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To Those Panicked/Discouraged by the PANDEMIC (or New to FLF)

sonny_1080

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Don’t be sneaky. Be a member of the community and be seen to help people. I keep getting asked by Facebook group *owners* to do presentations for their members. Have a think what you can do different to get a different result.
@Andy Black is it rude of me to ask what Facebook groups you belong to?
 
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Andy Black

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@Andy Black is it rude of me to ask what Facebook groups you belong to?
Just local businesses ones now. I joined to find local business owners to network / chat with. They seem to be a bit of a spam fest though so I’m not active anymore. I avoid Facebook mostly nowadays.
 

sonny_1080

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[update]

Been about 16 days since my last update. My insurance client is happy (thank God). She only spends $10/day max on her account and pulls a very qualified lead almost everyday since I made those last changes after Google made exact match allow close variations.

I took a sales course to refine my prospecting and sales strategies since just relying on referrals wasn't cuttin it. I created a sales process to use as kind of like a map for talking to people and started following up with people I met through my networking group.

Made 50 phone calls the day before yesterday, got hung up 25 times, and booked 1 sales meeting. Not bad for my first time cold calling. Focusing on the sales got me revamped about the value my service brings to the marketplace so I decided to charge $500 a month. I had 3 sales meetings lined up yesterday (2 from my networking group's referrals and 1 from the cold call) -> closed all 3 and increased my monthly income by 6x assuming they don't cancel services... and even if they do, I plan on just closing more so some of them gotta stick especially considering the value I've brought to prior clients.

I got another sales call today at 10am, gotta get prepared after I post this. Gotta meet a client to pick up my check, then gotta get all these accounts up and running which will probably intermittently take all day. In between doing that I've got a friend making me some business cards which is cool and a 1-page brochure type thing to use as a visual demonstration. Instead of calling on businesses on Sundays I'm gonna drop off like 100 of those.

I gotta file my damn DBA still. I keep putting it off. That'll get done today. Since LLC costs like $800 I'm gonna start as a sole-proprietor until I've got a significant amount of annual revenue and assets.

@Johnnny boy got me thinking about Quickbooks and JotForm so Imma look into those today as well.

And finally, I'm gonna make my website much more professional looking. I've been dressing like I'm chasing a million dollars thanks to @Kak and I gotta say man, dressing well doesn't just display conviction, it increases my conviction. Highly recommended. Glad my job in that suit store actually paid off in learning how to dress :rofl:

TBC
 

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Hey Sonny,

That's some serious progress there. Well done!

Would you mind explaining a bit more on your cold-calling process? So the goal of the call is to secure a face-to-face meeting, right? And you're not trying to sell anything over the phone or discuss any advertising costs, which you leave for the meeting, correct?

Since you're going to meet business owners in person, I'm assuming these are all local companies to you and you're not travelling miles away for a meeting?

I haven't done in-person meetings myself, as I thought they are not really necessary for low price range services...But it's probably easier to close in person rather than by phone, as physical presence has some form of trust factor, I guess.
 
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sonny_1080

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Would you mind explaining a bit more on your cold-calling process? So the goal of the call is to secure a face-to-face meeting, right? And you're not trying to sell anything over the phone or discuss any advertising costs, which you leave for the meeting, correct?
Exactly! I’m not selling anything in the cold-call. Just trying to book a meeting with a decision maker. Selling and discussing costs is done solely during the sales demonstration/presentation.


Since you're going to meet business owners in person, I'm assuming these are all local companies to you and you're not travelling miles away for a meeting?

I haven't done in-person meetings myself, as I thought they are not really necessary for low price range services...But it's probably easier to close in person rather than by phone, as physical presence has some form of trust factor, I guess.

So I have yet to meet these people in person. All my meetings are done over Zoom. I’d prefer to do it in person because it’s a lot harder to tell someone “no” to the face for most people.
 

