Getting My First Ever YES (Video Marketing Agency)

[mikecarlooch]

Hey Looch, you gotten your second and third Yesses yet?

I was thinking with your background, it'd be pretty easy for you to target gyms for content creation on TikTok. Help trainers get clients. Maybe branch in the massage therapists and chiropractors.

I'm actually at my 5th currently !

Probably a good idea yea.. haven't tried those niches because i'm not sure how many of them can afford it. Maybe a limiting belief but I'll get back to you after prospecting them!

 

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[mikecarlooch]

What I Learned From Talking To @Andy Black For 1 Hour
​

Last night Andy Black and I had a chat on Zoom.

I've got to say, Andy opened up my eyes to new ways of doing things in this business I'm currently, and the amount of time this advice has already saved me is ridiculous.

I almost don't want to share this because it's such a different way of thinking for the business I'm in.

First of all, Andy gave me a new way to think about the videos that I create, and this new strategy has cut my time making a single video for a client from 3 hours each to 40 minutes this morning.. SHOCKING.

What was the simple thing?

Just like how @Fox says all the time for Web Design, it's not about all of the fancy pictures and fancy details, it's about results.

In my case for creating videos, all the fancy transitions and fancy motion graphics and pictures don't matter.

What matters is getting the message across to the correct people so they can get value out of it.

If things are moving and happening way too fast, the viewer will get distracted from the point of the video. Even if one of the fancy videos were to get a ton of views, it would distract the viewer from what matters.

Andy also gave me clarity on my exact customer avatar and steered me away from a couple of things that would have completely distracted me.

There is a couple things in particular that Andy said that I'm actually going to keep to myself until I execute them.. (just know they're brilliant lol)

I will reveal it the next time I post to this thread.

So make sure you're watching this thread and come back next time to see the upcoming episode of:

Inside The Mind of Andy Black..

Thanks for reading,
Mike

​

 

[Andy Black]

There is a couple things in particular that Andy said that I'm actually going to keep to myself until I execute them.. (just know they're brilliant lol)

Dammit. Now you have me wondering what they were.

 

[JustMorpheus]

2019

Sitting in my dark room with things all over the place, I scrolled through YouTube. Video after video, trying to figure out exactly how to make a my "own business" by constantly watching videos about how Warren Buffett made 100 gazillion dollars and I would walk around talking about how I had "3 businesses I wanted to start." None of which ever happened.

All of the content I was consuming was from people who weren't giving actual advice on how to start a business, but just saying "work hard" and "do what you love" and it got so hard in my head trying to figure out what to do that I had panic attacks and constant anxiety thinking about how the hell to start a business!

I made my fair share of money in sports cards, ebay, amazon, and crypto currency, but every single time I'd see someone making a REAL business that was my age, I would envy them. Because for a long time my life was sitting in my room constantly refreshing ebay prices to see if the prices of my basketball cards were going up in price. I would scroll on social media ALL day and see these kids my age making all this money.
ff
"How... HOW ARE THEY DOING IT?" "WHAT IS THE SECRET? I'LL DO ANYTHING.. HOW DO I START??"

My heart would be racing, I wouldn't be able to socialize with people, I had so many limiting beliefs, because every second of the day was about trying to figure out how a business is ran by teaching myself by telling myself thoughts in my own mind, but doing this would just lead to more stress.

But still, there was only one influencer that I would listen to (garyvee) and everyone that was NOT garyvee I considered a scammer. I didn't read any books, didn't even take into account that there were people OUT THERE giving ACTUAL business advice (If I had found MJ 3 years ago, my life today at 19 would be significantly different)

For a while, I gave up. My literal reasoning for why was "maybe they have some kind of wiring in their brain that I don't". or "I guess I'm just not a natural entrepreneur like gary vee said and I didn't want to accept it this whole time"

I started trying meditation, trying to live a "media-less" life, getting into spirituality, as a way to get out of the constant anxiety I was in trying to figure out how to start my 3 businesses. I had quit trying to make content on the internet for a long time after spending literally whole days trying to think of videos to make for each platform.

Then, in January of 2022 (yes, I had a "new years resolution" to figure this out for real) I quit watching gary vee, I quit watching all the stuff that clearly wasn't moving me forward for the past two years except for some luck with basketball cards and crypto currency. I had tens of thousands of dollars as an 18/19 year old, but no idea what to do from that point on because all the money I had made came so easy in market booms.

