Humble Hustle & Scaling My Agency - Progress Thread

[BlackMagician]

Thank you Sir @ZCP for the wisdom and guidance.

The day you gave your advice, I write it down in my notebook.

you don't need someone to kick your a$$
you need a stronger why

I thought i am just being lazy bum.

what is your 'why'?

Freedom. Freedom of choice. Freedom of thoughts.
below i have mentioned my 'WHY', is it strong enough, Sir?

I 'was' always a Dreamer. Being a kid, i vision many things.
Creating a Remote controlled Skates.
Building something through which we can walk on Air.
Seeing a similar age kids who not able to have foods, i thought of growing up and earning loads of money to help them.

I even built things as a kid.
Created poison for rat using roadside plants.
Created low cost Bow & Arrow with aim function.
Flew a small kid bus with motors.

Visioned to have a library of mine. Every day, me, sitting on a rocking chair under a sunset and reading books to learn and explore the world of history, science, philosophy, mystery, universe, magic, religion, anything else. To understand what am i, why am i born, why is this world, what's the purpose, why pain, why happiness.

I visioned to be an inventor. To be known as someone who made a good impact in this world.

Then around 2009 i learned about INTERNET. I was 16 old. It was MAGIC for me. A real one. I explored. I become fascinated. My craving became big. My vision became bigger.
My dreams got possibilities. I started learning.
I learned about Google.
I thought of creating something to compete with google.(don't laugh)

Then i entered College. Computer Science. To make my dream reality. But...
Something happened.
Something started creeping inside me. SCRIPT.
Something started leaving me. My Visions.
Something was dying. My Dreams/Me.

I became lost. My thoughts became something which was not mine. And I knew that. I felt that. But was not able to change.

Then i graduated. I joined a job. 2 months. That's all it took for me to understand. This is not my life. This is not what i want. But. As usual, i was not able do anything.

my WHY, is bringing back my REAL self. To bring back my visions, my dreams. To get the freedom and control to dare to think to compete with google, even if it's joke.

I died before 25. I am 25 now. And 25 will be the age i will be awakened.

I was Unscripted . Now again want to be Unscripted .

my WHY to get my REAL ME and achieve Freedom.

Story Ends...

raise your rates

I really struggle with this. Being from a humble poor background, 1000$ feels like a lot, it's enough for me & my family to go 2-3 months. This mental block just don't go away. Whenever i think of charging higher amount my hearts starts beating and struggles like i am doing something bad.

But Yes. I accept this as one of the blockage which i need to overcome, as soon as possible.
Now that you have told me to do, I will do. Next time, i will raise the price. Thank you Sir.

start building a business and a system where YOU sell and close the deal and your team does the work and handles the admin

I am going in Network meeting, business workshops and doing bunch of marketing to learn to sell more & better. I know i am good at selling.
Will take this advice to heart and sell and sell more.
Already started setting up a team, a friend as a developer and one seo guy as freelance.

land a bunch of business and create the 'system'

No words to describe this wise words(see what i did there). As i go on and land bunch of business, i will start seeing the pattern which can be used to make a 'system'? have read many Gold threads on this and will take others tactics, adjust and implement for my business.

then scale

Is it early? I don't know. But i will know after i leave my job this year.

get to it!

Blood boiling, hair raising feeling coursing through my veins.
Just want to shout loudly...

YES SIR!!!

Thank you for being a mentor who guided someone you don't know.

 

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[BlackMagician]

Here is a simple thing you should think about when you say they don't see the value on a website. When I started to work in music industry, my mother told me "it's useless, you can't win money with that" Then I bring her my first paycheck with the name of the label and the money, she says "continue, its good". You know the quote "Show, don't tell" Just show them some results, (true numbers) And if they still don't agree, just move on !

I tried. Gave some valuables advice and tips while having the convo. But they bluntly replied that they want something cheap!

 

[BlackMagician]

The first page of this thread teaches how to systemize, build a team and scale



CHECKLIST: How to Start a Digital Marketing Agency & Hit $5K in Less than 90 Days | Page 4 | The Fastlane Entrepreneur Forum

I always wanted to do this business but never started. But Sean's thread and Fox's thread guided me

 

[PizzaOnTheRoof]

I agree with Rabby. I don’t think this is the actual decision maker.

Currently reading SPIN selling which focuses on the implications of the prospects problems.

