From 0 to Freedom in 3 Months

[Chapas]

Day 67 - Austin Powers

It is much more fun to update when you actually hustle through and have things going on. Since I am moving back to Denmark next week I have a lot of practical stuff to do. So unfortunately I only got to send 40 emails today. Will try to compose the last 60 and put them on send later. So far from the 40 I had 1 response. From a gym owner who has been burned by 3 other FB agencies, but maybe I can get her on board somehow. If I am creative enough!

Had my first US call from the cold email campaigns today! A really cool crossfit-gym owner from Austin, Texas. My English has become a bit rusty and my sales skills as well, however, I have always been good at small talking and coming across like an easy going person. I think that is helping me out a lot in my conversations. I need to learn to sound more confident though. We talked for 30 minutes, and he was not ready yet to put up the money. He said he had tried different advertising without any luck and that it would be difficult for him to pay so much up front without knowing if he will get results or not.

Needless to say, I am really eager to get into the US market and I am confident in my skills. Furthermore, I really liked this dude and his gym really seems like a nice place to be, so I offered him to run his campaigns for free for 1 week, to actually show him that it works. So there is my first US trial clients. He mentioned he wanted to establish a long-term business relationship if he could actually see that it was working. That clients were coming through the door.

Some might say that I should know my value and not work for free. I say to hell with it. What do I have to lose. If I can get this guy results, he sounds like the type of client I want to work with.

This first call actually went much better than expected. In a language that I have not spoken for a while and after 4 beers and 2 glasses of wine at a farewell dinner.

Austin, Texas = good people. Now on to the next one!

 

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[Chapas]

DAY 0 - Back To Scratch

I have to announce some sad news. I am now left with 0 clients. Long story short. I lost my main client a little more than a month ago, as he decided to hire an in-house marketing girl/assistant. Not much I could do about that. Yesterday, I went totally back to 0, as I lost my first ever client. Her campaigns were doing really well, unfortunately though, she is just inches from closing down her business with a huge debt, so she has to cut almost all expenses. Her business model does not seem viable enough to generate a good revenue, and even if my campaigns were even better, it is hard for me to imagine that it would save her business.

So here I am. Starting from zero again!

It has been some very tough months. Physically, mentally and financially. I have moved to a new country (while working a slowlane job in my former country). This means that I have around 3 ½ - 4 hours commute each single day. Two different busses and two different trains across country borders. This is necessary though, as without this option I could not be able to live with my wife. What you do for love, huh!

Always look at the bright side of life.

My slowlane job is actually not that bad at all. They pay me well. They feed me even better. Colleagues and bosses are nice and casual. Atmosphere is good and the job not exhausting at all. It has nothing to do with my passion or profession, but I do work with sales and service with SME´s.

I actually do have a lot of spare time in between the calls. I cannot really justify to sit on the computer and do business stuff for myself, but I can do whatever I want on my own phone (without talking of course haha). So basically right now I am just reading and getting smarter, but I want to spend that time more productive.

I need those systems.

I need to create systems. So I spend my time wisely outside of work. Basically I can spend 2 hours in the train everyday, 3 hours at home on weekdays and a combined 12 hours on Sunday to do some work (want to keep Saturday free for my wife and I). That actually ads up to 37 hours a week, which is a normal work week. Of course I have a lot of random practical stuff I also have to do (SO MUCH actually), but I believe it should be feasible for me to work between 25-35 hours a week on my sidehustle. At least for 6 months without burning out.

Any feedback on how to systimatize my schedule? I can basically spend most of the day communicating with clients through text and emails on my own phone. So that is not included into the 25-35 hours.

Should I change something with my business?

Honestly, I believe that I have had great results with FB ads so far - so this is what I still want to have as my main product and skill. I want to add a service or two though. Was thinking about Web Design, as I already know the basics of it, and it could maybe be easier to upsell FB ads to a Web Design client. Any thoughts about that business model?

Right now I know that what I do works very well with my niche - the fitness industry. Issue is that there is not a lot of money in this niche! So I still want to focus on my niche, but I still want to broaden it a bit. Still considering how I can broaden it, without going to broad.