For the first time, I ripped ADHD self apart and picked up a book for the first time. Next thing you know... I was READING FOR 5 HOURS. Holy crap. This was a book about nutrition, what if I read books about business? Could I find the answer?

While listening to a podcast, I did. someone mentioned Unscripted , and I read the entire book, and was completely fascinated by it, but still didn't understand HOW business worked. I didn't know that. But I was SO Excited.. I felt such a sigh of relief, feeling like I had cracked the code. For the first time I got myself to schedule a session for "deep work" after reading deep work by cal newport, and I made a promise to myself that every single morning, before the gym, before eating, I would go and get into a state of depth for work even if I had no idea what to do.

Overnight, my life went from an absolute mess, to having a planned out daily schedule for the first time in my life

Wake Up->Meditate->Cold Shower->Deep Work With No Phone->Make TikToks->Gym->Read->Deep Work->Brazilian Jiu Jitsu->Sleep->Repeat

My "deep work" was writing self improvement books and setting up a kajabi website to sell some kind of product (I didn't know what the hell I was doing, but I still got it set up.) After a week, I had my kajabi website set up and I was reading Russell Brunson's DotCom secrets. I didn't really take what Russell was saying to heart at the time, because I still viewed him as a "scammer". (Looking back now though, that book is one of the best books I've ever read.)

After staying consistent, I put together one of the worst products someone could ever create. (a book that had no plan behind it and took me 5 days to write) and put it out there and sold 10 copies because my audience was growing well because I understand TikTok very well and started growing my following for self improvement.)

Even though the product was awful, I had never felt more accomplished in my life. I felt like I was actually "DOING BUSINESS". Was 99% of what I was doing action fakes? Yes. But it didn't feel like it at all.

After realizing that it wasn't working, I tried something else. I was still so excited that someone would even BUY my book in the first place, so I decided to make MORE products. I tried to add coaching programs, tried to sell 1-1 consultations on fiverr, I planned to make a fitness course, I put all of these products out into the world and just went on social media and told people "Buy this", but no one did.

I was proud of myself for taking action, but very frustrated because I didn't know why the hell I wasn't rich yet?

I decided to forget about it, and for a few months I just decided to read more books because that's where I got my first bit of information from. I read TMF , The Great Rat Race Escape , Influence, ALL of these different books which finally started to give me the answers to HOW to do business.. I had one part of it down..

Value. Okay. I need to give Value.. But what else, How do I give Value?

I found another book that I had been putting off for a long time because I again perceived the author a scammer. His name is Alex Hormozi. One day, I got my head out of my a$$ and I read his book $100M offers, all of it in one day.

"Holy Shit" I thought to myself "This is it. This is all I need to do. This is the secret If I just could have known this whole time I would've understood business!"

Step 1. What product are you going to sell Step 2. Who are you going to sell it to Step 3. How are you going to get them to see it Step 4. Make an offer so good that they can't refuse it.

And then to top it off, I read a post by @Andy Black that was talking about how you don't NEED a website. You don't NEED any of this stuff you think you need. All you need is SALES. Earned traffic, paid traffic, manual outbound, reaching out to PEOPLE. Talking to PEOPLE and showing them MY OFFER. and if they TRUST ME, because they've SEEN ME BEFORE, and they also NEED my product, they will give me money!

"Duh Stupid! This is what you've been trying to find out for the past 2 years and you just found it out within a couple hours!" I thought to myself.

So that's what I did. But what am I good at? What value can I give people? I know how to make tiktoks... I know how to workout... But do people really need this?

In order to get myself to believe what all of these people were saying, I would need to see it work. I would need someone to say yes to my offer..

I decided to call a business owner that didn't KNOW me, but was aware of me to make him an offer on TikTok marketing.

This business owner was a motivated buyer for what I had. He said to me "I want my own personal brand on TikTok, how do I do it??" So we got on a sales call, and I was soso nervous. My first sales call... Ok what do I know.. I had studies Alex Hormozi's CLOSER framework like the back of my hand.. So I decided to go with that.

But the price... What was I going to charge?! This guys my first customer.. He doesn't even know it.. Do I charge $500?? No. $3000 for 2 months of marketing. Alex always says if there's one thing you should do, charge a lot of money. That was what I was going to say..

And so I did.

Guess what happened

"Okay I'll pay the 3 grand just send me a proposal"

"HOLY F**K. WHAT THE F**K?" I thought to myself.

And now here I am today, typing this. Looking for new prospects doing the same thing. Excited as hell for the future.

Am I rich yet? No. But I feel like I know how to be now, and the outcome of ALL of this was mental clarity, something I have been seeking for years.

