Documenting my Agency/SMMA Journey

[ali.lari2x]

It Begins...​

It's 3 in the morning. My eyes are slightly heavy, my knees are weak, my arms are not spaghetti since I have been lifting weights for years. I've just finished a 9-hour work session of complete focus and dedication.

I've never felt this serene and focused in my life. Even when I would study for my engineering exams and discipline myself to focus and grind it out, I would still feel a tinge of neuroticism and anxiety linger in my mind, almost as though something was about to snap and I was about to go haywire. Something isn't right...

But I have only witnessed this intense flow state in very specific scenarios, like talking to people (especially flirting with women, that's one of my favourite flow state activities once I get past the nervousness stage) or boxing. But it has never been as free-flowing as building this business.

And I think that's the sign I need to keep going. Romanticism aside, there's a market for it. Digital marketing exists. Gyms need more $$$ and members. There is a solution. Sure, it doesn't perfectly satisfy CENTS, but it is a solid business model to make my first few thousand dollars online before pivoting to another problem to solve.

I'm about to document my journey in scaling my marketing agency from $0k/month to $13,777/month+ (don't ask why I chose that number, I just like 7s and 3s). To be honest, part of me believes in myself and has 100% conviction that I'll make it, but a small part doubts it and makes me feel a sense of dread. But I like it, I genuinely have been enjoying battling with this little fear and doubt and crushing it every moment I get to turn it into real mental energy.

Anyways, let's get started.

Overview​

3-month goal: Land my first 3 clients and first 2 trial clients (for case studies)

6-12 month goal: Have 10 clients at any given time paying at least $1,000/month with a solid outreach and sales team to keep the pipeline smooth and clean. Want to focus on excellent customer service, expand my marketing skills and hire top talent to deliver the best results (I don't want to just hire freelancers for $5/hour to do a subpar job unless it's for menial admin work, I geniuinely want to turn this into a well-oiled creativity and execution machine).

Why I'm doing this: Besides the obvious (financial/time/location freedom, controlling your own destiny, buying cool cars, actually contributing something to the world), I really want to generate so much FU money that my mom, who sacrificed everything in her life so she can raise me into the man I am today, will never ever have to work a day in her life again. I want her to buy that house she's always wanted,

Niche: Small-to-medium gyms who make just enough to invest in additional help and who have at least an iota of entrepreneurism in them. My "anti-niche" if you will are lazy gym owners who treat their business as a job and don't know how to automate and run the business without their presence. Kind of a good anti-vision especially considering the fact that I'm working on my own right now, but the standard operating procedures (for sales, scripts, onboarding, everything) I'm making will pay off in dividends.

Service: For now, it's lead generation on a pay-per-results basis. Andy Black told me to switch to a flat fee but I suspect that's difficult to do in 2024 with no case studies, but I'll experience with both models and see which one takes off. I use content creation, Facbook Ads, and lead nurturing to do this.

What I have done today (Jan 7, 2024):​

• Finalized my landing page (feel free to take a look and criticize it as much as possible)
• Set up my Facebook business account after a 3-day battle with Meta and their overly bugged system. I am aware it violates the commandment of control if one of my services relies on a platform to deliver, but the skills you learn in advertising are easily transferrable and if all hell breaks loose I can easily do Google Ads, TikTok Ads, etc.
  • Ready to set up an ad to get more leads to my landing page. Have some leftover cash from selling my used books and appliances so I'll use that for a week or so and see how it goes.
• Discussed two potential opportunities with a friend of mine who knows some companies. Not gyms, though, but I'll give it a shot. Planning to post an ad for a home improvement company he referred me two for a low budget to generate 5 leads for him, which will act as a sort of proof of concept and solidfy my confidence in advertising (putting my money where my mouth is)
• Learned how to automate using GoHighLevel and set up some post-booking lead magnet emails for those leads that end up booking a call with me. This will easily save me hours.
• Read 30 pages of Alex Hormozi's $100M Offers to improve my offer.
• Went to the boxing gym and did some light sparring.

Curent Obstacles:​

• Nervousness/fear of rejection/anxiety around cold calling (and cold emails/DMs but to a lesser extent). Did 11 cold calls for the first time in my life this week, might do more but I will focus on cold emails since I won't have much time to set aside for cold calling as the semester is starting on Monday.
• Desert of desertion. No feedback from the market. Don't know what I'm doing right/doing wrong but seeing whatever sticks.

I'll update you guys tomorrow. Now imma hit the sack.

