Log: Finding My Fastlane On-Ramp

[Danny_Cox]

You should sell before you build.

I will post something here from my $10K+ training materials:

This is my own innovation when it comes to how businesses are built. It's called the NPOT Model, you can watch that free training to learn more, since you will not find this anywhere else. But there are basically two camps in business:

1. Product-First People

2. Marketing-First People

Well, the truth is that neither of the approaches above work, even though marketing-first is superior to product-first.

What you need is to craft the outline of the solution, sell it, and then build it. This is what NPOT Model First is. You create your NPOT Model, standing for Niche, Problem, Offer, Transformation. Then you sell that, before you build anything else. Only after you've sold it, do you build the actual product or service.

In this way you can iterate quickly and cheaply, and you pretty much cannot fail. This is the scientific way of building a business that can scale. This is how I am able to guarantee results 100% for anyone I accept into my training program, provided they already make $10K+/mo and are looking to scale. Because this approach works, without fail.

I am 100% certain it also works for broke people. The problem is broke people want to see 1000 case studies, and then go pester and annoy my clients about "uhhh what was your experience like?". I'm like "F*ck off loser, you're not getting in". So I've become very careful about who I reveal case studies to, it has to be someone who is very interested and is seriously considering it. Then I can reveal case studies and even arrange for them to speak with past clients. This is the reason why I stopped having anything to do with broke people. Most are such a pain and create a lot of problems for you, annoying your existing clients being the least of them. So now I don't work with anyone making less than $10K/mo.

Thanks for sharing Tudor. Really appreciate it.

I'm just gonna log my thoughts on the video here. Not expecting any more free advice.

1) GENERALIST VS. SPECIALIST
This is what I'm trying to achieve with the 'No More Nagging' project. Instead of selling drum lessons, I'm the leader of a team that specialises in training parents to get their kids practising music between lessons. Current issue: I need to spend another £200 to distribute an edited flyer that includes some detail on what I'm selling (just so I can find out if there's actually a market here or not).

2) TABLES ('PROBLEMS I SOLVE, HOW CAN I SOLVE, WHO HAS PROBLEMS, HOW ARE CLIENTS DIFFERENT AFTER)
I went through this kind of process in Alex Hormozi's '$100 Million Offers' book and the No More Nagging project was what came out as my best shot. I could spend more time here nonetheless.

3) PRICING
Minimum price for main offer $3000? I know Tudor recommended this video even though it was aimed at B2B... Can I really expect parents to give me $3000 to get their kids practising music? Maybe if I can target high-income families, but seems less and less available with new privacy tech restricting ad targeting. (I've definitely been unable to target by income for drum lessons on Google ads).

4) EDUCATION
It's clear to me that I'm woefully uneducated at this point in regards to business, marketing, economics. It seems prudent to consider investing, yet I'm right now in the position of struggling to hold onto the meagre savings I have to try to get out of the rental trap. Speculation in every direction.

-

There's a lot of uncertainty at this point. Do I continue with the current plan on a trial & error basis? Invest time & money in education?

I admit I feel fatigued, yet rest doesn't seem to bring any clarity. I'm not attacking this like I was a couple months back. Optimism has taken a hit. Maybe time to go back to TMF and regroup.

 

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[Black_Dragon43]

Thanks for sharing Tudor. Really appreciate it.

I'm just gonna log my thoughts on the video here. Not expecting any more free advice.

1) GENERALIST VS. SPECIALIST
This is what I'm trying to achieve with the 'No More Nagging' project. Instead of selling drum lessons, I'm the leader of a team that specialises in training parents to get their kids practising music between lessons. Current issue: I need to spend another £200 to distribute an edited flyer that includes some detail on what I'm selling (just so I can find out if there's actually a market here or not).

2) TABLES ('PROBLEMS I SOLVE, HOW CAN I SOLVE, WHO HAS PROBLEMS, HOW ARE CLIENTS DIFFERENT AFTER)
I went through this kind of process in Alex Hormozi's '$100 Million Offers' book and the No More Nagging project was what came out as my best shot. I could spend more time here nonetheless.

3) PRICING
Minimum price for main offer $3000? I know Tudor recommended this video even though it was aimed at B2B... Can I really expect parents to give me $3000 to get their kids practising music? Maybe if I can target high-income families, but seems less and less available with new privacy tech restricting ad targeting. (I've definitely been unable to target by income for drum lessons on Google ads).

4) EDUCATION
It's clear to me that I'm woefully uneducated at this point in regards to business, marketing, economics. It seems prudent to consider investing, yet I'm right now in the position of struggling to hold onto the meagre savings I have to try to get out of the rental trap. Speculation in every direction.

-

There's a lot of uncertainty at this point. Do I continue with the current plan on a trial & error basis? Invest time & money in education?

