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Humble Hustle & Scaling My Agency - Progress Thread

MJ DeMarco

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Life is becoming awesome. There is no travel of 2 hrs to a dead job. There is no Monday to Friday. No Sat & Sun. I work all 7 days. I work in the morning. In the nights. Staying home, spending so much quality time with family. Getting emails from clients about good results and appreciations makes all the work paid off.

Life has become so much better that I can't even describe.
Feeling a little emotional. From being in mediocre and depressed to the current myself is a difference between heaven and earth.

Thanks, TFF. Thanks, TMF , UnScripted . Thanks, @MJ DeMarco @ZCP @Rabby and all the GOLD/Notable Threads.

Thank you sir for the report.

The work is long and sometimes hard, but it is YOUR work. It is YOUR life. It is YOUR future. It is YOUR time. You are writing YOUR destiny ... I can feel the liberation in your report and it warms my soul.

Congrats.

And this is why I continue to write...
 
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Life is becoming awesome. There is no travel of 2 hrs to a dead job. There is no Monday to Friday. No Sat & Sun. I work all 7 days. I work in the morning. In the nights. Staying home, spending so much quality time with family. Getting emails from clients about good results and appreciations makes all the work paid off.

Life has become so much better that I can't even describe.
Feeling a little emotional. From being in mediocre and depressed to the current myself is a difference between heaven and earth.

Thanks, TFF. Thanks, TMF , UnScripted . Thanks, @MJ DeMarco @ZCP @Rabby and all the GOLD/Notable Threads.

This. This is life. You are the reason I am here.
 

BlackMagician

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Thank you sir for the report.

The work is long and sometimes hard, but it is YOUR work. It is YOUR life. It is YOUR future. It is YOUR time. You are writing YOUR destiny ... I can feel the liberation in your report and it warms my soul.

Congrats.

And this is why I continue to write...
Please continue writing. You are the reason i am here. And where positive in future. Thank you.
 

BlackMagician

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Bekit

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Oh my word! @BlackMagician this thread is incredible!

Somehow I never saw it until now, but I just read the whole thing. I'm stoked to learn of your progress. CONGRATS on the gold thread. You deserve it!

Even back at the beginning there, where you were beating yourself up because you weren't making progress as fast as you wanted to, you were still landing pretty significant clients and hustling.

I'm so happy to hear of the opportunity you've had to get into Facebook ads and get your clients such an excellent ROAS. Way to go!

Keep up the good work, and keep us posted! I would say just keep updating this thread, even though it started out discussing web development. It's normal for entrepreneurs to pivot into what works better.
 

BlackMagician

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Thankyou @Bekit
Somehow I never saw it until now, but I just read the whole thing. I'm stoked to learn of your progress. CONGRATS on the gold thread. You deserve it!
Shall I leak a little secret?:clench:
I have been following your posts and threads from the day you posted your introduction. Because you and I joined this forum around similar time. I joined in July 2018, you in August 2018. So I felt a closeness with you.
Your mindset and way of writing made me interested.
But later, I felt envious. In very little time, you got so many recognition here. You received praise. So read most of your posts. All of them are full of value, emotions, and selfless giving mindset. I loved it. I thought to be like you, progressing massively just like you.

The day you were honored with INSIDERS from members, I decided 2 things. To improve & progress myself so much that my Progress thread receives GOLD.
And to give value on this forum and get bestowed by INSIDERS. Just like you. I remember the post which got you an INSIDERS. We both can buy INSIDERS but getting bestowed is a whole another level of feeling.

So you commenting on my thread, recognizing my efforts and congratulating me.... IS VERY AWESOME TO ME.

Thank you for encouraging me with your own efforts and growth throughout these 2 years we were part of this forum.

Even back at the beginning there, where you were beating yourself up because you weren't making progress as fast as you wanted to, you were still landing pretty significant clients and hustling.
You can find similarities. I was pretty much holding myself by reading the progress thread of a bunch of people who joined at the same time with me. Though many has stopped updating their progress thread.
Keep up the good work, and keep us posted! I would say just keep updating this thread, even though it started out discussing web development. It's normal for entrepreneurs to pivot into what works better.
Yes i will continue to post what i am doing as frequently as possible. I am learning so many things that i am not able to keep them sorted in my brain. Will try to share what i am learning as much as possible in this thread.
Apart from these, as i have mentioned previously, i am striving toward a Fastlane business which i have in my mind. So taking the current progress as a foundation i will start working on that in next 4-5 months and keep updating here on this thread.
 

