My Odyssey - Finding Meaning And Achieving Financial Freedom

[Simon Angel]

Hi, name's Simeon and I'll be documenting my goals, failures and successes in this thread.

I come from a lower class family in Bulgaria where money has always been about survival.

I was born with a dairy allergy and had my first introduction to willpower at the age of 4. I was in kindergarten at the time where naturally kids often ate chocolates, ice cream and other sweet stuff. I couldn't, so I was the outsider kid that got to watch and drool instead. Once one of the nannies force fed me a chocolate because she was of the opinion I wasn't allergic and as soon as I felt the sweet heavenly taste of chocolate goodness I ran to the toilets and spat it out. I didn't want to but I did because I had to.

Being an aggressive, angry-at-the-world kid I was given labels such as "anger issues" and "ADHD". I got into fights every single day as my only friend at the time was constantly bullied by the bigger kids and I wasn't going to allow that. I fought so much at one point I enjoyed the bruises and pain and would actively seek it out. The nannies hated me while the family physician even suggested I was crazy when in fact all my anger came from my parents' divorce and my allergy which I perceived as bad as being disabled at the time.

That anger continued up until high school, though I was a popular kid until that point. I "suddenly" developed Crohn's disease and spent some time in hospitals and had minor surgery. Had an epiphany at the age of 14 and became a completely docile and subdued person compared to before, weak even.

I entered high school sickly, malnourished, short, skinny, anxious and would have panic attacks every day.

As soon as I walked in class for the first time, I sat next to the what became the most wanted girl in school. I fell in love soon after, but as I was seemingly a weak and frail boy, I got rejected and friendzoned. That was the first time I opened a self-help book!

I changed my appearance, my mentality, began working out and doing things that interest me. Became a semi-pro League of Legends player and acquired status. A few years later, at 17, I entered my first serious relationship. It lasted 2 years and was the reason I began my entrepreneurship journey, since I wanted for us to be able to afford anything, live anywhere we wish and for me to escape the toxic environment I lived in.

Long story short she left me 2 years in, even though I was earning big from dropshipping ($30 000 a month) I was devastated, severely depressed and my Crohn's disease resurfaced.

I ended up almost losing my life 3 times. I had emergency surgery where my intestines almost burst and the inflammation was eating me alive. I had a stoma bag attached to my stomach which I had to shit in and clean 5-6 times a day. I went from an athletic looking guy to a late stage anorexic looking frail boy again. You could wrap your fingers around my arms. I couldn't look at myself, I hated myself, I hated life and suffered from a victim mentality. I declined traditional medicine and was told by the best surgeon (and military general) in Bulgaria that I would die.

My reply was "I'll outlive you" and I uncovered some nasty stuff about the most "prestigious" hospital in Bulgaria (the head surgeon was intimidating people with severe chronic diseases like me to take X medicine because the hospital has contracts with big pharma, making them worse in the long run). I teamed up with one of his surgeon crew members who's also very young and we did our detective work. Nothing in the press since people in Bulgaria seemingly tend to disappear or become suicidal out of nowhere.

Then I snapped. I let go of the past, let go of all my anger and decided to work with what I've got. This was my second spiritual epiphany.

2 years later I am now fully healthy, my intestines got reattached and I'm using my a$$ to go the toilet again, I have badass scars, almost 10kg more muscle than what I had before my health issues and my girlfriend is the girl that rejected me 8 years ago (yes, the popular one). We're planning a future together. Am I still depressed? Yes, I have my days, but I've accepted it as part of my personality, along with my trauma, anger issues, ADHD and whatever the F*ck doctors throw at you today.


I allowed myself to have a second chance in life and was humbled by my experiences. And this time I'll focus on doing things the right way with the help of the widsom I've gained.

 

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[Simon Angel]

FIRST DEAL CLOSED!​

I arrived minutes before the prospect at the arranged location. Talked to him for about an hour. We talked about his business, his history, goals for the company, life, the pandemic and its implications, practically everything.

After a lot of back and forth, as I was about to give him an offer he asked how much one of my previous sites had cost.

I said $1000, though I'd done it for free. He explained that due to having less business now and having to take out from his savings to keep it going he'd be more inclined to do $500-600 since he probably won't be profiting again until next year.

I empathized with him about his situation and said my intention is for him to look at my services as an investment, rather than another expense. So if $600 works for him to see it as such (an investment), then that's more important to me than him seeing $1000 for the website as an unnecessary expense.

I'd rather he felt safe about his investment and for him to experience further local growth thanks to the website - this makes it much more likely to do more business with him and/or have referrals sent my way.

His response was that I should do less since we agreed on the smaller payment. I replied by saying that I don't work that way and that I don't label a project as finished until I'm certain that everything that has to be done, has been done, and that what they get in terms of features and results remains the same regardless of the amount we settled on.

The guy appeared to be quite content at this point. I knew I'd earned his trust.

The alternative was to push for more but I'm not currently in a position of abundance to do that, and also, the guy owns a cleaning company that handles around 80% of the city's businesses, I'm thinking of it as a long term investment in my networking game plan.

We shook hands for $600, he paid me half and drove me to my place (his office is nearby).

I'm happy I cracked my first sale from a cold call.

Note: I'm using $ for better readability, obviously the currency in Bulgaria is different.

Services sold: Web site redesign & SEO.

End of Day 2.

 

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[Stargazer]

Interesting story and well done on your efforts to date.

Just one thing though. That is no way to talk to someone and I think you know this otherwise you would not have asked for an opinion from your friend.

In many small businesses the receptionist is a family member. Wife, daughter, son. Remember that.

'I wonder if you could help me....' is a much friendlier opening and follow it with an intelligent question that the receptionist is now collaborating with you to figure out the best person to speak to or when to call back and be put through.

Your question in the post with the prospect is an example of an intelligent question. 'Is it possible that your website could be doing better than it is?'

That is not confrontational but almost anyone would agree it is possible.

Dan

 

[Simon Angel]

Hi everyone. Hadn't updated in a while, so here we go:​

I'm not offering PPC advertising or prospecting anymore. Haven't at all in the past 2 months..

And what a rollercoaster 2 months they were!​

I tried so many things, failed at all of them, and then all of a sudden, someone in my network reached out to me to ask for some copywriting to be done on their dropshipping store (a 7 figure one, at that). I was surprised at the offer but accepted it right-away since I literally had nothing to eat anymore. I was hours away from having my internet canceled as well.

And so I wrote the copy for the product's description..​

I went to bed, had my usual feels-like-I-stop-breathing moment while falling asleep which I'd been having for a while, and woke up to see a literal novel worth of messages from my contact. Apparently, my copy was the best they'd ever seen and they wanted me to continue writing 1-2 of these per day, for an indefinite amount of time. And that's how it all began.

I am now a copywriter. Have been for the past month.

I earned $800 in my first month and just signed 2 more clients for $2000 and $300, a total of $3000+ per month. ​

The amount of leverage these three projects will give me in the months to come is insurmountable. I already have plans on how to scale this and make it a business, thanks to my dear friend and mentor @Phikey.

And I will.

It seemed like I had 0 luck in anything I did. But luck is overrated. That's what I kept telling myself at least when nothing seemed to work, debt was piling up and my girlfriend was second-guessing me and the future of our relationship.

