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Chasing Freedom - Creating My Own Digital Marketing Company

Marketing, social media, advertising

Kyle T

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1 Year Fastlane Anniversary!

Compared to a year ago when I was in the slow lane:

  • I am now making more MONEY
  • I now have more FREEDOM.
  • I now spend more time with FAMILY
  • I am now 10x more HAPPY.

This book and forum have changed my life. Thank you to @MJ DeMarco and everyone else who has had such an incredible impact on me

Excited to keep sharing my journey.
 
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Kyle T

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After recently reading through Sean's thread I have decided to pursue creating my digital marketing agency.

His insights completely opened my eyes to the opportunity that is all around me. I ended up purchasing his course and am in the beginning stages of building my own business that will set me free from 9-5.

My goal is to follow his outline and to grow a business that will provide me with the opportunity to quit my job. My goal is to follow his steps and accept the challenge to make 5k/month within 90-days.

Below is the checklist that Sean provided (here is the awesome thread once again) and I am going to update it as I progress

Day 1

SETUP
X represents completed task, O represents task in progress or waiting

X Started thinking about your business brand including your business name.

X Thought about what kind “feel” you want your business to have. Write out at least ten possible names.

X Looked up “online marketing company” and checked out the first few sites – got a feel for what they do and what I'd like to differently.

O Consider taking a class or two on Udemy.com or Lynda.com to get an overview of the online marketing world. Strongly consider also going to QuickSprout.com/University

X I thought about the industries that I would like to serve. Looked specifically at local businesses in my area and identified ones that:
  • Are in wealthy industries
  • Aren't very sexy
  • Aren't very tech savvy
  • Thrive due to "word of mouth" marketing.

X Write out (or type out) your motivation. Why are you interested in starting this business?
  • I want to be Free of my desk job. I want to provide freedom to myself and my young family by creating a business that is scalable and isn't tied to my time.


X List out the amount of money you would like to make in your first month, second month, following months. Include your first year’s goal.
  • First month: $450
  • Second Month: $2000
  • Third Month: $5000
  • First Year: $70,000

X Go online and look up other online marketing companies (again) – jotted down everything that I liked and would like to emulate.

X Put together my USP.

X Came up with my three packages & pricing.

X Thought about my ideal client, and I have composed many traits that make up my "Avatar."

X
Came up with my business name.

X
Came up with my business tagline. Simple, to the point and value oriented.

X
Picked my business colors.

X
Got logo done using Upwork for $50

X Wrote up my 1-page business plan

O Set up your corporation. Haven't done this yet. Merely just waiting until I have a couple of sales under my belt. Will revisit this task in a couple of weeks.

X
Bought my domain using GoDaddy. Also unwittingly bought my hosting through GoDaddy but plan to switch to a different service in January. Pretty lame that GoDaddy makes you wait two months before switching hosts.

X
Created my homepage. It is a one-page landing page that has About Me, Services and link to Contact Form.

X
Bought business cards to hand out to potential clients


So I am nearly all set up and ready to roll! I am still interested in taking an Udemy course on online marketing. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Tomorrow, I start the most important process of all...

Selling.
 
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Kyle T

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Chasing Freedom...

That phrase I have been using since the beginning of this adventure and the more I think about it, the more I realize that I have made it so incredibly far on this journey already.

  • I have replaced my income from the "good job" that I left
  • I am spending more time with my son than I ever would have otherwise
  • I have served 23+ customers in 6 different states from the comfort of my own home
  • I am "working" less than ever. My time is spent on content and sales while I have outsourced a majority of the grunt work.
  • Business is doing well enough that we bought a house!

It's crazy to think that I used to spend 40/hours per week working a job that I hated so that I could live in a city that I couldn't afford.

Without reading, The Millionaire Fastlane , I don't think that I would have ever been ready to make this leap and I am SO glad that I did.

I keep picturing the world I would live in if I didn't become an entrepreneur...

I would have never bought a house.
I would be pulling my hair out to provide for my family.
My wife would have had to keep working full time.
My son would have gone to a crappy daycare (and woulda cost an arm & a leg)
I would have worked to be content with meager 2% raises every year.
I would be a good employee who just waited in line for promotions.

But Now? My life is in my hands!
I can go on vacation when I want.
If I want a 10% raise then I just need to go out and get another client.
I can spend lunch with my family almost every day.
I can work when I feel like rather than being chained to a desk.
I enjoy what I do and I have no ceiling on income potential.

