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CHECKLIST: How to Start a Digital Marketing Agency & Hit $5K in Less than 90 Days

Paul David

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Any updates on your situation? Did it pick up?

My clients have just been able to re-open in the UK so some are going live this week. I've got 28 clients in total now.

I'll update in a month or so with the results!
 
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Panda__

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I've been meaning to write this post for a long time. It's basically the story of how I started a digital marketing agency to be able to do cool stuff. And I would like to give you a nice little checklist that you could use as well if it interests you.

I started my business in 2010. Since then, I reduced my own work load to less than 10 hours a month, lived in Mexico for 4 1/2 years, traveled to 15 countries, and am prepping to head to Scotland for 6 months in Sept - all together with my wife & 3 kids.

I cracked the code to scaling a service-based business using detailed systems (a fancy checklist on Asana) and a good team (all based in the Philippines).

I made $2,450 in my first month. Not crazy I know but it was a big deal for me just starting out. More importantly, that number increased every single month afterwards.

At about month 11 is when I read The Millionaire Fastlane and it completely changed how I viewed my business. I made a bunch of changes based on MJ's advice and started hitting 5 figure months about two months later.


DOES IT FOLLOW MJ'S COMMANDMENTS?

I need to mention that a digital marketing agency does NOT follow all of MJ's 5 business commandments. It breaks one - Barrier to Entry. Basically, anyone can do this. They really can.

BUT, that's also the catch - most people DON'T ACTUALLY EXECUTE! You can give them all the tools, step-by-step instructions, templates, etc and they still won't do anything. I know because I offer a course giving people literally everything they need and only a handful of people actually do the thing.

So in a way, the barrier to entry commandment is almost a non-issue. Besides, there's more than enough business out there.

With the other commandments (time, scale, control, & need), this kind of business passes with full marks.


MAKING $5K IN UNDER 90 DAYS

Why $5,000? Two reasons:
  1. It’s usually enough money for most people to quit their jobs to focus full time on the business
  2. It’s totally realistic & achievable
This is a number that most people can hit with some focused work. How fast you’re able to hit $5k is up to two things:
  1. Your Prices
  2. Your Hustle
Obviously, the more you sell, the more you’ll make. Keep in mind that some services typically cost more than others (for example: websites cost more than social media management)

Like I said, I made $2,450 in my first month. How did I make that money? I networked with people I already knew and got in touch with a few key business owners. I shook hands and spoke with everyone I knew.

Simply put, I hustled.

Hitting $5K in under 90 days is totally doable. I have students in my course that have done much more in less time.


WHAT IS AN ONLINE MARKETING AGENCY?

Before I give you a checklist, I have to answer, what is an online marketing agency?

There are a lot of names for this kind of business - internet marketing company, digital marketing agency, online marketing business, and more. They’re all the same thing.

In a nutshell, it’s a service-based business that manages the online marketing activities for companies of any size that are in need of growing their presence online – which is all of them.

This includes services like SEO, social media management, reputation management, website design, and more.

You can choose to focus in on just one branch of online marketing (like website design or SEO) or you can choose to do it all.

As the business owner, you’re responsible for creating the services that your clients will choose from.
Then you will need to recruit a team of people to do the actual work. You can even hire salespeople or a sales company later on and scale it infinitely.

There’s no shortage of businesses that need help with their online marketing so the sky’s the limit. There’s also no shortage of people who can do the actual work and you can contract them relatively inexpensively.

*NOTE: Building an online marketing agency might not be your passion.

It really doesn’t matter.
What matters is that it offers you a way to sell a valuable service to real people who pay real money. You can quickly build this business, scale it up, and then do whatever the heck you want!

QUICK BENEFITS OF AN ONLINE MARKETING AGENCY

The benefits primarily include:


  • You can get started for less than $300
  • Extremely low overhead
  • Large profit margin - you literally set the prices
  • Huge potential - an extra $50K/year or $500K/year - it's up to you
  • Work online
  • Flexible schedule

Benefits.png


THE 5 S's OF YOUR ONLINE MARKETING AGENCY

Starting and running a digital marketing agency breaks down into what I call the 5 S's.

1. Setup
2. Sales
3. Systems
4. Staffing
5. Scaling-Up

5-S.png


I'm going to break down the checklist into those 5 groups.

The rest of this post is literally made up of the steps you can follow to start your own digital marketing agency. If you have any questions, obviously I'll be paying attention to this thread. I won't hold anything back.

Just ask.

