Earning $5.5K/mo at 16: I'm doing it.

[KrisRomer]

Hey everyone. I read the millionaire fastlane about a month and a half ago, and it changed my life. Once I finished the book I joined the forum, and well...here's my story.

I'm 16 years old, and before reading the book I was working as a server in a restaurant making minimum wage. I always had a touch of entrepreneurship in me, when I was 12 I started reselling shoes (and still do) and was always eager to make more money and scale.

After reading the book I started looking into a business model that appealed to me, and that I was good at. Digital marketing came my way within two days. Since then I have been running a two-man agency, and I've signed 5 clients and signing a new one in the coming days.

We have a client acquisition system that works really well, so we get paid between $1,000-$1,500 per client per month. At the moment I am making well over $5,500/month at 16.

This isn't a thread to brag, but I'm just trying to say that even if you think you don't have any skills or knowledge, you can still make it with the right mindset. I didn't know ANYTHING about digital marketing, but I put in the hours and grinded my a$$ off and here I am.

Now, for some of you here $5k/month is nothing, but for me it's huge. I went from making $200-$300/month busting my balls to making as much as my parents.

So, the point of my story is that nothing is impossible.

For the next few months, I will start scaling my agency and possibly even hire people so that I don't have to carry the heavy load.

And I know a service-based business model isn't Fastlane according to the book, but I'm loving the journey so far and am not stopping anytime soon!

 

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[heavy_industry]

how did you do it ?

can you explain the process in detail ?

@KrisRomer Where are you from ?

Why ? Is there a reason ?

in how long did you manage to find the information,create the company,find customers and make profit ?

Have you talked to an accountant/lawyer regarding the various information and to avoid mistakes in the legal field ?

Where did you find the information to create a digital marketing agency ?

Which niche did you choose ?

Why are you harassing him with your intrusive and inappropriate questions?

What make you think you're entitled to know where he lives (lol), what is his niche, what is his process, what are his business trade secrets etc.?


This is the perfect example that shows the difference between two kinds of people:

• someone that knows how to shut up, think for themselves, do the work, and win
• someone that wants to be spoon-fed and have their hand held, and gets angry when rejected

One is a real entrepreneur, a winner that will conquer any obstacle in their life.
The other one is you.

 

[BizyDad]

You are a little too mysterious

He is keeping his business protected.

He's actually being surprisingly smart for somebody who's so new. He doesn't want to divulge everything.

Instead of judging him, why don't you build something for yourself and let other people ask you every little detail of it and see how much of it you really want to divulge.

 

[heavy_industry]

This is awesome!

No skills, no prior experience, no problem!

You just picked something, started - without asking too many questions, did the F*cking work, and won. And now you are more successful than 99% of your peers.

It's really that simple!

This should be a lesson for all starting entrepreneurs that want to believe that they are "not good enough", "not ready yet", or any other pathetic lie that they like to tell themselves.

 

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[KrisRomer]

That's crazy bro, how did you find those clients?

I bought a lead list of 5,000 leads for around $150 on Upwork. I filtered them to ensure they were verified and qualified (another $75) and then I started doing outreach. I did around 700 pieces of outreach before landing my first client, but after I got my first case study I managed to sign my second client very quickly. My first client also referred me to other owners that they knew in my niche, and I gave them a referral fee (they basically got paid because I signed another client because of them). And that's how I found/signed my clients!

 

[KrisRomer]

Which niche did you choose ?

Non-disclosed, don't want too many competitors. Sorry! If you are interested in starting I highly recommend watching Ryan Mak and Max Perzon on Youtube.

 

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[KrisRomer]

Ok, now you've got me super intrigued. Which sales call videos, and how did they help you?

It was Selling Marketing Services - A chat between a freelance marketer and a business owner and Sonny gets his 1st digital marketing client. The first one helped me so much because you taught me that a sales call shouldn't be a sales call, but just a comfortable chat. I was able to go into my first call with confidence and was really calm too. My client was impressed when I was showing them how to adjust things in our white-labeled software etc, and I got that from the video too. So basically my first client call was a hit, and the ball started rolling after that.