So this post was mainly just a write up to tell the forum that I am well on my way to my "freedom". I am happier than I have ever been and the best part is that this is only the beginning.
 
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Kyle T

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Day 34

Sale #2 is in the books.

Not only that but both my clients have paid for 4-months up front. Great feeling to see a big number like that and now I must deliver the goods!

Now for an update that impacts my journey...

My family & I will be moving in couple months to allow my wife to stay home with our newborn. With the move, I will be unemployed for the first time in my adult life and I am committed to making this business a legitimate way to provide for my family. We will be staying with family for a few months and it seems to be the perfect opportunity to hustle as a full time entrepreneur for the first time.

Excited for the opportunity. The last thing that I want is to resort to finding a slowlane job. With that said, providing for my family is the number one priority so I will need to continue to hustle relentlessly.

Revenue in first 34 days: $3,942

Main focus is still on prospecting. I am a little nervous that my prospect pool may dry up so I am taking a few free projects to build my portfolio & gain testimonials.
 

Kyle T

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Current Recurring Monthly Revenue: $3,150

Up to 6 clients. The most exciting part is that each new client is paying more than the last. I am gaining confidence in my ability to sell to warm leads but still am lacking confidence in dealing with cold prospects and warming them up.

#1 thing that I am currently focusing on is to improve my time management & discipline. I don't spend enough time focused on my businesse's "one thing".

I am hiring my first full-time VA and looking forward to delegating a lot of the busy work. Hopefully it will help!

Hiring a VA will allow me to develop systems that will help me to focus on selling. Step by step guides to doing all these repetitive tasks that I am currently wasting my energy. The goal is to have an instruction manual so that this VA (or any VA) will be able to do the boring stuff with limited instruction.
 
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Kyle T

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NEW DEAL!

Someone who has been on the fence for months just referred a friend to me and will be a great account. $1500 website to start with an ongoing package too.

The person who I initially talked to was an acquaintance of mine who I have known for a few years. She is a very small business that I was going to help with her website. The value of her potential deal really isn't that much, but I treated her like she was a VIP.

I gave her honest advice & feedback and was extremely patient with her. We have spoken on the phone 5+ times over the course of the last few months and I obviously have left a lasting impression.

The best part is that the friend who she referred to me to is a much bigger account.

Moral of the story is to treat every potential client like they are a VIP. Even if they don't purchase from you, leaving a positive impression with them can lead to positive things in the future. Build relationships and referrals will start flowing.
 
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Kyle T

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Hey Kyle,
Any updates so far?


Long Overdue Update.
Monthly Profit: $3000

Life has been kicking me in my a$$. I have continued to struggle with growing my business and I am currently at a low point financially.

Credit card debt is piling up & something needed to change.

This past Sunday I even applied for some jobs. :arghh:

Hitting that point where I was contemplating giving up was a blessing in disguise. It lit a fire under my a$$.

My back was against the wall & I have been more driven than ever before in my life. These last 3 days have been the most productive I can ever remember.

Productive towards what?

Changing the game of 'lead generation'.

I have spent the last 3 months talking to hundreds of companies within my niche. Learning about all the details of their businesses.

While I was learning, I struggled massively to convince more than a few to work with me.

Why?

Because I was exactly like the thousands of marketers who had come before me. Saying the same things & asking for thousands of dollars upfront just to hand them a list that they would struggle to turn into appointments.

Do you know why marketers do that? Because they are Greedy.
And the business owners are sick of it.

Some Problems with typical lead generation arrangements
  • Lack of Transparency
  • Lack of Trust
  • No Incentives to Overdeliver
  • Outrageous $2k - $4k 'retainers'
  • Disconnect Between Leads & Appointment Setters
  • Clients Spending Additional Money on Call Centers.
  • Unethical Ads to generate cheap leads.
  • High Risk for Client, Low Risk for Agency.
  • Working independently & not cohesively.
  • Focusing on Quantity & not Quality.
This list is just touching the surface of everything that is wrong with current online marketers & I believe I have solved all of these problems.

Remember, Being good at 'Facebook Ads' is worthless. The real value is in creating a system that connects the dots from Facebook Ads all the way to the close.