I hope you guys enjoyed my story,

Thanks for reading!

BIG WIN! WOOOWOOOOO!!!

 

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[mikecarlooch]

This sh*t was painful.. (& my first cold call)

Update..
​

Welcome back to the show everyone! (Ok I'll stop) - Before I get into the painful stories I went through recently, I want to start off by addressing my last post with @Andy Black 's ideas!

After my call with Andy, I didn't just take the advice that was given.. I completely transformed the face of my business model and it's given me an immense amount of confidence and I'm starting to get interest in my business like never before! I won't go too much into my new business model because that's not what this post is about.

You guys may be wondering, what were the brilliant things that Andy told me on our call?

"Hire Copywriters!!"

Instead of just being a typical video marketing agency.. be one that markets as COPYWRITERS. I realized that copywriting is such a critical part of videos today simply because it's what creates the structure of the video. It can turn a boring video into an interesting one by just moving around words.. It could be the difference between no interest and virality!

"Run Ads To The Best Performing Posts!"

Andy's second idea was to see which videos get an insane amount of views.. and use THOSE VIDEOS as ads! If a video goes viral, it's for a reason. It's not a coincidence. People are doing something to make that happen whether it's watching the video over and over again, constantly commenting, sharing, etc.. So it only makes sense that if you make an ad out of a video that's already working organically to a specific target audience, it will work great!

Awesome stuff, huh?
Ok..
Now to get into my recent painful experiences.

I'm sitting at my computer sending cold email after cold email.. At first, i'm getting a ton of great responses and it's working WOOHOO!

I then concluded, you know what.. Cold e-mailing works! I'll just do that..

So I decided to sit down day after day for sometimes up to 4 hours a day just sending cold emails to people with a templated (but personalized) message.

After a little bit though.. I noticed something

I started getting NO responses, but still I treaded on cold e-mailing. Changing up templates, all that stuff.

NOTHING was working.

After spending about a while just cold e-mailing hundreds of people, I found something out today that was a blessing and a curse.

Almost all of the hundreds of cold e-mails I sent manually every single day was not received by the person I was sending to. Almost ALL of these e-mails ended up in spam.

I slammed my head on my desk and took it as a learning lesson.. but f**k man that was tough.

However, this was also one of the best experiences I could've had - because it taught me something.

The only reason I was cold e-mailing was because of that fear I had inside of me to go and pick up the phone. I knew picking up the phone and calling people was the way to make sh*t happen.. Not sitting behind my computer sending messages that will most likely not get any attention.

But I was terrified..

I get inbound calls all the time from my website, but calling someone? that was tough for me.

So instead, because I was so terrified of messing something up in my cold calls, I decided to test myself first by selling something that I am doing as a little side project as a co-owner with my friend.

We had a lead.. someone who was 100% interested in purchasing our product. All I had to do was pick up the phone and call him.

This product I was going to be selling is pretty clear of what it is.. but here's what happened when I got on the phone with this guy:

"Hey, I'm interested. What is it that you guys actually do?"

My mind went blank. All of a sudden I'm stumbling all over my words sounding absolutely clueless. All of the sales books I'd read up to this point meant absolutely nothing because I didn't remember a single thing I'd read in that moment.

"It's a... a group where you get uhh (blank), (blank) uhhhh.... and (blank)"

(awkward silence)

"Ok.. so what does that mean what does (blank) mean?"

At this point I'm struggling so hard to come up with words. Usually I'm such a charismatic and open person but this was like trying to lift a 1,000 pound weight.. it wasn't going anywhere.

"It means uhh ya know you get.. you get to (blank) and stuff"

My mind: and stuff? What the f**k do you mean "and stuff?"

This conversation went on for 13 minutes of me trying to explain what I was selling.

"Yeah... Ok I'll let you know in 2 days ok?"

"Ok yea man I probably didn't explain it correctly but yea it might be a fit or it might not let me know"

After I got off the phone, I noticed I was sweating and tensed up. I couldn't believe I had spent so much time learning to sell and all of the tactics I learned became useless when I actually jumped into the water and started doing it.

But this small experience taught me the following:

What you just did there my friend, is selling. That's REAL selling. That right there is a skill that needs to be developed. Selling on the phone is reps just like weight in the gym.. You need to do it over and over again and not get discouraged when you suck. And the people that get discouraged in the beginning are the ones who become unsuccessful. But the ones who go through the pain in the beginning and push to become great.. are the successful ones.