 

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

[EL_00]

It Begins...​

It's 3 in the morning. My eyes are slightly heavy, my knees are weak, my arms are not spaghetti since I have been lifting weights for years. I've just finished a 9-hour work session of complete focus and dedication.

I've never felt this serene and focused in my life. Even when I would study for my engineering exams and discipline myself to focus and grind it out, I would still feel a tinge of neuroticism and anxiety linger in my mind, almost as though something was about to snap and I was about to go haywire. Something isn't right...

But I have only witnessed this intense flow state in very specific scenarios, like talking to people (especially flirting with women, that's one of my favourite flow state activities once I get past the nervousness stage) or boxing. But it has never been as free-flowing as building this business.

And I think that's the sign I need to keep going. Romanticism aside, there's a market for it. Digital marketing exists. Gyms need more $$$ and members. There is a solution. Sure, it doesn't perfectly satisfy CENTS, but it is a solid business model to make my first few thousand dollars online before pivoting to another problem to solve.

I'm about to document my journey in scaling my marketing agency from $0k/month to $13,777/month+ (don't ask why I chose that number, I just like 7s and 3s). To be honest, part of me believes in myself and has 100% conviction that I'll make it, but a small part doubts it and makes me feel a sense of dread. But I like it, I genuinely have been enjoying battling with this little fear and doubt and crushing it every moment I get to turn it into real mental energy.

Anyways, let's get started.

Overview​

3-month goal: Land my first 3 clients and first 2 trial clients (for case studies)

6-12 month goal: Have 10 clients at any given time paying at least $1,000/month with a solid outreach and sales team to keep the pipeline smooth and clean. Want to focus on excellent customer service, expand my marketing skills and hire top talent to deliver the best results (I don't want to just hire freelancers for $5/hour to do a subpar job unless it's for menial admin work, I geniuinely want to turn this into a well-oiled creativity and execution machine).

Why I'm doing this: Besides the obvious (financial/time/location freedom, controlling your own destiny, buying cool cars, actually contributing something to the world), I really want to generate so much FU money that my mom, who sacrificed everything in her life so she can raise me into the man I am today, will never ever have to work a day in her life again. I want her to buy that house she's always wanted,

Niche: Small-to-medium gyms who make just enough to invest in additional help and who have at least an iota of entrepreneurism in them. My "anti-niche" if you will are lazy gym owners who treat their business as a job and don't know how to automate and run the business without their presence. Kind of a good anti-vision especially considering the fact that I'm working on my own right now, but the standard operating procedures (for sales, scripts, onboarding, everything) I'm making will pay off in dividends.

Service: For now, it's lead generation on a pay-per-results basis. Andy Black told me to switch to a flat fee but I suspect that's difficult to do in 2024 with no case studies, but I'll experience with both models and see which one takes off. I use content creation, Facbook Ads, and lead nurturing to do this.

What I have done today (Jan 7, 2024):​

• Finalized my landing page (feel free to take a look and criticize it as much as possible)
• Set up my Facebook business account after a 3-day battle with Meta and their overly bugged system. I am aware it violates the commandment of control if one of my services relies on a platform to deliver, but the skills you learn in advertising are easily transferrable and if all hell breaks loose I can easily do Google Ads, TikTok Ads, etc.
  • Ready to set up an ad to get more leads to my landing page. Have some leftover cash from selling my used books and appliances so I'll use that for a week or so and see how it goes.
• Discussed two potential opportunities with a friend of mine who knows some companies. Not gyms, though, but I'll give it a shot. Planning to post an ad for a home improvement company he referred me two for a low budget to generate 5 leads for him, which will act as a sort of proof of concept and solidfy my confidence in advertising (putting my money where my mouth is)
• Learned how to automate using GoHighLevel and set up some post-booking lead magnet emails for those leads that end up booking a call with me. This will easily save me hours.
• Read 30 pages of Alex Hormozi's $100M Offers to improve my offer.
• Went to the boxing gym and did some light sparring.

Curent Obstacles:​

• Nervousness/fear of rejection/anxiety around cold calling (and cold emails/DMs but to a lesser extent). Did 11 cold calls for the first time in my life this week, might do more but I will focus on cold emails since I won't have much time to set aside for cold calling as the semester is starting on Monday.
• Desert of desertion. No feedback from the market. Don't know what I'm doing right/doing wrong but seeing whatever sticks.

I'll update you guys tomorrow. Now imma hit the sack.

Well rather start my own thread, I rather join. Nice to read your post.

