Marketing Agency - (Not a Tai Lopez Wannabe) Finally Going on My Own

[Smith11B]

Quick update - 1st TWO CLIENTS!!

Grabbed a client through upwork at $40/hr (in your face the guys who say upwork is for cheapo's only.)

In their defense, I have a pretty great profile, with references, portfolio examples, top 30% tests and a small amount of positive feedback.

The second client came from a facebook group.

My email campaign got a few responses since my last post, however they were people who really wanted to hire me as in house due to my credentials. I'm passed that so I passed.

Here are the numbers.

Client 1: $100 landing page rewrite with more to come in the future if it's good. Which it will be because I know what I'm doing.

Client 2: This one is a non profit. Code for Kicks. They're a coding camp for at risk youths that teaches them skills to have a future in technology. In order to incentive these kids to go through the program the reward is a free pair of expensive sneakers, provided by donation. SUPER cool client and one I can relate to so I think it will be a great relationship. This one is $40 an hour. I may give an few hours away as a donation because I really like the cause.


Personally I think it will only take me about an hour or 2 to complete the project, but I know they have more work to me.

I'll estimate my earnings at around $200 all together. Nothing crazy, but it's a start.

 

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[Dunkafelics]

A bit of a further update to this thread.

@Smith11B and I got in contact with one another and have decided to pool our collective knowledge together and build a marketing agency together.

We determined that both our mindset, lifestyle, and goals are well aligned. We believe that we can be an effective team in providing a high quality of service to other businesses.

One of the biggest hurdles we have both found is that being employed and having a family makes it tough to fulfill all the roles of a startup business.

From prospecting to completion of a project, there are a lot of steps in-between that make for a large time commitment for one person to take on. So we are combining our efforts to make this happen.

Our current plan is both have roles:

@Dunkafelics: is going to focus on the prospecting and sales end. I have an understanding of marketing and have been building up my skills, but it would be foolish to even say that I am close to the same level that @Smith11B is. I can best serve the business by being in the role I know best, getting into contact with businesses that would need our services and closing deals.

@Smith11B is going to focus on the marketing end. He has the major role right now so if he does not have to be as involved in the prospecting and sales end, it will remove a time hurdle for him.

Again we are starting from the bottom, but we already have a few business owners that we are working with. Our goal is to build the business to a big enough level, that we can outsource and shift into more of a project management role.

The best thing about all of this is - we are looking at developing the business with Fastlane principles. There are no business cards being printed or office space being built at this time. Instead, we are focused on building the productocracy and continually revisiting the principles of TMF and Unscripted to ensure that we are doing this right. Once we get the business running at the level that we need it to, then we start to implement some of those tools.

In the last few days, we have both been in contact with interested business owners. We are definitely seeing the need for services and are executing as much as possible.

Please feel free to leave us feedback if you want - we appreciate all those on the forum who have been on this path before us.

Will keep you all updated from time to time on our development.

 

[ShinyCarlos]

Hi @Smith11B !
I'm joining your amazing threat, which inspires me. Like some others here, I'm thinking about starting a Marketing Agency (nothing brand new haha). I got few skills today, but am working on it. (In advance: sorry for bad english)
Anyway, I would like to give you my interpretation concerning your email response rate:

I think (as far as I've read) you're very talented, but you strugle to present it correctly. Don't see those agencies as potential boss and you as a simple employee/freelancer/, like if they were over you.
Be confident, and try to see it as a partnership "Here is what I can bring you. Not Interested? Okay, Thanks."

Especialy the question "Was wondering do you guys..." has for me some disavantages:
> You are asking a process (which is good and shows interest) but no clear interview/call/stuf like that. What is your purpose ? You don't want to lose time and their neither. What's the clear and direct question you want to ask them.
> Using some past sentences reinforces this impression of non-confidence and uderestimation. Present it in the present and current time.

I read "Any of your ..." as "Please give me something, I can do all what you want". I'm exagerating a little bit, but this is the idea.
I think you got it, the main thing you need to work on, is your self-confidency and the way you think about this relationship. Put you balls

Hold on! There a some good points too:
> Custom "I saw you interview/article/stuff.." is very powerfull, you definitively should keep it.
> Showing them what you have done is kind of essential. Put short and clear facts/numbers in front of their eyes. They need to quickly analyse the potential of the guy they are reading.