I'll finish off this post with a real question that I need help with:

I know what my product is and what it does.. but how the hell do I communicate it in a way where i'm not talking on the phone for 15 minutes.. how do i communicate my product in a simple way without all of the above happening?

There's a lot more I could add to this update.. but I'll save it for next time

Thanks for reading!

​

 

[Andy Black]

I know what my product is and what it does.. but how the hell do I communicate it in a way where i'm not talking on the phone for 15 minutes.. how do i communicate my product in a simple way without all of the above happening?

Keep talking to people, but trying to help instead of trying to sell?

Have you watched/listened to "Who have you helped?" in my signature?

 

[mikecarlooch]

Keep talking to people, but trying to help instead of trying to sell?

Have you watched/listened to "Who have you helped?" in my signature?

I have not surprisingly…

I’ll let you know my learnings!

 

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[mikecarlooch]

 

[mikecarlooch]

My Cold Call Journey Part 2
​

Before I started my journey with cold calling, I thought it was going to take me hours upon hours to build a list of people to call..

But then I remembered, there's people in different parts of the world who have been doing lead generation for YEARS.. why should I do it when I can just hire someone on upwork?

So I did. I posted a job on upwork detailing the exact criteria for businesses I wanted to contact and in what area. I asked for 100 leads and said I'd paid 25 cents per lead (got that price after watching a video relating to this topic)

Within 15 minutes, I had 8 applicants, chose the best one, and put $25 into an escrow!

I was given a sample lead and was happy with it.. I'm currently waiting on the full list until tomorrow.

Since my first experience with cold calling at the beginning of the week, I have gone through Josh Braun's B2B course as recommended by @IceCreamKid and it helped me put together and personalize almost every single piece of communication I need from cold calling prospects to getting a sale.. (Josh preaches education based marketing just like in the book The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes)

I now feel much more confident in my upcoming cold calls!

 

[Andy Black]

My Cold Call Journey Part 2
​

Before I started my journey with cold calling, I thought it was going to take me hours upon hours to build a list of people to call..

But then I remembered, there's people in different parts of the world who have been doing lead generation for YEARS.. why should I do it when I can just hire someone on upwork?

So I did. I posted a job on upwork detailing the exact criteria for businesses I wanted to contact and in what area. I asked for 100 leads and said I'd paid 25 cents per lead (got that price after watching a video relating to this topic)

Within 15 minutes, I had 8 applicants, chose the best one, and put $25 into an escrow!

I was given a sample lead and was happy with it.. I'm currently waiting on the full list until tomorrow.

Since my first experience with cold calling at the beginning of the week, I have gone through Josh Braun's B2B course as recommended by @IceCreamKid and it helped me put together and personalize almost every single piece of communication I need from cold calling prospects to getting a sale.. (Josh preaches education based marketing just like in the book The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes)

I now feel much more confident in my upcoming cold calls!

Curious why you're cold calling and not creating videos to get clients.

TikTok - Make Your Day

 

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[mikecarlooch]

Curious why you're cold calling and not creating videos to get clients.

TikTok - Make Your Day

No reason. Your message inspired me to get a 100 square foot studio space and turn it into an office and video filming studio that I work in and rent out to others for a fee

Thanks for the push!

 

[mikecarlooch]

@Andy Black

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6OZ1w6vS3qo


First video back.. sat and made about 10 of them all at once.

I had a lot more to say than I thought I would!

 

[doppcall]

Thank you so much man...

 

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[mikecarlooch]

Thank you so much man...

I’m glad you are getting value man!

 

[mikecarlooch]

What I learned this month..​

I've learned a lot the past month and I think some people may find it valuable

1. Undersell and Over-Deliver

One thing I didn't mention in my previous update was that I completely switched my entire business model around.

I went from selling videos as bundles now to an unlimited model where clients can make as many requests as they would like.

Why? Because I started to feel like I was giving people massive expectations that was a gamble to be able to fulfill.

That uneasy feeling just wasn't something I was willing to keep going on with..

I got into business because I want people to go "Damn! This is AWESOME stuff!". The core beliefs of my business that we're trying to spread is against social media censorship and spreading "Positive Polarization Against The Norm".

While I was over selling and under delivering, I just couldn't get excited about it.

This new model has reshaped my confidence about this business I'm in, and I'm currently loving it because I am unbelievable confident in what my company can deliver and help people with.

2. Anti-Selling

The above has lead me to be more careful in what I say I can do in my business.