I guess I'm happy, but at the same time numb - the amount of failure I've endured this year has done that to me. I'm also far from content with my current state of affairs and will only pat myself on the back once I've created a business out of this. Also, l've always had the confidence that I'll make it eventually - just had no idea when, so there's that.

And hey, I'm actually paying for my food and bills and can take my girl out to dinner now! Too bad none of the restaurants are open.

So far, my journey has been worth it. Thanks to everyone that's supported my broke a$$.

Happy holidays!

 

[Simon Angel]

Day 1:

I have been dabbling in web design & SEO for the past year and have finally decided to take some real action. So far I've had 3 clients - 1 for free, 2 paid. I am using my past work as leverage with my future clients and so far it's working well.

Today's happenings were as follows:

Cold calls: 7
Leads: 4
Prospects: 1

I started calling at 8:30 in the morning. A few construction companies, then after some frustration I decided to focus on service-based businesses since my most notable site was of a driving school. So I called a few cleaning services businesses.

One of the construction businesses I called in the morning (after thorough reserach) I was greeted by a secretary:

"Hi, this is X company, correct?"

- "Yes, hello"

"Hi, may I speak with John Doe please?"

- "May I ask what for?"

"Can you just get him on the phone? We've already connected via e-mail (lie)"

- "Sorry, I can't just give him the phone like that unless I know what it is for"

"Sure, I'll call later then"

- "*chuckles* But you'd be talking to me again"

"I don't mind"

- " *chuckles again* Just tell me, perhaps I could help"

"I was in your site just minutes ago and your online store was completely broken and you're losing out on some clients. I recently dealt with another business with the same issues and managed to get them back working quickly again. We were going to discuss this with John Doe today."

- "We don't have an online store"

"This is X construction company, correct?"

- "Yes."

"You have more than 20 products listed on your front page with buy buttons"

- "Either way, we're not interested"

"We or just you? What if your employer believes otherwise?"

- "Well, I deal with this stuff, not John Doe"

"So this website is of your doing?"

- "Not quite, but you could say I arranged for it to be done"

"It seems you didn't arrange for it well enough"

-"HAVE A GOOD DAY" *hangs up*

I told my friend about this cold call and asked him whether I was wrong and too hostile and he said if they're this neglectful about their online store (they mostly sell cement and other construction materials & consumatives) then they're probably neglectful in other areas as well.

I Google'd them and, ironically, there was an article about one of their employees going to prison for involuntary manslaughter with a construction vehicle, apprently they crushed an old woman to death due to negligence.


Now for the prospect:


I acquired the prospect from one of the above calls to a cleaning company. The call started out rough, he wasn't interested in getting more clients and thought his site was fine (it's absolute garbage).

I asked him if he thinks that it's possible that it can be better than it currently is, he said yes.

I proceeded by explaining that while he may have lots of traffic with his current website, the fact that it's lacking in, well, everything, that could mean there's a lot of potential for increasing the conversion rate. It went something like this:

"It's great that you're having a lot of visitors. But let's just imagine that currently every 2 out of 10 visitors end up contacting you for your services. What if we improve your site in a way that makes that 3 or 4 out of 10?" This opened him up a little bit.

I then asked him if he's offering these services just in the city or the whole area. He claimed the latter. However, in his website or facebook page, none of that was mentioned anywhere. I asked him whether I'm correct in my guess that even though he has many clients in the city he likely has very few in neighbouring cities/villages. He admitted that it wouldn't hurt to have more clients in the general area. Great.

I also sold him on the fact that we can implement some subscription based systems in his site which will make his and his clients' experience much more user-friendly. Cool.

As I was about to continue, the guy straight up suggested we meet tomorrow at X place to close the deal. We set up the logistics and wished eachother a good day and he thanked me for my call.

I sent 4 follow-up e-mails to people I called today that said "Sounds good, send me an offer by e-mail and I'll check it out".

End of Day 1.

 

[Simon Angel]

Day 4

SECOND DEAL CLOSED! (well, probably)
​

No cold calling today. Had to meet up with a potential buyer for my car, it went well and I'm probably selling my car tomorrow (have no need for it, it's weighing me down). Also went to the dentist and worked on client's site.

I did, however, follow up with a prospect. It went something like this:

"Hey N, It's Simeon from Nowhere, I'm calling to ask whether you've made a decision regarding your website"

- "Hey man, yeah, I have, I want to get it done and I'll get to it soon, just been busy these past few days as a lot of my colleagues are not working and I have to do double the work"

"Oh that's rough, I understand. I just wanted to check up on you since I assumed you were busy.

- "Yes and I appreciate it, we'll talk soon"

"Have a great day!"

-"Thanks, you too!"

Until I see upfront payment I remain a bit skeptical, but we've been talking with this guy for 2 weeks now, so it should be good.

If all things go well, I'm at 1200/2000 of my monthly goal and it's just June (yes, I will count the sale from yesterday as I am yet to be paid in full).

Feels great!

And on top of that one of my past clients called (plumber) for some help with his logo. I helped him and he said:

"Thanks, by the way, I've got a friend that's opening a massage studio. She needs a site and I'll send her to you."

Which means, hypothetically, I might soon reach my goal just a few days/week in the month of June.

I love this! I wonder if I am just lucky.

P.S I've learned almost everything from @Fox and I began taking action thanks to @Sean Marshall's thread on starting a digital marketing agency. Thanks guys for all the free value, couldn't/wouldn't have done it without you two.

 

[Simon Angel]

Day 14
​

I got ahold of 10 business owners of cleaning companies on Friday yesterday.

1 out of 3 would tell me they have too many clients and not enough workers.

1 out of 3 said they can't afford a website currently since their business has been down. I kept saying that's exactly why I called and chose to help them rather than some big corp, but they insisted they don't have the budget.

And one of those who picked up (dude had a site that looked straight out of 2005-2006. Like a flash games site) immediately started yelling on the phone:

"Hello, is X on the phone?

- "Speaking.."

"Hi, this is Simeon, we recently worked with your colleagues in X cleaning company in Y city and got some great results for them. I have a question for you - are you getting any sales or clients from your site?

- ".. What do you mean?"

"Are people calling you from your website?"

- "I don't understand what you're aiming at" in an irritated tone

"You have a website. The website's domain is yy-77dotcom. You're on the 3rd page in Google for your niche's keywords. Are people visiting your site, are you getting any calls from it?"

- "WHY DO YOU THINK WE DON'T HAVE FIRMS LIKE YOURS HERE IN OUR CITY?"

"I am not a firm"

- "THEN WHAT ARE YOU?"

"A guy who helps small fish get better results with their business"

- "SMALL FISH!? I'M THE F*ckING MONOPOLY IN MY CITY. 47 PEOPLE ARE WORKING FOR ME, I OWN SEVERAL BUSINESSES AND I AM A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE!"

"Is that why your company's site looks like a flash games site from 2005?"

- "I DON'T NEED A SITE! I HAVE WAY TOO MANY CLIENTS ANYWAY!'

"So you're saying you have no need to advertise this particular (cleaning) business currently and your focus is on acquiring more workforce?"

- "Yes, exactly."

"What about your other businesses? Need help with them?"

*talks around 5 minutes about his other businesses*

"Know anyone who needs help advertising their business?"

