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[Progress] Building a Content Creation and Strategy Business

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

Metz

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Since my progress diary on my e-commerce website has been pretty useful to keep me on task (that and I love reading through some of the progress threads on here and seeing people be successful), I figured I'd do one for my content strategy business as well. "Metz, you foolish fool, why are you doing two projects at once?" you might be thinking. Fun fact: I'm actually working on three (!!!). While it might seem counter-intuitive, I'll come back and write (and discuss if anyone is curious about my apparent lunacy) why I've decided to work like this -- but that's something for another day.

Today is a day of renewed beginnings for a long-standing project that I ultimately began when I was 20-21, stumbled from multiple life circumstances and depression, and am now building up speed again.

While I started freelancing many moons ago (I'm 29 now), I set up an LLC back in 2018 but fumbled its execution. Hard. I had no focus at all -- my marketing, the services I offered, my own life. It was rough.

I knew I had to find a niche, find a need that I can help fulfill, and as a writer who knows SEO, I knew there were plenty of businesses who needed that kinda help. With my e-commerce site starting to take off, it gave me a few ideas on how to better hone my business' focus. Instead of being a one-size-fits-all "LET ME HELP YOU WITH ALL YOUR PROFESSIONAL STRATEGY GOALS" nonsense consultancy (nothing against coaches and consultants btw, just if you saw my site before, younger me meant well but it was a bunch of nonsense), I've now chosen a specific path: content creation and strategy.

Simply put, I want to find businesses and brands who need written content from blog and social media posts to print materials (brochures, flyers, etc.) to reworking existing content to be more SEO-friendly. I can also help with video and other kinds of content for those interested in building brands on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, and Twitch through storyboarding or helping businesses find the right platforms that fit their model and the kinds of customers they're trying to attract. While that also overlaps with marketing, it all comes back down to writing.

Ideally, I want to focus on mid-sized businesses for now; businesses that have some money to spare for marketing, are primed to grow, yet are still underserved by other content strategy companies who either charge a ton (I've been doing some math by comparing the larger companies' prices to mine and I can easily be at least 30% cheaper and have pretty good profit margins of at least 60%) or have been burned by content companies that act as mills (some of my early clients back in the day found me because they realized paying $20 for a 1000 word article that just rambles in broken English and packed with keywords to the point that its saturation makes SEO crawlers flag it for the low-quality spam it is). I can also keep costs down by continuing to work remotely rather than rely on office space though if the business grows big enough, a little bit of office space might be nice.. though honestly, I'm having a hard time foreseeing that as something I'd even want. But baby steps.

Another useful asset is that I also understand SEO well enough regarding content so that the content itself isn't just SEO-friendly, but I can advise the client on how to make the most out of the content once it's been delivered. Since I'm competing with content mills and businesses don't realize how worthless a lot of that writing is, I want to demonstrate the value of quality > quantity -- and, if one were to scale, high quality + quantity >>>>> low quality + quantity. The best way I've found to do that is taking the time to be transparent with the client and help them understand what to do with the content once it's ready and in their hands: where to share it and how, what pages it can link to, how it can be turned into a sales funnel, stuff like that.

I know there's no shortage of work like this that needs to be done because when I attempted to scale last time, I found I bit off more than I could chew throwing pitches around. While I didn't expect such a strong response so quickly, I got overwhelmed with that on top of a bunch of other personal things going on in my life. I've since learned from all of that, being in a better, more confident headspace and finding ways to automate my work so I can serve clients well without burning myself out.

One way of doing that was contracting three writers to handle the research, outlining, and drafting portions of the projects and then I edit, format the content for SEO, and work with the client. The writers do what they enjoy and don't have to worry about any client interactions and they build their own schedules so long as the work gets done by the deadline. I also pay them better than what a larger content company would because.. well.. I've worked as a contractor in the space long enough to know. Even while I'm training them on the process, they've already saved me a ton of time which I can now reinvest in other business-building activities.

SO WHAT DO I DO FROM HERE? The list is simple:
  • I already have one client but I'd like to sign on 2-3 more by the end of the month.
  • Continue training the writers on their workflow and assess the process (this isn't the first time I've managed people or done project management, but this is the first time I've let people in to help me with my business like this).
    • Depending on how they do and what client work I can find, I have a fourth writer I've yet to contract but is very interested in helping out.
  • Build a few sales funnels for my site.
  • Figure out how AdWords works so I can make those funnels and finding new clients more effective (my SEO knowledge is mostly on organic strategies rather than paid ad stuff.. so if anyone's got any useful advice or primers on using Google AdWords, I'd be very grateful).
My immediate goal is to get at least $5K in monthly revenue which is definitely attainable this month if I keep focused and grind it out. Longer-term goals are $25K/month in revenue, a team of at least five writers, and promoting one of them to editor so I can focus on formatting, consulting, and acquiring more clients.

But yeah.. ya boy's hungry and I've been obsessing over trying to make this work. I feel so close to getting this machine in motion. I'd say here's hoping but it isn't about hope at this point anymore. It's about doing. And I'm not going to stop until it works.
 
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Last edited:

Happyheart

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Since my progress diary on my e-commerce website has been pretty useful to keep me on task (that and I love reading through some of the progress threads on here and seeing people be successful), I figured I'd do one for my content strategy business as well. "Metz, you foolish fool, why are you doing two projects at once?" you might be thinking. Fun fact: I'm actually working on three (!!!). While it might seem counter-intuitive, I'll come back and write (and discuss if anyone is curious about my apparent lunacy) why I've decided to work like this -- but that's something for another day.

Today is a day of renewed beginnings for a long-standing project that I ultimately began when I was 20-21, stumbled from multiple life circumstances and depression, and am now building up speed again.

While I started freelancing many moons ago (I'm 29 now), I set up an LLC back in 2018 but fumbled its execution. Hard. I had no focus at all -- my marketing, the services I offered, my own life. It was rough.

I knew I had to find a niche, find a need that I can help fulfill, and as a writer who knows SEO, I knew there were plenty of businesses who needed that kinda help. With my e-commerce site starting to take off, it gave me a few ideas on how to better hone my business' focus. Instead of being a one-size-fits-all "LET ME HELP YOU WITH ALL YOUR PROFESSIONAL STRATEGY GOALS" nonsense consultancy (nothing against coaches and consultants btw, just if you saw my site before, younger me meant well but it was a bunch of nonsense), I've now chosen a specific path: content creation and strategy.

Simply put, I want to find businesses and brands who need written content from blog and social media posts to print materials (brochures, flyers, etc.) to reworking existing content to be more SEO-friendly. I can also help with video and other kinds of content for those interested in building brands on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, and Twitch through storyboarding or helping businesses find the right platforms that fit their model and the kinds of customers they're trying to attract. While that also overlaps with marketing, it all comes back down to writing.

Ideally, I want to focus on mid-sized businesses for now; businesses that have some money to spare for marketing, are primed to grow, yet are still underserved by other content strategy companies who either charge a ton (I've been doing some math by comparing the larger companies' prices to mine and I can easily be at least 30% cheaper and have pretty good profit margins of at least 60%) or have been burned by content companies that act as mills (some of my early clients back in the day found me because they realized paying $20 for a 1000 word article that just rambles in broken English and packed with keywords to the point that its saturation makes SEO crawlers flag it for the low-quality spam it is). I can also keep costs down by continuing to work remotely rather than rely on office space though if the business grows big enough, a little bit of office space might be nice.. though honestly, I'm having a hard time foreseeing that as something I'd even want. But baby steps.

Another useful asset is that I also understand SEO well enough regarding content so that the content itself isn't just SEO-friendly, but I can advise the client on how to make the most out of the content once it's been delivered. Since I'm competing with content mills and businesses don't realize how worthless a lot of that writing is, I want to demonstrate the value of quality > quantity -- and, if one were to scale, high quality + quantity >>>>> low quality + quantity. The best way I've found to do that is taking the time to be transparent with the client and help them understand what to do with the content once it's ready and in their hands: where to share it and how, what pages it can link to, how it can be turned into a sales funnel, stuff like that.

I know there's no shortage of work like this that needs to be done because when I attempted to scale last time, I found I bit off more than I could chew throwing pitches around. While I didn't expect such a strong response so quickly, I got overwhelmed with that on top of a bunch of other personal things going on in my life. I've since learned from all of that, being in a better, more confident headspace and finding ways to automate my work so I can serve clients well without burning myself out.

One way of doing that was contracting three writers to handle the research, outlining, and drafting portions of the projects and then I edit, format the content for SEO, and work with the client. The writers do what they enjoy and don't have to worry about any client interactions and they build their own schedules so long as the work gets done by the deadline. I also pay them better than what a larger content company would because.. well.. I've worked as a contractor in the space long enough to know. Even while I'm training them on the process, they've already saved me a ton of time which I can now reinvest in other business-building activities.