 

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[KrisRomer]

Love it! Great work. Keep doing good work and those skills can help you blow up your agency or even build consumer facing brands.

Thank you Andy. You helped me a ton in the beginning, I watched a ton of your sales call videos and I truly believe that's one of the reasons I was able to sign 5 clients so far.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Congrats on doing some great things at such a young age. So impressive. Glad the book turned you from employee to employer.

 

[Fox]

Hey everyone. I read the millionaire fastlane about a month and a half ago, and it changed my life. Once I finished the book I joined the forum, and well...here's my story. I'm 16 years old, and before reading the book I was working as a server in a restaurant making minimum wage. I always had a touch of entrepreneurship in me, when I was 12 I started reselling shoes (and still do) and was always eager to make more money and scale. After reading the book I started looking into a business model that appealed to me, and that I was good at. Digital marketing came my way within two days. Since then I have been running a two-man agency, and I've signed 5 clients and signing a new one in the coming days. We have a client acquisition system that works really well, so we get paid between $1,000-$1,500 per client per month. At the moment I am making well over $5,500/month at 16. This isn't a thread to brag, but I'm just trying to say that even if you think you don't have any skills or knowledge, you can still make it with the right mindset. I didn't know ANYTHING about digital marketing, but I put in the hours and grinded my a$$ off and here I am. Now, for some of you here $5k/month is nothing, but for me it's huge. I went from making $200-$300/month busting my balls to making as much as my parents. So, the point of my story is that nothing is impossible. For the next few months, I will start scaling my agency and possibly even hire people so that I don't have to carry the heavy load. And I know a service-based business model isn't Fastlane according to the book, but I'm loving the journey so far and am not stopping anytime soon!

Amazing progress!

Wow - welcome to the forum and for sure stick around and let us know how to help you anyway we can.

You’re crushing it - really cool to see the focus and progress.

 

[N.S.]

Why are you harassing him with your intrusive and inappropriate questions?

What make you think you're entitled to know where he lives (lol), what is his niche, what is his process, what are his business trade secrets etc.?


This is the perfect example that shows the difference between two kinds of people:

• someone that knows how to shut up, think for themselves, do the work, and win
• someone that wants to be spoon-fed and have their hand held, and gets angry when rejected

One is a real entrepreneur, a winner that will conquer any obstacle in their life.
The other one is you.

Thank you @heavy_industry. Beat me to it.

@KrisRomer well done for keeping certain cards to your chest. The established folks here (i.e not me yet, I haven't built up their credibility) will guide you with generosity.

Be very wary of anyone asking all the sorts of questions which that person (quite possibly innocently, but inappropriately nonetheless) did.

 

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[Saad Khan]

Hey everyone. I read the millionaire fastlane about a month and a half ago, and it changed my life. Once I finished the book I joined the forum, and well...here's my story.

I'm 16 years old, and before reading the book I was working as a server in a restaurant making minimum wage. I always had a touch of entrepreneurship in me, when I was 12 I started reselling shoes (and still do) and was always eager to make more money and scale.

After reading the book I started looking into a business model that appealed to me, and that I was good at. Digital marketing came my way within two days. Since then I have been running a two-man agency, and I've signed 5 clients and signing a new one in the coming days.

We have a client acquisition system that works really well, so we get paid between $1,000-$1,500 per client per month. At the moment I am making well over $5,500/month at 16.

This isn't a thread to brag, but I'm just trying to say that even if you think you don't have any skills or knowledge, you can still make it with the right mindset. I didn't know ANYTHING about digital marketing, but I put in the hours and grinded my a$$ off and here I am.

Now, for some of you here $5k/month is nothing, but for me it's huge. I went from making $200-$300/month busting my balls to making as much as my parents.

So, the point of my story is that nothing is impossible.