In the last 3 days, I have talked to 10 prospects about my new systems & structure and all 10 are basically fighting to be the first ones to use it.

Bigger companies that I wouldn't have dreamed of working with are blowing up my phone to make sure that they can claim their region of the market before someone else.

In order to change the game of lead generation, I have to be different. I have to be selfless. I have to be invested in their success. I have to provide MAXIMUM VALUE.

Buckle Up, Everyone.

This is about to get good.
 
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Kyle T

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Day 17

SALES
(X represents completed task, O represents a task in progress or waiting)

X Got my first sale!

The first sale has been made! My most basic package but still a solid $350 per month. My goal was to make this first sale before the end of the first month so I am happy to get it done & out of the way.

He was a friend from my personal network who had just revamped his website. I made the effort to reach out to him and lead with the value of an SEO audit. He was very impressed and after thinking it over for a week, he messaged me today to move forward with the purchase!


Now that the dreaded first sale is out of the way, I am working on...

O Complete the work of my first sale and be sure to get results!
  • I am going to go over the top to do everything that I can to get him positive results as quickly as possible. I want to use him for referrals & a testimonial.
O Document all of my work
  • I’ll need this to scale & build a team that can do the majority of the work for me. Not hiring anyone yet, but will be open to it in the very near future.

O Get my next 3 clients quickly.
  • This is going to be extremely tough! I work a full-time job and find it extremely difficult to gather leads via cold emailing compared to cold calling during business hours. The good news is that I have continued to explore my personal network and by leading with value, I already have two more meetings tomorrow with potential clients. One of them would be a large account too.

O Consider joining your local Chamber of Commerce and possibly a BNI group or other networking group.
  • BNI isn't in my area, unfortunately. I am considering driving 1-hour roundtrip one morning a week, to potentially join a group. It seems like an incredible resource if you are able to join one of these groups as the "SEO" or "Online Marketing" guy.

O Using online directories like Manta.com to find more businesses in my chosen niche.
  • I have been doing this and will probably continue for the foreseeable future. I originally lead with an SEO report that was custom to their website. The response from that was decent but not incredible. I think that I am going to alter my approach. I am going to attempt to lead with a genuine "3 tips to increase traffic to your website" email. At the end of that email, I am going to offer to send them the custom report & a 10-minute video only if they are interested.
Will update you all again at my next milestone.
 
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Kyle T

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This is great Kyle! So glad to hear this. Keep pushing:thumbsup:



Can you tell us a bit about your new system? Looks like you got something important here...

What I have done is this:
  1. Mastered the follow up systems & automation. Rather than providing clients with a list, I provide them with all the tools (CRM, Texts, Calls, Automation, Marketing Campaigns) to turn the list into results. Now, I am also hiring an appointment setter that will allow me to sell an even further 'Done for you' service. Completely take the annoying work off their plate, charging more money & delivering them better results. I am not selling leads... I am selling a system.
  2. Absorbed a lot more of the risk. I have switched to a revenue sharing model that provides me with more upside while lowering the risk for the clients. I don't get paid unless they close deals so we are both aligned & working towards the same goal. It is more of a partnership.
Switching it up and transitioning to this model has been a whirlwind. I have been working my a$$ off and haven't seen any of the shared revenue yet. I have prospects booking appointments with me on a daily basis and have actually had to turn some people away.

I have successfully flipped the script. Rather then selling myself, the potential clients are the ones that are selling me.

Considering that I chose the absolute worst time to switch to a model that has delayed cash flow (Thanks COVID19), things are going great.

Next month I have $8000+ of profit coming my way!!!

That is a new all time high for me and the best part is that I am in a position to push it much higher in the coming months.

My goals are to hit $10,000/month by June and to hit $25,000/month by the end of the year. Be sure to ask some questions while you can because I will be taking this to the INSIDE next month.
 

Kyle T

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Update:
61 days since I started
, I am still sitting at 2 clients... but my pipeline is looking great! I have a bunch of quality leads in the pipeline and working on closing two more in the next week or so.

Book Recommendation:
I read "Fanatical Prospecting" and it has been GOLD in helping me to get in the right mindset and doing the things that are important to my business on a daily basis.

Even when my pipeline is looking full, I keep hustling and finding more prospects to squeeze in.

Every. Single. Day.

A Valuable Lesson Learned
Don't assume that your client's know ANYTHING.

