PROGRESS THREAD: (TerenceChang)

[TC2]

Last year on August 5th, 2008, I post a ridiculous goal to make one million dollar net profit in one year. You heard it right. I said it out loud. I have to admit that I have no idea what I was talking about. I have no business sense what-so-ever. It was simply my imagination and ambition.

Of course, I did not make it. It's an failed mission due to poor reality check. So I failed. However, I have learned a million dollar lesson that will take me to my goal eventually! This may not be a fastlane plan, but it's happening quickly.

My goal is to become the local shopping destination and to out perform many billion dollar corporations in the local search marketing field. It relies on heavy SEO and SEM and to make it works.

The opportunities I am seeing are the demand of saving money and making money due to economy downturn. So there is a great chance for me to fulfill needs between local shoppers and local businesses.

To make it short! Here is where I am up to.

• I have many paid customers which I sold myself and from barter trade.
• Main keywords are on top of Google first page
• Secondary keywords brought in most of the traffic
• No huge traffic increase, but 80% are from search engines consistently.
• Making small amount of income on AdSense and increasing firmly
• Twitter and Facebook brought in most non-search engine traffic
• A secret weapon seems to be working and starts bring in minor traffic

This is where I will be going.

• Continue implementing social network integration and other features.
• Offering SEO and technology consulting in exchange article writing and marketing assistant
• Working on partner and alliance that can bring me fresh new paid accounts without doing that myself.
• Find right person to train and take over my SEO tasks

One thing is always bothering me. I am struggling on whether I should just invest $$$$$$ with higher risk to speed up the process or to take it slow and firmly.

That's for now!

 

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[mkzhang]

Take it nice and easy, at this stage the risk is not worth it, you can lose everything, but gain not so much.

When you risk it later on, you still can lose everything, but can gain so much more

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Thanks TC, what is your revenue model? How are you making money? Local business? Shoppers? I don't understand.

 

[TC2]

MJ:

Thanks for asking.

I charge local business (publisher/advertiser/distributer) who list their business(es) on my site a one time setup fee and monthly recurring subscription fee.

For local shoppers, it's free to use. However, local shoppers can register as a member (still FREE) and will automatically become an affiliate. If they invite local business to become a paid publisher/advertiser, they will get commission.

There will also be add-on features and consulting services attached to generate more income. Of course, I will have Google AdSense running on the site and are working on selling location driven ad space through Google Ad Manager.

My principle is that it's easier to ask money from business and to generate demand from shoppers.

Eventually, I want to sell the license to distribute the database cross sites and on mobile phone while charging local business an add-on fee. Even further, I want to license the system into other countries in different languages.

That sounds like ridiculous huge ambition, isn't it? Does anyone see any fraud in this scenario. Or am I just simply crazy?

 

[mkzhang]

Well, what makes you think of fraud?

And why do you have to license to distribute database? Can't you keep them all in one place?

 

[TC2]

Well, what makes you think of fraud?

And why do you have to license to distribute database? Can't you keep them all in one place?

I am no business man. So I often don't think like real business people. I may look at the thing the wrong way. That's what I mean fraud. Many members here are capable correcting my thinking and can provide more realistic thoughts.

I mean to provide license to other web sites to use the content I collect in my central database. So they will pay me for loading the content through API or data feed at real time. In other words, I will authorize regional web sites in each city or state to show location relevant information to their visitors. In that case, I don't have to build all those sites myself. At mean time, they will become my regional sales force. Local business will be able to sign-up through local / regional channel. The web site owners will be able to make profit on that as well.

That sounds like a perfect plan, isn't it?

Any thoughts on that?

 

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[mkzhang]

Right, sounds pretty good.

I am not a lawyer, the only law I know a little about is financial law but I don't spot anything that qualify as "fraud".

I am just thinking, how can you license your site out of state if all you have is your local business listed? Unless they are state wide business and want to list out of state as well.

If they do however, and you have no platform to serve out of state customers, what do you have to get the out of state sites to pay you, to help you build up your out of state presence?

 

[TC2]

If they do however, and you have no platform to serve out of state customers, what do you have to get the out of state sites to pay you, to help you build up your out of state presence?

Thanks for the great questions.

The local business means all the regional business in every city in every state in the entire USA that have physical address and can be found on Google Map. The system is already capable to serve all businesses in USA following the above requirements.

I actually have few businesses listed here and there in different states as part of my beta test program. Some works well and some don't.

