A little background.
I've been running a small Instagram agency for about 2 years now. Learned a lot about sales, marketing, failure and people in general in that time. It hasn't gone that well to be honest. Sure, it's a good side hustle but it's not really a fastlane business per se. It's more of a cash flow type of business. Even if I get it to $100k a month, it requires a lot of time, management and constant client hunting.
And there are some BIG red flags to it:
-Lack of control. Instagram can delete my account(or my clients' accounts) at will at any moment. There can be an outsourced dude from India(no offense to Indians) sitting behind a screen who has control over everything I do. And the app has gotten more tyrannical and propagandized in so many ways in the past few years. IG is not what it was 8-10 years ago. Even when I'm creating an account for a client, it requires constant account authentication with emails, phone numbers and verified selfies. They say it's for private reasons which is bullshit, they do it to track your IP so they can gather as much information about you as possible + scan your face for future projects like this meta bullshit => so they can sell you more ads.
-Weak entry barriers. We're competing with dudes who only offer their services for $100 per month on Fiverr, who aren't that good really and the clients see that. A 12 year girl can start an IG agency within a couple of days if she learns the nitty gritty bits of Instagram like hashtags, content, reels, watch time and ENGR. There are so many of these marketing agencies out there. Sure, I could work my a$$ off for the next 10 years and turn it into a 8 figure company, but still, there's a lack of control here. And I'm not even sure if Instagram is gonna exist in the next 10 years by how quickly technology is changing with Meta and all of that.
-Weak Scale. The only way I can see this company scale to $200k or $300k a month is if we only work with multi million dollar companies where can charge them $3k-$5k a month. My mentor does that, he works mostly with personal brands by being this "coach". And honestly, I don't want to be known as a coach. I want to be a legit entrepreneur who's built a company where we gave people the opportunity to work and improve their lives. Right now, we work mostly with car dealerships for $500-$1000 a month. If we start targeting luxury car dealers, yachts or some prestigious market, then I can see the clients justifying that price. But your regular Joe blow out the street! NOPE! So many clients have told me I'm too expensive which is nuts. Maybe it's because we're working with car dealers, and they're usually bargain hunters since that's the nature of their business. Buy low, sell high.
-Requires a lot of time. At this point it's only me who's running this agency with a couple of clients. Usually the marketing agencies who get to 7 figures or 8 figures have big sales teams and have meetings everyday where they're closing deals and so on. It could have some passivity if we get to like 10 people, but I'll still have to be the operator in the business, instead of being an operator of the system which is what we want here.
-Not the best need in our niche. A lot of car dealerships in the UK are already advertising their cars on multiple websites like Autotrader and some other smaller ones and a lot of people have told me they're not looking into social media.
So, this idea has been on my mind for over a year and it is a pure Fastlane business.
Perks:
-Has amazing scale potential; from my estimations it can be a $50m-$100m+ company within the next 4-8 years. Can be extremely passive since the clients will do all the work, they'll log on and do the work instead of us doing the work. And with great marketing, it can have tens of thousands of visitors a day(perhaps hundreds of thousands).
-Time freedom. The website and marketing will do all the work for us. We'll only need a programmer who can actually code us a functional website and a customer service assistant. Of course as the business grows, we'll hire more people but the point is, I'll be an operator of the system at this point.
-Tough entry barriers. To start this, it'll require a couple thousand of dollars on marketing and the website, which is the most important part here. A functional website with good GUIs, and a relational database on the backend with saved logins, passwords and account IDs and as time goes on, it'll require more programmers to update the servers. And of course, our Instagram marketing skills will help when it comes to building the traffic and getting visitors. And from what I've seen, we really only have 5-6 competitiors here, one who's a monopoly but a lot of people hate that website so they sell their stuff on social media.
-Fully controlled in our hands. No Zuckerberg or Instagram can wipe our business with one click. We are at the top of the pyramid here.
-Big need. People are crying for a replacement in the reviews section, they'd rather show their products on FB.
Our value skews?
1. Much better customer service. This one monopoly has horrible customer service. They'll come back to you in 4-5 days.
2. More languages. We do have a quite of immigrants here in Norway, around 10-15% of people are of foreign ethnicity. So we can add multiple language functions besides Norwegian like polish, english, arabic etc.
3. Bette price. We'll be cheaper with a mass product.
4. Easier login. No need for any Norwegian ID number for login, just your phone number or email will be sufficient. THAT'S A BIG ONE. Since we do have a lot of immigrants here who don't have their ID number yet.
BUT, there is one problem. One of my major goals is to move to the US, it has been a dream of mine for the past year or year and a half, specifically LA or Miami, would love to live in a warm place + that big city feel you know, something bigger than life. Since the norwegian weather can be a pain in the a$$ and the country is pretty boring for ambitious people.
I was thinking of moving to the US and registering my new corporation in Norway but that will mean that I'll have to hire a Norwegian customer service assistant in Cali or Florida, who has to be fluent in Norwegian(which will be difficult to find) AND we'll need a toll free number which will make it a little bit more difficult for Norwegians. Obviously living Malibu and buying the next Aventador SVJ will only happen once our company gets to minimum $10m-$20m in revenue so that can wait.
Or should I stay here for the next 4-5 years, build this into an empire and then move? Obviously the staff could be remote so.
So what should I do? Would love some advice. Thank you!