Plans for this upcoming week:

- Finish my Danish website and update my English one.
- Finish my lumpy mail campaign
- Set up systems and follow them strictly
- Re-think or stick to my business model

Honestly, just missed you guys!

That´s actually true. The first 2-3 months when I had this thread and wrote every day in here, is probably the happiest I felt this year. My motivation was sky rocketing and you guys inspired me every day. I still keep reading in here almost every day - but now it is finally time to contribute again!

Any feedback and advice is welcomed, and I will try to start progressing again and update this thread as much as possible, when I have anything interesting to tell.

Have an amazing day and great to see you again my friends!

 

[Chapas]

Week 1:
19 - 25th October

- Refresh my Elementor + Wordpress knowledge skills (haven't worked with it for a year)
- Market Research
- Create two example sites that can be edited when pitching new prospects
- Start crafting together a small company site for myself

 

[Raja]

Hi @Chapas
I have read this entire thread and have a few questions for you
1. I can infer your life got better as you got a decent paying job is it so?
2. what would happen if you had implemented on this advice by @PizzaOnTheRoof

They’re not buying the results, they’re buying the process. The results keep them coming back...

...because we can’t guarantee them good results.

You should run from any marketer that guarantees you a certain result.

I have a few issues with performance-based pricing:

1. The PPC manager assumes 100% if the risk. No results? Oh well, the client carries on and the manager can never get that time back. At least with a flat-rate, they can still break even for their time.
2. What’s stopping the client from walking away after they see success?
3. What if the client simply lies about the number of sales generated?
4. If sales dollars are the KPI here, then you better hope your client can close those leads. This is out of your control yet could cost you your income.

*If you're advertising for an e-commerce store, you can disregard #3 and #4.
​

Performance or commission based pricing assumes the marketer 100% of the risk yet relies on having a competent businesses owner/sales team to make something of if work.

Marketers are an integral part of any business. We're not salesmen.

3. what one thing you will do differently this time?

I believe you should think for yourself first, then you can think of the client.

 

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[Chapas]

Watching the thread!

Congratulations on breaking your comfort and taking on the new journey.

I doubt you won’t get there if you take action consistently!

Thank you buddy! Really appreciate the encouraging words. It really helps me that you and other people as well are following my journey. It's an extra boost of motivation for me!

 

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[Chapas]

Day 11 - Merry Christmas!

Not much is going on due to the holidays, and with Christmas in Europe coming up tomorrow this is a quiet period. However, I am doing something I have never done before: being proactive. I am slowly planning out my steps and processes for the next weeks/months, so that I do not have to spend time on them later on.

Some updates:

- Sent a long email to my first trial client with suggestions and thoughts about the campaigns I can run for her. She totally loved my ideas and even asked if she should make videos we could use for the campaign. She is what I would call a dream client, and cannot wait to help her add more customers to her business.

- Got a new possible lead in my network for a group of personal trainers located in the capital city. Will reach out to them on Tuesday/Wednesday. Do not want to disturb them while they spend time with their families.

- I wanted to try my cold email tactics on the american market for personal trainers. So I found 20 leads. I planned to send out 20 emails yesterday, but only managed to send out 4 before we got invited to a concert. I will wait untill the 27th/28th before I send out to the remaining 16. What stroke me when finding those leads were: HOW UGLY ARE THOSE WEBSITES! So if you are someone who has his own webdesign agency, maybe try to approach some Personal Trainers or Fitness companies. I was completely in shock over the state of their websites, especially compared with their danish counterparts.

- My next step after I get a few trial clients is to promote myself through Facebook Ads. Today I created my script for my video, and will begin to record the video when I manage to get myself a haircut haha. You have to believe me, I HATE being on video, so this is so much out of my comfort zone. But I love it!

- Sent follow-up emails to all of my dentists that did not reply yet. My 3 leads have not replied back on the information I have sent them, so I will send them a follow-up email between Christmas and NYE.

Plans for the next days:

- Gather 20 more danish leads and 20 more american leads within the PT niche.

- Sign up for Click Funnels and create a killer campaign for my first trial client.

- Agree terms and goals with my potential 2nd trial client. She has a seminar event the 17th of January already, so we have to get going soon if she wants to get fully booked. This is a tough one, and I am not sure if I can get her fully booked, but I will do my best. She is anyways better of with me helping her, than doing it by herself.