Basically, figure out their problems and get them to realize the true severity of the problem by finding out how their problem affects sales/customers/efficiency/etc.

Price becomes far less of a factor.

 

[BlackMagician]

I agree with Rabby. I don’t think this is the actual decision maker.

Currently reading SPIN selling which focuses on the implications of the prospects problems.

Basically, figure out their problems and get them to realize the true severity of the problem by finding out how their problem affects sales/customers/efficiency/etc.

Price becomes far less of a factor.

I have half read spin selling when i started. That was not the time to read Spin selling as MJ said, read book which help in your current problems and i was facing mindset problem.

But i need this now. Thanks for the reminder. Will restart the book.

 

[BlackMagician]

I don’t know how to advise you so I’ll just tell you what I’d do, and why. Please take my thoughts with a pinch of salt and do what you think is best for you.

First off, I don’t know much about deals like this.

5% of what? What do you get over what period of time?

The reason I don’t know much about deals like this is because I move on whenever something like this crops up. I don’t want to be at someone else’s beck and call for four years when I’m figuring out and building my own stuff. Damn, but four years is a long time. That’s the longest I ever worked for one company when I was an employee.

I felt I was held back for a few years because I was partnered with people and couldn’t twist and turn like I want to when I’m figuring stuff out. Just having to explain what I’m doing and why is a wasted effort when I want to be in forward motion.

Like I said, that’s my own personal preference. We each follow our own path.

It won't be beck n call. I will be working together with them with similar authority.
5% share/equity or whatever it is.

I can leave anytime I want. If I feel that things are not working for me. I can leave without any consequences. But I still need to figure it out what does that means.

I got your point btw and you are somewhat correct

 

[BlackMagician]

@BlackMagician What is your time worth and and how much responsibility and tasks will you have? If it was something like Amazon or some other large company... sure give me 5%. But if it's some no-name company that has a huge chance of failure for only 5% that expects me to to work 40 hours a week... Yeah no.

Most of the online marketing work will be on me. It's quite huge task and responsibilities I will say.
Yeah you are right.
How shall I say 'no'?
What questions shall I ask before explaining him 'thats why' I can't join so something similar?

 

[BlackMagician]

So , Im not seeing the downside. You make enough with existing (happy) clients to cover your bills , if you focused 100% on this going forward , and its a legitimate opportunity why not?

Can you flesh out for us a cost benefit analysis?

To me it seems the cost is time

The benefit is 5% ownership of potentially a huge company (or a flop) but , you can negotiate for more upside (salary , revenue share etc)

So what downsides other then your sweat equity am I missing?

You are right. Cost is time. Nothing else. And I will be profitable in any case.
The chances of the company of being successful is high because it follows CENTS and the people who are doing are great executioners.
According to the unit economics and projections, the company could be profitable of 1M Indian rupee at the end of first year.
Close to 50M of evaluation in 5 yrs.

The downside could of me working equally on the company but get only 5% where else others get more despite similar efforts.

And I don't know how to negotiate the revenue share and ask more than 5%.

 

[MHP368]

And I don't know how to negotiate the revenue share and ask more than 5%.

How soon do you have to reply?

Does this other party "need you" or is this a friend letting you in on the groundfloor?

Maybe a quick primer on game theory in relation to negotiations?

55 page pdf

But lets consider for a moment what you do have and what you might build on your own.

Of the stated projectioms above , year 1 youre entitled to , 50,000 rupee?

Year 5 , 2.5 million?

Get a pencil and some paper , youve already outdome your own wages. Clearly youre soing something right. How many more clients before you can hire an assistant? How many to pay the wages of a team and have that first assistant act as a general manager?

Can you build your own business and keep 100% and end up richer then you would working with this other fellow?

In 5 years time you'll be five years older either way. Best case projection with this deal you have 2.5 million rupees , whats it look like if you keep going with your current trajectory?

 

[Raja]

because the client is a veteran in the business and has already sold 1 business in ₹4 billion.

How do you find the clients, currently I have backlog of work but planned to finish it within 12 weeks(3 weeks down) and then do freelancing in web and mobile apps.
What I am planning is instead of charging them low from the start I plan to build a portfolio of barebone apps and give to for free by accepting license terms and they can wish to customise by us for very fast development and high price per hr(similar to free website theme
Model) so work will be less, easily deligatable.
So I have 2 questions for you
What do you think of my plan?
How do you find clients?