Twice now I have talked to potential clients that have websites that are awful & 20 years out of date.

So what did I do? I told them the truth.

"Your current website kinda sucks...."

This inconvenient truth rubbed them the wrong way and didn't help my pitch at all.

Even if their website looks like it was built when AOL was king, don't assume that the client agrees with you about its shortcomings.

I will no longer put words into my client's mouth and will practice getting them to voice their marketing shortcomings before I call it out myself.

The Countdown is on:
The upcoming move is getting real for me, but rather than nervous, I am getting excited!
  • 9 days away from quitting my last ever job
  • 18 days away from moving out of California.
  • 19 days away from being able to chase this dream of freedom full time!
 

Kyle T

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@Kyle any updates on sales? learnings? failures/success?

I haven't posted for awhile and it has sure been a roller coaster!

The business was growing and I was flying high.

In the last week I have lost 3 of my very first clients and it hit me like a brick In the face. A few lessons that I have learned from the experience:

1) Communication is the number one thing I can improve upon. Communication is the reason that this churn hit me like a bus. I wasn't doing a good job in communicating with my clients. Especially with SEO, there is a ton of work that I was doing for them that they will never notice and that is a problem. Moving forward I am going to be scheduling weekly check in meetings to update them on what is going on and remind them of the expectations and gain feedback from them

2) I underestimated how impatient clients would be. No matter how many times I tell them the timeframe to expect results, they still get impatient. For this reason, I think that PPC ads are a better thing to specialize in for small businesses. They like results and they want them ASAP. The fact that PPC gets their phone ringing quicker is something that would help to prevent the quick churn.

3) I still need to master my systems. I am spending too much time micromanaging my VA and it's not a valuable use of my time. My plan is to divide all the tasks into daily, weekly, and monthly lists and then have my project management software automatically assign it.


A week ago I was on top of the world and I got pummeled. It's way too easy to become content and I still have so much to learn.
 

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This is exaclty how I started my journey way back in Feb of 2010. I would try to limit your services when you are starting. If you offer just one product, it's way easier to close the sale. If you start a conversation with a potential client and they have to think about website design, content creation and seo you're likely to hit the "I have to think about it" wall.

When you give too much information or too man choices, this can happen. When I dropped to only offering SEO services, I started closing all my clients. You want people to make a decision and pay you in the first meeting.

You are taking action and making great progress already!
 

Kyle T

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BOOM!

Best day so far. My pipeline is so full that it is busting at the seams. I closed 4 new deals today! By far a new record for me. 3 Monthly Recurring Service Clients and One Large Website Design Client.

Out of the 4 deals, 2 have come from networking & the other 2 have come from my LinkedIn outreach.

In addition, I have made my business much more efficient. I read the book "Profit First" and applied it. I have cut my budget significantly to guarantee a consistent profit without suffocating my business.

That book really spelled out the situation that I was going through and the different stages that were crushing me.


My Profit Last Cycle:
  1. "Business is on FIRE! We got plenty of money to spend. Buy every Software in sight! Hire more people!"
  2. **2 Weeks Later** Blinded by the "success" normal churn hits me like a brick in the face.
  3. "I am barely making any profit ?!? How can this be? Cut my budget for everything!"
  4. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

As you can see... that was not a recipe for success. I am now a bit more focused on what is most essential for my business and what expenses are mission-critical. The past month I have successfully cut my budget while increasing my revenue and I am being much more aware of my expenses to keep them aligned with my new system.

May have some more details soon... I have 2 additional proposals that I need to send out tonight!
 

Kyle T

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I hit another breaking point.

Been a long time since I have updated this thread and things have been a roller coaster.

While my business had successfully replaced my income, I realize that I had built myself a job.

I was working more and every single client that I helped became a bigger headache then they were worth. I was stressed out and I didn't have enough time to grow my business.

I had 15 clients in 6+ niches and I couldn't keep them all happy.

Over the last month, I have made adjustments and I am now 100% focused on what is essential.

Here is what I have done:

1. I eliminated the bad clients.

I have realized that I have a bad habit of overestimating my abilities. I commit to doing more than I can and I charged less than I should.

This habit caused me to bring on clients that I had no business working with. I was charging them $600/month when I should have been charging them $1500+.

The clients that pay me $500/month take more time & cause me more stress than the ones that pay me $1000/month. I cut those clients and just explained to them that my business is going in a different direction.

