Starting a Klaviyo Email Marketing Digital Agency

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

[Goal 2.0] Day 3 breakdown:
Total Contacts: 11/500 (Days Left: 27)
Pomodoro Count: 8

• Strategizing [x2]
  • Weighing my options and determining what's the ideal path moving forward.
• Klaviyo Problem Solving Client [x6]
  • I had a small contract to help someone with their Klaviyo mobile optimizations.

A bit of an interesting day. I managed to land a small client. I'm hesitant to really count it as anything because it was a simple job and in the end, I couldn't solve it(it was a device-specific problem). Nevertheless, I did get to test my knowledge of Klaviyo and what kind of answers to expect from clients working with that platform.

For the time being, I'm going to try and capitalize on smaller task jobs I find on Klaviyo and work my way up.

The day passed by quickly!

 

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[BizyDad]

Have you reached out to other bigger agencies that offer Klaivyo? If you make friends with salespeople at those agencies you can offer to set up a referral partnership. You send them the clients that are "too big" for you, and they can send you the clients tha are "too small" for them. Every big agency is hit with these small price shoppers and want to turn them away. All you have to do is convince them to turn them to you.

And if you really are friends with those salespeople, take them out for a beer and talk shop. Ask about what sales tactics have been working for them...

 

[Andy Black]

Have you reached out to other bigger agencies that offer Klaivyo? If you make friends with salespeople at those agencies you can offer to set up a referral partnership. You send them the clients that are "too big" for you, and they can send you the clients tha are "too small" for them. Every big agency is hit with these small price shoppers and want to turn them away. All you have to do is convince them to turn them to you.

And if you really are friends with those salespeople, take them out for a beer and talk shop. Ask about what sales tactics have been working for them...

“Who already has your clients?”
(Jay Abraham)

I’ve built my business by building relationships.

A lot of my work came from marketing agencies that don’t do Google Ads, or don’t specialise in it. I recommend having the relationship with the end client if you do this.

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

[Goal 2.0] Day 4 breakdown:
Total Contacts: 11/500 (Days Left: 26)
Pomodoro Count: 8

• Skills [x6]
  • Went on a binge of what strategies people are using to find more clients. I'm brainstorming ways I could make this process faster.
• Template [x2]
  • I decided on a template I would use for each niche I would specifically target. (Niches: e-commerce, productivity, and smaller businesses)

Today was a bit of a grinder. Maybe I'm getting burnt out, not sure. I'm not too worried about it, I know I just need some rest.

Also, I'm spending way too much time assessing the potential of each business of the contacts I'm going through. Thankfully, after seeing hundreds of Shopify stores, I can immediately tell which ones I'd have a genuine interest in and others that would strictly be business.

I'm going to hone down on a couple of things:

1. Testing subject lines with a templated email copy. (I'll add in a single personal flair, of course. If I'm genuinely interested, more personalization)
2. Stick to hard and fast criteria.

I'm going to test each component of the email bit by bit over the next week. Effective Subject Line == Good Open Rates -> Effective Email Copy == Meetings Scheduled.

 

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[ChrisLeeHoskins]

Have you reached out to other bigger agencies that offer Klaivyo? If you make friends with salespeople at those agencies you can offer to set up a referral partnership. You send them the clients that are "too big" for you, and they can send you the clients tha are "too small" for them. Every big agency is hit with these small price shoppers and want to turn them away. All you have to do is convince them to turn them to you.

And if you really are friends with those salespeople, take them out for a beer and talk shop. Ask about what sales tactics have been working for them...

I would have never thought of this! I'm beginning to dip my toes in sales culture and the communities that exist. I'll definitely be keeping this in mind when I find other like-minded agencies I come across or people I naturally vibe with.

 

[Andy Black]

Are you reaching out to people who use Shopify or people who use Klaviyo?

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

Are you reaching out to people who use Shopify or people who use Klaviyo?

I'm reaching out to Shopify stores that use Klaviyo. I sign up for their newsletter which, thankfully, shows which email platform they use in the domain. I know both those platforms pretty well. I figured I'd niche down.

 

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[ChrisLeeHoskins]

I am following your advice from your former post about searching for customers that know the Klaviyo platform as opposed to teaching them what Klaviyo is.

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

[Goal 2.0] Day 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 breakdown:
Total Contacts: 11/500 (Days Left: 22)
Pomodoro Count: 0

I ended up losing my tooth while flossing on Friday and had to figure out where my insurance and such are at. I figured I'd get all my appointments out of the year over with while I was at it. Been decompressing over the weekend and had my appointments today. I should be picking up work tomorrow!

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

[Goal 2.0] Day 9 breakdown:
Total Contacts: 12/500 (Days Left: 21)
Pomodoro Count: 4

• Templates/Contact
  • I'm making a basic template for 3 scenarios:
    • Prospect doesn't have an email sign-up at all. (Set up automated email flows)
    • Prospect has an e-commerce store with poorly timed email responses. (Set up better email flows)
    • Prospect is all-around personally interesting and has room for improvement. (Everything above + Consultation + Monthly Contract)

The nice thing is that when I find prospects on Upwork, they all schedule a sales call. On the flip side, I'm not getting too many contacts out there just yet. I've now got to consider the process of how I'd treat sales calls and how much time I'm willing to commit to research further to add more to the sales call. I'll have an update about how the call goes!

