The Story of my Marketing- & Sales-Agency

[SanchoMarques]

Hey there,
so I decided to do this sort of diary, to share my story and my process.
Mainly for myself, to reflect on the process, the problems and my mind (-set)
but on the other hand I think it is great to share experiences so someone can maybe get inspired
or not to feel alone with certain problems. Of course to get some good and productive feedback as well.

The Prequel
So, where do I begin? I guess, that a chronological order of the process, that lead me to where I am now is the best.
My name is Steve, I was born in Bavaria, Germany and I now live in Vienna.

As a child I always wanted to be an entrepreneur.
I tried to build a few "companies" since I was 6 years old.
From a detective agency to a lemonade stand, I tried a lot of things.
I did it, cause I romanticized the Idea of being a business owner
and I was interested in a lot of things.
But I've always quit early, when I encountered my first obstacles. Finding my next "venture".
Funny to remember it, cause this didn't change for a long time.
The path of the least resistance was always my way of living and working. Often
with negative consequences for the long run.

As I grew older, in my teenage years, I laid this idea of being my own boss aside.
I guess the main reason was, that my Dad was a negative example of a business owner.
He worked like hell to sustain the family and keep the business alive(a garage).
I said to myself that I don't want to ever end up like this. So I threw the idea away.

After finishing the "high school" as a 19-year-old, I thought about studying, but I got offered an apprenticeship as a salesman for timber.
Not even knowing what to study, making some money and getting a certificate sounded like a good option for me.

Two months into it, I hated my life. Doing unfulfilling tasks like copy and paste excel sheets
for days, picking and packing construction timber for carpenters in cold big wharehouses, made me really miserable.
Well, it was an apprenticeship. That's what you do as an apprentice.
I wanted to quit and move away. Already made all plans, but my brother talked me out of it.
So I stayed and finished. And after that I even stayed longer. 8 years longer.
I learned how to sell. And I did a great job. When I didn't work I learned and partied.
After three more years I became the Head of Sales at the age of 25.

At that point the wish to be my own boss came back.
The wish not to earn someone else millions of dollars, while getting only a small cut.
I started projects, and threw them away in the planning phase, because of obstacles. May it be some legal
obstacles, or strategic obstacles. Then I found the next project.
Then put the idea to start my own business away only to work on it again.
I loved theory and hated action.

The main part
One day it was enough. 2017 I went to the town hall and registered a business.
I saw a youtube video of a guy selling merch on amazon.
Loving the idea of "passive income" I decided, that I have to take action now.
So I learned as much as possible about it. After that some guy from Upwork designed some shirts for me
and I've put them on Amazon.
I knew, that I won't make it to the point where I could sustain a comfortable living with, also I didn't like the idea
of being dependent on Amazon, so I stopped.
my Designs are still online and although I didn't put any additional work in there since the beginning of 2018
it still pays me around 100$ every month. It's crazy.

Even if it was just a tiny, tiny business, I proved myself, that I could take action,
so, I took some days off, took a pen and paper and really thought hard about
what I really wanted and how to use that and my experience to build a business.

The most important things to me, besides money, are
to learn something new everyday, to see as many businesses as possible
and to make the world a little bit better. (Sounds like I want to be a Mrs Europe or something like
that, but I mean it.)
From there I thought about, what do I bring on the table?
I know how to sell (especially on the phone), I know how to structure a sales organization, I know some marketing (more important,
I know people who are experts in Marketing) and I am good at connecting people.

So I decided to build a Marketing and Sales Agency for Startups and medium-sized businesses, while still working on my main job for cashflow.
But I worked on it only half heartedly, cause my main job was still a 60h-a-week-job and I didn't know where to put in the time for my customers.
Had some gigs here and there but nothing big to be proud of.

Then in June 2020 I got a commission-based contract to develop the Austrian market for a German startup.
That was my wake-up-call.
I decided to only work half-day for my former company, to still have some sort of safety-net while focusing more and more on my own business.
I've designed my plan and took action simultaneously. My mind and vision got clearer and the contract with that startup started to pay off.
In December 2020 my boss wanted me to return completely and I found out, that he talked behind my back about my business being a silly idea
and that I will return for sure.
So I told him that I'll leave by March.
The real action started.


So what do I actually offer?

Marketing
Freelancers and Agencies do the Job for me
I only acquire the customers, do the briefing and write the invoice

-Branding
-Webdesign
-Social Media Marketing
-SEO/SEA

Sales
I do everything on my own until I can afford someone to work for me

-Appointment Setting
-Sales Strategy
-Sales Coaching
-Selling (commission only)


Everybody says to niche the f*** down. So, why do I offer all those services?
Because I want to be able to offer everything for a company with a will to grow.
I don't want to give away business if I don't have to. (What do you guys think about that?)

Still, I know that being a specialist has advantages. So I've build a "niche-sub-company" (actually it's just a different website),
which just offers marketing for carpenters.
There I have a big network and they mostly have really, really bad Websites.

How do I get customers at the moment?
At the moment it is mainly through cold calls and talking to my network.
Through my connections to carpenters I've already land two contracts to build a website in January.

When I talk to potential customers I only talk about one specific thing that might be of interest for them.
Once I'm in and they see that I really deliver, I can talk about all the other services I can provide.

So here I am now.
Still working half-day as a head of sales, still having that contract with that startup (where I still trade my time for money)
slowly heading into the right direction.


What are the immediate next steps?
- setting up Social Media Accounts
- Building lead funnels, to get warmer leads

What are the goals for this quarter?
-landing 5 clients for Websites
-selling 5 Coaching sessions
-landing one contract for building a brand from the scratch

There is so much more to say, but I really need to go to bed.

To be continued....

 

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