2. I found a Mentor.

This guy is an mentor who is guiding me in the direction of my agency. I found him in an "inner circle" facebook group and he has helped me immensely. LEGITIMATE guidance & coaching has been invaluable for me in the last couple of weeks.


3. I Finally Found A Niche

With the help of my mentor, I have found a specific niche that I am able to get insane results for and they are willing to PAY UP. This marketing niche is less saturated than chiropractors, real estate agents & insurance agents and they are willing to pay me 400% more than my old clients.

4. Condensed my Services

I am now focused on only one service: Lead generation.

The only other service that I will spend any time on is Web Design. The only reason that I am maintaining the web design side is that it is bringing in $1500/month and is mostly passive because I delegate it to a VA and all clients are referrals.

Social Media, SEO, Content Marketing, & Graphics Design are all scrapped.

Customers were coming to me for lead generation yet I was spending more time on these other service categories.

I am honestly just not as good at these things and perfectly happy abandoning them at this stage because it is what is required to allow me to scale to where I want to go (15 - 30k per month).

5. Learned to Sell the Gap
As I mentioned above, I have a new niche that is much more profitable than the other businesses that I have been helping over the last 6 months.

This wouldn't have been possible without a complete mindset shift. The two books below are what helped me to move on to clients that are willing to pay me 4x what my other clients are
  1. Gap Selling by Keenan
  2. The Win Without Pitching Manifesto by Blair Enns
Anyone who is charging $500/month like I was then I highly recommend you read those books.
 

Kyle T

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Some Updates...

Life Coach ($2000 for website) - CLOSED this deal from a Referral from a past lead. I am hopeful that this will lead to some recurring revenue too once the website is complete.

NYC Rental Company ($550/month for Social Media Marketing) CLOSED this deal from reaching out cold on LinkedIn.

Appliance Repair Company ($300/month for Google Ads) CLOSED this deal from a referral from a current client.

Painting Company ($300/month for Google Ads) CLOSED this deal after meeting him through a local networking Facebook Group. Led with value and was persistent with following up and checking in with him.

Small Town Chiropractor - ($400/month for Google Ads) CLOSED. I met him while networking and have been following up for months before getting any positive feedback from him.

Online Ecommerce Company -($2000 + $650/month for Website & Ongoing Services) Very Close to Closing! Another lead that I met from LinkedIn


Overall it's been a great month but I have been so focused on pushing these deals through the pipe that I haven't been giving enough time to get more people in the pipe.

As I refocus on prospecting, I am also looking to target some bigger companies that have a higher budget. So far the cheapest clients are the hardest to work with and I now have to confidence to being a bit more selective.

A Fun New Goal That I've Been Thinking About: I want to have a client from every single state by the end of 2020. I love this country and think that it would be a cool prospecting/sales challenge that I could have some fun with.
 
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Kyle T

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Day 2:

So today was a disaster. I had an eye infection so I stayed home from my 9-5 but my internet was out all day long! So needless to say I didn't make any progress towards anything.

As I mentioned yesterday, I am shifting my focus to sales! Modifying @Sean Marshall 's checklist a little bit, I have the following on my agenda...

SALES
X represents completed task, O represents task in progress or waiting

O
Get my first sale

I have made a list from my own personal network to get started. This list contains 10 friends who are business owners and might be in need of my services.

I have created the master list and reviewed all of their websites. I am reaching out to them one by one and offering to give them a free site evaluation report, along with some tips that can help improve their sites immediately.

Since I am desperate for my first sale, I am willing to stray away from my niche. My key focus is getting one client and giving them the best service possible so that I can use them as a testimonial and get referrals.

I am also willing to give a discount or two to get the ball rolling so I can get my first sale ASAP.
 

Kyle T

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Day 4:
I did nothing. Family visiting and I was completely preoccupied.

Day 5:
I spent 8 hours today browsing through local business listings within my niche on Manta. Using Streak for Gmail, I was able to input their contact information and now will be able to keep track of cold emails & follow-ups.

On a side note, my newborn hasn't been sleeping well and I am not getting more than 2 hours of sleep in a row. I am exhausted and putting in 5-6 hours of work after my workday is becoming more & more challenging.
 

