I lost 70 Thousand in Advertising...

[Built4Greatness]

I am very interested in your SEO experience. I know you mentioned ranking high with any keyword. PLEASE SHARE. All I hear about SEO is blog more, create content. Yes I know, I know. Is this all there is too it?

 

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[Arrabista]

Great intro.. welcome aboard..you will find kindred spirits here...

 

[million$$$smile]

Great intro.
Regarding going through your "school of hard knocks" and blowing through so much cash. I would think it made you more cautious and conservative thereafter. And if so, do you think it held you back from scaling quicker or not. Do you feel in any way that that experience of losing so much cash on your initial startup has been a detriment to your growth?

Also welcome to the forum!
Randall

 

[spaxton1]

I am very interested in your SEO experience. I know you mentioned ranking high with any keyword. PLEASE SHARE. All I hear about SEO is blog more, create content. Yes I know, I know. Is this all there is too it?

I'll tell you a simple secret to SEO. But first... we need to address the comment about "All I hear about SEO is blog more, create content." If you hear that advice from someone; please respond to that person with the following:

1) Lace up your steel toed boots
2) Kick the person that told you to "Blog More" in the dingle berries as hard as you can
3) Wait for them to get up, repeat steps 2 and 3.

SEO is not content marketing. Content marketing is content marketing. SEO is the practice of ranking organically in the serps. Content may help; but has very little to do with it.

Wanna know the secret to SEO? ... regardless of what you hear (especially from big G and SEO Gurus), the serps don't lie. No matter what Google does they can't hide the top 10 results. Immediately following any algo update you have the key right in front of you. That tip right there can make anyone an SEO pro.

 

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[spaxton1]

Regarding going through your "school of hard knocks" and blowing through so much cash. I would think it made you more cautious and conservative thereafter. And if so, do you think it held you back from scaling quicker or not. Do you feel in any way that that experience of losing so much cash on your initial startup has been a detriment to your growth?

Ques: Did my experience (losing so much cash upfront) hold me back from scaling quicker?

ANS: No not really. Why? Because the money wasn't the key to scaling the business. The key was getting infront of my market. If you remember from my numbers above; I generated a whole 2 sales totaling $484. That money came from my local market. The plan was to prove the local market and then franchise the concept for quick growth.

I proved the product would sell. ... most would think the opposite. Instead of dwelling on the negative I looked at the positive. I did get the product to sell. If 2 people were willing to buy; then I knew millions would IF I could do a better job at reaching the right market AND improve the call to action/ product.

Original Plan: Prove the market locally and scale nationwide.

New Plan: Take the product nationwide and scale worldwide.

I knew if I could find a low cost way to duplicate the results (2 buyers per State) I could potentially generate $24,200 per month ($484 X 50 for each State) True, it wouldn't be a huge win (a wins a win)... but it would mean that my initial loss of $102,00 would turn into asset (education) rather than a liability (loss). ($290,400 per year)

Sure, I could have walked away and never looked back. But why? I proved my product would sell. ... it was now just a matter of fast scale. This is where the internet came to play. The internet is the great equalizer of wealth. What I thought would take a $70,000 marketing campaign could be done online for pennies.

My failure didn't hold me back from scaling quickly-- nope, it reared its ugly face and threw my butt on the fastlane where I had no choice but to step on the gas.

 

[Schmidty]

Although you've heard it multiple times, thanks for the great intro. Being new to this forum and now trying to spend as much time learning, it's great to get posts like this full of advice and personal experiences.

Being in college myself, one of my main questions that I like to direct towards fastlaner's such as yourself is related to schooling. You had mentioned that what you learned in school was in a sense pointless, but what I'm curious to know is "Could you have done it without your 'formal' education?" I understand school for a lot of people was kind of a waste of time but in the long run, the experiences that they learned in school shaped who they are today; regardless of if they actually used what they learned.

Just curious of your thoughts on the subject.

Thanks and I look forward to learning more from you in the future.

 

[Built4Greatness]

I'll tell you a simple secret to SEO. But first... we need to address the comment about "All I hear about SEO is blog more, create content." If you hear that advice from someone; please respond to that person with the following:

1) Lace up your steel toed boots
2) Kick the person that told you to "Blog More" in the dingle berries as hard as you can
3) Wait for them to get up, repeat steps 2 and 3.

