Create a Home Based Web Design Business and Make R$15,000 + Per Month in 9 Months or Less.

[Mario C]

Loving this post - Thank you @Thiago Machado for sharing this - lots of knowledge bombs in this thread.

 

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[Thiago Machado]

Quick story: How I Landed a 3.2k job By Helping Someone.
​

Not so long ago I used to work at an advertising agency. My old boss called me up and asked if I could do him a quick favor (and that he'd be happy to pay me.) Since it was something quick, that could be done on the phone, and the person whom I'd have to meet lives down my street, I told him not to worry about it.

My task was simple: call up an international web hosting company and see what's up with one of his client's hosting.
His client's website was hosted on an american server, yet, she lives in Brazil (long story), so she doesn't know any English. Luckily, I was born and raised in NY and am currently living in Brazil, so this could easily be solved with a customer support call.

To make a long story short, what happened was: her hosting had expired, she forgot to pay, and she realized that a little too late. Unfortunately, they had closed her account and deleted her website. (OUCH!)

Although this lady was upset with the situation, she needed her website up and running, and she knew that I was planning on starting my own web design agency.

She's a business owner and relied on her website to help generate revenue. So she asked me if I could design one for her ASAP.

Sent her a proposal this morning and she emailed back a couple of hours saying: "let's do it!"


WHAT I'VE LEARNED

​

I've come to realize that sales gets easier and easier when you approach people from a position of genuinely wanting to help them.

When you truly know what the person's problems are and what they want, all you have to do is show them a solution.

No need to read sales books, take courses, practice objections, and etc. Just listen to people. They will literally tell you what their problems are, what they wan't and what you have to do to win their business.


SELLING 101


Just think:

1. What is their problem?

2. What do they want?

3. Can I solve their problem AND give them want they want?

If you have the answer to all 3, you'll close.


P.S. - If you want to get good at sales, Just read these 3 books so you can at least "get it". Then, take action:

• The Go Giver - Bob Burg
• The Secret to Selling Anything - Harry Brown
• The 10x Rule - Grant Cardone

WHY THESE BOOKS WILL HELP YOU​

​

* The first book will teach you the mindset you need to have in business.

* The second book will teach you everything you need to know about selling (it's easier than you think)

* The third book will teach you how to set goals and take massive action!



P.S. - If you guys want, I can send you my notes to these books.

That way, you can get an education of everything you've ever needed to know about sales in 15 minutes.

Let me know if you guys are interested!

 

[ApparentHorizon]

P.S. - If you guys want, I can send you my notes to these books.

That way, you can get an education of everything you've ever needed to know about sales in 15 minutes.

Let me know if you guys are interested!

Notes aren't aren't always a shortcut to internalization, but post them if you're so inclined. I'm sure others would appreciate it as well.

 

[Thiago Machado]

Notes aren't aren't always a shortcut to internalization, but post them if you're so inclined. I'm sure others would appreciate it as well.

True that @ApparentHorizon

The lessons in those 3, once internalized, will develop a major mindset shift in the person reading them.

May be best if people actually take their time to immerse and absorb the material.

Thanks for that

 

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[ApparentHorizon]

True that @ApparentHorizon

The lessons in those 3, once internalized, will develop a major mindset shift in the person reading them.

May be best if people actually take their time to immerse and absorb the material.

Thanks for that

oh whoops lol - I meant do post them

First part is true, to truly grasp something, most people need to associate the story...then apply it in their own lives. They need to live it!

Notes also serve a purpose:

1. If you've already internalized a concept, go onto the next challenge. However there may be gems in a few of the chapters.

For example, Blue Ocean Strategy by Kim & Mauborgne is filled with so much fluff, but the NYPD story in CH7 is a trove of gold nuggets:

- "TIPPING POINT LEADERSHIP" there are only a few key people, acts and activities that actually influence an organization. Identify and focus the resources there. (you could branch off of this and study war strategies, or even the tactics of the past election on both sides)

- "MEET WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS" People were leaving neighborhoods..."The performance indicators [NYPD] historically used to benchmark themselves against other police departments were tip-top: 911 response times were down, and felony crime arrests were up." However people still felt unsafe b/c of small crimes. "winos, panhandlers, prostitutes, and graffiti" so the dept put more focus on those and people stopped leaving.