Before-hand, when someone asked me "can you do this this this and this?" even if it was not listed in my offer, I would say yes yes yes and yes.. knowing I was just causing problems and frustration for myself.

If someone asks me if my company does long videos, I now stay true to my word and say.. "NO. We would recommend going to another company if you need long videos. For the time being, we specialize in short videos."

I will even go as far as to recommend competitors that offer what my prospect is asking for.

PS: doing this has helped build a LOT of trust.

3. Helping Others

From cold emails, to asking random people if they know anyone who needs my services, and all of this other stuff that did nothing but make most people uncomfortable, the best marketing I've done so far is helping others in communities.

Not just because of the inbound leads coming in.

But also because, the amount of intellectual property I have now that I've been writing a lot.. Is EVERGREEN. These articles and posts can be used to answer questions in a ton of communities without me having to constantly write them over and over again, and as long as those communities are alive on the internet (such as this forum), people will see them for years to come.

(as you guys know I love mass distribution. That includes the mass distribution of every single blog post I make on this forum! the more places I can put them.. the better in my opinion)

Having someone come as an inbound lead, wanting my help because something I posted on a forum helped them, is the best feeling ever. Instead of feeling like an intruder, I feel like I'm providing value in someones like that they actually need!

4. Getting on the phone instead of building funnels/websites constantly

The amount of time I've wasted and the frustration I've had because of trying to correct every detail on my website or trying to make sure my "funnel is optimized" is laughable.

All people want is to talk to someone.

"Hey, do you need video editing?"
"Yes"
"Ok. Click here to talk to someone"

While all the "download this and that" may have it's place and I use it for my email list, I'm trying to make it as easy as possible for someone to just talk to someone instead of having 2 weeks of emails sent to them and blah blah blah whatever all the marketing gurus do.

5. Having fun with branding

Question. Do you like the matrix?

The movie.

I LOVE that movie.

So what did I start doing? Call myself the Morpheus of social media and using the matrix in my branding.

Taking this approach has given me personally a certain "vibe" to my business that I love and other matrix fans will also love.

Instead of just telling someone "We do video editing", which isn't that memorable, I say "We show you how to escape the social media frustration matrix" and then it's a photo of Morpheus holding the red pill and blue pill (man Im a geek on this stuff lol i love it)

Tell me which one's more memorable (it's the latter)

And the truth is, a lot of people may think it's immature.. My thinking is that if you're too serious and can't enjoy the fun of "red pill vs blue pill", you'll probably be a hassle to work with!

I use this type of theme branding now because I view it as a filter for awesome clients and clients who don't like fun. lol

That's some of my learnings recently!

Mike

 

[Mike Thiel]

What I learned this month..​

I've learned a lot the past month and I think some people may find it valuable

1. Undersell and Over-Deliver

One thing I didn't mention in my previous update was that I completely switched my entire business model around.

I went from selling videos as bundles now to an unlimited model where clients can make as many requests as they would like.

Why? Because I started to feel like I was giving people massive expectations that was a gamble to be able to fulfill.

That uneasy feeling just wasn't something I was willing to keep going on with..

I got into business because I want people to go "Damn! This is AWESOME stuff!". The core beliefs of my business that we're trying to spread is against social media censorship and spreading "Positive Polarization Against The Norm".

While I was over selling and under delivering, I just couldn't get excited about it.

This new model has reshaped my confidence about this business I'm in, and I'm currently loving it because I am unbelievable confident in what my company can deliver and help people with.

2. Anti-Selling

The above has lead me to be more careful in what I say I can do in my business.

Before-hand, when someone asked me "can you do this this this and this?" even if it was not listed in my offer, I would say yes yes yes and yes.. knowing I was just causing problems and frustration for myself.

If someone asks me if my company does long videos, I now stay true to my word and say.. "NO. We would recommend going to another company if you need long videos. For the time being, we specialize in short videos."

I will even go as far as to recommend competitors that offer what my prospect is asking for.

PS: doing this has helped build a LOT of trust.

3. Helping Others

From cold emails, to asking random people if they know anyone who needs my services, and all of this other stuff that did nothing but make most people uncomfortable, the best marketing I've done so far is helping others in communities.

Not just because of the inbound leads coming in.

But also because, the amount of intellectual property I have now that I've been writing a lot.. Is EVERGREEN. These articles and posts can be used to answer questions in a ton of communities without me having to constantly write them over and over again, and as long as those communities are alive on the internet (such as this forum), people will see them for years to come.