***

SETUP
This portion is to help you get started by establishing your business services, messaging & branding, website, and so forth. The goal is to move quickly to hurry and get to making sales.



  • Start thinking about your business brand including your business name. Think about what kind “feel” you want your business to have. Write out at least 10 possible names.
  • Look up “online marketing company” and check out the first few sites – the goal is to get a feel for what they do and what you’ll be doing.
  • Consider taking a class or two on Udemy.com or Lynda.com to get an overview of the online marketing world. Strongly consider also going to QuickSprout.com/University
  • Think about an industry you might like to serve (i.e. – chiropractors) and then look up “online marketing for chiropractors” or similar terms and study what comes up.
  • Write out (or type out) your motivation. Why are you interested in starting this business? Answer this with something more specific than “to have more money”. Get as specific as you can. Don’t skip the mental work!
  • List out the amount of money you would like to make in your first month, second month, following months. Include your first year’s goal.
  • Go online and look up other online marketing companies (again) – jot down everything that you like and that you would like to emulate.
  • Start thinking about what sets you apart. Ideally it can be summed up in one sentence. i.e. – “We provide SEO services for dental professionals”. This is your USP (unique selling proposition)
  • Come up with your 3 packages. List out the services that each package entails. Yours may be just offering social media or just website design or whatever. Be sure to be detailed - list out everything.
  • Come up with your package pricing. Decide what you think is valuable for all parties involved and use this as a starting point (you’ll most likely adjust this as you get more experience). Use this pattern: $499/$599/$999 OR $999/$1199/$1699 and so on.
  • Identify and write out your USP.
  • Write what your ideal client looks like – the more details the better.
  • Decide right now you will stay true to your niche and not take on anyone and everyone who needs help “online”. It’s better to focus on a core audience to avoid wasting time and money. Don’t be afraid to say no.
  • Come up with your business name. Come up with your business tagline (if you need one).
  • Pick your colors. These can literally be your favorite colors. Don’t stress on this one.
  • Get a logo done (use 99designs.com, Upwork.com, or Fiverr.com) – don’t do it yourself unless you’re a graphic designer.
  • Write up your business plan. Print it out. Change as necessary. Just answer the following questions:
    o What is your company name?
    o What is your company tagline?
    o What services do you provide? What problem do you solve?
    o Who is your target audience or what does your ideal client look like?
    o What is your USP?
    o How much do you charge?
    o What is your monthly revenue goal?
    o How many new or repeat clients do you need to achieve this goal?
    o How do you get new clients?
    o How will you fulfill your services? Who makes up your production team?
    o Who are the other key players of your team? List their names and titles.

  • Set up your corporation (use LegalZoom – for now, just get a DBA and then incorporate once you’ve brought on a few clients and know this is going to work for you)
  • Set up your business checking & savings account. Set up your PayPal (or Stripe) business account.
  • Buy your domain name (use a registrar like GoDaddy.com). Buy your hosting (use a reliable & affordable host like SiteGround.com. Set up your website (use Wordpress – it’s super easy & all you need). Your host should have a 1-click Wordpress install.
  • Create a home page, about page, services page, & contact page to start. This is the minimum. Set up your social media platforms (Facebook business page, Twitter, Google+/YouTube, LinkedIn all a must. Pinterest, Instagram, etc are bonus).
  • Buy your business cards (and nothing else) Use VistaPrint.com because they’re super cheap. Only order 250 for your first cards. You may change some info later.


SALES
This portion is to help you start making sales - the lifeblood of your business. If you’re not making sales, you don’t have a business.



  • Get your first sale (work your own personal network to get started – make a list of 10 business owners you know or your friends/family might know and approach them offering them a discount or added value to get started).
  • Complete the work of your first sale and be sure to get results! If you don’t know how to do any of it, go to UpWork.com and hire someone immediately – see next section.
  • Document all of your work – you’ll need this to scale & build a team.
  • Get your next 3 clients quickly. Go to networking meetings in your area. Consider joining your local Chamber of Commerce and possibly a BNI group or other networking group.
  • Use online directories like Manta.com to find more businesses in your chosen niche. When you find their contact info, reach out to them leading with value - do a mock-up website with their info, list out specific tips to drive more business, or share exactly how they could tweak their online presence for increased traffic and conversion, etc. Think value!
  • Reach out to associations in your chosen niche and offer to give free webinars.
  • Optimize your company website to reach your target niche and drive traffic to it – have specific pages on your website that you get to rank in Google for organic traffic (i.e. – a page on “Search Engine Optimization Services for Chiropractors”). Then get it ranking and collect leads.
  • Continue to look up the Chambers of Commerce in your area and other mixers and networking opportunities. Look to set up 1-on-1’s with potential clients but only ones in your niche. Don’t waste time with anyone else!
  • Set up speaking and teaching gigs to get in front of a lot of people at once. Be as helpful as possible. Give your best stuff away for free - be incredibly detailed.