"When you want to wake up your organization to the need for a
strategic shift and a break from the status quo, do you make your
case with numbers? Or do you get your managers, employees, and
superiors (and yourself) face-to-face with your worst operational
problems? Do you get your managers to meet the market and listen
to disenchanted customers holler? Or do you outsource your eyes
and send out market research questionnaires?"​

- EFFECTIVE RESOURCES "Instead of focusing on getting more resources, tipping point leaders concentrate on multiplying the value of the resources they have."

- Hot spots - low resource input, but high potential performance gain
- Cold spots - high resource input, low performance impact
- Horse trading - put the resources in the hot spot (duh)​

2. Having another perspective to an old idea is great, and people make millions doing just that.

Prime example includes the self help industry. Tony Robbins and the like, rephrase concepts that have been around for decades in a way people understand them. Not knocking these guys, in fact admiring their effective communication skill, but they've made bank offering a different perspective.

 

[dave773]

Hey man great progress thread i will be following you. I think there's always some luck involved when getting started or maybe you made your own luck!

Already started reading the first book you recommended. I'm also looking to start my own web dev business in australia so i can quit my job.

Have you been focusing mostly on cold calling still? I've been getting alot of 'not interested's' but then again I've only made 20 cold calls so far.

 

[Thiago Machado]

The Secret To Selling Anything - Harry Browne​

Success in salesmanship depends upon factors quite different from the common conceptions. You don’t have to be a showman, an extrovert, forceful, flamboyant, domineering, tireless, single-minded, or even energetic.


But you do have to be sensitive, alert, imaginative, honest, and a good listener.


If you look at the real world, just the way it is, you can see there are certain things you’ll have to recognize to succeed. None of these things is out of your reach. Let’s summarize them:


1. You must recognize that every individual is already motivated. Every prospect has a multitude of hopes, aspirations, dreams, plans, goals and ideas. Don’t try to motivate him. Instead, discover his present motivation.


2. Since every individual is different, there’s no way of knowing in advance what will make this prospect buy. Your job is to discover what it is that motivates this individual, and then offer your product in terms dictated by that motivation. The secret of salesmanship can be summed up in the simple rule: Find this prospect’s motivation and appeal to it.


3. Never present your product until after you have discovered what motivates the prospect. There are literally hundreds of possible motivations to which your product might appeal. Don’t make the mistake of trying to outguess the prospect ~ it isn’t necessary. Wait until you’ve found out what he’d be willing to buy before trying to sell him anything.


4. To increase your chances to make the sale, follow the five-step procedure:


1 - Discover the prospect’s motivation. Ask leading questions that encourage the prospect to talk about those areas of his life or business that will reveal the motivations to which you can appeal. Take an intense interest in all relevant problems that face the prospect. He’s telling you how to make the sale.


2 - Summarize the prospect’s motivation. Sum up the material presented to you in step one. Define the problem or summarize the objective so that you understand together what must be done to achieve his goals. In effect, you are confirming the qualifications you’ll have to meet to make the sale.


3 - Present your product. Now that you know what the prospect wants, you can present your product as the answer to that quest. Build your presentation around those matters (and only those matters) the buyer has said are important.


4 - Answer questions. Handle any reservations or objections the prospect may have; make sure he fully understands the proposal and the way it will satisfy his motives. In handling objections, don’t try to overrule the prospect’s thinking. Instead, use the listen-agree-suggest technique outlined in chapter seven.


5 - Close the sale. You should never find yourself locked in a life-and death struggle with the buyer when it comes time to close the sale. If you’ve done your job properly in the first four steps, you only have to encourage him now to do what he wants to do.



Selling is easy if you don’t try to put anything over on the prospect. Think of yourself as a representative of the buyer as well as of the company for whom you work. Look for motivations that will create a mutually- profitable exchange between buyer and seller. Never think of yourself as someone who tries to “talk people into things.”