- Write a couple of video scripts that I want to use for adding more value to my clients.

From targetting dentists and chiropractors my focus has now shifted a bit towards personal trainers. The response I have gotten from them has been impressive. I will still go for dentists and chiropractors aswell, but I believe that the signs are showing me that personal trainers should be my main niche.

Goals:

- Having 10 trial clients during January.
- Closing at least 50 % of them = 5 paid clients before 1st of February.

This is very optimistic, but I believe if I keep going with this pace then it is an attainable goal. I will not get rich with 5 clients, but it will lead me almost halfways to my goal of: From 0 to Freedom in 3 Months. And most importantly it will give me breathing space to scale this thing even more. I have some very interesting things planned out and I believe that when I first get those first couple of paying clients the whole thing will snowball! So excited for the future and thank you guys for listening to me. It helps so much having this forum as accountability partners haha.

 

[emphasize.v1]

Jesus, props for taking action and even moving to another country. Interesting choice of country.

Just wanted to let you know your story is inspiring, you're doing a great thing. Keep it up!

 

[emphasize.v1]

Thanks for the nice words buddy! It really means a lot. I think my issue has always been that I have been in the "safe zone" - so by moving to another country and almost going "all-in" means that I really have to deliver and take action 24/7. Had I stayed in my own country I am certain that my progress would have stagnated and I would have ended up taking an ordinary slowlane job.

I get you, sometimes I feel like I should do the same thing. If you're ever in Serbia feel free to contact me, we have common interests.

 

[maikooo]

Thanks for inspiring us with your progress thread!

Lived in DK for some time so can relate to the uber-slowlaner culture with uber-crazy taxes. I can totally imagine your relatives and friends being in awe when you told them you are moving to MN to follow your entrepreneurial dream. Many successful Danish entrepreneurs I know actually don't live in DK. Crazy!

Where are you studying the FB ads? I agree with you that the "true learning' happens when you actually do the campaigns. It takes some time until the FB algorithm 'learns' about the audiences' performance.

Re. Cold-emailing follow-ups - 7 days, email on Tue/We worked for me the best. The Christmas period is pretty slow, I think your results pick up in the 2nd week of the New Year.

Have you thought about doing 'performance based' compensation? Instead of running their ads for free, you could agree on getting paid if you reach a goal.

cheers!

 

[Chapas]

Thanks for inspiring us with your progress thread!

Lived in DK for some time so can relate to the uber-slowlaner culture with uber-crazy taxes. I can totally imagine your relatives and friends being in awe when you told them you are moving to MN to follow your entrepreneurial dream. Many successful Danish entrepreneurs I know actually don't live in DK. Crazy!

Where are you studying the FB ads? I agree with you that the "true learning' happens when you actually do the campaigns. It takes some time until the FB algorithm 'learns' about the audiences' performance.

Re. Cold-emailing follow-ups - 7 days, email on Tue/We worked for me the best. The Christmas period is pretty slow, I think your results pick up in the 2nd week of the New Year.

Have you thought about doing 'performance based' compensation? Instead of running their ads for free, you could agree on getting paid if you reach a goal.

cheers!

Thanks buddy! Actually we have a very entrepreneurial culture in Denmark, however, many people are focusing on creating the NEXT BIG THING instead of just providing value to people. Cool you lived in Denmark aswell! What brought you there and where did you live? The uber-crazy taxes are insane haha! Really cannot recall any country in the world having higher taxes. Correct me if I am wrong!

I have been studying all over the internet. Not any specific ones. I have mostly been studying funnels and how to acquire new customers though. I am still to run my first FB campaign, so who knows, I might mess it all up. But I think I have the basic covered, and with good sales copy and good funnels, I think this might work. If you have any advice for targetting the right people I would love to hear it.

Thank you for the advice on the emails. Tuesday and Wednesday seems to be days to write/follow-up. Will try to stick to that. And yes Christmas is soooo slow. However, I still managed to get a reply from one lead today who wants to have a meeting on the 2nd of January. Hopefully things will explode in the 2nd week of January!