 

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[ChrisLeeHoskins]

[Goal 2.0] Day 10 breakdown:
Total Contacts: 21/500 (Days Left: 20)
Pomodoro Count: 4

• Preparation [x2]
  • Just simple research and review for the client I'm working with, what to improve, and such.
• Contacts [x2]
  • I didn't want to play too much about finessing a perfect template, just something good enough to send out there.

I did end up sealing the deal with the Upwork client from yesterday. It was pretty fast. He signed up for a Zoom call for today and we talked about what kind of solution he was looking for which ended up being basic email flows, a great first contract with the potential for a lot more work! The work is roughly 10 hours of work for $400, so, not too bad of a trade, I low balled it for the potential of more work.

I'm not going to celebrate the small victory just yet. Until the work is finished and I get paid, I'll be holding off on the enthusiasm. I am happy that out of the dozen or so sales calls I've had, I've never failed to get them into a finalized contract. Feels good!

As for the contacts. I'm going to do a couple of things:

1. I'm holding too high of a standard for work that can be easily done. I don't have to be passionate about every email flow opportunity that comes my way. With that said, when I find an obvious eCommerce store in need of email services or obvious improvements, I send the template, whereas before, I would just skip it altogether.
2. With the template,(I do have to create a couple more for specific cases) I can easily churn out around 40 emails a day. Today, I only had an hour of time to pump them out and got 9.

Good day! We'll see how the contacts and client progress goes!

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

[Goal 2.0] Day 11 breakdown:
Total Contacts: 21/500 (Days Left: 19)
Pomodoro Count: 6

• Planning [x2]
  • With my recent Upwork client, I've done a general audit of their business. I'm just assigning the priorities to the general plan.
• Email Flows [x4]
  • The client has no emails flow at all, which means there are plenty of opportunities to improve conversions! During these pomodoros, I focused on pooling together everything I've learned and making sure I'm checking all the boxes when I set up these flows.

(Written in retrospect) A pretty decent day. It's a bit weird to get into the flow of writing emails, again. The benefit of doing this fresh is that it's exciting to consider how much I've learned these past few months and to see what the results turn out to be once the flows are published. But, the one caveat is that it's a bit draining to consider all the moving pieces. The project should only last a few more days, so, let's see how that goes!

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

[Goal 2.0] Day 12 breakdown:
Total Contacts: 21/500 (Days Left: 18)
Pomodoro Count: 0

I spent most of the day just sitting in the office staring blankly at a screen. I tried putting myself in the perspective of understanding why I'm doing all this and what it would mean in the future to justify the effort of the present, but it was all for not.

In the end, I wouldn't chalk up this moment to a lack of motivation, because that's dumb. My sleep schedule is inconsistent and I'm not eating as well as I should. Stack that up with physical fatigue and I've got a tired brain. For the upcoming week, I've got to not only double down but triple down on my existing routines.

I'm keeping up a terrible habit of trying to find shallow solutions by creating new habits using willpower/effort alone and, in the end, it fizzles out and the problem rises supreme. Instead of trying to think of some sort of new approach to my fatigue, I'm going to really hone down on two things: sleep and nutrition. If it means I've got to drink sleepy tea exactly 1 hour and 13 minutes before bed, then so be it. I'll figure out what I've got to do. I'm tired of being tired.

 

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[ChrisLeeHoskins]

[Goal 2.0] Day 13 breakdown:
Total Contacts: 21/500 (Days Left: 17)
Pomodoro Count: 0

Today is my day off. Tomorrow I'll be dumping quite a bit of data that I've recorded in the first month of starting this goal! (Pomodoro counts, email conversions, contact sources, journal entry counts, etc.)

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

[Goal 2.0] Day 14 breakdown:
Total Contacts: 21/500 (Days Left: 16)
Pomodoro Count: 0 (I'll be starting work after this post)

First Month Breakdown (JAN 31 - MAR 5):
Work Stats
Total Pomodoro Count: 51 (36 Hours 40 Minutes)
Total Contacts Made: 21

• Emails Sent: 14
  • Emails Read: 1
• Upwork Proposals Sent: ~6
  • Proposals Replies: 3
  • Proposals Contract Closed: 1
  • Total Revenue: 0 (I won't count the $400 contract until I see it in my bank account)
• Forum Replies: 1 (I count any questions I can easily answer on Shopify, eCommerce, and Klaviyo Forums)

It's a bit interesting that I can make 2x my original goal of making $1k with one client. I guess everyone saying that I'm lowballing my expectations was right.

My emails conversions are what I expected. I am in the middle of working with a client and making sure they're satisfied before anything else, so emails have stalled a bit. I've got to learn how to squeeze in emails first thing in the morning versus doing them later.