I admit I feel fatigued, yet rest doesn't seem to bring any clarity. I'm not attacking this like I was a couple months back. Optimism has taken a hit. Maybe time to go back to TMF and regroup.

Good thoughts. I don’t think you should be spending any money at this point. Why don’t you just go and talk with parents? Find music groups on Facebook, or just knock on people’s doors and start conversations. If a flyer can do the job, so can you, as a flesh and blood human being.

If you can’t sell anyone on your own, then a flyer is even less likely to help, will just waste your money. You don’t need to spend money now, you need to make it first.

How to Sell Anything - Noah Kagan

Recently my good friend Adam from MyBodyTutor.com was in town and I was blown away by how bad he is at sales. To give him credit, his service is outstanding (I’m a customer) and it’s extremely impressive how he’s created a profitable business. Okay, back to bashing him. So I spent the weekend...

okdork.com

 

[Danny_Cox]

Good thoughts. I don’t think you should be spending any money at this point. Why don’t you just go and talk with parents? Find music groups on Facebook, or just knock on people’s doors and start conversations. If a flyer can do the job, so can you, as a flesh and blood human being.

If you can’t sell anyone on your own, then a flyer is even less likely to help, will just waste your money. You don’t need to spend money now, you need to make it first.

How to Sell Anything - Noah Kagan

Recently my good friend Adam from MyBodyTutor.com was in town and I was blown away by how bad he is at sales. To give him credit, his service is outstanding (I’m a customer) and it’s extremely impressive how he’s created a profitable business. Okay, back to bashing him. So I spent the weekend...

okdork.com

Thanks again, Tudor. Perhaps it is just about conversations at this stage; perhaps I'm being impatient. I've interacted with hundreds of these parents over my years in the niche, but never with a view to solving this specific problem and how they might want to be helped with it.

Great link. The learning curve is steep right now. Super grateful for yourself and other folks here helping us newbies step up.

 

[James007Hill]

So, taking the advice to flyer locally as my first marketing attempt, I distributed ~1200, targeted at existing music students and households in affluent areas.

I stuck with the advice that the flyer should offer to solve a problem but not include anything about the 'how'.

This was the design—
View attachment 44529

I passed the flyers out a month ago. I've received one phone call.

The caller was keen and definitely my target audience. I spoke with her for 30 minutes and learned tonnes. At the end of the call, she asked me about cost, which definitely seems to be the way I want it.

Sadly, she's taking her family away for the summer, but we plan to reconnect in September.

The big question for me is 'what does this enquiry-to-flyer ratio tell me about my proposition?' Instinct says I'd want to be receiving more calls to show me it's worth pursuing my idea, but this is my first swing at this kind of business, so I'm hoping others can offer 2 cents

I can see the conversation has moved on now but for the record I have been doing some flyers and found the enquiry rate (most of which have converted to sales) to be around the 1 in 100 mark, however my proposition and niche is totally different so hard to compare. I do agree with what others have said though about the need to make it clearer what is being sold/some idea of what the solution will involve. As well as using website name I also included on the flyer a QR code to take them straight to the booking page too, maybe this is worth trying on any future flyers too? People are getting more and more used to and comfortable with the whole QR code thing!

 

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[Black_Dragon43]

Thanks again, Tudor. Perhaps it is just about conversations at this stage; perhaps I'm being impatient. I've interacted with hundreds of these parents over my years in the niche, but never with a view to solving this specific problem and how they might want to be helped with it.

Great link. The learning curve is steep right now. Super grateful for yourself and other folks here helping us newbies step up.

When you are talking with parents even if they don’t want to buy, you want to use it as an opportunity to explore what they would be willing to pay for. Ask them. Don’t let any interaction go to waste, at least get some feedback so you have a better idea about how to pivot.

 

[Danny_Cox]

I can see the conversation has moved on now but for the record I have been doing some flyers and found the enquiry rate (most of which have converted to sales) to be around the 1 in 100 mark, however my proposition and niche is totally different so hard to compare. I do agree with what others have said though about the need to make it clearer what is being sold/some idea of what the solution will involve. As well as using website name I also included on the flyer a QR code to take them straight to the booking page too, maybe this is worth trying on any future flyers too? People are getting more and more used to and comfortable with the whole QR code thing!

Really appreciate the input, friend! Will definitely be including more detail on any future runs.

 

[Danny_Cox]

When you are talking with parents even if they don’t want to buy, you want to use it as an opportunity to explore what they would be willing to pay for. Ask them. Don’t let any interaction go to waste, at least get some feedback so you have a better idea about how to pivot.

Seems it's all about mindset shifts. I can't imagine asking someone straight up what they'd be willing to pay for but hey, I'm not here to hang out in my comfort zone.

 

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