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Thanks for sharing your progress! Having been in digital marketing and advertising for almost 7 years now, I know what it's like trying to soak it all up. It definitely does take time to gain the necessary experience to be able to really help people in a consistent fashion.

One piece of advice I'll give you is this: Never stop prospecting. If you haven't already, go pick up a copy of Fanatical Prospecting and read it. A couple of times. If you want to succeed as an agency, just keep showing up in front of your target demo. Over, and over, and over, and over. Ideally, you want to be connecting with 5-10 people per day.

By what medium? What time of day? Wherever, whenever.

If you ever want to offer Google Ads, Bing Ads or Amazon Ads to your clients without having to learn the intricacies or nuances of each platform, just let me know. We work with several agencies and have sales documentation + price sheets we share with our white label growth partners.
 
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Honestly...

My excitement is transforming to nervousness. My last day at my fulltime job is on Friday.

In order for that to be the last job of my life, I need to get my a$$ to work. My last few sales meetings have fallen flat and I am getting nervous that my prospect pool will dry up.

I have a wife & a 3-month old son to take care of and I decided that I want to start a business now? I must be an idiot...

I am moving to a new state in 12 days and will not have the personal network that has brought me my only current clients. I will start completely from scratch.

Starting on February 3rd, My entire life becomes about interrupting people...

Cold calling. Emailing. Networking events. Knocking on doors. Handing out business cards. Free advice.

This is the life that I signed up for and I have a few months to put up or shut up.

My freedom depends on it.
 
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Day 3
  • I found a local expo in my niche that is coming up in February. Their website was atrocious so I reached out and asked if it might be possible to trade some services for a sponsorship arrangement.
  • Sent 20 cold emails to leads & offered free value to them first. Already heard back from one who told me they definitely need help and I should reach back out to them in January.
  • 1 of the leads in my personal network seems very interested. I spoke to him spontaneously about his website and we are now going to schedule a time to meet next week when his wife is back in town.
  • Joined a few meet up groups and will look to attend some networking events in the coming weeks.
 
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This is inspiring, thanks for sharing. Did you have a background with SEO, web desing or something else ? Are you going to do all the work or are you going to use fiverr or something else ?

No real background in SEO or Web Design other than what I have done on my own personal websites & blogs.

I am going to handle the first few clients fully on my own so that I can document each step of the process. Once I have the systems and instructions in place then I would outsource to a VA who can handle a significant portion of the work so that I can focus on selling.
 

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Kyle T

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Gameplan:
The only way I will achieve massive results is with massive action. I have been reading quite a few books (see below) and I am realizing that my sales skills are absolute dog shit. My mentality, my energy, my mindset, my "script", my prospecting, my closing, my qualifying of leads & every other aspect is absolutely terrible.

I never appreciated the amount of skill that selling requires and I am determined to master the skill. My gameplan moving forward is made up of the following things:

  1. Cold Calling: 30+ cold calls per day.
    • I look forward to the day when I post in this thread that I no longer fear the phone. Through this process, I am even going to record my calls so that I can study them and track my progress. I am in the process of creating my scripts and preparing for every possible situation.
  2. Cold Emailing: 20-50 cold emails per day
    • Will start out a bit smaller and use automation software.
  3. LinkedIn Videos: 5+ videos per day
    • As I figure out my process a bit more than this number should increase. But this is my commitment to start.
  4. In-Person Networking: 10+ new connections per week
    • Attending networking events and meeting business owners in my community is huge for me since I am in a brand new city.
These are the 4 pillars that are going to make up my daily minimums. My goal is to quickly increase these numbers but still a great starting point that definitely places me outside my comfort zone.

As I make progress, the areas of focus will my likely shift. I need everyone here to hold me accountable! I will give weekly reports on the other stuff as well.