Bekit

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Thankyou @Bekit

Shall I leak a little secret?:clench:
I have been following your posts and threads from the day you posted your introduction. Because you and I joined this forum around similar time. I joined in July 2018, you in August 2018. So I felt a closeness with you.
Your mindset and way of writing made me interested.
But later, I felt envious. In very little time, you got so many recognition here. You received praise. So read most of your posts. All of them are full of value, emotions, and selfless giving mindset. I loved it. I thought to be like you, progressing massively just like you.

The day you were honored with INSIDERS from members, I decided 2 things. To improve & progress myself so much that my Progress thread receives GOLD.
And to give value on this forum and get bestowed by INSIDERS. Just like you. I remember the post which got you an INSIDERS. We both can buy INSIDERS but getting bestowed is a whole another level of feeling.

So you commenting on my thread, recognizing my efforts and congratulating me.... IS VERY AWESOME TO ME.

Thank you for encouraging me with your own efforts and growth throughout these 2 years we were part of this forum.


You can find similarities. I was pretty much holding myself by reading the progress thread of a bunch of people who joined at the same time with me. Though many has stopped updating their progress thread.

Yes i will continue to post what i am doing as frequently as possible. I am learning so many things that i am not able to keep them sorted in my brain. Will try to share what i am learning as much as possible in this thread.
Apart from these, as i have mentioned previously, i am striving toward a Fastlane business which i have in my mind. So taking the current progress as a foundation i will start working on that in next 4-5 months and keep updating here on this thread.
That's awesome. Thanks for leaking the little secret. I had no idea!

Now the tables are turned and I'm over here feeling left in the dust like, "WAIT! I want to 8x MY income!!! Have I gotten complacent?"

:rofl:

There's an old proverb that says, "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." (Proverbs 27:17)

I think this is great.

I sharpened you and made you resolve to get a gold thread.

Now you're sharpening me and making me resolve to make big, dramatic action in my income.

High-five to that!
 
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Andy Black

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Just a few small hints:
  1. Don’t be envious, be inspired.
  2. Don’t have goals to get Gold threads or external recognition - you can’t invoice for those. Cultivate your internal locus of control.

Good that you’re spurring each other on. Watch how @Kak and @Vigilante egg each other on to higher heights in their radio show threads.

I chatter with @Lex DeVille about projects we’re working on. We compare notes and are both trying to hit milestones in the next week or so.

There’s no envy, just peers supporting and pushing each other.
 

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BlackMagician

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G'day All,

Things are awesome just like last time I posted.
All 4 clients are happy. Yesterday I had a call with one client who is getting 10.5 ROAS, he said he is very happy and confident on me.

Lots of learning is going on daily basis. Last two days, Facebook went crazy and results dropped on accounts all over the world.

Anyways, important thing is, the BM Marketing guy(clients I handle for) approached me yesterday and gave me the offer to work with him on his soon to be launched Beauty brand. He is offering 5% in partnership.
4 people are on his team of startup and will be handling different aspects of the business and he offered me to handle performance marketing aspects to handle, though I will be involved in all the decision making.

This looks like an opportunity for me. But I don't know.
I asked him to give me 2 days to think about it because I don't know anything about all these percentage, startups etc.

Wanted to seek advice from you all.
@ZCP @MJ DeMarco @Walter Hay @Rabby @Vigilante. Please advice guys.

This could be a life changing decision.

Please help in my decision and what I need to think/ask questions before deciding.

Btw, today marks 2nd Year for me on this forum!!!! I wrote a post specifically for today.
Haha

Sayonara,
Black Magician
 

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G'day All,

Things are awesome just like last time I posted.
All 4 clients are happy. Yesterday I had a call with one client who is getting 10.5 ROAS, he said he is very happy and confident on me.

