Doing $75,000 USD Per WEEK (Service Business)

[458]

Thanks for giving back to the community @458

I wanted to go deeper into the ‘really niching down’ concept. How niche do you believe is best to drill down into? How do you think one can effectively find the balance between too niche yet still being a sizable market? What ways niching have you undertaken (eg vertical/industry, product space, category space, etc)?

Thanks in advance.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

For your first venture you want to look for the following:

1. Something boring and not trendy (Almost nothing in retail, amazon, drop-shipping, selling courses, etc. Think along the lines of "importing concrete tooling equipment required to be used by national zoning laws")

2. A total industry market cap for the product or service between 100m and 500m USD (You do not want to compete with large corporations, you will lose)

3. Something with few competitors (There should only be 2-3 big players and your research determines they have a lot of weaknesses and are lazy with there operation. IE. You call, get put on hold, transferred 10 times, and the person you finally speak to just learned English)

4. Product or service cost between $1,000 and $5,000 (You want customers with money and a transaction volume that is low to medium. Processing returns on widgets that you sold for $1.50 is a losing strategy.)

5. Something hard to get into because of licensing or other barriers (NOT upfront capital investment barriers, you probably don't have the money or the expertise to put it to good use anyway. Something you can get into for $5 - $10k upront)

6. Something you can run with a centralized operation with credit cards as the main form of payment

The above basically eliminates 99% of the business you have ever seen or investigated and requires you to spend real time and research finding something that actually makes sense. You never want to compete, you want to spend time in an industry that you can dominate and know with a high probability upfront that you will be successful there. Might take you 6 months of research to find your right space but will be well worth it over the long term.

 

[458]

Hitting stride now but still growing fast, 2019 should have us averaging 150k a week, right now i am at 75k per week.

I've learned a lot as we have grown, who has questions? Add them below and I'll answer (good questions only).

EDIT: SPECIFIC QUESTIONS RELATED TO YOUR OWN STARTUP OR BUSINESS, NOT RELATED TO MINE.

EDIT EDIT: A few current fun facts for everyone:

1. Current Age: 29
2. Xmas gift to myself: Topre Keyboard
3. Drink of choice: COFFEE x 1,000
4. Current work schedule: Mon - Fri 4am to 5pm and Sat 10am to 6pm
5. Current ride: Your mom

 

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[458]

PS. EVERYONE ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT MY VENTURE IS POOR BECAUSE YOU ALL CARE MORE ABOUT WHAT I AM DOING AND LESS ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING. FURTHER QUESTIONS ABOUT MY VENTURE WILL BE IGNORED.

I AM SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE I HAVE NEVER DONE WHAT MY COMPETITION HAS DONE, I PUT THEM ALL OUT OF BUSINESS. QUIT LIVING IN THE PAST AND INNOVATE.

 

[458]

Hi @458 !

Thanks for this informative thread.

I hope i won't sound like a troll:

As a beginner, what question should i ask?

(It's AMA,so i guess its "anything" part)

Good question. I usually answer this the same way for every single beginner that doesn't know where to start in this game.

There are basically two main questions that you need to ask and both of them you have to ask them of yourself, not of me or anyone else.

The two main questions to ask yourself are:

• 1. Is it truly in my blood and soul to be an entrepreneur? (I firmly believe myself that this game is not for everyone, it is for a few people that truly have it in them to build something of substance on there own. Since a very young age I have known that in my heart of hearts I am a natural born entrepreneur with ice running through my veins. This is not to say you cannot try, but if the answer you give to this question is maybe, you still need to answer yes to the next question.)

• 2. Am I willing to work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, for the next 5 years and earn $10k per year? (No matter what your answer is to question number one, this second question is all that really matters. Without the willingness and then execution to follow through on ONE venture of your choice, with EVERYTHING you have, over a 5 year prior, there is a 90-99 percent probability that you will fail at whatever you attempt.)

