How Millions Are Made on High Speed Highways!

[PeeVee]

::::::::::::::SEE POST #7 FOR ACTUAL BEGINNING OF THE PROGRESS THREAD:::::::::::::

RE-PURPOSED FASTLANE FUNDING
When I joined the forum and finished reading the book I was about 75% in on the design and build out of a review, appointments, business listing website application for a fairly large niche. My goal was to be the Yelp equivalent of this niche and I had amassed data for over 200,000 of these businesses so that I could start with some data, market listing upgrades, build from there and so on. In my mind I was on the way to easy monthly subscription cash. Along the way I had a realization that came about as a result of an opportunity I had to speak with @JackEdwards about a month ago and it totally shifted my way of thinking. Sometimes it takes someone else to listen to what has been in your head for so long to ask you some of those hard questions you may not have asked yourself or considered upfront. The good news is that it is all part of the process and evolution of us as entrepreneurs. EMBRACE IT, ADJUST THE PROCESS, ADJUST THE PLAN, KEEP TAKING ACTION, RINSE AND REPEAT!

NOW HERE IS WHERE YOU LEARN HOW MILLIONAIRES ARE MADE
I have been part of this great community since since December of last year and along the way I have read a lot of information from the treasure trove of threads that make up this great forum. I have ready many progress threads from A-Z and what I have found is that no matter where someone is in their journey right now this place is full of people that have either struggled or are struggling with the same roadblocks and challenges as you and me:

• What should my mindset be?
• How can I motivate myself?
• What's the right product or idea and how do I find it?
• When should I quit my job?
• Let me read another book and then I will be ready
• I am not sure I can do this
• I am not sure I deserve this
• and so on....

HIGH SPEED FASTLANE BUILDERS
Some of the most life changing progress threads for me have been those of: @Vigilante @JackEdwards @biophase @ΕΝΔΕΚΑ @Likwid24 @IceCreamKid @Darius @JasonR @ChickenHawk @zen******* @Vick @bensonj @Kak @SteveO and I am sure I have missed others.

In many respects these folks are just like you and me except that they are just further along the way in their journey. In reading their threads some have expressed self doubt and have experienced severe challenges but they kept forging ahead. They have paved part of the road and in return there is much to be learned from their experiences as you build out your own Fastlane. Even if you are years behind, their pain and progress can save you years of agony and learning.

If you aren't where you want to be yet it's OK but you better have heart and be willing to go to battle for your fu&&in dreams. We all have to start somewhere so I post this in hopes that others can gain something from this and follow suit with our own progress thread.

I have read on a ton of occasions where @Vigilante encourages those of us taking action and making progress to open up a progress thread. He never said it directly to me but it's time and it will be my next post. I don't know about you but I don't want to be on here 2 - 3 years from now dickin around and wondering what idea or product I should be pursuing and how to go about it.


I am looking forward to starting my progress thread, so much has happened in the last 30-days! Gotta go!

Edit: Arggg posted in wrong section. Mod's please move as you see fit.

 

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[IceCreamKid]

Glad to see you're doing alright, my man. I was wondering where you disappeared off to.

 

[DeletedUser2]

just start the progress thread here....

Z

 

[PeeVee]

Glad to see you're doing alright, my man. I was wondering where you disappeared off to.

Thanks ICK. That damn call with Jack bro, it reset my thinking and had me dreaming up my next battle plan.

 

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[PeeVee]

just start the progress thread here....

Z

Uh yup great idea.

Brain goes numb after a long day and Skyping with suppliers in Asia into the wee hours.

 

[IceCreamKid]

Thanks ICK. That damn call with Jack bro, it reset my thinking and had me dreaming up my next battle plan.

LOL I had the same reaction after my first phone talk with him. I literally sat back for a few minutes after the call with a huge smile on my face just letting the advice sink in.

 

[PeeVee]

Its been a little over a week since my first post and I am finally getting around to the post that will kick off this Progress Thread.

