Growing A Web Design Business From Zero

[dmichaelmccann]

<div class="bbWrapper">Hey everyone,<br /> <br /> I just wanted to give a quick update on my progress as I have not in a while. The road has been a little tough but I am still grinding to make that first paid sale. I have been doing a lot of traveling for college related things and I caught the flu on Easter which took me out for a week and a half, so I haven&#039;t been doing as much work as I&#039;ve wanted to which is frustrating.<br /> <br /> I&#039;m pretty much back to 100% now so I&#039;m planning to hit the cold emails and calls hard next week. If I don&#039;t get anything after that I&#039;m probably going to start looking through my personal and extended network again even though it didn&#039;t turn anything up the first time. I don&#039;t really want to take another free job but I may also consider that just so I can get some work if nothing comes up in the next week or two.</div>

 

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[GoGetter24]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 36680" data-quote="dmichaelmccann" data-source="post: 688377" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=688377" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-688377">dmichaelmccann said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> The road has been a little tough but I am still grinding to make that first paid sale. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote>I&#039;d recommend you do some watching of &quot;Dan Lok&quot; on YouTube (can&#039;t remember which fastlaner introduced his videos, but thanks).<br /> <br /> Don&#039;t take another free job. No more <i>free</i> [shudder]. How do you think it sounds on the receiving end? &quot;My website was free&quot;. It sounds like it&#039;s <b>junk</b>. How about &quot;My website cost $20,000&quot;. It sounds <i>hardcore</i>. These are businesses you&#039;re making sites for, right? They don&#039;t want free: it&#039;s a business, it&#039;s serious. They want &quot;it will increase your revenue by 50%&quot;. You have one testimonial from that guy, and you have a showcase website (your own and his), right? That&#039;s enough.<br /> <br /> You should solidify your offer, and get paid upfront (or at least a 50% deposit). If you can&#039;t make a sale, it&#039;s either because you can&#039;t convince them of the value of your offer (in which case work on that), or you&#039;re not getting enough leads (make more calls).</div>

 

[WJK]

<div class="bbWrapper">Tell them your price, OR that you&#039;ll make the web site in exchange for their personal introduction to another business person in your area, and a good review of your work on your personal web site. That way you are getting something of value for your time and they are paying for it in kind. If you can build up a network of contacts, you&#039;ll have it made for years to come.</div>

 

[Ocelot]

<div class="bbWrapper">Hey <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/members/36680/" class="username" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" data-user-id="36680" data-username="@dmichaelmccann">@dmichaelmccann</a> great thread.<br /> <br /> I&#039;m in the exact same position as you, though you&#039;re a couple of months ahead of me. I&#039;ve been following <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/members/33771/" class="username" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" data-user-id="33771" data-username="@Fox">@Fox</a> new course for getting started and have been reaching out to businesses that have active Facebook pages but no website to try and get my first free site done.<br /> <br /> No luck so far but I&#039;ve spent the morning compiling a Google spreadsheet full of leads to message on Monday. I think in the beginning when you have no results it&#039;s a numbers game and takes some grinding. But I&#039;m not shy of putting in the grind, and it sounds like you aren&#039;t either.<br /> <br /> Really pleased to hear you&#039;ve managed to get a few free sites under your belt. It&#039;s only a matter if time until you close someone for a paid site.<br /> <br /> I&#039;ll be following this thread closely and also plan to make my own in a couple of weeks when I&#039;ve found my first free client.</div>

 

[Maxboost]

<div class="bbWrapper">Closed my first sale. I posted this on Craigslist. Maybe this might help you get a first paying client:<br /> <br /> <i>For a limited time, I will build your website (1-4 web pages) for $100. These services will cost typically $500-$2000 depending on what services you want.<br /> <br /> I am building a portfolio for my web design services.<br /> <br /> I am proficient in HTML, CSS, JQuery, Javascript, Bootstrap, and Wordpress.<br /> <br /> Stop paying yellow pages $250/month, I have knowledge of SEO and google adwords to increase your conversion rates, which will produce sales. This will more than cover the cost of the website the moment it is launched.<br /> <br /> Provide a description of your business, your expectations of your site and your industry.<br /> <br /> If you have an existing website, I will revamp your site with a modern new design with compelling content.<br /> <br /> You can pay after the website is complete and uploaded. All I ask in return is a good testimonial for my web design business.<br /> <br /> I will only contact those who meet my criteria or who are willing to pay more.<br /> <br /> Thanks.</i><br /> <br /> I also built a website for a friend. THIS was a HUGE time waster. Also be aware of those people on craigslist who will ask for help but are not interested in your services. These people will waste your time as well. My plan is to do a few more $100 jobs before moving up. <br /> <br /> My biggest learning experience so far is to ask the right questions, make sure to put up a rough draft of the website before building, make sure you have the right pictures from your client, make sure that you have full creative control of the process and make sure they are serious about needing a website. So many time wasters out there!</div>