SYSTEMS
Once you have some sales coming in, you need to make sure you document everything and create systems in order for others to do the work for you. This also includes establishing what tools you use in your business. It’s simple but incredibly important.



  • Create a sales manual and a production manual. Be detailed and use bullet points.
  • Set up your work email (use Google apps or even just gmail to make it easy and route your Name@Company.com email through it)
  • Set up your account in Asana.com – it’s free and it will be your project management tool. Name each new project after your client name. Each project is a client & list out in the project all of the work you said you would do in the list of services.
  • Set your file storage using DropBox or Google Drive.
  • Set up your bookkeeping with Quickbooks


STAFFING
Getting a team in place to do the work for you is key to your growth. You need to hire, train, and lead your team members. As soon as possible, you’ll hire more team members to make sure all work is being done effectively.



  • Create a company org chart with you as owner. Create a general manager position with manager positions also in sales, production/operations, & finance.
  • List out the work for your first job (base this off of your services in your game plan). Then go to Upwork.com or OnlineJobs.ph and post your job.
  • Interview your top 3 candidates. Hire 1 but keep the other two on a short-list for when you need them in the future. Start them off on a part-time basis with the expectation of them doing more soon.
  • Hire your first employee or contractor – generally this is a production staff member first (you should not be doing the actual production beyond your first client).
  • Take time to train your first team member. Refine your systems and make sure they can operate independently of you as soon as possible. Use Asana (or Basecamp or Trello) to manage everything. If you’re concerned about tracking everything, consider using HubStaff.com.
  • As soon as revenue and need justifies it, hire another contractor. And then another. And another.


SCALING-UP
Once you have sales coming in and a team and systems in place, it’s time to scale-up. This section is all about refining your processes so that you can handle 5 or 500 clients while the work to you remains the same. In other words, this is how you make more money while working less.



  • Refine your services – productize them! When mapping out your services, make sure your offer is the same to everyone. If you choose a service like SEO for example, then it’s relatively the same regardless of the industry your client is in. Don’t match a service to the client. Match the client to one of your preexisting services.
  • Refine your clients - it’s OK & very necessary to the growth of your business to be choosy. Stay away from any "high maintenance" clients. Choose early on how you will handle communication with your clients. Most are just fine with email.
  • Refine your systems. Look for ways to save money, increase productivity, and so forth. When possible, swap out human effort with software and automated work.
  • Refine your sales. Spend money if necessary on advertising, always targeting your ideal niche/industry.
  • As soon as you have at least 90-day’s worth of savings in the bank, have made at least 3 sales (with a lot more in the pipeline), consider going full-time with your business. If you have a significant other, be sure to be on the same page.
  • Over-deliver with your clients. If the relationship is there, try asking for a referral but only if you’ve already done a great job.
***

That's it! Just sell. There's plenty of businesses out there. I don't mean to downplay it at all but really, I'm nobody special. I'm not like most of the successful hustlers in this forum. I'm a pretty average dude that managed to create a sweet business.

You can do the same. Just follow the checklist above.

If you have any questions, just ask!

-Sean

Thank you Sean for this post. I read through it and just purchased your Udemy course to accompany this outline. I've decided this is what I want to do. I am starting from ZERO and I'm willing to put in the work to see the results.
 

Sean Marshall

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Thank you Sean for this post. I read through it and just purchased your Udemy course to accompany this outline. I've decided this is what I want to do. I am starting from ZERO and I'm willing to put in the work to see the results.

Great! Keep me posted on your progress!
 
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WildFlower

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I LOVE this thread so much. I have skill set that fits this and seems like a way to make consistent income and within a decent amount of time. Thank you!
 

WildFlower

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I just watched a video on YouTube about how Sam Ovens would get clients if he had 30 days to do it. He said he would go online, select a niche and go over their websites. He would then record the screen and talk for 5 minutes about how that business could improve their website or advertising. He would then find the decision makers email and send them the link. Send 10 emails a day and within the month you will have a customer. I'm currently trying this now and sending the emails out tomorrow.

Do you know what video that was?
 

Genius01

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I do something similar myself. I have a pay per show model. I basically run facebook/google ads under my own niche brand. Then I sign up clinics who only pay me a fixed a price once a client I referred has walked through their door for the appointment.