SEO is not content marketing. Content marketing is content marketing. SEO is the practice of ranking organically in the serps. Content may help; but has very little to do with it.

Wanna know the secret to SEO? ... regardless of what you hear (especially from big G and SEO Gurus), the serps don't lie. No matter what Google does they can't hide the top 10 results. Immediately following any algo update you have the key right in front of you. That tip right there can make anyone an SEO pro.

I agree from my own experience. However, How to rank organically in top 10 results? You have me behind interested in this and I have been trying everything for months to do this with my site. Do you have any direct resources I can read to learn this?

 

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[Sydants]

I agree from my own experience. However, How to rank organically in top 10 results? You have me behind interested in this and I have been trying everything for months to do this with my site. Do you have any direct resources I can read to learn this?

I can't say for sure whether this is what Spaxton means - but the top 10 results show you HOW the sites there are ranking. Use tools such as Ahrefs to see what backlinks the site has and theoretically if you can improve on the top sites backlink profile you will outrank them. Of course there are other factors like age etc, but backlinks are the backbone of any ranking measurement.

Spaxton - do you mind if I ask if you go whitehat or mainly blackhat when you talk about SEO.

 

[StartupsRFun]

Being in college myself, one of my main questions that I like to direct towards fastlaner's such as yourself is related to schooling. You had mentioned that what you learned in school was in a sense pointless, but what I'm curious to know is "Could you have done it without your 'formal' education?" I understand school for a lot of people was kind of

I cant speak for Spaxton1, but I can give you my own personal advice, as I went to school and studied entrepreneurship, started a business right out of school, and failed miserably. My problem was I thought I knew it all, because the professors made it seem so easy. What they dont teach you in school or at least not the one I went to, was the actual mindset you need to have. They lead you to believe that the textbooks are actually a blueprint for how to create a successful business. Its as if all businesses need to be formed in the exact same way, but in reality all businesses are different and what X company needs, isnt what Y company needs.

No one ever mentioned the word failure, it was a taboo word that non college educated people dealt with. No, for us college grads we were going to start a business, follow the advice written in marketing 101, and would be drinking on yachts in about a year. The reality however is that you cant learn success from a textbook, you have to "do it". You have to understand that you are going to make mistakes and thats fine. The phrase fail early, and fail fast never made sense until I actually went through it, and had those "aha moments". The problem was I thought that I could make anything successful, it was all about me and people needed to buy into that. One of many lessons I learned through failing is that it has to be all about the customer. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates didnt become wealthy because they were great innovators, they became wealthy because people actually bought what they were selling. So the mindset needs to be customer focused, and those customers have to actually buy what you are selling. Ideas are worth nothing, until you have sold your product. Too many people spend all their time trying to figuring out the next great thing, when they should be looking at a market, and asking themselves, "how can I make their lives easier or how can I do X better". I think if I went back to school I would be tempted to slap the first person who told me they had a million dollar idea. Ok, maybe not slap, but maybe a mean stare, because a million dollar idea isnt just that until its made a million dollars. Great ideas are a dime a dozen, its all about execution. I could probably go on and on, but if you take anything away, take this, "create something people actually buy".

Hopefully that doesnt make you want to drop out, as I did gain some good stuff from going to college.

School helped me validate that entrepreneurship was what I wanted to do, as I was always selling things to the neighbors, had an Ebay store, and knew I had a passion for it when I was younger. And I learned some important fundamental skills, like how to access great resources, how to crunch numbers, and how to work in a team setting. I also feel like I got a well rounded education, and I forever have a college football team to root for on Saturdays.

The lessons I learned, I was going to learn one way or another, whether I went to school or not. Could I have gotten to this place without a formal education? Maybe, but its brought me to where I am today, and I certainly dont have any regrets.

Good luck to you. What are you studying?

