Earning $5.5K/mo at 16: I'm doing 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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[Simon Angel]

You're way ahead of the curve, keep it up!

 

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[KrisRomer]

Not GoHighLevel by any chance?

Yes, GHL!

 

[fmvpinho]

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 hope my kid turns out to be just like you! Good luck and best of success!

 

[ninjacopywriter]

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.

last night I was already watching one of the videos!!

and thank you SO much for your support..i cannot wait to pay it back/forward and thank you for your kindness and inspiring words, and for all the help..

I will check it out

 

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[ninjacopywriter]

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.

Just adding more knowledge...and yes, i know it might look like i am action faking... a part of me is YES haha but the other part is trying to figure out how to help others with what i got

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm18Z4ySNkc


sharing the video here just in case, i will look at it later it's in my to do list

P.S.: CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

 

[Saad Khan]

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



That's exactly why you aren't trusted.



Of course he can. He just did.



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



If the shoe fits...




Yup, you nailed that assessment @heavy_industry



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

I see in your caption you mentioned heavy industry. Is it the industry or @heavy_industry? Oh I see why you both are flexing muscles now.

 

[piano]

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!

 

[KrisRomer]

So a month and half ago you finished the first book and within two days you had an "agency" running?
Not only that but you went from 0 knowledge on digital marketing, being a server, to getting 5 clients that pay you over 1000 per month?
With some unspecified client aquisition system?
A month and half being less than 2, means a single payment in any case.

I call bullshit

I didn't have my agency up within 2 days - but I was doing a lot of work on it. Within a week I had all the practical issues set up + I had started testing my client acquisition system. I was doing outreach around day 5, and I did a lot. I signed my first client two weeks after starting, and after that, I signed my second client a week after through referral. My offer was/is that they sign the contract and pay upfront for the first time, then pay on the first of each month afterward. I leveraged my contractor's media buyers' case studies to get my clients. You can do a lot more work than you think, and I was very motivated & focused.

Thanks for your message!

 

[The One]

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!

Wow my brother, WOW! I am super happy for your bro! I am 17yrs old, I've only done something recently. But, any tips and tricks you have. Please do send them towards us.

 

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[DarkZero]

They are using guys like Billy Gene to promote and endorse them who is a massive online marketing fraudster, also hiring him as a Keynote speaker. GHL really do come across as a cult as well, have a look at their videos from events etc.

Those are my main concerns about this company and the fact that there are other companies offering very similar services for significantly lower prices also concerns me, these companies can also be integrated.

Thats just my own view of course, if you want to put across why you personally would rather stick with them over anyone else I'd love to know, I could be wrong about them so I'm interested in what you would have to say on your experiences with the company. I'm not so keen but if there's something I have missed maybe you can help me to understand?

GHL's way of marketing has no effect on the product. I've never seen any of their marketing. But using Billy Gene and "cult-like" events is just a form of marketing. They learned it from Russell Brunson who executed that incredibly. That has no effect on if the product is good or not. If the product isn't good, people will stop using it. I'm sure there churn rate isn't 0%. Obviously it's not for everyone. But just because they market like Clickfunnels doesn't make them a bad product. I only care if the product is good.

Marketing does not = product. The product still has to be good. No amount of marketing will save a product. And I have many clients who are happy with GHL after transitioning from Clickfunnels and other similar software because those products were not good for their specific needs. Just because one thing works for someone doesn't mean it will be relevant for someone else.

But maybe there is a new competitor to GHL that covers everything that you can share?

 

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[KrisRomer]

You are right!

I will bite the sour apple.

Thanks for your answer

Good luck. I believe in you

 

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[Andy Black]

I read the millionaire fastlane about a month and a half ago, and it changed my life

@MJ DeMarco

 

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[KrisRomer]

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!

Thanks so much, I truly appreciate it.

 

[Andy Black]

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.

Ok, now I'm super intrigued. Which sales call videos, and how did they help you?

 

[Aryeh]

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

 

[DCG]

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!

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

 

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[KrisRomer]

@KrisRomer Where are you from ?

Rather keep that private, sorry. I'll say that I'm from Europe though.

