Fastlane Roulette - What Business To Go For?

[International]

Hi all,

This is my first thread on Fastlane Forums and I want to use it both as introduction and I also want to ask for some guidance from more seasoned Fastlaners.

I have read the book around two years ago while still in full time education. We moved from Lithuania to United Kingdom in 2006, when I was 15 and my mothers biggest goal was for me to get into uni in UK and while I have always thought about starting and running my own business, I promised to myself that I will only commit to business life once I will graduate.

I have just graduated, my mother moved back to Lithuania whereas I currently work as an online marketing manager for some of the biggest independent pet companies in the UK. I have started to feel the itch and I think that it's time for me to stop being a Sidewalker and join the Fastlane.

From marketing and sales point of view I'm really good at making things happen online and I have used my skills successfully to sell anything from dating ebooks to equine supplements and dog supplements. I am at this stage where I believe that no matter what business I will go for, I will make it work, but somehow I can't seem to get myself going. I'm always trying to pursue more than one idea even though MJ clearly states that you should only focus on one thing at a time I struggling really hard to do that and this what stops me from starting.

At the moment I'm really having difficulties between deciding on these two Fastlane businesses:

Hybrid online marketing service / training company

It appears that there are loads of marketing agencies popping up over the past couple of years, but the fact is that very few of them stick simply because guys that start these agencies up have no clue about how to actually make things happen, how to market their business and how to scale. At the first glance it appears that such hybrid agency would violate all Five Commandments, but here's my overview:

• Need: While working in the pet industry I have learned that most of the small to medium sized businesses and their owners have little to no understanding about online marketing and they have no desire in learning how to create and optimize landing pages, create and manage paid search campaigns and create content for inbound marketing campaigns. Hiring an inhouse online marketing manager costs a lot of money. In addition to this recruiting and training the right person will take lots of time which the business owner does not have. We would take care of everything: from paid search, to lead generation and search engine optimization and there wouldn't be stupid fee structures where on top of your spend you would also get charged a commission fee. In addition to this the company would provide training to other online marketing managers and charge monthly fees for content.

• Entry: At the first glance barriers of entry appear to be really low, but IMHO barriers of entry are high enough to prevent most of the people from doing some serious damage in this industry. In theory all you need to get started is a website that will present your services and then you can start making cold calls. Making cold calls and going to networking events will only get you THAT far. The biggest barrier of entry in marketing services industry is marketing of the actual services and I think that I can overcome these barriers through the use of better marketing, marketing automation and positioning myself as an expert in the industry.

• Control: I will have full control of the business and I will not be reliant on one advertising medium or traffic source.

• Scale: Initially you wouldn't think that a hybrid marketing agency would meet the commandment of scale, yet with marketing automation and hiring the right people this business meets the commandment of scale. With the help of email autoresponders, automated webinars and direct mail you can essentially create a machine that can be scaled to whatever size is necessary.

• Time: Initially my earnings will be determined by time, because I will be attached to the business, but once we will integrate systems that will take care of lead nurturing and all of the sales processes I will be able to hire people who will be responsible for the implementation of the campaigns.

My biggest problem is that I'm really struggling hard between whether I should stay focused and only target specific niches that I know will benefit the most or for example targeting niches that I have affinity with (FMCG / pet industry) or should I just go as broad and as wide as possible?

The other business idea that drains too much of my time and energy is an information / publishing business in the paleo and intermittent fasting space. I was into info marketing since I was about 18, making few hundreds dollars almost every single month while publishing health and fitness newsletters. I have never scaled this business, because I wasn't committed enough, but I have proven this model to myself and I know that it works, yet I'm in this paralysis analysis mode and I don't know what Fastlane business to go for.

 

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