This August month, despite losing 1 client, I earned ₹160K

How much time do you give, just curious

 

[Raja]

I have been hit by COVID, 20 days back, and I am still in the recovering phase.
Body is weak and on bed rest. Hope to recover in the next 10 days and start the process of execution.

get well soon mate, hope your family is doing alright as well.

the situation is worst in India, hope it also gets better.

I don’t know if i should post in public forums or INSIDERS forum.

I believe it should be a public thread.

 

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[BlackMagician]

I don't have that problem now, I was not thinking straight. Wanted to do everything.

Good to hear that.

 

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[Raja]

G'day All,

I forgot to tell all of you one good news about my life.

I Married.
1st week of June was wedding ceremony. TFF is my another family so it's obvious that I share the good news with my fellow entrepreneurs. Kindly give your blessings

Marriage life is going good. It's just that its little difficult to balance after marriage life and my work. Well, everyone goes from this phase. Just that I am hustling right now that's why its little difficult.

But! I am actually quite enjoying the thrill. Now I have someone I think about whenever I procrastinate. The fire inside me has become bigger!!!

haha. ok, small talk over.


Yup. I am following up with everyone of them. Until I hear NO from them, I will follow up. As i said, it seem i use to close the conversation myself. Thanks for the pointers. Never learned that. I am now using questions to keep the conversation going.


You asked to get them on phone? heh. Here it is!

View attachment 38664

So this brand has a crappy website. I recorded a video as per the script I shared above and showed them 4-5 points which will drastically improve there customer acquisition. I followed up with them 3rd time today and they responded.
This shows the follow-up power.

Tip: Follow up on different channels. I msg them on FB, no reply. Chat, no reply. Instagram msg, got reply.


I will.
95 videos.
5 Videos Per Day
20*5 = 100.
20days to send 95 videos, or less than that.

You won't believe, but I have been feeling down today thinking that this video approach takes too much time and is not producing results, but got the above response and felt thrilled. I know this is not something big to be thrilled but i needed some kind of market echo at this stage.


I am still thinking on how should i present my offer but lets see. I will present and learn, then optimize accordingly.

---------
I will schedule a call with the prospect i got a reply from tomorrow and lets see where it goes.

Apart from that, I have been creating my online presence on Instagram, FB, LinkedIn.

I took advice of @Andy Black and joined few groups of my market. I am trying to help people there with my expertise. Goal is to help at-least 5 people per day.

I am also following @EarlOfChina steps on LinkedIn(started today) and building connection and sending videos to founders.
So as now, my daily work looks like this:

• Record 5 videos and give massive value to the brands. Send it.
• Build Connections on LinkedIn. Engage with them and help them with small talks.
• Help 5 people in groups using my expertise of Advertising and scaling business.
• Follow ups with prospects.

I have been trying to follow 80/20 rules and primarily focusing on activities which generate sales.

Let me know anything else I should be doing at this stage.

Goals Update:
Clients: 0
Revenue: 0
June Goal: 80k

Congrats mate

 

[BlackMagician]

Yeah, that's not a bad idea.

This is what she replied:

Now i am stuck on what to reply . I am really bad with words. Suggestions?

 

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[Bekit]

This is what she replied:
View attachment 38719
Now i am stuck on what to reply . I am really bad with words. Suggestions?

Have you offered her the paid trial option? Or not yet?

 

[BlackMagician]

Have you offered her the paid trial option? Or not yet?

Not yet.

 

[BlackMagician]

To me it sounds like you're going after prospects who can't afford your services @BlackMagician. I imagine your time would be better spent on those who actually have the budget available, rather than trying so hard to persuade those who probably don't.

That is my first client. I am only targeting people who are already in the game and spending money on marketing but are not profitable.
This one was an outlier. But i feel i can help her good revenue. The thing is, if i really can help her get revenue of 400-500k INR, i can get 30% revenue share. The way i picture it, if things really work then it won't take more then 4 months to pass that revenue. I will easily get more revenue than other clients in this case. It's more work in starting, and more money later. I sacrifice in start, get return later.
But ofcourse only if things work.

 

[Manfern]

You should get more clients to decrease risk(if things don't work out with one of them)
and outsource something to focus more on sales and nurturing good paying clients

 

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[BlackMagician]

Sorry to hear buddy.

