Digital Marketing Agency, the new Podcasting?

[Zcott]

Digital marketing agencies have grown, certainly. I think though that's because awareness of the importance of online marketing has also grown. It's great for someone who wants a business but has nothing else to go with.

But with things like marketing agencies, it fits into the the wantrepreneur grouping. Just like shopify, FBA, podcasts, blogs whatever is next, there is a massive flock of people rushing to it. Not many will stick and they will rush onto the next big thing. Give it time and this noise will die down, and only the serious marketing agencies will remain.

 

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[Maxboost]

Digital marketing is already dead with %5 taking %90 of the market. As I said previously in other threads, business owners are getting hammered daily with emails, cold calls and networking events.

Every month a digital marketing agency opens up in my city. One big firm left for greener pastures.

I was part of Fox’s group and many people are quitting or leaving the group since they can’t sell. The AVERAGE person will be lucky to make $2k/month. A poll was conducted and 90% made 0-40k/year. Only a handful made the mythical 6 figures/year. A lot were starving and made no sales for the month. There are plenty of new members signing up to “try” web design. Add those to the new spam emails and cold calls business owners will get.

When I was a telemarketer in my youth selling cred cards, the conversion rate was around 1-3%. The goal was to get 6-7 sales per 3-400 calls daily to qualify for bonus (very achievable). In digital marketing you will be GOD if you hit those numbers and that doesn’t include the hours you spend building your prospect list.

 

[Andy Black]

I know plenty of agencies that have been doing well for over a decade, some serving SMEs, others serving big corporate clients.



Too saturated?

Even if there’s more noise now there’s just too many businesses out there that are bad at their digital marketing and *already* want help.

Frankly, I’m not even paying attention to what the gurus or anyone else is saying. I’m getting referrals every single week.


Too hard?

I think it’s fairly easy as a freelance digital marketer to land $250/mth clients.

Getting just one of these can make a big difference for many people.


Once you get your first then it’s quite easy to grow one client at a time.

Getting to 5 clients is straightforward.

Get to 10 clients and beyond and you’ll start experiencing the growing pains all businesses encounter. New problems are good though - they’re a sign of progress.


What I like is the clear (and simple) path for revenue growth in the initial stages.

Imagine you grew by just one $250/mth client each month?

• Month 1 you’re at $250/mth
• Month 2 you’re at $500/mth
• Month 3 you’re at $750/mth
• Month 4 you’re already at $1,000/mth

$1,000/mth for only 4 clients?

$2,000/mth for only 8 clients?

(Don’t forget this is before paying your taxes.)


How many people starting out would like an extra $250/mth?

What would an extra $1k/mth mean to many people starting out?

$2k/mth?

$5k/mth?

(Before tax remember.)



The beauty is you get better at sales as you progress, and better at delivering too. Especially when your niche finds you and you start to focus.

 

[GSF]

observe the masses, do the opposite

 

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[Fox]

I was part of Fox’s group and many people are quitting or leaving the group since they can’t sell.

That ain’t true - the group has more active members than ever and is growing the same it always has.



Wow - look at all those people leaving.

Also your “survey” isn’t exactly the best way to gauge that. You are referring to a public survey on FB with their name is attached right beside it. Most people who are doing successfully don’t want to advertise it loudly for 1000s of others to see... "Hey everyone I am making 100k plus a year". These surveys attract the people doing the worst cause they are keen for help.

Run that same survey in any group of business people and see how it goes... “hey how much is everyone making? - just leave your full name here and FB details here too ”.

I’m definitely open to debate about the industry but what you said is highly cherry picked/false.

---

I recently started learning video production and loved the fact there were courses that save me years of learning by myself. I could see that as "these courses promote video production too much and now everyone will do it" or I could see it as "wow it is possible to learn directly from the best".

One guy selling a video course I bought has 6,000 students x $799 (do the math on that). But so what? His course just saved me $100,000 to get this same level of instruction from film school. I see the availability of courses/free Youtube content as a great thing - third level education and hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt don't have to be the main option for people to learn skills anymore. I don't know how I would learn this stuff in Mexico by myself without people like him helping others.