To get out of state sites to pay me to display the content I have, they need to have web sites that can run a little script (Javascript/PHP/ASP.NET) to parse out the data stored on the main site. The script can simply run on Google's Blogspot and many other free web sites. So it's virtually out there without physical boundary. I already build few examples, but I still don't have enough data to present.

You may ask why will the webmaster pay me to use my data? The answer is the location relevant data. It's like paying a wordpress plugin to help making more money. The data will be used for Google AdSense and other Ad running on their web site. So they can make profit on their own without worrying about where to get the fresh and accurate information. At mean time, it will drive business to their local business community. In the ideal world, it creates work from home job.

Now I am looking into outsource the sales force to form partners and business alliances in each niche. My thought on that is to work from the top to the bottom in the food chain. For example, I am in talk with a big distributer in one unique niche. They have over 400+ franchise businesses in USA they deliver products to. With my help, those 400+ franchises will sell products faster and make distributer happier. The distributer will be more than happy to introduce my services to their customers. It's WIN-WIN-WIN.

Again, it sounds too perfect to be true. I need someone to criticize my thinking. At the moment, I don't consider it as a fastlane plan, but I have good faith it will work out well in few years.

 

[TC2]

Just had my first official and formal press release up today. Good thing is that I did not write it. It saved me big time.

Had meeting with two top notch marketing gurus in the foods distribution channel. Got verbal agreement to form partnership and alliance to promote each other and bring the value to customers.

Going to focus on the following before the end of year.

• Create partner contract to seal the deal
• Create first video intro and walk through clip
• Create new banner and marketing brochure for the upcoming trade show at east coast.
• Publish 5 new press releases and hope to get attention from news media.

Just realized that the #1 targeted keywords (2 words) are down from #20 spot to #68 on Google search. No wonder the traffic on that keywords was down. However, the other keywords jump 130%. Found out that many big manufactures (not even competitor) are suddenly using the same keywords. No wondering mine was pushed down. Need to find ways to get back on top.

 

[James Fake]

Hey Terence, PM the url. I would love to take a look at it.

 

[James Fake]

Terence, impressive site and very good SEO work. Looks like you are well on your way.

Looks like the tough part now is to make sure everyone knows about it..

 

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[TC2]

Here is my newest progress since my last update few days ago.

• Converted a trial customer into paid customer and she pays in full (one year)
• Continue getting recurring payment from existing customers
• Average daily Google AdSense income reach record high
• Got two new articles written from the trade
• Sadly, two customers close their businesses.

That's for now.

 

[LightHouse]

Just had my first official and formal press release up today. Good thing is that I did not write it. It saved me big time.

Had meeting with two top notch marketing gurus in the foods distribution channel. Got verbal agreement to form partnership and alliance to promote each other and bring the value to customers.

Going to focus on the following before the end of year.

• Create partner contract to seal the deal
• Create first video intro and walk through clip
• Create new banner and marketing brochure for the upcoming trade show at east coast.
• Publish 5 new press releases and hope to get attention from news media.

Just realized that the #1 targeted keywords (2 words) are down from #20 spot to #68 on Google search. No wonder the traffic on that keywords was down. However, the other keywords jump 130%. Found out that many big manufactures (not even competitor) are suddenly using the same keywords. No wondering mine was pushed down. Need to find ways to get back on top.

If you want, lets talk about your ranking privately, i might have some ideas for you.

 

[TC2]

Well. Not long ago, I set my new goals for 2010.

http://www.thefastlanetomillions.co.../24222-2010-resolutions-plans.html#post114715

Here are some of the actions I took.

• 10x Google AdSense income
  Changed AdSense placement and convert image only ads into both text/image. This should increase the click through rate and increase eCPM. Double the daily revenue on first 3 days of 2010 already.
• Lose weight to 150lb (4 pounds to go) and keep up with it
  2 pounds to go
• Buy two investment houses, move to Scottsdale and rent the current one out
  Submit criteria to two different agencyies. Waiting for the list.
• Revive my online stores
  Got new orders on January 1, 2010. A great starting.

Other actions I took and will see how it goes:

• Double the price on my site which will give me more room to offer greater discount and commission and hopefully to generate greater net profit.
• Change SEO/keyword strategies and hope to see traffic boost from Yahoo and Bing.
• Working Aggressively on forming partnership with other people in the industry. Should have the singed contract soon.

 

[TC2]

OK Time to give a little update.