Over the past 6 weeks or so I have spent many late night hours and part of my weekends working on my business. My business is centered around a specific niche within a much, much larger industry and my initial target customer is women. I can expand beyond women if I choose to down the road but I want to keep things simple at first. My business is based on an E-Commerce model which will produce healthier margins. The big players in my target industry do not do E-Commerce well so I will exploit their areas of weakness and learn what I can from those doing it right. That said, I expect that the most value will be gained from my own trial and error and feedback from my customers. The key will be to listen, listen, listen and act upon their feedback. Collecting info and not using it is just as bad as not collecting it.

Where am I now and how did I get here? Here it is in a nutshell:

• IDEA RESEARCH- Landed on a product based on google search volume, e-bay completed sales (double digit $ million sold in the past 90 days) and the website traffic of the top competitors (2) in my niche. Each of them have 250,000 to 300,000 unique visitors per month. Images of my type of product are shared heavily on Pinterest and rarely link back to a landing page where they can be purchased or are backed by a brand. there is a video on YouTube that shows creative ways of using my product type and this video had well over 23 million views since April of 2011. While I don't have sales yet I feel very confident about diving in with a test order.
• PRODUCT - My product is light weight and can easily be shipped via air in a large amount of quantity for minimal cost. On average cost per unit including shipping and branding is $6 and I should be able to price at about $32 on average based on what I have seen so far (excludes eBay where you can find these items priced as low $10 for lower quality and that's if you are willing to wait for delivery from china.
• COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS - I studied my direct competition and ordered product from one of them so that I could determine where they manufacture, how they package, quality, etc. What did I learn?: Shipping took too long, shipping cost was inflated which was a major turn off. Quality was ok but the item had a horrible smell which was not expected and is not normal, there are care tags that I later found out may be required by the FTC. It's amazing what you can learn by doing this one simple thing. I am duplicating those things I did like and I can do so for next to nothing. I also found that my competitors are grossing between 2 - 4 Million a year with what I consider little effort. They aren't really doing anything spectacular and are leaving a lot of money on the table based on what I know so far. I could be wrong but I doubt it.
• BRANDING - Since I knew I wanted to create a brand I spent close to a week developing a brand name, including buying a domain name. The name is a 6 letter word so I have a nice short name and domain name. This was a major pain in the a$$ but I am very happy I went through the pain of it. It will be worth having a brand that stands out, is recognizable and to build a story around it. My top competitors do not have a brand but instead sell generic brands and use the niche name in their domain name. I chose to do the opposite on purpose. I love the Zappos story and brand. In fact, Zappos started selling shoes as ShoeSite.com and later changed to their current name which has become a widely recognized brand.
• E-COMMERCE PLATFORM/SETUP - Researched E-Commerce platforms and landed on BigCommerce initially based on other peoples experiences with them. They seemed like a good fit and I was up and running with a great free theme in a very short amount of time. I know CSS and was able to make a few quick tweaks that remove the Powered by BigCommerce label and a few other touch up items.
• FINDING SUPPLIERS - I researched many Alibaba suppliers to get to manufacturers of my product. I received free samples from one supplier(had some learnings around shipping costs, defective stock, etc.). I only had to paid the shipping costs.