 

[ali.lari2x]

Well rather start my own thread, I rather join. Nice to read your post.

Welcome to the club bro

 

[ali.lari2x]

It Begins...​

It's 3 in the morning. My eyes are slightly heavy, my knees are weak, my arms are not spaghetti since I have been lifting weights for years. I've just finished a 9-hour work session of complete focus and dedication.

I've never felt this serene and focused in my life. Even when I would study for my engineering exams and discipline myself to focus and grind it out, I would still feel a tinge of neuroticism and anxiety linger in my mind, almost as though something was about to snap and I was about to go haywire. Something isn't right...

But I have only witnessed this intense flow state in very specific scenarios, like talking to people (especially flirting with women, that's one of my favourite flow state activities once I get past the nervousness stage) or boxing. But it has never been as free-flowing as building this business.

And I think that's the sign I need to keep going. Romanticism aside, there's a market for it. Digital marketing exists. Gyms need more $$$ and members. There is a solution. Sure, it doesn't perfectly satisfy CENTS, but it is a solid business model to make my first few thousand dollars online before pivoting to another problem to solve.

I'm about to document my journey in scaling my marketing agency from $0k/month to $13,777/month+ (don't ask why I chose that number, I just like 7s and 3s). To be honest, part of me believes in myself and has 100% conviction that I'll make it, but a small part doubts it and makes me feel a sense of dread. But I like it, I genuinely have been enjoying battling with this little fear and doubt and crushing it every moment I get to turn it into real mental energy.

Anyways, let's get started.

Overview​

3-month goal: Land my first 3 clients and first 2 trial clients (for case studies)

6-12 month goal: Have 10 clients at any given time paying at least $1,000/month with a solid outreach and sales team to keep the pipeline smooth and clean. Want to focus on excellent customer service, expand my marketing skills and hire top talent to deliver the best results (I don't want to just hire freelancers for $5/hour to do a subpar job unless it's for menial admin work, I geniuinely want to turn this into a well-oiled creativity and execution machine).

Why I'm doing this: Besides the obvious (financial/time/location freedom, controlling your own destiny, buying cool cars, actually contributing something to the world), I really want to generate so much FU money that my mom, who sacrificed everything in her life so she can raise me into the man I am today, will never ever have to work a day in her life again. I want her to buy that house she's always wanted,

Niche: Small-to-medium gyms who make just enough to invest in additional help and who have at least an iota of entrepreneurism in them. My "anti-niche" if you will are lazy gym owners who treat their business as a job and don't know how to automate and run the business without their presence. Kind of a good anti-vision especially considering the fact that I'm working on my own right now, but the standard operating procedures (for sales, scripts, onboarding, everything) I'm making will pay off in dividends.

Service: For now, it's lead generation on a pay-per-results basis. Andy Black told me to switch to a flat fee but I suspect that's difficult to do in 2024 with no case studies, but I'll experience with both models and see which one takes off. I use content creation, Facbook Ads, and lead nurturing to do this.

What I have done today (Jan 7, 2024):​

• Finalized my landing page (feel free to take a look and criticize it as much as possible)
• Set up my Facebook business account after a 3-day battle with Meta and their overly bugged system. I am aware it violates the commandment of control if one of my services relies on a platform to deliver, but the skills you learn in advertising are easily transferrable and if all hell breaks loose I can easily do Google Ads, TikTok Ads, etc.
  • Ready to set up an ad to get more leads to my landing page. Have some leftover cash from selling my used books and appliances so I'll use that for a week or so and see how it goes.
• Discussed two potential opportunities with a friend of mine who knows some companies. Not gyms, though, but I'll give it a shot. Planning to post an ad for a home improvement company he referred me two for a low budget to generate 5 leads for him, which will act as a sort of proof of concept and solidfy my confidence in advertising (putting my money where my mouth is)
• Learned how to automate using GoHighLevel and set up some post-booking lead magnet emails for those leads that end up booking a call with me. This will easily save me hours.
• Read 30 pages of Alex Hormozi's $100M Offers to improve my offer.
• Went to the boxing gym and did some light sparring.

Curent Obstacles:​

• Nervousness/fear of rejection/anxiety around cold calling (and cold emails/DMs but to a lesser extent). Did 11 cold calls for the first time in my life this week, might do more but I will focus on cold emails since I won't have much time to set aside for cold calling as the semester is starting on Monday.
• Desert of desertion. No feedback from the market. Don't know what I'm doing right/doing wrong but seeing whatever sticks.