It's a no brainer for them. Zero risk.

The downside is I pay for all ad spend up front.
How do you track it in your own situation?
How do your clients know the customer came from you?
And how do you ensure they stay truthful and give you accurate figures for their revenue, or you simply go on trust.
 

E01

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How do you track it in your own situation?
How do your clients know the customer came from you?
And how do you ensure they stay truthful and give you accurate figures for their revenue, or you simply go on trust.

Booking this into my weeks schedule. I wrote the company names part of your post and I'm sold.
 

Paul David

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How do you track it in your own situation?
How do your clients know the customer came from you?
And how do you ensure they stay truthful and give you accurate figures for their revenue, or you simply go on trust.

All my clients know is the leads name before their appointment. We book them directly on my clients calendar as we have access.

We assume they arrived unless my client marks them as no show.

I'm not interested in their revenue, my job is to get the lead through their door and I get paid regardless of whether they convert or not.
 
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Genius01

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All my clients know is the leads name before their appointment. We book them directly on my clients calendar as we have access.

We assume they arrived unless my client marks them as no show.

I'm not interested in their revenue, my job is to get the lead through their door and I get paid regardless of whether they convert or not.
Thanks, that makes a lot of sense.
 

Briannjho

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Hey Sean! When you specify your audience instead of saying “We provide web design services for dental professionals”, would saying “We provide web design services for home service companies” be too broad? Just want some of your input! First time posting here, and your stuff is INSANELY VALUABLE. Thank you!
 

Sean Marshall

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would saying “We provide web design services for home service companies” be too broad?

Not really because most home service companies (roofers, painters, etc) all pretty much need the same thing.

But, you might start off with one just to get started. It helps when you know the lingo of a particular niche and then become a trusted resource.
 
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Beerbread

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Thank you so much for sharing this, @Sean Marshall! I'm taking a stab at this right now and am documenting my progress on the Inside!

I don't know if this was ever mentioned in the thread, but do you have any contracts in place for your clients? Or do you just have a Scope of Work? I'm seeing threads who run similar agencies and charge backs seem to be an issue. Any advice in case things go south with a client?
 

VivaciousVipin

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I've been meaning to write this post for a long time. It's basically the story of how I started a digital marketing agency to be able to do cool stuff. And I would like to give you a nice little checklist that you could use as well if it interests you.

I started my business in 2010. Since then, I reduced my own work load to less than 10 hours a month, lived in Mexico for 4 1/2 years, traveled to 15 countries, and am prepping to head to Scotland for 6 months in Sept - all together with my wife & 3 kids.

I cracked the code to scaling a service-based business using detailed systems (a fancy checklist on Asana) and a good team (all based in the Philippines).

I made $2,450 in my first month. Not crazy I know but it was a big deal for me just starting out. More importantly, that number increased every single month afterwards.

At about month 11 is when I read The Millionaire Fastlane and it completely changed how I viewed my business. I made a bunch of changes based on MJ's advice and started hitting 5 figure months about two months later.


DOES IT FOLLOW MJ'S COMMANDMENTS?

I need to mention that a digital marketing agency does NOT follow all of MJ's 5 business commandments. It breaks one - Barrier to Entry. Basically, anyone can do this. They really can.

BUT, that's also the catch - most people DON'T ACTUALLY EXECUTE! You can give them all the tools, step-by-step instructions, templates, etc and they still won't do anything. I know because I offer a course giving people literally everything they need and only a handful of people actually do the thing.

So in a way, the barrier to entry commandment is almost a non-issue. Besides, there's more than enough business out there.

With the other commandments (time, scale, control, & need), this kind of business passes with full marks.


MAKING $5K IN UNDER 90 DAYS

Why $5,000? Two reasons:
  1. It’s usually enough money for most people to quit their jobs to focus full time on the business
  2. It’s totally realistic & achievable
This is a number that most people can hit with some focused work. How fast you’re able to hit $5k is up to two things:
  1. Your Prices
  2. Your Hustle
Obviously, the more you sell, the more you’ll make. Keep in mind that some services typically cost more than others (for example: websites cost more than social media management)

Like I said, I made $2,450 in my first month. How did I make that money? I networked with people I already knew and got in touch with a few key business owners. I shook hands and spoke with everyone I knew.

Simply put, I hustled.

Hitting $5K in under 90 days is totally doable. I have students in my course that have done much more in less time.


WHAT IS AN ONLINE MARKETING AGENCY?