• SAMPLE & TEST ORDERS - I placed a test order of 82 items with another supplier without getting a sample order from them. Their high resolution images looked great and I had the experience of ordering samples under my belt so I went for it. I wasn't out much ($250 or so) but approximately 20 of the items were defective. I am working on getting my money back for those but the supplier needs images and my focus has been on getting images for the good product. Once I have this done I will focus on getting my money back. I learned a lot about dealing with suppliers payment terminology and shipping. All of the research I did on shipping inexpensively didn't do me much good. The experience of a supplier telling me it would be $40 and it turing out to be $145 for shipping was a learning experience. I later learned of another shipping company used in China "SF EXPRESS". For my order of 82 items which was 10 times greater than my sample order shipping was only $50 and I received the items in 7 days. There is also E-Packet which can be used for small items such as some samples. This is a service offered in conjunction with the USPS and they promise speed for a very very very cheap price. I did not use them so I cannot vouch for them but you can google it.
• PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS/BRANDING - Wrote description copy for my product. My product has variations in styles and color. I wrote the copy in a fun, conversational way and a way that quickly provides the benefits of each item. Don't let your market arrive at their owns conclusion as to how your product/brand is going to benefit them. Tell them upfront so that they don't even have to think about it. Example: Diamonds are a girls best friend and a perfect mothers day gift. (not my product but you get what I am saying). For those of you spinning your wheels learning copy. Sure it is important but think about those brands that are super successful in selling via the same medium(s) you are. You can quickly study their copy and be up and running! Thanks for this tip @IceCreamKid
• SSL CERTIFICATE - Purchased and installed an SSL certificate. I had no idea how to do this but with the help of google and BigCommerce it was pretty straightforward.
• PAYMENTS - Installed a PayPal Sandbox so that I can run through test transactions before going live. It's like being in a full blown test mode and I can actually see payments processing so that I can refine my process from point of payment through email order confirmation, etc.
• PRODUCT PHOTOS/STUDIO GEAR - Photos are super important, especially for social media marketing and visually engaging my target market so I researched this a bit and ended up learning a few things about lighting white backgrounds, etc. I understand that there are some other ways to achieve a white background look but I am striving for as much perfection as possible in my photos so that my brand can stand out. Especially on Pinterest. I managed to buy on Amazon a camera tripod, a backdrop support stand, studio lighting/umbrellas and good quality white backdrop paper. Sounds like a big expense but it was under $200. Most may argue this could have waited but I see this as part of my investment into this business.
• PINTEREST MARKETING - I have never marketed anything on Pinterest but it will be easy as long as I keep moving forward.
• TOLL FREE NUMBER - A very important thing so that your customers can easily reach speak to us for questions, issues, etc. I am using Grasshopper. It's awesome and starts at $12 a month.
• LEGAL STRUCTURE - I filed my LLC. I am in the state of Florida so cost was minimal. I also got my EIN from the IRS.
• BEYOND PAYPAL - I am looking at expanding my payment methods using Braintree Payments and they require a legal entity and a business bank account. They don't have any startup costs which is good for me at this stage. Not something I am taking on immediately but the research is done. Thanks to @JasonR for mentioning them in one of his posts.
• PREPPING PRODUCT FOR SHIPPING - Making sure my product stays dry between the time I mail it and it gets to my customer is necessary. I found cheap ($15) Poly mailers that meet my immediate needs.
• ORGANIZING PRODUCT INVENTORY - When importing and selling products something that can be a bit of a challenge is creating a system to receive, inventory, inspect, label, load the products. It's exciting to get your shipment in the mail but don't underestimate the work that comes afterwards. Get organized or you will waste a ton of time on bullshit.
• MARKETING - I expect Google Adwords to play a key role in quickly growing my business. I understand the concept of PPC, etc but I have some big time learning to do. I am not sure about Facebook marketing and my product. I guess I will need to test this channel to see how well it converts. In a post from @JasonR he mentions TRAFFIC BLACKBOOK 2.0 and how he wished he had taken the course sooner. Thats all I needed to see to go out and get it on my own. I am still churning through the content but have been busty with other important aspects of the business. I will get to this in my vacation next week.