I'll update you guys tomorrow. Now imma hit the sack.

January 7, 2023:​

• Started a little late today, but began with publishing my ad campaign for a week.
• Researched and selected a cold email outreach tool: smartlead.ai
• Implemented a trial Facebook ad campaign 4-day run for a home reno company, was referred by a friend of mine. Out of niche but hoping to land this as my first client, and if it works out I might pivot to that niche quite honestly.
• Prepared my leads for cold outreach on Monday
• Identified a potential for improving my offer through offering what Alex Hormozi calls many-to-one systems. In my case this is going to be a mini-guide on setting up Facebook ads, automating lead nurturing through Zapier and GoHighLevel, and how to create the right offers for gyms.
• Read 20 pages of $100M Offers by Alex Hormozi

 

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

[ali.lari2x]

January 7, 2023:​

• Started a little late today, but began with publishing my ad campaign for a week.
• Researched and selected a cold email outreach tool: smartlead.ai
• Implemented a trial Facebook ad campaign 4-day run for a home reno company, was referred by a friend of mine. Out of niche but hoping to land this as my first client, and if it works out I might pivot to that niche quite honestly.
• Prepared my leads for cold outreach on Monday
• Identified a potential for improving my offer through offering what Alex Hormozi calls many-to-one systems. In my case this is going to be a mini-guide on setting up Facebook ads, automating lead nurturing through Zapier and GoHighLevel, and how to create the right offers for gyms.
• Read 20 pages of $100M Offers by Alex Hormozi

January 8 2023:​

• Set up a new cold email 5-day email campaign with a personalized 5-min audit for each response I get. Tinkered with a cold email sequence that starts with asking about the gym owner's pain point and got a 2% response rate. Going towards that direction with my new campaign...
  • This was done after writing down some ways to solve the trust issue I have with my outreach. It seems to be better from a rapport-building perspective to lead with a non-salesly question and then follow-up with a link to the demo call.
  • The offer is pay-per-results, but for this campaign I have not made mention of it except implicitly by adding a link to my website in my signature.
• Added 30 new leads to my lead list.
• Re-adjusted my landing page to optimize the conversion rate. Moved around the CTA button and slightly adjusted the copy.
• Read 20 pages of $100M Offers by Alex Hormozi.
• Reoriented my vision and value proposition to focus more on delivering tailored, bespkoe services rather than traditional SMMA plug-n-play systems that generate identical, mediocre results for clients.
• First day back in university, I have much more free time than the previous semester so if I manage my time right I should be able to land my first 3 clients with 30-90 days of consistent work and tinkering.

 

[ali.lari2x]

January 8 2023:​

• Set up a new cold email 5-day email campaign with a personalized 5-min audit for each response I get. Tinkered with a cold email sequence that starts with asking about the gym owner's pain point and got a 2% response rate. Going towards that direction with my new campaign...
  • This was done after writing down some ways to solve the trust issue I have with my outreach. It seems to be better from a rapport-building perspective to lead with a non-salesly question and then follow-up with a link to the demo call.
  • The offer is pay-per-results, but for this campaign I have not made mention of it except implicitly by adding a link to my website in my signature.
• Added 30 new leads to my lead list.
• Re-adjusted my landing page to optimize the conversion rate. Moved around the CTA button and slightly adjusted the copy.
• Read 20 pages of $100M Offers by Alex Hormozi.
• Reoriented my vision and value proposition to focus more on delivering tailored, bespkoe services rather than traditional SMMA plug-n-play systems that generate identical, mediocre results for clients.
• First day back in university, I have much more free time than the previous semester so if I manage my time right I should be able to land my first 3 clients with 30-90 days of consistent work and tinkering.

January 9, 2023:​

• Optimized my Facebook Ads campaign and the trial campaign for the home renovation company.
• Generated 2 leads for the home reno company and sent them to the owner. Scheduled a call next morning at 11:00 A.M. to discuss further.
• Looked for 40 leads for tomorrow's outreach. My plan is to gradually ramp it up from 25 -> 40 -> 60 -> 80 -> 100. I want to sustainably increase my outreach without crashing and burning like I did in the past.
• Brainstormed some ideas to add to my offer. Things like 1:1 marketing consultations to truly make my clients stand out, database reactivation, retargeting, and more. Plan on adding these as part of my final offer.
• Added a deadline for my trial offer on my landing page so I can get visitors to act.
• Read 20 pages of Alex Hormozi's $100M Offer. It's been very insightful so far, lots of cool tactics.

