advice for getting clients:

Instead of cold calling 100 + prospects a day, do your research and find 1 client who you know is a perfect fit for the value you provide.

First, figure out your buyer persona.

What kind of businesses are you targeting? Small, midsize, large, multi-location?
What industry are they in?

Retail?
Restaurant?
Entertainment?
Technology?

etc....

Are they B2B, or B2C?

Next, determine exactly who you're going to be reaching out to. Is it the V.P of sales? is it the chief marketing officer? ( personally, I would email first - as businesses generally don't like calls from random people without a prior appointment)

Once you determine the EXACT person you want to contact, then you'll need to figure out a specific problem they are having, and offer a solution to help fix......

Hope this helps!

@Sully1994 thanks for you advice man . I have definitely thought about some of the things that you have mentioned at one point. I planned on releasing a full report on it when I begin to develop a sales process in a few days. But I'll give a quick few tid bits of my target market here.

Company Commanders Intent : To provide businesses with new qualified leads as fast as possible.

Market: I Plan on servicing small to medium (at least 100k a year and a few employees) local B2C service based businesses. I chose this demographic because to make 100k+ they are likely to be entrepreneurial and not just technicians . They also are likely to already spending marketing dollars, or at least pondering it , and would see the value of my services.

The People I plan on contacting : The Owner. Being small to medium sized businesses I should not have much difficulty speaking directly to management and the owners. Also still being small to medium sized businesses there are less decisions makers within the business. Id estimate 1-3 in most of businesses this size. I would provide a 2 week free trial to show my value before closing the sale.

Specific problem I will solve : getting more customers for these businesses by leveraging FB Adwords ,Email Etc. Many of these small to medium businesses who need more customers primarily use A) Word of mouth marketing or B) Old school marketing such as direct mail , flyers , etc. How I will help these businesses is by simply setting up an basic yet effective marketing funnel for them.

The first step would be helping acquiring more customers cheaper and faster than paper marketing uses FB Ads. Which would include the ad graphics , copy ,targeting and ad optimization. The ad would then lead the customer to a Site where they can do online booking for their particular appointment. ( many small businesses don't have this feature!! ) The lead and appointment booking would then automatically be sent directly to the business via email text etc. ( many fb agencies just send businesses spreadsheets at the end of the day with the contact info or periodically. )

The second step would be to set up email marketing for them. Small businesses are under utilizing this important aspect of free marketing. I can show them (better yet do it for them as an add on service) how effective it can be by releasing coupons and specials and regular engaging the audience to get more repeat business. This can be implemented simply by telling the Owner that he must collect the email of every Client his business serves.

The third step would be to conduct an audit of all the services the business provides and design a marketing funnel that would push existing customers down the funnel. (i.e a dentist acquires a customer for a teeth cleaning , then he goes on a marketing list that he needs an additional service like a filling , then an extraction etc... customer would also receive regular marketing about maitence such as more cleaning etc.)

the fourth step would be to calculate LTV to optimize and plan further marketing strategy . ( an initial review and LTV calculation would be made also) I would help businesses figure how much each customer is worth then calculate how much we can spend to acquire each one to make a profit. ( I.e a gym signs up people on a contract for $50 a month on a 12 month contract. Each customer is worth $600 . Knowing that we could strategize and spend anywhere from $1-300 acquiring a customer and still make a profit)

That sir is the quick explanation of my business plan. poke holes in it , set it on fire etc all feedback is welcome .
 
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ItsAllBull

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Read your lease again. Does it have a 60 notice? Does it automatically go to month to month after the yearly expires?

Hey Bio Hope you're doing well! Yes the lease has a 60 day notice clause. It does go "month to month " once it expires . However, even on that "month to month" basis a 30 day notice is still required. Its a pretty tight lease.
 

Evil_Jester

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This happened to me last year so I can give you advice.
  • Money drains fast. Don't forget about insurance.
  • Try and fail as fast as you can with your fastlane ideas. You really have to try every fastlane trend to know what settle on.
  • If it takes 3 weeks to make a website, you're doing it wrong. You could at least make a concept website with wordpress in a day and then test it with cold calling the next day.
  • On a positive note, you can learn fast while being unempoyed!
  • Lastly, make sure you do something socially once or twice a week. It will help with the depression that will creep in with being unemployed
 

Van Halen

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This happened to me last year so I can give you advice.
Try and fail as fast as you can with your fastlane ideas. You really have to try every fastlane trend to know what settle on.

All good points but this especially. It gets worse as time goes on, they start becoming expensive and stressful. Sort of like "Ive been doing this for X amount of time and still no-where." Not a good place to be in. The whole entrepreneurial game is like it, be lean, confirm need or move on.
 