 

[dmichaelmccann]

<div class="bbWrapper">I think I just made my first paid sale! Just 5 minutes ago I got off the phone with a woman who runs a private elder care business. She contacted me yesterday after I placed an ad on craigslist (thanks <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/members/39098/" class="username" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" data-user-id="39098" data-username="@Maxboost">@Maxboost</a> for the suggestion). It was nearly the same ad as a few posts above but I just raised the price point slightly.<br /> <br /> She was pretty much already sold on a new website but I went through the whole process of asking questions and showing value, which made her even more confident in me. I ended up closing the sale for $200. Even though I probably could have charged a bit more I wanted to stay within the range I posted in my ad. It&#039;s a quick 3 page site so it shouldn&#039;t take more than a week anyways.<br /> <br /> $200 isn&#039;t a huge amount of money but I am so excited as this is the first time I have ever made any money online working for myself. Thanks again to everyone who took the time to reply to this thread, especially <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/members/33771/" class="username" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" data-user-id="33771" data-username="@Fox">@Fox</a> for all of the value you have given me. I couldn&#039;t have done this without you guys.</div>

 

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[Fox]

<div class="bbWrapper">Congrats! It took me a few jobs to get over $200 haha. <br /> <br /> Do a great job and that second sale will come a lot easier. It snowballs fast when you get people great results. <br /> <br /> Start small and grow fast...</div>

 

[Maxboost]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 36680" data-quote="dmichaelmccann" data-source="post: 690749" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=690749" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-690749">dmichaelmccann said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> I think I just made my first paid sale! Just 5 minutes ago I got off the phone with a woman who runs a private elder care business. She contacted me yesterday after I placed an ad on craigslist (thanks <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/members/39098/" class="username" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" data-user-id="39098" data-username="@Maxboost">@Maxboost</a> for the suggestion). It was nearly the same ad as a few posts above but I just raised the price point slightly.<br /> <br /> She was pretty much already sold on a new website but I went through the whole process of asking questions and showing value, which made her even more confident in me. I ended up closing the sale for $200. Even though I probably could have charged a bit more I wanted to stay within the range I posted in my ad. It&#039;s a quick 3 page site so it shouldn&#039;t take more than a week anyways.<br /> <br /> $200 isn&#039;t a huge amount of money but I am so excited as this is the first time I have ever made any money online working for myself. Thanks again to everyone who took the time to reply to this thread, especially <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/members/33771/" class="username" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" data-user-id="33771" data-username="@Fox">@Fox</a> for all of the value you have given me. I couldn&#039;t have done this without you guys. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote><br /> nice! I over delivered on this guy&#039;s website and now he is referring me to his buddies. Make sure you KNOCK THIS OUT OF THE BALL PARK. Word of mouth is huge!!!</div>

 

[dmichaelmccann]

<div class="bbWrapper">Eldercare website is up and finished. This job overall was a bit more stressful and difficult than the last one, mostly due to the client, but I think I learned some valuable lessons for the future of my business.<br /> <br /> The sales call went pretty well and the lady seemed normal on the phone, although a small red flag did pop up when she ignored the list of questions I sent her for the writing and instead just sent me a list of the things she wanted the website to say. It was not very detailed and a lot of the things she wrote I did not think should be put on the website because they were not relevant or should not be talked about until she is hired for an eldercare job.<br /> <br /> Anyways, I worked all weekend and loaded up the first draft to my website on Sunday night. I changed some of the content she sent around and didn&#039;t include some things that I thought would hurt her sales. When she saw the website though she EXPLODED, screaming at me that I didn&#039;t write exactly what she said, that I didn&#039;t know what I was doing, and that I was trying to take it over as &quot;mine&quot;, whatever that means. I was a bit angry but I decided to send a super professional email and a few hours later I got an embarrassed and remorseful reply back. I explained what I was trying to do and although there were some things she didn&#039;t budge on we managed to compromise on a lot of it.<br /> <br /> There were a few other near outbursts later but it was relatively smooth sailing from there compared to the start, although she refused to pay me by anything other than moneygram. Fortunately the payment went through fine and I can move on.<br /> <br /> I learned from this job that there is never any reason to send an angry, emotional reply to a client, no matter how difficult they are being. If I had been anything other than professional we probably would have ended the relationship and since I didn&#039;t take a deposit I would have lost my first sale.<br /> <br /> Now that this job is over I&#039;m going to go back to cold calls and try to charge a lot more for my services. I don&#039;t know if the price had anything to do with the problems in this job but I think since I was so cheap this lady may have not have viewed me as an expert. I&#039;d much rather have a smaller number of clients who come to me because of my value than a larger number who come to me because I am cheap.</div>