SO WHAT DO I DO FROM HERE? The list is simple:
  • I already have one client but I'd like to sign on 2-3 more by the end of the month.
  • Continue training the writers on their workflow and assess the process (this isn't the first time I've managed people or done project management, but this is the first time I've let people in to help me with my business like this).
    • Depending on how they do and what client work I can find, I have a fourth writer I've yet to contract but is very interested in helping out.
  • Build a few sales funnels for my site.
  • Figure out how AdWords works so I can make those funnels and finding new clients more effective (my SEO knowledge is mostly on organic strategies rather than paid ad stuff.. so if anyone's got any useful advice or primers on using Google AdWords, I'd be very grateful).
My immediate goal is to get at least $5K in monthly revenue which is definitely attainable this month if I keep focused and grind it out. Longer-term goals are $25K/month in revenue, a team of at least five writers, and promoting one of them to editor so I can focus on formatting, consulting, and acquiring more clients.

But yeah.. ya boy's hungry and I've been obsessing over trying to make this work. I feel so close to getting this machine in motion. I'd say here's hoping but it isn't about hope at this point anymore. It's about doing. And I'm not going to stop until it works.
I like your drive. Just asking the following: most people have ups and downs, where they are a little more depressed and low energy and where they are full of energy. In the high tines we tend to be more optimistic and may take on more than we can manage when times are normal or low.
I don‘t know if that is the case with you, but I feel that it is especially important to get others‘ opinions during high times, because they foresee many problems we don‘t.
That is not to say that we shouldn‘t use the good times, because great things are built by enthusiastic high energy people.
 

Metz

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I like your drive. Just asking the following: most people have ups and downs, where they are a little more depressed and low energy and where they are full of energy. In the high tines we tend to be more optimistic and may take on more than we can manage when times are normal or low.
I don‘t know if that is the case with you, but I feel that it is especially important to get others‘ opinions during high times, because they foresee many problems we don‘t.
That is not to say that we shouldn‘t use the good times, because great things are built by enthusiastic high energy people.
Yeah, I get that. Though I'm curious, what was the question you were gonna ask?
 

Metz

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Okay, a little update already. Greasin' the skids of salesmanship and trying to dust off my client-finding skills. Because it's a long weekend and most businesses (or at least the decision-makers I wanna talk to) are probably gonna be out until Tuesday morning, I figured I'd start plugging my personal networks first.
  • Put out a descriptive post on Facebook to all my friends that if they're interested in making some extra money this summer to hit me up. Played the whole angle of "now that things are opening up as the pandemic winds down and how work has been stressful a variety of ways for people, I'm sure a lot of you have been wanting to get at least some beer money though depending on your interest and passion for it, could become something much more." I got like ten responses within an hour from people who are interested in generating referrals for me (and they'd be good fits for it too). I told them their goal isn't to sell my services for me.. it's to sell the idea of an introduction (it's easier to say "Hey, I want you to meet my friend who might be able to help you out," than "Let me tell you about my friend's business and why you should work with him," for them).
  • Made some calls to family and family friends who own businesses or whose services complement my own; gotta write up a one-page FAQ for value propositions to make their referrals easier as a handful of them already have some ideas.
  • Connected with some friends who are starting their own brands OR who work at places who need help with their brands but are either bootstrapping or don't have a marketing budget. With those people, I pitched this idea: they have a rather sizeable network of business contacts, if they help make introductions and generate referrals to me, a percentage of the value from those contracts will discount their own plan. That way, I can capture a segment of the market that values and needs my help but otherwise couldn't afford it, but now can offset their costs while growing both of our businesses (theirs, with the marketing and content help they need; mine, with more clients).
I realize going through Facebook seems unorthodox but since I'm kinda starting from scratch aside from my one current client (who I'll talk to more next week when they're back in the office), I figured if people (including business people) are at home with their families, going an indirect, personal route will be the best way to put those ideas in their head. By the time they get back to their offices, they're refreshed, relaxed, and excited. In the past, I actually managed to net my first big five-digit client that way.

Now that I've got more experience and recognition, I wanna see if some improvements to the old system work out. When I was starting out as a writer, people laughed at me or said how that wouldn't work out or that I should just work at McDonald's or something. Now they're like "oh, he's been doing this for a while and is actually really good at it." Sweet, sweet vindication.

In the meantime, I'll be prepping some posts and pitches for my LinkedIn for this week and checking out some businesses to get in touch with. Also playing around with some ideas for sales funnel pages I can make for my site while learning how to best use Adwords to drive traffic to them.

I'm going all out for Independence Day this year. Financial Independence, that is.:smuggy:

I'll show myself out.
 
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BlackSuperman

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Following!

I'm a content writer as well, so this is quite intriguing. I love that you're turning it into a full-blown agency.
Here is to knowing you will kill it
 

Metz

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Following!

I'm a content writer as well, so this is quite intriguing. I love that you're turning it into a full-blown agency.
Here is to knowing you will kill it
Ayyyy writer friend! I knew there had to be a few of us lurking around here somewhere.

But yeah, the inner struggle over the past few years has been exceptionally frustrating. This whole time, I would ruminate on how I have all the ingredients for success, I know the recipe, but every time I begin, I just fumble.. less because of incompetence (though inexperience certainly plays a role) and more because I believed myself entirely incompetent.. and undeserving.. and that everyone's better off without me.. and I have no real value to contribute to anyone. That last part was especially toxic for my business because I'd just give things away, doing things for people for free because I feared I'd not have any value otherwise.

Now I realize that if I want to fill other people's cups, I should make mine run over rather than drilling holes at the bottom of it. There's no nobility in self-martyrdom or self-pity. Just unnecessary pain and wasted potential. It took a lot to rewrite that mental script.. a lot of self-talk, a lot of cutting away toxic influences and people and thoughts, and a lot of therapy.

But what's nice about this is that this doesn't feel like some temporary high or being blinded by optimism to the point where I cannot see potential issues or obstacles. I just decided to not care anymore about the limiting influences in my head and every time one of those thoughts pops up, I'm like nope. You're evicted.

I don't mean to be all melodramatic but everyone has their own ups and downs with business and life, some struggles are more external than others.. some, like with me, started external and became internalized.

So yeah.. thanks for the well-wishing (you and @Edgar King and everyone else). I know we're virtually strangers but when my brain was so thoroughly convinced that I'm undeserving of success or, if achieving it, it'd just be ripped away violently so why even try.. to have people saying something as simple as that and allowing yourself to believe them. It made my day. So thank you for that. I hope to do you guys proud.
 
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Metz

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So nothing much new to report yet though I got a few questions at the end for anyone who's knowledgeable.

I've had about two dozen or so people respond to my Facebook post wanting to learn more about helping me generate leads with more than half of them saying they already knew a few people who'd be good candidates. Provided they follow through, dope. I even made a one-page (front to back) explanation of my company, what it does, the process, the value to the client, and how the cost is determined (to clarify, the referrers know all they're doing is introducing people to me, not writing proposals and giving quotes; they just asked how the pricing structure worked like if I do ad-hoc or month-to-month services) with an extra page for with tips for the referrers. Of course, I don't intend on relying solely on them but that brings me to the point I wanted to ask you all about: I've realized my weak point is that I really f*cking suck at B2B sales when it comes to my own stuff.

I noticed a pattern while running some paid ad campaigns for my e-commerce side hustle:
  • I know how to capture traffic from different sources and use niche marketing to get people to my site.
  • My sales process is technically sound. For the e-commerce site, if you know what you want, you can go on the site, choose the item, and checkout in less than a minute since everything is so smooth and fast. For my content strategy and management business site, the contact form is simple, intuitive, gets all the information I need, and I can follow up quickly.
  • If I can get a person to talk to me, I've got an 80% success rate in getting them to sign a contract with me, either within 48 hours or, if they initially decline, I've had them come back a week or two later and be like "You know, you made some good points. Let's try it out."
But there is a link missing in the conversion chain from curious stranger to new client or customer. While I'll talk more about the e-commerce thing on that thread after a few of my campaigns finish up next week so I can confirm some things, the issue right now is knowing where B2B clients who'd need my help hang out. Then, how to get them to listen to my song and dance.

Outside of local events (not much seems to be on the Chamber calendar for the summer), I've been trying to find connections on LinkedIn. I was also thinking of potentially using Upwork to try and take on some of the higher quality clients, build a relationship with them, and go from there. The problem with writing is that since so many people can do it (and a lot of freelancers just starting out alongside content mills do it for super cheap), it's been difficult to differentiate myself -- not that it can't be done, I just keep hitting my head against the wall. The irony is that I'm exceptionally talented at generating leads for my clients through content management but when it comes to myself.. well.. like I said, there's a link in the chain that's missing and I can't quite figure out what it is.

Barring advice or having a mentor to help me, I've been researching what I can do to not only increase conversion but figure out ways to attract direct sales:
  • Currently reading "Triggers" by Joseph Sugarman and that's already given me a lot of ideas for potential ad copy.
  • Writing my own content for my content company's blog again about business topics a niche I'm targeting cares about (in relation to my services) and using those as sales funnels that I can share on social media. When I have a good backlog of content scheduled for publication, I'll also add a newsletter sign-up to scrape emails.
  • Been taking notes on a few B2B-related posts on here specifically on scaling, lead gen, and sales.
The other issue is my own impatience. I know there's a time for sowing and a time for reaping and I've only spent the better part of a week and some change putting energy towards this. I'm just frustrated because there's a piece of the puzzle that is clearly missing but for the life of me, my brain just sputters and can't figure out how to fill in that gap.