 

[spaxton1]

Being in college myself, one of my main questions that I like to direct towards fastlaner's such as yourself is related to schooling. You had mentioned that what you learned in school was in a sense pointless, but what I'm curious to know is "Could you have done it without your 'formal' education?" I understand school for a lot of people was kind of a waste of time but in the long run, the experiences that they learned in school shaped who they are today; regardless of if they actually used what they learned.

Could I have done it without my formal education? Good question.

First, I don't regret my schooling. Second, it didn't help me much to get to where I am.

Sure, the ancient art history class is good if I travel the world... but it certainly didn't give me any skills to help me do that. Probably one of the best skills I learned in college was from being a radio dj. It was a fun class and I volunteered to DJ during the summer because it was fun. It taught me a little bit about marketing but nothing near what you learn from doing it in the real world.

College degrees are ego boosters in my opinion. Getting one shows you can stick to something and complete it. But, other than that they really aren't going to help you progress as a business owner. Ever noticed how every degree is catered to a job or career? Schools aren't really meant to get you on the fastlane-- that's something you have to do on your own.

I agree from my own experience. However, How to rank organically in top 10 results? You have me behind interested in this and I have been trying everything for months to do this with my site. Do you have any direct resources I can read to learn this?

SEO is a constant moving target. How to rank organically today can drastically change tomorrow. The reason you hear people preach content, content, content is probably because if you write enough content you will eventually get natural rankings. But that's kind of like investing in a business blindly and hoping it takes off. Content alone won't help you rank. Optimized content that is keyword based may help get some natural rankings; but that still requires the site to have some trust and authority.

Are there courses out there to learn SEO? Yes, tons of them. But the majority are outdated by the time they're created. There's a lot of garbage floating out there right now. Most of it is pushed propaganda by big G themselves. They've done a good job at scaring SEOs. I would highly discourage you from drinking the kool-aide that is found on most forums. If you're looking for a "quick and easy" way to rank you will have to find a time machine and go back to 2012 or earlier. Today's SEO has evolved and most of the seo tools that used to work no longer do.

I can't say for sure whether this is what Spaxton means - but the top 10 results show you HOW the sites there are ranking. Use tools such as Ahrefs to see what backlinks the site has and theoretically if you can improve on the top sites backlink profile you will outrank them. Of course there are other factors like age etc, but backlinks are the backbone of any ranking measurement.

Yes, that is basically what I meant, thanks.

Spaxton - do you mind if I ask if you go whitehat or mainly blackhat when you talk about SEO.

Technically if you are doing anything to influence search engines you are grey hat or black hat. People that claim they are whitehat are grey hat no matter how you spin it.

Black hat to me means you use extremely spammy techniques and mostly churn and burn. That's not my style.

You have to keep in mind, one of my businesses caters to SEO companies. They come to me to rank their clients sites. We HAVE to deliver results or their clients will stop using their service. Each company we service represents several customers. We do that by being smart aggressive. We have to balance results with quality. We also have to use systems that can be reversed in case a penalty or algo update hits. My approach to SEO is not much different than what big sites like WebMB or Geiko do. We have one SEO company we work with that generates over $300,000 worth of traffic per month (3.6 million per year) to their site alone. Here's a screenshot: http://screencast.com/t/oSEF0skscL3 SEO can be big business but to be a player in todays market you've got to have the right systems in place.

I wonder if anyone would be interested in a progress thread to demostrate the power of SEO? I might be up for a challenge like that. If I get enough people to reply with interest I would be willing to consider it. Let me know...

 

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[Built4Greatness]

Could I have done it without my formal education? Good question.

First, I don't regret my schooling. Second, it didn't help me much to get to where I am.

Sure, the ancient art history class is good if I travel the world... but it certainly didn't give me any skills to help me do that. Probably one of the best skills I learned in college was from being a radio dj. It was a fun class and I volunteered to DJ during the summer because it was fun. It taught me a little bit about marketing but nothing near what you learn from doing it in the real world.

College degrees are ego boosters in my opinion. Getting one shows you can stick to something and complete it. But, other than that they really aren't going to help you progress as a business owner. Ever noticed how every degree is catered to a job or career? Schools aren't really meant to get you on the fastlane-- that's something you have to do on your own.




