How to Learn Code, Start a Web Company, $15k+ per month within 9 months

[Fox]

What other questions should I ask? Size of company? What additional components they'd want on their site? I have a phone call meeting today and am trying to draw up some questions. Also, should I use a contract, and should I send it online through a contract signing software?

Edit: Also, I signed up for freshbooks. To accept payment 50% up front and 50% after, do you send them 2 separate invoices? How does that work?

At the bottom it mentions "charge deposit" or something - set it as 50% the price.

 

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[Skyizlimit1]

At the bottom it mentions "charge deposit" or something - set it as 50% the price.

Will do, thanks @Fox. Do you use a contract when dealing with customers?

 

[Fox]

Will do, thanks @Fox. Do you use a contract when dealing with customers?

Just the invoice and the email detailing the job. Have never had any issues. I qualify my clients heavily though and don't work with those who I know won't be a good fit.

 

[OrangeFlip]

What other questions should I ask? Size of company? What additional components they'd want on their site? I have a phone call meeting today and am trying to draw up some questions. Also, should I use a contract, and should I send it online through a contract signing software?

Edit: Also, I signed up for freshbooks. To accept payment 50% up front and 50% after, do you send them 2 separate invoices? How does that work?

Good luck today.

This documents has been really helpful, it has made some rounds on the web.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfIqJrS17a_nNj3_GmWpH__TIeKaW37gnwt7Lp59fscBiAH-Q/viewform

 

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[Skyizlimit1]

Good luck today.

This documents has been really helpful, it has made some rounds on the web.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfIqJrS17a_nNj3_GmWpH__TIeKaW37gnwt7Lp59fscBiAH-Q/viewform

This is gold. thanks so much. Will definitely be making a document and editing this.

 

[sharkas]

Hello,

Thanks for all the info in this thread. I have done the Udemy course, and learnt about SEO and CRO. Problem is, what I read the most is for products / SaaS (making the copy about the customer, showing the benefits..). I have some compagnies in my country that I can target (manufacturing compagnies) but I would not really know how to proceed with copy for industrial compagnies.

For example, if I take this theme : Manufactory: Multi-Industrial HTML Template Preview - ThemeForest

I saw your drawing about the flow process, but how do you edit these themes to include more CTA, or redesign the flow ? Again, the problem with most of these compagnies is that they show their services, which are sort of always the same ones from a company to another. Do you ask them for competitive advantage, USP, that you use in your headline ?

This is where I'm having difficulties. Most of my examples and experience come from online tech product, which is totally different.

Thanks

 

[alan3wilson]

That is incredible man!!
Really! Can I ask you how did you learn to code? what webstites or books did you use ?

Because I want to learn coding but I keep being stuck, I don't see any improvment and sometimes I feel like to not understand some coding lol is this normal or it isn't ?

 

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[mws87]

That is incredible man!!
Really! Can I ask you how did you learn to code? what webstites or books did you use ?

Because I want to learn coding but I keep being stuck, I don't see any improvment and sometimes I feel like to not understand some coding lol is this normal or it isn't ?

Read the first few pages on this thread. He details it there.

There are resources everywhere. Tons of useful stuff on YouTube. Once you grasp the concepts of html and css it becomes something you never forget. It's dead simple.

 

[alan3wilson]

Read the first few pages on this thread. He details it there.

There are resources everywhere. Tons of useful stuff on YouTube. Once you grasp the concepts of html and css it becomes something you never forget. It's dead simple.

Thanks!! Yeah I think I need to put more effort. Maybe I don't get programming for now but I can learn it in the long time.

There are people who say programming is only for people with high IQ but I don't agree with that.

 

[Huracan]

That is incredible man!!
Really! Can I ask you how did you learn to code? what webstites or books did you use ?

Because I want to learn coding but I keep being stuck, I don't see any improvment and sometimes I feel like to not understand some coding lol is this normal or it isn't ?

Hey man, learning to code/program can be really daunting! I've been learning for the past year myself and have found myself lost many times and feeling out of my depth. You just got to keep going everyday and it all starts making sense.

Here are some resources that have really helped me.

• The Net Ninja - Free easy to understand tutorials
• The Web Developer Bootcamp - Udemy - Paid full stack course
• p1xt-guides/job-ready.md at master · P1xt/p1xt-guides · GitHub - Free front-end development learning path with projects, based on JavaScript. (Come here after you've learnt HTML, CSS, Bootstrap)

One of the mistakes i made was that i wasn't working on any of my own projects, which made it much harder to retain the information.