My obstacles:

• Knowing what to say and how to properly conduct myself in cold calls and sales calls. Sometimes I feel like I get too in my head and start to stumble on my own thoughts.
• Building a good reputation in the industry.
• Leveraging Fiverr to build some case studies. I have to update my gig listing because I haven't had an order since July 2023.

 

[ali.lari2x]

January 9, 2023:​

• Optimized my Facebook Ads campaign and the trial campaign for the home renovation company.
• Generated 2 leads for the home reno company and sent them to the owner. Scheduled a call next morning at 11:00 A.M. to discuss further.
• Looked for 40 leads for tomorrow's outreach. My plan is to gradually ramp it up from 25 -> 40 -> 60 -> 80 -> 100. I want to sustainably increase my outreach without crashing and burning like I did in the past.
• Brainstormed some ideas to add to my offer. Things like 1:1 marketing consultations to truly make my clients stand out, database reactivation, retargeting, and more. Plan on adding these as part of my final offer.
• Added a deadline for my trial offer on my landing page so I can get visitors to act.
• Read 20 pages of Alex Hormozi's $100M Offer. It's been very insightful so far, lots of cool tactics.

My obstacles:

• Knowing what to say and how to properly conduct myself in cold calls and sales calls. Sometimes I feel like I get too in my head and start to stumble on my own thoughts.
• Building a good reputation in the industry.
• Leveraging Fiverr to build some case studies. I have to update my gig listing because I haven't had an order since July 2023.

January 10, 2023:​

• Reached out to 40 prospects
• Set up Stripe
• Generated another lead for the home reno guy and hopped on a phone call with him, scheduled a sales call over Gmeet for tomorrow. He liked how I just boldly generated leads for him using my own money.
• Finishing up a quick GHL workflow for manual phone call follow-ups to show during the call. This is quite simple, it’s one phone call and a few texts…
• Realized I can easily do 100 cold emails a day and I was just lying to myself (“They’ll blacklist my email”, “cold email doesn’t work”, “they’ll say no”, and a bunch of other scopes). Guess what I’m doing next?
• On a similar note, because I have automated the cold emails now, I can start cold calling AND cold emailing.

 

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

[ali.lari2x]

January 10, 2023:​

• Reached out to 40 prospects
• Set up Stripe
• Generated another lead for the home reno guy and hopped on a phone call with him, scheduled a sales call over Gmeet for tomorrow. He liked how I just boldly generated leads for him using my own money.
• Finishing up a quick GHL workflow for manual phone call follow-ups to show during the call. This is quite simple, it’s one phone call and a few texts…
• Realized I can easily do 100 cold emails a day and I was just lying to myself (“They’ll blacklist my email”, “cold email doesn’t work”, “they’ll say no”, and a bunch of other scopes). Guess what I’m doing next?
• On a similar note, because I have automated the cold emails now, I can start cold calling AND cold emailing.

January 11, 2023:​

• Reached out to 50 prospects via cold email during my lecture. Planning to do 100 but I need to set up another domain and warm the inbox to avoid being blacklisted.
• Landed my first "deal" (2-week trial, client pays for ad spend). To be frank, I did feel kind of happy but at the same time I am on sixth gear right now, even with barely any caffeine in my system.
  • Client said I had the best presentation out of the dozen or so agencies he met with and that my offer was compelling and packed with value. Looks like Alex Hormozi helped after all .
• Spent 3-4 hours learning about advanced Facebook Ads (custom audiences retargeting, lookalike audiences, optimization strategies, campaign/ad set categorization, winning copy, how to A/B test, etc.). About to set this up for my client and follow-up with the leads so they're as hot as your mom's thanksgiving turkey when they get to him.
• Figured out I need to move away from gyms as a niche. I might consider them but I see more of a demand for service-based businesses due to their higher-priced offers.
• Currently resolving a biling issue with Stripe support as we speak lol.