(as you guys know I love mass distribution. That includes the mass distribution of every single blog post I make on this forum! the more places I can put them.. the better in my opinion)

Having someone come as an inbound lead, wanting my help because something I posted on a forum helped them, is the best feeling ever. Instead of feeling like an intruder, I feel like I'm providing value in someones like that they actually need!

4. Getting on the phone instead of building funnels/websites constantly

The amount of time I've wasted and the frustration I've had because of trying to correct every detail on my website or trying to make sure my "funnel is optimized" is laughable.

All people want is to talk to someone.

"Hey, do you need video editing?"
"Yes"
"Ok. Click here to talk to someone"

While all the "download this and that" may have it's place and I use it for my email list, I'm trying to make it as easy as possible for someone to just talk to someone instead of having 2 weeks of emails sent to them and blah blah blah whatever all the marketing gurus do.

5. Having fun with branding

Question. Do you like the matrix?

The movie.

I LOVE that movie.

So what did I start doing? Call myself the Morpheus of social media and using the matrix in my branding.

Taking this approach has given me personally a certain "vibe" to my business that I love and other matrix fans will also love.

Instead of just telling someone "We do video editing", which isn't that memorable, I say "We show you how to escape the social media frustration matrix" and then it's a photo of Morpheus holding the red pill and blue pill (man Im a geek on this stuff lol i love it)

Tell me which one's more memorable (it's the latter)

And the truth is, a lot of people may think it's immature.. My thinking is that if you're too serious and can't enjoy the fun of "red pill vs blue pill", you'll probably be a hassle to work with!

I use this type of theme branding now because I view it as a filter for awesome clients and clients who don't like fun. lol

That's some of my learnings recently!

Mike

Followed the whole thread and I think you're doing an amazing job!

I am into Dropshipping, but until now it's been a roller coaster for me...

From what I understood - you are focused on diff funnels to get prospects:

1)grabbing a video in Loom with an explanation of what the customer could be doing better.
My Q: Where do you send that video? Do you also try to send to the company's general email ( high chance it will land in the trash )? Or do you only contact the company's owner ( via email ) or DM them via IG or TikTok?
How do you see the effectiveness of this funnel, and also the response from the leads as they are the ones you have found?

2)Cold emails, ( leads from Upwork or another freelance platform) -> sending people to a landing page with an offer.

3)Cold calls ( same as above, leads from Upwork or another freelance platform).
My Q: do you schedule Zoom meetings with the folks from cold calls to talk more about the service or try to close the deal on call?

Have I missed some other funnel?

Loved your editing skills, especially with that video:

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/psfMLZ9uQNQ
- do you take stock footage from some pages or directly from TikTok?

Cheers!

 

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[mikecarlooch]

Followed the whole thread and I think you're doing an amazing job!

I am into Dropshipping, but until now it's been a roller coaster for me...

From what I understood - you are focused on diff funnels to get prospects:

1)grabbing a video in Loom with an explanation of what the customer could be doing better.
My Q: Where do you send that video? Do you also try to send to the company's general email ( high chance it will land in the trash )? Or do you only contact the company's owner ( via email ) or DM them via IG or TikTok?
How do you see the effectiveness of this funnel, and also the response from the leads as they are the ones you have found?

2)Cold emails, ( leads from Upwork or another freelance platform) -> sending people to a landing page with an offer.

3)Cold calls ( same as above, leads from Upwork or another freelance platform).
My Q: do you schedule Zoom meetings with the folks from cold calls to talk more about the service or try to close the deal on call?

Have I missed some other funnel?

Loved your editing skills, especially with that video:

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/psfMLZ9uQNQ
- do you take stock footage from some pages or directly from TikTok?

Cheers!

Thanks Mike!

I've actually grown to not use any of the above anymore.

They were just small snippets of times when I was super confused about how to get more clients, and I also hated going and intruding on someone else's attention through a cold call or email trying to get them to buy something.

It has been a MUCH better strategy so far to create value and then distribute all of that value, such as articles on this forum (I can't say I've done too much distribution of articles yet, but for the little I have it's working!)

The thing I love about the current strategy to get inbound leads is that people are already warmed up. They already know who I am, they are coming to ME because something I said on the forum was valuable.. Therefore they proceeded to click the links in my account and see that I offer unlimited video editing.

If this is something they need, they will automatically think of me first whenever they're thinking they need video editing.

So instead of building cold calling skills or cold email skills, I'm actually taking a different approach.

I've declared that I need to be unbelievably knowledgeable, I need to be extremely entertaining, and I need to publicize myself as much as possible through short videos, articles, podcast appearances, etc.