Before I give you a checklist, I have to answer, what is an online marketing agency?

There are a lot of names for this kind of business - internet marketing company, digital marketing agency, online marketing business, and more. They’re all the same thing.

In a nutshell, it’s a service-based business that manages the online marketing activities for companies of any size that are in need of growing their presence online – which is all of them.

This includes services like SEO, social media management, reputation management, website design, and more.

You can choose to focus in on just one branch of online marketing (like website design or SEO) or you can choose to do it all.

As the business owner, you’re responsible for creating the services that your clients will choose from.
Then you will need to recruit a team of people to do the actual work. You can even hire salespeople or a sales company later on and scale it infinitely.

There’s no shortage of businesses that need help with their online marketing so the sky’s the limit. There’s also no shortage of people who can do the actual work and you can contract them relatively inexpensively.

*NOTE: Building an online marketing agency might not be your passion.

It really doesn’t matter.
What matters is that it offers you a way to sell a valuable service to real people who pay real money. You can quickly build this business, scale it up, and then do whatever the heck you want!

QUICK BENEFITS OF AN ONLINE MARKETING AGENCY

The benefits primarily include:


  • You can get started for less than $300
  • Extremely low overhead
  • Large profit margin - you literally set the prices
  • Huge potential - an extra $50K/year or $500K/year - it's up to you
  • Work online
  • Flexible schedule

Benefits.png


THE 5 S's OF YOUR ONLINE MARKETING AGENCY

Starting and running a digital marketing agency breaks down into what I call the 5 S's.

1. Setup
2. Sales
3. Systems
4. Staffing
5. Scaling-Up

5-S.png


I'm going to break down the checklist into those 5 groups.

The rest of this post is literally made up of the steps you can follow to start your own digital marketing agency. If you have any questions, obviously I'll be paying attention to this thread. I won't hold anything back.

Just ask.

***

SETUP
This portion is to help you get started by establishing your business services, messaging & branding, website, and so forth. The goal is to move quickly to hurry and get to making sales.



  • Start thinking about your business brand including your business name. Think about what kind “feel” you want your business to have. Write out at least 10 possible names.
  • Look up “online marketing company” and check out the first few sites – the goal is to get a feel for what they do and what you’ll be doing.
  • Consider taking a class or two on Udemy.com or Lynda.com to get an overview of the online marketing world. Strongly consider also going to QuickSprout.com/University
  • Think about an industry you might like to serve (i.e. – chiropractors) and then look up “online marketing for chiropractors” or similar terms and study what comes up.
  • Write out (or type out) your motivation. Why are you interested in starting this business? Answer this with something more specific than “to have more money”. Get as specific as you can. Don’t skip the mental work!
  • List out the amount of money you would like to make in your first month, second month, following months. Include your first year’s goal.
  • Go online and look up other online marketing companies (again) – jot down everything that you like and that you would like to emulate.
  • Start thinking about what sets you apart. Ideally it can be summed up in one sentence. i.e. – “We provide SEO services for dental professionals”. This is your USP (unique selling proposition)
  • Come up with your 3 packages. List out the services that each package entails. Yours may be just offering social media or just website design or whatever. Be sure to be detailed - list out everything.
  • Come up with your package pricing. Decide what you think is valuable for all parties involved and use this as a starting point (you’ll most likely adjust this as you get more experience). Use this pattern: $499/$599/$999 OR $999/$1199/$1699 and so on.
  • Identify and write out your USP.
  • Write what your ideal client looks like – the more details the better.
  • Decide right now you will stay true to your niche and not take on anyone and everyone who needs help “online”. It’s better to focus on a core audience to avoid wasting time and money. Don’t be afraid to say no.
  • Come up with your business name. Come up with your business tagline (if you need one).
  • Pick your colors. These can literally be your favorite colors. Don’t stress on this one.
  • Get a logo done (use 99designs.com, Upwork.com, or Fiverr.com) – don’t do it yourself unless you’re a graphic designer.
  • Write up your business plan. Print it out. Change as necessary. Just answer the following questions:
    o What is your company name?
    o What is your company tagline?
    o What services do you provide? What problem do you solve?
    o Who is your target audience or what does your ideal client look like?
    o What is your USP?
    o How much do you charge?
    o What is your monthly revenue goal?
    o How many new or repeat clients do you need to achieve this goal?
    o How do you get new clients?
    o How will you fulfill your services? Who makes up your production team?
    o Who are the other key players of your team? List their names and titles.