 

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[alan3wilson]

Thanks man!! So you advice to find a project and work on it ?

Is there any project idea already made online to work on that ? or do you say to start a project from zero ?

 

[c_morris]

Is there any project idea already made online to work on that ? or do you say to start a project from zero ?

Find a website that requires updating. Make that your project. Contact the business owner and give it to him for free.

The practice builds your skills.
The website builds your portfolio.
Giving it for free builds your value.

Once you have a few live sites, you now have a legit portfolio with satisfied customers willing to vouch for your skills.

 

[EN_VY]

I feel that anyone who is doing this and looking to expand (including me) should focus efforts in building their online presence. Having a website and a portfolio is cool, but being able to be found in local directories as well as getting good reviews helps out a lot. Although I do that for my clients all the time, I never put the effort for my own biz. Now that I'm targeting new clients (not relying on referrals), I'm really focusing on it.

A client is more likely to do biz with a company/freelancer that they can find info on.

 

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[paulmp]

This entire thread was a brilliant read, full of nuggets, I've got nearly 3 pages of notes, I've already applied some of them to the way I cold email businesses. Booked in 4 meetings for the week, my closing rate from meetings is usually around 80%, so I should have 3 new clients by next week.

 

[Fox]

This entire thread was a brilliant read, full of nuggets, I've got nearly 3 pages of notes, I've already applied some of them to the way I cold email businesses. Booked in 4 meetings for the week, my closing rate from meetings is usually around 80%, so I should have 3 new clients by next week.

Great to hear. I seen you liking comments as you were going through so I was waiting for the first post!

Let us know how the meetings go. In person gives you a great chance to sell effectively and really understand the clients needs.

 

[Oak1]

@Fox, great thread my man! I haven't done webdevelopment in quite a while, but decided to pick it up after reading this thread.

I just sent a quotation for a €1400 Wordpress website. The website is for a lifecoach. Let's see what happens!

If you don't mind, I want to ask you one question that has been wondering in my mind for the last couple of days:

What exact benefit does a new website have for a business owner?

In my experience, a better website can (and in most times will) improve the conversion rate, but it doesn't really attract new visitors to the website. This leads me to the following question:

How exactly can we webdevelopers deliver insane value to business owners?

Your answer will probably be "offer them online marketing services". Sure, but SEO isn't going to deliver quick leads, while SEA is going to cost a lot of money.

Anyone has any thoughts on this ?

Ps. An earlier post in this thread mentioned an amazing case study. For people who haven't read it, it's gold: Cold calls: I went from nothing to $120k/year solo using this process. Script included. AMA • r/Entrepreneur.

 

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[Fox]

@Fox, great thread my man! I haven't done webdevelopment in quite a while, but decided to pick it up after reading this thread.

I just sent a quotation for a €1400 Wordpress website. The website is for a lifecoach. Let's see what happens!

If you don't mind, I want to ask you one question that has been wondering in my mind for the last couple of days:

What exact benefit does a new website have for a business owner?

In my experience, a better website can (and in most times will) improve the conversion rate, but it doesn't really attract new visitors to the website. This leads me to the following question:

How exactly can we webdevelopers deliver insane value to business owners?

Your answer will probably be "offer them online marketing services". Sure, but SEO isn't going to deliver quick leads, while SEA is going to cost a lot of money.

Anyone has any thoughts on this ?

Ps. An earlier post in this thread mentioned an amazing case study. For people who haven't read it, it's gold: Cold calls: I went from nothing to $120k/year solo using this process. Script included. AMA • r/Entrepreneur.

I target businesses whose web design sucks and is holding them back. I am not looking to create some miracle site that turns a whole business around - rather work with someone whose website is a huge weak link in their sales chain. Think of the difference between releasing the park break on an already fast car compared to trying to build an engine to make a slow car faster.

I don't do much SEO, the businesses I work with are already usually listed as it is quite niche services and they have been around for years. You don't need to SEO much for X service when there is only 3 in that city. Of course I still do it but its not like listing for fidget spinners.

 

[Oak1]

I target businesses whose web design sucks and is holding them back. I am not looking to create some miracle site that turns a whole business around - rather work with someone whose website is a huge weak link in their sales chain. Think of the difference between releasing the park break on an already fast car compared to trying to build an engine to make a slow car faster.