Andy Black

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it’s a lot harder to tell someone “no” to the face for most people.
Just a thought:

I don’t want people saying Yes because I’ve made it harder to say No. I only want to work with “Hell Yeah”.
 

sonny_1080

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Just a thought:

I don’t want people saying Yes because I’ve made it harder to say No. I only want to work with “Hell Yeah”.
I agree.

I apologize for my poor choice of words.
 
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sonny_1080

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[Update]

Landed 3 more sales meetings since my last post; they haven’t closed but they’re looking good so we’ll see. Now I’ve got 3 ad accounts and a landing page to set up. Landing page is done and I’m finishing up the 1st ad account.

My brother-in-law runs an HVAC service and he’s got a prime network that he’s starting to introduce me to. Got a referral for a plumber from him so far. He also knows a guy who put together some really nice business cards for me too.

He (my brother-in-law) told me to make my website better so he can show it to a lawyer friend of his who needs a website. I jumped all over it.

All this has led to some quality problems. ... now my prospecting and sales is put on hold because I have to get all the work done. It feels like I’ve got undeveloped chess pieces blocked by my own pawns.

I guess the next step would be to get someone to set up the accounts for me and another person to make phone calls for me. That way I can focus on monitoring/optimizing the accounts and sales meetings.

I’m thinking either UpWork or looking into a virtual assistant to get someone to train so I can delegate some of the preliminary work.

I’m still waiting on the county clerk to register my DBA so I can get an EIN number and open a bank account to link a Quickbooks account to. Once I got that set up, I’m gonna make a digital terms form that collects the payment details.

By next week, I should have these 3 ad accounts up and running, my website on level-10, my business cards, a terms and conditions form that customers can sign and return (later to be digital), and a better idea of my first employee.

I should talk to this lawyer about trademarks, hiring, and contracts.

I’ll keep you guys posted!
 
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Andy Black

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[Update]

Landed 3 more sales meetings since my last post; they haven’t closed but they’re looking good so we’ll see. Now I’ve got 3 ad accounts and a landing page to set up. Landing page is done and I’m finishing up the 1st ad account.

My brother-in-law runs an HVAC service and he’s got a prime network that he’s starting to introduce me to. Got a referral for a plumber from him so far. He also knows a guy who put together some really nice business cards for me too.

He (my brother-in-law) told me to make my website better so he can show it to a lawyer friend of his who needs a website. I jumped all over it.

All this has led to some quality problems. ... now my prospecting and sales is put on hold because I have to get all the work done. It feels like I’ve got undeveloped chess pieces blocked by my own pawns.

I guess the next step would be to get someone to set up the accounts for me and another person to make phone calls for me. That way I can focus on monitoring/optimizing the accounts and sales meetings.

I’m thinking either UpWork or looking into a virtual assistant to get someone to train so I can delegate some of the preliminary work.

I’m still waiting on the county clerk to register my DBA so I can get an EIN number and open a bank account to link a Quickbooks account to. Once I got that set up, I’m gonna make a digital terms form that collects the payment details.

By next week, I should have these 3 ad accounts up and running, my website on level-10, my business cards, a terms and conditions form that customers can sign and return (later to be digital), and a better idea of my first employee.

I should talk to this lawyer about trademarks, hiring, and contracts.

I’ll keep you guys posted!
Send people to your LinkedIn profile for now? I still don’t have a website.
 

sonny_1080

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[update]

Been 17 days since my last update. Of the 3 new clients, I have 2 of their ads live. I’ve spent a considerable amount of time trying to optimize the account for a previous client (I’m still not happy with it).

Gotten paid from all of them except the guy I haven’t begun work for yet. He emailed me yesterday about payment so I’ll get started on his LP and ads tomorrow.

My website isn’t completely done but it’s definitely presentable. My brother-I’m-law got me my business cards so on Sunday I’m gonna drive to places that seem relevant to display them (business resources, small business resource type places, college campuses that have business resources available, etc).

I didn’t land the lawyers website job but I’m glad I didn’t because it would’ve been too time-consuming. I want to focus on the advertising.