Lots of learning is going on daily basis. Last two days, Facebook went crazy and results dropped on accounts all over the world.

Anyways, important thing is, the BM Marketing guy(clients I handle for) approached me yesterday and gave me the offer to work with him on his soon to be launched Beauty brand. He is offering 5% in partnership.
4 people are on his team of startup and will be handling different aspects of the business and he offered me to handle performance marketing aspects to handle, though I will be involved in all the decision making.

This looks like an opportunity for me. But I don't know.
I asked him to give me 2 days to think about it because I don't know anything about all these percentage, startups etc.

Wanted to seek advice from you all.
@ZCP @MJ DeMarco @Walter Hay @Rabby @Vigilante. Please advice guys.

This could be a life changing decision.

Please help in my decision and what I need to think/ask questions before deciding.

Btw, today marks 2nd Year for me on this forum!!!! I wrote a post specifically for today.
Haha

Sayonara,
Black Magician

Read Amazon.com: Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It eBook: Voss, Chris, Raz, Tahl: Kindle Store

Since you have to be quick on your feet, look up "Chris Voss mirroring" and "Chris Voss how am I supposed to do that" to quickly get an idea of what the book is about and the methods involved. It has a lot to do with your current situation.
 

BlackMagician

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Read Amazon.com: Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It eBook: Voss, Chris, Raz, Tahl: Kindle Store

Since you have to be quick on your feet, look up "Chris Voss mirroring" and "Chris Voss how am I supposed to do that" to quickly get an idea of what the book is about and the methods involved. It has a lot to do with your current situation.
Negotiation comes later. Right now I have to decide to join him or not. My life goal is to do Fastlane business of my own, and I need to think this through this.

I told him my goal and he is clear that I will do my business in future. He mentioned something about 4 year period where I will get my share divide in the 4 years.
I also clarified with him that I can do my own business after or before that. He said I can do. If I left before 4 year I won't get full shares.

Anyways, money is not the point here. What I want is to decide on joining. My thoughts are 60/40, 60 on joining because I will be able to learn and explore many things on that stage and can get contacts and understanding on bigger scale.

Because if I join, I will put my everything to make the business successful.

It will be a 100% commitment from my side. That's why I need to decide and align things accordingly.
Btw, the guy is genuine and nice from core.
 
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Simon Angel

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Negotiation comes later. Right now I have to decide to join him or not. My life goal is to do Fastlane business of my own, and I need to think this through this.

I told him my goal and he is clear that I will do my business in future. He mentioned something about 4 year period where I will get my share divide in the 4 years.
I also clarified with him that I can do my own business after or before that. He said I can do. If I left before 4 year I won't get full shares.

Anyways, money is not the point here. What I want is to decide on joining. My thoughts are 60/40, 60 on joining because I will be able to learn and explore many things on that stage and can get contacts and understanding on bigger scale.

Because if I join, I will put my everything to make the business successful.

It will be a 100% commitment from my side. That's why I need to decide and align things accordingly.
Btw, the guy is genuine and nice from core.

I understand this is a big decision to make. However, It looks like you could work on both businesses by managing your time and sticking to what you do best. Outsourcing the tedious stuff would likely be a good idea. If with the passage of time you realize it's impacting your growth rather than aiding it, you can always pull the plug.

It seems like it would also be a good idea to hire a lawyer before signing any paperwork.
 

Andy Black

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I don’t know how to advise you so I’ll just tell you what I’d do, and why. Please take my thoughts with a pinch of salt and do what you think is best for you.

First off, I don’t know much about deals like this.

5% of what? What do you get over what period of time?

The reason I don’t know much about deals like this is because I move on whenever something like this crops up. I don’t want to be at someone else’s beck and call for four years when I’m figuring out and building my own stuff. Damn, but four years is a long time. That’s the longest I ever worked for one company when I was an employee.

I felt I was held back for a few years because I was partnered with people and couldn’t twist and turn like I want to when I’m figuring stuff out. Just having to explain what I’m doing and why is a wasted effort when I want to be in forward motion.

Like I said, that’s my own personal preference. We each follow our own path.
 