Books:
I read a lot of books. At times, to a fault. I will not begin reading any more books in the foreseeable future unless I encounter an obstacle that requires some new knowledge. With that said, I have gained a ton of insight over the past month by reading the following. (I had a 15-hour cross country move so I listened to more books than usual...)
  • 10x & Sell or Be Sold By Grant Cardone
    • Has helped me with motivation & mindset. Not the most actionable books but listening to the guy has energized me about the sales process and that's invaluable.
  • Power Phone Scripts by Mike Brooks
    • Reading this book has been like an epiphany. Trying to do a sales call without a gameplan & script has been one of the dumbest things that I have ever done. I always used the word "qualified prospect" but I never even knew what it meant. For the first time in my life, I am actually excited to start calling people in to start developing a skill that I've always wanted.
  • SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham
    • Incredible book. Need to reread and take notes because I definitely didn't absorb it as much as I need to.
  • Expert Secrets by Russel Brunson
    • The guy is a genius. Literally explaining how to move clients further down the rabbit hole while he moves you further down his rabbit hole (but for some reason... the reader is okay with it.) Definitely given me some ideas to expand my business models at some point in the distant future.
  • Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller
    • Great model and has been super helpful for me to identify the correct marketing messages. Your client's business is the hero of the story and your business is just merely the guide that assists them towards greatness.
 
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Kyle T

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As I mentioned in my last update... PPC ads seem to be a better service to lead with when forming a relationship with clients.

The last 3 days or so I have been focused on improving my skills with PPC ads as well as to find prospects who would be interested in Google Ad campaigns.

So far, so good! I have found 20 prospects in a matter of 3 days through networking, social media, and my personal network. People seem super interested in the idea and best of all it seems that there are a lot fewer competitors (in my network at least) than website design or SEO.

Feel like I am getting out of my funk and I am excited to be hustling again for the first time in a couple of weeks.
 

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As I mentioned in the last post, I haven't been satisfied with the quality of my work recently.

There is tons of room for improvement. Despite this, business is still chugging along and growing! Closed 3 new deals this month and I am finding a groove that is really starting to energize me.

  1. Less is More: In the last month, I reduced the number of services that I am focused on. Now I am solely focused on Website Maintenance, Reputation Management & PPC ads. I find that these services are easier for me to control and it has also allowed me to reduce my expenses significantly. As I realized last month, SEO is something that small businesses don't understand and don't have the patience for. Plus Google is making SEO less and less important every passing month and I am not confident in it remains valuable in the long term.
  2. The Pipeline is Strong: Since I have changed my focus to Google Ads I have been getting good levels of interest from my network. My goal is to close 20 new deals before the end of the year and I am excited to keep filling my pipeline. Been using Pipedrive CRM and I absolutely love it. Also, have just started to integrate it with Klenty for email sequencing and loving that it will save me a lot of time and prevent prospects from falling through the cracks.
  3. Future & Beyond: My projections have me set to gross $125,000 next year and a profit margin sitting close to 70%. As I mentioned in my last post, I have a mortgage now and my back is up against the wall... but you know what? I LOVE it. I have never felt so energized and motivated to go out and work hard.
  4. New Cold Calling Strategy: One of my newest strategies that I am excited about is finding businesses that have crappy Google Ads. Examples of this are companies that are advertising in the wrong location or completely irrelevant keywords. Giving them a call and framing it in a way of: "I am helping a client of mine and I found your Google Ad displaying for [search term]... based on your business I am sure that you didn't want to be advertising for that term so I figured I would reach out and let you know...Normally when there are small mistakes like this is can be costing you quite a bit of money. I would be willing to walk you through how to go about fixing it... would that be something that you would be interested in?" I really need help fine tuning this script. If anyone has any ideas then please feel free to provide some input.
Will be posting soon regarding specific processes that I am fine tuning and I look forward to input from you all!

Kyle
 
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Kyle T

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Why did you change your website in that sense? I mean, you now have a menu with different pages and more pages inside those (like in the HOME page explaining each service ).

By the way, your web is beautiful and original, I love it. Did you use WordPress?



Great value here, thank you a lot.



Did you finally focused on your niche or focused on small business independently of their area?



This is great, "treat every potential client like they are a VIP":thumbsup:


Thank you for the kind words, my friend.

When you are growing it is very hard to say "No" to anyone who wants to give you money. So I was always actively prospecting within my niche but I have gotten several clients outside of it from being open-minded.

Regards to my website... I honestly haven't spent that much time on it. I know it may seem ironic but waiting for people to stumble onto my website & get sold on your service doesn't work very well for B2B services.

My website is just meant to give relevant information and as long as it isn't embarrassing me then I am okay with it being minimal and yes it is built on a free WordPress theme.

The redesign was kind of just spontaneous and it all happened within a day.

1) I stumbled onto another website that I really liked and I wanted to emulate it.
2) Had a web designer lined up who I wanted to "interview", so I had him try to recreate a similar design.
3) He had a draft ready within 12 hours & I liked it so much that I transferred over to it.
4) Only cost me $20 - $30 and now I have a new rockstar VA to help with client's websites.