My best platform for clients has been Upwork. I understand that working with their platform sacrifice the control of my funds. For the time being, I'll use the platform to easily confirm my own services and what clients find valuable.

Journal Stats
Total Journal Entries: 21
Total Words Written: 7900
3 Most Common Words Used In Entries: Work(67), all(58), just(55)

I felt this was interesting to note. I've definitely been writing more about justifying work and relating it to my current goals. Also, I've always felt that "just" was a wimpy procrastinator's word. And well, I used it a lot this month.

Lessons Learned:

• Sleep should be sacred.
  • I've recently taken up tracking my sleep. If I wasn't getting enough deep sleep, I would chalk up my brain to being less motivated. I would ultimately pump out subpar work and feel bad in the same process. You get more sleep, you get more and better work done. Also, stick to a strict schedule. Don't be like me and dance around a schedule as if being impulsive is at all efficient.
• Don't make a mountain out of a molehill.
  • I won't lie, my own perspective of my own value and what I could provide in terms of service sucks.
    
    Unfortunately, it's all too common. The moment I started getting in contact with clients, I realized very quickly that I knew enough, I had quick solutions to their problems and in the end, if they were satisfied, I was satisfied. I can't express how many moments of self-doubt I had for logical reasons. That's the uphill battle of starting a business -- at least for me-- convincing yourself that you can do it.
• Have a bare minimum commitment.
  • No matter what, some days are going to suck. There won't be any identifiable reason either. But, you've got to do it anyways. There was a quote I read recently from Steven Pressfield on fighting against our own calling, "The best pages I've ever written are pages I can't remember writing.". It's almost comedic how imaginative our brains can narrate our own struggle. Sometimes, you can only allow one thing in your brain during these times, do the work!

Overall Thoughts
I'm not doing enough. Pumping out 40 hours of solid work for an entire month is bad. Although these pomodoros are distraction-less and aren't involving valueless tasks like answering emails, the conclusion is still the same: the more hours I commit, the faster this business will grow. If I want to be achieving the goals I've originally set(1k, 2k, 5k per month) and getting my business to a profitable point where I can branch off into Dropshipping again, I've got to sit down and do the work.

My biggest issue is getting in my own head. Once the physical and mental fatigue starts settling in and when I've stared at a blank screen for so long, I end up justifying a way out of the work. I'm thinking way too much about how I personally feel.

Of course, it's important to consider your well-being. I'm not going to play into the toxic hustle culture where you must grind away at your soul to achieve anything of worth. But, in order to achieve something exceptional, you've got to do something exceptional. Sitting in front of a screen and churning out work; confronting the same persistent feeling of frustration and rising above the occasion, day in and day out, is exceptional to me and that's what it takes. There doesn't have to be anything else to be said.

So, let's keep hunkering down and getting what needs to get done.

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

[Goal 2.0] Day 15 breakdown:
Total Contacts: 21/500 (Days Left: 15)
Pomodoro Count: 5

• Upwork Client [x5]
  • Setting up the basics of the action plan and prioritizing the lowest hanging fruits. In this case, it's going to be setting up transactional emails with upsells.

 

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[ChrisLeeHoskins]

[Goal 2.0] Day 16 breakdown:
Total Contacts: 21/500 (Days Left: 14)
Pomodoro Count: 8

• Learning [x6]
  • I wanted to make sure that I'm moving forward in general with my knowledge and my skills. I took today to study something new and make sure that I'm building a foundation as I pursue more work for the agency.
• Execution [x2]
  • From the action plan, I set up yesterday, I got started on the outlines and the basic templates of what would eventually be the final emails. This part is mentally taxing for me, so I can't do it for too long.

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

[Goal 2.0] Day 17 breakdown:
Total Contacts: 21/500 (Days Left: 13)
Pomodoro Count: 8

• Execution [x8]
  • Nothing special to add here. These pomodoros are about doing that work!

 

[ChrisLeeHoskins]

[Goal 2.0] Day 18 breakdown:
Total Contacts: 21/500 (Days Left: 12)
Pomodoro Count: 8

• Learn [x2]
  • I spent a little time figuring out how I'll find my next starving market while I pursue client work. I'm making the assumption that it'll take a bit of time to deduce what that market would be. For the time being, it's going to be setting up niches stores and seeing what bites.
• Execution [x6]
  • I'm shooting for having all the outlines to all emails and shooting for full completions.

Well, well, well.

I'm here staring at the days I have left for this goal. To get straight to the point. I don't feel bad about the remaining days I have left. All I can think of is how I'm accomplishing both my goal of getting to 1k in profit without reaching out to more than a handful of people. Maybe, I got lucky? Who knows.

My honest expectations were that I would have to reach out to a lot of people before even getting a response. If I did reach 500 contacts and had a higher rate of conversions, this goal will take a while because of the workload, expanding the time horizon. In the end, I think I'm going to have to either change the timeline or combine prior goals. I'll be brainstormin' on this for a bit.

 

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