- "I can't think of anyone currently. And yeah, I don't need to advertise. I'm the F*cking monopoly. I entered business with AGGRESSION. All of my competition is dead."

"Elaborate on "dead"?"

- "I stole their business, all of it. I took their clients on for free. Some for 6 months, others for 6 years. Because I can afford it and they couldn't"

"You started by working for free?"

- "NO. I've never worked a day in my life. I've never held a mop or a bucket."

"So you had capital and hired people from the very beginning?"

- "Yes."

"Where did you get it?"

- "If I said I cleaned windows that would be a lie. How old are you?"

"22."

- "Jesus christ you're a young boy. I'm 42 and made my money a year or two before you were born. I smuggled tobacco in the 90s."

"Interesting."

- "Yeah, I've had an interesting life." *proceeds by talking for another 10 minutes about his life, his father, telling me how shitty the city I live in is and how the one he's in is much better and industrial*

- "Listen, I have to go. Save my number and come visit me in Y city. I'll show you around the factories and we'll have a beer or two. It was nice talking to you, you're a lot like me."

"Sure, I might take you up on that offer one day. Have a good day."

- "You too."


Got a few other prospects on Friday with which I'll have to follow up. They're all women, curiously, since 90% of the people I talk to on the phone are men.

I'm also spreading the word out about what I do and offering anyone 20% for referrals. Hope this kicks into gear soon enough.

End of Day 14.

 

[Simon Angel]

Making some good money, but most importantly, I have retained my freedom.

For the past 2 months, I have predominantly worked with 7 and 8 figure businesses by helping them with their email marketing i.e optimizing flows and writing campaigns.

I've gotten them all to a very, very neat revenue. In the past, emails were bringing my clients 0-7% of their total revenue.

With my help, they're all at 15-25% now. One is nearly at 30%.

A few of my clients are making $50-80K in additional email revenue per month thanks to my efforts. I think I can finally say I know how to bring value.

So.. I'm currently writing emails to about 300K people spread across my clients' email lists.

And the best part about it all? I like doing it. In fact, I LOVE doing it.

My plan on how I'm going to scale and go from freelancer to a business:

1. Create my own website with the case studies from my clients (nearly done after a day of work).

2. Upwork and cold email to find new clients.

3. Hiring a freelance graphic designer for the emails. I've already got someone in mind.

4. Charging a small flat fee e.g $500 + 5% of the email revenue on a monthly basis.

5. Incorporating.

6. Hitting 6 figures and pocketing most of the profit as a one-man company.

 

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[Simon Angel]

UPDATE​

I guess it's time to write an update for everyone that's been with me on my journey.

And I know this may seem a bit depressing to read at first, but bear with me.

I've been broken more times than I'd like to admit, and I've found I don't really care about the myriad of mental disorders I carry with me anymore.

Depression, PTSD, OCD, ADHD, hypochondria the occasional bout of mania and psychosis..

You name it, I've probably had it.

Interestingly, the depression has gone into hiding. Perhaps it's the Vitamin D and all the sun I'm getting.

In terms of PTSD, I still get some nasty flashbacks from time to time, but I don't really react to them.

My OCD and Hypochondria are as bad as ever, and the only thing that helps is accepting that, eventually, we're all goners anyway.

The ADHD, though? Well, let's just say the BEST decision I've EVER made to date is..

Working 1 hour per day!
​

Seriously. No matter how bad your ADHD is, unless you're literally not turning on your computer (which has happened, funnily enough), you will always be able to deliver without suffering burnout.

And the whole about imposing such a "harsh" limit on yourself of working just 1 hour per day is that your brain automatically switches to maximum creativity mode.

I mean, I used to spend 99% of my time thinking about money.. while not earning any.

Then I realized that even if I did earn a decent amount of money, working all day would be the death of me. Not just for my mental health, but also the severe, dormant Crohn's I have that's triggered by stress and feelings of overwhelm, just waiting for the right opportunity to F*ck me up.

So, I took control.

I bullshitted my way into getting paid $40/h doing copywriting work for a digital marketing agency when the highest I'd been paid until then was $20/h for a few hours on Upwork. And I love it.

Sure, I'm not the boss. But I'm not an employee either - the owner is a client of mine. And I frequently remind them of that by the way I position and assert myself in our interactions.

Additionally, I also get to work with 8 figure businesses and they seem to love the way I do their marketing, which never fails to put a smile on my face.

And since I have a ton of spreadsheets detailing EXACTLY how many millions I've helped these businesses make (hey, I asked for them, they didn't show up on my doorstep) my confidence in negotiating and maneuvering my way into ANY industry I deem fit has gone nuclear.

Oh, and I realized I'm not driven by the allure of making millions and owning expensive things.

I grew up poor. Not as poor as starving-african-kid poor, but single-parent, "we have no money for food left this month" kind of poor. Also, debt.

So, the seemingly measly $1200-1500 (about 2000-2500 BGN) I'm currently making per month, working just 1 hour on average per day, is giving me a quality of life in Bulgaria for which to match in the US I'd need to be earning about 4-5x that amount.. in dollars!

But that's HARDLY the most important aspect of why I love it.

My feeling of wealth stems from the fact that I'm 100% free to do whatever the hell I want all day!

Sure, I could work 8 hours a day and earn $10K a month, but nothing would really change in my life.. apart from the fact that I'd probably absolutely hate it.

And thanks to all this free time, I've since:

• Contacted a famous writer I look up to and had a very personal conversation, plus a thumbs up
• Leveraged said interaction to join a HIGH profile video game project, which in the past I'd only dreamed of
• Traveled more in the past year than I had my whole life

So, my advice to a kindred soul? ​

Work 1 hour per day. Use your strengths i.e your almighty creativity and out-of-the-box thinking to find a way to do that in a way that makes sense for your situation.

I could go on and on about how different my life has become after I started working just an hour per day, but I'm sure you're already visualizing what YOU could do with that abundance of free time.

​

Once you've come up with an idea on how to do this, just go for it.

Procrastination is MUCH more painful than actually doing something - as unknown and intimidating as that something may appear to be at first glance. Try and see for yourself.


P.S. I'd love it if we could rename my thread to "My Journey - Finding Meaning And Achieving Financial Freedom".

 

[Simon Angel]

Man I just love you’re enthusiasm and your work ethic. I think we’re around the same age (I’m 19), and man you and your story are really inspiring me to take action!

Hey, thanks. It really depends how muture of an 19 year old you are. 19 to 22 felt like 10 years worth of growth for me due to what I went through. I'm glad that I've inspired you and yes, you should take action today.

Bravo Ubace.

I'm from macedonia but I live next to the bulgarian border, really happy for your progress and will follow!

Thanks brat, I'll be sure to check out what you do!

Well done on this, I'm on a similar journey and I've also got Chrons (though I got diagnosed when I was 25 years old) so I know how hard it can be. Keep going, you'll get there

It's certainly interesting to have this disease. Unhinged and neurotic people seem to suffer the worst outcomes (myself included) and I really was at death's door at one point. Fortunately my soul snapped and I realigned myself back on my path again, almost as if I entered some other frequency here on Earth. I'll refrain from going too metaphysical here for now.

Well done.

Something I repeat to myself:

“Money can’t be in two places at once.” (Blaise Brosnan)

If it’s in their account it’s not in my account, so they aren’t a client yet, just a prospect.