I called the county clerk. Apparently they’re so backed up I won’t have my DBA for another 3 weeks. Which means I can’t start quickbooks because they only work with business bank accounts. That’s not the end of the world even though I hate to have people mail me a check. I don’t really have a way to provide an official invoice or receipt either, which hasn’t looked professional.

I spoke to a business coach about trademarks, hiring, and contracts - and realized I’m a little too far ahead of myself.

I’m only generating $1,400 in monthly recurring revenue. Considering my living expenses are my business expenses, I’m not even profitable yet. I can’t take on an employee, I have to get better at being more productive. I took a DISC assessment, learned what my natural and adaptive styles are, and I’m trying to leverage them to be more effective in my work.

I also found where my time is best spent when it comes to my conversion ratio. Let’s just say 50:1 ratio from cold calling is not effective.

I made a data sheet for my insurance client for her to fill out so I can see the results my ads have gotten for her. It’s been disheartening to go from my barber client who’s ads did so well (but he only stayed on as a client for 2 weeks) and then this insurance client who I’ve struggled to get results for (but she’s going on her 3rd month). I don’t get it. I’m starting to think that people’s desire for more customers will always limit their satisfaction from the work I do for them.

I’ve spent probably too much time trying to adjust her stuff. I’ve started over like 3 times because I just didn’t know what else to do. I judge my 5% CTR relative to my barbers 12% CTR.

I feel like I’m not good enough. I feel like I should be making more money by now. It’s month 4 and I harken back to how MJ’s website did after he stopped doing web design and with each month he made more and more money. I know I shouldn’t be chasing money, but when my girlfriend makes $8 grand in a month from selling cars - my pride is hurt.

I spoke to a friend that owns a successful pizza shop and asked how he made it through his first year or two dialing in his recipe. He said trial and error. Making years’ worth of mistakes. A lot of loans and a lot of debt. He’s been doing it for 15 years and only recently things started to roll for him. He told me not to give up (I’m not) and just to keep working at my craft.

I have no problem selling my services. I can get in front of people and communicate value. But when I’m not satisfied from the results of my work because my clients arent ecstatic when I speak to them, I start to doubt myself. When the doubt creeps in, the ability to sell disappears.

It’s now 6am. Friday. What can I do to my ads to get buyers for my clients? Maybe it’s time to look into advertising beyond google ads. Depending on the service, I can offer an advertising platform that makes more sense.

I’ll let you guys know what I come up with.
 
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Andy Black

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[update]

Been 17 days since my last update. Of the 3 new clients, I have 2 of their ads live. I’ve spent a considerable amount of time trying to optimize the account for a previous client (I’m still not happy with it).

Gotten paid from all of them except the guy I haven’t begun work for yet. He emailed me yesterday about payment so I’ll get started on his LP and ads tomorrow.

My website isn’t completely done but it’s definitely presentable. My brother-I’m-law got me my business cards so on Sunday I’m gonna drive to places that seem relevant to display them (business resources, small business resource type places, college campuses that have business resources available, etc).

I didn’t land the lawyers website job but I’m glad I didn’t because it would’ve been too time-consuming. I want to focus on the advertising.

I called the county clerk. Apparently they’re so backed up I won’t have my DBA for another 3 weeks. Which means I can’t start quickbooks because they only work with business bank accounts. That’s not the end of the world even though I hate to have people mail me a check. I don’t really have a way to provide an official invoice or receipt either, which hasn’t looked professional.

I spoke to a business coach about trademarks, hiring, and contracts - and realized I’m a little too far ahead of myself.

I’m only generating $1,400 in monthly recurring revenue. Considering my living expenses are my business expenses, I’m not even profitable yet. I can’t take on an employee, I have to get better at being more productive. I took a DISC assessment, learned what my natural and adaptive styles are, and I’m trying to leverage them to be more effective in my work.

I also found where my time is best spent when it comes to my conversion ratio. Let’s just say 50:1 ratio from cold calling is not effective.