I recommend you to read Dale Carnegie, very powerfull stuff.
Hope it will help you

 

[Smith11B]

Quick update:

One of the clients we brought on ended up being what seems like a scam. He was outsourcing his bad work to us. He had doused this guy for over $2k and delivered very sub par work.

Anyway that's a long story. We may end up working with the actual client later once he disputes or gets a refund but for the time being we let him fall off.

However, We did add another client who needs course descriptions for 10 udemy courses, knocking those out today.

We got them through upwork using synester's process. These guys have a ton of course's they'll need updated and so far they love my work. will most likely be a long term relationship.

Money to date in this venture.

$100 Code for Kicks Landing Page
$350 Course Description Copywriting


$450 and I started this about a week ago. Probably would've had more but we dropped a few clients that seemed shady or like they didn't want to pay. We've also got a call today with a event company and another scheduled for friday with a travel app company.

Guy's... take action. I sent out about 25 upwork notifications. Posted in facebook job boards and did the earlier email campaign. I haven't even really started getting with local businesses.

Now... here is where some people go wrong I think and MJ mentions it in both books. If you don't have the skill it is going to be tough to get paid. This seems like it happened quickly. but I mentioned before that I ate peanuts to learn and have a track record of results. This makes it much easier to get clients because I'm not just experimenting and can relay things that are related to their problem that I've solved in the past. It goes a very long way in putting me above the guys that are pitching from no where.


Getting a job is not slowlane if it's on the path to fastlane IMO.

Anyway Cheers. I'll keep hustling. Starting to fall in love with the process.

 

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[Smith11B]

Another quick update:

We actually did land that $1000 client and he paid his invoice in full today.

New earnings so far.

$1450

Awesome.

 

[Smith11B]

Update:

Since we took on Brandon, we've been pushing hard on upwork.

Right now we're at $2000 revenue with about $1300 of it actually collected.

@Dunkafelics as been setting us up with almost daily calls, and we've begun to fill out pipline with work.

Actually starting to get some feedback from clients and it's good stuff. Had a guy tell us we're changing his life and saving his future last night. Pretty awesome stuff.


We're looking at upping our pricing because right now we have a lot of jobs that we underpriced to get in the door. Time sucks, but we felt it was a necessary evil.

I also want to get more into video, as I think it's an awesome space to be in for digital marketing.

 

[BradyH]

Actually starting to get some feedback from clients and it's good stuff. Had a guy tell us we're changing his life and saving his future last night. Pretty awesome stuff.

This thread is great, I'm tagging along. I can't shoot for the moon yet because I don't have your 99 percentile expertise, but I know 100x more than the average business owner, so I know I can help. Your thread is inspiring. Keep it up!

 

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[rogue synthetic]

Great thread here. It's both motivating and jealousy-inducing at the same time ;-)

Adding to the watch list for sure.

 

[Smith11B]

This thread is great, I'm tagging along. I can't shoot for the moon yet because I don't have your 99 percentile expertise, but I know 100x more than the average business owner, so I know I can help. Your thread is inspiring. Keep it up!

I appreciate this more than you know man, I'll keep updating. I really hope this does inspire others.

Great thread here. It's both motivating and jealousy-inducing at the same time ;-)

Adding to the watch list for sure.

Same to you my man. and ha. Jealousy? Don't be man you can do the same.



Just to update:

Picked up another $100 job editing the copy on an amazon page for a self help author.

So far for this week Upwork says I've added $490 in work, but there's actually much more than that because this only includes the current milestones and I haven't tracked my hourly work yet. If I include the hourly work there's another $200, plus another $250 in additional milestones. Putting my total at $940 for the week. Not bad, if I can keep this up for even half the month I'll be making more than I did at the agency.



Now, I think a few things I need to work on.