Blaise Brosnan is a wise man.

Pierce Brosnan is cool too.

Is it just me or are we missing updates for days 6, 7 & 8?

Before anyone jumps down my neck, I quote the OP



Gotta keep these youngsters accountable

I have bad news, guys..

There were no updates for days 6, 7 and 8.

Now before you are shocked and disgusted by my presumed action faking allow me to explain. I was busy with my client and making sure he is 120% happy, since the guy has good connections with a leading construction company in my city. And yes, they do need a website redesign and fresh SEO.

And I would LOVE to help a construction company get more leads and deals and for me to acquire precious knowledge of the industry to leverage in the future.

I made about 6-7 cold calls per day for the last few days, equaling a total of 20 calls. Womp womp.

TOP SECRET STORY BELOW!​

Alright so I was walking towards my apartment block at 12:30 AM after escorting my dear girlfriend to hers, which I do every single night because she's as precious to me as The One Ring to Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, I suddenly felt buzzing and was greeted by an almost-blinding bright light coming from the sky.

Suddenly, I was being abducted by aliens.

"No.." I said, remembering I promised myself and my girl to cold call 25 businesses tomorrow.

"..You can't do this!"

Anyways, they beamed me up and I was greeted by their Lord Commander.

Guess who?

Jordan motherf@#%ing Belfort! Yep, the Wolf of Wall Street is also the Vortigaunt of Nibiru-B17.

"Lol" he exclaimed. "Who the f@#k is this guy?".

- "Wtf dude" I uttered.

"Alright I know it's a lot process. Here's what we're gonna do. I'll tell you a riddle and you have to guess the missing words. If you answer correctly I'll share you my secret of cold calling success."

I was intrigued.

"Are you ready?" Belfort impatiently asked.

- "Sure".

"Roses are red, violets are blue. There's 2 type of people - buyers and non-buyers for you.

Seek out the buyers, leave the non-buyers alone, or else you're an idiot just like _ _ _ _ _ _ _"

- "Cardone".

Jordan Belfort's eyes widened

"At long last! You have finally come. Here, take this and get the f@#k out of here!"

- "Thanks Mr. Belfort"

And so I did.

And now without further ado, the secret Jordan Belfort shared with me:

"You, yes you.

Make 140 cold calls a week.

40 of those calls will be with the decision maker.

Of those 40 times you will close 8 meetings.

Of those 8 meetings 6 will be held.

From those 6 meetings, you will make 2 sales"


...........................

2 sales per week? That's 8 a month.. with a minimum price of $600 per website, that's $4800 per month, 2.5x more than my monthly goal for financial freedom!?

Deep smolder into the distance as the Sun lowers into the horizon to mark the end of the day

I understand what needs to be done. And I'm going to do it, Jordan.

Stay tuned!

 

[Phikey]

At that point I was doing Google Ads and Website design for Local Services Companies.
I'd been doing this stuff for a while and had closed website deals between $2-$15k each but I hit a point where my income dried up because I wasn't closing consistent sales. This was while I was living abroad/travelling in Colombia and I really had to light a candle under my butt and hustle otherwise I'd have to move back home (and I was loving the digital nomad life). So I moved to Ecuador to force myself to be somewhere cold (Quito) and to stop partying and just knuckle down and build my agency properly.

I stuck to just google Ads as the service until I hit $11k MRR and then realised I liked my Ecommerce clients much more, I had a real knack for growing them consistently, and they had way more potential to scale (and my fee scale with them). It was frustrating for me to keep working with cleaning companies that were limited by geographic location or had staffing issues. At the start I did my first campaign for free (like you are) and I learned a lot. That guy is still a client of my agency 4 years later and he's now doing $400k+ monthly sales for his store. The first clients were $500 each or so but as I grew I'd raise my prices depending on the size of the client. Generally 10% of ad spend is pretty normal (some charge up to 20% of ad spend, depending on the industry).

Here's my strategy that worked insanely well back then and would work really well right now for you today too:

• Go into Facebook groups for your niche (I did it for cleaning companies) and contribute and become a known helper in that niche for Google Ads. You just want to answer questions and help where you can (don't ask for anything, just give as much value as possible)
• When people post about having any problems with their advertising, offer them a free google ads audit but on the condition that you can post it back in the group as a comment.
• I did this 5-10 times and it generated leads for months to come. I still get leads from it years later and I turn them down every month because I only work with Ecommerce now.
• What happens after you do that is that you're providing insane value to one person, and dozens of others will get value from that video too
• After 3 videos, once anyone asked a question about google ads, 3-5 people would immediately tag me and say I was the expert and I had immediate social proof
• This meant that my sales calls were never sales calls anymore. It was just negotiating on price to fit their budget.

Here are some of the videos I made (I still have some on my youtube channel as unlisted videos):

(Back when the old Google Ads layout was "Adwords")

I'm now executing a similar strategy for my Youtube channel but instead of in Facebook groups I'm trying to help the whole world of Ecommerce store owners. Same principle: give everything away for free, show people you can help them, and a small percentage will actually need your help.
Here's my channel with Ecommerce Tutorials so you can see this strategy in action now.

 

[Simon Angel]

Update on January 2021​

​

MY GOAL OF FINANCIAL FREEDOM HAS BEEN ACHIEVED!​

It's been a hectic month, but with an average work time of 2 hours per day, I've earned $2000!

Wow. Going back half a year ago when my journey here started, I calculated that my "fastlane" or financial freedom is earning $2000 in my country with plenty of free time left to follow my other interests (such as racing).

Well, it looks like I done did it..

I can't believe how much shit I tried to get to this point. It was anything but easy, I was severely in debt with my mother and we were on the verge of hunger. I had to constantly manage my lifestyle and stress levels to not cause my Crohn's disease to flare up (huge trigger) while also putting food on the table and helping with the bills.

​

We're mostly BLIND to the big picture and overly self-focused.
​

Interestingly, a few months ago when I was at my lowest point financially, a rich girl friend of mine asked me to meet up with her at the park to talk about some relationship issues she'd been having at the time.

As time went by, our conversation evolved into her complaining how tough her life is and how she "barely makes any money" with her $1 million+ valued house, which was given to her as a birthday gift from her father, and costs $500 per night to book, and is only vacant 5-10 days per month.

Her only expense is the cleaner she massively underpays.

That was pretty shocking for me to hear, but then again, it's all about perspective, isn't it?

I am a pleb in the eyes of a McDonald's employee in a 1st World Country and a privileged individual in the eyes of the 1 billion actively dying of hunger all over the world.​

And even though my life has been mostly suffering, I've found meaning in it and at least I had the opportunity to change. Many people don't even get that, so I AM lucky.

​

Persistence, tears, depression, and Amor Fati.​

​

I kept failing, and failing, and failing.. over and over again. Every day. I would often sell some of the weed I got for my Crohn's disease when things got rough, even though it was hard to get ahold of as it is and I needed it to maintain remission. At one point I even considered selling hard drugs because I didn't want me and my mother to starve.

No matter how close I got, the breakthrough just didn't seem to come.

Until it did.

I reached my goal of what I personally consider financial freedom ($2000 per month). I started with zero courses, practice, and no portfolio, and in just 2 months earned more than I did in the past 3 years! Way more.