Any advice?

In the meantime, I'll be researching and tossing some pitches where I can (I did send out five today just to get back in the swing of things but I hope to pump that number up more once I can get a bit more clarity on execution).
 

Edgar King

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Since my progress diary on my e-commerce website has been pretty useful to keep me on task (that and I love reading through some of the progress threads on here and seeing people be successful), I figured I'd do one for my content strategy business as well. "Metz, you foolish fool, why are you doing two projects at once?" you might be thinking. Fun fact: I'm actually working on three (!!!). While it might seem counter-intuitive, I'll come back and write (and discuss if anyone is curious about my apparent lunacy) why I've decided to work like this -- but that's something for another day.

Today is a day of renewed beginnings for a long-standing project that I ultimately began when I was 20-21, stumbled from multiple life circumstances and depression, and am now building up speed again.

While I started freelancing many moons ago (I'm 29 now), I set up an LLC back in 2018 but fumbled its execution. Hard. I had no focus at all -- my marketing, the services I offered, my own life. It was rough.

I knew I had to find a niche, find a need that I can help fulfill, and as a writer who knows SEO, I knew there were plenty of businesses who needed that kinda help. With my e-commerce site starting to take off, it gave me a few ideas on how to better hone my business' focus. Instead of being a one-size-fits-all "LET ME HELP YOU WITH ALL YOUR PROFESSIONAL STRATEGY GOALS" nonsense consultancy (nothing against coaches and consultants btw, just if you saw my site before, younger me meant well but it was a bunch of nonsense), I've now chosen a specific path: content creation and strategy.

Simply put, I want to find businesses and brands who need written content from blog and social media posts to print materials (brochures, flyers, etc.) to reworking existing content to be more SEO-friendly. I can also help with video and other kinds of content for those interested in building brands on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, and Twitch through storyboarding or helping businesses find the right platforms that fit their model and the kinds of customers they're trying to attract. While that also overlaps with marketing, it all comes back down to writing.

Ideally, I want to focus on mid-sized businesses for now; businesses that have some money to spare for marketing, are primed to grow, yet are still underserved by other content strategy companies who either charge a ton (I've been doing some math by comparing the larger companies' prices to mine and I can easily be at least 30% cheaper and have pretty good profit margins of at least 60%) or have been burned by content companies that act as mills (some of my early clients back in the day found me because they realized paying $20 for a 1000 word article that just rambles in broken English and packed with keywords to the point that its saturation makes SEO crawlers flag it for the low-quality spam it is). I can also keep costs down by continuing to work remotely rather than rely on office space though if the business grows big enough, a little bit of office space might be nice.. though honestly, I'm having a hard time foreseeing that as something I'd even want. But baby steps.

Another useful asset is that I also understand SEO well enough regarding content so that the content itself isn't just SEO-friendly, but I can advise the client on how to make the most out of the content once it's been delivered. Since I'm competing with content mills and businesses don't realize how worthless a lot of that writing is, I want to demonstrate the value of quality > quantity -- and, if one were to scale, high quality + quantity >>>>> low quality + quantity. The best way I've found to do that is taking the time to be transparent with the client and help them understand what to do with the content once it's ready and in their hands: where to share it and how, what pages it can link to, how it can be turned into a sales funnel, stuff like that.

I know there's no shortage of work like this that needs to be done because when I attempted to scale last time, I found I bit off more than I could chew throwing pitches around. While I didn't expect such a strong response so quickly, I got overwhelmed with that on top of a bunch of other personal things going on in my life. I've since learned from all of that, being in a better, more confident headspace and finding ways to automate my work so I can serve clients well without burning myself out.

One way of doing that was contracting three writers to handle the research, outlining, and drafting portions of the projects and then I edit, format the content for SEO, and work with the client. The writers do what they enjoy and don't have to worry about any client interactions and they build their own schedules so long as the work gets done by the deadline. I also pay them better than what a larger content company would because.. well.. I've worked as a contractor in the space long enough to know. Even while I'm training them on the process, they've already saved me a ton of time which I can now reinvest in other business-building activities.

SO WHAT DO I DO FROM HERE? The list is simple:
  • I already have one client but I'd like to sign on 2-3 more by the end of the month.
  • Continue training the writers on their workflow and assess the process (this isn't the first time I've managed people or done project management, but this is the first time I've let people in to help me with my business like this).
    • Depending on how they do and what client work I can find, I have a fourth writer I've yet to contract but is very interested in helping out.
  • Build a few sales funnels for my site.
  • Figure out how AdWords works so I can make those funnels and finding new clients more effective (my SEO knowledge is mostly on organic strategies rather than paid ad stuff.. so if anyone's got any useful advice or primers on using Google AdWords, I'd be very grateful).
My immediate goal is to get at least $5K in monthly revenue which is definitely attainable this month if I keep focused and grind it out. Longer-term goals are $25K/month in revenue, a team of at least five writers, and promoting one of them to editor so I can focus on formatting, consulting, and acquiring more clients.

But yeah.. ya boy's hungry and I've been obsessing over trying to make this work. I feel so close to getting this machine in motion. I'd say here's hoping but it isn't about hope at this point anymore. It's about doing. And I'm not going to stop until it works.
This is a great youtube video to starting in google ads-
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmepvHQOHXg
if you still need it.
 

Edgar King

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So nothing much new to report yet though I got a few questions at the end for anyone who's knowledgeable.

I've had about two dozen or so people respond to my Facebook post wanting to learn more about helping me generate leads with more than half of them saying they already knew a few people who'd be good candidates. Provided they follow through, dope. I even made a one-page (front to back) explanation of my company, what it does, the process, the value to the client, and how the cost is determined (to clarify, the referrers know all they're doing is introducing people to me, not writing proposals and giving quotes; they just asked how the pricing structure worked like if I do ad-hoc or month-to-month services) with an extra page for with tips for the referrers. Of course, I don't intend on relying solely on them but that brings me to the point I wanted to ask you all about: I've realized my weak point is that I really f*cking suck at B2B sales when it comes to my own stuff.

I noticed a pattern while running some paid ad campaigns for my e-commerce side hustle:
  • I know how to capture traffic from different sources and use niche marketing to get people to my site.
  • My sales process is technically sound. For the e-commerce site, if you know what you want, you can go on the site, choose the item, and checkout in less than a minute since everything is so smooth and fast. For my content strategy and management business site, the contact form is simple, intuitive, gets all the information I need, and I can follow up quickly.
  • If I can get a person to talk to me, I've got an 80% success rate in getting them to sign a contract with me, either within 48 hours or, if they initially decline, I've had them come back a week or two later and be like "You know, you made some good points. Let's try it out."
But there is a link missing in the conversion chain from curious stranger to new client or customer. While I'll talk more about the e-commerce thing on that thread after a few of my campaigns finish up next week so I can confirm some things, the issue right now is knowing where B2B clients who'd need my help hang out. Then, how to get them to listen to my song and dance.

Outside of local events (not much seems to be on the Chamber calendar for the summer), I've been trying to find connections on LinkedIn. I was also thinking of potentially using Upwork to try and take on some of the higher quality clients, build a relationship with them, and go from there. The problem with writing is that since so many people can do it (and a lot of freelancers just starting out alongside content mills do it for super cheap), it's been difficult to differentiate myself -- not that it can't be done, I just keep hitting my head against the wall. The irony is that I'm exceptionally talented at generating leads for my clients through content management but when it comes to myself.. well.. like I said, there's a link in the chain that's missing and I can't quite figure out what it is.

Barring advice or having a mentor to help me, I've been researching what I can do to not only increase conversion but figure out ways to attract direct sales:
  • Currently reading "Triggers" by Joseph Sugarman and that's already given me a lot of ideas for potential ad copy.
  • Writing my own content for my content company's blog again about business topics a niche I'm targeting cares about (in relation to my services) and using those as sales funnels that I can share on social media. When I have a good backlog of content scheduled for publication, I'll also add a newsletter sign-up to scrape emails.
  • Been taking notes on a few B2B-related posts on here specifically on scaling, lead gen, and sales.
The other issue is my own impatience. I know there's a time for sowing and a time for reaping and I've only spent the better part of a week and some change putting energy towards this. I'm just frustrated because there's a piece of the puzzle that is clearly missing but for the life of me, my brain just sputters and can't figure out how to fill in that gap.

Any advice?

In the meantime, I'll be researching and tossing some pitches where I can (I did send out five today just to get back in the swing of things but I hope to pump that number up more once I can get a bit more clarity on execution).
For conversion, this is just a throw of my hat but I'd recommend you use a dedicated landing page for ads rather than just a home page (I heard the home page just can't be as effective as a dedicated sales page due to being so general) and then use a service like Unbounce (Never used Unbounce before but I'd guess a similar tool like it would help tons) to track where exactly visitors left the sight on, in this case where exactly they left on the landing page.

