- Joined
- Dec 30, 2023
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- 33
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Hi everyone,
Backstory
This is my first post on the Forum. I read TMF in early 2022 when I was 19 years old (I’m now 21) in university hopping from business idea to business idea. Ever since I was 12 or 13, I’ve had this vision or goal in mind of building a business that gives me location, time, and money freedom, but I didn’t fully comprehend these concepts until I got exposed to MJ’s work.
So after some research, I decide to start a marketing agency in the summer of 2022 with a friend of mine. Long story short I was scattered and learning how to do everything, we didn’t end up landing any client and I cut ties with my friend as a business partner (but still hang out with them haha) because it seemed like he didn’t want to put in the same amount of work as me.
So not much happens with the business, I try getting into content creation to build a brand and audience but that wasn’t moving the needle (getting my first client).
Last summer, things changed a little, landed two clients but as a freelancer so it was a one-off job. I niche-hopped better than a group of bunnies. First it was ALL fitness/health businesses, then gyms, then personal trainers, then online coaches, then real estate agents, and now I’m back to gyms again.
I’m back to doing 25 cold emails/calls per day. I offer pay per-lead lead generation through Facebook Ads and then a subsequent lead follow-up and nurturing system via GoHighLevel (side question: is there a better alternative for this? I heard Zapier is quite good but GHL seems to have all the things you need to manage clientele)
So I’ve been seeing a lot of talk here on the forum that the agency model is not fastlane and requires too much sweat equity, which I agree with but the system seems very scalable as long as you put in the hours and learn what you need to get to digital marketing.
My Question
My question I guess is not whether it’s possible to make money through SMMA, but rather whether I should put myself in another vehicle or not. I tend to be a generalist, meaning I can learn and work to get good at basically anything, but my interests do lean toward digital businesses as I’m very competent at handling new technology after some time tinkering with it.
I have one semester left before I get my mechanical engineering degree, but I would like to make a large online business while working as an engineer.
Some of my skills include:
-Video editing (Premiere Pro)
-Making thumbnails and creatives (Photoshop)
-Lead Prospecting and Lead Generation (learned this recently through cold outreach)
-Math (for some reason throughout my school and college life I’ve always done really well in math despite studying the least hours compared to my other courses)
-Talking to a camera (I’ve been making talking head YouTube videos on and off for almost 10 years)
-Facebook Advertising (I know basically all the basics about that platform now)
-Boxing
Skills I need to develop:
-Sales and persuasion (my BIGGEST bottleneck in the business)
-Time management and prioritizing tasks
-Learning to see how I can provide more value in any exchange. I tend to wait until I see a crystal clear green light before I enter an endeavor that involves money, but when it comes to my own life I tinker a lot.
-Interpersonal dynamics, being a good communicator and speaker (talking to a camera is good but it seems to not translate over to real life as well)
I’m open to hearing everyone’s thoughts because I’m genuinely confused about what to do. It feels like I’m forcing myself to push through the SMMA but I think that’s part of the struggle. The desert of desertion is very real right now.
Backstory
This is my first post on the Forum. I read TMF in early 2022 when I was 19 years old (I’m now 21) in university hopping from business idea to business idea. Ever since I was 12 or 13, I’ve had this vision or goal in mind of building a business that gives me location, time, and money freedom, but I didn’t fully comprehend these concepts until I got exposed to MJ’s work.
So after some research, I decide to start a marketing agency in the summer of 2022 with a friend of mine. Long story short I was scattered and learning how to do everything, we didn’t end up landing any client and I cut ties with my friend as a business partner (but still hang out with them haha) because it seemed like he didn’t want to put in the same amount of work as me.
So not much happens with the business, I try getting into content creation to build a brand and audience but that wasn’t moving the needle (getting my first client).
Last summer, things changed a little, landed two clients but as a freelancer so it was a one-off job. I niche-hopped better than a group of bunnies. First it was ALL fitness/health businesses, then gyms, then personal trainers, then online coaches, then real estate agents, and now I’m back to gyms again.
I’m back to doing 25 cold emails/calls per day. I offer pay per-lead lead generation through Facebook Ads and then a subsequent lead follow-up and nurturing system via GoHighLevel (side question: is there a better alternative for this? I heard Zapier is quite good but GHL seems to have all the things you need to manage clientele)
So I’ve been seeing a lot of talk here on the forum that the agency model is not fastlane and requires too much sweat equity, which I agree with but the system seems very scalable as long as you put in the hours and learn what you need to get to digital marketing.
My Question
My question I guess is not whether it’s possible to make money through SMMA, but rather whether I should put myself in another vehicle or not. I tend to be a generalist, meaning I can learn and work to get good at basically anything, but my interests do lean toward digital businesses as I’m very competent at handling new technology after some time tinkering with it.
I have one semester left before I get my mechanical engineering degree, but I would like to make a large online business while working as an engineer.
Some of my skills include:
-Video editing (Premiere Pro)
-Making thumbnails and creatives (Photoshop)
-Lead Prospecting and Lead Generation (learned this recently through cold outreach)
-Math (for some reason throughout my school and college life I’ve always done really well in math despite studying the least hours compared to my other courses)
-Talking to a camera (I’ve been making talking head YouTube videos on and off for almost 10 years)
-Facebook Advertising (I know basically all the basics about that platform now)
-Boxing
Skills I need to develop:
-Sales and persuasion (my BIGGEST bottleneck in the business)
-Time management and prioritizing tasks
-Learning to see how I can provide more value in any exchange. I tend to wait until I see a crystal clear green light before I enter an endeavor that involves money, but when it comes to my own life I tinker a lot.
-Interpersonal dynamics, being a good communicator and speaker (talking to a camera is good but it seems to not translate over to real life as well)
I’m open to hearing everyone’s thoughts because I’m genuinely confused about what to do. It feels like I’m forcing myself to push through the SMMA but I think that’s part of the struggle. The desert of desertion is very real right now.
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