Chasing Freedom - Creating My Own Digital Marketing Company

[NursingTn]

Badass.

Nothing more to say.

 

[Envious]

Props @Kyle T . You've taken massive action and the results are coming in. We often overcomplicate business so much, but in the end all it comes down to taking action and learning.

 

[Dieriba]

Hey kyle, I’ve just finished reading your thread and I just want to tell you how I’m amazed at what you’ve done so far, unlike you I was action faking to take action but reading that have made me understand that I had to go with my all if I want to change my life, so thanks you for that
If you don’t mind I have some questions about marketing agency,
1.I only know the very basic of html and css and I think I have forgotten the half should I go for an update or hiring someone would be the best way (I know someone who has already made website for his friends, teaming up with him would be a bad idea or I should rather give a try and see how it's going ?) ?
2.When you make a website for a client do you use wordpress or something like that ?
3.what advice could you give me to pick niches or find clients.
4.Have you any courses to advices ?

Thanks for all the informations you’ve shared with us so far.
PS: If you’re using wordpress or any site like that are you the one paying the subscription for clients ?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MILIANARD134]

Congrats on your progress dude.

@Dieriba : Do you want a step by step actionnable plan ?
After reading this post, go on internet, search for 100 company number in construction.
write the num on your computer.
Take the phone or a coldcall software.
Call these 100 company and ask them if they need help (a website/fb ads/seo i don't know what you are doing).
Do this now.

 

[Dieriba]

Congrats on your progress dude.

@Dieriba : Do you want a step by step actionnable plan ?
After reading this post, go on internet, search for 100 company number in construction.
write the num on your computer.
Take the phone or a coldcall software.
Call these 100 company and ask them if they need help (a website/fb ads/seo i don't know what you are doing).
Do this now.

thanks but I prefer to know why did you choose this niche and not another ? what are the criteria do you use to select a niche ?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[maverick]

Hi Kyle,

I've found that charging clients a sum upfront ("to fix the foundations") makes a lot of sense. SOmetimes you'll inherit a terribly setup google ads account which you'll need to fix first (=upfront) and then run (=recurring).

This same principle can also be applied for other areas such as SEO / Display / Email.

 

[Fid]

@Kyle T - I can't believe I only now discovered this thread!

Amazing dedication and great results. You're killing it in such a short time!

You mentioned brain fogs at one point. What's helped me recently is:
- giving up milk and dairy (it's about caseine, not lactose)
- giving up wheat (not gluten, just wheat products)
- eating my last meal before 7 pm
- sleeping from 10 pm to 6 am

Regular sleep might be quite hard for you because of your child, but the rest has been suggested to me by my dietician. The improvement is tremendous.

I've started a DM business around the same time as you, Kyle. But my results are not that good, haha. I see you're doing great with networking and LinkedIn (which I am also doing), let me ask a few questions.

1. How salesy are you in the networking meetings? I'm not trying to sell at all, just hang out with people, focus on them, be helpful and wait for referrals. After 2-3 months I'm getting some, but I believe I could do better.

2. You're sending videos to prospects on LinkedIn. Do you 100% follow the guide (video + pixel + remarketing) or you're sending some valuable lead-magnet (like a quick SEO audit) with a clear offer and CTA?

3. You've mentioned you follow up a lot. How do you do that? I hardly ever followup more than once. I don't want to look desperate and I'd rather follow up with value (e.g. a link to an article/video) than just send "hey, what's up?" email.

I've tried so many things for prospecting but nothing seems to work. I mainly offer web design (with SEO/PPC as an upsell), but most of the people I talk to want a website for $400. That's why I want to transition to more of MRR stuff.

Thanks!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Kyle T]

Thanks Kyle!! So awesome to hear your progress!

Thanks, MJ. The best part is that this is only to the beginning! Excited for what's to come.

 

[James90]

Hey @Kyle T

Very impressed by your progress! I've also enrolled in @Sean Marshall course.
My agency was started last month, and I was able to secure 3 clients with web design and SEO optimization services.

I'm currently in the progress of the 1st round of VA/contractor hirings and wanted to get your input on the analytics...

What's your method in tracking the progress of the marketing?

And what form of interface do you present that tracking/analytics to your clients?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Kyle T]

Hey @Kyle T

Very impressed by your progress! I've also enrolled in @Sean Marshall course.
My agency was started last month, and I was able to secure 3 clients with web design and SEO optimization services.

I'm currently in the progress of the 1st round of VA/contractor hirings and wanted to get your input on the analytics...

What's your method in tracking the progress of the marketing?

And what form of interface do you present that tracking/analytics to your clients?

When I was doing SEO, I used SE Ranking to send them automated weekly reports. I remember that I struggled mightily before I started using that software.

 

[alekssiht]

Delegating $10/hr tasks is definitely effective, but also pick one thing to offer and drill down a mile before adding new services.

Don’t spread yourself too thin. Be a specialist.

Alright, thanks a lot for taking time to answer!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[alekssiht]

By hiring people for everything that can't be automated with software and doesn't really need you to do it. Creating systems and building a team you can rely on for the grunt work, while freeing you up for the creative stuff that no one else can do; that, plus giving you the real freedom: your time back.

Okay got it. thanks a lot for the answer!

 

[Andy Black]

I actually did this. I've been watching some videos on SMMA, and a bit of FB Ads. I have no idea about the topic, but sounds less boring than Google Ads or SEO.

If I were to go for a service business, it's not a bad candidate. Not main main skill (I actually have 0 idea about marketing), but much better margins and less risky than selling bespoke software. Pretty much no overhead, recurring income (a must) and folks are charging $1000 minimum (first few clients for free when starting out). Sounds too good to be true.