I don't do much SEO, the businesses I work with are already usually listed as it is quite niche services and they have been around for years. You don't need to SEO much for X service when there is only 3 in that city. Of course I still do it but its not like listing for fidget spinners.

Thanks for your answer. I guess I target the wrong people then .

The next couple of weeks I will be doing some cold calling to businesses in my area. I will let you guys know how it goes.

 

[paulmp]

Great to hear. I seen you liking comments as you were going through so I was waiting for the first post!

Let us know how the meetings go. In person gives you a great chance to sell effectively and really understand the clients needs.

So I had my first meeting today with someone from local government, it went very well, not an immediate sale, but I wasn't expecting it for this one. We discussed putting together a project that will be high five figures at minimum, potentially low six figures, depending on how we scope it and what budget they can get from the two other interested parties. It would be a 2 month long project initially and then regular updates and additions at certain intervals that will be billed separately from the initial project.

Not exclusively web development, not something I will share publicly (happy to message a previous project I did to you Fox, I think you will find it very interesting). I was very conscious about listening more, working out their pain points and where the value is in it for them, as mentioned in the many previous posts. I received an email from them not even an hour after the meeting had finished, will be meeting with all interested parties, including the people who would be financing it, by the middle of next month. Pretty happy with that as a result.

 

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[Guest24480]

Read through this thread a few weeks ago and I'm just finishing up my first website for a family member. I'm looking into adding some back-end features to the site as well including a customer/invoice database because that's something they're in need of - a better way to find previous customer/job information on the fly. From there I'm going to start reaching out to people in my network for more work and start building a solid portfolio. Beats cold calling for sure, although I do plan on doing that in the future when it comes time to ramp up.

My background: I've been coding on and off for just over a year now and have learned a ton along the way. I highly encourage anyone here interested in taking their sites to the next level to learn some backend stuff because it beats having to rely on plugins and such. Start with the Python or PHP Codecademy course or something along those lines. Learn the basics of SQL and database design. Explore how back-end code interacts with the front-end in web applications (look into the Model-View-Controller (MVC)). It really puts things into perspective in terms of how websites work, and will make it infinitely easier for you to understand and implement more complex features into your websites. Not to mention a basic understanding of how code works is becoming more and more essential to online entrepreneurs these days, especially if you plan on building a SaaS solution in the future.

To illustrate how basic backend skills have already helped me - my client wanted a way to store customer data from the contact form I built into a database for future use. I knew right away without hesitation that this would be easy to implement with some basic PHP code. It's stuff like this that will set you apart from your average static site guy.

 

[Dunkafelics]

Hey @Fox

Have you found over the year as you've increased your knowledge that you've started going beyond HTML and CSS?

I've noticed quite a few people on the facebook page are using Wordpress. I just want to have an idea of where to transition in education since I've completed both the Udemy and codecademy courses.

 

[paulmp]

If you are going to use Wordpress, you can do nearly everything with only knowing HTML & CSS.

I have been developing Wordpress websites since 2006, it has only become easier and easier to use over the years.

I really recommend using a framework to build themes, I've been using X Theme lately and it is infinitely flexible: X | The Theme

 

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[Fox]

Hey @Fox

Have you found over the year as you've increased your knowledge that you've started going beyond HTML and CSS?

I've noticed quite a few people on the facebook page are using Wordpress. I just want to have an idea of where to transition in education since I've completed both the Udemy and codecademy courses.

I have gone more into management and business skills, I probably won't ever learn any advance coding. My most recent site was built through wordpress though which was the first time I have personally done a large site that way.

As for yourself I would recommend focusing on where jobs are taking you. Try land new projects and then start learning if its needed.

 

[Liberty T. Vance]

I'm cheating a little (a lot) because this is mostly copy and paste from another post I did on the forum.

But the reason the following has happened began with @Fox and this thread.

I just got my first job through Upwork following Rob's advice and this is what I did:

I taught myself web design over the last few months and decided it was time to build my portfolio.

I first tried using a friend to build my portfolio by building him a 10 page website which took a couple of months. It was my first attempt at building a site and to be honest my friend was terrible to work with, I was a beginner (time consuming learning on the fly) and it finally fell apart because he went out of business.

So I thought Upwork here I come.

