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You can do a lot of things if you only do what matters

Anything considered a "hustle" and not necessarily a CENTS-based Fastlane

Johnny boy

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Business is two parts
1. Acquisition
2. Fulfillment of obligation

When I think of business in this way, everything becomes much clearer and mistakes become obvious.

Lawn care company

I currently run a lawn care company in washington state. I started it around June of last year. I quickly got customers but realized with any amount of advertising, my schedule would quickly fill up for the year.

"Where's my problem?" Acquisition or fulfillment of obligation? The demand or the supply?
The fulfillment of obligation obviously. This is fixed through fixing processes, narrowing focuses, eliminating problem customers, using contracts, etc. This makes it more profitable, more scalable, and creates a business that actually works.

I went so far in that direction that a single average lawn care contract produces roughly $1,000 in profit and each customer is bound to a year-long contract of monthly payments automatically withdrawn from their bank account each month. We have a cancellation fee as well. Through our online systems, I can sign customers up, monitor workers, and do everything from a laptop anywhere.

Because I intentionally made my conditions less "attractive" for many customers who want to pay cash, not pay until work is done, or want one time services, it makes it harder to get customers. That's okay.

Time to focus on acquisition.

I bought a list of phone numbers in my zip code. There's 5,000 numbers within a few miles from me. I recorded a message using an app "slybroadcast" and here's what it says.

"Hi, my name’s Johnathan from (company) and I just signed up one of your neighbors for lawn care. And I offered them 20% off if they gave me a phone number of a neighbor of theirs that eventually signed up. The reason I called is because I wanted to offer you 20% off as well. So that would be 20% off lawn care for both of you because you’d be on the same street. If you wanted a free quote for this year just give me a call back at (phone #). Thanks, and have a nice day. Hope to hear from you soon."

The app I use sends out that message as a voicemail so it seems like I tried calling them and just left a message. They've been calling back and here's what I say.

"Hey, just got a call from you. Who recommended me?"

"Oh hey! Let me check my notes. Uh...Rachael gave me your number *says the number that called me but says the wrong number by one digit*"

"Oh that's the wrong number".

"Oh I'm sorry about that. You don't live in (city) do you?"

"I do"

"Oh wow, okay well I can still extend the discount to you since I called you even if it was the wrong number it's the least I can do. Do you usually get lawn care from a company?"

You see where I'm going with this.

So each morning I send out x amount of vm's and get signups on demand. Each message costs me 6-10 cents each so it's definitely worth it.

Time: less than an hour. An hour for each appointment if they prefer I show up in person. But I can sign them up anywhere actually.

Real estate

I am partnered with a real estate investor and agent who owns 17 rentals in my area. We get lists of people who would likely be selling their homes (upcoming foreclosures) and we wholesale the properties or he buys them personally and I make thousands each deal we get.

I use a program a data analyst friend I know made to filter through the data and find the best people to contact. I roll up at their house and work out a deal with them and it comes out to a $300-500/hr job. I only do it on the weekends.

Time: a few hours a week.

Consulting and web design

I was bored one day and felt like I could tell companies how to suck less at marketing, so I whipped up a marketing and web design brand with a good (great) website in a few hours.

I made a craigslist ad and posted it in Seattle, San Fran, LA, NYC, Dallas.

I got two clients within a couple of days and a total of $30 spent in ads.

I hopped on the phone with the first one and talked to her about her accounting firm for 2 hours. She just sent me $1,000.

I'm doing some consulting for the other client tomorrow morning. We'll see how that goes.

Time: a few hours a week.

In total

Each morning I send out voicemails, post some ads nationally, and each weekend I knock on some doors.

The rest of my time is mostly free.

I'll let calls go to voicemail. Call them back in one batch when it's convenient. Check email for new leads, and call real estate leads for follow up for a little bit. This only takes an hour in total at most.

Each day, I write out "acquisition" and "obligations" and write down two things: 1. the most effective ways to acquire more stuff that pays me and 2. what I have to do to fulfill my obligations to get paid. These things take me very little time each day.

"You run three businesses?"

I guess. I have three revenue streams with high $/hr returns. But I have quite a bit of time that I'll have to start filling with more things. As of lately since I started being more efficient I don't know what to do. Go to the gym more? Visit my sister who's in college? Take a trip somewhere? Idk. I'm enjoying myself just fine chilling at home listening to some music thinking about how I don't have to listen to people tell me what to do.

I'm going to stay focused and put energy into maintaining, growing, tweaking and saving for a rainy day. I'm very much looking forward to having cash for the next recession and buying some properties.
 
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The Abundant Man

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Damn!

200.gif
 
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The Abundant Man

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Whos Rachel? How do you know Rachel?

Thanks for the info...
 

ZCP

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@Johnny boy I needed this kick in the a$$. thanks! Rep+
 

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
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Nice @Johnny boy.

Reminds me of the line of thinking that obligation/fulfillment is so people don’t ask for refunds after buying.