 

[dmichaelmccann]

<div class="bbWrapper">Just closed another $200 sale through craigslist to clean up a guy&#039;s wordpress website. I just need to clean up the design by getting rid of some text related to the theme he has, swap out some images, integrate his social media, and write a couple paragraphs of compelling text for his pages. <br /> <br /> This is the same price as I closed the first sale for but much less work. This one should only take a few hours to complete everything. I also have 2 more potential leads coming in for full website builds that I may talk to on the phone this week sometime. I&#039;m hoping to close my first sale of at least $1K with one of these guys.<br /> <br /> These first few months have been a struggle at times but now I can feel myself finally gaining some momentum. I&#039;m so glad I started this business and pushed through the desert of desertion, even when there were moments I thought I wouldn&#039;t cut it as a web designer.</div>

 

[dmichaelmccann]

<div class="bbWrapper">Another solid week in the books. Unfortunately no sales for full website builds but I did close a $300 deal for onsite SEO with the same guy that I did the wordpress website cleanup for.<br /> <br /> I also sent an email to the painting company that I built the free website for. They said that the new website has gotten them a few new clients since it has been up, which feels pretty awesome for me because they told me that they never got any sales from their old website. Now I can confidently say I built a website that got results for someone.<br /> <br /> This coming week I&#039;ll be working on the onsite SEO for this guy&#039;s website and looking for some new clients. I only have a few more weeks left of high school so I definitely want to pick up a few new clients for the summer. I can&#039;t wait to do this full time for a few months and really scale the business up before college starts.</div>

 

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[Deleted20833]

<div class="bbWrapper"><img src="/community/imgs/emoticons/em-shades.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":cool:" title="Cool :cool:" data-shortname=":cool:" /> <br /> <br /> 1. Sign up to be a hosting affiliate (host gator will pay $125 for a new signup if you get a certain amount, or you can go with wp host and they pay $250 flat out)<br /> <br /> 2. Go on craigslist and list in the free section that you&#039;ll build a simple WordPress website for free <br /> <br /> 3. when you get them on the phone tell them all they have to do to get their free website is to sign up for a hosting company and to use your affiliate link <br /> <br /> 4. they buy hosting thru your link, which means the hosting company pays you ($125- $250) <br /> <br /> 5. Now customer gets a free simple WordPress (they&#039;re usually like 3-5 pages long) and you&#039;re getting paid <br /> <br /> Let me know what you think <img src="/community/imgs/emoticons/em-thumbsup.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":thumbsup:" title="Thumbs Up :thumbsup:" data-shortname=":thumbsup:" /></div>

 

[Maxboost]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 20833" data-quote="HugoMoreno" data-source="post: 694496" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=694496" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-694496">HugoMoreno said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> <img src="/community/imgs/emoticons/em-shades.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":cool:" title="Cool :cool:" data-shortname=":cool:" /><br /> <br /> 1. Sign up to be a hosting affiliate (host gator will pay $125 for a new signup if you get a certain amount, or you can go with wp host and they pay $250 flat out)<br /> <br /> 2. Go on craigslist and list in the free section that you&#039;ll build a simple WordPress website for free<br /> <br /> 3. when you get them on the phone tell them all they have to do to get their free website is to sign up for a hosting company and to use your affiliate link<br /> <br /> 4. they buy hosting thru your link, which means the hosting company pays you ($125- $250)<br /> <br /> 5. Now customer gets a free simple WordPress (they&#039;re usually like 3-5 pages long) and you&#039;re getting paid<br /> <br /> Let me know what you think <img src="/community/imgs/emoticons/em-thumbsup.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":thumbsup:" title="Thumbs Up :thumbsup:" data-shortname=":thumbsup:" /> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote><br /> nice!</div>