I do not want to stay on upwork. It's would be tough to scale this because each project I take on is different. Copywriting, Facebook ads, etc. I would much rather have it that I am just running an entire marketing push or campaign for a company and receiving a larger fee to do it.

My goal is this. I want to be the best in the game at creating video marketing campaigns that drive lead generation brand awareness and sales online. Essentially I want to create a package that helps a business establish itself as a major player through video, and then run the lead generation and marketing side on the back end as well. Marketing agencies do this already, but most of them do not have a heavy focus on actually creating the assets.

Now, my current expertise does not include the video part. So That is why I'm currently sticking to what I know. It's enough, I can drive sales without awesome video. It's just something I've always been very interested in but never pursued because.... well life.

For now, I'll stick with it. I'm trying to both pay my bills and build up a bit of cash to start hiring and
advertising. So far, so good. A few good projects and we'll be there.

 

[Dunkafelics]

For all that have followed this thread, I would be hesitant about doing business and/or working with @Smith11B at this time.

We started a business partnership - no contracts in the beginning of March with regards to a digital marketing agency.

In the initial stages, we agreed on a 20%/20% split of the funds and then would funnel about 60% back into the business for marketing purposes.

My role was to find prospective opportunities and set up appointments to gain new business. Mark would help with the appointments as well and was on the backend of the creation side of things - consulting, landing page creation, advertisement, etc.

In our first two months of working with one another, I brought in about $5000 dollars worth of business and I believe @Smith11B brought in about $1000-$2000 dollars.

@Smith11B definitely knows his stuff when it comes to marketing. However the customer service side of things was less than ideal as he was late for appointments, work was delivered late and at times the quality of work was not at an ideal standard.

We also had set up a guarantee for clients that if we could not get the results for the client based on their initial payment that they could request a full refund.

Things went a little weird once I requested my first payment from him after two months. Together we had decided to take a bigger portion of the funds as we were starting up and agreed to a 30% portion for me, 60% for him and 10% back into the business.

@Smith11B said that we would get the payment sorted out and then messaged me a few days later stating that he had spent the majority of the funds due to financial hardship. At that point, there would not be enough funds to cover if a refund was required from one of the clients brought on.

To this date, I still have not been paid and the clients I have talked to have complained of slow work and missed deadlines.

We are no longer working with one another as I cannot trust and guarantee the services provided.

I didn't want to write this post, but I do want the Fastlane Forum community members who have thought about entering into a business relationship with @Smith11B to know about these issues that have come up prior to getting involved and/or making payments.

 

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[Tom.V]

For all that have followed this thread, I would be hesitant about doing business and/or working with @Smith11B at this time.

We started a business partnership - no contracts in the beginning of March with regards to a digital marketing agency.

In the initial stages, we agreed on a 20%/20% split of the funds and then would funnel about 60% back into the business for marketing purposes.

My role was to find prospective opportunities and set up appointments to gain new business. Mark would help with the appointments as well and was on the backend of the creation side of things - consulting, landing page creation, advertisement, etc.

In our first two months of working with one another, I brought in about $5000 dollars worth of business and I believe @Smith11B brought in about $1000-$2000 dollars.

@Smith11B definitely knows his stuff when it comes to marketing. However the customer service side of things was less than ideal as he was late for appointments, work was delivered late and at times the quality of work was not at an ideal standard.

We also had set up a guarantee for clients that if we could not get the results for the client based on their initial payment that they could request a full refund.

Things went a little weird once I requested my first payment from him after two months. Together we had decided to take a bigger portion of the funds as we were starting up and agreed to a 30% portion for me, 60% for him and 10% back into the business.

@Smith11B said that we would get the payment sorted out and then messaged me a few days later stating that he had spent the majority of the funds due to financial hardship. At that point, there would not be enough funds to cover if a refund was required from one of the clients brought on.

To this date, I still have not been paid and the clients I have talked to have complained of slow work and missed deadlines.

We are no longer working with one another as I cannot trust and guarantee the services provided.

I didn't want to write this post, but I do want the Fastlane Forum community members who have thought about entering into a business relationship with @Smith11B to know about these issues that have come up prior to getting involved and/or making payments.