WHAT'S NEXT
So I have done a lot of work but don't have any sales yet. My goal was to be able to sell some of my product from my sample order but it arrived with some minor defects. In looking back at my Skype chat and emails with this supplier they had mentioned that this would be the case. I was so excited that I was getting a shipment that I overlooked this. I will be taking photos over this weekend and will have product loaded into the website with images. I am having a slight issue with the wattage of my light bulbs. These are daytime bulbs and I usually don't have time for pictures until the evenings when I get home from my slow lane. My wife is out looking for bulbs as I type this so we will clear this hurdle soon. I will spend the weekend taking photos and uploading product.

I am going on vacation next Tuesday, otherwise I would have the site up and running next week. It is for a family event so I couldn't cancel but I am going to take advantage of the tranquility I will have and the oceanfront scenery to work on my business in between.

I will post updates as often as I can.


YOU CAN DO IT TOO - By no means am I an expert or do I have all of the answers but I am not afraid to fail and I am not afraid of the work ahead. We all have our own fears and/or reasons for not pursuing and living the life we want to live.


I currently earn low six figures in my slow lane, am married, have a one year old daughter, another daughter in college and a 16 year old son. For a very long time my salary, benefits, bonus, need to maintain family, etc. had me paralyzed. But the bottom line is that I want much more for my family and for me. I want to provide something of value to others and if I don't develop my process and keep up with the forward progress I won't get there.

My main motivation is knowing that my 401K isn't going to allow me to live the life I want to live and neither is my job anytime soon or any other job in Corporate America. I have always been an entrepreneur at heart and I am looking forward to sharing more of this great journey with all of you.

 

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[Deleted15476]

Its been a little over a week since my first post and I am finally getting around to the post that will kick off this Progress Thread.

Over the past 6 weeks or so I have spent many late night hours and part of my weekends working on my business. My business is centered around a specific niche within a much, much larger industry and my initial target customer is women. I can expand beyond women if I choose to down the road but I want to keep things simple at first. My business is based on an E-Commerce model which will produce healthier margins. The big players in my target industry do not do E-Commerce well so I will exploit their areas of weakness and learn what I can from those doing it right. That said, I expect that the most value will be gained from my own trial and error and feedback from my customers. The key will be to listen, listen, listen and act upon their feedback. Collecting info and not using it is just as bad as not collecting it.

Where am I now and how did I get here? Here it is in a nutshell:

• IDEA RESEARCH- Landed on a product based on google search volume, e-bay completed sales (double digit $ million sold in the past 90 days) and the website traffic of the top competitors (2) in my niche. Each of them have 250,000 to 300,000 unique visitors per month. Images of my type of product are shared heavily on Pinterest and rarely link back to a landing page where they can be purchased or are backed by a brand. there is a video on YouTube that shows creative ways of using my product type and this video had well over 23 million views since April of 2011. While I don't have sales yet I feel very confident about diving in with a test order.
• PRODUCT - My product is light weight and can easily be shipped via air in a large amount of quantity for minimal cost. On average cost per unit including shipping and branding is $6 and I should be able to price at about $32 on average based on what I have seen so far (excludes eBay where you can find these items priced as low $10 for lower quality and that's if you are willing to wait for delivery from china.
• COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS - I studied my direct competition and ordered product from one of them so that I could determine where they manufacture, how they package, quality, etc. What did I learn?: Shipping took too long, shipping cost was inflated which was a major turn off. Quality was ok but the item had a horrible smell which was not expected and is not normal, there are care tags that I later found out may be required by the FTC. It's amazing what you can learn by doing this one simple thing. I am duplicating those things I did like and I can do so for next to nothing. I also found that my competitors are grossing between 2 - 4 Million a year with what I consider little effort. They aren't really doing anything spectacular and are leaving a lot of money on the table based on what I know so far. I could be wrong but I doubt it.
• BRANDING - Since I knew I wanted to create a brand I spent close to a week developing a brand name, including buying a domain name. The name is a 6 letter word so I have a nice short name and domain name. This was a major pain in the a$$ but I am very happy I went through the pain of it. It will be worth having a brand that stands out, is recognizable and to build a story around it. My top competitors do not have a brand but instead sell generic brands and use the niche name in their domain name. I chose to do the opposite on purpose. I love the Zappos story and brand. In fact, Zappos started selling shoes as ShoeSite.com and later changed to their current name which has become a widely recognized brand.
• E-COMMERCE PLATFORM/SETUP - Researched E-Commerce platforms and landed on BigCommerce initially based on other peoples experiences with them. They seemed like a good fit and I was up and running with a great free theme in a very short amount of time. I know CSS and was able to make a few quick tweaks that remove the Powered by BigCommerce label and a few other touch up items.
• FINDING SUPPLIERS - I researched many Alibaba suppliers to get to manufacturers of my product. I received free samples from one supplier(had some learnings around shipping costs, defective stock, etc.). I only had to paid the shipping costs.
• SAMPLE & TEST ORDERS - I placed a test order of 82 items with another supplier without getting a sample order from them. Their high resolution images looked great and I had the experience of ordering samples under my belt so I went for it. I wasn't out much ($250 or so) but approximately 20 of the items were defective. I am working on getting my money back for those but the supplier needs images and my focus has been on getting images for the good product. Once I have this done I will focus on getting my money back. I learned a lot about dealing with suppliers payment terminology and shipping. All of the research I did on shipping inexpensively didn't do me much good. The experience of a supplier telling me it would be $40 and it turing out to be $145 for shipping was a learning experience. I later learned of another shipping company used in China "SF EXPRESS". For my order of 82 items which was 10 times greater than my sample order shipping was only $50 and I received the items in 7 days. There is also E-Packet which can be used for small items such as some samples. This is a service offered in conjunction with the USPS and they promise speed for a very very very cheap price. I did not use them so I cannot vouch for them but you can google it.
• PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS/BRANDING - Wrote description copy for my product. My product has variations in styles and color. I wrote the copy in a fun, conversational way and a way that quickly provides the benefits of each item. Don't let your market arrive at their owns conclusion as to how your product/brand is going to benefit them. Tell them upfront so that they don't even have to think about it. Example: Diamonds are a girls best friend and a perfect mothers day gift. (not my product but you get what I am saying). For those of you spinning your wheels learning copy. Sure it is important but think about those brands that are super successful in selling via the same medium(s) you are. You can quickly study their copy and be up and running! Thanks for this tip @IceCreamKid
• SSL CERTIFICATE - Purchased and installed an SSL certificate. I had no idea how to do this but with the help of google and BigCommerce it was pretty straightforward.
• PAYMENTS - Installed a PayPal Sandbox so that I can run through test transactions before going live. It's like being in a full blown test mode and I can actually see payments processing so that I can refine my process from point of payment through email order confirmation, etc.
• PRODUCT PHOTOS/STUDIO GEAR - Photos are super important, especially for social media marketing and visually engaging my target market so I researched this a bit and ended up learning a few things about lighting white backgrounds, etc. I understand that there are some other ways to achieve a white background look but I am striving for as much perfection as possible in my photos so that my brand can stand out. Especially on Pinterest. I managed to buy on Amazon a camera tripod, a backdrop support stand, studio lighting/umbrellas and good quality white backdrop paper. Sounds like a big expense but it was under $200. Most may argue this could have waited but I see this as part of my investment into this business.
• PINTEREST MARKETING - I have never marketed anything on Pinterest but it will be easy as long as I keep moving forward.
• TOLL FREE NUMBER - A very important thing so that your customers can easily reach speak to us for questions, issues, etc. I am using Grasshopper. It's awesome and starts at $12 a month.
• LEGAL STRUCTURE - I filed my LLC. I am in the state of Florida so cost was minimal. I also got my EIN from the IRS.
• BEYOND PAYPAL - I am looking at expanding my payment methods using Braintree Payments and they require a legal entity and a business bank account. They don't have any startup costs which is good for me at this stage. Not something I am taking on immediately but the research is done. Thanks to @JasonR for mentioning them in one of his posts.
• PREPPING PRODUCT FOR SHIPPING - Making sure my product stays dry between the time I mail it and it gets to my customer is necessary. I found cheap ($15) Poly mailers that meet my immediate needs.
• ORGANIZING PRODUCT INVENTORY - When importing and selling products something that can be a bit of a challenge is creating a system to receive, inventory, inspect, label, load the products. It's exciting to get your shipment in the mail but don't underestimate the work that comes afterwards. Get organized or you will waste a ton of time on bullshit.
• MARKETING - I expect Google Adwords to play a key role in quickly growing my business. I understand the concept of PPC, etc but I have some big time learning to do. I am not sure about Facebook marketing and my product. I guess I will need to test this channel to see how well it converts. In a post from @JasonR he mentions TRAFFIC BLACKBOOK 2.0 and how he wished he had taken the course sooner. Thats all I needed to see to go out and get it on my own. I am still churning through the content but have been busty with other important aspects of the business. I will get to this in my vacation next week.