I made a data sheet for my insurance client for her to fill out so I can see the results my ads have gotten for her. It’s been disheartening to go from my barber client who’s ads did so well (but he only stayed on as a client for 2 weeks) and then this insurance client who I’ve struggled to get results for (but she’s going on her 3rd month). I don’t get it. I’m starting to think that people’s desire for more customers will always limit their satisfaction from the work I do for them.

I’ve spent probably too much time trying to adjust her stuff. I’ve started over like 3 times because I just didn’t know what else to do. I judge my 5% CTR relative to my barbers 12% CTR.

I feel like I’m not good enough. I feel like I should be making more money by now. It’s month 4 and I harken back to how MJ’s website did after he stopped doing web design and with each month he made more and more money. I know I shouldn’t be chasing money, but when my girlfriend makes $8 grand in a month from selling cars - my pride is hurt.

I spoke to a friend that owns a successful pizza shop and asked how he made it through his first year or two dialing in his recipe. He said trial and error. Making years’ worth of mistakes. A lot of loans and a lot of debt. He’s been doing it for 15 years and only recently things started to roll for him. He told me not to give up (I’m not) and just to keep working at my craft.

I have no problem selling my services. I can get in front of people and communicate value. But when I’m not satisfied from the results of my work because my clients arent ecstatic when I speak to them, I start to doubt myself. When the doubt creeps in, the ability to sell disappears.

It’s now 6am. Friday. What can I do to my ads to get buyers for my clients? Maybe it’s time to look into advertising beyond google ads. Depending on the service, I can offer an advertising platform that makes more sense.

I’ll let you guys know what I come up with.
Happy to have a chat and look over that account with you if you want.
 

sonny_1080

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sonny_1080

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[quick update]

Just got off the phone with a client. He's a pressure washer. COVID brought his business to a screeching halt. I cold called him a few weeks ago and he wanted my services. It's been 25 days since I made a landing page for him on my website with his contact info and launched ads for him. He's made $480 with another job lined up in the next few days for an additional $300. He's spent $271 on ad spend so far. If that job goes through he's looking at an ROI of 187%

He's satisfied. I'm satisfied. The best part is, is he understands that he has the opportunity to turn cold traffic and these new jobs into long term, repeat customers.

He said "its really nice to have my phone ring and say my business name. Its been awhile."

Not only that, but my insurance client gave me a referral today. I meet with them on Friday.

I spent the majority of the day compiling lists of people to call tomorrow.

I just got paid from a prospect too so I have to get his LP and ads up if not tonight then tomorow morning before I start phoning.
 
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Andy Black

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sonny_1080

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[update]

Been 12 days since my last update. I've decided to transition into a different business model. Either pay-per-lead or a digitized product of some-sort. I like the idea of a digitized product more, I just don't have a product yet - but I'm not worried about that now. This is where I'm at and I'd love to get your guys' feedback on this.

In order to fund this transition I need to get my current business sustainable.
I wanted to update you. After speaking to my accountant, I realize that in order to make my current business sustainable to start transitioning into next thing, I need to earn a net income of $4,000 per month.

Business expenses are $750 per month. With a gross income of $4,000, a 25% tax rate is $1,000. Therefore, I need to be generating $5,750 in monthly revenue.

Let’s call it $6,000. At current revenues of $2,100, that’s a $3,900 increase.

My average monthly revenue for my 6 clients is $350. Although I’m charging $500 now, a $3,900 revenue increase at current values (avg. $350:1) translates into 11 more new clients.

A 25% conversion rate results in my needing 44 prospects. The plan is to get high-opportunity clients for both my current business and to test the market for my future business. A realistic goal is 3 business meetings per day. This would allow me to set up client accounts quickly as I go. I think setting my end date for this goal at November 1st is reasonable enough to not get too overwhelmed - which is important because if theres anything I learned in the last few months its that my response to being overwhelmed is to shut down and procrastinate further.

Let me know if you have any suggestions or feedback. Thank you.
 