Impressed with how quick you move and how you're executing. Great thread.

2 questions:

1. Did you have any prior digital marketing experience before building up this digital agency or have you learned everything through trial and error and Udemy courses?

2. When first starting off, do you recommend sticking with just 1 niche (example: SEO services, website building, FB ads, IG account management etc...) or do you recommend offering all services?
1) Very little. I had been in the fitness world and have built my own websites and managed my own social media. Other than that, I have been developing my skills more every single day.

I try to only fill my brain with the knowledge that is required to overcome obstacles that are in my way. When I don't know how to do something then I go out and figure out how to do it.

I tell clients "Yeah, for sure I can do that!" even if I have no idea what the steps are going to be. Then I go out and find information that will help me to solve it in the form of podcasts, articles, books, courses, etc.

2) IMO 1 service category is too limiting. I think that if you find 2-3 that can be packaged together or target buyers at different parts of their journey then you will be in great shape.

Web Design + PPC ads are my primary two and they are completely different, so they don't overlap. I am using Website Design as a way to build relationships with potential leads. I give them an affordable website, build their trust, and become their "marketing guy" for the future or maybe even get them on a 100-200 dollar/month website maintenance plan.

Then you keep in touch with them and follow up routinely.

Ultimately You want to transition them to your 2nd service which is hopefully ongoing.

i.e. "Your website is running and performing great! Plus it looks awesome! Now we just need to help you to figure out how to get more traffic to the site. Would you be interested in chatting about the different things that we can do to get more traffic"

Kyle, thanks so much for this thread, its really a motivation to see how you are executing one step after the next!

Best,
Champion

Thank you! Glad that you are finding some value.

Kyle
 

Kyle T

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Hi @Kyle T

First of all, a massive congratulations for how far you've come so far! Incredible work to have closed so many deals in the time you did. Well done!

I have a few questions regarding your process, if you don't mind

1. What's your meeting strategy? I'm assuming after a prospect shows interest you set up a meeting with them to go over your services etc. ? I may be wrong but this is the way I go about things

2. What "mundane" tasks have you outsourced? Also, do you outsource any of the production at all?

3. I noticed you have different clients closed at different monthly prices. Is there a reason behind that? Is it due to the company's budget/size? Also on your website you have the prices of each package available to see - does this not raise questions from your clients if you give them a different price?

All the best for the future, mate!
Hey Chip!

Thanks for the questions.

1) Not that formal but goes something like this:
  • Start Casual Conversation and learn about them & their business
  • Provide value and insight
  • Schedule phonecall
  • Phonecall #1 Discuss their needs (get answers to all qualifying questions.) Schedule a follow-up call where we can go over the proposal.
  • Phonecall #2 I present them with the solutions that I came up with. Usually 2 or 3 different options and use price anchoring (Ie: 400,500, 900 package) knowing full well which price is gonna work best for them.
  • Follow-Up Relentlessly
2)By production, you mean the services? Yes is one of the main things that I outsource. I have virtual assistants in 3 categories:
  • Admin
    • Handles Lead Scraping. Website Maintenance. Replies to Craigslist Postings, Creates some basic content, etc.
  • PPC/SEO
    • Manages Google Ads & implements opportunities that are provided by PPC software.
  • Web Design
    • Build websites for new customers & make design changes for current clients.
Actually, now it is up to 4 categories as I brought someone on to handle my video editing for the new Youtube videos that I am making. It's possible that I will expand and use more freelancers to provide video editing & video SEO as an add on service.

I still monitor the data and provide instructions about what I would like them to do, but I let them do the other 80% of the process.

3. No, I haven't had a single client ask me why their pricing is different from what I have listed. The prices on my website are coming down soon, but I have left them up there because It gives people an idea of the pricing range. Ultimately, different clients are of different sizes and have different desires. I have found it best to provide custom quotes because no two companies need the exact same things.

I have numbers that I have established as the bare minimum of what I can sell a service for (ie $200 for PPC Ads, $100 for Web Maintenance, $300 for Social Media, etc) and then I package together with a solution within their budget.

The cheapest clients have been the worst to work and I am generally striving to get an amount higher than those numbers... but I keep them in the back of my mind.
 

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