WHAT'S NEXT
So I have done a lot of work but don't have any sales yet. My goal was to be able to sell some of my product from my sample order but it arrived with some minor defects. In looking back at my Skype chat and emails with this supplier they had mentioned that this would be the case. I was so excited that I was getting a shipment that I overlooked this. I will be taking photos over this weekend and will have product loaded into the website with images. I am having a slight issue with the wattage of my light bulbs. These are daytime bulbs and I usually don't have time for pictures until the evenings when I get home from my slow lane. My wife is out looking for bulbs as I type this so we will clear this hurdle soon. I will spend the weekend taking photos and uploading product.

I am going on vacation next Tuesday, otherwise I would have the site up and running next week. It is for a family event so I couldn't cancel but I am going to take advantage of the tranquility I will have and the oceanfront scenery to work on my business in between.

I will post updates as often as I can.


YOU CAN DO IT TOO - By no means am I an expert or do I have all of the answers but I am not afraid to fail and I am not afraid of the work ahead. We all have our own fears and/or reasons for not pursuing and living the life we want to live.


I currently earn low six figures in my slow lane, am married, have a one year old daughter, another daughter in college and a 16 year old son. For a very long time my salary, benefits, bonus, need to maintain family, etc. had me paralyzed. But the bottom line is that I want much more for my family and for me and if I don't take action I will fail to deliver what I have planned for my family.

Now my motivation is knowing that my 401K isn't going to allow me to live the life I want to live and neither is my job anytime soon or any other job in Corporate America. I have always been an entrepreneur at heart and I am looking forward to sharing more of this great journey with all of you.

I like this...

-Edot

 

[IceCreamKid]

You are the most thorough guy I have ever come across in my life...holy shnykies. Respect.

 

[PeeVee]

You are the most thorough guy I have ever come across in my life...holy shnykies. Respect.

LMAO... I guess I am sort of a detailed guy but my next posts sure as hell won't be that long. This was a full six weeks of shit.

 

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[travisl]

Advice Regarding Marketing

This may or may not work for your niche (But it sounds like it based off of the info you provided) but Reddit. Reddit, Reddit, Reddit. At least look into it.

You said that the bigger guys in your niche are doing somewhat of a mediocre job, and whatever your niche may be reddit usually has very intelligent consumers there that know when they're getting good service and when they're getting bad.

You are the most thorough guy I have ever come across in my life...holy shnykies. Respect.

Being thorough will be a good quality to have with this! Haha Understanding the community there, and then creating something that makes them comfortable will be key.

Here's some numbers: Promoting a post on Reddit costs $0.75 Per Mile (for those that don't know that is per 1,000 impressions, not clicks) and they're minimum is ONLY $5. This means that for every $5 spend to promote something, it is guaranteed to get 6,000 impressions. You can promote a discussion (drives engagement, can have a link to your site in the body) or a direct link to your site (users can still comment on it.)

Some of the best news in this post is, you can promote your post specifically to any subreddit (or multiple if you want.) For instance my product is in the fitness niche, I can promote to the r/fitness section which has more than half a million members (which is good) OR I can find a more specific subreddit say maybe... Protein Shakes. Whether it is super targeted or not, you still pay the same amount for impressions so I suggest you target as much as possible.

Now you just have to write a compelling headline that you think will get you the most clicks, while still being as honest as you can be.

Be Careful

Here's a quote that sums up the entire advertising scene on reddit

"Hustle and Make stacks, Fail, get laughed at."

You have to be a smart marketer to use this tool. Here's an example of a corporation (who actually hires a marketing department) not really being smart. That title doesn't drive engagement, and you can see the rest. It will not (and has not) performed well.



If you post something that the community will like though, then you can win big!!!! Okay this post is getting too long.