 

[dmichaelmccann]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 20833" data-quote="HugoMoreno" data-source="post: 694496" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=694496" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-694496">HugoMoreno said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> <img src="/community/imgs/emoticons/em-shades.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":cool:" title="Cool :cool:" data-shortname=":cool:" /><br /> <br /> 1. Sign up to be a hosting affiliate (host gator will pay $125 for a new signup if you get a certain amount, or you can go with wp host and they pay $250 flat out)<br /> <br /> 2. Go on craigslist and list in the free section that you&#039;ll build a simple WordPress website for free<br /> <br /> 3. when you get them on the phone tell them all they have to do to get their free website is to sign up for a hosting company and to use your affiliate link<br /> <br /> 4. they buy hosting thru your link, which means the hosting company pays you ($125- $250)<br /> <br /> 5. Now customer gets a free simple WordPress (they&#039;re usually like 3-5 pages long) and you&#039;re getting paid<br /> <br /> Let me know what you think <img src="/community/imgs/emoticons/em-thumbsup.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":thumbsup:" title="Thumbs Up :thumbsup:" data-shortname=":thumbsup:" /> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote><br /> Definitely an interesting idea. I&#039;m not planning on doing any more free websites but affiliate hosting is something I might look into; I didn&#039;t know that they gave you that much money for a signup. I already had an opportunity where I could have used it because the eldercare website woman didn&#039;t have any hosting when I sold her the website.</div>

 

[yyes]

<div class="bbWrapper"><a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/members/36680/" class="username" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" data-user-id="36680" data-username="@dmichaelmccann">@dmichaelmccann</a> , this is awesome and truly inspiring.<br /> <br /> However, I do have a question.<br /> <br /> As a business owner, I am interested in not only getting my website up and running, but the next step is to rank my website high on google so that people can click on it and call me. So I want good copywriting on my landing page, with an obvious call to action. <br /> <br /> When it comes to this, do you add copywriting and things like SEO and AdWords as an additional service, or do you leave that to the owner?</div>

 

[Late Bloomer]

<div class="bbWrapper">Hi Michael, I admire your hustle and appreciate your sharing your experiences.<br /> <br /> You mentioned you learned a little Javascript. Did that come easy and was it really fun and fascinating? Or was it tedious and boring for you? You might be better staying on the sales side for now.<br /> <br /> I suggest you see if there are Wordpress meetups in your area. You can introduce yourself as someone just getting started in making Web sites, so far your focus has been on calls and meetings to get clients and make sales. Ask if people in the group happen to know of anyone who&#039;s already a Wordpress tech/code guru who&#039;d like to team up or provide a finder&#039;s fee if you can get sales for them. <br /> <br /> As soon as you get an agreement in place, this means you can include their portfolio and technical skills in what you pitch to clients, while you handle that mysterious sales stuff that intimidates many tech geeks. <br /> <br /> I bet there are a lot of Wordpress masters who&#039;d willingly pay a 10% finder&#039;s fee to you, if you can set them up with clients ready to start a project.</div>

 

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[Late Bloomer]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 36680" data-quote="dmichaelmccann" data-source="post: 688377" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=688377" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-688377">dmichaelmccann said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> I&#039;m probably going to start looking through my personal and extended network again </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote><br /> I mentioned Meetup for Wordpress. I also recommend it for other tech things related to web technology, such as all kinds of Javascript specialties, anything related to databases, and anything related to Linux, Windows, or Mac servers and networking technology, as well as commercial photography and pro video. These could be places to meet technical resources and subcontractors, and make friends.<br /> <br /> I also recommend you visit marketing/advertising, real estate, and chamber of commerce type of business groups. All you&#039;d need to tell them is that you&#039;re starting a web design business, you already have a basic portfolio, now it&#039;s time that you want to learn how to start building a sales process and pipeline.</div>

 

