As promised in the "What will you accomplish in 2019" thread, here's my progress thread for my current project: a B2B endeavor in the architecture and design industry.
If you want to skip to the end of the post I have my history since joining this forum. This project was started as a supplement to a position I held which I have since quit. Recruiting, architecture & design. There you go folks, that's the niche. Not a new concept, some would even consider it a dead industry. I know firsthand how wrong that is. I don't want to share the URL now only because I don't want my data skewed.
Had a whole load of shit typed up here, deleted it. Offering a freemium service to help firms in smaller markets, larger markets, and recruiters.
Moving forward, I'm only going to be doing what I consider my strong points/what I actually enjoy: website development, content strategy, and email marketing.
What we have done so far
January: 29 businesses being helped/using my service
Have a call soon with one of the largest architecture firms in the United States (top 9).
Tools I like to use:
Missinglettr: social planning program
AgileCRM: will be switching to Mautic soon
IFTTT: automation for a lot of thangs
That's about it.
Backstory/Autobiography:
I was fresh out of the military in January 2014 and had ~7 months between DD-214 and 1st semester. 5 years of bullshit in the Marine Corps kind of makes you want to chill for a bit and do your own thing. A search for "how to make money online" led me to a whole lot of money chasing.
When I first joined the forum, it was outsourcing ebooks to foreign writers and self-publishing on Amazon & Draft2Digital. A whole lot of adult fiction (read: erotica) and career skill non-fiction (think interview skills, public speaking, and resume building). Peaked out at around $4,000 and I thought I "made it" so I slowed things down thinking that would continue forever ... it did not. The books continue to sell to the tune of $50-100 a month.
Skills gained: managing freelancers, copywriting, market research
February 2016, I created my first website for the sole purpose of making money. Before, any website I made was either my terrible personal blog or made to supplement the pen names created for my ebooks. The website was created based off a consistently selling ebook that didn't really have any other websites in competition. October 2016 I sold that website.
Skills gained: WordPress, affiliate marketing, digital product creation, minor outreach finding affiliates to sell my product
Yada yada, a few minor websites from there but nothing substantial. Got into a bit of PoD in my time between classes because graphic design is fun. Blah blah blah, graduated, moved to NYC, moved back to work on my own stuff, relationship terminated, oh shit it's lonely all day I want to be around people.
My friend & roommate is a pretty successful recruiter, so I tried that out. The task: recruiting architects. The execution: 60-80 cold calls per day. That's a good way to get good at cold calling.
Skills gained: all kindsa sales: cold calling, cold emailing, overcoming objections, the whole shebang
I'll be sharing anything I know/answering questions about WordPress, content strategy, content marketing, SEO, email marketing, or sales.
As far as updates to the website, I'll get those up on the 1st.
What I will accomplish: I'll grow my current project to help 500 firms each month as ethically as I possibly can.
How I'll do this:
- Start a progress thread February 1st. That way I have some data to share & accountability.
- Never stop prospecting. I've already double-downed on my efforts by hiring a man to bring me 100 targetted potential customers per day.
- Be customer-centric. Service didn't live up to your expectations? Here are three months free, see if that works for you. Still not working? Where are you located? Oh, that is a tough market...here's a year for free, see if that works for you.
- Have fun. This is enjoyable for me because I've actually found an industry I can speak the language & apply what I enjoy doing: website building, marketing, & sales.
If you want to skip to the end of the post I have my history since joining this forum. This project was started as a supplement to a position I held which I have since quit. Recruiting, architecture & design. There you go folks, that's the niche. Not a new concept, some would even consider it a dead industry. I know firsthand how wrong that is. I don't want to share the URL now only because I don't want my data skewed.
Had a whole load of shit typed up here, deleted it. Offering a freemium service to help firms in smaller markets, larger markets, and recruiters.
Moving forward, I'm only going to be doing what I consider my strong points/what I actually enjoy: website development, content strategy, and email marketing.
What we have done so far
- The website/service is 99.9% built. There will always be things to work on, but can't spend all day every day tinkering with pixel placement. No longer tinkering aimlessly, only when someone brings something to my attention.
- Hired a lead gen guy. Fired that lead gen guy. He brought me ~1600 lukewarm contacts from ~1000 companies for ~$350. The last few days he was getting very sloppy with what he was bringing me. Going to work with what I have for the time being until conversions stop. I say lukewarm because they're using a similar service so I know they're in the market. Not cold, but not exactly warm.
- Built out an awareness campaign using AgileCRM for cold emails I'm still refining. As of this writing, I'm getting 20% open rates, of that 20% click to the website, and 20% of those people sign up on the first touch. The second touch is 15%, 15%, 20%. Started January 1st.
- (Re)used a content service for this project. Spent $1062 on a few dozen thousand words to bring in the B2C component. Also writing what I can from what I know.
January: 29 businesses being helped/using my service
Have a call soon with one of the largest architecture firms in the United States (top 9).
Tools I like to use:
Missinglettr: social planning program
AgileCRM: will be switching to Mautic soon
IFTTT: automation for a lot of thangs
That's about it.
Backstory/Autobiography:
I was fresh out of the military in January 2014 and had ~7 months between DD-214 and 1st semester. 5 years of bullshit in the Marine Corps kind of makes you want to chill for a bit and do your own thing. A search for "how to make money online" led me to a whole lot of money chasing.
When I first joined the forum, it was outsourcing ebooks to foreign writers and self-publishing on Amazon & Draft2Digital. A whole lot of adult fiction (read: erotica) and career skill non-fiction (think interview skills, public speaking, and resume building). Peaked out at around $4,000 and I thought I "made it" so I slowed things down thinking that would continue forever ... it did not. The books continue to sell to the tune of $50-100 a month.
Skills gained: managing freelancers, copywriting, market research
February 2016, I created my first website for the sole purpose of making money. Before, any website I made was either my terrible personal blog or made to supplement the pen names created for my ebooks. The website was created based off a consistently selling ebook that didn't really have any other websites in competition. October 2016 I sold that website.
Skills gained: WordPress, affiliate marketing, digital product creation, minor outreach finding affiliates to sell my product
Yada yada, a few minor websites from there but nothing substantial. Got into a bit of PoD in my time between classes because graphic design is fun. Blah blah blah, graduated, moved to NYC, moved back to work on my own stuff, relationship terminated, oh shit it's lonely all day I want to be around people.
My friend & roommate is a pretty successful recruiter, so I tried that out. The task: recruiting architects. The execution: 60-80 cold calls per day. That's a good way to get good at cold calling.
Skills gained: all kindsa sales: cold calling, cold emailing, overcoming objections, the whole shebang
I'll be sharing anything I know/answering questions about WordPress, content strategy, content marketing, SEO, email marketing, or sales.
As far as updates to the website, I'll get those up on the 1st.
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