After changing my keywords and my Google AdSense placement, I have made positive progress.

• My average daily AdSense revenue breaks the last month record.
• My #1 keywords is coming back up from #160 to #80.
• Got 3 new customers that pays full price and 6 months subscription in advance.

Best of all, I have covered all my cost except paying myself salary.

After meeting with my marketing partners, I realize that my current site did not really solve my customers' issues fast enough. I need to be more proactive and solve problem even faster. So I have to rethink my business model. I am going to branch out my current site to a new site. The same foundation and code base, but different business approach.

My very conservative estimation for the first year of the new site is this.

Just 5 sales a week at $10 each in Arizona. It will make $2600 a year in Arizona. If I can get the same amount of sales in 50 states. It will be $130K a year. I know it doesn't sounds a lot, but it is just my initial pricing scheme.

Let me work on it. That's for now!

 

[TC2]

I have a great start in 2010. Can't believe it's the beginning of February 2010 already. I will tend to update my progress twice a month.

Here is the review of January 2010.

• January 2010 Google AdSense revenue is 2x of December 2009. Hope it keeps the same growth rate next month.
• Got 6 new customers signup and paid 6 months in full in advance from Barter trade. It's not a real money, but I can now trade for advertisement or other stuff that can help me boost my services. It's like an investment to me.
• Forming partnership with a competitor, which has about 500K unique visitors every month and will distribute my content to their visitors and drive traffic to my site.
• Trying to persuade a franchise to buy into my co-op program. So I can get all their 22 locations in Arizona to use my services. Fingers crossed.
• Behind schedule on getting Facebook integration done on Site A.
• Behind schedule on Site B which is a clone of Site A with better business model.

Looking forward to meeting with awesome people at B&P.

 

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[James Fake]

Hey Terence,
Any updates? Also, what's your email address? PM if you want to keep it private.

James F.

 

[TC2]

Hey Terence,
Any updates? Also, what's your email address? PM if you want to keep it private.

James F.

James: I will PM you my contact info.

First of all, I am so ready for the B&P Meetup tomorrow.

Here are my updates.

• Got verbal agreement / confirmation on the partnership with a much larger site that will distribute my content through RSS FEED. Their programmer is working on the Integration.
• Lost a potential partner, which is simply taking advantage of my site. Got rid of them.
• Got an other verbal confirmation on a partnership to cross promote both services as add-on. Working on creating promotion materials.
• Getting new customers from other states and officially going national.
• Made mistakes that drop my Google local listing which also affect my main keywords ranking and have negative impact on my Google Adsense revenue.
• Still waiting for response from the franchise company, which has 22 locations in Arizona. If I don't get response back soon, I will start talking to each individual franchise owner.
• Got turn down by a very large national company that have never tried similar services and will never try due to their company policy.
• Networking with local Public Relationship expert. Hope to nail deals to get more media exposures.
• Networking with local regional magazine on trade to get advertisement spot on their magazines and help them on SEO.
• Got one independent sales who are interested in helping me sell for commission. Need to provide him more sales materials to start with.
• Got really good responses about the idea of site B. Need to start programming YESTERDAY.

At the moment, I am moving on to branding stage. Really need to get sales going without doing it myself and focus on technology and site B.

Will update at the end of February.

Thanks for reminding me.

 

[TC2]

Update for February.

• Got the partnership going. A much bigger web site is now distributing my content on their network. Don't see the traffic boost yet. :smx1:
• #1 keyword ranking is recovering, but not yet reach #2.
• #2 keywords are back on the first page of Google and Yahoo.
• #3 keywords are back on the third page of Google.
• Google local listing is still flagged for content review. Screw it. It's no longer that important. :fryingpan:
• Postpone the programming on the new idea. Research on how to make it hard to duplicate (MJ's #2 commandment of entry).

On the personal side.

• Gain 2lb after B&P. :eusa_naughty:
• Got my Tax Lien buyer ID. Waiting for the CP list CD, so I can jump into the market.
• Start hunting apartment / single family house in Scottsdale. :coffee:

 

[TC2]

It's been almost 6 months since my last update.

I have to admit. Being a self-made entrepreneur is just not an easy job. I get out corporation in 2006 where I worked 16 hours a day. Now I am working 18 hours a day on my own with much less $. Am I crazy?

I am a believer on what I do. Even the market is saturated! I still see plenty of opportunities out there.

Lately, I implemented Facebook social search into my website. I am getting 1500% traffic growth rate from Facebook in the last 30 days. That's awesome.