For the next few months, I will start scaling my agency and possibly even hire people so that I don't have to carry the heavy load.

And I know a service-based business model isn't Fastlane according to the book, but I'm loving the journey so far and am not stopping anytime soon!

I love this! So happy for you!

I read your other responses and I'm clearly able to see why I haven't gotten the results you've gotten. You put in more work in that month and a half than I have.

You've made me feel ashamed of my procrastination and inconsistency but inspired by your story at the same time.

Don't leave the forum. Your case study is a great anti-thesis to the boys who say, "I'm too young." and a whole boatload of other excuses.

Keep it up! @KrisRomer. Should you start a progress thread on this forum, let us know!

 

[Andy Black]

wow I LOVE this mindset..it actually makes me less tense about the thought of selling (need to learn this skill too)

Watch that video then. Ignore my hands waving... I was tired and trying to be energetic to stay awake.

Another good thread you might like is:

Sales for the introverted

I didn’t realise “selling” was such a big mental hurdle, especially for techies trying to sell to business owners. By techies I’m thinking of those who describe themselves as: A programmer A web developer A graphic designer A copywriter A digital marketer Anyone who feels more comfortable at...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

And check out the Inbound/sales thread in my signature.

Heck, check out the first two rows of links in my signature.

PS: Kudos for you getting stuck into the forum and replying to give thanks. I suspect you'll go far and fast.

 

[KrisRomer]

This is awesome!

No skills, no prior experience, no problem!

You just picked something, started - without asking too many questions, did the F*cking work, and won. And now you are more successful than 99% of your peers.

It's really that simple!

This should be a lesson for all starting entrepreneurs that want to believe that they are "not good enough", "not ready yet", or any other pathetic lie that they like to tell themselves.

Thanks a lot! I remember you telling me on my first day here that the word SMMA should be banned from the forum, that kind of gave me the motivation to keep going and prove to myself that it's possible. So thanks for lighting up the fire in me.

 

[BizyDad]

mind your own fu+++ng business

Oh, the hypocrisy is strong in this one...

You don't know me,you don't know what I'm doing and what my plans are

That's exactly why you aren't trusted.

I don't think you can judge me on the basis of a few simple questions

Of course he can. He just did.

You are a little too mysterious

Besides, you judged the poster, didn't you? Its a shame you are the only one allowed to be judgey on the entire forum.

I should be taken by the hand and that I'm always complaining

If the shoe fits...

gets angry when rejected

mind your own fu+++ng business

I am closing here and will not answer anymore

Yup, you nailed that assessment @heavy_industry

@S.M. actually @heavy_industry wasn't calling you out or anything. As a matter of fact, he was just telling other people to NOT feel entitled at all and that YOU are the one doing the work. And congratulations on that.

The other people were asking more questions so Heavy Industry jumped in to protect you.

I come from a copywriting background and I get that reading the word "you" in his answer might have felt he was talking to you..but, from my experience writing online, he wasn't talking to you...even though he used the other you..it was meant for others.

He admired your work ethic and you are not action faking. Instead, you are inspiring people and doing the work

Hope that helps and please do not feel you have to reply or answer this back. I just wanted to clarify it.

I think you got your signals crossed. HI was protecting the original poster from the guy you tagged who was doing all the interrogating.

 

[Andy Black]

Hey everyone. I read the millionaire fastlane about a month and a half ago, and it changed my life. Once I finished the book I joined the forum, and well...here's my story. I'm 16 years old, and before reading the book I was working as a server in a restaurant making minimum wage. I always had a touch of entrepreneurship in me, when I was 12 I started reselling shoes (and still do) and was always eager to make more money and scale. After reading the book I started looking into a business model that appealed to me, and that I was good at. Digital marketing came my way within two days. Since then I have been running a two-man agency, and I've signed 5 clients and signing a new one in the coming days. We have a client acquisition system that works really well, so we get paid between $1,000-$1,500 per client per month. At the moment I am making well over $5,500/month at 16. This isn't a thread to brag, but I'm just trying to say that even if you think you don't have any skills or knowledge, you can still make it with the right mindset. I didn't know ANYTHING about digital marketing, but I put in the hours and grinded my a$$ off and here I am. Now, for some of you here $5k/month is nothing, but for me it's huge. I went from making $200-$300/month busting my balls to making as much as my parents. So, the point of my story is that nothing is impossible. For the next few months, I will start scaling my agency and possibly even hire people so that I don't have to carry the heavy load. And I know a service-based business model isn't Fastlane according to the book, but I'm loving the journey so far and am not stopping anytime soon!