  • Set up your corporation (use LegalZoom – for now, just get a DBA and then incorporate once you’ve brought on a few clients and know this is going to work for you)
  • Set up your business checking & savings account. Set up your PayPal (or Stripe) business account.
  • Buy your domain name (use a registrar like GoDaddy.com). Buy your hosting (use a reliable & affordable host like SiteGround.com. Set up your website (use Wordpress – it’s super easy & all you need). Your host should have a 1-click Wordpress install.
  • Create a home page, about page, services page, & contact page to start. This is the minimum. Set up your social media platforms (Facebook business page, Twitter, Google+/YouTube, LinkedIn all a must. Pinterest, Instagram, etc are bonus).
  • Buy your business cards (and nothing else) Use VistaPrint.com because they’re super cheap. Only order 250 for your first cards. You may change some info later.


SALES
This portion is to help you start making sales - the lifeblood of your business. If you’re not making sales, you don’t have a business.



  • Get your first sale (work your own personal network to get started – make a list of 10 business owners you know or your friends/family might know and approach them offering them a discount or added value to get started).
  • Complete the work of your first sale and be sure to get results! If you don’t know how to do any of it, go to UpWork.com and hire someone immediately – see next section.
  • Document all of your work – you’ll need this to scale & build a team.
  • Get your next 3 clients quickly. Go to networking meetings in your area. Consider joining your local Chamber of Commerce and possibly a BNI group or other networking group.
  • Use online directories like Manta.com to find more businesses in your chosen niche. When you find their contact info, reach out to them leading with value - do a mock-up website with their info, list out specific tips to drive more business, or share exactly how they could tweak their online presence for increased traffic and conversion, etc. Think value!
  • Reach out to associations in your chosen niche and offer to give free webinars.
  • Optimize your company website to reach your target niche and drive traffic to it – have specific pages on your website that you get to rank in Google for organic traffic (i.e. – a page on “Search Engine Optimization Services for Chiropractors”). Then get it ranking and collect leads.
  • Continue to look up the Chambers of Commerce in your area and other mixers and networking opportunities. Look to set up 1-on-1’s with potential clients but only ones in your niche. Don’t waste time with anyone else!
  • Set up speaking and teaching gigs to get in front of a lot of people at once. Be as helpful as possible. Give your best stuff away for free - be incredibly detailed.


SYSTEMS
Once you have some sales coming in, you need to make sure you document everything and create systems in order for others to do the work for you. This also includes establishing what tools you use in your business. It’s simple but incredibly important.



  • Create a sales manual and a production manual. Be detailed and use bullet points.
  • Set up your work email (use Google apps or even just gmail to make it easy and route your Name@Company.com email through it)
  • Set up your account in Asana.com – it’s free and it will be your project management tool. Name each new project after your client name. Each project is a client & list out in the project all of the work you said you would do in the list of services.
  • Set your file storage using DropBox or Google Drive.
  • Set up your bookkeeping with Quickbooks


STAFFING
Getting a team in place to do the work for you is key to your growth. You need to hire, train, and lead your team members. As soon as possible, you’ll hire more team members to make sure all work is being done effectively.



  • Create a company org chart with you as owner. Create a general manager position with manager positions also in sales, production/operations, & finance.
  • List out the work for your first job (base this off of your services in your game plan). Then go to Upwork.com or OnlineJobs.ph and post your job.
  • Interview your top 3 candidates. Hire 1 but keep the other two on a short-list for when you need them in the future. Start them off on a part-time basis with the expectation of them doing more soon.
  • Hire your first employee or contractor – generally this is a production staff member first (you should not be doing the actual production beyond your first client).
  • Take time to train your first team member. Refine your systems and make sure they can operate independently of you as soon as possible. Use Asana (or Basecamp or Trello) to manage everything. If you’re concerned about tracking everything, consider using HubStaff.com.
  • As soon as revenue and need justifies it, hire another contractor. And then another. And another.


SCALING-UP
Once you have sales coming in and a team and systems in place, it’s time to scale-up. This section is all about refining your processes so that you can handle 5 or 500 clients while the work to you remains the same. In other words, this is how you make more money while working less.