I do not want to run performance based ads yet. Mostly due to the fact that I absolutely have no idea of how to set a "commission" and also due to the fact that it is very hard for me to measure my success. How would you set up a "performance based" compensation? Charge something per lead? Right now my business model would be to run their ads for 2 weeks time and then ask for the sale. This I will do untill I land 5-10 clients and then I think I would do less and less of the free stuff. I believe that with good results I can convert a lot of the trial clients into paying customers.

Thank you for the valuable post! I learn something new every day!

 

[maikooo]

UR Welcome! Same here, learning sth new every day!!

I have been studying all over the internet. Not any specific ones. I have mostly been studying funnels and how to acquire new customers though. I am still to run my first FB campaign, so who knows, I might mess it all up. But I think I have the basic covered, and with good sales copy and good funnels, I think this might work. If you have any advice for targetting the right people I would love to hear it.

Right, funnels make sense! Yeah, that's the way to go. Make sure you also study the correct implementation of FB Pixel, because that one is a culprit. Targetting the right people comes with the experience. You need to know who is your client's ideal customer, what lifestyle they have, etc. and use that for targetting and go from there. It's only so far you can get in "lab settings"

I do not want to run performance based ads yet. Mostly due to the fact that I absolutely have no idea of how to set a "commission" and also due to the fact that it is very hard for me to measure my success. How would you set up a "performance based" compensation? Charge something per lead? Right now my business model would be to run their ads for 2 weeks time and then ask for the sale. This I will do untill I land 5-10 clients and then I think I would do less and less of the free stuff. I believe that with good results I can convert a lot of the trial clients into paying customers.

OK, true. I guess you need to really gain the experience to do this first. Yeah, per lead / per action would be possible because you can track it with FB pixel. It's just all about making them have skin in the game from the beginning. Going from cheap to more expensive is hard, but going from Free to paid is hard as hell ... just don't get them too accustomed to getting stuff for free. Make them pay for at least the minimum value you provide ... or write them off as "testimonial case" and use these free cases as a jumping board to gain real clients who will pay from the beginning ...

 

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[Chapas]

UR Welcome! Same here, learning sth new every day!!


Right, funnels make sense! Yeah, that's the way to go. Make sure you also study the correct implementation of FB Pixel, because that one is a culprit. Targetting the right people comes with the experience. You need to know who is your client's ideal customer, what lifestyle they have, etc. and use that for targetting and go from there. It's only so far you can get in "lab settings"


OK, true. I guess you need to really gain the experience to do this first. Yeah, per lead / per action would be possible because you can track it with FB pixel. It's just all about making them have skin in the game from the beginning. Going from cheap to more expensive is hard, but going from Free to paid is hard as hell ... just don't get them too accustomed to getting stuff for free. Make them pay for at least the minimum value you provide ... or write them off as "testimonial case" and use these free cases as a jumping board to gain real clients who will pay from the beginning ...

Yes, I have been watching videos about the FB pixel. Have not tried to implement it yet, but will try it soon with my first trial client. 2 months ago I had never even heard of the FB pixel. I have done a lot of projects about segmentation, positioning and targetting through the last 5 years, so I hope I can use some of that experience to target the ideal customers of my clients.

I totally agree with you! It will be difficult to go from free to paid. However, I have made it clear that I am only doing it for a short period of time 2-4 weeks for free. After that we can take a look at further collaboriation or I will just use them as a testimonial case. After I have some testimonial cases I will stop offering stuff for free and try to get paid from the beginning.

Thanks for the advice buddy! Really appreciate it. The next 2 months will be very interesting!

 

[maikooo]

Day 17 - Sometimes You Need Peace of Mind

Sometimes you need to get away from the screen and find some peace of mind. Did not get much done the last days, due to we travelled to another city to see what else Montenegro has to offer. Was a very nice little trip and now I am back even more motivated than before!

Some updates:

- We are basically good to go with my first trial client. Just need to correct some text for her FB Ad and figure out the retargeting. The funnel is ready, and tomorrow we will discuss the targetting, even though I already have an idea about it. Oh yes, she mentioned some very interesting plans regarding franchising and other locations that she is looking into, so this client could potentially be worth a lot for if I do a great job for her.

- Have a call tomorrow with another PT who is interested. Created an example campaign for her, so will be interesting to hear her feedback. She was the one who has been in magazines and TV, so think she has a great network and can refer some new clients to me aswell if all goes well.