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BlackMagician

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I don’t know how to advise you so I’ll just tell you what I’d do, and why. Please take my thoughts with a pinch of salt and do what you think is best for you.

First off, I don’t know much about deals like this.

5% of what? What do you get over what period of time?

The reason I don’t know much about deals like this is because I move on whenever something like this crops up. I don’t want to be at someone else’s beck and call for four years when I’m figuring out and building my own stuff. Damn, but four years is a long time. That’s the longest I ever worked for one company when I was an employee.

I felt I was held back for a few years because I was partnered with people and couldn’t twist and turn like I want to when I’m figuring stuff out. Just having to explain what I’m doing and why is a wasted effort when I want to be in forward motion.

Like I said, that’s my own personal preference. We each follow our own path.
It won't be beck n call. I will be working together with them with similar authority.
5% share/equity or whatever it is.

I can leave anytime I want. If I feel that things are not working for me. I can leave without any consequences. But I still need to figure it out what does that means.

I got your point btw and you are somewhat correct
 

biophase

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It won't be beck n call. I will be working together with them with similar authority.
5% share/equity or whatever it is.

I can leave anytime I want. If I feel that things are not working for me. I can leave without any consequences. But I still need to figure it out what does that means.

I got your point btw and you are somewhat correct

Do you get a salary or any pay during this time?

Sounds like 5% vested in 1.25% per year?

What are the chances this companies becomes worth $10m. At that point your 5% is worth $500k only. 4 years for possible $500k? Is $125k a year worth it?

Any chance the business is worth $50m?
 

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@BlackMagician What is your time worth and and how much responsibility and tasks will you have? If it was something like Amazon or some other large company... sure give me 5%. But if it's some no-name company that has a huge chance of failure for only 5% that expects me to to work 40 hours a week... Yeah no.
 
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BlackMagician

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Sounds like 5% vested in 1.25% per year?
Yes this is what he meant.

Do you get a salary or any pay during this time?

Sounds like 5% vested in 1.25% per year?

What are the chances this companies becomes worth $10m. At that point your 5% is worth $500k only. 4 years for possible $500k? Is $125k a year worth it?

Any chance the business is worth $50m?
Now that you are saying like this, it really is nothing.

He did say that it's possible to reach 50m in 5 yrs. But when I saw the unit economics and 1 year plan, I felt that they are not following CENTS. I am having this feeling that they will fail just based on that.

I got your point. Can you tell me how shall I say 'no' to him without impacting our relationship? As you see, right now all the clients I have are his.

Or should I negotiate and ask for 10%? Will that work?
What questions shall I ask and reason to say 'no'?
 
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BlackMagician

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@BlackMagician What is your time worth and and how much responsibility and tasks will you have? If it was something like Amazon or some other large company... sure give me 5%. But if it's some no-name company that has a huge chance of failure for only 5% that expects me to to work 40 hours a week... Yeah no.
Most of the online marketing work will be on me. It's quite huge task and responsibilities I will say.
Yeah you are right.
How shall I say 'no'?
What questions shall I ask before explaining him 'thats why' I can't join so something similar?
 

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Most of the online marketing work will be on me. It's quite huge task and responsibilities I will say.
Yeah you are right.
How shall I say 'no'?
What questions shall I ask before explaining him 'thats why' I can't join so something similar?
Wish him luck and say you have other things going on that need more attention/time. And you’d like to focus on those things instead.
 
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sparechange

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5% to work like a dog? Tell him to pound sand, you should be insulted at such an outrageous offer.

Own 100% of something yourself, don't work for penny's and make money for other people
 

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A polite "I have too many other commitments to do this right now" is nice. It's true too, because you're committed to building your own assets. That's one of the most important commitments you can have You also have commitments to clients, family, etc.

Equity splits should go more or less by the share of work to be done. The "slicing pie" method (there's a book and a web site) is a reasonable approach to this.

If everyone is putting in work, shares are allocated according to the hours worked and the theoretical value of each person's work (often the same amount for co-founders, unless one is a proven multi-millionaire while another is a college intern, or something).