In this way you could check the content on the page and find out exactly where it all went wrong. You could hire a freelancer on Upwork possibly to improve the conversion on the page for proven results.

Then again, if the ads are targeting people not really interested in the offer, they wouldn't convert. In this case, it might help to narrow down your ads so they target your specific audience and use filters to cancel out those who will definitely won't buy.

For example with google ads, something like this-
''Content Marketing Services Starting at $50..."

A PPC expert should be able to help with this.

And of course, you should also take into account the people at different stages in the customer journey. From educating them to incorporating them into loyal buyers.

Hope the little here helps :D
 
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For conversion, this is just a throw of my hat but I'd recommend you use a dedicated landing page for ads rather than just a home page (I heard the home page just can't be as effective as a dedicated sales page due to being so general) and then use a service like Unbounce (Never used Unbounce before but I'd guess a similar tool like it would help tons) to track where exactly visitors left the sight on, in this case where exactly they left on the landing page.

In this way you could check the content on the page and find out exactly where it all went wrong. You could hire a freelancer on Upwork possibly to improve the conversion on the page for proven results.

Then again, if the ads are targeting people not really interested in the offer, they wouldn't convert. In this case, it might help to narrow down your ads so they target your specific audience and use filters to cancel out those who will definitely won't buy.

For example with google ads, something like this-
''Content Marketing Services Starting at $50..."

A PPC expert should be able to help with this.

And of course, you should also take into account the people at different stages in the customer journey. From educating them to incorporating them into loyal buyers.

Hope the little here helps :D
Good insight, friend Edgar.

My project today actually is outlining (and perhaps also drafting) three blog articles to use as sales funnels that I can turn around and use for marketing purposes. I only have the home page to work with for now but yeah, I know I need both more blog articles with specific keywords that I can use for marketing as well as other landing pages to act as their own sales funnels.

The part I'm missing useful knowledge on is PPC, especially with regards to Google Adwords so.. I'll be reading up on that for when I'm ready.

In the meantime, I got lunch today with a friend who's been killing it selling real estate, see if he has any advice on sales techniques in general as well as if he knows anyone (or if he, himself is) looking for what I have to offer. Also sent a few messages/emails to past clients from 2-3 years back seeing where they're at.

I feel sowing all these seeds is gonna take a bit and then suddenly, it'll be an avalanche. >:) Something's gotta come of all this. But all I can do is just keep grinding hahaha.
 

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So nothing much new to report yet though I got a few questions at the end for anyone who's knowledgeable.

I've had about two dozen or so people respond to my Facebook post wanting to learn more about helping me generate leads with more than half of them saying they already knew a few people who'd be good candidates. Provided they follow through, dope. I even made a one-page (front to back) explanation of my company, what it does, the process, the value to the client, and how the cost is determined (to clarify, the referrers know all they're doing is introducing people to me, not writing proposals and giving quotes; they just asked how the pricing structure worked like if I do ad-hoc or month-to-month services) with an extra page for with tips for the referrers. Of course, I don't intend on relying solely on them but that brings me to the point I wanted to ask you all about: I've realized my weak point is that I really f*cking suck at B2B sales when it comes to my own stuff.

I noticed a pattern while running some paid ad campaigns for my e-commerce side hustle:
  • I know how to capture traffic from different sources and use niche marketing to get people to my site.
  • My sales process is technically sound. For the e-commerce site, if you know what you want, you can go on the site, choose the item, and checkout in less than a minute since everything is so smooth and fast. For my content strategy and management business site, the contact form is simple, intuitive, gets all the information I need, and I can follow up quickly.
  • If I can get a person to talk to me, I've got an 80% success rate in getting them to sign a contract with me, either within 48 hours or, if they initially decline, I've had them come back a week or two later and be like "You know, you made some good points. Let's try it out."
But there is a link missing in the conversion chain from curious stranger to new client or customer. While I'll talk more about the e-commerce thing on that thread after a few of my campaigns finish up next week so I can confirm some things, the issue right now is knowing where B2B clients who'd need my help hang out. Then, how to get them to listen to my song and dance.

Outside of local events (not much seems to be on the Chamber calendar for the summer), I've been trying to find connections on LinkedIn. I was also thinking of potentially using Upwork to try and take on some of the higher quality clients, build a relationship with them, and go from there. The problem with writing is that since so many people can do it (and a lot of freelancers just starting out alongside content mills do it for super cheap), it's been difficult to differentiate myself -- not that it can't be done, I just keep hitting my head against the wall. The irony is that I'm exceptionally talented at generating leads for my clients through content management but when it comes to myself.. well.. like I said, there's a link in the chain that's missing and I can't quite figure out what it is.

Barring advice or having a mentor to help me, I've been researching what I can do to not only increase conversion but figure out ways to attract direct sales:
  • Currently reading "Triggers" by Joseph Sugarman and that's already given me a lot of ideas for potential ad copy.
  • Writing my own content for my content company's blog again about business topics a niche I'm targeting cares about (in relation to my services) and using those as sales funnels that I can share on social media. When I have a good backlog of content scheduled for publication, I'll also add a newsletter sign-up to scrape emails.
  • Been taking notes on a few B2B-related posts on here specifically on scaling, lead gen, and sales.
The other issue is my own impatience. I know there's a time for sowing and a time for reaping and I've only spent the better part of a week and some change putting energy towards this. I'm just frustrated because there's a piece of the puzzle that is clearly missing but for the life of me, my brain just sputters and can't figure out how to fill in that gap.

Any advice?

In the meantime, I'll be researching and tossing some pitches where I can (I did send out five today just to get back in the swing of things but I hope to pump that number up more once I can get a bit more clarity on execution).

Reach out to people every day. Just get the quantity in and keep it consistent.

Pick a niche and then reach out to them via LinkedIn, email, or phone.

Finding where people hang out is a good strategy to add to your arsenal, but you don't need to know where people hang out if you're the one reaching out to them.

Just start contacting new people every day. You don't need to try and do everything at once. Just pick one outreach method and one niche, then contact 20 people a day.
 

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Reach out to people every day. Just get the quantity in and keep it consistent.

Pick a niche and then reach out to them via LinkedIn, email, or phone.

Finding where people hang out is a good strategy to add to your arsenal, but you don't need to know where people hang out if you're the one reaching out to them.

Just start contacting new people every day. You don't need to try and do everything at once. Just pick one outreach method and one niche, then contact 20 people a day.
Do you (or anyone else for that matter) think I should be contacting people every day or are there specific days to really try and contact people vs. days I should avoid (like weekends -- I feel like in some places, that's illegal).
 
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Do you (or anyone else for that matter) think I should be contacting people every day or are there specific days to really try and contact people vs. days I should avoid (like weekends -- I feel like in some places, that's illegal).

Well what is your goal here? To get more clients as soon as possible, right?

If you send emails and LinkedIn messages 7 days a week instead of 5, you'll be able to contact more people, right?

Then why would you not do that?

Depending on who your audience is, you might get a bit lower response rates on the weekends, or maybe you'll get higher. You won't know that until you start sending and tracking the reply rates for yourself.

Why do you feel like it's illegal to contact people on weekends in some places? Do you have a source for that or is it just a feeling?
 

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Well what is your goal here? To get more clients as soon as possible, right?

If you send emails and LinkedIn messages 7 days a week instead of 5, you'll be able to contact more people, right?

Then why would you not do that?

Depending on who your audience is, you might get a bit lower response rates on the weekends, or maybe you'll get higher. You won't know that until you start sending and tracking the reply rates for yourself.

Why do you feel like it's illegal to contact people on weekends in some places? Do you have a source for that or is it just a feeling?
Yeah, you make good points as far as speed/volume goes.

iirc it's illegal to solicit to people in some countries (mostly in Europe) and, to a degree, some states on certain days or times. For instance, I live in Washington state and it turns out that the only timeframe limit is that solicitation (to a residence or personal number) can only happen between 8am and 9pm in the receiving person's time zone (source: Chapter 19.158 RCW: COMMERCIAL TELEPHONE SOLICITATION). There are a few other compliance things like having to identify yourself as a salesperson within the first minute (already do that when I cold call and introduce myself), hanging up within 10 seconds of them declining, or not "harassing, intimidating, or tormenting" the person on the other line. You know, common sense stuff.

But it looks like I can still throw pitches through cold emailing or LinkedIn just fine so.. crisis averted.

I'm overthinking though. Thank you for pulling my head out of my a$$ hahaha I mean that.. and it's also why I post in this thread because sometimes I need that.
 

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the only timeframe limit is that solicitation (to a residence or personal number) can only happen between 8am and 9pm
However, in your first post, you said:
I want to find businesses and brands
You're doing B2B sales then, not B2C, right? So you wouldn't be calling a residence or personal number anyway, would you?