Some side thoughts - read this for some insights from my brain that refuses to turn off:

• If I can beat the low-tier competition in the agency space, which is mainly comprised of 15 year-olds who have watched 2 videos of Iman Gadzhi's and went into this with 0 clue about how to make an offer. Some will learn, just like I did and still am and always will, but the vast majority cannot stick it out long enough to see results.
• It took me a year and a half to see any glimmers of hope with my sparse periods of work on the business. I wonder how much I can achieve in the next 6 months if I dedicate the vast majority of my days to the business? What this means is:
  • Minimal consumption of social media (if at all, I don't even scroll on Reels or TikTok anymore, even as someone who MAKES short-form content)
  • Limiting my weights sessions to 3x a week instead of 6x a week, and my boxing sessions to 2x at-home 30-min shadowboxing + 1x boxing gym. The boxing gym ALONE used to take up 3 hours of my evening when you account for commuting, showering, and eating afterward. I love boxing, but it won't make me escape the 9-5 mundane life.
  • No more action-faking by hopping from library to library and cafe to cafe because "I'm a digital nomad, I'm free". I'm just doing ALL of my work in my corner desk in my apartment. Period.
  • Doing those 2 things above has significantly freed up my time, it's unbelievable. And what's funny is that I have even MORE "free time" (I don't make that distinction anymore, my whole life is "free") to catch up with my family and friends.
  • Speaking about friends, its been kind of a lonely journey over the past 2 years. I can pinpoint it to the moment I read MJ's books and binge watched the f*ck out of every possible business guru video on YouTube (by far my biggest action-fake). My mindset had shifted but no one seemed to resonate with this school of thought. I've met some good entrepreneur-minded people over the past few months, though, such as @perchboy, and some others IRL.

 

[carlosayalaa9]

January 11, 2023:​

• Reached out to 50 prospects via cold email during my lecture. Planning to do 100 but I need to set up another domain and warm the inbox to avoid being blacklisted.
• Landed my first "deal" (2-week trial, client pays for ad spend). To be frank, I did feel kind of happy but at the same time I am on sixth gear right now, even with barely any caffeine in my system.
  • Client said I had the best presentation out of the dozen or so agencies he met with and that my offer was compelling and packed with value. Looks like Alex Hormozi helped after all .
• Spent 3-4 hours learning about advanced Facebook Ads (custom audiences retargeting, lookalike audiences, optimization strategies, campaign/ad set categorization, winning copy, how to A/B test, etc.). About to set this up for my client and follow-up with the leads so they're as hot as your mom's thanksgiving turkey when they get to him.
• Figured out I need to move away from gyms as a niche. I might consider them but I see more of a demand for service-based businesses due to their higher-priced offers.
• Currently resolving a biling issue with Stripe support as we speak lol.

Some side thoughts - read this for some insights from my brain that refuses to turn off:

• If I can beat the low-tier competition in the agency space, which is mainly comprised of 15 year-olds who have watched 2 videos of Iman Gadzhi's and went into this with 0 clue about how to make an offer. Some will learn, just like I did and still am and always will, but the vast majority cannot stick it out long enough to see results.
• It took me a year and a half to see any glimmers of hope with my sparse periods of work on the business. I wonder how much I can achieve in the next 6 months if I dedicate the vast majority of my days to the business? What this means is:
  • Minimal consumption of social media (if at all, I don't even scroll on Reels or TikTok anymore, even as someone who MAKES short-form content)
  • Limiting my weights sessions to 3x a week instead of 6x a week, and my boxing sessions to 2x at-home 30-min shadowboxing + 1x boxing gym. The boxing gym ALONE used to take up 3 hours of my evening when you account for commuting, showering, and eating afterward. I love boxing, but it won't make me escape the 9-5 mundane life.
  • No more action-faking by hopping from library to library and cafe to cafe because "I'm a digital nomad, I'm free". I'm just doing ALL of my work in my corner desk in my apartment. Period.
  • Doing those 2 things above has significantly freed up my time, it's unbelievable. And what's funny is that I have even MORE "free time" (I don't make that distinction anymore, my whole life is "free") to catch up with my family and friends.
  • Speaking about friends, its been kind of a lonely journey over the past 2 years. I can pinpoint it to the moment I read MJ's books and binge watched the f*ck out of every possible business guru video on YouTube (by far my biggest action-fake). My mindset had shifted but no one seemed to resonate with this school of thought. I've met some good entrepreneur-minded people over the past few months, though, such as @perchboy, and some others IRL.

your journey is inspiring and made me have an epiphany that I must take action and not "action-fake". I've been action faking for a while now that I think about it, whats your age if your in university?

 

[ali.lari2x]

your journey is inspiring and made me have an epiphany that I must take action and not "action-fake". I've been action faking for a while now that I think about it, whats your age if your in university?

Thanks bro, glad you’re liking the stuff. I’m 21 years old.