  • Refine your services – productize them! When mapping out your services, make sure your offer is the same to everyone. If you choose a service like SEO for example, then it’s relatively the same regardless of the industry your client is in. Don’t match a service to the client. Match the client to one of your preexisting services.
  • Refine your clients - it’s OK & very necessary to the growth of your business to be choosy. Stay away from any "high maintenance" clients. Choose early on how you will handle communication with your clients. Most are just fine with email.
  • Refine your systems. Look for ways to save money, increase productivity, and so forth. When possible, swap out human effort with software and automated work.
  • Refine your sales. Spend money if necessary on advertising, always targeting your ideal niche/industry.
  • As soon as you have at least 90-day’s worth of savings in the bank, have made at least 3 sales (with a lot more in the pipeline), consider going full-time with your business. If you have a significant other, be sure to be on the same page.
  • Over-deliver with your clients. If the relationship is there, try asking for a referral but only if you’ve already done a great job.
***

That's it! Just sell. There's plenty of businesses out there. I don't mean to downplay it at all but really, I'm nobody special. I'm not like most of the successful hustlers in this forum. I'm a pretty average dude that managed to create a sweet business.

You can do the same. Just follow the checklist above.

If you have any questions, just ask!

-Sean
Hey Sean, thank you for such detailed information.

I'm looking to start my writing services company - basically, content writing, copywriting & content marketing.

Would you advise to niche down it further? Since I've chosen one aspect of digital marketing and not industry-specific?

I've worked with published authors in my country so maybe should I focus on authors?

What your sweet advice will be?

Thanks in advance.
 
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themarketr

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Such a gold you post Sean. I have a digital marketing agency since mid-2017. I failed in the majority of the tips you told in this post.

But last year I started to use a CRM to manage tasks and employees. Create a strong proposal and a list of services on the CRM so I really quickly can send a proposal to a lead. I'm designing SOP's (services operatives procedures) to organize the work and I'm focused on SEO. To create several micro-niche projects to monetize with AdSense and Amazon Affiliates and offer a more technical SEO service to clients and finally migrate to a light weigh web design using only Gutenberg and drop Elementor and Divi.

My last two books are Smartcuts by Shane Snow (I get a strong focus on minimalism and simplicity) and The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ that changes my vision to a wide-open one.

Your post is a perfect guide to follow after reading these books.

Thanks for Share!

Regards,
Darío
 

Sean Marshall

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How do you track it in your own situation?
How do your clients know the customer came from you?
And how do you ensure they stay truthful and give you accurate figures for their revenue, or you simply go on trust.

In my own business, we use AI software that manages it all - from the time the lead enters their phone number to the texting to the appointment. The client knows, we know, and there's no room for dishonesty.
 
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Sean Marshall

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Would you advise to niche down it further? Since I've chosen one aspect of digital marketing and not industry-specific?

I've worked with published authors in my country so maybe should I focus on authors?
Yes, at least starting out, I think the more niche you can get, the better.

Starting out with content/copy for authors might work well. But then again, they're authors so maybe content is what they need as much as marketing/selling that content. Maybe ads for authors might be a better route. Just a thought.
 
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VivaciousVipin

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Yes, at least starting out, I think the more niche you can get, the better.

Starting out with content/copy for authors might work well. But then again, they're authors so maybe content is what they need as much as marketing/selling that content. Maybe ads for authors might be a better route. Just a thought.
Thanks, Sean, that seems like a good idea. Not proper ads but yeah ad copies for authors. Thanks, again!
 

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I'm reading this thread in 2021, @Sean Marshall thank you for infinite value and sorry my english!

I am a 25 year old Italian Marketer and I read Millionare Fastlane about 2 years ago.
I currently work in a law firm from 9-17 and do digital marketing for them (I know, it's snowlane but it's a good salary at my age).

Fortunately, I can also manage a secondary job with a friend and we take care of e-commerce creation, growth, strategies and advertising for a clothing store here in Rome. We have been collaborating with him for about 2 years and we have achieved extraordinary results. Thanks to our work with the store, we started working for about 6 months also with his girlfriend's shop (also a clothing store) and another clothing store here in Rome.

By now we know how things work for this niche and we are thinking of setting up an agency specializing in this.

We know the market well and we know what things work. We have taken an office to meet clients and work. In addition, we have used it as a photographic set (another service to put in our package, necessary to have quality photos on the site. We are thinking of finding an agreement with a photographer who does this for us.)

Reading this thread I realized how much market there is still in Italy, and due to Covid, companies are finally starting to want to go online.

It is incredible how much the news is spreading about the "guys" who are good at creating an online presence and the results they are getting and every week they ask us to work for them. We don't even have an online site yet! Only referral! We have a great relationship with our clients and we also go for a beer together if it happens :)

We are proceeding with documenting all activities and organising ourselves as best we can to find other people ready to help us and therefore take on new projects.

This seems the only obstacle to overcome. Organization only. There is no shortage of clients and requests either.