 

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[KrisRomer]

Why ? Is there a reason ?

Not really, just not comfortable sharing too much personal information.

 

[KrisRomer]

Ok,
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 ?

I set up all the practical issues within a couple of days. I found clients within two and a half weeks of outreach. I make a profit because my contractor costs less than my clients pay me. Yes, I have. I found the information on Youtube.

 

[Aryeh]

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.

You are a little too mysterious

 

[Super Shiva]

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!

Congratulations!

As @N.S. said in this thread, I happen to be one of those many grown a55 adults (sad and funny at the same time) who does not make $5k/month (hopefully not forever). At least I am not an entrepreneur (for the time being).

 

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[KrisRomer]

Just adding more knowledge...and yes, i know it might look like i am action faking... a part of me is YES haha but the other part is trying to figure out how to help others with what i got

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm18Z4ySNkc


sharing the video here just in case, i will look at it later it's in my to do list

P.S.: CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Thank you, Ninja, I appreciate you a lot. Yes, that video is great! I've watched it a lot of times. The most important thing probably is just start doing outreach, I was doing a lot of action faking in the start too - but once you do the important stuff huge results will come to you!

 

[heavy_industry]

Yes, it's @heavy_industry he helped me a ton in the beginning!

Thank you, that's a very kind thing to say.

But it's all you. You are the man. You made this happen.

You proved to the world and to yourself that you can do anything that you want to do, regardless of what other people think. My opinion did not matter.

This is one of the most important lessons in life and entrepreneurship.

---

Looking back at the original comment I made on this idea, it seems like you fit in category #2:

The only people that are profiting from this are:

• those that were clever enough to figure things out for themselves many years ago, before it got popular
• highly skilled entrepreneurs that actually know how to stand out from the crowd and provide value to their customers
• people selling courses on how to "START YOUR OWN SMMA IN 2022/2023"

And perhaps in the future you could exit the current business model by switching to category #3, by selling some kind of B2B digital product associated with digital marketing.

For full disclosure, I haven't changed my mind.
I still believe that a SMMA is a bad business model for a variety of reasons. But that doesn't mean that you can't have a lot of success doing it.

Everything works, everything can be turned into a business, if you know how to approach a problem and how to do things. Ideas are pawns, execution is king.™ (MJ DeMarco)

 

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[KrisRomer]

Thank you, that's a very kind thing to say.

But it's all you. You are the man. You made this happen.

You proved to the world and to yourself that you can do anything that you want to do, regardless of what other people think. My opinion did not matter.

This is one of the most important lessons in life and entrepreneurship.

---

Looking back at the original comment I made on this idea, it seems like you fit in category #2:



And perhaps in the future you could exit the current business model by switching to category #3, by selling some kind of B2B digital product associated with digital marketing.

For full disclosure, I haven't changed my mind.
I still believe that a SMMA is a bad business model for a variety of reasons. But that doesn't mean that you can't have a lot of success doing it.

Everything works, everything can be turned into a business, if you know how to approach a problem and how to do things.

Ideas are pawns, execution is king.™ - MJ DeMarco

Very wise words from a very wise man! A huge asset to this community. Thanks!

 

[smihain]

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!

Hi Kris,

I have a friend, who's gotten into digital marketing like you but I've understood he'd had problems with the clients to get the right cashflow.

Granted he charged upfront higher amounts OR 2 payments half at the start half and the end of the project. Basically for the work he and his company were hired for the workload got out of hand compared to the costs of software etc. ( 2 man team as well )


Do you think that's a bad approach?
Or what did you / would you do differently?

 

[alexkuzmov]

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

So a month and half ago you finished the first book and within two days you had an "agency" running?
Not only that but you went from 0 knowledge on digital marketing, being a server, to getting 5 clients that pay you over 1000 per month?
With some unspecified client aquisition system?
A month and half being less than 2, means a single payment in any case.

I call bullshit

 

[JAJT]

Not GoHighLevel by any chance?

@Andy Black

Okay now I'm curious - is using GoHighLevel a good or bad thing in your opinion?

I just watched the intro video on their website and it looks pretty darn slick. The epitome of selling shovels in a gold rush.