If someone is putting money in, that's worth a lot, and you have to figure it is post-income-tax, so it counts for a bit more than the same number of hours equivalent... which is fair because the person is risking an existing asset.

Back of the napkin "you'll get this % and I'll get that %" deals almost always go bad. The reason they go bad isn't because the people are jerks or anything, it's just that you never know in the beginning how much work there is to do, and who will end up having to do it, and how much it will cost, and who will have the money to invest. So it's a lot better to work out a system (like slicing pie) for fairly allocating the ownership shares.

Also, with the vesting, make sure the details are written down in clear language. You don't want to get fired after 3.9 years and get nothing, or something aweful like that.
 

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Tagging some people who I think can help me.
@Kak @biophase @sparechange @Andy Black @Runum @MHP368 @AllenCrawley

moi?

well I'll have to dig into this thread more tomorrow (putting the kids down now)

but when you cold call, just own the fact that you're rudely interrupting a stranger, own it.

in sales people say what they don't mean, later in the process you get to play doctor so you can diagnose but on a cold call?

you'll hear :

"we're good"

"send me an email"

"we don't have the budget"

"I'm not the one who can make those decisions..."

etc , and you'll here it first thing before you've even given them the information they would need to say that stuff. So why are they saying it? to get you off the phone! , its pure instinct, they answered and "oh...a cold call, ick" - that's what they feel, so you need to get through that before they'll even listen to how you can help them make some money.

The first step? total ownership that you're rudely interrupting a stranger. So when you get those automated responses just acknowledge that's what you're doing (honesty is powerful) and move on. Never hang up on them, they hang up on you!

That cold call should be to touch base for an exploratory or demo call. Once you acknowledge that you're the jerk for calling you have them off balance, they're used to call center people who don't have skin in the game calling and bothering them who then hang up, you admitting it and then pitching them anyway? NOW they'll actually hear some of what you're saying.

If you get through that and THEN they re-iterate you've called the wrong person or they have no budget until next quarter or something NOW that might be legitimate info, not right off the bat when you first introduce yourself.

You have your elevator pitch ready right? no? , ok - you have 30 seconds to explain front to back what it is you do, but here's the trick, no one cares about features and benefits , in thirty seconds you need to express your value proposition and frame it in a way that's completely customer centric. Make sense?

30 seconds of how you're going to make them money, not "and I have great customer service" or "we're 10% more effect than Xyz" , no instead "here's the emotional reason you should give me money" , you'll increase revenue - help them hit quota - lower costs , whatever.

30 seconds, customer-focused, what value are you bringing into their life? , write it, rewrite it, and record it (not joking) tonight if possible (so we can critique it) , record it a few times, say it out loud a bunch first. It should come out easy peasy. Why? because after you cold call someone and they throw some obstacle / fake excuse in your path and you dodge over it by acknowledging that you are in fact a rude jerk calling them out of the blue NOW is when you state your function, "I'm trying to schedule exploratory/demo calls with prospective clients and I know my services can increase your revenue" - whatever, no one has the bandwidth for a long winded pitch and they sure as heck don't want to hear it from the guy they were just about to hang up on who called them while they were gardening or whatever.

So like I said I'll dive into this entire thread tomorrow, I definitely want to hear your 30 second elevator pitch though!
 
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biophase

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Yes this is what he meant.


Now that you are saying like this, it really is nothing.

He did say that it's possible to reach 50m in 5 yrs. But when I saw the unit economics and 1 year plan, I felt that they are not following CENTS. I am having this feeling that they will fail just based on that.

I got your point. Can you tell me how shall I say 'no' to him without impacting our relationship? As you see, right now all the clients I have are his.

Or should I negotiate and ask for 10%? Will that work?
What questions shall I ask and reason to say 'no'?

Just politely decline and don’t mention it was due to 5% because then you give him a chance to up it to 10%. Then what do you say?

Just thank him for the offer and say that the opportunity doesn’t fit with your current goals. If he asks what those are say it is to start and own your own company.
 

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Damn, what a great thread! At the beginning, I will admit, I thought it was gonna go down a different route of failure. I am so glad that you did so well. You are inspiring and even more success is certainly on the way...
 

