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Part 2:
The Slowlane
S-E-Slowwww
I started training immediately, and applied all of the new stuff I was taught to my already existing knowledge. I got dangerous, fast. I was taking client accounts and calls in short time and getting them stellar results all along the way. I was making a decent salary which helped me pay down my debt and allowed me to have enough money to get my own place as me and the ex called it quits. So I did as any early 20's guy just out of a relationship and coming off of a soul crushing low would do, I moved into an overpriced apartment downtown. While not the best financial move, it was the best move I could have done at the time given the circumstances.
Mindset improving and becoming less clouded by stress, I went to work, learned things along the way, and became the rising star. I devoured articles, blog posts, analytics data, and every other resource at my disposal. I was still new to the whole office politics thing, so I made a few enemies along the way, but leadership was happy as clients loved me and I did great work.
I did this for about a year, about halfway through that year I hit the point of diminished returns. There were not enough challenges in my position. I could handle more clients thanks to my efficiency and "cut to the chase" method of analyzing sites. But the hierarchy in that department was already filled up. There was no wiggle room for me to advance through the ranks. I couldn't automate, I couldn't systemize, I couldn't delegate, I couldn't lead. So, I started working on processes to manage paid ad accounts, Adwords primarily.
Paid Ads: My True Calling
This is where things started to get fun. I had managed to get only a few paid ad clients on and was working with them, and devouring everything I could to make the most of the situation. One of those clients I managed to get them to $10k/mo spend and $100k/mo revenue fairly quickly. This was reassuring for me as it further reinforced my belief that this stuff was easy with the right strategy, processes, and systems in place.
Now, around this time I was bored. I started working on a business idea. It was for a lead generation company to focus on generating exclusive phone leads for roofing companies at first, then to expand into other local service verticals as it gained traction. So around September 2015, I saved up another $10k, and guess what? I quit my job AGAIN! Again, with no substantial revenue, no working model. Just hopes and dreams and grit.
Local Lead Gen: Big Problems Need Big Money
So for this business, I started out STRONG. I had a plan, I had a system, I just had to get people signed up to buy the leads, I would run the ads to my landing pages, and I would generated leads, and distribute them to my lead buyers. Simple right? Right...
So before I get into what happened next, my then girlfriend's twin sister decided to talk her into moving 700 miles away, THE DAY THAT I PUT IN MY TWO WEEKS. Needless to say, I was blindsided. I was hurt. I was crushed. I didn't see it coming and everything was going so well. This really messed me up for a while, then she moved back. Talk about an emotional roller coaster.
Anyways, at this point my head was focused on the wrong things, time was not on my side, and my system I thought I had perfected had holes all over the place. I had lead buyers, I was driving leads, but many were falling outside of the zip ranges which resulted in no one buying the leads because there were gaps in my coverage area. I was again running out of money and I needed a massive outreach effort to fill the gaps.
It was at this time I had to act fast and found a client to manage their ads and SEO for. This covered my bills, but that was about it. No wiggle room whatsoever. It was after another 6 months or so the agency I worked at before reached out. They wanted me back. So I went back. But this time, things were going to be a little different. This time I had a goal in mind, and that was to build a highly efficient department at the agency focused on paid ads. So I did.
Building The Department: Coming Into My Own
I came in with the fury of a 1000x suns. Ruffled some feathers, but was overall more cognizant of office politics at this point and what strings I had to pull to get things moving in the direction I needed them to move in.
I took under utilized human resources and took them under my wing, training from the ground up to manage and grow ecommerce ad accounts. Over the course of 6 months, I took the department from managing $10k/mo to managing more than $100k/mo. In 12 months, we were managing more than $500k/mo with more than 30 accounts. Things were moving, but nowhere near as fast as they could have. If I were to put in the time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears needed to take it to $10m+/mo in managed spend, I needed equity.
Long story short, it didn't work out due to a number of internal issues. But I didn't take it to heart. Instead, I started focusing on doing it for myself. The way it needs to be done. The right way. The best way.
The Fastlane
Present Day: Ecommerce Ad Management - A Growth Service
Fast forward to today. I have further refined my processes, am in the process of ramping up my sales team, and am training and onboarding new ad managers to help balance the workload. The plan is set, the model is sound, the trajectory is solid, and the only thing left to do is to do it.
Hopefully you've enjoyed this 6 year journey (struggle) that got me to this point and perhaps even taken something positive from it that you can learn from.
Goodbye job, hello Fastlane. It has been a long time coming, and it has taken a ton of sacrifice and hard work. This would never have been possible had I not read TMF all those years ago. There are too many people to thank here, whose posts and conversations have helped me through the years at various points in time. But obviously @MJ DeMarco thanks for making this community for business nerds like me and for TMF & Unscripted .
@biophase @Vigilante @JasonR @AndrewNC @million$$$smile @amp0193 @Andy Black @eliquid @IceCreamKid @MidwestLandlord @Ravens_Shadow @G_Alexander @James Fend @AllenCrawley and really everyone that contributes here, thank you. All of the insight you've provided here on the forum and via conversations over the years has helped me form my own mental systems that have gotten me to this point and for that I am forever grateful.
It just goes to show, no matter who you are, where you come from, what you are doing, or where your head is at currently, with the right focus, determination, and perseverance, you too can overcome any obstacles in your way and live the life that you want to live.