To be honest, selling services to local business is pain in the neck. 95% of the business owner gave me the same answer. I don't have money!

With the economy goes down continually and new technology coming up everyday. I am keeping up as much as I can.

Here is my current update.

1. Working on the second partnership with a very large website.
2. Google Adsense income is still going static.
3. Got more barter trade customers than cash customers. Need to better spend those $ for something useful
4. Finally getting my Google local ranking back! Don't want to screw up again.
5. Main keyword is #1 on Google, Yahoo and Bing.
6. Still waiting for the mobile app company to pull in my data.

Next 4 months goal.
1. Finish Facebook graph API integration
2. Train the first sales person to do what I do
3. Spend all my barter trade money before the end of the fiscal year.

Will be back in few months.

 

[James Fake]

Thanks for the update!

You are definitely sticking in there! Kudos to you on that.. You inspire me with your 100% belief and tenacity to fight.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Thanks for the update T, I watch your updates on FB regularly!

 

[TC2]

OK. Here is my latest update before I head out of country for 3 weeks. I will have 3 weeks to spend with families, work on the new project and have some fun oversea.

Here is where I stand on my current project.

• Got many barter trade customers. I have to spend my barter $ faster before the end of this fiscal year (Hate paying tax on virtual money)
• Most cash customers are too cheap. Need to find more higher profit margin customers and get rid of the cheap one.
• My Facebook social search traffic is dead, since Facebook made changes to their algorithm.
• Got more customers who want SEO services and Social Media Integration, which took me lots time. Need to outsource that to someone I can trust.

I now have a new sales person and am recruiting the other two. They will help me nail some deals while I am gone. Not sure how good they will perform, but this is the biggest and first step to set myself free.

Gotta learn to be real entrepreneur and act like one. *SELFISH + EVIL = :driving: on the Fastlane*

** MJ: Correct me if I am wrong ** :smxB:

I am giving out 60% commission (30% to the sales, 30% to the data entry person). I will reinvest 30% back to materials, marketing, and other stuff. 10% will be paying myself. I truly believe that WIN-WIN is the best model to succeed.

I am starting a new site, which will mostly benefit myself on what I do. *SELFISH*

It's about helping me getting job done faster while selling that to local business owners as tool.

As far as I can see, the economy is not coming back anytime soon. So there is huge demand from small business owners who are desperate looking for change.

The downside is that most of them don't have $ to spend, so they tend to do everything themselves. So I am going to give them the tool and information on how they can do that on their own for a little fee.

Of course, most of them won't be able to do that on their own, because it's up to me to make it look easy but difficult to accomplish. *EVIL*.

Currently, there is only one company I know offering this type of tool, but they only have very limited features.

That's for now!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

30% to the data entry person

Why would you do this? Why not pay someone $10/hour? People need jobs.

*SELFISH + EVIL = on the Fastlane*

Selfishness + Evil does not equal Fastlane ... not sure how you came to that conclusion as I hope I misread that!!

 

[Jonleehacker]

*SELFISH + EVIL = on the Fastlane*

most of the time SELFISH + EVIL = prison time

 

[ceoarob]

I think that someone need's to reframe this entire thing.

IMO, you're coming from this at a standpoint that you're TAKING value from people. If you're viewing what you do as selfish/evil, then you might make alot of money by it at first, but it's going to come and bite you in the a$$ long haul.

For me, I'm in the Insurance Industry, and I'm not going to lie, I thought it was a scam at first. But after I started doing my research and aligned myself with the best of the best (best products, best services, best death benefits, etc), I started realizing that people are LUCKY if they get with me. I don't even view it as people "allowing me to take thousands of dollars every year".

Instead, because I believe in what I do so much, I understand that if they don't do business with me, THEY are they unlucky ones.

Where does this come from? Belief in product and belief in self.

Maybe I'm misreading this, but that's just my .02

------

Spark Notes: Whenever you are doing anything with business, you are GIVING value. You are creating jobs and/or enhancing people's lives with a product.

 

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[ceoarob]

As for paying a data entry person 30%, I would highly advise against that.

Pay people what they're worth for the job that they're doing.

Unless you can sustain that 30% long-haul, then go on ahead. But as MJ said, 10$/hr will work.

-------

You can definitely BONUS somebody for quality work done in a timely manner, but unless you are thoroughly convinced that 30% is best for you and your data entry person, then go on ahead.