Something to think about. If you don't use it that's fine.

Posting like this helps me blow off some steam! Hahaha let me konw if you look into it.

 

[PeeVee]

Advice Regarding Marketing

This may or may not work for your niche (But it sounds like it based off of the info you provided) but Reddit. Reddit, Reddit, Reddit. At least look into it.

You said that the bigger guys in your niche are doing somewhat of a mediocre job, and whatever your niche may be reddit usually has very intelligent consumers there that know when they're getting good service and when they're getting bad.


Being thorough will be a good quality to have with this! Haha Understanding the community there, and then creating something that makes them comfortable will be key.

Here's some numbers: Promoting a post on Reddit costs $0.75 Per Mile (for those that don't know that is per 1,000 impressions, not clicks) and they're minimum is ONLY $5. This means that for every $5 spend to promote something, it is guaranteed to get 6,000 impressions. You can promote a discussion (drives engagement, can have a link to your site in the body) or a direct link to your site (users can still comment on it.)

Some of the best news in this post is, you can promote your post specifically to any subreddit (or multiple if you want.) For instance my product is in the fitness niche, I can promote to the r/fitness section which has more than half a million members (which is good) OR I can find a more specific subreddit say maybe... Protein Shakes. Whether it is super targeted or not, you still pay the same amount for impressions so I suggest you target as much as possible.

Now you just have to write a compelling headline that you think will get you the most clicks, while still being as honest as you can be.

Be Careful

Here's a quote that sums up the entire advertising scene on reddit

"Hustle and Make stacks, Fail, get laughed at."

You have to be a smart marketer to use this tool. Here's an example of a corporation (who actually hires a marketing department) not really being smart. That title doesn't drive engagement, and you can see the rest. It will not (and has not) performed well.

View attachment 7409

If you post something that the community will like though, then you can win big!!!! Okay this post is getting too long.

Something to think about. If you don't use it that's fine.

Posting like this helps me blow off some steam! Hahaha let me konw if you look into it.

Thanks for this since this wasn't on my radar. I will definitely look into it. 24 Hour Fitness should have anticipated this type of a response. In my experience as a consumer on reddit, redditors can be ruthless but that doesn't scare me. It's a challenge to get my shit right.

I will definitely let you know. Thanks again.

 

[pickeringmt]

Man, thank you so much for sharing your progress here!

So much of this applies directly to my business as well, even my niche (Mens grooming products)

So the Traffic Blackbook 2.0 is legit? This is the first time I have heard of it, but looking at the sales page it appears to be exactly what I am looking for at this point. Paid ads are not only something that will scale a business, it is a skill that can be repeated over and over again. I have a major interest in learning how to do them effectively, and I am 100% comfortable plowing my profits right back into ads if the ROI is right.

Thanks again, I am really digging this thread!

 

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[PeeVee]

Quick update.

Went on vacation and life took over and things didn't go as planned but I have my product descriptions written with what I believe to be good copy. The market will let me know if it's not, I will just pay close attention and adapt as needed. I did a quick study of copy for products of my competitors and other non industry top producing businesses. I figure if a company is leading their industry in sales and use the same channels I plan on using then I don't necessarily have to reinvent the wheel. I learn from em' and use it.

Had to re-order bulbs for my product photo lamps. I wish I knew an easier way to give my product images crisp white backgrounds without spending more money. I tried in Photoshop and it takes way too long and I am a pretty technical guy. I like shit right but I don't like wasting time when I can avoid it. I ordered new 170 watt spiral bulbs via amazon, got my setup ready for photos. It isn't perfect but I had to get going. When I have the sales to go big I will. I believe great product photos are a key to stand apart from the competition in E-Commerce.

The wife and I started taking product pics and I dropped one of the lamps. FML I lost a good half hour cleaning this shit up and she was a little pissed but then started taking video of me cleaning up. We had a great laugh in the end. The good news is that all product shots are complete and I will work on uploading them tomorrow. Very happy with the quality.

I have to be up in 4 and a half hours. It's just part of the journey. Gotta push past the pain.