 

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

[ali.lari2x]

January 11, 2023:​

• Reached out to 50 prospects via cold email during my lecture. Planning to do 100 but I need to set up another domain and warm the inbox to avoid being blacklisted.
• Landed my first "deal" (2-week trial, client pays for ad spend). To be frank, I did feel kind of happy but at the same time I am on sixth gear right now, even with barely any caffeine in my system.
  • Client said I had the best presentation out of the dozen or so agencies he met with and that my offer was compelling and packed with value. Looks like Alex Hormozi helped after all .
• Spent 3-4 hours learning about advanced Facebook Ads (custom audiences retargeting, lookalike audiences, optimization strategies, campaign/ad set categorization, winning copy, how to A/B test, etc.). About to set this up for my client and follow-up with the leads so they're as hot as your mom's thanksgiving turkey when they get to him.
• Figured out I need to move away from gyms as a niche. I might consider them but I see more of a demand for service-based businesses due to their higher-priced offers.
• Currently resolving a biling issue with Stripe support as we speak lol.

Some side thoughts - read this for some insights from my brain that refuses to turn off:

• If I can beat the low-tier competition in the agency space, which is mainly comprised of 15 year-olds who have watched 2 videos of Iman Gadzhi's and went into this with 0 clue about how to make an offer. Some will learn, just like I did and still am and always will, but the vast majority cannot stick it out long enough to see results.
• It took me a year and a half to see any glimmers of hope with my sparse periods of work on the business. I wonder how much I can achieve in the next 6 months if I dedicate the vast majority of my days to the business? What this means is:
  • Minimal consumption of social media (if at all, I don't even scroll on Reels or TikTok anymore, even as someone who MAKES short-form content)
  • Limiting my weights sessions to 3x a week instead of 6x a week, and my boxing sessions to 2x at-home 30-min shadowboxing + 1x boxing gym. The boxing gym ALONE used to take up 3 hours of my evening when you account for commuting, showering, and eating afterward. I love boxing, but it won't make me escape the 9-5 mundane life.
  • No more action-faking by hopping from library to library and cafe to cafe because "I'm a digital nomad, I'm free". I'm just doing ALL of my work in my corner desk in my apartment. Period.
  • Doing those 2 things above has significantly freed up my time, it's unbelievable. And what's funny is that I have even MORE "free time" (I don't make that distinction anymore, my whole life is "free") to catch up with my family and friends.
  • Speaking about friends, its been kind of a lonely journey over the past 2 years. I can pinpoint it to the moment I read MJ's books and binge watched the f*ck out of every possible business guru video on YouTube (by far my biggest action-fake). My mindset had shifted but no one seemed to resonate with this school of thought. I've met some good entrepreneur-minded people over the past few months, though, such as @perchboy, and some others IRL.

January 12, 2023:​

• Created a landing page with a survey form for my trial client. Need to optimize this every 24 hours or so.
• Created ad creatives for trial client’s ad campaign.
• Reached out to around 40 prospects.
• Read 20 pages of Alex Hormozi’s $100M Offers

January 13, 2023:​

• Launched first ad set for trial client
• Finalized landing page for client
• Finalize the automation workflows for following up with the survey leads for client
• Fixed a problem with domain hosting of my landing page for said client
• Read 15 pages of Alex Hormozi’s $100M Offers, finally completed the book, very insightful

I want to get really good at this thing. That’s it. Today I had this once-in-a-lifetime dinner party at my university, and to be honest I could not stop thinking about the business and my client. Kept anxiously checking the Facebook Ad Manager on my phone to see how the ad set is doing. I am so obsessed it’s not even funny, it’s a personality trait of mine that I think is a double-edged sword.

 

[ali.lari2x]

January 12, 2023:​

• Created a landing page with a survey form for my trial client. Need to optimize this every 24 hours or so.
• Created ad creatives for trial client’s ad campaign.
• Reached out to around 40 prospects.
• Read 20 pages of Alex Hormozi’s $100M Offers

January 13, 2023:​

• Launched first ad set for trial client
• Finalized landing page for client
• Finalize the automation workflows for following up with the survey leads for client
• Fixed a problem with domain hosting of my landing page for said client
• Read 15 pages of Alex Hormozi’s $100M Offers, finally completed the book, very insightful

I want to get really good at this thing. That’s it. Today I had this once-in-a-lifetime dinner party at my university, and to be honest I could not stop thinking about the business and my client. Kept anxiously checking the Facebook Ad Manager on my phone to see how the ad set is doing. I am so obsessed it’s not even funny, it’s a personality trait of mine that I think is a double-edged sword.