Haha. Why is Google Ads boring? Too easy? Just curious why you think that.

Also... to get $1k/mth fee you’re going to need to produce results. Therein lies the pressure.

 

[srodrigo]

Gotcha.

You explained exactly why I prefer Google Ads to Facebook Ads. Done right, the visitor arrives with credit card in hand looking to buy.

That's completely right. I'm not saying Google Ads are less useful. Just that the kind of marketing you do with Facebook Ads sounds more interesting, personally, and works in a different way.

Having said that, my main interest in a digital marketing agency is for the learnings I can get out of it. It doesn't quite fit my ideal business and business model. I like B2C online products and subscriptions, which is why Google Ads is probably more important for me. You can use it for validating your product before even building a prototype, and also for putting it in front of those ready credit cards.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[PizzaOnTheRoof]

Hey @Kyle T and @Andy Black, what would your opinion be on offering a $100 Google Ads credit included in the management fee? Would this be an easier sell or just more work for me?

I think it could work by giving the client a "risk-free" chance to see results quickly, and get the ball rolling instead of having to wait for onboarding, billing set up, etc...

Of course, if the client wants to spend more I can set up billing to their credit card. Work wouldn't start until the monthly bill is paid on the 1st just like usual.

Thoughts?

 

[PizzaOnTheRoof]

Its seems like an odd offer to me. It is not really significant enough to make an impact on the buyer's decision and it does get a bit harder to keep track of. Maybe I am not understanding what you mean exactly?

What I have been doing is one of the two options:

1) Discounted Trial (Not FREE!) - I start to talk to a client who is on the fence and say : "I understand that you are skeptical, rightfully so! There are millions of marketers out there promising the world to you and you don't know if I can legitimately provide the results that I say I can. So how about this, We get you signed up for your first month & i will give you a 50% discount. Instead of paying $2000 in the first month, you will only pay $1000. I will still use the same amount of ad spend and it should be enough time to get you a few customers using our ads. The only way that this offer works however, is if you commit this to me: If I deliver like I promise and you get multiple customers per month then you won't have a problem paying me my normal fee starting in month 2."

Typically my fee is 1500 + 500 ad spend. By offering them the discount I am effectively reducing my rate to $500 for the first month. I only offer this if they sign a contract that establishes the rae and that they won't haggle me afterwards.

2) A Guarantee (kinda). This is when the client is close enough that I just need to sweeten the deal a bit for them. I say something like: "Here is what I can do for you... I understand that you are skeptical. $x,xxx is a lot of money. Here is a guarantee that I can give you... As we discussed earlier, the absolute worst case scenario is that we get X number of leads and that you only generate x number of sales. If that happens then you are breaking even from this investment and the results are a wash.

So here is my promise to you: If I don't get you those minimum results then I will continue managing your ads for free until we do reach those numbers. How does that sound?

When I was less confident just a few weeks ago it was my natural tendency to go to #1 super fast even though it pulled $1,000 out of my pocket. Now I am only pulling that out at a time that the sale is getting away from me and I only throw it out there if I think that it gives me a chance to reel someone back in.

Good point Kyle.

I don’t know I guess I just thought it would make an easier sale but offering a discount/guarantee is probably better.

 

[James90]

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).

Hey Kyle, seeing how SEO ties in with lead generation, I wonder why did you decide to scrap it?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Kyle T]

Hey Kyle, seeing how SEO ties in with lead generation, I wonder why did you decide to scrap it?

Just because of the speed. It takes too many months for a client to see the ROI and it is a much harder sell.

I could Rank & Rent my own website but I prefer the stability of paid traffic.

 

[BlackMagician]

Hey Kyle,
Any updates so far?

 

[Santi M]

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

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.

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

 

[BlackMagician]

Congrats for the success Kyle.

Though, I still can't understand what are you talking about. What system you are talking about? Last I read, you were doing video reach on Linkedin and getting good number of clients and were able to generate leads for them.

Can you elaborate more on what do you mean about the system and what efforts involved?
Thanks

 

[Bobby_italy]

I still use video to reach out to potential clients but the system that I am referring to is the actual services & structure that I am providing to the clients.

• I no longer work with anyone that is outside my niche
• I will no longer provide any other services other then lead gen with paid ads.
• I now provide more automation & systems. (CRM, Automation, Campaigns)
• I restructured the model so that there is no retainer & I only get paid on the back end.

My outreach has also changed quite a bit where I don't send videos as much as I used too. Majority of my current business is inbound because I have started to build a reputation as "the 'niche' marketing guy".

Hey man congrats, I watched some of your stuff on youtube, is your niche solar related?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[amp0193]

because I have started to build a reputation as "the 'niche' marketing guy".

As important as figuring out what you will do, is figuring out what you won't.

Keep it up!

 

[BlackMagician]

I still use video to reach out to potential clients but the system that I am referring to is the actual services & structure that I am providing to the clients.

• I no longer work with anyone that is outside my niche
• I will no longer provide any other services other then lead gen with paid ads.
• I now provide more automation & systems. (CRM, Automation, Campaigns)
• I restructured the model so that there is no retainer & I only get paid on the back end.

My outreach has also changed quite a bit where I don't send videos as much as I used too. Majority of my current business is inbound because I have started to build a reputation as "the 'niche' marketing guy".

Hey, that's awesome man. Very powerful.

 

[Andy Black]

Been building my reputation & my client base by providing content.

I recently started a Podcast and am chatting with sales/marketing professionals. Today I had the pleasure to chat with our very own @Andy Black!

Figured that I would share it here as well. Thank you to Andy for giving me the opportunity to pick his brain.

Enjoy!

Thanks for having me on your podcast Kyle. It was fun!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.