 

[PeeVee]

So I am looking at going with Braintree for credit card payments on my site. Putting all my eggs in the PayPal basket poses a risk to cash flow and more importantly potential lost conversions.

They (Braintree) require a bank account be registered in the name of the business. Had to open business checking today. I am a member of NFC and they offer free business checking.

 

[PeeVee]

Started uploading product images to my E-Commerce Site this evening. Last night was a very long night of taking product pics and I spent the rest of the day trading time for money at my slowlane. Falling asleep so I am gonna catch some Zzzz's and get back at it at 4AM. I should have a clear head and be more focused.

More updates to come

 

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[IceCreamKid]

I wish I knew an easier way to give my product images crisp white backgrounds without spending more money. I tried in Photoshop and it takes way too long and I am a pretty technical guy.

Go on ebay and buy a lightbox. Best $40 you'll ever spend bro!

 

[PeeVee]

Go on ebay and buy a lightbox. Best $40 you'll ever spend bro!

Thanks for the tip ICK. the umbrella's aren't doing it. I'll check it out

 

[vinisterz]

Go on ebay and buy a lightbox. Best $40 you'll ever spend bro!

Or meritline.com I got mine from there

 

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[PeeVee]

Or meritline.com I got mine from there

Thanks. I will check it out.

 

[contract]

Following this thread! Good process so far, looking forward to seeing how it turns out PeeVee.

 

[PeeVee]

It has been a while but I figured let me do the work and post later. Here are some quick updates:

• Monday was my first day of not being an employee. I have worked for someone else since the age of 16. Day 1 was kind of disorganized since it was all new to me. Staying organized but nt to the point you are spending all your time organizing is key.
• Based on lessons learned posts I have read around the forum my main focus is studying media buying, PPC, etc. Andy Black (forum member) has a great starter PDF. The Traffick Blackbook 2.0 is mind blowing. Generate thousands and thousands of keywords for Google Display Network and AdWords, learn the in's and outs of Facebook (very granular targeting if needed-huge audiences) marketing to include offers, page posts, etc), find out what your competition is spending on PPC and what they are paying each month and the keywords they are targeting. What a gold mine.
• Did some administrative stuff like create PPC campaigns, project plan (ASANA is awesome for this and free) ad copy and so on.
• Developed a strategy for my product images. Think about product photography that stands out on Etsy, Pinterest and so on.
• Will have inventory loaded within 10 days or so and be ready for our first sale.

I have not been on the forums much. Busy plugging away but I will not let this thread die out.

Back to work!

 

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[apprentice]

Just run into this! Great thread @PeeVee! I loved how you documented everything at the beginning

Best of luck with it!!

Monday was my first day of not being an employee.

Did your quit your job?? But you haven't made a sale yet... Do you have some other source of income?

 

[oldscool]

I know you probably will have misc. cost with this biz, but, what is your initial investment so far? Also, if you can, keep us updated as to the amount of expenses you continually accrue in this business prior to profit turnover would be appreciated. Bookmarked.

Thanks.

 

[PeeVee]

Just run into this! Great thread @PeeVee! I loved how you documented everything at the beginning

Best of luck with it!!


Did your quit your job?? But you haven't made a sale yet... Do you have some other source of income?

Thanks

I did. It resulted in them contracting me to consult up to 2 days a week based on my availability. Other than that I have about 10 months of income saved. Based on everything I have accomplished this week I now know why getting significant traction was taking so long. I didn't have enough time to move as quickly as I had wanted to. While I dint have any sales yet there is certainly a market. If I F*ck it up it will be because I didn't listen to the market.

Shhhhhhh I am listening. ;-)

 

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[Andy Black]

It resulted in them contracting me to consult up to 2 days a week based on my availability.

Well done pulling that off.

Being a contractor really helps with bootstrapping. Higher daily earnings, it goes into your own company (depends how you're setup of course)... means you can work less days per week and be more efficient with your money.

Other than that I have about 10 months of income saved.

Now THAT is really well done. Wow.