- While the time between Christmas and NYE is quiet, I got a reply from one of my other PT leads. She is very interested, and I promised to send her some more stuff during this weekend, and then we will talk the 2nd of January.

- My other trial client who is an old friend of mine (coach/psychotherapist) is pretty quiet during these days, however, I believe we will get started on her campaigns in the beginning of January aswell. She has an event coming up the 17th of January though, so we are in a kind of a rush. However, I do not really feel confident about this event - but we will try it out!

- My dentist lead actually replied me and gave me a lot of insight into the Danish dentist industry. Apparently it is regulated, so you cannot just offer something of very cheap value. There is regulated prices for what their services should cost. I was quite surprised about that. I need to revise my tactics and figure out how we can get her new clients without "breaking" the law.

So so far after 17 days:
- 2 trial clients (PT and Coach)
- 2 very warm leads (PT and PT)
- 2 semi warm lead (Dentist and PT)
- 3 quiet leads that needs to be warmed up again (2 x Dentist and 1 x Chiro)
- 1 more trial client from the beginning of February (PT)
- 1 very warm lead from the beginning of February (PT)
- 1 possible "partner" (company that creates websites and strategy for PTs)

That is actually WAY WAY better than I expected. Especially given the time of the year I started my progress with people always being busy with Christmas and NYE. I will follow up on my other cold email prospects right after NYE and see what happens. I think the respons will be much better.

Plans for the rest of 2018 (sounds cheesy with only 2 days left lol)

- Completely finish campaign/ad/targetting for 1st trial client so we are ready to launch around 3/4 of January.
- Nail it on the phone with my warm lead tomorrow and get her on board as my 3rd trial client
- Figure out a strategy and reply to my dentist lead.
- Make some campaign examples for my other warm lead so I can close her the 2nd of January
- Create a detailed plan and structure for the first months of 2019. Those 2 months are going to be hectic. I will take so much action as never before and cannot wait to see where I am the 1st of March.

Happy New Year guys! May we all crush our goals in 2019!

Oh, and btw. Budva was awesome. If you ever come by Montenegro I would recommend a visit there. Here is a couple of pictures from our little 3 day trip.

View attachment 23038 View attachment 23039 View attachment 23040

Congrats on the progress!!

You have a good network which has a great potential to grow exponentially. Serve them well and they will do the same for you

 

[Chapas]

Congrats on the progress!!

You have a good network which has a great potential to grow exponentially. Serve them well and they will do the same for you

Thanks buddy! Lets make 2019 one hell of a year!

 

[Young Money]

Loving these updates! Keep hustling and you will succeed!

 

[23Infinity]

Inspiring thread man, I'm just starting on the same path, sending you a PM, would be good to connect.

 

[Chapas]

Thanks buddy! Glad you like my progress thread!

I think you might have misunderstood what I meant. I am getting 125 cold leads for myself. 125 leads on Personal Trainers that I can offer my Facebook Ads service to. Not 125 leads for my clients.

But I totally agree with you. If I was buying leads from Fiverr and selling them to my clients for 10-20 times the price, then they could just go and do it themselves. But this is solely leads for myself. As cold leads as you can get

 

[Vinchedda]

Thanks buddy! Glad you like my progress thread!

I think you might have misunderstood what I meant. I am getting 125 cold leads for myself. 125 leads on Personal Trainers that I can offer my Facebook Ads service to. Not 125 leads for my clients.

But I totally agree with you. If I was buying leads from Fiverr and selling them to my clients for 10-20 times the price, then they could just go and do it themselves. But this is solely leads for myself. As cold leads as you can get

I knew what you meant! Lol I should've clarified the question a little better. I was more so trying to figure out why a business wouldn't go on fiverr to get a lot of leads for a small amount of money. They can, but the quality of leads and probability of actually closing those leads won't be as good as the leads that you're providing. I like that. Just prepping myself for when a client asks me in the future!

Keep going!!

 

[Chapas]

Day 27 - Just One Of These Stupid Days

Sometimes not everything goes as planned. Especially in business. Everything on my agenda today - absolutely didnt go as planned.

1: Was supposed to have a call with a PT lead. Unfortunately she was busy with clients. So we rescheduled for tomorrow.