If you answer positively to the above two questions, then the next question to ask is:

• 1. In what space or niche do I personally have the highest probability of success if I dedicate the next 5 years of my life working 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. (Again, this is a personal question which took myself about 6 months to drill down to. You want to be in a space where you have some type of knowledge, possibly a bit a natural talent for. Something that is not trendy, there is not a lot of competition, does not require a ton of upfront capital to get started, etc etc. Take the next 3-6 months and do your research, do not rush this question as it will determine in large part, whether you become successful or not. The last thing you want to do is work your a$$ off for 5 years for nothing because you were too impatient in the beginning and didn't take the time to figure out the best space to compete and ultimately dominate in.

Good luck!

 

[458]

You talked in the other thread about paying your salesmen decently.

What kind of commission should a great salesman have ? You talk about progressively higher commission if I'm right ?

I'm mainly focused on web businesses, but I might want to build a web marketing team with salesmen, to create a physical presence in events to the otherwise "virtual" business.

Thanks for your time.

Whatever the structure is, they should be able to obtain, within reason, and hard work, the ability to make at least $200,000 per year, working for you. If they cannot see this/visualize it and only see that there hard work is going to be pocketed by yourself through a very greedy structure, you'll never have any truly amazing salespeople stay with you for very long.

Great salespeople are diamonds (very rare and very valuable), you should treat them accordingly.

 

[biophase]

That's actually the plan but a key benefit of my agency is it's location independence. I've been travelling the world the last 14 months and don't plan to stop within the next 12. Though, putting my skills to work on my own business is definitely on my mind as a goal. It's just that it would tie me down to somewhere for an extended period until I could scale it up to have all fulfillment managed. It is hard seeing how much I'm scaling my client's businesses, especially since one client that I started with 6 months ago were doing $5k/month in sales hit $150k in sales last month.
For the moment I see a lot of potential in my digital agency and can put in place the right systems and processes to automate most tasks and create a scalable business that I can eventually sell.

I went through this decision in 2009. So yes, traveling the world and being location independent is awesome. And making $8k/mo is awesome too. But traveling the world and being location independent and making $30k/mo is even better.

Your client was literally making $2k/mo (assuming 40% margin), hired you and is now making $30k/mo. Think his life is different now? You should ask him!

If you would take 12-24 months to build a $300-$500k business and put some business roots down. Then you can travel the world and not worry about money.

For me the difference was living in a cheap/regular airbnb for a month, compared to living in a $2M airbnb condo on the side of the ocean cliff.

The decision if up to you. I had to tell myself, I'm going for it now to solidify my future.

 

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[458]

What makes a successful salesperson?

The ability to legitimately not give a fk about rejection on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly basis AND always have an upbeat attitude on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly basis. For most people its just not possible. Truly great salespeople are very hard to find.

 

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[458]

I appreciate your apology, that speaks a lot about your character over all.

To help get this thread back on track, and potentially become a gold thread...

Can you give us a bit more clarity on what you excel at in detail? (maybe a mod can add the snippet in the OP)

You've stated a high ticket item and you lead the sales team, but maybe explain a bit about what you excelled at to get you there.

Was it hiring and inspiring the sales team?
Building sales team infrastructure?
Cohesion between sales and production/fulfillment?

Anything that can narrow us in to how we can ask calibrated questions that set you up to really help out these new guys?

Here are the top 3 skills/mindsets that I excel at which have been a common thread throughout my career as an entrepreneur for which have gotten me where I am today:

1. Delegation & Offshoring

a. Delegation - 90% of everything done within my business is now done for me on my behalf without any type of micromanagement, and I continue to offload work every single day. I have always been very savvy when it came to seeking out the best talent that my money could buy and then delegating the work to them without micromanaging the process. If delegation did not work for something then i would look to 2c or 3b below.

b. Offshoring – Not everything should be handled in house. There are many functions better suited for full time off shore staff. I currently employ around 15 full time off shore staff that truly excel at the tasks given to them. If I tried to employ in house individuals to do these tasks it would cost three times as much money and they would not be happy performing the tasks therefore resulting in high turnover and decreased morale. The task given always needs to be paired with the right individuals or else failure is certain but not always because the task is flawed but because the wrong person was assigned.