---

I do think Web Design has a lot of people who are not approaching it right who are not needed nor adding any value. At the same time, there is no shortage of work for those who can do things right.

If you get into web design without any unique approach or above average value offer and think it will be a brand new blue ocean you are only deluding yourself.

When I was a telemarketer in my youth selling cred cards, the conversion rate was around 1-3%. The goal was to get 6-7 sales per 3-400 calls daily to qualify for bonus (very achievable). In digital marketing you will be GOD if you hit those numbers and that doesn’t include the hours you spend building your prospect list.

So you used to make around 2,000 calls a week but are complaining that same approach doesn't work any more for web design?

I have always recommended people DONT do this. That they work through building a tight network, producing great results, and leveraging that network in a smart way to get more projects. There is some cold prospecting here and there but its calculated and done with a high-value approach.

 

[Fox]

---



---



Again I think this is more about some other factors:

- A few muppets using highly spammy methods that make the whole industry seem way over saturated.

- Better ad targetting. You are getting hit with courses because your online activity shows you are an ideal customer. So you think those courses are everywhere.

- These forums have higher than average numbers of web designers.


If you compare web design to some other niches you will see that the web design craze peaked a long time ago...



"Start a web design business" was hottest back in the early 2000's. While it is certainly busy the amount of opportunity has risen with it.

 

[RazorCut]

I'm on several Facebook marketing forums. There has been a marked number of new members who within days of joining are asking questions like 'how do I get clients?' or 'I have a client who has given me a x dollar budget, how do I do facebook advertising?' or 'is Facebook a good fit for x product?'

They have started their 'Digital Marketing Agency' with less clue than the average 11 year old.

 

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[Charnell]

You are getting hit with courses because your online activity shows you are an ideal customer. So you think those courses are everywhere.

Zing.

There's a huge eye-opening moment, similar to an FTE, where you go "the market is not saturated, I'm just in this market and am aware of all the movers and shakers."

I'm sure if we took any industry and saw the number of people selling courses just on the first 10 pages of Google, the results would be interesting. I'm guessing 20 landing pages and 80 blog posts doing their best to launchjack those courses for affiliate commissions.

 

[The Abundant Man]

I'm on several Facebook marketing forums. There has been a marked number of new members who within days of joining are asking questions like 'how do I get clients?' or 'I have a client who has given me a x dollar budget, how do I do facebook advertising?' or 'is Facebook a good fit for x product?'

They have started their 'Digital Marketing Agency' with less clue than the average 11 year old.

LMGTFY

LMGTFY

LMGTFY

 

[TonyStark]

I know plenty of agencies that have been doing well for over a decade, some serving SMEs, others serving big corporate clients.



Too saturated?

Even if there’s more noise now there’s just too many businesses out there that are bad at their digital marketing and *already* want help.

Frankly, I’m not even paying attention to what the gurus or anyone else is saying. I’m getting referrals every single week.


Too hard?

I think it’s fairly easy as a freelance digital marketer to land $250/mth clients.

Getting just one of these can make a big difference for many people.


Once you get your first then it’s quite easy to grow one client at a time.

Getting to 5 clients is straightforward.

Get to 10 clients and beyond and you’ll start experiencing the growing pains all businesses encounter. New problems are good though - they’re a sign of progress.


What I like is the clear (and simple) path for revenue growth in the initial stages.

Imagine you grew by just one $250/mth client each month?

• Month 1 you’re at $250/mth
• Month 2 you’re at $500/mth
• Month 3 you’re at $750/mth
• Month 4 you’re already at $1,000/mth

$1,000/mth for only 4 clients?

$2,000/mth for only 8 clients?

(Don’t forget this is before paying your taxes.)


How many people starting out would like an extra $250/mth?

What would an extra $1k/mth mean to many people starting out?

$2k/mth?

$5k/mth?

(Before tax remember.)



The beauty is you get better at sales as you progress, and better at delivering too. Especially when your niche finds you and you start to focus.