In just 2 months, my portfolio size has grown from 0 to 350+ products worth of copy and I've got 3 recurring clients!

And the biggest support I ever got wasn't from my friends, mother, or even my girlfriend, but people here from our forum. I appreciate everyone that came through to help me out in my journey with @Phikey being the one who changed my life with his wisdom and was there for me every step of the way. If I were a woman, I'd be head over heels for him, what a man.

And now I can finally, confidently say that I found out what I love doing for a living - copywriting.

To anyone out there struggling - as banal as it sounds - JUST DON'T GIVE UP!​

Days before I landed my first copywriting client I didn't even know I wanted to be a copywriter and I was all out of ideas. It just happened.

Maybe the Universe rewarded me for my efforts, as wretched as they were. The point is, you never know what tomorrow has in store for you.. and sometimes, it's good.

 

[Simon Angel]

Approximate revenue expected for March: $5000​

4 months in my copywriting journey. Still working 2-3 hours per day. Signed 4 more clients since the last update.

I really need to hire soon. However, while my clients are ecstatic about my work, I'm not sure that it would be so when I am not in full control of the quality.

So I might also be taking another route - staying a one-man company, going for the top $, and making a name for myself.

As you can see, I am not as enthusiastic as I was when I struggled. That's because I always expected to get here and knew it was just a matter of time before I got what I deserved.

I love it, though:

• I love not having to choose between paying the bills or eating
• I love not having to make excuses why I can't buy my girl a gift
• I love that I can do whatever the F*ck I want all day then spend 2 hours doing extremely valuable work for my clients
• I love how my clients rely on me and don't even consider having someone else do the copy whenever I am not immediately available
• I love how I can turn down most of my prospects, knowing that I have a lot of clients to fall back on who already know what I am capable of and trust me with their businesses

 

[Simon Angel]

I have decided - I'm moving out, finally at the age of 22.

Reason is I can't stand having the life sapped out of in my own home due to critical differences with my mother and the frequent interruptions I get while making my video emails. I don't feel calm and assertive here and I am constantly guilt-tripped for not having a job and a shit ton of other things I'm going to spare you all.

I'm not the most mentally stable person and I've had my fair share of panic disorder, anxiety, depression and I've been treated at home like a lunatic that needs to be locked up at an asylum ever since I was 10. Now I'm mostly treated like a good-for-nothing son that hasn't achieved anything and is too lazy to work. Truth is we never had money for higher education so my only choice was to work or become an entrepreneur. I knew I'd never be happy working for someone else yet I tried setting my ego aside "for the greater good" but I could never last for more than 2 days in any job.

Especially after my initial ecom success back in 2017 where I had been making more than all of my family + extended family made in a month combined. None of them believed that could even happen, I even got insulted by a few of them (I've never been one to hold back so there was return fire) and once I had achieved it I was told "It won't last" and "sounds kind of lucky how you did it".

Though it's been a long time coming, I always told myself I'll move once I get at least 1 client for that sweet MRR and "security".

Unfortunately in this envinronment and at this rate I don't see it happening quickly enough. So I called a few home owners today and booked a meeting for Thursday. It's for a two-room apartment or whatever it's called in English, fairly modern and clean looking with a brand new kitchen to be set up in less than a week from now. Costs 250 BGN a month, which is about $150.

Yes, crazy cheap living here. I calculated my expenses and they sum up at 700 BGN or $420 (heh). That's including rent. So I need $420 a month to survive on my own. And I have to cook, wash the dishes and do the laundry myself, which I will (though it's going to be difficult at first). My MRR goal until the end of 2020 is still $2000 a month which is almost 5x my basic needs.

I have around 2400 BGN / $1450 after I sold my BMW 3 series which was rotting away in the parking lot so I've got a few months to build my digital marketing foundation.

My intention is to be able to look back at this decision a few months from now and feel proud of myself. Thanks to everyone that has supported me so far and especially to @Phikey, @Xolorr whom I aim to make proud as well. @Phikey, @Xolorr I'm eternally grateful to you guys for showing up in my thread seemingly out of nowhere and changing my life. Both of you also gave me the confidence to seek business out of Bulgaria (especially in the US market) which at first I thought was not possible due to my perceived poor English pronounciation. I've since improved so much and at the same time realized it's not even a factor in my upcoming success.

Also, I want to thank @Fox as well because his videos and first threads were the reason I turned to web design and cold calling which taught me a lot about "physical" sales, which were wildly different from online sales. He's also the reason I returned to the forum again.

 

[Simon Angel]

SECOND DEAL CLOSED (BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE)​

Plumbing contractor.

$1200/2000 goal. Guess it's decent for my first month. Thought there's still a whole week left, I can sell more.

Upcoming recurring revenue:

• $100 a month from my cleaning company client for site and ads management.​
• $100 a month from my upcoming plumbing contractor project for site and ads management​

$200 a month is going to be just enough for my rent.

Possible referrals in the near future: 3

Starting a job in auto liquidation in an insurance company. From what I was told it sounds like a piece of cake.

And even if it's a piece of shit I ain't backing down. I already earned 1.5x more in my first month of business than the average wage around here, couple that with the job and I've got all the sweet money I need to grow that juicy digital marketing agency.

Also, like I said, I'm moving to my own place in the beginning of July.

Finally being independent, getting some balls deep action with my girlfriend AND not having my mother constantly nag her self-induced slowlane problems? Oh, baby.

I had ZERO just 25 days ago.

And I'm still a lazy F*ck. If I'd picked up the phone and called 10 people every day, I would've made at least twice as much as I did this month.

 

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[Simon Angel]

So I had 2 sales calls yesterday. I already shared what happened on the first, so here's the second:​

Big diaper and masks company. The prospect had a very solid understanding of Facebook Ads so it was smooth sailing. They were already doing 50% of what I wanted to talk to them about, but had no idea about the rest of the 50% and really appreciated the knowledge. They weren't looking to aggressively scale their ads right now, since they have a logistics issue and asked me to set a reminder to contact them again in late November.

They also said that they're in talks with a few other agencies but that none of them shared their strategies outright, especially "personalized for us" like I did and that the others "just kept showing case studies" and that they'll "definitely keep that in mind after we deal with our inventory problem".

And shortly after:

"I enjoyed talking to you and we'll likely seek you out again, but could you maybe set a reminder to reach out to us around late November?". I consider this call a success for sure.

*Sales call No. 3 didn't happen because the prospect had something come up and let me know 2 hours in advance that they need to reschedule, and reschedule they did - as soon as I replied back to them with a "no worries" type of response.

Anyway, just last night I sent the first ever invoice from my digital marketing agency through PayPal.​

It might sound silly but I was actually pretty stressed out about it and now that I've got it all down (including the terms and conditions) it feels so good. I have now completed the digital marketing agency game in full. The whole process. All that is left is for the invoice to be paid, and even if it won't be I still have more sales calls to go this month and feel completely confident in the process and I'm filled with abundance. It took me a few months to figure it out and I got the best help along the way, so it wasn't easy but I'm really grateful that this is all happening.

Also, I recorded a part of my call yesterday and my spoken English has improved significantly since my first ever video audits and our call with @Phikey on the 14th of September. Exactly a month ago I had absolutely nothing going for me and this man slapped me through Zoom. Can hardly believe the progress I've made since then, I definitely didn't imagine to book 4 sales calls in 15 days sending 5 emails per day, but it's now a fact!