To date we are 3 for 3 projects. I personally manage all the ADVs, my friend the customer relations and the campaign strategy, and another guy takes care of photo editing and uploading products on the various sites.

I would like to have an opinion from all of you, certainly with more experience than me, all advice is welcome.
I would also like to know in your opinion what would be the right price for all this. Obviously month by month!

Thanks in advance! :praise:
 
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Sean Marshall

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I would also like to know in your opinion what would be the right price for all this. Obviously month by month!
Wow! Great job Lorenzo!

Keep getting good results and more business will come. Then you can implement more fastlane methodologies and scale up.

As far as pricing, it really depends on the local market. I'm sure in Rome, like everywhere else, has been hit but as long as you're providing more value than you're charging, you should have no shortage of new clientele. Test different price points (go higher than what you think you should) and see what your local market will bear. But, be good at what you do, too. :)

Keep hustling!
 

Genius01

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In my own business, we use AI software that manages it all - from the time the lead enters their phone number to the texting to the appointment. The client knows, we know, and there's no room for dishonesty.
That's cool. Thanks.
Is the name of the software something you don't mind sharing? I'll like to know if so.
But if it's proprietary or a business secret, then that's okay too.
 

Sean Marshall

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That's cool. Thanks.
Is the name of the software something you don't mind sharing? I'll like to know if so.
But if it's proprietary or a business secret, then that's okay too.
It's called ALAN. I love it but I wouldn't recommend it for starting out (it's $20K). I would look at something like GoHighLevel first.
 
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alekssiht

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@Sean Marshall
Hello Sean

I wanted to write here, because I wanted to Thank you!

The first time I was this post, I was hooked.
I devoured all the information, did my own research, did some courses.
Started digital marketing. Now we got our first 3500€ week!
Just wanted to say, that your post was very useful and made a difference!

Have a nice day!
 

Sean Marshall

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I devoured all the information, did my own research, did some courses.
Started digital marketing. Now we got our first 3500€ week!
NICE!

Way to take action!
 
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Carlitos

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Sean first I would like to thank you for taking the time to create this guide! I went through the whole thread and is funny how when you first started this thread everyone was concern about competition, about market saturation, and the demand for this service. Fast forward to now 2021, you can definitely see this will soon become a gold rush.

Especially how someone mentioned what about the Spanish speaking market? Well I have been seeing that now there's starting to be a demand for it. There's a big market in the Spanish speaking community, who many aren't tech savvy or have even a clue how this works. But they are business owners who are struggling with revenues, and staying open for business.

I recently signed a lease, so I would be relying heavily on digital marketing and advertising. I am not new to this but I never really took it seriously a few years back when I was learning about SEO, Google ads, ranking etc...

Now that I have the experience and the knowledge, I was able to redesign my business website, currently working on a landing page, SEO, getting a blog going and etc.. I am a business that will providing services in the auto industry, and require a shop.

Now I have been thinking if I can get all of this going fast enough to my time line, what if I start on the side a small agency targeting the Spanish market.

A few of the questions I have in regarding the agency idea, are the following.

1)Do you have ONE business account for hosting, where you host all of your clients websites?

2) Do you have your clients domains under your account as well? or how do you handle in regard of ownership when it comes to hosting and domain? Any particular company you recommend better when it comes to these 2 things?

3) What percentage of the whole project is important in copywriting when working on building a brand new site for a client?

4)When it comes to pictures do the client has to provide them? or what if they are just starting and have no pictures to provide how do you handle this? Where do you get pictures from?

So far this is what I have in mind, if anything I can always come back and check this thread out, again thank you so much Sean for shinning some light in this industry!
 

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1)Do you have ONE business account for hosting, where you host all of your clients websites?
In our case, we let each client be in charge of their own hosting. We simply manage it for them.

2) Do you have your clients domains under your account as well? or how do you handle in regard of ownership when it comes to hosting and domain? Any particular company you recommend better when it comes to these 2 things?

It's their car. We just drive it for them. They have their own hosting/domain accounts, we have access to it.

I like SiteGround for hosting. Great tech support.

3) What percentage of the whole project is important in copywriting when working on building a brand new site for a client?

Not sure how to answer this one. Copywriting is always important, especially with a new website.

4)When it comes to pictures do the client has to provide them? or what if they are just starting and have no pictures to provide how do you handle this? Where do you get pictures from?

It depends on the client. We have photographers who provide everything. Then we also have dentists... so we use stock photos. There are a lot of sites like Pexels and Pixabay where you can get free stock photos.

Best of luck!!
 

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