Love it! Great work. Keep doing good work and those skills can help you blow up your agency or build consumer facing brands.

 

[KrisRomer]

Hey Kris!
First of all, your progress is astonishing and I am honestly kinda baffled (I'm 16 too, and I only managed to earn 20 bucks so far LOL).
I have a question however:
You mentioned that you had no skills at all before? Did you just jump into the branche, get told their problem, watch or read stuff on the internet about the problem and solve it this way?
Also, may I ask what your friend is working on in your team? Also, do you do anything website-related and how do you deal with it (or more specifically, do you learn to code or pay somebody else to do it for you)? (no worries if you're not comfortable answering)
That would really help me get a better picture!

Hey man, thanks for your reply, it means a lot! By the way, don't feel pressured by reading other people's successes - you're your own person and everyone's story is different And to answer your questions:

So I did have some skills, but veeerry little. In March 2020 when I was 14, I started looking into FB ads, so I kind of remembered how to do that when I started. But now that I've hired a contractor (not my personal friend, but just someone from Upwork) who does that for me, I just focus on the appointment setting (which I knew NOTHING about). I watched a shit ton of videos, read a shit ton of articles, and just practiced...a shit ton. I knew a guy in my area who had a company, and for 1 week I offered to get him 3 new clients with my new system - and it worked. I knew that my system was ready and started doing outreach. It's honestly all about testing, failing, tracking, and repeating until you find something that works for you!

About my website, I get it from a site that costs a monthly fee, with a very easy website builder. So no coding, I designed it myself. And that's basically it Good luck on your journey and if you have any other questions let me know!

 

[DarkZero]

I use GHL for clients. It's great. They all love it.

It's just a combo of clickfunnels, activecampaign, messaging for social platforms, content scheduling, survey, calendar, and other software. It's nothing new. Just saves a bunch of subscriptions and allows you to combine them altogether and adds for easier integration.

Lots of white label partners out there honestly.

But if a client of mine already has a system that's working for them, I won't make them switch. I'll just have my team optimize what they already have. Sometimes the standalone software is just better rather than having an all-in-one. For others, the all-in-one like GHL is a great solution.

And to OP. Kudos to you. Wish I had your tenacity when was your age. I didn't get my first digital marketing client until my early 20s. Scale that thing up and exit or take the cashflow and leverage it into something else. You're on a roll!

 

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[KrisRomer]

Keep it up man! Can you elaborate about your client acquisition system and the services your provide?

Thanks a lot! And basically, we have our own white-labeled platform that automates everything. Following up with leads, booking appointments, collecting deposits for the appointments, etc. We've made it insanely easy for business owners to navigate it themselves too, so we offer this platform as software for an extra $497/month. We provide at least 10 pre-paid appointments per month for each client. I'm in a niche where each client pays a lot of money for an appointment, so they can afford to pay my high service fee! Hope this helps.

 

[N.S.]