Andy Black

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What about getting some eCom and/or info-product clients?
 
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sonny_1080

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Andy Black

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What do you mean? Like doing google ads for eComm?
Yes. You’re currently running Google Ads to help generate leads for clients. Google Ads can help make sales direct from websites of physical or digital products, or get email signups, build remarketing lists, etc.

Maybe you can relook at your current clients and your networks to see if they can sell anything direct from their site?
 

sonny_1080

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[update]

A friend of mine who I haven't seen in a long time paid me a visit. This guy makes between $30,000 - $60,000 in a month selling a digital templated product on shopify. I told him what I've been doing and when he heard about my barber client he was aghast that I was able to get profitable leads from a $10/day ad spend budget for something like haircuts.

I showed him my data for all my clients and he laughed at me because I don't have any conversion tracking set up. I told him some clients had no website or anything so any lead they get from someone outside their current clientele is attributed to the ads and the LP that I make for them. Thats how we track the results - he thought that was hilarious, that these people that pay me money to run ads for them are stupid, and that I need to learn and incorporate conversion tracking into my business ASAP.

Needless to say, that was a bit of a blow to my ego. I see where he's coming from - that unless I have tangible data to backup my claims for getting results, I'll never be more than what he referred to as "a snakeoil marketer."

Now I feel like I've ignorantly and unwittingly taken advantage of my clients and I owe it to them to start tracking their results in order to prove my value to them.

Now I'm grateful I haven't hustled for more clients - its kept me from making an even bigger fool of myself.

He tried to do the marketing agency thing a while back and hated it - he much preferred the Ecomm business model. That's got me back to square 1 thinking about something to start selling on shopify.
 
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[update]

A friend of mine who I haven't seen in a long time paid me a visit. This guy makes between $30,000 - $60,000 in a month selling a digital templated product on shopify. I told him what I've been doing and when he heard about my barber client he was aghast that I was able to get profitable leads from a $10/day ad spend budget for something like haircuts.

I showed him my data for all my clients and he laughed at me because I don't have any conversion tracking set up. I told him some clients had no website or anything so any lead they get from someone outside their current clientele is attributed to the ads and the LP that I make for them. Thats how we track the results - he thought that was hilarious, that these people that pay me money to run ads for them are stupid, and that I need to learn and incorporate conversion tracking into my business ASAP.

Needless to say, that was a bit of a blow to my ego. I see where he's coming from - that unless I have tangible data to backup my claims for getting results, I'll never be more than what he referred to as "a snakeoil marketer."

Now I feel like I've ignorantly and unwittingly taken advantage of my clients and I owe it to them to start tracking their results in order to prove my value to them.

Now I'm grateful I haven't hustled for more clients - its kept me from making an even bigger fool of myself.

He tried to do the marketing agency thing a while back and hated it - he much preferred the Ecomm business model. That's got me back to square 1 thinking about something to start selling on shopify.

Don't beat yourself up, failure is the way forward! Learn from this and move on. Implement your newly gathered knowledge for your clients.

Also, you are suffering the shiny object syndrome right now. You are going to chase money if you follow in his footsteps. And you will start from zero again. I would suggest you continue to improve results for your clients. Perhaps in 6 months you'll speak again and his Shopify site died out because he hopped on a trend an you have a flourishing marketing agency with recurring customers.
 

Andy Black

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I think he’s wrong to laugh. We have clients who don’t have conversion tracking setup (they just never answer our requests to do anything) but when I finally get them on the phone they’re delighted with how business is going.

We create weekly trading sheets and ask clients to fill in their stats. It never matches what the platforms say anyway. If you generate 10 phone calls then some could be marketers, wrong numbers, the same old lady ringing back 4 times, etc. Even if all 10 were new prospects then they still might all be poor calls.

Are your clients happy with results and/or progress?

How are you taking advantage of clients if they’re happy with the results, regardless of whether conversion tracking is in place or not?