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ItsAllBull

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Hello Fastlaners , Happy New Year! Hope you guys have a productive and fortunate year. Hope your holiday was good as well. I spent my New Years weekend on a all expenses paid trip to Flu Town.

Update - Day 5 Jan 1 , 2017

Todays Execution

I took @Evil_Jester 's advice and made my site as M.V.P aka as lean as possible. I couldn't get it done in one day. It took me all weekend to do on account of me doing what I could due to my flu , but the darn thing is done now.

Tomorrows Execution

Due to my flu I don't want to start cold calling tomorrow (voice is raspy and coughing , so instead ill start looking for Facebook ads related jobs on Upwork and linked in.

also will start sending out emails to prospects.





 

ItsAllBull

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This happened to me last year so I can give you advice.
  • Money drains fast. Don't forget about insurance.
  • Try and fail as fast as you can with your fastlane ideas. You really have to try every fastlane trend to know what settle on.
  • If it takes 3 weeks to make a website, you're doing it wrong. You could at least make a concept website with wordpress in a day and then test it with cold calling the next day.
  • On a positive note, you can learn fast while being unempoyed!
  • Lastly, make sure you do something socially once or twice a week. It will help with the depression that will creep in with being unemployed

Nice Points man thanks. Just curious , you said this happened to you last year , having any success yet in one of ventures?

All good points but this especially. It gets worse as time goes on, they start becoming expensive and stressful. Sort of like "Ive been doing this for X amount of time and still no-where." Not a good place to be in. The whole entrepreneurial game is like it, be lean, confirm need or move on.

How do you know when its a good idea to move on to the next business/venture? I know that there's a fine line between entrepreneurial a.d.d and knowing when its time to move on , but due to my limited experience I have no idea how to tell.
 

Evil_Jester

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Nice Points man thanks. Just curious , you said this happened to you last year , having any success yet in one of ventures?
Updated in this thread:
Your 2017 Year in Review

Its a work in progress. The most important thing I learned about the early phase is that feedback is vital to motivate you to keep working. Instagram is awesome because you're going to get a lot of feedback through their organic traffic. If not on instagram, you can literally pay friends to give you constant feedback on your projects
 
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Roberto Zanon

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Good luck man, I really like your style. By the way, check the Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes. It's a very solid book around sales. Helped me shape many of the sales principles in my mind.

Take care ;)
 

Maxboost

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I'm rooting for you to succeed!
 

ItsAllBull

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Hey guys , Hope All is well . Yesterday I applied for Upwork and Linked in to try and get some low hanging fruit clients and Jobs. Had to wait 24 hrs to approved for up work. So I spent the rest of my day trying to figure out linked in while waiting for my approval.

Update - Day 5 Jan 3 , 2017
Today I got up and checked my email and received bad news . My Upwork account was denied. They said that they had to many PPC/Digital Marketers on the platform and they had to protect the ratio of jobs to workers or something of those sorts. I was a bit stunned to say the least , I never anticipating not getting on upwork. I wonder If I wait a bit then add more skills to my profile then would I get approved? Hmm?

Once I discovered my upwork account got denied , I admittedly was a bit puzzled as to what my next move would be on account of my voice still being hoarse and I can't say more than a couple of words without coughing because Im in the latter stages of the flu.

I thought about just waiting until I felt better to start cold calling/doing more work etc. but then I had a realization. Which simply was :" I need to move the needle forward today in some capacity . I need to keep the momentum moving in forward not backwards. "

So I just looked on my todo section of my Trello and I chose to do some contracts/service agreements , since if were going to start talking to potential clients soon it would behoove me to have these ready to deploy.

I got them done in a few hours.

Overall my day was not super productive, and I can't wait to get over this flu to get my full energies back but, I still feel good about it because I got something done no matter how small.

Thats all for now.


P.S Question for the forum

Do you feel like there is a such thing as a entrepreneurial muscle ? Like its something that you're not good at initially , but eventually the more you exercise the muscle in your brain and actions , the more it will grow?




 
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ItsAllBull

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Updated in this thread:
Your 2017 Year in Review

Its a work in progress. The most important thing I learned about the early phase is that feedback is vital to motivate you to keep working. Instagram is awesome because you're going to get a lot of feedback through their organic traffic. If not on instagram, you can literally pay friends to give you constant feedback on your projects

Yeah my problem is that I always did my projects in like this secret manner that no one knew about . But I'm shaking it up by posting here . I'll consider instagram also. Thanks for that suggestion . I'm going to check out your thread now .

Good luck man, I really like your style. By the way, check the Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes. It's a very solid book around sales. Helped me shape many of the sales principles in my mind.

Take care ;)

Hey thanks for the suggestion man! Really quick , what in particular was valuable in the book to you ? I checked it out on amazon and I ran through the table of contents and it seemed to be concepts for more or less an organization.