SEO is a constant moving target. How to rank organically today can drastically change tomorrow. The reason you hear people preach content, content, content is probably because if you write enough content you will eventually get natural rankings. But that's kind of like investing in a business blindly and hoping it takes off. Content alone won't help you rank. Optimized content that is keyword based may help get some natural rankings; but that still requires the site to have some trust and authority.

Are there courses out there to learn SEO? Yes, tons of them. But the majority are outdated by the time they're created. There's a lot of garbage floating out there right now. Most of it is pushed propaganda by big G themselves. They've done a good job at scaring SEOs. I would highly discourage you from drinking the kool-aide that is found on most forums. If you're looking for a "quick and easy" way to rank you will have to find a time machine and go back to 2012 or earlier. Today's SEO has evolved and most of the seo tools that used to work no longer do.



Yes, that is basically what I meant, thanks.



Technically if you are doing anything to influence search engines you are grey hat or black hat. People that claim they are whitehat are grey hat no matter how you spin it.

Black hat to me means you use extremely spammy techniques and mostly churn and burn. That's not my style.

You have to keep in mind, one of my businesses caters to SEO companies. They come to me to rank their clients sites. We HAVE to deliver results or their clients will stop using their service. Each company we service represents several customers. We do that by being smart aggressive. We have to balance results with quality. We also have to use systems that can be reversed in case a penalty or algo update hits. My approach to SEO is not much different than what big sites like WebMB or Geiko do. We have one SEO company we work with that generates over $300,000 worth of traffic per month (3.6 million per year) to their site alone. Here's a screenshot: http://screencast.com/t/oSEF0skscL3 SEO can be big business but to be a player in todays market you've got to have the right systems in place.

I wonder if anyone would be interested in a progress thread to demostrate the power of SEO? I might be up for a challenge like that. If I get enough people to reply with interest I would be willing to consider it. Let me know...

Well obviously I'm in. Let's do it.

 

[spaxton1]

Well obviously I'm in. Let's do it.

I'm assuming you're referring to a SEO Progress thread?

I've run case studies like that in the past. They take a ton of time and effort. I'm willing; but I'll need to see a lot more interest to justify the time.

Anyone else want me to run a SEO Progress Thread? ... If so what is the main thing you'd like me to show? (Not sure how much interest this forum has in SEO. It certainly jives with Fastlane strategy; but I don't want to waste my time on a that unless more people are interested. Its a huge commitment for me.)

 

[Enki]

SEO is the practice of ranking organically in the serps. Content may help; but has very little to do with it.

The Content here is SIMPLY AMAZING!!! I wonder what that will do for your rank once you get past the 100 mark and put a link in your signature [edit: your an INSIDERS].. Thanks for your story! I've read over 100,000 posts on this site in 8 months. I can honestly say there hasn't quite been a character like you around here.

SEO. It certainly jives with Fastlane strategy

Sure it does, if you own google.....

 

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[TedM]

There's probably not one successfull person on this forum that hasn't experience some sort of self doubt or challenges-- its just a part of the process. ... what separates the winners from the losers is how the pick up the pieces.

 

[spaxton1]

The Content here is SIMPLY AMAZING!!! I wonder what that will do for your rank once you get past the 100 mark and put a link in your signature [edit: your an INSIDERS].. Thanks for your story! I've read over 100,000 posts on this site in 8 months.

Good question. In today's SEO, forum links won't do much either way. I don't use them for link building. Although in the not too distant past they would do wonders.

PS: I created a new post to see if anyone is interested in me doing a SEO progress thread. If you are, please comment over there: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...l-only-show-you-if-you-ask.50890/#post-340221

Those types of threads (progress threads) are demanding on time. I don't mind helping people; but it is a big burden of time and dedication so before I commit I want to see if there are more interested people too.

Thanks.

I can honestly say there hasn't quite been a character like you around here.

I'll take that as a compliment, right?

 

[fishnukin]

Thanks for sharing a great post!
It shows your strong desire and perseverance that you spent over $100K and 3 years to get to where you are today.
99% don't even know about the Fast Lane method and your strong desire and perseverance stepped you into the Fast Lane club!
I struggled for almost 2 years as a business owner and spent over $30K stumbling through set-up costs, advertising, network marketing & affiliate marketing programs, seminars, software, etc. I recently purchased the book and it also shocked me that I was on the slow lane for most of my life..
Now, I'm also taking massive action and have the mindset to stay on the Fast Lane to reach success.