Yes but that’s still like 40 hours a week of work you have to do + maintenance and whatever crazy requests they may have

 

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[WinYourself]

"I'm running a digital marketing agency"

The easiest and most obvious way to tell somebody you have no idea about digital marketing.

Otherwise you wouldn't run an agency.

Terrible business model, waste of time and effort for everybody who knows something about paid or organic traffic, tracking, conversion optimization, funnel creation....

Skills would be better used at a six figure media buying job, or creating a digital niche product, or doing whitehat leadgeneration affiliate marketing style or partnering up with a product guy and running white label ecom.

However it's a great way to get paid to learn about digital marketing. But once you learn the basics...run. Run fast.

 

[eliquid]

Selling the digital marketing agency dream is being peddled.

It has been for a while now, but I think we are now seeing more and more of the fruit bearing from it.

For a period of time, my name and email got tossed around in a few of these training groups and "mentors" and I was getting reached out to from hundreds of new "digital marketing agencies" needing a PPC and/or SEO person.

I only caught it because they all mostly had the same "email" to me asking to hire me or find out more about what I do and how I would love working for them. Many times it was the same email with just their name changed.

I did work with a few of them as their outsourced PPC person.

I can tell you that NONE of the these people are in business anymore, with the exception of a few outliers, or those doing enough to just call it a "side hustle" now.

Most of these guys told me their training was a 3 day course that was $3k or so, with tips to close clients by going to Craigslist and UpWork.

.

 

[RazorCut]

"I'm running a digital marketing agency"

The easiest and most obvious way to tell somebody you have no idea about digital marketing.

Otherwise you wouldn't run an agency.

Terrible business model, waste of time and effort for everybody who knows something about paid or organic traffic.

However a great way to get paid to learn about digital marketing.

You would think so but not everyone has a Fastlane mindset or they set their business up in such a way that they leverage their time. There are some really switched on Digital Marketers out there with their own agencies. (I was watching a live video interview with one last night). They reduce their input by training staff to do the brunt of the donkey work while they bring in high paying clients. They teach and oversee in the workplace but also are hands on otherwise they lose the knowledge of what is and isn't working (which for Facebook can be constant shifting sands). But we are talking pro's here, not someone who has paid out for a 3-4 day course that targeted him online.

 

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[Andy Black]

Yes but that’s still like 40 hours a week of work you have to do + maintenance and whatever crazy requests they may have

If you don’t want to work 40 hours a week then don’t work 40 hours a week.

If you don’t want to do crazy requests then don’t do crazy requests.

It’s just a case of figuring it out.

 

[Andy Black]

"I'm running a digital marketing agency"

The easiest and most obvious way to tell somebody you have no idea about digital marketing.

Otherwise you wouldn't run an agency.

Terrible business model, waste of time and effort for everybody who knows something about paid or organic traffic, tracking, conversion optimization, funnel creation....

Skills would be better used at a six figure media buying job, or creating a digital niche product, or doing whitehat leadgeneration affiliate marketing style or partnering up with a product guy and running white label ecom.

However it's a great way to get paid to learn about digital marketing. But once you learn the basics...run. Run fast.

@Tom.V ?

 

[Andy Black]

Selling the digital marketing agency dream is being peddled.

It has been for a while now, but I think we are now seeing more and more of the fruit bearing from it.

For a period of time, my name and email got tossed around in a few of these training groups and "mentors" and I was getting reached out to from hundreds of new "digital marketing agencies" needing a PPC and/or SEO person.

I only caught it because they all mostly had the same "email" to me asking to hire me or find out more about what I do and how I would love working for them. Many times it was the same email with just their name changed.

I did work with a few of them as their outsourced PPC person.

I can tell you that NONE of the these people are in business anymore, with the exception of a few outliers, or those doing enough to just call it a "side hustle" now.

Most of these guys told me their training was a 3 day course that was $3k or so, with tips to close clients by going to Craigslist and UpWork.

.

Phew. I missed all of those. An advantage of having a low profile...

 

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[ZeroTo100]

Digital marketing is already dead with %5 taking %90 of the market. As I said previously in other threads, business owners are getting hammered daily with emails, cold calls and networking events.