2: Was supposed to have another call with another PT lead. We did not really agree on time, but she did not reply to my email after I asked her what time would suit her (even though she asked me if we should talk today). Did not want to be pushy, and I guess she was just busy. Will try to write her tomorrow and get her on a call Friday.

3: Was supposed to launch my coach clients campaign today. She is just so slow, and I still have not received her account ID number, even though I am ready with her campaign. Do not want to chase her down anymore as I have more important prospects. Hopefully she will find her ID number and send it tomorrow, so we can launch her campaigns.

4: Had 99 % ready of my Fitness clients campaign, but I messed up some technicalities here late in the evening that I need her help for. Unfortunately, she went to bed already so her campaign will only be launched tomorrow.

5: Still did not have time to review my US leads or send out the cold emails which I was supposed to start today. I will wait a couple of days with that.

Even though today did not go as planned, tomorrow there is a new day. And it will be really hectic I believe!

The agenda for tomorrow:

1. Launch campaign for Fitness Client
2. MAYBE launch campaign for Coach client
3. Scheduled call with warm PT lead
4. Scheduled call with Chiro lead
5. Reschedule call with another warm PT lead
6. Schedule call with one more warm PT lead for hopefully Friday
7. Prepare campaign for PT client to launch on Friday
8. Prepare ideas for another Chiro lead that she will pitch to her partners on Friday

Busy, busy day. But I like it. I think there is a good chance that I will gain at least 2 new trial clients by the end of the week. Most of all I am just so eager to run those campaigns to see if I can really help people get more clients! Which I believe I can!

Cheers for our future success fellow fastlaners!

 

[maikooo]

- Another dentist was interested. But AGAIN, she told me that it is against the law to run discounted offers. What is up with this country.... If you guys have any ideas of campaigns/funnels to run for dentists without giving a discount to the customers, please let me know!

Idea - instead of discount, offer free add-on/up-sell, e.g. filling with dental hygene or something ... discounts have a bad rep anyway ...

 

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[maikooo]

Keep plowing forward man! Inspiring to see your updates, cheers

 

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[Sander]

Great process so far. Nice to see another Dane here. Wish you all the best with this journey!

 

[Chapas]

Keep plowing forward man! Inspiring to see your updates, cheers

Thanks buddy! Will try my best to update as much as possible.

 

[maikooo]

Can you please elaborate this one? Not sure I quite understood it

Sure, so instead of let's say selling filling procedure with 20-30% discount, let them make a special offer where the filling stays the same price, but you package it with dental hygiene (sanding the teeth, etc.) or whatever package makes sense. That might go OK with the law.

 

[maikooo]

Day 31 - Almost One Month In This Game

Cannot believe it has been 1 month since I started this progress threads. I have learned SOOOO much in a month. Even though I have not made a single penny yet, I could not have imagined such a progress to be honest. This is the most consistent and hard-working I have ever been. It is like an addiction now, and I am so much in this game that there is no way back for me. Will write a more detailed post about the first month tomorrow, and what I expect from the second month.

Updates:

• So things are looking really good for my first ever Facebook Ads campaign for my fitness client. So far our numbers are:
  
  Campaign running: Approx 72 hours
  Budget spent: Approx 24 USD
  Reach: 1725 people
  Landing Page Views: 120
  Sign Ups: 14
  
  I have split-tested for 3 days now. Tomorrow I will analyze the data, and try to make the campaign even more effective! I am still making some mistakes as this is my first campaign, but I am really proud of the results so far.
  
  
• Launched my second campaign for another fitness client to gather 6 people for her 10-weeks bootcamp. This one is a more difficult one, as I offered her to do a lead magnet in form of a free session, but due to the fact that she needs to travel she could not do that. So we decided to go for a 10 % discount instead. Issue is that the offer is simply not good enough, and the budget is too low to see results this quickly. I am trying to convince her to use that lead magnet, however, she has not replied me since yesterday. Really not my fault if this campaign will not succed.
  
  
• Launched a third campaign for a Coach client today. She has been really slow because she has been busy, and I had to help her with so many technicalities. Issue is that her Workshop event is on Thursday already, and there is little to no time for us to promote it. Again, if this campaign do not work out, then it has been out of my hands.
  