Be honest at all times. Honesty is not a self-denying virtue. It’s one of the greatest assets a salesman can have. If you’re honest at all times, you can relax completely ~ knowing you have nothing to cover up. And your honesty will be recognized by many prospects who will then prefer to do business with you. In addition, there is an indefinable confidence that the honest man expresses that can never be impersonated fully


An attorney’s field is law and his success depends upon an understanding of its many angles and ramifications. A doctor’s field is health and his success depends upon his ability to diagnose, prescribe and operate.


What is a salesman’s field? It is communication. A salesman’s success depends upon his ability to understand his prospects and prescribe solutions to their problems. But his solutions must be presented in terms that fit the motivations of the prospect (not the motivations or opinions of the salesman).


Yes, communication is all-important. But most salesmen never learn that the essence of salesmanship is two-way communication.
Your success depends as much upon your ability to hear and understand as it does upon your ability to talk.


In fact, I will always hire a poor talker who can hear and understand over an extrovert who talks well but doesn’t take an interest in his prospect’s motives. The good listener will always outsell the big talker. There will be some situations in which the poor talker will lose out ~ possibly because he won’t be able to get a hearing. But in the long run, he’ll close more sales.


These seven points are the basic rules of successful selling ~ yet not more than one experienced salesman in a hundred practices them. As a result, for most salesmen selling is difficult, even frightening. And it’s not nearly as lucrative as it should be.


But the man who follows these rules finds that selling is easy. He doesn’t walk around with a knot in his stomach, for he has no one to be afraid of. He approaches every sales situation with the knowledge that he knows how to get the sale if there’s a sale to be had.


And that kind of confidence isn’t hot air, either. He doesn’t pump himself full of false enthusiasm by mumbling mystical statements to himself. His confidence derives from the knowledge that he’ll discover what the prospect wants ~ and so he can offer it to him, if it’s his to provide.


He has no fear because he never thinks of his prospect as an adversary. Occasionally, he runs into someone who is rude, arrogant or irrational. So be it. He has known all along that such people exist in this world and he’s never felt that his success was dependent upon his ability to change those people.


He knows he isn’t going to sell everyone, because not everyone will want what he has to offer. But before he terminates the interview, he’ll check every possible way that his product might match up with a motivation of the prospect.


The effective salesman knows that selling is also a matter of numbers. He’ll close a certain percentage of his presentations ~ but there’s no way to tell in advance in what order the presentations will fall.


The good salesman ~ the man who listens before he talks ~ will close a higher percentage than others will. To improve further on that, he’ll look for ways to upgrade his prospects, to qualify them better in advance, to improve his methods of listening and presenting his product. As a result, selling is very lucrative to him. He works short hours, makes good money, and has time to do those things that bring him happiness.


The effective salesman works with the world as it is. He doesn’t try to change others. He doesn’t try to wish away problems or pray he’ll be struck by the lightning of success. Seeing reality as it is, he knows he can deal with it ~ to get what he wants.


He knows there are certain laws of human nature that will apply in every situation. He knows that each individual he meets will be seeking certain predetermined ends of his own. And he knows that these ends will be fairly unique to this one individual. With this knowledge, he recognizes that there’s only one way to get the sale: discover those predetermined ends and help the prospect achieve them


A key trait of a successful salesman is his ability to recognize reality for what it is and to respect it as it is.


Whenever you approach a prospect, keep in mind that “This man I’m dealing with is seeking his own happiness in life. He has a pretty good idea how he’s going to get it. Am I thinking in his terms ~ or am I trying to impose my way upon him?


“His happiness is the object; his interests are the subject. Am I discussing the matter within the boundaries of his understanding and his objective ~ or am I trying to make him do something he doesn’t want to do? "


“Am I climbing into his world ~ or am I attempting to get him to give up his world for me?"


“For these minutes while I’m with him, I should be totally preoccupied with his life. By being in tune with him, I can show him how to get what he wants and I’ll make the sale.”


Remember, he’ll only buy when he believes he’ll receive more than he’s giving up. Therefore, you must discover what would be profitable to him and appeal to that.


All the “glib talking” in the world, all the gimmicks in the world, all the lies in the world ~ these thing won’t create enough sales for you to make selling an attractive profession.


There’s only one way to make the sale: Find this prospect’s motivation and appeal to it.