But yeah, my main point isn't that you need to be constantly reaching out to people and calling them 24/7. It's that these little things aren't even worth worrying about. There is no crisis or law stopping you, you're just overthinking it.
It seems you got that point already though :)
I'm overthinking though. Thank you for pulling my head out of my a$$ hahaha I mean that.. and it's also why I post in this thread because sometimes I need that.
Happy to help if you encounter any specific problems with the outreach along the way.
 
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Yeah, I didn't look up the law until just now. BUT NOW WE KNOW.. and knowing is half the battle, so I'm told.

Well *cracks knuckles* I suppose I know what I must now do.
 

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Update:

The seeds of prospecting are slowly beginning to sprout. While we'll see if anything comes to fruition over the next two weeks, the following leads seem really promising:
  1. One of my friends from my FB post about referrals is a real estate broker and has helped me get some time to pitch my services at the brokerage he works at. His boss is super interested in how I can help their team of just under 30 brokers and my friend mentioned a few of them had been complaining to him for months about problems I can help solve. So if I can pull this off, I might be able to get a few contracts in one fell swoop. My buddy's also coaching me on pain points, potential objections (and how to resolve them), the dress code and body language (to match them and build rapport), stuff like that.
  2. My current client has referred me to two others: a financing company specializing in floorplan financing who needs help with content strategy, marketing, and building out a corporate blog; and an advertising/marketing agency who's interested in my writing services.
  3. A friend whose software development company I've been helping out at with tech writing and SOPs mentioned they're in need of blog articles and sales funnels. I offered my writing team up and my friend wants to contract them so that's some extra money coming in starting next month.
  4. Another friend has two people she wants me to meet: one who works in healthcare and is starting her own business launching a new product; and another business owner who needs help with her brand's content strategy (looking at her site, it's a bunch of easy fixes that'll make a big difference). Both of them are pretty well connected in chambers of commerce in the towns in the county south of me which will be nice since I'd like to move down there potentially by next summer. My friend is also trying to get me contacts with two of the local credit unions whose blogs and email newsletters could use some love.
Granted, these are just in the works and I'm not counting any chickens before they hatch (aside from #3 since that's a done deal). I've sent out about 15 introductions to different 2nd connections on LinkedIn to nearby business owners and while I haven't heard back from any of them, I've noticed either they and/or people from their businesses are checking my profile so we'll see if any of them bite.

In the meantime, I'm still working on writing a bunch of content for my site that I can turn into sales funnels I can leverage with Adwords or through social media. I've also been connecting with other professionals to build an affiliate network so if my clients need app/software development, web design, graphic design, or SEO/paid publishing services, I have a shortlist of people I can refer them to (and make some extra money through those referrals).

I'm also about 60% done with Triggers and will be spending the next few days learning more about Adwords, paid campaigns, and researching different business-related YouTube channels I could potentially run ads with (shoutout to @Johnny boy for that idea). I'll also be practicing for the presentation at the brokerage next week and grabbing some new clothes for the occasion. Any extra time will be spent tuning up my site to better streamline the current funnels and revising my contract templates to streamline that too.

Weird thing though.. I haven't slept this good in a while. Having kinda stagnated for the past two years, it feels good being back in the saddle doing this stuff. I look forward to which of these sprouts bears fruits but even still, I'll still be sowing more seeds. If growing up in Wisconsin's taught me anything, it's the importance of crop rotation.
 

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A question I'd like to pose to those reading. Talking with @thechosen1 about it yesterday got me to thinking and I'm curious what y'all think, whether you're also content writers/strategists or businesspeople who've hired people for your marketing strategy before.

When looking for a company to handle your digital content strategy (especially with regards to copywriting like blog posts, social media posts, web pages/sales funnels, really anything with words), would you prefer a month-to-month model like a subscription, a lump-sum cost paying either everything across x amount of months upfront all at once or half now/half later, or ad-hoc services where you'd buy content in batches as needed?

I have a few other updates in this journey but I wanted to first get some feedback on this.

Hope y'all are doing well in the meantime though.
 
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A question I'd like to pose to those reading. Talking with @thechosen1 about it yesterday got me to thinking and I'm curious what y'all think, whether you're also content writers/strategists or businesspeople who've hired people for your marketing strategy before.

When looking for a company to handle your digital content strategy (especially with regards to copywriting like blog posts, social media posts, web pages/sales funnels, really anything with words), would you prefer a month-to-month model like a subscription, a lump-sum cost paying either everything across x amount of months upfront all at once or half now/half later, or ad-hoc services where you'd buy content in batches as needed?

I have a few other updates in this journey but I wanted to first get some feedback on this.

Hope y'all are doing well in the meantime though.
Yeah so I'm not sure what others would say, but my main point was that different people respond differently when the payment is presented differently (wow I overused that word lol)

So one person might think $10/month is a great deal but think $120/year is too expensive (even though they are the same) and for another person, the reverse may be true.

This is sales psychology. I have no idea which one is statistically better, but I know intuitively that they are not the same.
 

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UPDATE

While I didn't make my goal of closing on 2-3 new clients last month, I did manage to make my first close this week with one of the real estate brokers. I'm also very close to netting my second contract (the software dev company) and potentially third, roping in two separate departments but fundamentally helping them with the same stuff. If all goes well, that'll be done by the end of next week/early week after that.

Some things I've learned over the past month:
  • Some of the real estate brokers remain on the fence; they know I can help them but they're so overwhelmed with the rest of their work (and having been burned before with other content strategy/marketing companies), it's proven a bit more difficult to get a "yes" out of them. That said, the guy who signed on with me is my buddy who referred me to the brokerage and will happily allow me to use him as a case study for the brokerage to show tangible, verifiable growth. That should help move the ball forward over the next month or so with this batch of leads.
  • To speed up the sales process, I've simplified my services into just three things:
    • Consulting services (they just need someone to talk to and organize strategies for them because sometimes they need someone to bring order to chaos, interpret analytics, etc.)
    • Creative content production (blog articles that can boost SEO, brand awareness, and calls-to-action)
    • Landing pages (static pages or blog articles used to convert traffic into sales)
  • These services are much easier to productize which also helps me streamline drafting proposals, work on initial pitches, as well as be more effective with my own targeting of different niches for specific services.
  • The niche I'm tapping has a high barrier to entry because a lot of small-to-medium size businesses I've learned have dealt with content strategy/SEO consulting companies in the past and often have gotten little to no positive results while spending thousands of dollars a month on campaigns. tl;dr there's a lot of scummy companies who take advantage of client ignorance on how SEO works and manipulate data in order to keep their clients on the hook (I can talk more about this in a separate post if anyone's interested). Still, they've already dealt with people with a great sales pitch but then lackluster services. So how do I build trust with skeptical prospects? Talking with @thechosen1 , @Black_Dragon43 , and Capitalist Cat (at least that's his Discord name, can't find him here, apparently), I got some ideas on how to ease people in, chiefly a case study (like what I'm doing with my friend for the brokers) or offering half now/half later payment plans for the first two months/services and then full payments later on. I know there's plenty of money here but again, I gotta make myself stand out and build rapport so with some of the upcoming proposals happening in the next week, I'll try to offer that and see what happens.
  • As for landing pages, both the above guys who've been helping me as well as one of the contacts at the software development company suggested including an incentive in the form of a small percentage based on proceeds from sales that happened through landing pages I create. The software dev contact said, "I'd prefer rewarding you some way since, if we're growing because of sales funnels you're creating, you should get something more than just a flat service fee. Wouldn't you agree?" Something I've not considered but am interested in trying, especially if a potential client is insisting on that.
As for goals this month:
  • Close on 2-3 new clients (one's already signed and I begin on Monday).
  • Adjust my site's homepage to focus only on the three services I'm offering and build three separate pages to then use as sales funnels.
    • Write at least four blog posts to start building up organic keywords and reach again while funneling traffic to my contact form for services.
  • Do some small A/B tests through Adwords once the sales funnels are up and see what happens.
The slog continues but if I can close on the software company, that'll be a good bit of momentum to really get things rolling.
 
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So in addition to my update, I wanted to talk a little about two specific topics: how I identified the current market I'm trying to serve; and profitability and money calculations justifying why it's lucrative.

Identifying a Market for Digital Content Strategy
I've sprinkled my rationale throughout this thread but to restate it simply: I'm targeting small- to medium-sized businesses who are either primed to grow and either have no strategy in place or have used strategies before but would like to optimize them to perform better.

While content writing and SEO consulting have relatively low barriers to entry on their own, it's rare not only to find a service that combines the two (a lot of content writers do not understand SEO; a lot of SEO consultants don't know how to write effectively or at the volume a client might need), but rarer still to find a service that does both well and can demonstrate measurable, verifiable data to prove the strategies are working. I emphasized "verifiable" because I've been hired to give a second opinion in a few meetings where a client feels they're being taken advantage of by a third-party "expert." I've found quite a handful of companies or freelancers who claim to specialize in organic SEO (content that ranks high naturally due to formatting, backlinking, and targeting high volume/low competition keywords) but quietly employ paid SEO tactics (paying into Adwords, for instance) to inflate their numbers.