-

In terms of editing, all of those motion graphics are from motion array.


-mike

 

[Andy Black]

Thanks Mike!

I've actually grown to not use any of the above anymore.

They were just small snippets of times when I was super confused about how to get more clients, and I also hated going and intruding on someone else's attention through a cold call or email trying to get them to buy something.

It has been a MUCH better strategy so far to create value and then distribute all of that value, such as articles on this forum (I can't say I've done too much distribution of articles yet, but for the little I have it's working!)

The thing I love about the current strategy to get inbound leads is that people are already warmed up. They already know who I am, they are coming to ME because something I said on the forum was valuable.. Therefore they proceeded to click the links in my account and see that I offer unlimited video editing.

If this is something they need, they will automatically think of me first whenever they're thinking they need video editing.

So instead of building cold calling skills or cold email skills, I'm actually taking a different approach.

I've declared that I need to be unbelievable knowledgeable, I need to be extremely entertaining, and I need to publicize myself as much as possible through short videos, articles, podcast appearances, etc.

-

In terms of editing, all of those motion graphics are from motion array.


-mike

Are you using LinkedIn and Twitter Mike?

I upload short videos to TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, and my Facebook page (I've yet to figure out IG/FB Reels).

I also just started posting updates to LinkedIn, Twitter, and my Facebook page about how the videos are doing.

e.g.

 

[mikecarlooch]

Are you using LinkedIn and Twitter Mike?

I upload short videos to TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, and my Facebook page (I've yet to figure out IG/FB Reels).

I also just started posting updates to LinkedIn, Twitter, and my Facebook page about how the videos are doing.

e.g.

View attachment 45304

I've barely started using LinkedIn and I haven't used twitter - are you seeing reach on LinkedIn?

 

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[Andy Black]

I've barely started using LinkedIn and I haven't used twitter - are you seeing reach on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn and Twitter are different from TikTok and YouTube. The size of your audience really matters for your reach. Good content can reach more than your 1st degree connections of course.

Business owners are on LinkedIn and you provide a service to businesses. Why not get on there and leverage the content you're already posting everywhere else?

A few connections/followers on LinkedIn might be worth more to your business than the same number on TikTok.

The likes of Vigilante from this forum sometimes Likes a post of mine on LinkedIn or Facebook. Chances are he's not on TikTok right?

 

[mikecarlooch]

LinkedIn and Twitter are different from TikTok and YouTube. The size of your audience really matters for your reach. Good content can reach more than your 1st degree connections of course.

Business owners are on LinkedIn and you provide a service to businesses. Why not get on there and leverage the content you're already posting everywhere else?

A few connections/followers on LinkedIn might be worth more to your business than the same number on TikTok.

The likes of Vigilante from this forum sometimes Likes a post of mine on LinkedIn or Facebook. Chances are he's not on TikTok right?

Wow I didn't know you do so well on LinkedIn 11,000 connections I see!

I know you're always looking for new ideas for posts, what if you made a thread about LinkedIn growth?

And sounds awesome.. I will begin taking LinkedIn more seriously. Wonder if there's some good groups/communities to join there

 

[Andy Black]

A PM literally just now on LinkedIn:

 

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[mikecarlooch]

A PM literally just now on LinkedIn:

View attachment 45306

Wow.. awesome!

Ok yea you got me - I'm in

Also, when I look up "Andy Black Google Ads" on google, linkedin is the first popup

 

[mikecarlooch]

Update on this thread -

This is an unedited version of my new video sales letter:

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


Cringy, awesome, or both?

 

[Andy Black]

Update on this thread -

This is an unedited version of my new video sales letter:

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


Cringy, awesome, or both?

Good charisma. You remind me of this guy:

TikTok - Make Your Day

Maybe assume people already want a freelancer. What is your package? How will it work? Who do you specialise in helping?

 

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[mikecarlooch]

I turn 20 in two days

It feels like every single day of my life so far has been preparing me for my second decade on earth.

All of the mental suffering, confusion of what to do in life, introversion, freakish ambition, doing everything wrong, wasting boatloads of money, and purposelessness, has lead to a mindset that is almost completely bulletproof and forward-moving.

The truth is, if I had not gone through everything I have in the past 2 years, my curiosity would be non-existent. I wouldn't have found this forum, I wouldn't have learned anything, I'd probably just be following a miserable path that my parents set for me.

All of those experiences caused a serendipitous event that lead me to figuring out what success actually means.