Every month a digital marketing agency opens up in my city. One big firm left for greener pastures.

I was part of Fox’s group and many people are quitting or leaving the group since they can’t sell. The AVERAGE person will be lucky to make $2k/month. A poll was conducted and 90% made 0-40k/year. Only a handful made the mythical 6 figures/year. A lot were starving and made no sales for the month. There are plenty of new members signing up to “try” web design. Add those to the new spam emails and cold calls business owners will get.

When I was a telemarketer in my youth selling cred cards, the conversion rate was around 1-3%. The goal was to get 6-7 sales per 3-400 calls daily to qualify for bonus (very achievable). In digital marketing you will be GOD if you hit those numbers and that doesn’t include the hours you spend building your prospect list.

I can smell an amateur from a mile away. I'm not saying you're an amateur, I'm just calling the failures out.

The problem with this picture is that people think they can just throw a website up and call themselves an agency. The real issue is that maybe they were taught how to start an agency, however; they have absolutely no experience in it.

Why does everyone want to jump the gun and start a company? Why not put in some work for a company and learn a little about the market they are in.

The market is not dead. I'll explain..

I live in a city with hundreds of businesses. I can literally walk down from block to block pitching businesses on my social media management company, or my adsense management company, or whatever it is you consider a "digital marketing agency.'

My pitch would be - Hey, I ran a marketing business for 7 years while I was in my 20s. We handled nightclubs, restaurants, and some of our events did over 5,000 people. We know how to market both online and off. I'm launching a new service and would love to sit down and show you what we can do for you.

Maybe I'd research their company first and then go in and say "hey, this is what we can do for you.'

The point is, I would definitely be able to get at least 10 companies on board for $500-$1,000 a month. My offer would be very unique and I have a history to back it up.

If you want to be successful in an industry like this, why not just work someone for 6 months. Learn what you can, network, get out there.

Would that require too much work from you?

 

[GSF]

I run a digital marketing agency.


IMO, If some top-tier guru/influencer is selling you a course on "how to start a [blank] business" it's probably not a business you want to start.

I see Tai Lopez is currently pushing his "ecom-agency" blueprint training, get ready for an influx of new ecom agency startups

 

[Maxboost]

Hey Fox,

Let's keep things civil and lets have a logicial, rational discussion about this.

Just paraphrasing MJ's question " is digital marketing (web design) oversaturated?"

Wow - look at all those people leaving.

I was talking about the Pro Sales Group and the relationships that I formed there. Many of the people I met couldn't find clients and had to leave. Some were literally starving or couldn't get a single first sale or were stuck in the portfolio stage. These people are not going to publicly air their failures due to embarrassment.

You are proving my point with all of these people joining your group. When more of these people are joining your group trying this "web design" thing, that is 1 more person spamming and cold calling hundreds of business owners. It makes it harder for other high value web designers to get their foot in the door.

Also your “survey” isn’t exactly the best way to gauge that. You are referring to a public survey on FB with their name is attached right beside it. Most people who are doing successfully don’t want to advertise it loudly for 1000s of others to see... "Hey everyone I am making 100k plus a year". These surveys attract the people doing the worst cause they are keen for help.

Well this is contradictory. You just recently congratulated one of your students for being on "pace" to making $100k and your web design post literally says " How to make $15k a month in web design in 9 months"....I find that people are doing the opposite. The more money people make during the "good" months tend to brag about it. Also some people have been busted LYING about their success and experience in your group which was completely disheartening.

I said most people according to the survey made 0-$40k/year. That is statistically in line with a quick google search of web designer salary

"Designers earned a median salary of $52,000 per year or $26 per hour. With additional compensation of $3,000, which included bonuses and commissions, final compensation reached $55,000. The 25th percentile made $60,000 annually or $22.50 per hour, and the 75th percentile received $65,000 per year or $32.50 per hour."

Making a $100k a year in web design is a statistical anomaly. Most will never get there. Much like playing online poker, most are break even players, many will not win millions of dollars a year.

So you used to make around 2,000 calls a week but are complaining that same approach doesn't work any more for web design?