2. Technology & Lean Loop System Building

a. Natural Ability - I have a natural talent for computers and systems. In the early 90s when I was around 7 years old, I asked for a PC for Christmas before the internet was even a thing. The next day after Christmas the computer was still in boxes since not even my parents knew how to assemble it. Without asking them or supervision, I took it all out of the boxes and assembled it myself and began using the computer. Without computers and the internet I would definitely not be here today.

b. Investment Mindset – For a very long time now I have consistently invested in the best of the best when it comes to technology (Both hardware & software). My organization runs the best of everything. One example of going above and beyond is our direct line fiber connection. It took over 6 months to get it installed and costs me an arm and a leg; but guess what? We haven’t dropped a single phone call since.

c. System Building & Trial/Error Mindset – Everything within my organization is a system that everyone relies on to function each and every day. These systems have been built and assembled together over time by myself and the looping feedback that comes from everyone in the organization. This feedback loop usually comes from problems that arise and questions that follow. If a problem arises, then the first question I ask myself is: “Did this problem arise from an issue with our system or something else?”. If it is something within the system then the loop continues into additional questions such as: “Should an adjustment be made? What should be adjusted and when?” and on and on until an adjustment is rolled out and tested/monitored. This loop mention of adjustments never ends and is carried out with every single function of the business into infinity. No system or adjustment is ever agreed to be for forever. The second something has ability to be improved is the second it is improved. Anyone that is a threat to this type of thinking is eliminated in short order. A lot of employees might find improvements and adjustments draining and annoying because most people don’t like changes, these employees should be fired.

d. Stop & Lock In – There is a point of diminishing returns and everything needs to be locked in and tested for a good period of time before additional adjustments are made. It is important to understand that changes, no matter how small, always cause slow downs in momentum and workflow. Therefore it is important to always make sure that your adjustments are well founded and necessary along with locked in for a good amount of time before any additional adjustments are made.


3. Culture of Excellence

a. Hiring Only Excellent Talent – It is a time consuming and frustrating process that over time will pay the most dividends but only if you consistently follow the next step of firing everyone. Many times when you hire someone you believe will turn out as a star talent often turn out to be duds. This happens often but there is no way around trying someone and seeing if they can fly or not. This goes for both employees and contractors.

b. Firing Everyone – Almost everyone that is, you want to only keep the excellent hires and fire the rest. I have found that very few business owners and entrepreneurs are good at firing staff. I on the other hand am extremely gifted at this. I couldn’t care less about firing any person and I have always excelled at immediately firing any person that is not a good fit. Most organizations hold on to mediocre staff far too long and in the process hurting morale and the organization as a whole.

c. Automatic Culture - By doing the above two your culture of excellence will form over time. This culture of excellence will allow the number 1 and number 2 above to grow exponentially over time. Therefore, system implementation and delegation suddenly become effortless because everyone is naturally for growth and adjustments and will to take on more tasks through your delegation.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

For your first venture you want to look for the following:

1. Something boring and not trendy (Almost nothing in retail, amazon, drop-shipping, selling courses, etc. Think along the lines of "importing concrete tooling equipment required to be used by national zoning laws")

2. A total industry market cap for the product or service between 100m and 500m USD (You do not want to compete with large corporations, you will lose)

3. Something with few competitors (There should only be 2-3 big players and your research determines they have a lot of weaknesses and are lazy with there operation. IE. You call, get put on hold, transferred 10 times, and the person you finally speak to just learned English)

4. Product or service cost between $1,000 and $5,000 (You want customers with money and a transaction volume that is low to medium. Processing returns on widgets that you sold for $1.50 is a losing strategy.)