I've been running a small Instagram agency for about 2 years now. Learned a lot about sales, marketing, failure and people in general in that time. It hasn't gone that well to be honest. Sure, it's a good side hustle but it's not really a fastlane business per se. It's more of a cash flow type of business. Even if I get it to $100k a month, it requires a lot of time, management and constant client hunting.
And there are some BIG red flags to it:
-Lack of control. Instagram can delete my account(or my clients' accounts) at will at any moment. There can be an outsourced dude from India(no offense to Indians) sitting behind a screen who has control over everything I do. And the app has gotten more tyrannical and propagandized in so many ways in the past few years. IG is not what it was 8-10 years ago. Even when I'm creating an account for a client, it requires constant account authentication with emails, phone numbers and verified selfies. They say it's for private reasons which is bullshit, they do it to track your IP so they can gather as much information about you as possible + scan your face for future projects like this meta bullshit => so they can sell you more ads.
-Weak entry barriers. We're competing with dudes who only offer their services for $100 per month on Fiverr, who aren't that good really and the clients see that. A 12 year girl can start an IG agency within a couple of days if she learns the nitty gritty bits of Instagram like hashtags, content, reels, watch time and ENGR. There are so many of these marketing agencies out there. Sure, I could work my a$$ off for the next 10 years and turn it into a 8 figure company, but still, there's a lack of control here. And I'm not even sure if Instagram is gonna exist in the next 10 years by how quickly technology is changing with Meta and all of that.
-Weak Scale. The only way I can see this company scale to $200k or $300k a month is if we only work with multi million dollar companies where can charge them $3k-$5k a month. My mentor does that, he works mostly with personal brands by being this "coach". And honestly, I don't want to be known as a coach. I want to be a legit entrepreneur who's built a company where we gave people the opportunity to work and improve their lives. Right now, we work mostly with car dealerships for $500-$1000 a month. If we start targeting luxury car dealers, yachts or some prestigious market, then I can see the clients justifying that price. But your regular Joe blow out the street! NOPE! So many clients have told me I'm too expensive which is nuts. Maybe it's because we're working with car dealers, and they're usually bargain hunters since that's the nature of their business. Buy low, sell high.
-Requires a lot of time. At this point it's only me who's running this agency with a couple of clients. Usually the marketing agencies who get to 7 figures or 8 figures have big sales teams and have meetings everyday where they're closing deals and so on. It could have some passivity if we get to like 10 people, but I'll still have to be the operator in the business, instead of being an operator of the system which is what we want here.
-Not the best need in our niche. A lot of car dealerships in the UK are already advertising their cars on multiple websites like Autotrader and some other smaller ones and a lot of people have told me they're not looking into social media.
So, this idea has been on my mind for over a year and it is a pure Fastlane business.
Perks:
-Has amazing scale potential; from my estimations it can be a $50m-$100m+ company within the next 4-8 years. Can be extremely passive since the clients will do all the work, they'll log on and do the work instead of us doing the work. And with great marketing, it can have tens of thousands of visitors a day(perhaps hundreds of thousands).
-Time freedom. The website and marketing will do all the work for us. We'll only need a programmer who can actually code us a functional website and a customer service assistant. Of course as the business grows, we'll hire more people but the point is, I'll be an operator of the system at this point.
-Tough entry barriers. To start this, it'll require a couple thousand of dollars on marketing and the website, which is the most important part here. A functional website with good GUIs, and a relational database on the backend with saved logins, passwords and account IDs and as time goes on, it'll require more programmers to update the servers. And of course, our Instagram marketing skills will help when it comes to building the traffic and getting visitors. And from what I've seen, we really only have 5-6 competitiors here, one who's a monopoly but a lot of people hate that website so they sell their stuff on social media.
-Fully controlled in our hands. No Zuckerberg or Instagram can wipe our business with one click. We are at the top of the pyramid here.
-Big need. People are crying for a replacement in the reviews section, they'd rather show their products on FB.
Our value skews?
1. Much better customer service. This one monopoly has horrible customer service. They'll come back to you in 4-5 days.
2. More languages. We do have a quite of immigrants here in Norway, around 10-15% of people are of foreign ethnicity. So we can add multiple language functions besides Norwegian like polish, english, arabic etc.
3. Bette price. We'll be cheaper with a mass product.
4. Easier login. No need for any Norwegian ID number for login, just your phone number or email will be sufficient. THAT'S A BIG ONE. Since we do have a lot of immigrants here who don't have their ID number yet.
BUT, there is one problem. One of my major goals is to move to the US, it has been a dream of mine for the past year or year and a half, specifically LA or Miami, would love to live in a warm place + that big city feel you know, something bigger than life. Since the norwegian weather can be a pain in the a$$ and the country is pretty boring for ambitious people.
I was thinking of moving to the US and registering my new corporation in Norway but that will mean that I'll have to hire a Norwegian customer service assistant in Cali or Florida, who has to be fluent in Norwegian(which will be difficult to find) AND we'll need a toll free number which will make it a little bit more difficult for Norwegians. Obviously living Malibu and buying the next Aventador SVJ will only happen once our company gets to minimum $10m-$20m in revenue so that can wait.
Or should I stay here for the next 4-5 years, build this into an empire and then move? Obviously the staff could be remote so.
So what should I do? Would love some advice. Thank you!
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