I followed @SinisterLex advice back in January when he posted his SinisterLex's - I Deleted My Upwork Account... thread.

I had my profile accepted instantly and then I proceeded to take a few of the tests in order to get my profile to 100%.

Next I applied for a few jobs but nothing came of it (shitty proposals and wrong mindset) and my slowlane job ended up sucking up all of my time.

But now I currently have 4 weeks left of a 6 week break from work and I thought this is my chance to change my current path.

The first two weeks I traveled and while in airports and on planes read UNSCRIPTED which kicked me in the a$$.

So this week I decided it was time to get back to my plan and get myself out of my slowlane job.

I thought, I need to get my portfolio built, so Upwork here I come again and Lex to the rescue.

I just got my first job... Dropped my quoted price, you focused application and you focused communication.

I have no reviews and haven't made a dime on Upwork.

It's amazing how excited I got over a job that will only pay me around $50 and I'm excited to help this person (changing my mindset to helping others has been really difficult for me I'm used to thinking about how to make money and frankly not giving a F*ck about anyone else).

Upwork is not my end game I'm simply using it to get a portfolio built but also wouldn't complain if I pull clients from it and they refer me to other clients off of Upwork.

It's not teaching, I'm not in China and I feel awesome!!! I will quit my slowlane job this time next year!!!

I've procrastinated, struggled changing my mindset and just been plain complacent because I have a JOB... But now I feel like I can actually do this... Thanks Rob for starting me on this path...

P.S. Looking forward to July 10th and Fox School which I joined when you first opened up...

 

[Oak1]

Any news on your course @Fox? You're releasing it today if I'm not mistaking?

 

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[Fox]

Any news on your course @Fox? You're releasing it today if I'm not mistaking?

That was the plan but it will be out tomorrow. It will be worth the wait

 

[Oak1]

That was the plan but it will be out tomorrow. It will be worth the wait

Looking forward to it!

A quick update on my side. Yesterday I had a call with a life-coach who wants a new website.

He agreed on €1400,-, which is not bad at all for my first real website for a client .

Before I called him I watched the cold-call video of @Fox and because of that I was able to close the sale.

Some things that worked really well for me:

• Do a bit of small talk. "How was your day" is usually enough to break the ice and to create a friendlier vibe.
• Show your expertise by educating the client.
• Take away pain points and tell them how you've dealt with these pain points before.
• Be realistic and don't try to close the sale by overpromising. This will bite you in the a$$ in the long run.

I'm really excited to take this to the next level!

My next challange is to actually make this client a really happy client. I do have experience with creating websites, but designing one isn't something I'm really good at (yet). Let's see how this works out.

As of next week I won't have a full-time job anymore. I decided to quit as an Online Marketing consultant at an Ecommerce company because I had enough with the 9-5 mentality.

I want to hustle and build an empire for myself! Who's with me ?

 

[MiguelHammond10]

It has taken me a long time to have time to create this thread and for that I apologize. I have been getting PMs for months and while I helped a lot of you out with detailed responses I wanted to start a thread so everyone would have access to the same information.

*** This isn't exact Fastlane, at least not in the beginning, but its a great way to earn 5 figures a month, learn the skills to create and run your own FL business while building a network of top business people***

Back at the beginning of the year I packed up everything I owned in Canada and moved to South America. I was keen to make enough income to stay down there while also building my own Fastlane business. Problem was I had no online skills, no idea what to do and have never ran a successful business before.

I just launched my business last week and I am still down here living happily so I guess I could say things have gone very well. Hopefully this information helps others achieve similar success and allows them to start pursuing their dreams.


So first things first:

- I started with zero coding knowledge in January of this year. I didn't know how to host a website, I didn't know what HTML or CSS was, I made a tonne of really basic mistakes and figured it all out by myself. I didn't take any expensive courses, had no mentors and probably only spent a few hundred dollars getting set up.

It took me a while to refine my niche but what I now focus on is building simple yet powerful websites that get huge results. No crazy interactive code, no fancy graphics, just simple, clean, professional websites that add huge value to the clients who hire me.

In the last few months I have
- built a website that landed a $1 million pus contract for the guys who hired me (they hadn't worked in over 8 months - oil company)
- built a website that helped get a pro athlete into a world tournament and increased pay from his sponsors (social media profile increase)
- Built a website that has a lawyer making over 1k a week on consultations

While I made good money on these websites its nice to know that the value I added is many times more and all my clients have been very satisfied.