5. Something hard to get into because of licensing or other barriers (NOT upfront capital investment barriers, you probably don't have the money or the expertise to put it to good use anyway. Something you can get into for $5 - $10k upront)

6. Something you can run with a centralized operation with credit cards as the main form of payment

The above basically eliminates 99% of the business you have ever seen or investigated and requires you to spend real time and research finding something that actually makes sense. You never want to compete, you want to spend time in an industry that you can dominate and know with a high probability upfront that you will be successful there. Might take you 6 months of research to find your right space but will be well worth it over the long term.

This information (haven't read the entire thread) will move this thread to NOTABLE.

While I don't agree with all of it 100%, there's some good generalized directives here. As for competing with large corporations, I don't agree that the small guy cannot. The larger the corporation, the slower they are at reacting, and the worse they are at maintaining their primary mission. (VALUE! Duh!)

Think FB, Google or Amazon -- huge companies -- but absolutely impossible to talk to a human being for any kind of legitimate customer service. I'm not saying to compete with those guys, but the larger the corporation, the more value skew is available for us, the smaller operation. The more skewed value, the greater your USP.

People generally dislike huge corporations.

Marked NOTABLE.

 

[csalvato]

Hi @458 !

Thanks for this informative thread.

I hope i won't sound like a troll:

As a beginner, what question should i ask?

(It's AMA,so i guess its "anything" part)

This is the smartest, most self aware noob question I’ve ever seen.

 

[458]

You are living the damn good life.. How did you develop your mindset, you are so wise. I guess its years of practice and improving.
I feel so stuck, lot of informations out there..
IDK what is bad with me.. I always start something and never finish it..
I feel so bad, but I have a lot of time in front of me. I need to take it one step at a time.
And oh yeah I am a master procrastinator.. F*ck me how should I change that.. Maybe I dont want it bad enough.


sorry a little self talk

My life started to change when I began to wake up every day at 4am. If you master that, everything else will fall into place.

Why?

Because it's hard, it's singular, and when you do it everyone else is asleep so it forces you to work on yourself and your projects without distractions.

After you master this, everything else is easy and falls right into place.

Good luck!

 

[LightHouse]

Jesus, this is like the BnP where Zen got on vid chat and said "ask me questions" and the very first (and only) one was .... "well who the f*ck are you?"

Don't assume or expect credibility based on what you write here. This forum has seen more than it's fair share of bullshitters, especially well written ones. (no implications here)

Same with the sarcastic replies.... I totally get it, i reply like that all the time. But it is typically to people I have met or people that know it's harmless. Being a dick just because your making money and don't care about people contradicts the point of this thread.

I have no idea who you are either (not that it matters) but I'd have a hard time figuring out "what to ask" given there is incredibly limited detail on what you are doing.

"I make money, AMA" is not a very good start point.... lol

Thanks to @ZCP for throwing you some bones....

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Thanks @458 and MJ! This validation will go a long way to helping the exact people you wish to see succeed. I for one am very grateful for your time.

Just an FYI: I've been able to validate a bit more as well, the real name of 458, the service -- looks all legit. And I see ZERO indication that a $10K coaching program is going to come next.

Carry on and thanks @458 for giving back.

 

[458]

What's the profit?

Organic growth is always expensive. That's why i always ask the question on here for anyone new that is thinking about doing this "Are you willing to make $10k a year for the next 5 years?"

Until recently: 2-5% profit margin
Now and moving forward: 30-35% profit margin

Time to cash in brah

 

[458]

What sales training have you used or recommend?

I first learned on the straight line persuasion course from Jordan Belfort, I probably watched those videos 10-15 times each until everything he explained was stuck in my head. The most important and valuable parts are the tonality section and the looping section.

For the last few years though, myself and my guys have been on Grant Cardone University. I require them to do about 5-10 videos every Friday. His section on follow up, which is only 5% of his content, was worth the price of the entire course 10 times over.

Both are expensive, both are worth it. I would say the combination of both of them together will set you apart in your marketplace if you consistently use them.