If you do, selling will be as easy for you as it’s been for me.

 

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[Thiago Machado]

The Go Giver - Bob Burg​

The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success​

​

1. The Law of Value — Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.
2. The Law of Compensation — Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.
3. The Law of Influence — Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.
4. The Law of Authenticity — The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.
5. The Law of Receptivity — The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.

 

[Thiago Machado]

THE 10X Rule - Grant Cardone
​

Unfortunately I read the 10x rule on my Kindle, so all my notes are on it, ha!
But it's a quick read though. Definitely worth it.

So to sum things up, I think these 3 books have "shed a light" for me.
All they did was just reinforce what I was experiencing first-hand.
It made the process "make sense" and allowed me to become consciously aware of "why things are the way they are."

@brokebum I've actually designed another website beforehand. I Just didn't post this information up. I've actually got a couple deals going on, so I'll try to keep this thread a little more updated.

To answer your question:
20 cold calls is nothing.
Look into @458 thread - https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/cold-calling-realities.69861/

You got to know your numbers.
In other words, keep track of how many calls it takes to get an appointment, sale, etc.
Check out this link - http://blog.close.io/cold-calling-conversion-funnel-analytics
And check out the image I attached.

Another thing you want to do is keep track of how your leads are doing.
Hubspot offers a free CRM tool that helps you manage your leads. That way, you'll know exact where they're at in the sales process.
https://www.hubspot.com/products/crm

And finally, here's the fastest way you'll become a cold calling pro - http://blog.close.io/the-fastest-way-to-become-a-cold-calling-pro
(spoiler alert - just do it)

Hope that helps

 

[Argue]

Keep up the terrific work. Definitely an inspiration!

 

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[dave773]

Looks like I'm going to have to up my numbers and yeah I knew 20 was nothing. Just stopped calling since all businesses were closed or owner wasn't there. Going to use this time to build a list and yeah been recording everything in excel. I'll check out those links as well, keep it up bro.

 

[Thiago Machado]

Thanks guys.

@brokebum - Although excel works just as well, I'd use that CRM tool to keep track of the leads. In my opinion, excel works great for creating the lead list, but I'd use Hubspot's CRM to manage them. It makes life easier (Just my own personal preference, but be sure to use what works best for you).

I'll keep you guys updated

 

[Sander]

How's it going @Thiago Machado ?

 

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[GMSI7D]

I think there's always some luck involved when getting started or maybe you made your own luck!

.

ask rich guys here

nobody will say " i was lucky all my life "

nobody won the lottery

nobody was born in a rockefeller-like family


there is a Brian Tracy program called " the luck factor "



this is about cause and effect. cause and effect = luck


.

 

[Thiago Machado]

Hey @Sander

Wow! I haven't been on the forum in a while.

I stopped coming here because I felt like I was mentally masturbating.

Anyways...

So far, I've had a lot of ups and downs, but I definitely made some cash!

During this time I've been able to reach the amount of money I wanted for some months.

Unfortunately, I just can't stay consistent. But I've been working on myself to fix that.

To sum things up, here are some of the lessons I learned so far:

80% is sales. 20% is technical skills.

80% of my clients want something they can edit from time to time.
So I found myself using Wordpress for the most part.

20% of my clients = 80% of my income.

20% of my clients = 80% of my headaches.

Fire those 20% that give you headaches as quickly as possible.
They'll suck up your energy and rob you of your time.
You could have been using that time to prospect, sell and build websites.

Don't take on a client just because you want their money.

Don't be a salesman. Just be a genuine human being who can solve their problem. People can smell a salesman a mile away. That's why I don't even bother with the sales "gurus" anymore. I always sold when I didn't take their advice. Just be normal, but know what you're doing. (I made a previous post on how a sales process should be).

Don't try to sell on the first contact. The purpose of the first contact is to lead you to another one. You want to build a relationship with your potential client. And the one's who go through with this are always the best one's to work with.

If a client calls you and asks you for a price quote right away, try to schedule a meeting so you can sell them on the benefits of your service. However, 99% of the time, the people who do call up asking for price are bad clients. They see you as a cost. Not as an investment.