The Slowlane
S-E-Slowwww
I started training immediately, and applied all of the new stuff I was taught to my already existing knowledge. I got dangerous, fast. I was taking client accounts and calls in short time and getting them stellar results all along the way. I was making a decent salary which helped me pay down my debt and allowed me to have enough money to get my own place as me and the ex called it quits. So I did as any early 20's guy just out of a relationship and coming off of a soul crushing low would do, I moved into an overpriced apartment downtown. While not the best financial move, it was the best move I could have done at the time given the circumstances.
Mindset improving and becoming less clouded by stress, I went to work, learned things along the way, and became the rising star. I devoured articles, blog posts, analytics data, and every other resource at my disposal. I was still new to the whole office politics thing, so I made a few enemies along the way, but leadership was happy as clients loved me and I did great work.
I did this for about a year, about halfway through that year I hit the point of diminished returns. There were not enough challenges in my position. I could handle more clients thanks to my efficiency and "cut to the chase" method of analyzing sites. But the hierarchy in that department was already filled up. There was no wiggle room for me to advance through the ranks. I couldn't automate, I couldn't systemize, I couldn't delegate, I couldn't lead. So, I started working on processes to manage paid ad accounts, Adwords primarily.
Paid Ads: My True Calling
This is where things started to get fun. I had managed to get only a few paid ad clients on and was working with them, and devouring everything I could to make the most of the situation. One of those clients I managed to get them to $10k/mo spend and $100k/mo revenue fairly quickly. This was reassuring for me as it further reinforced my belief that this stuff was easy with the right strategy, processes, and systems in place.
Now, around this time I was bored. I started working on a business idea. It was for a lead generation company to focus on generating exclusive phone leads for roofing companies at first, then to expand into other local service verticals as it gained traction. So around September 2015, I saved up another $10k, and guess what? I quit my job AGAIN! Again, with no substantial revenue, no working model. Just hopes and dreams and grit.
Local Lead Gen: Big Problems Need Big Money
So for this business, I started out STRONG. I had a plan, I had a system, I just had to get people signed up to buy the leads, I would run the ads to my landing pages, and I would generated leads, and distribute them to my lead buyers. Simple right? Right...
So before I get into what happened next, my then girlfriend's twin sister decided to talk her into moving 700 miles away, THE DAY THAT I PUT IN MY TWO WEEKS. Needless to say, I was blindsided. I was hurt. I was crushed. I didn't see it coming and everything was going so well. This really messed me up for a while, then she moved back. Talk about an emotional roller coaster.
Anyways, at this point my head was focused on the wrong things, time was not on my side, and my system I thought I had perfected had holes all over the place. I had lead buyers, I was driving leads, but many were falling outside of the zip ranges which resulted in no one buying the leads because there were gaps in my coverage area. I was again running out of money and I needed a massive outreach effort to fill the gaps.
It was at this time I had to act fast and found a client to manage their ads and SEO for. This covered my bills, but that was about it. No wiggle room whatsoever. It was after another 6 months or so the agency I worked at before reached out. They wanted me back. So I went back. But this time, things were going to be a little different. This time I had a goal in mind, and that was to build a highly efficient department at the agency focused on paid ads. So I did.
Building The Department: Coming Into My Own
I came in with the fury of a 1000x suns. Ruffled some feathers, but was overall more cognizant of office politics at this point and what strings I had to pull to get things moving in the direction I needed them to move in.
I took under utilized human resources and took them under my wing, training from the ground up to manage and grow ecommerce ad accounts. Over the course of 6 months, I took the department from managing $10k/mo to managing more than $100k/mo. In 12 months, we were managing more than $500k/mo with more than 30 accounts. Things were moving, but nowhere near as fast as they could have. If I were to put in the time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears needed to take it to $10m+/mo in managed spend, I needed equity.
Long story short, it didn't work out due to a number of internal issues. But I didn't take it to heart. Instead, I started focusing on doing it for myself. The way it needs to be done. The right way. The best way.
The Fastlane
Present Day: Ecommerce Ad Management - A Growth Service
Fast forward to today. I have further refined my processes, am in the process of ramping up my sales team, and am training and onboarding new ad managers to help balance the workload. The plan is set, the model is sound, the trajectory is solid, and the only thing left to do is to do it.
Hopefully you've enjoyed this 6 year journey (struggle) that got me to this point and perhaps even taken something positive from it that you can learn from.
Goodbye job, hello Fastlane. It has been a long time coming, and it has taken a ton of sacrifice and hard work. This would never have been possible had I not read TMF all those years ago. There are too many people to thank here, whose posts and conversations have helped me through the years at various points in time. But obviously @MJ DeMarco thanks for making this community for business nerds like me and for TMF & Unscripted .
@biophase @Vigilante @JasonR @AndrewNC @million$$$smile @amp0193 @Andy Black @eliquid @IceCreamKid @MidwestLandlord @Ravens_Shadow @G_Alexander @James Fend @AllenCrawley and really everyone that contributes here, thank you. All of the insight you've provided here on the forum and via conversations over the years has helped me form my own mental systems that have gotten me to this point and for that I am forever grateful.
It just goes to show, no matter who you are, where you come from, what you are doing, or where your head is at currently, with the right focus, determination, and perseverance, you too can overcome any obstacles in your way and live the life that you want to live.