 

[458]

Dude, you're attracting the same energy you're putting out. When you come across as arrogant and all knowing people are going to push back on that and wonder who you are and what you do...

Dont get butthurt when YOU asked for questions and the questions asked are completely relevant to the situation you put yourself in.

My question:
- Were you arrogant (or confident however you view it) before you had money?
- Do you think earning money gives you an edge and a variance in how you respond or view people?
- Do you think you can fail?

1. Yes I would say the same amount of confidence prior to having money. I started with about 10k and went all in without hesitation, prepared to lose it all and go into massive debt. I was willing to do whatever it took and I wasnt going to listen to anyone tell me no or that I couldn't do whatever I wanted. Not my friends, family, girlfriend. You couldn't tell me anything, I was going to fail until I made it.

2. No, money does not give you an edge that's why I stay waking up at 4am and grinding 12 hours a day. The second you stop doing what works and what got you where you are is the second you are going to learn a very valuable lesson.

3.Yes, I fail all the time and most of the time it's my fault. Failure is a part of the game. If your asking about bankruptcy type failure, sure it's possible. Nothing is guaranteed and everyone is going to die.

I am definitely not all knowing, I just know a lot about a specific type of process that has worked out well for me. Sometimes you have to come off a certain type of way to attract attention, good or bad. If I wrote boring, non provacative threads, no one would pay attention..

ABC, always be closing

 

[Kid]

Hi @458 !

Thanks for this informative thread.

I hope i won't sound like a troll:

As a beginner, what question should i ask?

(It's AMA,so i guess its "anything" part)

 

[SEBASTlAN]

Who, what, when, where, why, how.

 

[JAJT]

What are your thoughts on this objection?

Bad salespeople do this, not good ones.

Good ones know the fastest way to put yourself out of business is to lie/cheat/steal from your customers.

I've never in my life seen someone I would consider a "great" salesperson force-feed their pipeline with shitty clients.

It's like purposefully causing yourself hours of pain tomorrow for a few bucks today. Some greedy newbies love this shit but a tried and true sales person knows it's pure folly. At most you'll see them stuff their pipe with a "bad" sales or two to get over a hump to hit a new milestone payment (only $1k away from a bonus, 12 hours to go, let's go pipe stuffing!) but nobody in their right mind wants that kind of future headache all month long with every client they meet.

A more practical answer to help prevent against this is to institute claw-backs. Salespeople get their commission but any cancellations / refunds / etc... in the following 3 month get paid back to the company in full. Now a bad sale is not only a bad idea, but it nets you nothing but the headaches.

 

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[458]

@458 what is the end game, and why?



Need this. Thank you.

Financial & non financial end game:

1. A net worth over 100m
2. Ring the NYSE opening bell on my own IPO
3. Create and grow something in a big boy space like real estate and be considered one of the best (think Stephen Ross or Sam Zell)
4. Start a non profit that helps people and keeps me from getting bored long term

Really, once your net worth/income is at a certain level, its all about finding something you can do and strive for so you don't go mad with boredom. For example, I have been reef keeping for about 10 years now and I am still not a master at the craft because there is always more to learn and perfect.

Side note for new entrepreneurs: If you want to learn the tools you need to be a great entrepreneur, get into the reef keeping hobby. It will teach you everything: patience, commitment, consistency, attention to detail, thirst for more knowledge, a lot of failures before you get semi decent at it, etc etc.

 

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[458]

When you're selling your high ticket items, do you first sell something that costs less to get your foot in the door with your customer/build their trust? Or do you go straight for the $1,000 - $5,000 sale?

Absolutely. First sale runs between $300 - $600 and is accomplished most of the time through two calls. First is the cold call opener and pitch where we grab there email and set the follow up call appointment to close. Next we send our prospect all of our information through text and email on who we are, what we can do for them, and why they should go with us. Last we call them on the scheduled appointment time and if they answer 9/10 will close on that second call.

The rest of our prospects that do not answer and close on the second call are loaded into our marketing campaign funnel and contacted 3-5 times per week through unique and original sales copy using Aweber and texting.