I'm rooting for you to succeed!
thanks man !
 

edj4success

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Hey man,

Keep up the work. I left my job right before the holidays, so I can empathize.

I will be following your progress thread.

Sending good vibes to you
 

ItsAllBull

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Update - Jan 8, 2018

Hey guys just an update . Today I began cold outreach . I made 100 individual cold emails today and sent them all. I finished them up about 2 hrs ago , so far 9 opens but no responses quite yet. Working on my next batch now so I can send in the mornings at 6 am so it'll be the first thing my prospects see in the morning.

I plan to kick my volume up soon but I'm keeping it at 100 a day until my gmail account ages about a month the ill kick it up to 200 a day.
 
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Dunkafelics

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Hey, @ItsAllBull just checking out this thread right now.

One thing that I would recommend that has worked pretty well for me starting out, is to make a LinkedIn profile and put your title as a "Freelance _______?" (mine currently is Freelance Copywriting/Direct Sales)

I have very limited information on my profile and I have been contacted by companies in my local area who need help in the specific areas that I have mentioned.

There are tons of companies out there that need help with sales and freelance work.

I know you said that you had a business and I respect that. However, working with other businesses will help you build contacts and testimonials going forward.

If you have any other questions, I would be happy to answer them for you.

All the best man, we are rooting for you!
 

ItsAllBull

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Update Jan 9 , 2017
Just another day prospecting . Banged out another 100 or so emails . No responses yet but I am getting some opens.

Stats So Far : Jan 8th - 21% open rate - no replies (100 emails sent) (Niche A)
Jan 9th - 38% open rate - no replies (100 emails sent) (Niche B)

Email Marketing Woes
Im not sure if these open rates are typical or not , but I am using a very simple subject line , and email template I made. I think if I spend more time on it I can get the open rate in the 40%-50% range. In any case , if typical open rates are 20%-40% then I need to increase the volume of emails sent per day. I want 100 plus people opening and reading my emails every day.

Another thing I'm watching closely is the fact that so far 59 people have read my email and I have no responses . This indicates to me that the while the subject may make them open , the body is not compelling them to reply. If I get no replies after 500 or so people read then Id most definitely have to say the current email needs a copy overhaul.

Am I doing It Wrong?
Here's a question for all you email aficionados. The emails I am sending are just one off emails . Should I be sending more than 1 email to people who have opened and read my emails? Should I also do the same with the people who have not opened my first? Right now I'm sort of worried about sending more than one email to the same email because I don't want to be flagged as spam. ( this will hurt deliverability in the future) Another thing I have thought about doing is calling the people who have opened my emails. What do you think ?

Thats all folks!
 

ItsAllBull

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Hey, @ItsAllBull just checking out this thread right now.

One thing that I would recommend that has worked pretty well for me starting out, is to make a LinkedIn profile and put your title as a "Freelance _______?" (mine currently is Freelance Copywriting/Direct Sales)

I have very limited information on my profile and I have been contacted by companies in my local area who need help in the specific areas that I have mentioned.

There are tons of companies out there that need help with sales and freelance work.

I know you said that you had a business and I respect that. However, working with other businesses will help you build contacts and testimonials going forward.

If you have any other questions, I would be happy to answer them for you.

All the best man, we are rooting for you!

Thanks for the input . I'll definitely make time tomorrow to explore this avenue. I don't have a business quite yet , I have no sales! :p lol So I am not above being called a "free lancer" at all ! Most definitely have some questions. Be on the look out in your PMs soon .
 
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mrarcher

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Not that I want to be a downer but you wont get jobseekers with any amount of savings and if they see you not succeding in getting a job they will make you do volunteer work to get the payments which amount to around £70 a week if you're lucky.

There's nothing wrong with working to support yourself while building up a business.
 

Dunkafelics

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Update Jan 9 , 2017
Just another day prospecting . Banged out another 100 or so emails . No responses yet but I am getting some opens.

Stats So Far : Jan 8th - 21% open rate - no replies (100 emails sent) (Niche A)
Jan 9th - 38% open rate - no replies (100 emails sent) (Niche B)

Email Marketing Woes
Im not sure if these open rates are typical or not , but I am using a very simple subject line , and email template I made. I think if I spend more time on it I can get the open rate in the 40%-50% range. In any case , if typical open rates are 20%-40% then I need to increase the volume of emails sent per day. I want 100 plus people opening and reading my emails every day.

Another thing I'm watching closely is the fact that so far 59 people have read my email and I have no responses . This indicates to me that the while the subject may make them open , the body is not compelling them to reply. If I get no replies after 500 or so people read then Id most definitely have to say the current email needs a copy overhaul.