No the purpose of that was to answer @MJ DeMarco question is Digital marketing saturated? If the market was not saturated LOGICALLY you should be able to hit %1 conversion rate even if you don't know what you are doing or if you were a terrible sales person. Looking at Crazy G's progress thread was very heartbreaking. He made 700 calls over 3 months and made 1 sale....

I have always recommended people DONT do this.

I agree, the failure rate is high. A forum member on here inspired by your web design post quit his engineering job, started a web design business and never heard from him again....we all know what probably happened...

My thoughts on web design (digital marketing) are

• it's a good first business to start since there are 0 barrier to entry, you learn a ton about marketing
• You learn lots of transferrable skills such as sales, SEO, copywriting, photography
• You can potentially make 6 figures a year but that is unlikely and not the norm
• The failure rate is high like any profession like being a real estate agent, Amazon seller, professional poker player
• Expect months without any income
• You will spend hundreds of hours learning from watching courses to reading books on how to sell and than applying that knowledge. Although costs are low, you are spending time which is a finite resource
• Don't quit your job without 6 months of savings and a sales process in place
• Monthly recurring revenue is just as important as big 1 time sales projects
• Some people are naturally talented sellers and will be very successful, most will not
• The market is FINITE and aspiring web designers are entering the market every month. Business owners are getting hammered daily with sales calls and emails.
• You only hear about the wins but not about the losses

 

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[Maxboost]

I can smell an amateur from a mile away. I'm not saying you're an amateur, I'm just calling the failures out.

The problem with this picture is that people think they can just throw a website up and call themselves an agency. The real issue is that maybe they were taught how to start an agency, however; they have absolutely no experience in it.

Why does everyone want to jump the gun and start a company? Why not put in some work for a company and learn a little about the market they are in.

The market is not dead. I'll explain..

I live in a city with hundreds of businesses. I can literally walk down from block to block pitching businesses on my social media management company, or my adsense management company, or whatever it is you consider a "digital marketing agency.'

My pitch would be - Hey, I ran a marketing business for 7 years while I was in my 20s. We handled nightclubs, restaurants, and some of our events did over 5,000 people. We know how to market both online and off. I'm launching a new service and would love to sit down and show you what we can do for you.

Maybe I'd research their company first and then go in and say "hey, this is what we can do for you.'

The point is, I would definitely be able to get at least 10 companies on board for $500-$1,000 a month. My offer would be very unique and I have a history to back it up.

If you want to be successful in an industry like this, why not just work someone for 6 months. Learn what you can, network, get out there.

Would that require too much work from you?

Do you honestly think you are the ONLY one doing this and using that approach?

My friend owns a restaurant and he gets door to door sales people coming in all the time pitching this service about running his instagram account and facebook.

MJ originally asked if Digital Marketing is saturated. I am in the camp that says YES, it is saturated. I did not say you can't make money but it is VERY tough to get your foot in the door due to all of the noise.

 

[Fox]

we all know what probably happened...

We all KNOW what PROBABLY happened...?

You do see how that makes zero sense ya.

Most don't make it in any niche or endeavour.

- Most quit a gym after they join
- Most don't keep with a diet
- Most people never get past the early stages of learning a language

To keep it business:
- Most Amazon businesses don't make it
- Most e-commerce businesses don't make it
- Most brick and mortar businesses don't make it

Joining my course doesn't change human nature.

I have had people ask for a refund after over a year who never once watched a single video and have now moved on to the next thing - it is the nature of teaching courses.

I don't guarantee success - I teach what I know and have experienced to save you the time and effort to learn yourself.

"He made 700 calls over 3 months and made 1 sale...." < well he should have stopped and switched up his approach. I can quote 100s of posts where I say not to do this.


Anyway, this thread isn't about my course - it is about the whole industry.

Web design with a good approach isn't saturated.
Web design with a cookie cutter "Ill make you a responsive website" x 2,000 phone calls is DEAD.

The problem with web design is most people copy a copy of a copy of a successful business.
Very few think for themselves, bring real value to the table, and stick at it long term.

I am sorry you didn't make it work but don't come at me with your failure either.