Hey everyone. I read the millionaire fastlane about a month and a half ago, and it changed my life. Once I finished the book I joined the forum, and well...here's my story. I'm 16 years old, and before reading the book I was working as a server in a restaurant making minimum wage. I always had a touch of entrepreneurship in me, when I was 12 I started reselling shoes (and still do) and was always eager to make more money and scale. After reading the book I started looking into a business model that appealed to me, and that I was good at. Digital marketing came my way within two days. Since then I have been running a two-man agency, and I've signed 5 clients and signing a new one in the coming days. We have a client acquisition system that works really well, so we get paid between $1,000-$1,500 per client per month. At the moment I am making well over $5,500/month at 16. This isn't a thread to brag, but I'm just trying to say that even if you think you don't have any skills or knowledge, you can still make it with the right mindset. I didn't know ANYTHING about digital marketing, but I put in the hours and grinded my a$$ off and here I am. Now, for some of you here $5k/month is nothing, but for me it's huge. I went from making $200-$300/month busting my balls to making as much as my parents. So, the point of my story is that nothing is impossible. For the next few months, I will start scaling my agency and possibly even hire people so that I don't have to carry the heavy load. And I know a service-based business model isn't Fastlane according to the book, but I'm loving the journey so far and am not stopping anytime soon!

Amazing work! There are plenty of grown a55 adults who have never made $5k/month, and I include entrepreneurs in that. Super stuff - rooting for you!

 

[KrisRomer]

how did you do it ? can you explain the process in detail ?

Hey, sure! So when I just got started I just did countless hours of outreach. Cold calling, cold-emailing, DM-ing on Instagram/Facebook, anything you can imagine. I tracked my open rate, click rate, response rate, etc and got better and more efficient at getting prospects to hop on a quick call to discuss my offer in more detail. Once that happened for the first time I had to think of my offer carefully and after around 2/3 hours of hard thinking, I had my offer/service ready. I made a presentation on case studies that my contractor has built up in his years of experience (I am hiring a contractor to book my client's results, and I can focus on getting more clients, etc) and I just went for it. Booked my first client, got them great results and on time too, and I just repeated the process!

 

[ninjacopywriter]

. The first one helped me so much because you taught me that a sales call shouldn't be a sales call, but just a comfortable chat

wow I LOVE this mindset..it actually makes me less tense about the thought of selling (need to learn this skill too)

 

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[Andy Black]

We don't use GHL for clients. I did look at it but it seemed overcomplicated for what we do.


Someone searches on Google for "blacksmiths dublin" (or whatever).

Our ad says "Dublin Blacksmiths | Call Now".

Our landing page says:

Dublin Blacksmiths

• We make swords and armour.
• Free delivery throughout Dublin and Ireland.
• Contact us now for a free estimate

< Tap To Call 123 4567 890 >
< Contact Us >

They either ring our client direct and we track clicks on the tap-to-call button or use something like CallRail to track actual calls (plus clicks on the button).

Or they send a message directly to the client's email (we track clicks on the button and the form completions).

Pretty simple.

 

[KrisRomer]

Huge congrats on your incredible results so far at such a young age!

Also, got a few questions for you:

1. How/where exactly did you find your contractor to deliver the service? And why did you decide to hire him instead of someone else?
2. Is 5.5k your total revenue or profit? And what are your current profit margins?
3. What are your future plans for this agency and business/life overall?

Looking forward to see you making more progress!

P.S. I know you're not a fan of sharing too many personal and some business things (and I used to be the same way when I was younger too), but you should def consider starting a personal brand on social media and documenting your journey on there too - it would be crazy looking back at it one day and seeing how far you've come, and it's a great way to build a loyal audience & improve your network. Just look at Iman Gadzhi who did exactly this and where he's at today, it's very powerful and the earlier you start the better. Just my 2c.

Thanks for your kind words. I have some plans for a personal brand, definitely a good idea!

To answer your questions:

1) I found my media contractor through LinkedIn, and his results were amazing, his prices to work for me were pretty cheap for the value he brings and we had a small "interview" and it just clicked, so I ended up hiring him.

2) Back then 5.5K was my total revenue, but I only had media buyers' costs + GHL costs which was 10% of that. So 90% profit. Right now my profit margins are 85% because I run paid ads for more clients, so I have a bit of ad spend as costs. Very worth it though!

