Want Entrepreneurial Success? You NEED to Learn this First...

[startinup]

Don't Ever Wait to Seize an Opportunity

I'm sure that many of you have heard the saying "carpe diem" and know that it means "seize the day". I knew this, but only today did I learn how crucial it is to entrepreneurial success...

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I was sitting in a desk chair making plans for April 28th. The day after my last final. Graduation was a week later, but I didn't want to waste another second. I'd recently been distracted by school and unable to work on landing my first web development client.

I'd neglected my Operating Systems class and now had to become a devoted student once again. But that didn't stop me from taking baby steps toward my goal...

I'd done as much as I could, and prepared completely for the next step. I'd picked a big industry and found a client with an old website. They were the best choice of all the possible clients I'd found.

Even though last year they'd made just under $500 Million dollars, their website was ugly and 6 years old. It barely had any copy. It didn't have good pictures. And the layout was confusing. An amazing opportunity...

I'd spent hours fine tuning the homepage. Every single element was in the right place. The colors looked great. The copy fit the industry's tone. The homepage scaled beautifully on phones and and any size window. It was done. Ready to impress the decision maker as soon as they saw it.

I even typed up the complete email I would send. All that was left was to wait. I wanted to be ready, after sending the email. I would spend all my time finishing up their site, and didn't want to be distracted by school. The second I finished my last exam, I would send the email that kicked off my consulting business...

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After spinning around in my chair, I decided to get some backup email addresses. If the decision maker's email didn't work, I'd be ready. I typed in the URL. Memorized and quick off the fingers after so many visits.

"F*ck!" was the only word that came out of my mouth...

They had a new website.

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When you see an opportunity, you can't wait to act. There are other people RIGHT NOW trying to seize that opportunity.

So while you're waiting and putting X's on your calendar, saying you'll get to it tomorrow, or in a week, or when your life slows down. Someone else is sending the email that you haven't sent. Someone else is making the call you haven't made. Someone else is writing that last line of code.

Opportunities don't wait for you. They only last as long as it takes for the quickest person to come along and seize them.

Don't Wait.

 

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[anthonyseoul]

So you made the company a whole website before they'd even asked you to? Before you'd even approached them?

I like your initiative and I've tried something similar to this before. But the amount of time I spent building websites, reaching out to clients etc. made the whole thing quite stressful and unprofitable.

 

[startinup]

So you made the company a whole website before they'd even asked you to? Before you'd even approached them?

I like your initiative and I've tried something similar to this before. But the amount of time I spent building websites, reaching out to clients etc. made the whole thing quite stressful and unprofitable.

I should've been more clear. I only made a homepage as a sample of what it would look like.

I was just going to give it to them for free anyway, because their name carries weight, and the social proof from this one free client would kickstart everything.

 

[AdamMaxum]

Good point on not waiting. So true. At least in your situation you can assume that someone was already developing the website before you made your move anyway since websites can take a month or two to develop.

If I were going to impress a business with a new website I would go with the design side and present them an awesome looking homepage design vs anything developed.

This would actually be a good strategy for any designer/developers out there or sales people who are willing to spend money on a nice design template and then for each business you slightly customize the design to fit their colors and logo. You could replicate it pretty quickly and go after high probability businesses in need of a new look and really grab their attention. I've never seen cold emails do this and it would be a great way to draw them in and get a reply back.

 

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[startinup]

Good point on not waiting. So true. At least in your situation you can assume that someone was already developing the website before you made your move anyway since websites can take a month or two to develop.

If I were going to impress a business with a new website I would go with the design side and present them an awesome looking homepage design vs anything developed.

This would actually be a good strategy for any designer/developers out there or sales people who are willing to spend money on a nice design template and then for each business you slightly customize the design to fit their colors and logo. You could replicate it pretty quickly and go after high probability businesses in need of a new look and really grab their attention. I've never seen cold emails do this and it would be a great way to draw them in and get a reply back.

Yea... it didn't take long for me to realize that the company had probably already found someone to do the job for them before I started looking into it.

Regardless, waiting for opportunities never brings them any closer.

By design, do you mean creating a mockup on photoshop or some other software and then using that to give them an idea?

 

[AdamMaxum]

Yea... it didn't take long for me to realize that the company had probably already found someone to do the job for them before I started looking into it.

Regardless, waiting for opportunities never brings them any closer.

By design, do you mean creating a mockup on photoshop or some other software and then using that to give them an idea?

Yeah...some way to easily replicate a nice looking design and sub in verbiage/logo/color scheme and send it out to multiple prospects. People are visual so if you could find a way to do this without spending a lot it would probably result in higher conversions/emails back from businesses and once you had a process/outline in place it could be replicated fairly easy.

Example: Come up with a nice looking website design for a plumbing company. Then simply sub in new logo/name and current color scheme for each prospect you contact in this industry. Attach the design in the email - or - use a program like Online Mockup, Wireframe & UI Prototyping Tool · Moqups where you upload the design and create a URL u can share in the email.

 

[anthonyseoul]

I should've been more clear. I only made a homepage as a sample of what it would look like.

I was just going to give it to them for free anyway, because their name carries weight, and the social proof from this one free client would kickstart everything.

I see. That's makes more sense to invest more time at the beginning to get things rolling.

Have you tried the 'lumpy mail' technique when reaching out to clients? I tried it for this kind of thing and the results weren't bad. It netted me a couple of clients for webdesign and Facebook page management.

 

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