And that our jobs are actually very simple: Add value, get paid.


It also reminds me of the story of two brothers with a winery. One brother promised to sell all the wine his brother produced. The other brother promised to meet all the orders his brother sold.
 
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Tobore

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Above and Beyond
Business is two parts
1. Acquisition
2. Fulfillment of obligation

When I think of business in this way, everything becomes much clearer and mistakes become obvious.

Lawn care company

I currently run a lawn care company in washington state. I started it around June of last year. I quickly got customers but realized with any amount of advertising, my schedule would quickly fill up for the year.

"Where's my problem?" Acquisition or fulfillment of obligation? The demand or the supply?
The fulfillment of obligation obviously. This is fixed through fixing processes, narrowing focuses, eliminating problem customers, using contracts, etc. This makes it more profitable, more scalable, and creates a business that actually works.

I went so far in that direction that a single average lawn care contract produces roughly $1,000 in profit and each customer is bound to a year-long contract of monthly payments automatically withdrawn from their bank account each month. We have a cancellation fee as well. Through our online systems, I can sign customers up, monitor workers, and do everything from a laptop anywhere.

Because I intentionally made my conditions less "attractive" for many customers who want to pay cash, not pay until work is done, or want one time services, it makes it harder to get customers. That's okay.

Time to focus on acquisition.

I bought a list of phone numbers in my zip code. There's 5,000 numbers within a few miles from me. I recorded a message using an app "slybroadcast" and here's what it says.

"Hi, my name’s Johnathan from (company) and I just signed up one of your neighbors for lawn care. And I offered them 20% off if they gave me a phone number of a neighbor of theirs that eventually signed up. The reason I called is because I wanted to offer you 20% off as well. So that would be 20% off lawn care for both of you because you’d be on the same street. If you wanted a free quote for this year just give me a call back at (phone #). Thanks, and have a nice day. Hope to hear from you soon."

The app I use sends out that message as a voicemail so it seems like I tried calling them and just left a message. They've been calling back and here's what I say.

"Hey, just got a call from you. Who recommended me?"

"Oh hey! Let me check my notes. Uh...Rachael gave me your number *says the number that called me but says the wrong number by one digit*"

"Oh that's the wrong number".

"Oh I'm sorry about that. You don't live in (city) do you?"

"I do"

"Oh wow, okay well I can still extend the discount to you since I called you even if it was the wrong number it's the least I can do. Do you usually get lawn care from a company?"

You see where I'm going with this.

So each morning I send out x amount of vm's and get signups on demand. Each message costs me 6-10 cents each so it's definitely worth it.

Time: less than an hour. An hour for each appointment if they prefer I show up in person. But I can sign them up anywhere actually.

Real estate

I am partnered with a real estate investor and agent who owns 17 rentals in my area. We get lists of people who would likely be selling their homes (upcoming foreclosures) and we wholesale the properties or he buys them personally and I make thousands each deal we get.

I use a program a data analyst friend I know made to filter through the data and find the best people to contact. I roll up at their house and work out a deal with them and it comes out to a $300-500/hr job. I only do it on the weekends.

Time: a few hours a week.

Consulting and web design

I was bored one day and felt like I could tell companies how to suck less at marketing, so I whipped up a marketing and web design brand with a good (great) website in a few hours.

I made a craigslist ad and posted it in Seattle, San Fran, LA, NYC, Dallas.

I got two clients within a couple of days and a total of $30 spent in ads.

I hopped on the phone with the first one and talked to her about her accounting firm for 2 hours. She just sent me $1,000.

I'm doing some consulting for the other client tomorrow morning. We'll see how that goes.

Time: a few hours a week.

In total

Each morning I send out voicemails, post some ads nationally, and each weekend I knock on some doors.

The rest of my time is mostly free.

I'll let calls go to voicemail. Call them back in one batch when it's convenient. Check email for new leads, and call real estate leads for follow up for a little bit. This only takes an hour in total at most.

Each day, I write out "acquisition" and "obligations" and write down two things: 1. the most effective ways to acquire more stuff that pays me and 2. what I have to do to fulfill my obligations to get paid. These things take me very little time each day.

"You run three businesses?"

I guess. I have three revenue streams with high $/hr returns. But I have quite a bit of time that I'll have to start filling with more things. As of lately since I started being more efficient I don't know what to do. Go to the gym more? Visit my sister who's in college? Take a trip somewhere? Idk. I'm enjoying myself just fine chilling at home listening to some music thinking about how I don't have to listen to people tell me what to do.

I'm going to stay focused and put energy into maintaining, growing, tweaking and saving for a rainy day. I'm very much looking forward to having cash for the next recession and buying some properties.
Dope!
 

Johnny boy

Legendary Contributor
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May 9, 2017
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Washington State
Nice @Johnny boy.

Reminds me of the line of thinking that obligation/fulfillment is so people don’t ask for refunds after buying.

And that our jobs are actually very simple: Add value, get paid.