 

[Simon Angel]

4th client closed! ​

Expected revenue for February: $2000

I might be looking into hiring soon as I am seeing a lot of interest in the quality of my work.

But then I wouldn't be able to control the quality as much, which unnerves me.

On the other hand, I could also just leverage the results I've gotten for my clients so far and seek bigger and better projects in the realm of 4 to 5 figures and continue being a one-man company. There are so many projects I could take on, but I would never trade my free time even for all the money in the world.

Considering the fact I dislike managing people but absolutely despise being managed, the latter option is very likely to be the path I'm going to take.

Anyway, February is about to be the 3rd month in a row in which I escape poverty, so that's good.

 

[Simon Angel]

Day 2:

Woke up around 8:00 since it's Saturday and I won't be cold calling today.

Did 1 of 3 workouts for the day and have a scheduled meetup with yesterday's prospect at 11:00 in a cafe I'm unfamiliar with. I hate that, but I find I'm way more in the zone when I arrive rather than beforehand, so I'm trying to not think of it as a big deal and accepting my anxiety.

My thinking is that when I start doing this on a daily basis I won't feel the jitters anymore. It's literally a "fear of the unknown" at the moment.

Will report after.

 

[Simon Angel]

Interesting story and well done on your efforts to date.

Just one thing though. That is no way to talk to someone and I think you know this otherwise you would not have asked for an opinion from your friend.

In many small businesses the receptionist is a family member. Wife, daughter, son. Remember that.

'I wonder if you could help me....' is a much friendlier opening and follow it with an intelligent question that the receptionist is now collaborating with you to figure out the best person to speak to or when to call back and be put through.

Your question in the post with the prospect is an example of an intelligent question. 'Is it possible that your website could be doing better than it is?'

That is not confrontational but almost anyone would agree it is possible.

Dan

I appreciate the feedback and agree on both points. I'm aware that often receptionists are family members and that my approach was wrong. I could have been more agreeable and cooperative with the lady.

 

[Simon Angel]

Quick update
​

I've been learning Google Ads and cold calling. Mostly the former.

I launched a lead gen ad for one of my past clients who's a plumber and it's getting $0.07 CPC. The competition locally is non-existent. We're ecstatic.

Made some cold calls today.

New, very engaged prospect!

We had 2 calls today - one introductory and a second to discuss everything in-depth.

They are a plumbing contractor with a good amount of clients and employees but also open to the idea of acquiring more.

We had a great talk - I had 0 anxiety and was leading the client through the process. They were assertive and loud, but that only made it easier to communicate with them as those people are usually very straight-forward and honest, which I value.

At one point they said:

"We both know where this is going to lead. We're going to discuss something that benefits the both of us."

- "You are correct. However, what matters to me the most is making sure you get the results and growth you are after. I've also worked with *X neighbouring city plumbing contractor firm" and we had X ROI. What I charge is more often than not irrelevant as I don't consider my job done until the people I work with get at least 5x more than they invested".

We agreed on a new website, Google Ads (explained the likelihood of game-changing results, the low risk and my other clients' results so far) so if everything goes smoothly (which is rarely the case) we should be doing business together from Monday onwards.

He asked how I found him. I told him the truth - I recently worked with a similar company, decided to look for other contractors that may need help and made a list.

I also told him how I first called his competition who did not appreciate my outreach, were rude and lacked a growth oriented mindset, unlike him. That seemingly stroked his ego as he continued by saying "That's right, I am open to everything and we've been doing very well even the past few months".

Special thanks for my girlfriend for telling me to pick up the damn phone today. I had been slacking.

Other currently not-so-noteworthy happenings​

One of my past clients is on the lookout for people to refer me to, and another has already referred me to someone who is opening a massage studio (I mentioned this before). However, I haven't contacted them yet.

Client said that the massagist is currently moving stuff and setting up the new place, so I am unsure if calling them right now is a better idea than waiting for them to contact me. I can't trust them to make the first move, so I'll probably be the first to initiate.

Still $600/2000 goal for the month, but I have some more time!

Been looking at apartments to rent. Found a super cheap one-room apartment that looks good enough for me.. *cough* and my girlfriend. I'm more motivated than ever to rent that place and move out for the first time ever!

EDIT: 2 more cold calls, 2 more prospects! Not as likely to end up being a sale as the one above, but we talked for more than 10 minutes with both and I really got to know their problems and how I could help them.

Both said "I really want to do this but 2 months from now/when Fall comes because.. etc".

I've had tens of calls just like these and I'm sure that at least 1 or 2 out of them will end up contacting me eventually, so it's worth it.

That's all for now, I'm done calling for today.

 

[Simon Angel]

Girlfriend's father offerred me a job. He's a higher-up in a big insurance company here. The pay is above average for my smallish city and the work hours are perfect for me and my business. A sure income would be great while I build up my network.

I could easily move now!

Less than 2 years ago I had nothing. I was a broken shell of a man, a frail, sick boy. People pitied me and thanked their God they weren't me.

Thank you for the opportunities, Universe. I've accepted my Destiny a long time ago and I know more difficulties lie ahead, but the path to Greatness always comes at a price which I am willing to take.

 

[Blackman]

Goes to show that if you throw enough mud at the wall, some of it will stick.

No one is born a millionaire knowing exactly what business is right for him, so it's always a case of trial and error, not quitting, being consistent and just ploughing along until something clicks.

 

[Simon Angel]

Day 3​

It's Sunday, so no cold calling today.

I've decided on using the Elementor page builder for this project and as my go-to page builder in the future, since it makes work 3x faster and easier. I can literally complete a project in 2-3 days.

When you take into account the many technical issues that arise while developing a website, migrating it and etc, having a page builder with the power to build whole sites in mere days is spectacular.

My Definition of Financial Freedom and How Close I Actually Am​

I lead a fairly modest lifestyle.

I only desire to have some free time, enough cash to rent my own place, pay my food & bills and take out my girl for dinner at a nice place (something I haven't done yet).

We also want to be able to afford to go on a few vacations every year.

Some quick maffs..​

To lead the lifestyle described above I'd need at least $2000 month (again, not actual dollars, we use a different currency here).

Why $2000?

Food: $300
Bills: $50-60
Small apartment: $200-400
Supplements/other minor expenses: $100-200 (but let's say it's even higher than that)
Total monthly expenditure: Comfortably below $1000

I would then have $1000 left to reinvest in my business, save for a vacation, help pay my mother's debts, etc.


$2000 a month is 2 medium priced or 3-4 smaller priced websites (for my current mediocre sales level). That's..easily doable if I cold call enough.


Last week I called a measly 20 businesses or so..

Out of 20 connections I got 3 prospects, met with 2 business owners and closed one deal for $600 so far.

I already got paid half upfront and I can finish the project in a week tops, though I could in 2-3 days easily.

But let's say it took me a week for every project on average..

This means I only need to sell 1 website a week for the same amount in order to earn $2400 a month, which is more than enough to fund my lifestyle.

Basically, I have to replicate exactly what I did last week for next week, and then do it again, and again.. and I'd be living the life I want. For now, at least.

After a while of doing this I'd probably have a few extra projects monthly due to referrals, and eventually I wouldn't need to cold call much.