If:
1. You never had sexual relations with anyone, of any kind, until getting married AND
2. You never did IV drugs or used dirty needles on yourself AND
3. Never had and never did any blood transfusions

Then I highly encourage you to take the HIV test again. False positives do exist, and HIV is hard to acquire. It's less than 1% chance to acquire it if you have sex with a well-known HIV positive person without protection. Even receiving anal sex from an HIV positive person only has about a 1% chance of transmission.

No bro. I haven't haid any sex with anyone ever. Only with wife and she is negative.i
might have received a dirty injection. That's the best guess I can do. I tested 4 times as of now and it's positive unfortunately.

 

[Bekit]

G'day All,

I am back with lots of battle scars, tons of failures and going back to square one after my last post.

The journey has been hellish, mentally, physically and emotionally.

In Sept 22, I posted about my agency progress, doing okiesh with everything in life.

Then I fell ill in Sept 22. Got admitted in hospital for a 15 days and found that i had Tuberculosis (T.B).
After few days, and couple of more test, doctors found, i also have HIV.

From there everything crashed. I never had intimate relationship with anyone before my marriage and my wife is HIV negative but i got HIV positive. I don't know how. Well that sucks.

Every damn thing just crashed hard.

I was not prepared for anything like this. Anyhow, because of strong mental capacity, the HIV thing, didn't have much impact on my mind and emotions, but physically, i was destroyed, due to both T.B and HIV.

So a long hustle of medication started to cure T.B asap, which dramatically reduced my ability to function properly.

I always had high fever
I was not able to sleep long
Constant body ache, weakness, dizziness
Only 3-4 hours of mental energy to function

Hence i took the decision on pausing the agency altogether, telling my clients goodbye becoz it became difficult to function in my day to day activities.

Also, due to no preparation and zero savings, I also had to earn food for my big family (8).

Hence i started looking for job in agencies and found 1 after a month.

Due to health, i had to take this and started working in the agency, remotely, with minimal input from my end.
The agency owner was a friend connection so he helped me initially with work load.

i scraped by someone how in those 9 months, financially.

Simultaneously, due to no savings, I was constantly in pressure to earn my bread, which also made my family very restless (parents) because its only me in my family that earns. My family was very supportive and worry constantly about my health and my work.

At the same time, my family and my wife started having issues between them and the relationship started getting sour.

I somehow managed (we live in joint family here in India)

4 months back, i had a cute and lovely baby boy. My first child.

Almost everything was going wrong. I also stopped doing any spiritual work i used to do.

It's been 11 months now since then.

I have recovered my health. T.B is cured. HIV medication is going (there is NO cure).

2 months back, i again took decision of leaving the job and start working on my agency again.

Right now i have 2 clients in hand that pays the bill.

Relationship between my family and wife is still sour but i am handling things somehow.

Mentally and physically i am ok but still fog/stress/depress and weak body.

I will give a detailed update on my status on BIZ and what i am doing/going to do to grow again in next post.

Right now, i just wanted to say HI to all of you once again that i am back

Posting here about all of these to unload my mind a little and start using the forum for positive feedback loop and accountability from you guys.

You guys have been a morale support for me and I am thankful for that. Kindly be responsive on this thread that i will revive and again strive to achieve my goals/dreams.

Just wish me luck and give your blessings.
@Kak @Andy Black @MJ DeMarco @BizyDad @Rabby @Bekit @ZCP @MattL
Tagging all of you who were following this thread so that you can share your inputs on this.
It could be possible that my current mindset is wrong so you can point me. I am open to all feedbacks, criticism and support.


Until next time
Thanks
Sayonara
BM

Wow, you have been through a rough experience. Sorry to hear it has been so difficult. It sounds like you are staying strong and persevering. I just prayed for you, and I will pray again as you come to mind.

Chlorine dioxide and gigartina are two alternative remedies you might want to look into for HIV. Obviously do your own research.

You are an inspiration and a fighter. Keep your chin up. Rooting for you!!

 

[yashdutt]

BlackMagician, How Do you design websites, Do you use a website builder like wordpress or do you code sites from scratch, also what is the action plan you would suggest me to go with for building websites for business for my SMMA?​

 

[Simon Angel]

Thanks for this.

I have been active on the forum, just didn't updated the thread because I want to update when substantial things have been done.

FAMILY:
I boldly took action and told my family that I will take decisions regarding my wife/son. That dramatically decreased my stress.
Also mended the relationship between wife and family substantially.