Paid SEO is a wonderful supplement but if a brand's organic SEO is dogwater, paid SEO only magnifies that problem. Once the paid campaign ends, SEO drifts back to where it was before or even worse due to higher bounce rates and penalties due to poor content quality. Some companies will do this on purpose to make clients ending contracts with them sting more, fooling a lot of these people into thinking their work has more value, but in reality, they're just managing a paid campaign and passing it off as organic and many non-SEO people don't know how to identify that. Case in point, being a company that not only produces high-quality organic SEO content that can also provide strategy with transparent data in plain English is a large barrier to overcome.

The second barrier is convincing these same businesses who've more than likely been burned once or twice before that I'm the guy who's not going to do them dirty as other companies have in the past. Prior to this recent push over the past month, I've had a lot of companies say how badly they need my services and are even okay with the price, but are hesitant to move forward on a project with an outside company again -- so the issue then becomes building rapport and trust by being genuine and helping them baby step their way back into a service that actually works (I explain how I'll do this above with hybrid payment structures and collecting/sharing case studies).

With these two barriers, I know that I'll comparatively have low competition who can match my expertise, the services I offer, and the price point at which I can offer them. This brings me to my next point...

How Profitable is This Kind of Work?
I've known personally of companies who've spent upwards of $6k - $8k a month at least on good content and strategy to support it. Hell, a lot of companies pay that much on bad content and strategy. The widest range I've found for in-house content strategist salaries is anywhere between $69k - $160k a year (and mind you, that's just to pay the strategist, not the team of writers to implement the strategies). I know of other companies (both first hand as well as in research) that either (A) produce content, (B) consult on SEO strategy, or (C) a combination of the two average about $300 - $1.2k/month // $1k - $5k/month // $2.5k - $8k/month respectively per client. So the money's there.

However, this is a double-edged sword: a lot of companies in this niche offer sub-par services (for instance, content companies are rarely better than mills with poor understanding of organic SEO) and so they have a lot of burned former clients who've since become hesitant to hire other people. I intend on using that hesitancy to my advantage because once I start building momentum and a reputation for much better services, selling myself is going to be a lot easier; the laziness of those other companies will help do the selling for me.

But what about my numbers?

For my current revenue, I have two main clients plus the third who's just signed on and I begin work on his projects tomorrow. On average this year, those two main clients average about $3,250/month in revenue combined. The third client is only hiring me on to consult for him and act as a sorta assistant for his strategy so baseline, I'd be doing $425/month helping him out. For about 5-6 hours of work, that, most of which is just talking with him and doing some quick reports that are still very useful, that's not bad. This doesn't include ad-hoc stuff like helping him write or edit content (he's just setting up a site now and doesn't have a set budget) nor the potential value of using the work I do for him as a case study for his coworkers or others in the real estate niche (potential clients later on). Moreover, some of the landing pages I write for him will credit me with a small percentage from any successful sales in the future based on those pages so.. that $425 is just the baseline for now.

With those three clients together, August is projected to bring in a revenue of $3675, not including the other eight warm leads I'm still trying to close on. My goal is to get a monthly revenue of $20k by the end of 2021 which is more than doable if I continue with the momentum I'm at and can scale. While each client has a different scale of needs and thus, different costs, if my goal of securing the software development company not only goes well but two of their departments hire me (which is an increasing possibility), that's easily about $12k/month right there based on proposals they already like.

But if we're to ground projections based on contracts already signed, if the average monthly revenue per client ($3675 / 3) is about $1225, I'd need about 13-14 new clients between now and the end of the year or at least 4 new clients per month between now and then. These projects don't include additional revenue sources like one-off projects (maybe someone just needs x amount of articles) or residual income from sales derived from landing pages I set up. How I'll calculate and adjust will come later as I build momentum and adapt to what echoes the market's giving me.

But yeah, I suppose I'll be upping my goal to at least 4 clients signed this month rather than 2-3. I remain optimistic too because this has all been word-of-mouth referrals so far. I'd be curious to see what kinda reach and conversion rates I can pull once I develop more organic SEO with my site and supplement it with paid to boost it in the short-term, something I've not yet implemented.
 
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Metz

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Hey everyone, it's been a while so I figured I'd give y'all an update. I'm happy to report that things are actually going really well. I'm finally scaling my business effectively, super focused, and -- dare I say -- having fun with the process. I'm still doing content marketing strategy and am positioning myself as an authority on applied game theory for content and business strategy, marrying all the projects I've been doing into one cohesive campaign.

After a dozen unrelated conversations over the past few years suggesting I scale by becoming an influencer/content creator, I figured I'd give it a try; if there's such a thing as calls from the universe to do something, that recurring nudge from all these people from different backgrounds and don't even know each other... why not see what happens? And friends... good things are happening. Here are some highlights:
  • I currently have five clients with three warm leads heating up (hopefully I can close on at least one of them this month).
    • My current goal is to get to 10 concurrent clients.
  • I have a team of four (soon to be five) writers, a video editor, and a salesperson to help generate leads. All contractors for now paid per project to keep costs low and at a rate they're more than happy with.
    • I'm training one of the writers to help with editing which will give me more flexibility to focus on working on the system instead of in it.
  • I'm on track to do at least $60K in revenue this year so far (I did $32K last year, $22Kish the year before that, and just under $13K before that so, while the number is still small, it's still a consistent improvement over time).
    • My goal is $250K in revenue for 2022.
  • I have plans to supplement this income by creating and selling course material, whether video courses; written guides with supporting docs, worksheets, and other useful stuff; or a hybridization of the two. I've also started programming again (am learning JavaScript, Python, and Kotlin) in my spare time as I dabble with designing an app I want to create to help manage the whole work/production process. If it works for me, I want to turn it around and sell it to other firms.
  • My community built around my gaming site topped 500 members this month; because some of my writers and video editor were recruited from there, there's been a lot of buzz with others wanting to network with each other for different content creation projects with them all coming to me for advice or asking how they can help out, including sending me some soft leads.
I'm gonna be honest, guys. All I've ever wanted in life was to not only create things, but to create an environment where others were super excited to build things not just for themselves, but to work together to solve problems and help others. So getting to do that in a bunch of different ways for businesses, solopreneurs, content creators, and others but under one coherent brand and its activities. I'm elated.

On a separate note, after turning 30 back in January, my gift to myself was leaving all the self-limiting BS thinking behind in my 20s. Between how the pandemic has taught me to not give a F*ck or pay attention to others' judgment of me (especially with their hot takes on social media about things they don't really know much about proving how foolish they are -- and how foolish I was for caring about their opinions in the first place).. as well as letting go of my own judgment of how I ought to be, realizing that I can let go of a lot of the negative thoughts that drove my anxiety and depression (I know it's not easy but it took me years to finally get here).. idk, I'm just running with it.

It feels good. But I won't lie. I'm hungry.

Nice to let myself eat for a change.
 

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Hey everyone, it's been a while so I figured I'd give y'all an update. I'm happy to report that things are actually going really well. I'm finally scaling my business effectively, super focused, and -- dare I say -- having fun with the process. I'm still doing content marketing strategy and am positioning myself as an authority on applied game theory for content and business strategy, marrying all the projects I've been doing into one cohesive campaign.

After a dozen unrelated conversations over the past few years suggesting I scale by becoming an influencer/content creator, I figured I'd give it a try; if there's such a thing as calls from the universe to do something, that recurring nudge from all these people from different backgrounds and don't even know each other... why not see what happens? And friends... good things are happening. Here are some highlights:
  • I currently have five clients with three warm leads heating up (hopefully I can close on at least one of them this month).
    • My current goal is to get to 10 concurrent clients.
  • I have a team of four (soon to be five) writers, a video editor, and a salesperson to help generate leads. All contractors for now paid per project to keep costs low and at a rate they're more than happy with.
    • I'm training one of the writers to help with editing which will give me more flexibility to focus on working on the system instead of in it.
  • I'm on track to do at least $60K in revenue this year so far (I did $32K last year, $22Kish the year before that, and just under $13K before that so, while the number is still small, it's still a consistent improvement over time).
    • My goal is $250K in revenue for 2022.
  • I have plans to supplement this income by creating and selling course material, whether video courses; written guides with supporting docs, worksheets, and other useful stuff; or a hybridization of the two. I've also started programming again (am learning JavaScript, Python, and Kotlin) in my spare time as I dabble with designing an app I want to create to help manage the whole work/production process. If it works for me, I want to turn it around and sell it to other firms.
  • My community built around my gaming site topped 500 members this month; because some of my writers and video editor were recruited from there, there's been a lot of buzz with others wanting to network with each other for different content creation projects with them all coming to me for advice or asking how they can help out, including sending me some soft leads.
I'm gonna be honest, guys. All I've ever wanted in life was to not only create things, but to create an environment where others were super excited to build things not just for themselves, but to work together to solve problems and help others. So getting to do that in a bunch of different ways for businesses, solopreneurs, content creators, and others but under one coherent brand and its activities. I'm elated.