Thanks again for sharing your story and inspiration!

 

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[Elizabeth Shi]

Wow! Such perseverance! Thank you for sharing your valuable experience and welcome to TFF!

 

[ssvaley]

Your post is really inspiring... help me with my mindset too. thanks

 

[CashFlow]

Agreed on that. I was lucky to be in a position to pay the tuition. The school of hard knocks seems to have the highest fees; but best professors.




Funny enough... usually the people around us with the highest education are also the ones without money. Education doesn't equal money, nor does it equal education.

Much like the .com or housing bubbles I think the education market will have a bubble soon. Who knows how soon; but it will happen.




Thanks! Real life drama-- its what molds us into what we are.




+1 for the comment about affiliates. (Made me smile)

Sure, I think its vital the information flow both ways. I'm sure everyone here is an expert in some way or another and has value that can add to the community. My skills are mostly with SEO, Branding, Conversion Optimization, Software Development, and IM Marketing. Hopefully those skills can help a few people.




I think billboards have their place, but overall they are a very difficult medium. Today when I drive down the road I can immediately tell if a billboard is a success or not. I'm not a fan of name recognition branding. If I were to run a billboard campaign again; I'm sure I could make it work-- but it would require a strong call to action. If you think about it... a billboard call to action has to be so effective that people either are willing to risk their life to buy now while driving OR so strong they actually remember it after they get out of the car.

In general, they work great for politicians, and events. Outside from those two-- you better know what you're doing.

----------

Thanks so much for sharing. I have to agree with you - I think college and the student loan debt issue is the next shoe to drop (bubble). I too went to college and stopped when my loans hit $56k.

I love what you said about getting a real education and how you would never get that from non-millionaire professors. So true.

I realized college didn't make sense and dropped out. Best move I ever made.

I think a great idea for the future of college campuses is to raise capital to rehab them into nursing homes/ elderly community living facilities. What do you think?

 

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[Simon Ashari]

I cant speak for Spaxton1, but I can give you my own personal advice, as I went to school and studied entrepreneurship, started a business right out of school, and failed miserably. My problem was I thought I knew it all, because the professors made it seem so easy. What they dont teach you in school or at least not the one I went to, was the actual mindset you need to have. They lead you to believe that the textbooks are actually a blueprint for how to create a successful business. Its as if all businesses need to be formed in the exact same way, but in reality all businesses are different and what X company needs, isnt what Y company needs.

No one ever mentioned the word failure, it was a taboo word that non college educated people dealt with. No, for us college grads we were going to start a business, follow the advice written in marketing 101, and would be drinking on yachts in about a year.

Agree. Did some business and marketing subjects at university (degree was economics).

Didn't hear the phrase 'lead generation' once. Heard a lot of people talking about your 'marketing mix' though.

 

[CashFlow]

I think billboards have their place, but overall they are a very difficult medium. Today when I drive down the road I can immediately tell if a billboard is a success or not. I'm not a fan of name recognition branding. If I were to run a billboard campaign again; I'm sure I could make it work-- but it would require a strong call to action. If you think about it... a billboard call to action has to be so effective that people either are willing to risk their life to buy now while driving OR so strong they actually remember it after they get out of the car.

In general, they work great for politicians, and events. Outside from those two-- you better know what you're doing.

----------

Billboard Case Study: There's one in Florida on I95 that's been up for a long time that seems to work really well. Only thing missing is a simple 800 number to remember or a catchy website.

Then a competitor decided to jump on the bandwagon... but with an easy to remember website and phone number.

 

[S&P]

Awesome post!

 

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[Simon Ashari]

Billboard Case Study: There's one in Florida on I95 that's been up for a long time that seems to work really well. Only thing missing is a simple 800 number to remember or a catchy website.

Then a competitor decided to jump on the bandwagon... but with an easy to remember website and phone number.

Classic bait and switch (but in a good, non-annoying way).