It also reminds me of the story of two brothers with a winery. One brother promised to sell all the wine his brother produced. The other brother promised to meet all the orders his brother sold.

I do it to make sure I'm not doing stupid shit.

"What is the best way for me to get customers?"
*does the one effective thing*

"What do I actually have to get done?"
*bangs out to-do list with great prioritization*

"Now what do I do with all this time? That only took 3 hours..."
 

AniM

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I'd love to hear more about your wholesaling strategy.

Where are you getting the list? What does the program filter by?

I'm consulting for income right now but the long-term business I want to build is actually a wholesaling biz. I've been kind of stuck deciding on what media channel to use for marketing for motivated sellers.
 
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Johnny boy

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I'd love to hear more about your wholesaling strategy.

Where are you getting the list? What does the program filter by?

I'm consulting for income right now but the long-term business I want to build is actually a wholesaling biz. I've been kind of stuck deciding on what media channel to use for marketing for motivated sellers.

Find every property about to go up for auction and knock on their doors. These people don't respond to letters, phone calls. They're all miserable and shut in their homes trying to pretend they aren't going through foreclosure. The last guy I talked to had his wife kidnapped by the Mexican Cartel and couldn't pay his mortgage but paid to get her back. The lady before him had her leg amputated. The lady before her had her son just die. These people don't give a shit about your facebook ad, you know what I mean? Knock on their door and help them out. They often just let it go to auction because life is going so rough. They're not tech savvy. They usually don't even have a cell phone. And they certainly don't answer the phone. How else are you going to reach these people?

Now here's how I can be the most efficient.

I go to the ones being auctioned off soon. I only go to houses that likely have equity (bought a long while ago). I drive on my weekends and use all of my charm. Being a 22 year old clean cut white dude makes everyone wish you were their son.

And then I follow up with a couple phone calls until the auction date creeps closer and they feel the fire. Time to sign papers.
 

AniM

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Find every property about to go up for auction and knock on their doors. These people don't respond to letters, phone calls. They're all miserable and shut in their homes trying to pretend they aren't going through foreclosure. The last guy I talked to had his wife kidnapped by the Mexican Cartel and couldn't pay his mortgage but paid to get her back. The lady before him had her leg amputated. The lady before her had her son just die. These people don't give a shit about your facebook ad, you know what I mean? Knock on their door and help them out. They often just let it go to auction because life is going so rough. They're not tech savvy. They usually don't even have a cell phone. And they certainly don't answer the phone. How else are you going to reach these people?

Now here's how I can be the most efficient.

I go to the ones being auctioned off soon. I only go to houses that likely have equity (bought a long while ago). I drive on my weekends and use all of my charm. Being a 22 year old clean cut white dude makes everyone wish you were their son.

And then I follow up with a couple phone calls until the auction date creeps closer and they feel the fire. Time to sign papers.

Thanks this is great info!

Pre-Foreclosure was a niche I was looking at since the motivation is built in with the auction deadline.

I'll admit I'm a bit intimidated by door knocking especially since I haven't actually wholesaled anything yet but you're right this is a lot more direct than FB ads hahaha.

I had been evaluating whether to cold call (done a bit of that calling Craigslist FSBOs), do direct mail, or run online ads. Hadn't considered just knocking doors.

Are you getting the list direct from the county or from a list broker (ListSource)?

I'm not white but I am young and can charm old folks...might have to shave though.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
 

Johnny boy

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Washington State
Thanks this is great info!

Pre-Foreclosure was a niche I was looking at since the motivation is built in with the auction deadline.

I'll admit I'm a bit intimidated by door knocking especially since I haven't actually wholesaled anything yet but you're right this is a lot more direct than FB ads hahaha.

I had been evaluating whether to cold call (done a bit of that calling Craigslist FSBOs), do direct mail, or run online ads. Hadn't considered just knocking doors.

Are you getting the list direct from the county or from a list broker (ListSource)?

I'm not white but I am young and can charm old folks...might have to shave though.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

My partner runs a brokerage so we have some software that helps out but you can use listsource.

Don’t expect to walk up to a house, say you can “find someone to buy their house”, and expect to close a deal.

I walk up and look them in the face and say “I will put a check in your hand for your home and it will take 2 days max let’s get a deal done”. We can actually buy the homes so it’s no lie, but our offers can be a little low. If they want more it becomes a hassle because then we’ll wholesale it and say “okay, if you want the hassle. You could just sell it to us for x”

Most FSBO are a**hole old people who are too cheap to pay for an agent. Like the guys who come in to dealerships with used cars, buying used cars, expecting a discount because they have all cash and treat the sales people like shit. Why would you be able to steal a home away from them at wholesale prices? But with all that said, you might still find a deal there.

Try everything that’s easy to test. But face to face contact is gold because you’ll see these people yourself and it will help you understand how they think and what they’re going through.
 
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The Abundant Man

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Do you just post Craiglist ads in every major city around the world?
 

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