Stop reading about sales. 90% of what's out there is B.S, high pressure, and out dated. Check out the sales process I posted before.

My sales approach = Make a contact, set up a meeting, get to know them, showcase their problems, show them a solution, showcase the results they can gain from it, and close the deal. If you don't close, follow up. But don't be naggy. There's obviously a reason as to why they didn't get back to you.

Sales is usually 80% offer and 20% tactics. Make them an offer they can't refuse and you'll make your life easier and your clients happy.

Don't pressure people into buying just to close a sale. Not only will they regret it, you will too (believe me.)

Keep your pipeline full. That way, when you miss a deal, you aren't emotionally affected by it.

Be consistent with your efforts. There is no reason to go all out 1 week and then next week you don't do anything.

In the beginning, only take on clients that have a potential to: refer you to their network or pay you a monthly retainer for other services you may offer. Ultimately, you don't want to help someone who clearly sees no value in what you are doing, doesn't know how to run their own business, and who doesn't respect you or your time. Sure, the first couple of jobs should be to rack up portfolio pieces. Not to make money. However, this is a period in which you can freely choose who you work with. As a matter of fact, as a freelancer, you are always choosing who you work with. That's the beauty of it. Problem is, I didn't realize that. I should have chosen to work with high quality people as opposed to "people who I knew that could benefit". Don't just rush into offering your services to friends, family and acquaintances. Maybe there's a shop in your town that just opened up in a new location. Their business may be expanding. And with your help, you could wind up doing their marketing on a monthly retainer after the first job.

Use a sniper approach. Not shotgun.
Aim for that 1 company that could lead you to lots of high quality and high paying jobs.
Avoid aiming at everyone who breathes and has a business.
Get specific on who you want to work with.
A good deal is when both parties mutually benefit.
Provide massive value to your client and naturally they will want to help you grow.

I think one of the biggest lessons I learned is that: you don't want to be a web designer.

Web design is a commodity.
People in 3rd world countries will charge 1/3 of your prices.

I personally started to position my self as a consultant.

When people see the word consultant, they take you more seriously.

I think that's because most of us have this image in our minds that a consultant is a slick looking guy in a suit, a genius, who has all the answers to your problems. He shows you where your failing and what to do to fix it. When your just a web designer, you give off a different vibe. Even though your the same person offering the same thing. It's all about how you position yourself.

One of my biggest mistakes is mindset.
But ultimately, I think this stems from a lack of direction.
I had a goal, but my actions were not congruent with it's attainment.

I placed R$15,000 as a goal, which is roughly $3000 - $4000 USD a month.

However, I have a pretty good local network, so when I mentioned this is what I'd be focusing on, opportunities sprung up.
Problem is: it's much easier to make that money with U.S. based clients than local clients (Brazil).

Although many opportunities came up for local work, my focus should have been on using my connections in NY and developing new ones.

So this is what I'm working on right now.

If the pay is good, I'll take on a local project.
If not, I don't even bother.
I shifted my focus to the U.S. market.
That took a while to sink in.
But that's because I kept having faith that I could make something work locally. I felt that I could potentially dominate the web design niche in my city (that's a whole conversation right there. But to sum it up: it's just not worth it.)

But oh well.
You live and you learn.
You make mistakes and fix them.

Back to work!

Thanks for the support @Sander!

 

[Sander]

Good to hear that you're back on track! I like your sale strategy not chasing the money but the providing of value.

 

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[Thiago Machado]

Good to hear that you're back on track! I like your sale strategy not chasing the money but the providing of value.

Yeah, what everybody says here on the forum is true. If you chase money, you don't really get anywhere. Not only that, but when you chase it, everything else gets out of alignment.

These 2 really stick out when you chase it:

1. You close deals no matter what. Especially by under-pricing (you want the money so you'll do anything).
2. You don't care if the client is good or not. (Only brought me headaches.)

So yeah, just focus on providing value to the right people. Everything else falls into place.

 

[Dunkafelics]

Hey man, just coming across your progress thread now. Glad to see the progression you've made and thanks so much for your advice for getting sales in a respectful and professional manner.

 

[varifix]

Great thread so far, thanks.

 

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