[dmichaelmccann]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 48862" data-quote="yyes" data-source="post: 695616" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=695616" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-695616">yyes said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/members/36680/" class="username" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" data-user-id="36680" data-username="@dmichaelmccann">@dmichaelmccann</a> , this is awesome and truly inspiring.<br /> <br /> However, I do have a question.<br /> <br /> As a business owner, I am interested in not only getting my website up and running, but the next step is to rank my website high on google so that people can click on it and call me. So I want good copywriting on my landing page, with an obvious call to action.<br /> <br /> When it comes to this, do you add copywriting and things like SEO and AdWords as an additional service, or do you leave that to the owner? </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote><br /> Yeah if I do a full website build I always do everything unless the client insists on doing something themselves. I always try to sell them on me doing everything myself though because the results are better that way. Usually aside from the design this means I handle copywriting and making sure the website is SEO friendly/optimized for google. If they don&#039;t have good images I also handle that plus anything else they may need.</div>

 

[dmichaelmccann]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 56027" data-quote="Late Bloomer" data-source="post: 695640" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=695640" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-695640">Late Bloomer said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> Hi Michael, I admire your hustle and appreciate your sharing your experiences.<br /> <br /> You mentioned you learned a little Javascript. Did that come easy and was it really fun and fascinating? Or was it tedious and boring for you? You might be better staying on the sales side for now.<br /> <br /> I suggest you see if there are Wordpress meetups in your area. You can introduce yourself as someone just getting started in making Web sites, so far your focus has been on calls and meetings to get clients and make sales. Ask if people in the group happen to know of anyone who&#039;s already a Wordpress tech/code guru who&#039;d like to team up or provide a finder&#039;s fee if you can get sales for them. <br /> <br /> As soon as you get an agreement in place, this means you can include their portfolio and technical skills in what you pitch to clients, while you handle that mysterious sales stuff that intimidates many tech geeks. <br /> <br /> I bet there are a lot of Wordpress masters who&#039;d willingly pay a 10% finder&#039;s fee to you, if you can set them up with clients ready to start a project. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote><br /> Personally I enjoyed learning Javascript and it came pretty easily, although it was definitely more difficult than HTML and CSS. The only reason I stopped and didn&#039;t master it is because I knew enough to start designing websites and I wanted to start taking action.<br /> <br /> About the meetups and business groups, I agree with you that that is definitely a great place to find potential clients and just connect with people. I haven&#039;t been going to any because of conflicts with school but I&#039;m definitely planning on going to some this summer.</div>

 

[dmichaelmccann]

<div class="bbWrapper">Time for a progress update:<br /> <br /> Since my last post, I&#039;ve just been grinding away at the cold emails and calls. I&#039;ve reached out to about 60 in the past 2.5 weeks. I wish I could do more but school during the week is still limiting my call time, so I&#039;m glad that will be over soon. I&#039;ve gotten a couple people on a second call but haven&#039;t been able to close any sales.<br /> <br /> I&#039;ve still been mostly contacting painting companies and also general contractors with a few employees, but haven&#039;t had much luck convincing them of the value of a new website. Most of the ones I talk to say that they get their clients from word of mouth and that they are pretty happy with their sales overall, even though they are always looking for more.<br /> <br /> At this point, since I have some portfolio pieces, I know it is just a numbers game until I close some sales, but it is getting a little frustrating. I&#039;m going to start to branch out into some slightly different niches to see if that works better.<br /> <br /> In the past couple days, I&#039;ve also decided to really get the word out about my business in my extended network. Back when I started this business I decided to tell no one except for the forum and my family, because I just didn&#039;t want to hear the doubters saying I couldn&#039;t do it since I was some high school kid with no experience. Now that I have made a few sales though I am a lot more confident and don&#039;t really care what everyone else thinks anymore. My high school friends probably don&#039;t have a lot of business connections but maybe this could bring a potential sale or two to be.<br /> <br /> This week I&#039;m also going to head to my town in person and visit businesses with bad websites or no websites at all. I should have done this a long time ago because I&#039;m sure business owners would trust someone from the same town as them who visits more than a random cold caller, but I&#039;m glad I&#039;m doing it now.<br /> <br /> I&#039;m sure something will fall in soon. I&#039;ve just got to keep working and spread the word in any way I can.</div>

 