Thanks for sharing. Unfortunately I have been in a partnership in a different business where things took a very similar path as yours. I took a large financial hit and acquired substantial debt from that misstep, hopfully you made it out in better shape than I did!

 

[Jfinley]

For all that have followed this thread, I would be hesitant about doing business and/or working with @Smith11B at this time.

We started a business partnership - no contracts in the beginning of March with regards to a digital marketing agency.

In the initial stages, we agreed on a 20%/20% split of the funds and then would funnel about 60% back into the business for marketing purposes.

My role was to find prospective opportunities and set up appointments to gain new business. Mark would help with the appointments as well and was on the backend of the creation side of things - consulting, landing page creation, advertisement, etc.

In our first two months of working with one another, I brought in about $5000 dollars worth of business and I believe @Smith11B brought in about $1000-$2000 dollars.

@Smith11B definitely knows his stuff when it comes to marketing. However the customer service side of things was less than ideal as he was late for appointments, work was delivered late and at times the quality of work was not at an ideal standard.

We also had set up a guarantee for clients that if we could not get the results for the client based on their initial payment that they could request a full refund.

Things went a little weird once I requested my first payment from him after two months. Together we had decided to take a bigger portion of the funds as we were starting up and agreed to a 30% portion for me, 60% for him and 10% back into the business.

@Smith11B said that we would get the payment sorted out and then messaged me a few days later stating that he had spent the majority of the funds due to financial hardship. At that point, there would not be enough funds to cover if a refund was required from one of the clients brought on.

To this date, I still have not been paid and the clients I have talked to have complained of slow work and missed deadlines.

We are no longer working with one another as I cannot trust and guarantee the services provided.

I didn't want to write this post, but I do want the Fastlane Forum community members who have thought about entering into a business relationship with @Smith11B to know about these issues that have come up prior to getting involved and/or making payments.

Partnerships are tough especially when the skills and expertise are not equal. Yes, a partnership should compliment each other, but in this type of business you'd be better having your own company and partnering with him on projects

NEVER give up control to a point where you don't control your own cashflow or the ability to directly impact your bottom line.

He sounds like a solid guy.

You should set new expectations, start your own company and continue to transform lives and businesses.

You can learn marketing, but customer service is something that is just part of you. You either have it or you don't. Those who don't pay those who do.

Simple philosophy

 

[TinyTim]

For all that have followed this thread, I would be hesitant about doing business and/or working with @Smith11B at this time.

We started a business partnership - no contracts in the beginning of March with regards to a digital marketing agency.

In the initial stages, we agreed on a 20%/20% split of the funds and then would funnel about 60% back into the business for marketing purposes.

My role was to find prospective opportunities and set up appointments to gain new business. Mark would help with the appointments as well and was on the backend of the creation side of things - consulting, landing page creation, advertisement, etc.

In our first two months of working with one another, I brought in about $5000 dollars worth of business and I believe @Smith11B brought in about $1000-$2000 dollars.

@Smith11B definitely knows his stuff when it comes to marketing. However the customer service side of things was less than ideal as he was late for appointments, work was delivered late and at times the quality of work was not at an ideal standard.

We also had set up a guarantee for clients that if we could not get the results for the client based on their initial payment that they could request a full refund.

Things went a little weird once I requested my first payment from him after two months. Together we had decided to take a bigger portion of the funds as we were starting up and agreed to a 30% portion for me, 60% for him and 10% back into the business.

@Smith11B said that we would get the payment sorted out and then messaged me a few days later stating that he had spent the majority of the funds due to financial hardship. At that point, there would not be enough funds to cover if a refund was required from one of the clients brought on.

To this date, I still have not been paid and the clients I have talked to have complained of slow work and missed deadlines.

We are no longer working with one another as I cannot trust and guarantee the services provided.

I didn't want to write this post, but I do want the Fastlane Forum community members who have thought about entering into a business relationship with @Smith11B to know about these issues that have come up prior to getting involved and/or making payments.

Just read through the whole thread. I let out a massive "noooooooo" when I started reading your partnership post. These things very rarely workout and should not be taken lightly.

 

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