  
• Working out a campaign for a Personal Trainer. Will launch within the next couple of days. This lady is the sweetest ever and very collaborative. Seems like the perfect client! I believe that this is one I can have succes with.
  
  
• Landed a 5th trial client today. She has a lot of experience being a Personal Trainer for 10 years with more than 5000 clients. Now she is creating her online products as she is moving to another country. When she has her online products ready in 3-4 weeks hopefully, I will give it a go!
  
  
• Chiro client is still interested, and I sent him another email explaining some of my ideas. Think I will get him on board later this week as a trial client. Will be good to have a Chiro in my portfolio!

I am starting to value myself more and more. Now I can see that I actually am capable of delivering some results for my clients. I will learn to be more confident and convince them to take action and listen to my ideas. I will also be more picky in the future. Like the coach client. She is the least important in my portfolio, but she has taken up so much of my time. And now we barely have time to create some results for her.

I am also learning more and more about Facebook Ads everyday. You can read and watch so many videos, but it first when you actually start to work with it you really learn. And big thanks to @Lucas Lee-Tyson ! Your advice has been golden, and will help me avoid many mistakes in my future campaigns :-D

I am also starting to systemize things. It takes much less time for me to create a campaign now. I duplicate a lot of what I have had success with. I will try to systemize things more and more.

What Are The Plans For Tomorrow?

- While I am writing this my fitness bootcamp client actually replied me, and I will somehow change her campaign to include the lead magnet aswell. This will give us a much greater chance of succeeding. That I will do tomorrow!

- Will finish up the campaign for my new PT trial client and hopefully launch tomorrow or Wednesday.

- Tomorrow I will FINALLY start my US Cold Email campaign. No excuses! Will send 20 emails out tomorrow. This time not looking for trial clients, but for PAID ones.

- Tomorrow I will follow-up on all of my interested potential prospects, that somehow have been to busy to reply me. Hopefully I can get a couple of them on board.

Thank you guys for tuning in. Lets continue our hustle!

Awesome results! And great insights! Thanks for sharing

 

[maikooo]

They’re not buying the results, they’re buying the process. The results keep them coming back...

...because we can’t guarantee them good results.

You should run from any marketer that guarantees you a certain result.

I have a few issues with performance-based pricing:

1. The PPC manager assumes 100% if the risk. No results? Oh well, the client carries on and the manager can never get that time back. At least with a flat-rate, they can still break even for their time.
2. What’s stopping the client from walking away after they see success?
3. What if the client simply lies about the number of sales generated?
4. If sales dollars are the KPI here, then you better hope your client can close those leads. This is out of your control yet could cost you your income.

*If you're advertising for an e-commerce store, you can disregard #3 and #4.
​

Performance or commission based pricing assumes the marketer 100% of the risk yet relies on having a competent businesses owner/sales team to make something of if work.

Thanks for the clarification. Very good points ...

Now I see I should have been more clear about what I mean with the "results". Of course, you can't base your performance based pay on sales your client should do ... or anything that is out of your control for that matter.

What I meant was the "leads" as results. Your client should have some kind of idea how much they are able to close if you bring them e.g. 100 leads (assuming they are high quality leads). E.g. If I as a client am able to close 2 out of 100 and the average revenue from that closed customer is 2x $2000, whatever your negotiation power, you can get paid well. That of course works with the fact that your client is good at closing. That depends on the maturity of the client and the industry. I have seen a lot of success cases where people charge only per lead (CPA so to say) and they are doing immensely well. Yet again, depends on the client and industry.

Marketers are an integral part of any business. We're not salesmen.

Don't agree with the 2nd part of this. If we are in business, we must be salespeople. How else do we sell our services then?

 

[Chapas]

Awesome results! And great insights! Thanks for sharing

Thanks for the support buddy!

Thanks for the clarification. Very good points ...

Now I see I should have been more clear about what I mean with the "results". Of course, you can't base your performance based pay on sales your client should do ... or anything that is out of your control for that matter.