I think you’re letting your morale be affected by other people too much? I also agree that you’re potentially getting distracted by what other people are doing. Maybe selling something on Shopify is more up your street. Or maybe not. It’s just a way HOW to add value imo.

Not saying to not do it. Just maybe to do things for the right reasons.

EDIT: He says your clients are “stupid”? And thinks what you’re doing is “hilarious” and akin to being a “snake-oil salesman”? I could be wrong but he doesn’t sound like someone I’d have any interest in hanging around.

Here’s a tip: beware people who tell you what you *need* or *should* do.

EDIT2: I worked for a company spending €120k/day. We didn’t have great conversion tracking because Google wouldn’t give us many conversion tracking codes. We seemed to do alright.
 
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Everyone does business and makes money in many different ways - just because someone is doing well with Shopify, it doesn't mean you should do it too. What about Amazon? Ebay? Digital products? SaaS?

Trying out things will help you find out what you're good at and focus on that, especially when you are just starting out.

Otherwise, if you have existing skills and you're able to use them to help others AND get paid for it, then there's no reason why you should switch to something else...That is providing that your business model is sustainable and can be scaled to a level you'll be satisfied with.

As for conversion tracking, I would argue it's not detrimental with local businesses, because usually your service keywords are limited anyway, they are location specific and they don't have a huge volume, so as long as the campaign is set up correctly, making use of exact/phrase and broad match modified keywords, then conversion tracking won't make much difference.
 
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sonny_1080

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[update]

Took my foot off the pedal as for as getting new client accounts to create & manage. Spent significant time doing market research to corner a certain sub-niche. Decided to go with the lead generation model.

1 brand. 1 website. 1 account. As many clients as possible.

I've spoken to 4 people in and around this particular niche and the possibility is there. The competition is tough but I can carve out space for myself.

I spoke to my Dad for the first time in a long time today. He told me what I needed to hear - "so you started this thing, you made some money, you realized in a relatively short time that it isn't the best direction for you, and now you're doing something else that seems to be more along the lines of what you want to do? Sounds to me like you didn't lose anything and its all good. You're just beating yourself up because you're impatient and sensitive."

He understood and related to how my brain works. One part wants to praise my successes while the other wants to condemn me for my failures - and the two are always at odds with each other.

Anyway, revenue stream has taken a hit. Trying to get a funnel put together that works and then get some leads to start selling. Shouldn't be too long until I have something functional that I can put in front of people.

Thank you for all the support.
 

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
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[update]

Took my foot off the pedal as for as getting new client accounts to create & manage. Spent significant time doing market research to corner a certain sub-niche. Decided to go with the lead generation model.

1 brand. 1 website. 1 account. As many clients as possible.

I've spoken to 4 people in and around this particular niche and the possibility is there. The competition is tough but I can carve out space for myself.

I spoke to my Dad for the first time in a long time today. He told me what I needed to hear - "so you started this thing, you made some money, you realized in a relatively short time that it isn't the best direction for you, and now you're doing something else that seems to be more along the lines of what you want to do? Sounds to me like you didn't lose anything and its all good. You're just beating yourself up because you're impatient and sensitive."

He understood and related to how my brain works. One part wants to praise my successes while the other wants to condemn me for my failures - and the two are always at odds with each other.

Anyway, revenue stream has taken a hit. Trying to get a funnel put together that works and then get some leads to start selling. Shouldn't be too long until I have something functional that I can put in front of people.

Thank you for all the support.
Speak to your dad more often. Not just because he’s wise and will steer you right.
 

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
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Read Fastlane!
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Just local businesses ones now. I joined to find local business owners to network / chat with. They seem to be a bit of a spam fest though so I’m not active anymore. I avoid Facebook mostly nowadays.
Ha. I don't remember writing that. In the past 3 months I've had a ball on Facebook and met loads of great people. I offered to do workshops for Facebook groups and that's helped me make those connections. This evening I even did a paid one hour 1-2-1 with someone who attended one of those workshops. He's now interested in my courses platform.
 
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