Laying this out in text felt invigorating.

 

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[Andy Black]

Well done.


Something I repeat to myself:

“Money can’t be in two places at once.” (Blaise Brosnan)

If it’s in their account it’s not in my account, so they aren’t a client yet, just a prospect.

 

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[Simon Angel]

Day 12
​

Cleaning company client called. He kept raving about the site and how people are already calling from it. It also surpassed all competition he had in the city in terms of SEO.

He asked me whether I settled on a deal with the guy with the run-down office he took me to. I said no and that he'd literally just waste my time.

He replied back by saying that he got false information from him that he needed someone to work on a project.

I told him that wasn't the case but that I wouldn't have done that regardless because I run my own business.

My client then said "we're going to find something else then" and said he's already been spreading word about me and what I do. I told him that since he's taking it seriously I'll give him 10% of every sale I get from his referrals.

He was ecstatic about my offer and said "that's how you do it, I love it, I do the same thing with my clients" and said we'll be talking again soon.

I also let him know I'm interested in helping out a construction company, named the one he is partnered with. He said "go ahead" followed by "but let me tell you some INSIDERS info - the company will be sold next year to X competitor, so they might turn you down just because of that".

Graphite brushes prospect. I called the guy today since he said "Wednesday or Thursday at any time", so I called him 11 something AM.

He disconnected the call almost instantly so I figured that he's busy or that our definition of "any time" is different. No problem, let's call him later.

Called around 4 PM. No answer. Okay, he's either ghosting or couldn't get to me. I'll try again tomorrow and if he doesn't pick up, then I guess he doesn't love me anymore. Whatever.

Called another industrial company in the metallurgy sector. Old site, second page, prime target.

Big Boss was on the phone. We talked for about a minute and he said "I'm going to pass the phone over to my partner as this is something he's more qualified to handle than I am".

Big Boss No. 2 was very interested, cooperative, answered my questions but said:

"The truth is, we're already a bit overwhelmed with the amount of clients as is, so the site plays more of an informational role than anything. However, we're interested in a redesign as the site really is quite outdated."

I get this a lot. So I decided to go over results as quicky as possible and focused more on my "redesign" selling point, since that's what they were interested in. Big Boss No.2 requested I send him an e-mail with an offer and my contact info.

The offer I sent them was to have a second phone call where we discuss their business in-depth so that we could together reach a price that's affordable and convenient for them, that I believe every business is different, etc along with my portfolio with added results and my contact info.

Also this: "If this is something that would be of interest to you, let's speak again soon. Additionally, if you prefer I inititated the second call, then just reply back with a date and time so that I can get back to you!"

End of Day 12.

 

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[Simon Angel]

Are you saying there's a shortage of cleaners?
Too many clients not enough maids.
Why is there a shortage?

How long would it take you to build a website to attract would-be maids?
Referrals, directory, agency, just thinking out loud here.

Solve Mr Rich Guy's & others problems.

Not just maids. It's mostly office, apartment block and warehouse cleaning here.

The insufficient workforce is due to C0VlD-19. Unlike one of our forum members @GravyBoat who mostly cleans homeowners' houses, the cleaning here is mainly commercial and subscription based.

And since many businesses had closed until further notice, there was/is less demand for cleaning services. You've got 10 people on payroll with your small cleaning company, then 6-7, now since the demand is up again you're thinking of increasing your amount of employees again rather than attracting new clients. At least that's what I've personally gathered, everyone I've spoken to so far has given a different reason/excuse.

I did make a page for my cleaning company client's site for maids and optimized it. It's a a new service that he and I talked about that should help his business' growth.

Congrats on your commitment. You are a great example for people who actually need to cold call or do active sales to sell their services.

Anyways, what is F1 esports exactly? I gave it a look and can't believe it's an actual thing.
Haven't been checking out videogames in a while but that seems unbelievable lol

Thanks, I keep telling myself I'm not doing nearly enough. But when I push myself too hard on the cold calls in a single day I sometimes get physical symptoms due to my health history. I'm trying to adapt so this isn't an excuse or a factor at all.

F1 eSports has been the only F1 so far this year. Half of the official F1 drivers are competing on the same game, mostly friendly races but they began taking it seriously. F1 eSports has seen significant growth in 2018 and 2019 but this year has been crazy due to the coronavirus. I'm not a stocks guy but shares have probably gone 1000-2000% due to the official (and past legends) driver participation - Charles Leclerc, Sebastian Vettel, Lando Norris, Juan Pablo Montoya, Fernando Alonso, Emerson Fittipaldi and etc.

Update on today's calls:
​

I called the numbers and got ahold of 3 people on the phone.

2 politely refused after we talked for a minute or so.

1 was a kind lady that I managed to woo. She was laughing and smiling over the phone and letting me know some INSIDERS info about the company.

It was a cleaning company that isn't a cleaning company anymore - they've gone on to sell sanitary products and etc in both physical and online stores.

I asked her (even though I knew the answer) if she was the one making the decisions for this sort of thing in the company. She said that would be her boss so I asked for his number and name. She happily gave them to me. I said I'll call him on Monday and thanked her by name.

End of day 15.

 

[Simon Angel]

Day 16
​

Just had breakfast. Almost choked to death. Apparently eating is easy to learn but difficult to master..

It's the 15th of June.

I'm $600 in my $2000 goal for the month.

Had at least 3 "almost" sales which would've put me above my goal and made me feel really, really good.

There's no use dwelling over that though, is there? Thanks, life.

ANYWAY​

Time to follow-up.

I've got multiple prospects from last week and just hopefully waiting for them to initiate would not be a wise move on my part.

WIll update as I go.

Please pray to the gods of Capitalism I get some sales today. Thanks in advance.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Prospect #1: Hung up my call.

Her site is still broken, even though she was going to let her "site guy" know and fix it and then call me the same day. It's been 2 days, I called, she hung up. Fine with me, I'm not the one losing money.

I'll call her again later today anyways.


Prospect #2: Tensions are high.

"Hi X, it's Simeon, we talked about your online presence last we..*interrupted*

- "Yes, we talked, but now is not a good time. We haven't discussed this here yet so call later or another day."

"Of course, I'll call you later today."

- "Ok, have a good day!" (in a passive-aggressive tone, you know what I mean)

"Have a good day!"

My spideys senses are telling me she's likely going to end up being a long-term prospect.. will have to bug her multiple times until we strike a deal or she literally tells me to F*ck off.


Prospect #3: MIA.

One of my first cold calls and one of my first potencial clients - a driving school in a neighbouring city. We spoke twice over the phone, I called a third time and he agreed on a website redesign but said it'll be in the next few weeks as he's currently quite busy due to lack of staff, thanked me for my call and I could sense it was going well overall.

So that was on the 1st of June, 2 weeks later I called and he's not picking up. Cold be busy, could have decided against proceeding with it. That would be a bummer.

You already know I'm going to call him again later.

 

[Simon Angel]

We're now near the end of this month and the stats are as follows:

Unique numbers called: 100 +
Prospects: Many
Sales: 2
Services sold: Web design
Sales value: $1200

Experience, connections made and how much my life has changed in just 4 weeks cannot be put in numbers.