We close deals weekly with people we spoke to only one time back in 2016 or 2017 and finally called in off our Aweber campaign ready to go. They may have been called, texted, emailed hundreds of times and never responded to us but for whatever reason, now is when they pop up and close. Never give up..

 

[458]

How do you find reliable employees that take pride in doing a good job?

Trial and error, luck, paying more than anyone else, firing all the non great ones.

 

[458]

Excellent advice!

Ask yourself questions like... What effect would it have on your business if your payment processor/PayPal blocked your account in the lead up to your peak season after having just landed a massive order from your suppliers? You can't trade. Your funds are locked. You're pretty f'd! Now, what if you had a backup merchant account ready to go? Different story!

The above example happened to me. I had over 300k locked in a PayPal account for 3 months. It almost destroyed my business to the point where I was on the verge of shutting down. I persevered, and eventually retrieved the funds. What was the first thing I did next? I set up multiple merchant accounts as backups with different providers/banks! And yes, it happened again, BUT I was prepared and it didn't effect the business by more than the time (<1hr) it took my developers to change some code to switch processors.

I went on to continue incorporating "fail overs" into the business wherever possible. Additional staff. Multiple servers and backups. Developers. Etc... I was determined not to let something like that happen again.

Just go and do it. And, hopefully you feel it was all a waste of time! But if the time comes, you'll be back here repping the sh!t out of @458 's post.

Another largely overlooked fail over is actually cash on hand. A big misconception and mistake in my opinion is the belief that cash in the bank is worthless because it is not earning you interest and therefore it should all be deployed.

In some businesses this may be true but when it comes to start ups that are self funded and have little outside support, cash reserves are absolutely vital. If it wasn't for the cash reserves i keep, this mini crisis would have literally put me out of business in a matter of days.

Cash buys you time to make mistakes, deal with crisis, fix mistakes and carry on from there. Lack of cash flow and bad cash management probably kills more startups than anything else in my estimation.

If you know the story of Rockefeller, you would know that one of the biggest lessons he learned from his father is never put out more cash than your callable loans because a day will come when they are called and you won't have the cash on hand to pay and therefore at the mercy of your creditors to liquidate your business and take control of your assets.

Cash is king.

 

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[458]

Thanks @458 and MJ! This validation will go a long way to helping the exact people you wish to see succeed. I for one am very grateful for your time.



At some level this must get you back to the point of helping your employees see beyond the typical "poor" mentality. My nature is to slip back into that mindset so I have to fight it. Can you share how you teach/coach this?

It took me a minute to think about the best answer for this.

I think the most important thing you can do to keep your team moving forward into any mentality you want is to ALWAYS, NO MATTER WHAT, FOLLOW THROUGH WITH WHAT COMES OUT OF YOUR MOUTH. If I say it, i do it, period.

This creates a cycle of accountability within yourself as well because now when you don't do what you say you were going to do you feel guilty for letting everyone down.

The exception to this is if it is truly bad for the team and you realize afterwards.

You are probably wondering, but how does that relate to having a poor mentality? It doesn't.. It relates to habits. Having a poor mentality is a bad habit and getting OTHERS out of that mindset is impossible by force, the only thing you can do is showcase to them how you operate(with a rich mentality that you follow through on) and then they follow suit.

Monkey see monkey do.

 

[458]

Hey @458 , How do you find these numbers out?

For market niches made up of mostly private companies, it is not an exact science. Start with finding all of the industry leaders in the Inc 500/5,000 list. Next put together a list of all the companies you can find in your specific niche along with there corresponding employee head count. Use the revenue and employee count from the companies reported in the Inc 500/5,000 list to determine average revenue brought in per employee. Next multiple this number times the total employee count you were able to determine. Next multiple this number by 2 and you now have a conservative estimate of market cap for a non publicly reported industry.

After you have the above number, look around the internet to see if you can find other information on what the estimated market cap of the industry is and use those numbers to determine if you are close in your estimation.

