This is post that's a bit sensitive for me to share. But I feel this is the one place online where I'll be understood.
For the last year I've been resting on my laurels in my business. I landed my first client only months after launching a business model that was totally new to me and untested in my local market. It's nothing revolutionary, it's basically just helping accountants get clients–a lead generation service.
I must've done a decent enough job of packaging up the offer, because I had my first serious prospect considering signing up before I was done building the new website. Truth be told, I didn't think the guy was a prospect when I met him, let alone did I think he'd actually pull the trigger and become a paying client.
He signed on at my highest-priced plan a couple months after our first impromptu meeting. Since that time, I've struggled with this sense that I will be unable to replicate this success. All my energy to market my own business (and, ironically, do my own lead generation) felt like trying to get lightning to strike in the same place twice.
Over the year or so I've been running the business, I've reluctantly tried acquiring more clients in the niche I set out to serve. But my fear that things aren't quite right and that I'm selling a solution that's not competitive enough in the market kept playing over in my head and heart like a scratchy vinyl record.
There is one legitimate reason for my apprehension to get more clients in my niche: I need(ed) to improve the mechanics of my service.
After serving my primary client for a number of months, I began to see all the limitations and bloat of my current model. I felt it would be most prudent for me to keep my one guy happy while I improved the service on my end to take on more clients and charge more money.
There's a lot more to this story. And, while I still have my client, I am struggling to keep things going. I had some clients drop off recently that tanked my expected monthly revenue and made it harder for me to keep up my with all my expenses–personal and business.
I've been playing it real risky financially lately. I did get a decent day job as software consultant with a local software company back in May. But I quit after a couple months when I realized things were not quite kosher with what I was selling. I could've stayed on, did the job, and collected more paychecks. But I was more emboldened to quit after realizing just how much time I was able to devote to an employer.
Now it seems I'm at a mental impasse.
I'm broker than broke and teetering on financial ruin. The one silver lining is that the revenue from my client basically pays my rent.
But I need to make a decision. I need money yesterday to cover my living expenses. But my business is not making enough to do this. I have a massage therapy business that I am confident I can feasibly grow to get me stable financially. But it comes at the cost of my focus on my main business–my lead generation agency.
The time I believe it'll take for me to get even one new client in my lead generation business will be too much.
You might be thinking this a no-brainer decision: do massages, get stable, jump back into the lead generation thing when that's sorted.
And you might be right.
To avoid rambling on, I'll end this post here. I'm obviously very close to the problem. So I'd love to hear what other forum members have to say. I left out a lot of nuanced details to keep this from being a novel, so feel free to ask any questions.
What say you?
For the last year I've been resting on my laurels in my business. I landed my first client only months after launching a business model that was totally new to me and untested in my local market. It's nothing revolutionary, it's basically just helping accountants get clients–a lead generation service.
I must've done a decent enough job of packaging up the offer, because I had my first serious prospect considering signing up before I was done building the new website. Truth be told, I didn't think the guy was a prospect when I met him, let alone did I think he'd actually pull the trigger and become a paying client.
He signed on at my highest-priced plan a couple months after our first impromptu meeting. Since that time, I've struggled with this sense that I will be unable to replicate this success. All my energy to market my own business (and, ironically, do my own lead generation) felt like trying to get lightning to strike in the same place twice.
Over the year or so I've been running the business, I've reluctantly tried acquiring more clients in the niche I set out to serve. But my fear that things aren't quite right and that I'm selling a solution that's not competitive enough in the market kept playing over in my head and heart like a scratchy vinyl record.
There is one legitimate reason for my apprehension to get more clients in my niche: I need(ed) to improve the mechanics of my service.
After serving my primary client for a number of months, I began to see all the limitations and bloat of my current model. I felt it would be most prudent for me to keep my one guy happy while I improved the service on my end to take on more clients and charge more money.
There's a lot more to this story. And, while I still have my client, I am struggling to keep things going. I had some clients drop off recently that tanked my expected monthly revenue and made it harder for me to keep up my with all my expenses–personal and business.
I've been playing it real risky financially lately. I did get a decent day job as software consultant with a local software company back in May. But I quit after a couple months when I realized things were not quite kosher with what I was selling. I could've stayed on, did the job, and collected more paychecks. But I was more emboldened to quit after realizing just how much time I was able to devote to an employer.
Now it seems I'm at a mental impasse.
I'm broker than broke and teetering on financial ruin. The one silver lining is that the revenue from my client basically pays my rent.
But I need to make a decision. I need money yesterday to cover my living expenses. But my business is not making enough to do this. I have a massage therapy business that I am confident I can feasibly grow to get me stable financially. But it comes at the cost of my focus on my main business–my lead generation agency.
The time I believe it'll take for me to get even one new client in my lead generation business will be too much.
You might be thinking this a no-brainer decision: do massages, get stable, jump back into the lead generation thing when that's sorted.
And you might be right.
To avoid rambling on, I'll end this post here. I'm obviously very close to the problem. So I'd love to hear what other forum members have to say. I left out a lot of nuanced details to keep this from being a novel, so feel free to ask any questions.
What say you?
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Access Restricted: Unlock 1,000,000+ Posts
Stop Peeking Through the Keyhole.
Open the Door.
You hit a wall because the best advice isn't free—it's earned. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has been active here daily (99.9% active rate), building a war room for entrepreneurs who refuse to settle for mediocrity.
- Active Daily: Life-changing content posted dozens of times every day. No dead threads.
- MJ's Inner Circle: Direct access to the author of The Millionaire Fastlane.
- Vetted Network: Connect with founders scaling to 7 and 8 figures.
- Proven Roadmaps: Strategy over motivation. Execution over "hustle porn."
"SCALED TO 6-FIGURE MONTHS"
"Tips and advice here saved me from huge mistakes, others allowed me to scale my business to 6-figure months."— User MitchC
"INSANE QUALITY OF PEOPLE"
"The number of high quality people I've met from this forum has been insane. All of it predicated on building real value."— User Richard Peck
"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with."
Are you surrounding yourself with success?
nez ci e gix tviqt ejief ug zua, cav O’wi puv nefi ov ziv, epf vjisi esi nusi vjep ipuahj vjopht O xetp’v ecmi vu tumwi ziv - vjisi esi nepz nincist op vjot gusan, xju dep howi zua nusi wemaecmi opqav gsun vjios iyqisoipdi vjep ni. O juqi vjot ot tunixez jimqgam epzxezt 