After discussing with other elders in my contacts, i understood few points about handling situations like these.

Health:
I started having Unani herbs/meds to improve my health. Can feel clear mind, increasing energy. I will start workout after a week or so.

Agency:
Cracked 1 deal today. Remember I was doing trial work for them? They liked my work. 2 clients in hand now. For next month, I will be earning around ₹80k so the financial crisis will be solved.

1 more deal in the pipeline, doing the same trial run for them, I am confident to crack this too in next 15 days.

Another major update is about an old connection. So this guy runs 8 figure babycare brand, and I have worked for his brand in 2020 while working in the agency ( you might need to go back 3-4 pages of this thread to find that out).

As I started creating my own personal brand on LinkedIn, this guy approached me. We communicated in call, relished those 2020 growth days and how i scaled their brand 3x in those times.

He told me that he is looking for someone who can scale his Personal care segment. His babycare segment is already doing ₹3CR+ per month on website and ₹10CR+ on marketplaces.

He wanted me to do an audit on his current Business performance from DTC.

Today I presented that. Showed exactly where they can improve the results in babycare ads.

The guy is convinced and I might get this brand to scale his personal care segment.

If I crack this deal, I will be doing 10x of what I was doing last year before I fall sick.

Let's see. In touch with them and adding values everyday in his business already.

Showed him 3 critical problems in ads, WhatsApp marketing and website conversion.

Remember this thread title? "Adding value".

Personal Brand Building:
I have been consistently posting on LinkedIn, sharing valueable content and making myself an authority in Personal care niche here in India.
Multiple founders now know me and they are interacting with my content on daily basis. Getting queries from few of them, to whom I am saying NO if they are not my ICP.

Trying to make this personal brand a successful organic lead-gen machine.
In the meantime, creating team to execute on client tasks.

Already approached couple of ads designers media buyers. Just trying to find 1 media buyer who can perform well then I can grow this fast.

If I crack 1 more deal this month ( I am confident) next month, I will start saving cash so that I can hire good talent and grow this fast.

That's all from my end. Thanks for following up and watching my performance from side. To all of you who are struggling, just keep going. Ask for help and advice and relentlessly execute.

Until next time
Sayonara
BM

Shit happens dude, but it sounds like you're pulling through nicely.

There'll probably be some setbacks along the way, whether health or business-related, but don't let that discourage you. I've been in a similar place, it's tough.

And don't expect anyone to really understand you either. Even if you're surrounded by friends and family, you're still alone for the most part. You know what I mean.

Lastly, this isn't meant to be cynical in any way. On the contrary – I hope it empowers you to take back control over your life, knowing you're the only one who has the power to do so.

 

[BlackMagician]

One of my closest friends in the world passed away from AIDS when I was 22. Now at 34, not a day goes by I don't think of him. One of the greatest guys ever. I am sorry x100 for what you're experiencing, but I respect the F*ck out of the fact you're pulling yourself out of it. I went back and read all 8 pages of this thread. While you have pretty good coverage in regards to assistance here, having sold my agency earlier this year, I'd love to help in any way I can.

Cheers.

Thank you for extending your hands for help.

You have read everything I am doing in regards to agency. You can help me in anything you can.

Or we can have a convo in DM if you prefer

 

[BlackMagician]

G'day all,

Need help. So I acquire this brand this week, which i mentioned in my previous post. We closed the deal at ₹1 Lakh or 6% of the ad spend, whichever is higher.

They are spending 20 lakhs a month so I will get something around that.

It's a good amount for me and will help me grow fast.

Problem is, I will be needing lots of ads created(videos, static) as soon as we began working on the account (in a week's time).

I don't have any designer in house and any freelancer I tried, they are either dont do quality or just not worth it. I tried finding better people but no success.

Static ads, I have purchased some DIY types templates that i know will he helpful in fast execution but videos are big problem.

I need someone who can work on designing ads for the brand. I am still talking and trying ways to get.

Anything you guys can suggest I can do different to solve this roadblock?

@Antifragile

 

[BlackMagician]

@Oso shall I DM you?

 

[ZCP]

@BlackMagician proud of you! Keep it rolling. Be sure to block in time to take care of your health / family AND block in money to go to you (pay yourself first). slowly take enough money off the table to support your family w/o the business WHILE you are growing the business. Remove risk as you are able to.