On a separate note, after turning 30 back in January, my gift to myself was leaving all the self-limiting BS thinking behind in my 20s. Between how the pandemic has taught me to not give a f*ck or pay attention to others' judgment of me (especially with their hot takes on social media about things they don't really know much about proving how foolish they are -- and how foolish I was for caring about their opinions in the first place).. as well as letting go of my own judgment of how I ought to be, realizing that I can let go of a lot of the negative thoughts that drove my anxiety and depression (I know it's not easy but it took me years to finally get here).. idk, I'm just running with it.

It feels good. But I won't lie. I'm hungry.

Nice to let myself eat for a change.
I never even saw this thread. Love this latest update. Good work.
 

Metz

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I never even saw this thread. Love this latest update. Good work.
I'm just glad to have people stumble upon my little corner of the forum hahaha. Thanks though! Super excited.

Also @Madame Peccato look who it is. Didn't realize you were also a part of TFF fam. :D A welcome surprise to be sure.
 
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Metz

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So I went back and reread some of my earlier posts and wanted to clarify a few things that have changed over the past seven-ish months in case there are others more interested in how my process was honed a bit. And.. you know.. for posterity.

I know this community likes short and sweet content but I'm built a bit different. That said, I broke this up into sections; you don't need to read the whole thing, just what interests you.

Client Management and Lead Gen

I still target small- to mid-sized businesses and brands; they're often underserved and either can't afford the bigger marketing companies or get poached by SEO scammers and content mills.

To get over the high barrier, I've built rapport either through word of mouth (one of my clients has been referring me to his other business friends) or by attracting qualified leads, getting them to come to me rather than me go to them by creating engaging, interesting content -- mostly on LinkedIn but also through the gaming-related community I've built with one of my sites.

I struggled last summer by trying to attract the wrong clients; by wrong I mean those who want me to work for free ("anyone can write so why should I pay you?") or those who don't know what they want (can't answer basic questions like who they're targeting or what they want to focus on selling specifically and why).

By leveraging my content that focused on game theory and gamification, I started getting people to engage with me, ask me questions, and then start asking to meet. Three of my five current clients were converted that way; the other two were referrals from friends familiar with my content and introduced me after they read some of my work and were interested. Instead of leveraging numbers through cold calls, I'm leveraging followers on LinkedIn and content impressions by being present, interesting, and sharing value.

Establishing Authority and Converting Competition to Collaborators


I always relied on testimonials but I've started writing case studies with some of my more interesting and cooperative clients. My first one was about how I helped a burgeoning gaming YouTuber took his subscriber count (his main metric) from 54 subscribers to 151 and his TikTok (used as a funnel to his YT) from 97 followers to 4,920 all within the first month of doing organic content strategy with him. It helped that one of his videos went viral; he makes excellent content but was always uncertain how to target things for SEO so to help him find some lucrative keywords and find the luck to get the algorithm to pick up on it was perfect.

This has led to a lot of interesting content ideas such as:
  • How to increase the probability of your content going viral
  • Applied game theory for brand growth
  • Applied game theory to goal setting
  • Expectations for content campaign's first month
  • How to build marketing and sales funnels
Some of these are already published and shared, others I'm still working on. But me creating a niche in gamification and applied game theory relating back to business and marketing strategy has probably been the smartest move I've made to build authority.

I've even had a few SEO and marketing people message me and share my content, asking questions and comparing strategies. I'm not just trying to attract businesses to work with but convert competitors into collaborators.

This has also been useful in teaming up with much larger companies too big for the businesses I'm targeting. One of those I used to white label for now refers leads to me when they have to decline due to being out of the lead's budget. They also pay me on referrals I send up to them if I meet anyone either too big for me to handle or if they're looking for greater scope than I can currently offer.

Scaling the Business and its Revenue Streams

I now have a team of contractors to help me with a lot of my work. One of my clients only needs consultation (2.5 hours out of the whole month), two of the clients I delegate the writing fully to the contractors, and the other two I directly handle for now until I can better understand the clients' expectations, content, and processes. This way I know how to instruct the contractors and save myself time editing since each client has different needs.

Over the past month, I spent an average of 19 hours a week working directly on projects. So far this month, I average 17 hours a week. Most of that is spent on editing what my contractors turn in, working on my own content, or administrative work like keying in receipts, analyzing cash flow, and tuning the production process. Outside of those hours, however, I'm either brainstorming new content, learning about how to do my job better (whether it's SEO, PPC marketing, etc.), meeting with leads and potential partners, or identifying new opportunities.

This is still a big improvement from the 25-30 hours a week I'd spend on just drafting and editing articles for lower-paying clients back in August. As much as I love writing, I ideally want to be in a position where I can work on the content I want to write: articles and posts for my websites and copy for clients whose topics and work I'm super passionate about. I put a lot more emphasis on saving time than generating money; both are important, but time is finite. I can always make more money and how I reinvest time is one of the most important factors in making money.

Once I find an editor -- whether re-positioning one of the writers or if my editor friend is still looking for work -- I can further remove myself from the process and then focus on more money-generating things: consultations (pure profit), lead gen and networking, affiliate sales, and finding ways to productize the process and sell it to others, whether in SaaS or courses -- but that last bit is a longer-term goal.

My earnings are still modest but I'm steadily scaling and documenting the process, working out kinks at a pace where I'm not biting off more than I can chew and the whole thing comes crashing down. Even though I technically could maintain my current work for the remainder of the year and still outperform last year, that's assuming I retain my clients at their current workload. While two of my clients have actually upped their projects (and thus, revenue) since starting, I still want to take on at least one but no more than three clients a month with the current team.

Strategies I'm Trying Next

The biggest knowledge gap in my whole process is effective lead generation. Even though I've had some success, I want to replicate it and get better, seeing how much volume I can pull and how efficient I can get at converting impressions to qualified leads to loyal clients. With that in mind, I'm learning the following (and if anyone has tips or resources regarding these things, I'm down to take a look):
  • PPC ads through Google for specific kinds of clients (for instance, leveraging my case study for gaming-related content creators or people wanting to build a following on TikTok or YouTube).
  • Creating better LinkedIn content (for now, I've just made kinda weekly posts, always relating back to my articles; I want to make posts native to LinkedIn to drive engagement and get others to share the content more readily to build awareness and authority).
  • Honing my Discord community to be more pro-entrepreneurship (a much larger gaming community found me and a few of my guys in-game and was curious to learn more about us; the guy in charge described us as a "corporate community" that he found very interesting and lately, both people within his community as well as people who stumble upon us lately have been asking for help with different projects and even paying some of our content creators to help. I don't need a cut of that money but that's been firing everyone up with wanting to either start their own projects, help one another, or find ways to help me or be taught by me).
We'll see if any of this bears fruit but given how 2022 has been shaping up work-wise, I'm still riding that high and building momentum.

Hope the insight helps though. I like sharing even if I might not be as interesting as others but eh.. fun for me to at least look back and compare notes with Metz of yesteryear.
 

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Thanks for the update - I will be following your progress.

How did you decide on the applied game theory content? Is it something you were always interested in, or did you come across it while building your company?
 

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Thanks for the update - I will be following your progress.

How did you decide on the applied game theory content? Is it something you were always interested in, or did you come across it while building your company?
This might be a little bit long-winded but bear with me.. I just enjoy telling this story hahaha (tl;dr at the bottom).

I've always been a pretty big gamer (my dad was a game developer back in the day so I grew up immersed in video games) so my perspective on life had always been influenced by games. I started freelancing as a writer but had a website that I started with a few friends almost ten years ago focused on games, specifically indie gaming news. Given that the market was so saturated, I kept honing our content; surprisingly, the articles that did the best were either story analyses on different quests for RPGs and lists of quotes for games with great writing but for some reason, no one took the time to compile quotes for those games before.

Also, because my dad had his own businesses and retired rather early, I had the benefit of learning from him while also realizing that you can enjoy video games AND be successful and wealthy, something a lot of entrepreneurship circles disagree with. Especially since he explained some of his business concepts in gaming terms that I grabbed on to readily.

Fast forward to 2019: we started building a Discord server around the website to create a community and gamification and game theory started popping up in conversation. A lot of the members we'd recruit came from teamwork-oriented games with a good handful of them buying into the community's culture of building things together.

Come 2020 and the pandemic and general sociopolitical unrest that saturates social media, a common phrase we started using in our pitches was "everyone seems so focused on tearing everything and everyone else down.. we want to create a space that reminds us there are others who still want to build cool things together."

A lot of the mutual mentorship, safe-but-holds-your-a$$-accountable vibes stem from my time in my fraternity in college; I missed that feeling and, given most of the community is comprised of Millennial and Gen Z guys, I wanted to create a space that was very positive-sum for them, giving them opportunities to play around with different concepts, especially freelancing, collaborating on creative projects (like doing voice work in video game machinima, making cool promo videos for each other's Twitch channels, etc.), and general life skills.

