Hey all,
I'm new to the forum having first read the book almost a year ago, and then again this month.
I started my first successful business, which is still going strong, ten years ago in 2003 selling my "Never Cold Call Again" product online and that continues to generate about $30-40k/month without much time or input from me, save for writing three new articles & promo emails each week, and logging into Google AdWords for a few hours each month (I've tried to outsource AdWords twice, both times to very reputable companies, and both were disasters that temporarily crushed my revenue).
My niche is in the sales training business and since then I've become a NY Times best-selling author, and found out fast that books are HORRIBLE products. Something that Dan Kennedy says repeatedly. But they're good for bringing people to your website and buying high-margin products. I'm glad to be a best-seller but would have stopped at one published book if I knew then what I know now.
My income has been stuck at that same level for a few years. I went and spent a few days with my friend and fellow author Jeffrey Gitomer to get his insight into how he has an 8-figure business, and I was immediately turned off. While Jeffrey is a great guy, and one of the nicest and most generous people I've ever known, the reality is he has an 8-figure business by traveling and speaking 100+ days a year. Living in hotels for a third of the year is a TOTAL non-option for me. I've always hated travel, and no way do I want to be away from home with a 2-year old and another one on the way!
The other problem with sales training is that you ARE the brand. It's not a sellable asset. I *am* my business as Jeffrey is his. So over the past year I've been working on my real Fastlane: An online marketing consultancy that can be sold after a large client base & revenue stream has been built.
Lucky for me, my success with NeverColdCall.com has come from knowing how to generate massive traffic to the website. Same goes for getting on the NY Times best-seller list, and over time that has attracted people to me seeking help. My goal now is building up my online marketing agency (focusing on enterprise-level SEO and Reputation Management) to the point where I can sell it for eight figures, which shouldn't take too long at the rate we're going. In fact I just picked up a $20k/month Reputation Management client and the profit margin on that is around 80% so it doesn't take a ton of those to have a VERY valuable Fastlane, especially since I'm not doing the actual work.
I'm especially encouraged to know that a local SEO agency recently sold for $25 million and another SEO sold for $100 million. And another provider selling relatively simple and ineffective link pyramids has sold for $25 as well. So their appears to be something of a "dot-com" phenomenon going on right now with SEO agencies being bought out for big bucks - hence my urgency to turn this into a massive Fastlane, fast!
I live in Dallas and Mark Cuban's house is only a short detour on my way to my office, so I drive by at least once a week for inspiration. And BTW Mark's short e-book available on his blog is AWESOME. I can read the whole thing in a couple of hours and it's a nice shot of motivation when needed! (One of my SEO guys worked with Mark in the 1990s around the birth of Broadcast.com which is pretty damn cool. He had a chance to get in on it but didn't - his regret, my gain for getting a smart guy on the team!)
Anyway, that's my story. I'm 40, recently married, love my life and have loved it for 10 years since my first successful business took off - and currently it's still my top income source - but ready to really kick my a$$ into high gear and get into a KILLER Fastlane that can be sold as an asset and isn't a self-branded, self-employment type gig like the sales training/speaking business.
Frank
PS: At the time I started NeverColdCall.com in 2003 and for the few years prior I was piss broke and was spending time at the Phoenix Public Library reading and learning, so that part of MJ's story really brought back some great memories!
I'm new to the forum having first read the book almost a year ago, and then again this month.
I started my first successful business, which is still going strong, ten years ago in 2003 selling my "Never Cold Call Again" product online and that continues to generate about $30-40k/month without much time or input from me, save for writing three new articles & promo emails each week, and logging into Google AdWords for a few hours each month (I've tried to outsource AdWords twice, both times to very reputable companies, and both were disasters that temporarily crushed my revenue).
My niche is in the sales training business and since then I've become a NY Times best-selling author, and found out fast that books are HORRIBLE products. Something that Dan Kennedy says repeatedly. But they're good for bringing people to your website and buying high-margin products. I'm glad to be a best-seller but would have stopped at one published book if I knew then what I know now.
My income has been stuck at that same level for a few years. I went and spent a few days with my friend and fellow author Jeffrey Gitomer to get his insight into how he has an 8-figure business, and I was immediately turned off. While Jeffrey is a great guy, and one of the nicest and most generous people I've ever known, the reality is he has an 8-figure business by traveling and speaking 100+ days a year. Living in hotels for a third of the year is a TOTAL non-option for me. I've always hated travel, and no way do I want to be away from home with a 2-year old and another one on the way!
The other problem with sales training is that you ARE the brand. It's not a sellable asset. I *am* my business as Jeffrey is his. So over the past year I've been working on my real Fastlane: An online marketing consultancy that can be sold after a large client base & revenue stream has been built.
Lucky for me, my success with NeverColdCall.com has come from knowing how to generate massive traffic to the website. Same goes for getting on the NY Times best-seller list, and over time that has attracted people to me seeking help. My goal now is building up my online marketing agency (focusing on enterprise-level SEO and Reputation Management) to the point where I can sell it for eight figures, which shouldn't take too long at the rate we're going. In fact I just picked up a $20k/month Reputation Management client and the profit margin on that is around 80% so it doesn't take a ton of those to have a VERY valuable Fastlane, especially since I'm not doing the actual work.
I'm especially encouraged to know that a local SEO agency recently sold for $25 million and another SEO sold for $100 million. And another provider selling relatively simple and ineffective link pyramids has sold for $25 as well. So their appears to be something of a "dot-com" phenomenon going on right now with SEO agencies being bought out for big bucks - hence my urgency to turn this into a massive Fastlane, fast!
I live in Dallas and Mark Cuban's house is only a short detour on my way to my office, so I drive by at least once a week for inspiration. And BTW Mark's short e-book available on his blog is AWESOME. I can read the whole thing in a couple of hours and it's a nice shot of motivation when needed! (One of my SEO guys worked with Mark in the 1990s around the birth of Broadcast.com which is pretty damn cool. He had a chance to get in on it but didn't - his regret, my gain for getting a smart guy on the team!)
Anyway, that's my story. I'm 40, recently married, love my life and have loved it for 10 years since my first successful business took off - and currently it's still my top income source - but ready to really kick my a$$ into high gear and get into a KILLER Fastlane that can be sold as an asset and isn't a self-branded, self-employment type gig like the sales training/speaking business.
Frank
PS: At the time I started NeverColdCall.com in 2003 and for the few years prior I was piss broke and was spending time at the Phoenix Public Library reading and learning, so that part of MJ's story really brought back some great memories!
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