Am I doing It Wrong?
Here's a question for all you email aficionados. The emails I am sending are just one off emails . Should I be sending more than 1 email to people who have opened and read my emails? Should I also do the same with the people who have not opened my first? Right now I'm sort of worried about sending more than one email to the same email because I don't want to be flagged as spam. ( this will hurt deliverability in the future) Another thing I have thought about doing is calling the people who have opened my emails. What do you think ?

Thats all folks!

Without going into it too much, what is the business that you are running?

The thing that businesses are going to question is, who are you? How are you getting in contact with them? If you are sending them a cold email and they have no idea who you are, you will be lucky to get the email read. Most likely ... they will just delete it and carry on unless you can prove to them that your product is worthwhile.

Really dig deep and in your emails find ways that you can connect the benefits of your product to match the needs of that particular company.

Talk soon.
 

KLaw

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I didn't read every word but I did skim through this. My 1st impression...you are hiding behind your computer screen. Get out of your comfort zone. Not once have I seen where you actually had a face to face or actual human interaction with your potential clients. Pound the pavement. If I missed where you have been doing this, I apologize. JDI.
 
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edj4success

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Update Jan 9 , 2017
Just another day prospecting . Banged out another 100 or so emails . No responses yet but I am getting some opens.

Stats So Far : Jan 8th - 21% open rate - no replies (100 emails sent) (Niche A)
Jan 9th - 38% open rate - no replies (100 emails sent) (Niche B)

Email Marketing Woes
Im not sure if these open rates are typical or not , but I am using a very simple subject line , and email template I made. I think if I spend more time on it I can get the open rate in the 40%-50% range. In any case , if typical open rates are 20%-40% then I need to increase the volume of emails sent per day. I want 100 plus people opening and reading my emails every day.

Another thing I'm watching closely is the fact that so far 59 people have read my email and I have no responses . This indicates to me that the while the subject may make them open , the body is not compelling them to reply. If I get no replies after 500 or so people read then Id most definitely have to say the current email needs a copy overhaul.

Am I doing It Wrong?
Here's a question for all you email aficionados. The emails I am sending are just one off emails . Should I be sending more than 1 email to people who have opened and read my emails? Should I also do the same with the people who have not opened my first? Right now I'm sort of worried about sending more than one email to the same email because I don't want to be flagged as spam. ( this will hurt deliverability in the future) Another thing I have thought about doing is calling the people who have opened my emails. What do you think ?

Thats all folks!

Would you mind posting a few of the emails you had sent? You will receive valued feedback as long as we can see what you are sending out.
 

mws87

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Update Jan 9 , 2017
Just another day prospecting . Banged out another 100 or so emails . No responses yet but I am getting some opens.

Stats So Far : Jan 8th - 21% open rate - no replies (100 emails sent) (Niche A)
Jan 9th - 38% open rate - no replies (100 emails sent) (Niche B)

Email Marketing Woes
Im not sure if these open rates are typical or not , but I am using a very simple subject line , and email template I made. I think if I spend more time on it I can get the open rate in the 40%-50% range. In any case , if typical open rates are 20%-40% then I need to increase the volume of emails sent per day. I want 100 plus people opening and reading my emails every day.

Another thing I'm watching closely is the fact that so far 59 people have read my email and I have no responses . This indicates to me that the while the subject may make them open , the body is not compelling them to reply. If I get no replies after 500 or so people read then Id most definitely have to say the current email needs a copy overhaul.

Am I doing It Wrong?
Here's a question for all you email aficionados. The emails I am sending are just one off emails . Should I be sending more than 1 email to people who have opened and read my emails? Should I also do the same with the people who have not opened my first? Right now I'm sort of worried about sending more than one email to the same email because I don't want to be flagged as spam. ( this will hurt deliverability in the future) Another thing I have thought about doing is calling the people who have opened my emails. What do you think ?

Thats all folks!
I can tell you why you're not getting responses. These are just guesses, by the way.

  1. The messages are too long.
  2. It reads like a canned email - if you sent 100 emails and didn't even get a "not interested" / "take me off your list" / "there's a special place in hell for salespeople like you" (yes, this was said to me once) then they're likely opening the email and thinking "ah, more spam."
  3. You're trying to pitch your service in the first email, rather than opening a genuine dialog
  4. You're not sending follow ups.
Always, ALWAYS send follow ups. 90% of my sales were initiated through email, and weren't responded to until I sent a follow up. But 100% of the deals ended with either a phone call or a handshake in a conference room.

Your goal should be to close each step of your process. First, get them to open a talk with you. Second, get them to agree to speak with you on the phone, third, ask the right questions to solve their problems. Fourth (???). Fifth: profit.

Or.. You could just cut out the waiting game and get on the phone and call them once you see they opened the email.
 

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