When I started writing articles on gamification and game theory, there was a question that was sort of a light bulb moment not just for me, but a lot of the guys: "people spend so much time grinding for the best gear, XP, and perks in their favorite games and level up their characters... but why don't these same people pursue their lives with the same vigor, working on the best character they'll ever play: themselves?" That question got a lot of engagement.. which brings me to answer the first part of your question.

Around this time was when I had the last of the dozen conversations with friends, former clients, and mentors about how I should go all-in as an influencer/content creator. I knew I needed a niche and given how successful my gamification and game theory articles were on my gaming site, I wanted to try how LinkedIn would react. Sure enough, I'd ask a few questions and a handful of random people responded, including a senior designer at one of my favorite game studios.

I also knew that a lot of articles about applied game theory or gamification fall into two categories: they either just scratch the surface and therefore provide very little value to the reader (i.e. they don't care to answer any questions or provide any solutions, they just seem to like talking about the topic because it seems fun but there's no application) OR they're way too in-depth and still provide very little value to the reader as it's all bogged down in theory and very technical terms.

Every time I mention applied game theory, people's ears prick up regardless if they're a lead or just someone who stumbled on my content. I knew there was at decent-sized market there that was hungry but no one was satisfying that need. I'm just two and a half months deep focusing on this niche but I've gained about 400 followers on LinkedIn (trying to aim for a total of 1000 and I'm sitting right above 800 right now) since then and I don't even post that much. The rest of the outcome so far is listed above: my community is eager to support me and one another, I'm attracting leads rather than going out prospecting ("you want to buy my shit" vs. "let me sell you my shit"), and the longer I retain my current clients, the more they want to buy from me and up their services and my consultation.

Again, this campaign is still pretty early but this is the most movement I've seen with my business since my big stumbling block in 2018. But it also married all my projects into one unified push; for example, the content I post on my business blog can be recycled for my gaming-related website and vice versa.

tl;dr was always interested in game theory, being into video games from an early age with a game dev father reinforced its usefulness, especially with how he explained entrepreneurship in gaming terms to me. I dabbled in game-related writing for years but as I honed my niche, game theory and gamification were very popular topics and I built a successful Discord community based on their application. After suggestions from other friends and former clients, I tried talking about this to a general business audience on LinkedIn and got a lot of engagement. It's still early but working on this makes me excited and feeling fulfilled, especially with how interested people are and how eager some of them are to hire and work with me.
 
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This might be a little bit long-winded but bear with me.. I just enjoy telling this story hahaha (tl;dr at the bottom).

I've always been a pretty big gamer (my dad was a game developer back in the day so I grew up immersed in video games) so my perspective on life had always been influenced by games. I started freelancing as a writer but had a website that I started with a few friends almost ten years ago focused on games, specifically indie gaming news. Given that the market was so saturated, I kept honing our content; surprisingly, the articles that did the best were either story analyses on different quests for RPGs and lists of quotes for games with great writing but for some reason, no one took the time to compile quotes for those games before.

Also, because my dad had his own businesses and retired rather early, I had the benefit of learning from him while also realizing that you can enjoy video games AND be successful and wealthy, something a lot of entrepreneurship circles disagree with. Especially since he explained some of his business concepts in gaming terms that I grabbed on to readily.

Fast forward to 2019: we started building a Discord server around the website to create a community and gamification and game theory started popping up in conversation. A lot of the members we'd recruit came from teamwork-oriented games with a good handful of them buying into the community's culture of building things together.

Come 2020 and the pandemic and general sociopolitical unrest that saturates social media, a common phrase we started using in our pitches was "everyone seems so focused on tearing everything and everyone else down.. we want to create a space that reminds us there are others who still want to build cool things together."

A lot of the mutual mentorship, safe-but-holds-your-a$$-accountable vibes stem from my time in my fraternity in college; I missed that feeling and, given most of the community is comprised of Millennial and Gen Z guys, I wanted to create a space that was very positive-sum for them, giving them opportunities to play around with different concepts, especially freelancing, collaborating on creative projects (like doing voice work in video game machinima, making cool promo videos for each other's Twitch channels, etc.), and general life skills.

When I started writing articles on gamification and game theory, there was a question that was sort of a light bulb moment not just for me, but a lot of the guys: "people spend so much time grinding for the best gear, XP, and perks in their favorite games and level up their characters... but why don't these same people pursue their lives with the same vigor, working on the best character they'll ever play: themselves?" That question got a lot of engagement.. which brings me to answer the first part of your question.

Around this time was when I had the last of the dozen conversations with friends, former clients, and mentors about how I should go all-in as an influencer/content creator. I knew I needed a niche and given how successful my gamification and game theory articles were on my gaming site, I wanted to try how LinkedIn would react. Sure enough, I'd ask a few questions and a handful of random people responded, including a senior designer at one of my favorite game studios.

I also knew that a lot of articles about applied game theory or gamification fall into two categories: they either just scratch the surface and therefore provide very little value to the reader (i.e. they don't care to answer any questions or provide any solutions, they just seem to like talking about the topic because it seems fun but there's no application) OR they're way too in-depth and still provide very little value to the reader as it's all bogged down in theory and very technical terms.

Every time I mention applied game theory, people's ears prick up regardless if they're a lead or just someone who stumbled on my content. I knew there was at decent-sized market there that was hungry but no one was satisfying that need. I'm just two and a half months deep focusing on this niche but I've gained about 400 followers on LinkedIn (trying to aim for a total of 1000 and I'm sitting right above 800 right now) since then and I don't even post that much. The rest of the outcome so far is listed above: my community is eager to support me and one another, I'm attracting leads rather than going out prospecting ("you want to buy my shit" vs. "let me sell you my shit"), and the longer I retain my current clients, the more they want to buy from me and up their services and my consultation.

Again, this campaign is still pretty early but this is the most movement I've seen with my business since my big stumbling block in 2018. But it also married all my projects into one unified push; for example, the content I post on my business blog can be recycled for my gaming-related website and vice versa.

tl;dr was always interested in game theory, being into video games from an early age with a game dev father reinforced its usefulness, especially with how he explained entrepreneurship in gaming terms to me. I dabbled in game-related writing for years but as I honed my niche, game theory and gamification were very popular topics and I built a successful Discord community based on their application. After suggestions from other friends and former clients, I tried talking about this to a general business audience on LinkedIn and got a lot of engagement. It's still early but working on this makes me excited and feeling fulfilled, especially with how interested people are and how eager some of them are to hire and work with me.
Thank you for sharing your background. I think video games (games in general) can teach you how to set and achieve goals by coming up with a strategy and using the right tactics when you need them. Very applicable to business.

I used to play a lot of games when I was a kid, but not anymore. A friend of mine worked on video games many years ago, and he told me a little about how it was.

It sounds like you have a unique take on your content that resonates with people, which will help with your branding. I love the part about posting on Linkedin to get people's insights - a response from an industry INSIDERS is always helpful!
 

Metz

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Thank you for sharing your background. I think video games (games in general) can teach you how to set and achieve goals by coming up with a strategy and using the right tactics when you need them. Very applicable to business.

I used to play a lot of games when I was a kid, but not anymore. A friend of mine worked on video games many years ago, and he told me a little about how it was.

It sounds like you have a unique take on your content that resonates with people, which will help with your branding. I love the part about posting on Linkedin to get people's insights - a response from an industry INSIDERS is always helpful!
I appreciate the kind words!

I think previous attempts I've made trying to do this fell flat because I was still trying to find my voice and angle -- both of which I have now. But I was also stuck in the "do what you love" rather than "love what you do" mode. I was much more focused on the destination (wealth, successful business, scaling) than enjoying the process (writing, editing, learning, formatting for SEO and the research that comes with it, connecting with people).

It's funny you mentioned video games as a means to teach people how to set and achieve goals. My very first post on applied game theory asked whether people felt that games were simply a dopamine-riddled timesink or that they can teach strategic thinking that can be applied to business. I got a wide variety of answers and so many ideas for content, not to mention people confusing "applied game theory" with "gamification" which also explains why all the other content I've found regarding these topics is equally confusing.

I think the big emotional draw to this concept too is about giving people power and control over their lives again. A lot of the time when people ask how to become an entrepreneur, start a side gig, unchain themselves from the status quo, there are a lot of vague answers -- either because the people they ask can't explain it well, they don't want to explain it for fear of propping up potential competition (which is a strategy in zero- and negative-sum game theory), or they can only explain it in terms of their experience but don't know how to relate it to someone else.

Game theory helps train people on how to identify useful metrics, track the performance of those metrics and the variables that influence them, and then how to control the variables while testing different strategies and noting what works and what doesn't. Moreover, teaching people to be more forgiving of themselves in the process and that failure only happens when you stop playing. Otherwise, you're either winning or learning strategies to increase the probability of winning later.

That's actually how I retain my clients so well too. They hire me for content marketing strategy but the process of working with me hypes them up about their work as a whole, making them reflect on what they're doing, why, and for who. That's one of the reasons I love what I do: I love reigniting fires in people who've felt beaten down by misfortune or became jaded over the years.

But again, I wanna give people back control and power over their lives so.. if life's a game, why not play it well?
 

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