I am still in the early stages of figuring this all out though so as this thread goes along I will still update with what I am learning and what has changed. Right now my problem is scaling, I need more top sales people on the ground selling websites for me. I will come back to this in another post maybe.


So how to begin:

So todays lesson is on how to get started at the very start. You know nothing and you want to get in on this action too. Some quick notes - I build "custom" HTML websites 99% of the time, I don't use wordpress except in some rare cases for add on blog/news sections to my sites. Why? Most of my clients are very busy, non tech people. They don't want or have time to update their websites. They want it built well and they want it to run itself. HTML is a lot better for this and when done right looks way more professional.

How to begin with HTML:

Take the HTML and CSS lessons on Codecademy - learn to code, interactively, for free.

You can also do the JS section but I didn't and have been just fine.


Next take the following UDEMY course:

Build Responsive Real World Websites with HTML5 and CSS3


After this you will now know how to edit and work with HTML themes. What does that mean?

Well there is no point creating a website from scratch. That takes years of coding experience and a lot of time for each new clients. Luckily enough people have gone and created HTML themes - its an already coded website where you just rearrange, switch out the pictures and text and add in a few extra bits (I will show how to do all of this at a later stage).

An example of a theme is here...

Foundry Multipurpose HTML + Variant Page Builder

It just a blank slate with a certain style that you work with. While this may seem like strange or cheating (I thought this was how to learn to build websites!??) its not. Anyone with an internet can create a website these days so that is not where we will be adding value. We add value by building a website with a purpose. We want to build websites that get results and make money, or whatever they are trying to achieve, for the owner.

So how do you build a website that gets great results?

Good question.

As @Andy Black would say you want sales not a website. I am going to meet him half way with you want to build a website that gets sales. Not a website that looks amazing, has cool videos and sections, talks about the companies recent gold tournament or how they really wanted to do X since they were 5. Now it might do one or all of these things but only IF it helps gets sales.

Every page, link, click and action on the website is to help facilitate the growth of the company and sales.

Lets take for example an immigration lawyer website...

Is the goal of the site to teach you about immigration law?
Is it to show you stats of work, trade and education within the country?
Is it to teach you about what to do when you first arrive, what to pack, what to expect?

No.

The whole purpose of that website is for the user to either book a consultation or contact them regarding their services. Which both lead to that person hiring them as their immigration lawyer.

Now it might use some of the above to help with that goal but it only has one main purpose. Everything we do for that client must help with that goal or if it doesn't help... be removed.


You are going to learn to take the value of threads of here regarding copywriting, sales and the Fastlane Mindset and apply it other peoples businesses to help them achieve massive results. This just happens to take the form of a website. You are really selling sales and results.

Once you sell results there is no limit to what you can charge and achieve.


If you have read all this and want to start follow the above links, compete them fully and then follow along with the next stages. There will be a lot to cover but I will outline everything you need to know to be making over $10,000 a month with 6 months*.

*Assumes actual work ethic, being able to do some learning by yourself and filling in the gaps. I will give advice but I won't be holding anyones hand step-by-step.

Next lesson... Client selection.

 

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[MiguelHammond10]

Thanks for the insight,it's really going to help a lot here .

 

[Fox]

Looking forward to it!

A quick update on my side. Yesterday I had a call with a life-coach who wants a new website.

He agreed on €1400,-, which is not bad at all for my first real website for a client .

Before I called him I watched the cold-call video of @Fox and because of that I was able to close the sale.

Some things that worked really well for me:

• Do a bit of small talk. "How was your day" is usually enough to break the ice and to create a friendlier vibe.
• Show your expertise by educating the client.
• Take away pain points and tell them how you've dealt with these pain points before.
• Be realistic and don't try to close the sale by overpromising. This will bite you in the a$$ in the long run.

I'm really excited to take this to the next level!

My next challange is to actually make this client a really happy client. I do have experience with creating websites, but designing one isn't something I'm really good at (yet). Let's see how this works out.

As of next week I won't have a full-time job anymore. I decided to quit as an Online Marketing consultant at an Ecommerce company because I had enough with the 9-5 mentality.

I want to hustle and build an empire for myself! Who's with me ?

Thats great and glad I could help. Follow through with great work and make the next sale even easier.