The way my mind works is, there is no chance of failure for where I want to be long term. It's an inevitability in my mind.

Everybody around me in real life knows me as the kid with big goals. Some think I'm absolutely insane. Some are inspired by me. Some family members want me to fail.

I don't give a f**k.

I have immersed myself so much in the world of self-development in all areas of life with the goal of massive financial success.

Everything from meditation, time management, fitness, strict healthy dieting, reading, asking questions, etc.

Everything I do boils down to wanting to become massively successful. But it's not all about money necessarily.

What is my WHY? You may be thinking.

My why is that, I know where I've been and even where I am. I've seen how I've changed in the last 19 years on an upward trajectory of understanding and learning new things. I know how LOST and PURPOSELESS some people are nowadays.

If I get there, everyone can. If I get there, I can make it known to others that they can get there too. If I were not to get there and instead decided to say "F**k entrepreneurship", all of those thousands of people I will help for free in the future will potentially never break out of their closed mindset. They may never understand what they can do because my message was what they needed.

My long-term goal is almost completely based on other people. It's all about fixing the messed up school system. I have a vision of one day creating a whole new generation of people who move the world forward in massive ways.

I have a vision of being at the forefront of that movement, to spread the message that the world needs more entrepreneurs and that younger people don't need to suffer if they choose not to. I don't know what this movement is yet, but I know I want to push more people to become engineers and more people to be entrepreneurs and fewer people feeling purposeless.

That's a far cry away, but here's some of my goals in the near future:

1 YEAR -
$30,000/month revenue $22,000 / month profit, most of which is invested right back into a massively growing business
Build a Network of Forward-Moving Individuals
Build a Rockstar Team

5 Years -

I'm going to copy @Envision and say I want to be a Millionaire by 25, and have an amount of money that is impressive for that time period (1m probably wont be as much in 5 years)

10-15 Years

9 Figure Exit
Buy Parents Dream Home
Buy My Own Dream Home
Speaker To Thousands
Buy a Mercedes Benz Maybach Black/White with White Interior
Author a Book
Change Hundreds Of Thousands Of Lives
Join Trump's Country Club
Own tons of companies

30 Years

Work On Something World-Changing
I want to own a jet
Be the leader of a massive movement

-

I decided that one of the most important things I could do to achieve what I want to achieve is to be a decisive person.

For where I am right now, @Antifragile took the words "You can build an empire in the video industry. Just focus on that. Stop bouncing around.", stuck them in a bucket of lava, and pierced them onto my bare skin.

And so I decided that instead of bouncing around constantly, I would just stick with what is working.

After all, Nike started off as a kid with a dream and a supplier in Japan, right? Who would've known it would become worth billions?

-

Anyways, I'm feeling very optimistic about the next decade, I feel like I'm in the right place at the right time and I will do anything to get to where I want to go.

Thanks for reading, and I'll keep you guys updated

-Mike

 

[Andy Black]

"Stop bouncing around" is good advice.

 

[mikecarlooch]

I've been gone from the forum a while, I think It's time for an update.

There's only one thing I can say about my recent efforts in my business.

I wish I started doing what I'm doing now, 2 years ago.

Moving around to other states, reading 100 books, being confused..

All of it lead me to the fact that selling (getting my product in front of people with a good offer), and delivering were the only things I had to do this whole time, and actually making sure the people I was reaching out to are already in need of what I'm selling.

I avoided creating the habit of selling for years because of my own mental biases.

Now I'm glad to say that, in the past two weeks I've felt what real work is. I've been able to sit for 6 hours a day and do high-value work that's moving the needle, and therefore I'm seeing results.

I guess sometimes the right things to be doing are right under your nose, which is the basics.

I've never gotten so much done in my life and I hope to keep this habit forever and keep improving on it.

-Mike

 

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[mikecarlooch]

Reach out to me when you get to $10k and I'll show you how to scale your outreach and create systems....all for free because I'm not a guru lolol. We need more threads on how to create systems. Systems are the key to automating everything and freeing yourself to work ON your biz instead of IN it.

Congrats on taking action.

Hey @IceCreamKid , sent a DM but not sure if you look at them.

I'm in a different business now but we're on our way to $10k / month, like nearly there.

Is your offer to talk about systems still on the table?

Thank you

 

[BizyDad]

Hey @IceCreamKid , sent a DM but not sure if you look at them.

I'm in a different business now but we're on our way to $10k / month, like nearly there.

Is your offer to talk about systems still on the table?

Thank you

Congrats on the growth Looch!