What I meant was the "leads" as results. Your client should have some kind of idea how much they are able to close if you bring them e.g. 100 leads (assuming they are high quality leads). E.g. If I as a client am able to close 2 out of 100 and the average revenue from that closed customer is 2x $2000, whatever your negotiation power, you can get paid well. That of course works with the fact that your client is good at closing. That depends on the maturity of the client and the industry. I have seen a lot of success cases where people charge only per lead (CPA so to say) and they are doing immensely well. Yet again, depends on the client and industry.

I actually think the bigger you grow and the more you excel at your skills, then the more commission based pay actually makes sense. Right now I do not want to experiment with it because I do not have the cashflow to do it. The variance can be to big. Would be scared to not know if I will make 500 USD or 5000 USD next month.

I remember when I worked in telemarketing (sales). Our company had 3 payment structures:

1. You could work on a base salary
2. You could work on 50 % base salary and 50 % commission.
3. You could work solely on commission

It was funny to see how those working only on the base salary sold MUCH LESS than those working on solely on commission. Those working solely on commission were by far more motivated and were by far better salesmen than the ones working without commission.

I never understood the fact that they gave the option for people to work without commission. How are you supposed to motivate yourself as a sales person if you do not get commission of what you sell.

Long story short. What I ment to say that I also believe that commission based pay can be really effective. You just have to be at a point in your life where you are willing to take higher risks and be 120 % confident that you can hit certain numbers month after month

 

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[Kid]

"When can we have a meeting?"

Congrats!

 

[MashaN]

Day 35 - God Bless America

It seems like every day keeps getting more and more exciting. Completely have forgotten how amazing you Americans actually are. Spent my sophomore year in High School in Michigan, and havent been back since. Think I need to start making plans to make a little trip over the Atlantic! Some small interesting updates:

- My first trial clients campaign is still going well. We had 20 sign-ups for 50 dollars ad spend. Which is really great! However, 19 of these were women, so I have changed up the ad set to focus solely on women. Looking forward to finding out how it will perform in the next 3-4 days.

- Closed down the campaign for my coach client. 0 signups. That campained were doomed to fail from the beginning. So actually happy it is over.

- Still trying to work magic with the campaign of my 3rd trial client - for her 6 person bootcamp. Still no signups, but I can see the campaign is performing better now than with the initial 5 % discount offer (what a horrible offer btw).

- Finished up the campaign for my 4th trial client. Launching it tomorrow!

- Was supposed to have a call with another PT prospect today. We had to re-schedule for Sunday though. Will 100 % close her there.

And now for the more interesting news:

- Had a talk with a potential PT client yesterday. She was interested, and actually ALREADY wanted to refer me to someone after just a 15 minutes talk. Apparently her best friend owns a big gym, and needs help with Facebook Ads. She gave him my number and he should could me next week. Tomorrow I will create some small ideas for his campaign though, so he already gets a feeling of what I can bring to the table even before we talk on the phone. This could be a HUGE client for me!

- Had my first US call today! It was soooo great to hear the American accent again! Sincerely missed it. This lady has her own gym in New Jersey. I loved her! She is the type that says things straight from her heart and is transparent as water. We spoke for 55 minutes. We even spoke about marijuana, alcohol and animal rescue. Did not even feel like a client, but like a friend I havent spoken to for a long long time haha. Basically she loved my personality and the approach I had towards her business, and even said "she would love to work with me". We agreed to do a screenshare on Tuesday where she will show me how she runs her campaigns now, and then I will get the chance of running her campaigns for 2-3 days - if successful, she will hire me.

GOD BLESS AMERICA! You guys are amazing!

Great job Chapas!
Your journey is so inspirational.

 

[Chapas]

Amazing to see this journey unfold my friend. I still remember our talk before you started and I think we are both surprised at how fast things have been developing. Guess that is the beautiful benefit of taking consistent action toward your goal.

I need to step up my own game now and create a thread. Then we can both drink a bottle of wine at the end of the year and skim through our threads. Let's do this!

Thank you my friend. I owe a big part of this to you. For countless years you have encouraged me to take action and I have always been too lazy, too comfortable and too inconsistent.

You were actually the one who showed me TMF and this forum many many years ago. So happy that this time it was me that finally got you back on this forum

Looking forward to your progress thread. I think you have a real life changing year in front of you, and I will be happy to help wherever I can! Cannot wait to open up that bottle of wine in the end of the year and see how far we have come!

 

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