BlackMagician

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So like I said I'll dive into this entire thread tomorrow, I definitely want to hear your 30 second elevator pitch though!

I will be glad if you read the thread. Thank you for giving such a great advice. Really appreciate all that you wrote:innocent: :halo:.
A polite "I have too many other commitments to do this right now" is nice. It's true too, because you're committed to building your own assets. That's one of the most important commitments you can have You also have commitments to clients, family, etc.

Equity splits should go more or less by the share of work to be done. The "slicing pie" method (there's a book and a web site) is a reasonable approach to this.

If everyone is putting in work, shares are allocated according to the hours worked and the theoretical value of each person's work (often the same amount for co-founders, unless one is a proven multi-millionaire while another is a college intern, or something).

If someone is putting money in, that's worth a lot, and you have to figure it is post-income-tax, so it counts for a bit more than the same number of hours equivalent... which is fair because the person is risking an existing asset.

Back of the napkin "you'll get this % and I'll get that %" deals almost always go bad. The reason they go bad isn't because the people are jerks or anything, it's just that you never know in the beginning how much work there is to do, and who will end up having to do it, and how much it will cost, and who will have the money to invest. So it's a lot better to work out a system (like slicing pie) for fairly allocating the ownership shares.

Also, with the vesting, make sure the details are written down in clear language. You don't want to get fired after 3.9 years and get nothing, or something aweful like that.

Thanks @Rabby for the insights and advice. I told him all this. You once again helped me.
Just politely decline and don’t mention it was due to 5% because then you give him a chance to up it to 10%. Then what do you say?

Just thank him for the offer and say that the opportunity doesn’t fit with your current goals. If he asks what those are say it is to start and own your own company.
@biophase you are life saver. Thank you for the great advice. I did the same and politely said no.

I will be glad if you read this thread of mine and give your opinion on what I can improve in me.
Damn, what a great thread! At the beginning, I will admit, I thought it was gonna go down a different route of failure. I am so glad that you did so well. You are inspiring and even more success is certainly on the way...
Thanks a lot for liking my almost failure journey ;)
I hope your time was properly utilised by reading this thread.
I will continue sharing my progress here on this thread.
 
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MHP368

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After pushing myslef for cold email/cold calling, i come to know that its very difficult for me, and i am good in networking directly. So i am doing direct communication.
It being difficult seems like an excuse to not do something thats hard or not fun. Seems like you didnt need that end of driving a pipeline to get you where you needed to be though.
Ask questions. Ask right questions at right time to our clients. I need to learn this better.
Right. You wouldnt trust a doctor who didnt ask any questions before pronouncing diagnosis would you?
I haven't been prospecting much right now, will be working on this.
And you did!
Should i lower the price or just let this project go?
Looking back with hindsight , what do you think now?
finally left my JOB.
Yes everyone.
High five!
This could be a life changing decision

So , Im not seeing the downside. You make enough with existing (happy) clients to cover your bills , if you focused 100% on this going forward , and its a legitimate opportunity why not?

Can you flesh out for us a cost benefit analysis?

To me it seems the cost is time

The benefit is 5% ownership of potentially a huge company (or a flop) but , you can negotiate for more upside (salary , revenue share etc)

So what downsides other then your sweat equity am I missing?
 

BlackMagician

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So , Im not seeing the downside. You make enough with existing (happy) clients to cover your bills , if you focused 100% on this going forward , and its a legitimate opportunity why not?

Can you flesh out for us a cost benefit analysis?

To me it seems the cost is time

The benefit is 5% ownership of potentially a huge company (or a flop) but , you can negotiate for more upside (salary , revenue share etc)

So what downsides other then your sweat equity am I missing?
You are right. Cost is time. Nothing else. And I will be profitable in any case.
The chances of the company of being successful is high because it follows CENTS and the people who are doing are great executioners.
According to the unit economics and projections, the company could be profitable of 1M Indian rupee at the end of first year.
Close to 50M of evaluation in 5 yrs.

The downside could of me working equally on the company but get only 5% where else others get more despite similar efforts.

And I don't know how to negotiate the revenue share and ask more than 5%.
 

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