 

[Paul David]

In my personal view and after doing as much due diligence as I could on them - Avoid GHL. Shady all-round mate.

I've been using GHL since they began, nothing shady about them.

 

[ZackerySprague]

That's fair enough, if people are enjoying using their all-in-one type service then fair enough.

This is my opinion and you are completely welcome to disagree of course.

Here are some minor issues I have with GHL:
There are more than a few people on Reddit saying that either they or the company they work for used GHL or either still do but are looking for alternatives to switch to. Apparently there are a number of bugs with the platform and some people are being hounded daily by GHL colleagues to upgrade despite unsubscribing from any email marketing, that was something I found interesting in and of itself. But hey, if that's the minority then fair enough, if they provide the service that they promise then fair play, the whole Reddit thing for me isn't too much of a big deal, no company is perfect, whatever.

Now onto some of the bigger issues:
The main reasons I personally won't be using GHL is due to their affiliation with figures such as Billy Gene and the way they appear to inflate their prices in comparison to other places such as Zapier & Hubspot. Yes, the service might be absolutely fine, but overall I wouldn't want to risk doing business with a company like GHL based on how they present themselves to their customers and their affiliation with the online guru space.

Again, just my view here but ethics come into it and for my business when dealing with other businesses, I don't want to risk my clients discovering that I'm using a service provided by a company who conducts their marketing in a shady manner, it would begin to raise some red flags around me and my own business operations, it's not worth the extra risk of headaches and hassle, but the price is also inflated. Of course the risk is minimal, but I'm not going to get involved in that rabbit hole of MLM-operating businesses.

I get that using GHL can be convenient as its basically everything all in the one platform and ready to go, but I would rather take some more time to work on systems, pay less money and integrate tools into Zapier and be happy that these companies are taking far more ethical approaches to business than to risk dealing with a company who associates themselves with a guy who stole a load of cash from his customers and ran.


GHL & MLM...
GHL are really living on the edge of their MLM being categorised as a pyramid scheme and here's why -

They do appear to be driving sales, but if the majority of their revenue comes from affiliate links then you could certainly have a conversation around the legality of how much of the revenue they bring in is being determined by other affiliate marketers, it's very shady regardless of the product they provide. What adds to this is the fact that people are actively titling YouTube tutorials around GHL being great for MLM. Something to keep in mind thought not exactly illegal.

The questions could be around how much of their revenue stream comes from other affiliate marketers compared to other areas such as their lead gen conversion revenue from running ads, google etc. Through their affiliate program, they are also living on the edge again, subtly recruiting affiliates without technically recruiting them. MLM-Pyramid scheme territory due to what would appear to be a massive emphasis on affiliate revenue and subtle recruiting of affiliate marketers. If they were not selling their service/software it would be a full scale pyramid scheme, but it's also important (as I said above) to be aware of how much of their revenue is coming from recruiting affiliates in comparison to the actual sales of their services.

It's all very shady at the end of the day, but it's up to each individual if they want to do business with a company whose foundations are built from a shady model. Thats subjective.

My overall issue with GHL, Clickfunnels and these types of companies is how they go about their marketing in shady, cult-like ways and how they associate themselves with an already scummy industry in online money making courses (not all courses), life coaches etc that sell false hope to vulnerable audiences, GHL are affiliating themselves with a lot of people like these self-proclaimed experts or "gurus" whilst standing on the edge of MLM-Pyramid scheme territory.

One of the risks GHL's customers could face one day is the company going AWOL and off the radar once they've made their money from recruiting affiliates, this happens A LOT with companies operating similar business models. Something to be wary of again in terms of longevity.

I see now haha. Yes I've seen this behavior for before in the past in 2020. Their was one course I had purchased and it was to promote somebody else's course and we'd get a commission, It didn't feel right., You had to make yourself looked as an authority in the space by creating a curated Facebook profile that would then move them into a Facebook group. Great marketing tactic but bad way to earn money. Because the money they spent on the course was going to be a commission for you in the end.

I choose to move on from this model though. I just don't want to take people's hard earned cash and scam them of something.