3) The plan is automating the outreach process, the only thing I want to be doing is closing more clients. My contractor has more co-workers who I'm ready to onboard so I can take on way more clients (20-30). After that, I'm going to train someone to automate the onboarding process, and my goal is to 3-5 new clients every 2 weeks. My plans for my life are honestly scaling this to $100k/month, working out more, and focusing on self-improvement. I love traveling so I've booked a few trips here and there, and might look for a place of my own in a foreign country to stay for a couple of months for the experience.

Hope this helps, have a good one DeNero!

 

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[KrisRomer]

Hello Kris,
congratulations my guy you´re crushing it!

I started a SMMA business this year, but it´s hard for me to stay disciplined and ACTUALLY DO THE OUTREACH.
I see, what I am doing wrong and I know, what i should be doing, but somehow my mind leads me to unproductive activities.
I am working on myself a lot. Becoming disciplined, do the work, read amazing books like The Fastlane and learn learn learn. BUT... I am doing the theory stuff, not THE WORK.

I know, it´s all up to me and my process but I want to ask you for an advice on actually starting the outreach and stop to do fake actions.

Have a nice evening!

Greetings from Germany

Haha, you answered yourself. It's all about DOING. What are your goals? Why is this important to you? Who do you want to prove wrong? Most importantly, you wanna show yourself you can do this. Just START. Set goals, 50 outreach a day for a week. Then 100. Then 150 until you sign your first client. Just gotta put your head down and WORK. Anyone can write an email, but everyone is bored sending it to 50-100 companies every day, that's what puts aside successful and unsuccessful people...if you don't wanna do outreach, maybe this isn't for you, maybe watching Netflix is easier and more fun. But everyone is capable of doing outreach.

Good luck on your journey, I'm sure you will find great success once you just start grinding and doing the important work.

 

[Absar]

Keep it up man! Can you elaborate about your client acquisition system and the services your provide?

 

[Andy Black]

Thanks a lot! And basically, we have our own white-labeled platform that automates everything. Following up with leads, booking appointments, collecting deposits for the appointments, etc. We've made it insanely easy for business owners to navigate it themselves too, so we offer this platform as software for an extra $497/month. We provide at least 10 pre-paid appointments per month for each client. I'm in a niche where each client pays a lot of money for an appointment, so they can afford to pay my high service fee! Hope this helps.

Not GoHighLevel by any chance?

 

[KrisRomer]

That's what I want to know, do you use paypal, cashapp, etc

I've been registered in the Chamber of Commerce, so I can sign them with authority of my guardians + I use stripe.

 

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[DarkZero]

We don't use GHL for clients. I did look at it but it seemed overcomplicated for what we do.


Someone searches on Google for "blacksmiths dublin" (or whatever).

Our ad says "Dublin Blacksmiths | Call Now".

Our landing page says:

Dublin Blacksmiths

• We make swords and armour.
• Free delivery throughout Dublin and Ireland.
• Contact us now for a free estimate

< Tap To Call 123 4567 890 >
< Contact Us >

They either ring our client direct and we track clicks on the tap-to-call button or use something like CallRail to track actual calls (plus clicks on the button).

Or they send a message directly to the client's email (we track clicks on the button and the form completions).

Pretty simple.

Yeah honestly that's all you need. No reason to overcomplicate it for clients.

GHL has some other stuff we do to integrate with social media, email and lead gen and plugging that into their overall sales pipeline if they just want an main suite. But for the most part, I don't recommend it to most clients unless they really want it or they're at a stage when they can benefit from it.

It's great toolkit. But it's just a toolkit. People can build super profitable amazing businesses without it.

 

[DrWumbo]

We don't use it ourselves but agencies we've whitelabelled to do.

@DrWumbo ... your thoughts on GHL?

GHL is amazing IF you have a need for it. I wouldn't just get it to "have it".

We use it for all of our clients to track leads, record calls, put up landing pages, track conversion rates, revenue generated, review generation, etc.

 

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