January 16, 2023:​

• Generated 2 leads for my client and edited a Reel for him. He's impressed.
• Struggling hard with outbound lead gen for myself, but I'm cold emailing at least 50 prospects a day now. Need to leverage my current client to gain trust.
• So far the ads are working for my client, optimizing every 2 days or so, going to play around with retargeting and geolocation narrowing. Most pro media buyers are suggesting not to do this, especially nowadays as Meta is slowly phasing out audience targeting options (that's what I saw on the marketing newsletter), but if we have enough cash to spare and know who we want to target, why not?
• Optimized landing page for client.
• Re-making my own landing page in Figma and then either learning how to code it myself or hiring a pro developer.

I won't be posting on here as often because:
a) It lowers my value/post ratio
b) It wasted my time and it becomes yet another thing I have to do everyday that distracts me from the business. I am currently centering everything in my life around the mission.

 

[Abdullah1]

January 16, 2023:​

• Generated 2 leads for my client and edited a Reel for him. He's impressed.
• Struggling hard with outbound lead gen for myself, but I'm cold emailing at least 50 prospects a day now. Need to leverage my current client to gain trust.
• So far the ads are working for my client, optimizing every 2 days or so, going to play around with retargeting and geolocation narrowing. Most pro media buyers are suggesting not to do this, especially nowadays as Meta is slowly phasing out audience targeting options (that's what I saw on the marketing newsletter), but if we have enough cash to spare and know who we want to target, why not?
• Optimized landing page for client.
• Re-making my own landing page in Figma and then either learning how to code it myself or hiring a pro developer.

I won't be posting on here as often because:
a) It lowers my value/post ratio
b) It wasted my time and it becomes yet another thing I have to do everyday that distracts me from the business. I am currently centering everything in my life around the mission.

Hey brother how's everything been going ?

I'm just starting out .. do you mind giving me a way I can communicate with you with ?

 

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

[carlosayalaa9]

Thanks bro, glad you’re liking the stuff. I’m 21 years old.

thank you for replying, im rooting for you!

 

[ali.lari2x]

March 6, 2024:​

I'm in the heart of the desert of dessertion. I have sent around 2,000 cold emails and have not been able to set one appointment. I need to find a way to add value to my cold emails, maybe provide advice/DIYs and build a personal brand on YouTube that directly relates to the marketing agency. So far, I think my main issue is conveying trust and building rapport with leads. The field is extremely saturated right now, and I need to do the hard things that no one is willing to do to pack value to stand out in the crowded market.

 

[roguehillbilly]

March 6, 2024:​

I'm in the heart of the desert of dessertion. I have sent around 2,000 cold emails and have not been able to set one appointment. I need to find a way to add value to my cold emails, maybe provide advice/DIYs and build a personal brand on YouTube that directly relates to the marketing agency. So far, I think my main issue is conveying trust and building rapport with leads. The field is extremely saturated right now, and I need to do the hard things that no one is willing to do to pack value to stand out in the crowded market.

We need an update! Did you quit?

Why do you think the cold emails didn't work? What process are you using?

 

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

[akshayazariah]

The field is extremely saturated right now

Value skews are your best friend. Look at about 20 different agencies, find out what they all have in common, as well as what the best of the best are doing differently. Make note of every single thing you possibly can, and find ways within your budget to beat your competitors.

I have sent around 2,000 cold emails and have not been able to set one appointment.

I sure hope you're not using a sleazy sales pitch format on your cold emails. Those never tend to work out well. The first change I'd make is to make sure I'm reaching out to the other business owner as a human wanting to have a business talk with them — nobody likes to read "we discovered an issue with your website! Buy my service!"

Also, move along. Act, assess and adjust. Emails aren't setting appointments? Try other methods of outreach. Struggling to build rapport? Work on your communication and sales skills.

Treat business like a game of iterations where each iteration of anything (skills, products, services) aims to be better than the last.

 

[ali.lari2x]

We need an update! Did you quit?

Why do you think the cold emails didn't work? What process are you using?

No, I haven't quit yet. I've been focusing on uni mostly as I'm graduating in a day. Planning on going back tot he drawing board or looking at another business model. I've dabbled in crypto and made some good money, but it's not exactly a reliable source of income.

 

[akshayazariah]

No, I haven't quit yet. I've been focusing on uni mostly as I'm graduating in a day. Planning on going back tot he drawing board or looking at another business model. I've dabbled in crypto and made some good money, but it's not exactly a reliable source of income.

Have you read the books?

Crypto does not align with the Fastlane ideology. I suggest you pick up a copy of either TMF or Unscripted TGRRE from 2021.

 

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