I barely had any idea what I was doing in the beginning of June. I didn't know how to pick my clients, how to frame the conversations over the phone, was very anxious before calling. I kept wondering if web design and building a digital marketing agency was truly for me and whether I should hop on to the next thing like I've done many times in the past.

When you stick with something long enough tend to you realize how foolish your thought process had been in the past.

Tip: When staring at your lead's number on your phone instead of having pretend-conversations and making needless preparations, which is just procrastination, have your hand push the call button and roll with it, just like you would with a cold shower - don't build up to it, just instantly crank the knob to freezing cold water.

Doing the above you'll probably notice two things:

• You're more prepared than you think. You've already noticed a problem with how they do their business, have the solution, so just sell them the idea they're missing out on a lot of money and push for a meeting.
• You'll have a more natural conversation with the client rather than reading your script for 30 seconds then being told "I'll think about it".
• You spend less time being anxious and worrying about making the "perfect call" to someone that could potentially blow you off in the first few seconds because they're in a bad mood.

Today's happenings:

Called cleaning company client. Asked how he's doing and whether he's noticed having more business than usual. He replied by saying it's been mostly the same with the exception that he gets 1-2 calls on average per day from the site + ads.

Although I have enough Google Ads experience currently to know that I've set up the ads well and wrote a converting copy (the CTR is 15-20% and the CPC is $0.13 on average), the volume of search terms related to his business are really lower around here, so the ads are actually at a budget of $10 per day but spending around $1.

Regardless of the fact, he didn't sound too thrilled about the service or anything so I told him it's been a full week of running ads and that I'll keep doing it for free for the whole of July.

After making a few calculations from the data we've gathered so far, I believe he could get a sale or two next month. Which would result in very high ROAS for him and leverage for me to negotiate monthly payments.

On a side note, I called a few real estate agencies today and arranged 2 meetings. (EDIT: another 2 more after calling all of the leads today)

One is this Wednesday, the other is happening 2 weeks from today.

I've been making up different scenarios of how the ads I create could help RE agencies and so far I've managed to convince myself it could be very profitable for them and for me too as a side effect. Which is good because if I'm convcined in my services' efectiveness, then I can usually convince the client as well.

It might seem a bit early for me to do this, but I've been straying away from just offering web design. I've found more value in doing Google and Facebook Ads as a service for future clients, many of whom have good enough websites.

For the majorirty of this month I was stuck on dealing with people who had close to zero interest in anything online. People with decent websites and online presence are much better qualified leads and usually can see the value in aiming for the next level.

In simpler terms, someone who already has a site (especially a well converting one) but doesn't take advantage of the power of PPC ads is much more likely to want to invest in them after you help them realize the potential of it all.

So right now I am selling ads. If the prospect wants ads, but their site is trash I tell them the ads won't be effective and money would be wasted without a landing page that is able to convert the traffic they pay for. That's exactly how I made my second sale.

My goal for July is to get to $1000 in MRR (Monthly Reccuring Revenue).

Why?

• Covers all my living expenses (food, supplements, bills, rent) comfortably.
• It's not just a one time thing, followed by a drought. I've never had a one night stand with a woman and never will, so why not treat my business the same - find high quality clients and build long-term, mutually beneficial relationships.

My goal for the next 12 months is at least $10 000 in MRR.

• If I can get to $1K in recurring monthly payments in just this next month, then all I'd need to do get to $10K is repeat the same process 10 times or less (I could raise my pricing). This would effectively make me a 6 figure business owner.
• Once I get to $1K, $10K and etc I'll shoot for $100K and beyond. That would make a 7 figure business owner. Possibly a few years from now.

If you're thinking "This guy is way over his head" then you're not alone, I frequently doubt myself the same way.

But here's the thing. I sold $1200 worth of sites in my first month of business.

However, I'd wager selling ads is easier as you get statistical data and results daily and you can start out slowly and with low budgets, while a website is usually considered a riskier payment. Which makes it seem like a very realistic goal for me.

Gotta call a few more numbers today, will report back if there's anything interesting!

Also, going strong with the Udemy course @Phikey sent me. This dude is changing my life and I'm going to buy him a beer or a batmobile one day.

 

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[Simon Angel]

Had a whoopise-daisy moment today.
​

Apparently my conversion tracking for phone calls from website had not been working exactly as intended..

My ad manager was showing me that my client had been having upwards of 10-15 calls per day for just $2-3 of ad spend..and he had kept all this a secret from me?!

Just as I was about to make a phone call to demand $2 googolplex per month for my epic service and become the most successful fastlane story in the forum, it hit me.. I was tracking page views instead.

I'm not dumb, okay, it's really hard.

Anyway..
​

I have sinced fixed this gross misunderstanding and demanded 20K instead. Just kidding. I wish.

I sorted out the conversion tracking and will be monitoring closely.

Researched some more RE agencies today and after extensive back and forth with Google I managed to find the biggest RE agency here's owner's phone number. Epic action taking right here folks. A whole number. And of course they aren't running any ads, though they do have a global site tag installed + Google Analytics.

Mark my words, I shall soon lay waste on all other local RE agencies with my superior Google Ads spartan training.

Oh and I started working on Plumber #2's website (we will be running ads to it after completion too).

I might eat fecal matter for this but he's paying 50% on Monday while I'm beginning work tonight, in advance. Here in Bulgaria we usually come face to face before shaking hands on a deal while this deal was closed entirely over the phone.. so I had to lower the risk for the client by increasing my own.

If only people would start attending my F*cking meetings.

But wait, there's more!
​

Since this is my #100th post in the forum, I'm about to get very personal and share my most favorite song ever.

You know, that one song you could listen 10 000 times and still get goose bumps when it plays faintly from a store or in a movie scene?

The one that plays in your head whenever you're happy, depressed, horny, miserable, daydreaming about your future success, etc.

THIS is THE song for me:

And yeah I know it's not my 100th post. But it's my thread and I do what I want.

 

[Simon Angel]

Update:
​

Cleaning service client get many phone call today. 4 maybe-clients!

He very happy! We continue google ad thing.

Plumber #2 send first money today, after 25 follow up call. He now official client for me. Me happy.

Me had 38 call today, head hurt. Boring stuff.. but got new client!

But there more!!​

Later call big house sell agency. They pick up phone..

Me: "Hi, you want make big money? Me found way, pls meet soon"

Business man: "What you mean? Sound interest for me"

Me: "Me find loophole. You and other house seller no use epic method. Big money on table, need meet for say more!"

Business man: "Me agree"

Me: "When free?"

Business man: "Weddingsday 9 in morning"

Me: "Ok. Me call you for arrange"

Business man: "Yes"

Me: "Bye"

Business man: "Hello"

*epic call end*

Potential client say he have 700-800 unique click every day on site. Big click, right?

But me ask how many conversion, how many phone ring? He say, me quote, "many little"..

Me think potential client have bad site. It no optimize for phone. Many hard to use. No phone ring button.

This is problem. Smell poopy.

Me wanted offer google ad thing. But if we get more click, convert still low with now-site. No good right?

So me want upsell new site. Everhow, the project intimade I. And me get flybutter in stomach..

But me going to meet anyway. Hope potential client come also this time.

I visualize good thing before the sleep tonight.

Everyway..
​

Very producting day for I. But me feel empty. Dont know why. Melonholy.

Hope me make you laugh though.

Hello.