maverick
Aspice, officio fungeris sine spe honoris ampliori
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
228%
- Oct 26, 2012
- 605
- 1,380
Hi nikita,
Welcome to the forum and good to have you here. I recognize the feeling of trying everything under the sun and hoping that something sticks. Over the years I've come to realize that this doesn't work. I'll share my thoughts on your post based on my own experiences.
Bear with me as this is going to sound harsh:
Focus on process instead of events.
Again, process is everything
Don't cut corners
Set attainable goals to ensure you stay on the right track
The way I would go about tackling this if I were ever interested in doing webdesign:
This was a long rant. Not meant to discourage you but wanted to help set expectations that will enable you to play the long game.
Welcome to the forum and good to have you here. I recognize the feeling of trying everything under the sun and hoping that something sticks. Over the years I've come to realize that this doesn't work. I'll share my thoughts on your post based on my own experiences.
Bear with me as this is going to sound harsh:
Focus on process instead of events.
Books such as 4HWW only focus on the event and never tell you how much graft it took to get there. Tim Ferriss worked long hours to get his supplements company up-and-running. Once he sold that, he had all the time of the world to go do the "location independent" stuff. It will take time to build a business. Nothing is handed to you without putting in the effort.My next idea was to save up for a few years and then invest in real estate. But I don't want to wait years.
Again, process is everything
This is lazy thinking. What are you going to teach the assistant to do? What process will they follow? Or are you expecting an assistant that will work for low $XX per hour but somehow will manage to crank out sale after sale? Or even worse: looking for somebody that will do all of your sales for a percentage in your business?- Hire an assistant to find me suitable clients.
- Create websites worth $10k+ each so I only have to do a few a month.
Don't cut corners
What value are you adding? The business model you've sketched out above is being the middle man i.e. adding overhead not value. Taking templates, editing them and reselling might make you some money in the short term, but it will not help you build a sustainable business.I first tried dropshipping from Aliexpress but all 6 of my websites failed and I made no sales, just spent a ton of money on FB ads. Maybe because I'm terrible at marketing.
Set attainable goals to ensure you stay on the right track
I've come across this a lot. Whenever you engage in an activity, be sure that it aligns with what your goals are. What I mean by this is that if you don't know what your goals are, you will never know if you're actually doing the right thing. Simply doing things because you think you should be doing them, will not net into positive results.I feel like that would be so much work to maintain.
The way I would go about tackling this if I were ever interested in doing webdesign:
- Identify the area that you're going to become the "king of webdesign" in. Let's assume for argument's sake that you want to become the "king of webdesign for car dealerships".
- Market research car dealerships in US/UK that have very appealing websites. Take note of what works, and what doesn't work. Slowly start building your own template based on the insights that you've acquired.
- Create a demo/dummy website based on the domain. Source a quality designer that can help you create logos/images/brand feeling.
- Start in your local area. Research what car dealerships have websites that look like they were created with MS Paint. Start building your own database of leads (i.e. CRM - but you could easily start in excel).
- Build a sales funnel. How are you going to get all of those cold leads warmed up? Are you going to send them an offline leaflet? Use PPC? Use FB ads? Create demo's? etc etc. This is where you get to use your brain. Develop your own sales funnel approach (read up on AARRR model) - once you've learnt what works you could potentially get an assistant to push leads through your funnel and setup appointments for example.
- In the first year you will be responsible for all of your own sales. You will have to take those appointments (or warmed up leads) and convert them into happy customers.
- Calculate your cost per customer acquisition (CAC) and customer lifetime value (CLV). Increase the lifetime value by cross and up-selling (e.g. buy our branding package: new logo etc, or buy our email marketing automation templates that you can easily use in Drip.co). Decrease the CAC by driving referrals.
This was a long rant. Not meant to discourage you but wanted to help set expectations that will enable you to play the long game.