[Maxboost]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 36680" data-quote="dmichaelmccann" data-source="post: 697746" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=697746" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-697746">dmichaelmccann said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> Time for a progress update:<br /> <br /> Since my last post, I&#039;ve just been grinding away at the cold emails and calls. I&#039;ve reached out to about 60 in the past 2.5 weeks. I wish I could do more but school during the week is still limiting my call time, so I&#039;m glad that will be over soon. I&#039;ve gotten a couple people on a second call but haven&#039;t been able to close any sales.<br /> <br /> I&#039;ve still been mostly contacting painting companies and also general contractors with a few employees, but haven&#039;t had much luck convincing them of the value of a new website. Most of the ones I talk to say that they get their clients from word of mouth and that they are pretty happy with their sales overall, even though they are always looking for more.<br /> <br /> At this point, since I have some portfolio pieces, I know it is just a numbers game until I close some sales, but it is getting a little frustrating. I&#039;m going to start to branch out into some slightly different niches to see if that works better.<br /> <br /> In the past couple days, I&#039;ve also decided to really get the word out about my business in my extended network. Back when I started this business I decided to tell no one except for the forum and my family, because I just didn&#039;t want to hear the doubters saying I couldn&#039;t do it since I was some high school kid with no experience. Now that I have made a few sales though I am a lot more confident and don&#039;t really care what everyone else thinks anymore. My high school friends probably don&#039;t have a lot of business connections but maybe this could bring a potential sale or two to be.<br /> <br /> This week I&#039;m also going to head to my town in person and visit businesses with bad websites or no websites at all. I should have done this a long time ago because I&#039;m sure business owners would trust someone from the same town as them who visits more than a random cold caller, but I&#039;m glad I&#039;m doing it now.<br /> <br /> I&#039;m sure something will fall in soon. I&#039;ve just got to keep working and spread the word in any way I can. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote><br /> These small general contractors (roofers, deck builders, painters) don&#039;t have any money to spend. At most they would only pay $100-150 for a website. If they don&#039;t have a website, that means they don&#039;t have the money to pay wix 35.00/month which makes them terrible prospects. You can&#039;t sell to someone when they don&#039;t have money to spend.</div>

 

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[yyes]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 39098" data-quote="Maxboost" data-source="post: 697827" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=697827" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-697827">Maxboost said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> These small general contractors (roofers, deck builders, painters) don&#039;t have any money to spend. At most they would only pay $100-150 for a website. If they don&#039;t have a website, that means they don&#039;t have the money to pay wix 35.00/month which makes them terrible prospects. You can&#039;t sell to someone when they don&#039;t have money to spend. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote><br /> <br /> Wait, why do you say that ? I know a few blue collar owners that make over half a million a year</div>

 

[Maxboost]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 48862" data-quote="yyes" data-source="post: 697828" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=697828" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-697828">yyes said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> Wait, why do you say that ? I know a few blue collar owners that make over half a million a year </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote><br /> Of course there are, those include plumbers, HVAC, Electricians,etc.. <br /> <br /> The OP is targeting blue collar businesses where barrier to entry is low, example painting and roofing. It&#039;s a quick race to the bottom where margins are slim and no money for a website. <br /> <br /> Prospect the business first, before you approach.</div>

 

[jcvlds]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 39098" data-quote="Maxboost" data-source="post: 697844" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=697844" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-697844">Maxboost said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> Prospect the business first, before you approach. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote>How to prospect first before approaching and talking to them?<br /> <br /> Would need to get info about the business’ revenues, margins, and budgets to see if it would be a good fit for him to sell his website service to them. But he needs to approach them regardless, no?<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk</div>

 

[Maxboost]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 41020" data-quote="jcvlds" data-source="post: 697849" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=697849" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-697849">jcvlds said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> How to prospect first before approaching and talking to them?<br /> <br /> Would need to get info about the business’ revenues, margins, and budgets to see if it would be a good fit for him to sell his website service to them. But he needs to approach them regardless, no?<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote><br /> It should be common sense without any real research. <br /> <br /> Do you approach a plumbing company with a small office, a company van, 5 employees making 60k/year, tools, 10 years in business or do you approach a painting company being operated out of someones home by a father and son? Who do you think has money to spend? <br /> <br /> The point that I was making is the OP is targeting the wrong customers. I learned this the hard way.</div>

 