Again, it is not an exact science and there are probably other ways to come up with your estimate that i may not be aware of, this is just an example of how i did it for my current venture (IE. A niche market cap of 100-200 million USD).

 

[458]

Awesome insight, thanks for this specific detail.


Which form of competitive advantage (ie operate at lower cost vs competitors, or command a price premium, or perhaps both) did you decide to go after, and why?


From what you’ve shared it sounds more so that you went for lower costs, by 1) really dialing in your sales and marketing to be closing deals very effectively and efficiently, 2) keeping your delivery and operations lean and efficient to the point of quality you are aiming for, and 3) post-sales service in which you mentioned you continue the customer relationship beyond the first sale for opportunities to upsell by knowing more of their needs and how to bring them more value.


Was that the case at your company? If not, how did you see it?


Which other forms of competitive advantage have you found are likely present in many industries today because the status quo has them complacent and comfortable?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You never want to rely on one macro advantage like price because your putting your eggs in one basket and that type of mentality always breaksdown over time.

Instead you need to be stacking micro advantages through your operation that together over time build a "moat" around any type of competition coming in and taking over. Some of my top ones are:

1. Speed to market (If you're not first you're last - Cardone)

2. Pricing (I am not the lowest cost but my pricing makes more sense than a lot of other options)

3. Technology (One simple example is headsets.. Ive called other companies and they have there guys talking on headsets built in the 90s that cost 5 bucks and sound like absolute dog shit. This is a small advantage when i have everyone on $150 headsets designed for making calls all day long)

4. Clarity of message (A simple small over looked advantage.. How clear is what you are selling? Is your target market understanding FULLY AND COMPLETELY what they are exchanging dollars for? Again, I've called other companies and they confuse the shit out of people with what they are saying)

And the list goes on and on. Honestly i could probably make you a list of 500 - 1,000 specific competitive advantages that i have over everyone else.

 

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[biophase]

I have a PPC marketing agency (early stages, just transitioned from freelancer) targeting Ecommerce store owners (particularly those on the shopify platform but not limited to that).

All current clients have come through referrals because I've made businesses A LOT of profits - often scaling them up from $5k in monthly sales to over $60k/month with big profit margins.

Sorry to jump into your thread @458, but I have to ask @Phikey a question here.

If you are taking your clients from $5k to $60k a month... why don't you start a business so you can put your skills to work on your own business? I've often wondered this as I've hired SEO companies for $2k/mo and they get my site to page 1 within a year. I wonder, why don't they get their own site to page 1 instead?

 

[458]

I am still dealing with a mini crisis but there is light at the end of the tunnel and we will come out stronger.

One thing you always learn over and over again as an entrepreneur is you can never build enough fail overs for all your processes. IE. Always have multiple bank accounts, two ISPs on a fail over router, back up merchant accounts, etc etc. It is always time well spent building these fail overs into your operation because without fail, you will use them eventually.

 

[458]

I know you said your market size was roughly 100-200 million, but if the market was much bigger, how would you scale this company to 100 million in revenue?

Since everything is pretty much systematized and plug and play now in our operation I could scale through just adding more fronters, closers, and admins. To get to 100 million I would need about 5-10 additional fronters, 10-15 additional closers, and 10-15 additional virtual admins.

That brings up a good point though to think about.. If you are just starting out or you are a few years in but are in a niche with the ability to scale to $100 million in revenue, my recommendation would be to first build out all your systems and processes while staying in the revenue range of $300k - $1m without using leverage and then once you have a truly bullet proof system that only requires you to add additional personnel to scale, that is when you can quickly go from $1m to $20m and then to $50m and up by using leverage without going bust along the way. The money is in the system and its better to first build it and then scale, than to scale and build it at the same time.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

@458 - I sent you a PM for validation. I wasn't going to ask (because I think you're legit based on a gut notion) but I can understand some of the other concerns.

Thanks for giving back to the community here, much appreciated.