"Designers earned a median salary of $52,000 per year or $26 per hour. With additional compensation of $3,000, which included bonuses and commissions, final compensation reached $55,000. The 25th percentile made $60,000 annually or $22.50 per hour, and the 75th percentile received $65,000 per year or $32.50 per hour."

Making a $100k a year in web design is a statistical anomaly. Most will never get there. Much like playing online poker, most are break even players, many will not win millions of dollars a year.

Average people make average wages.

Pull up the stats for crypto, e-commerce, dropshipping, saas, affiliate marketing, running a restaurant - they will be the same or worse.

When you look at an industry with millions of people the average is... average.

If the stat that matters most to you is a high average wage for everyone go become a doctor or a dentist. Otherwise, accept that being an entrepreneur carries risks, and no matter how good the course/book/coaching - most are going to fall below the average line. That is how a bell curve/averages work.

 

[WinYourself]

Running a digital agency is about the same as having a job just without the benefits.

Juice not worth the squeeze.

Quitting a stable job to start an agency is a very bad move.

- Massive competition
- Tough outbound customer acquisition
- Working with mediocre clients
- Nightmare to scale
- Long project durations, communication loops
- Clients expectations growing with every successful project
- Limited payout, no potential for big windfalls / exit

If one has the talent and work ethic to pull it off, he would do x time better running a customer / product business.

 

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[Isaac Oh]

We all KNOW what PROBABLY happened...?

You do see how that makes zero sense ya.

Most don't make it in any niche or endeavour.

- Most quit a gym after they join
- Most don't keep with a diet
- Most people never get past the early stages of learning a language

To keep it business:
- Most Amazon businesses don't make it
- Most e-commerce businesses don't make it
- Most brick and mortar businesses don't make it

Joining my course doesn't change human nature.

I have had people ask for a refund after over a year who never once watched a single video and have now moved on to the next thing - it is the nature of teaching courses.

I don't guarantee success - I teach what I know and have experienced to save you the time and effort to learn yourself.

"He made 700 calls over 3 months and made 1 sale...." < well he should have stopped and switched up his approach. I can quote 100s of posts where I say not to do this.


Anyway, this thread isn't about my course - it is about the whole industry.

Web design with a good approach isn't saturated.
Web design with a cookie cutter "Ill make you a responsive website" x 2,000 phone calls is DEAD.

The problem with web design is most people copy a copy of a copy of a successful business.
Very few think for themselves, bring real value to the table, and stick at it long term.

I am sorry you didn't make it work but don't come at me with your failure either.




Average people make average wages.

Pull up the stats for crypto, e-commerce, dropshipping, saas, affiliate marketing, running a restaurant - they will be the same or worse.

When you look at an industry with millions of people the average is... average.

If the stat that matters most to you is a high average wage for everyone go become a doctor or a dentist. Otherwise, accept that being an entrepreneur carries risks, and no matter how good the course/book/coaching - most are going to fall below the average line. That is how a bell curve/averages work.

Thanks @Fox . I am really trying to deliver value and am learning the ins and outs of digital marketing and people talking about how impractical it is was daunting me to be honest. So it was nice to hear you supporting those who do it right.

 

[Kyle T]

20 years ago, small & medium sized businesses had near ZERO opportunity to market at scale. They had zero ability to target their audiences based on anything but geography.

We are talking about over 28 MILLION businesses that now have an opportunity to market & advertise using the internet

That is a massive market that has opened up and these businesses are realizing that their competitors who are successful, are the ones marketing online.

With a massive number of businesses that have a need, there is going to be a massive rise in problem solvers.

I would much rather be competing in a sector that is growing (15% this decade) than to compete in a sector that already established.

(Web Designers: 162,900 in US (2016)
Job Outlook, 2016-26 15% (Much faster than average)
source: data.bls.org)

It obviously isn't Fastlane, but good digital marketers will be able to grow a solid business regardless.

Just because people are selling shovels doesn't mean that you can't find some gold...

 

[Locomote]

+REP, @Kyle T , Couldn't have said it any better!