[dmichaelmccann]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 39098" data-quote="Maxboost" data-source="post: 697867" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=697867" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-697867">Maxboost said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> It should be common sense without any real research.<br /> <br /> Do you approach a plumbing company with a small office, a company van, 5 employees making 60k/year, tools, 10 years in business or do you approach a painting company being operated out of someones home by a father and son? Who do you think has money to spend?<br /> <br /> The point that I was making is the OP is targeting the wrong customers. I learned this the hard way. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote><br /> Yeah this is definitely a fair point and something I was thinking about when I decided to switch up niches a little bit. When I was looking at these companies I tried to make sure they had at least a few employees and an office and van, but it probably would have been better to go for some bigger companies right from the start. Definitely still something blue collar so my portfolio pieces would relate but with more money to spend and better potential for results. The only reason I was really targeting painting specifically is because I did my free portfolio website in that niche.</div>

 

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[dmichaelmccann]

<div class="bbWrapper">I finally broke through this week with a couple sales after a bit of a slump.<br /> <br /> I closed one $300 site through my marketplace ad for a small copywriting/online advertising agency. I&#039;m looking to really overdeliver on this one since it is for a forum member and it will let me expand into a new niche. It should take around 2 weeks to make sure everything comes out perfect with it.<br /> <br /> I also made some smaller sales for other services through craigslist, both from my own ads and searching for web design related gigs across the country. I closed a $150 deal for some basic local SEO and helping set up online advertising for a furniture website. I also sent out a proposal for a basic $50 per month maintenance package for a health company&#039;s wordpress site today. I haven&#039;t heard back from them yet but I&#039;m feeling pretty good about it. It would be really cool to get my first recurring income even if it is only for 50 a month.<br /> <br /> This should be enough to keep me occupied for the next couple weeks while I continue to look for new leads and learn more skills on the side. The past month I&#039;ve really been focusing on learning SEO and improving my copywriting skills. I haven&#039;t had a chance to really implement those new skills into a website so the next few will be a great opportunity.</div>

 

[dmichaelmccann]

<div class="bbWrapper">Quick update:<br /> <br /> I&#039;m officially done with high school now and have exactly two months from yesterday until college starts. These next two months are going to be a critical time for growing my business as I&#039;m going to be looking to take on lots of new clients, build some great sites, and make more money. I joined <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/members/1278/" class="username" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" data-user-id="1278" data-username="@Kung Fu Steve">@Kung Fu Steve</a> &#039;s coaching program to help me make this happen. I&#039;m 100% planning on keeping the business going in college, but there may or may not be less time, so I want to get a steady stream of referrals and inbound leads going by then so I don&#039;t have to spend so much time looking for new clients. I&#039;ll be able to do this by delivering great work to a lot of new businesses.<br /> <br /> I&#039;ve been thinking a lot about running the business while being in college, and I think doing this full time the next 2 months will tell me a lot about whether I am prepared for the real world or if I should stay in school. I&#039;m in no rush to drop out as I&#039;m not taking out any loans, and I will definitely stay for the whole first year, but it will be something to think about if I get up to the 100k per year mark in business income.<br /> <br /> On the business side of things, I&#039;m finishing up the site I mentioned in the last post for the copywriting agency and starting to look for new leads. The copywriting site was the first one I&#039;ve built from scratch using Wordpress and Elementor so it took a bit of time to learn, but it was definitely a good experience.<br /> <br /> Right now I&#039;m talking to one potential client for a site that would definitely be my biggest project so far, but nothing has closed yet. Other than that my sales funnel is running a bit dry, so it is probably time to start going to business networking events and get cold calling again soon.</div>

 

[Late Bloomer]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 41020" data-quote="jcvlds" data-source="post: 697849" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=697849" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-697849">jcvlds said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> Would need to get info about the business’ revenues, margins, and budgets to see if it would be a good fit for him to sell his website service to them. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote><br /> Larger business libraries have the reference book &quot;Bankable Business Plans&quot; from the Risk Management Association. It provides specifics on typical company sizes, operating expenses, profit margins etc. by industry. You&#039;ll find exactly what you need in there to make an informed go/no go decision about which types of businesses can afford a lot of marketing.</div>

 

[Late Bloomer]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 36680" data-quote="dmichaelmccann" data-source="post: 701194" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=701194" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-701194">dmichaelmccann said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> I&#039;m 100% planning on keeping the business going in college, but there may or may not be less time </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote><br /> In the summer, maybe you could ask some other business owners if they&#039;d be interested in lead generation from you, or in being a subcontractor if you get the client and do all the project management. There are plenty of code stars who&#039;d love to have someone else show up with projects for them. Easily worth a third of the project off the top for a smaller project.</div>