 

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[ZeroTo100]

Do you honestly think you are the ONLY one doing this and using that approach?

My friend owns a restaurant and he gets door to door sales people coming in all the time pitching this service about running his Instagram account and Facebook.

MJ originally asked if Digital Marketing is saturated. I am in the camp that says YES, it is saturated. I did not say you can't make money but it is VERY tough to get your foot in the door due to all of the noise.

I understand and my comment was nothing personal to you. I grew up in Queens, NY where there was a pizza shop on every corner. If Tommy started a fence business, the whole neighborhood was doing fences.

There are all sorts of ways to get your foot in the door - one of them being work for free. If you focus on your competition, you'll never focus on your own business.

My last post was just an example. I'm not in this business and that wasn't my point. My point is that people like ME can smell armatures a mile away. So if you're coming to my place of business either A) tell me where I'm already weak in my company and how you can fix that or B) come in expecting to get paid exactly what you're worth!

 

[Florian]

Hey MJ, I've actually been learning and have been creating the foundations for my own. Do you think that it's not viable? Or just indicators from gurus that what they're teaching might not be it?

I think it's about Entry. If "everyone is doing it" you want to get out and stay out. (Feel like I'm quoting the bible here, but it's true. I just recently had the choice between starting a FB Ad agency or starting a CENTS business and well I decided for CENTS.)

 

[Lex DeVille]

My first web design gig while I was in Rob's group was $8,000. I'm not even in the web design industry. Didn't have a portfolio. Didn't have any proof whatsoever that I could build a website. Couldn't build a website with HTML if my life depended on it (well I'd figure it out, but you get the point).

All these people who "couldn't find clients" don't have a foot in the door problem. They have a mindset problem. $100k isn't a lot of money, yet most people don't earn that much. It isn't a statistical anomaly to earn $100k in web design. It's an anomaly in any industry, because most people have a shit mindset.

Poor mindset = poor results == just plain poor!

Doesn't matter if you're a digital marketer, web designer, copywriter, dropshipper or whatever...

I don't know how many know this, but there are still people successfully panning for gold...the original gold rush.

Simple fact is, you either got the right mindset or you don't, and if you don't, you better find it or else you'll be among those people claiming they "couldn't find clients" despite the fact there's a business on every street and in every home and more potential clients in the market than at any previous point in existence.

This is a general rant, not aimed at you Zeroto100. Your post just happened to be the one I clicked reply to.

 

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[Fox]

20 years ago, small & medium sized businesses had near ZERO opportunity to market at scale. They had zero ability to target their audiences based on anything but geography.

We are talking about over 28 MILLION businesses that now have an opportunity to market & advertise using the internet

That is a massive market that has opened up and these businesses are realizing that their competitors who are successful, are the ones marketing online.

With a massive number of businesses that have a need, there is going to be a massive rise in problem solvers.

I would much rather be competing in a sector that is growing (15% this decade) than to compete in a sector that already established.

(Web Designers: 162,900 in US (2016)
Job Outlook, 2016-26 15% (Much faster than average)
source: data.bls.org)

It obviously isn't Fastlane, but good digital marketers will be able to grow a solid business regardless.

Just because people are selling shovels doesn't mean that you can't find some gold...

100% this.

"With a massive number of businesses that have a need, there is going to be a massive rise in problem solvers."

- A generic website that is focused on just design doesn't solve problems
- Spamming 1,000 business with the same exact pitch doesn't solve problems

What solves problems is problem solvers. And they are still very much in short supply.

 

[S.Y.]

Many say they run a digital marketing agency (or whatever buzzwords is used) . I will argue they don't.

Learning a bit of SEO, SEM, Facebook ads.... , setting up a website doesn't qualify for me as running a digital marketing agency.

The demand is there and will not go anywhere soon. Many businesses need help to increase their presence online. That will not go anywhere soon.

And yes there is a lot of noise. But I see it somehow as a good thing. Cut through the noise, successfully help businesses and you will have a profitable business.

The high noise to signal ratio almost make great execution a barrier to entry.

And data! Collect it, gather insights from it and you can build yourself a great competitive advantage.