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To Those Panicked/Discouraged by the PANDEMIC (or New to FLF)

sonny_1080

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Four months ago I graduated from college significantly depressed. My biggest life goal had been reached.

It 's ALWAYS been my dream to be a successful entrepreneur. Somewhere along my scripted life I put it on the back-burner. It became something to dream about, smiling to myself thinking "...someday." Then I'd wake up in the cold reality of bills and indentured servitude, jolting me out of bed scrambling to a job I couldn't wait be free from. Making enough money to stay in debt, driving the hamster wheel of mediocrity.

Yep. I know what it's like to read Unscripted and break down in tears because of how much I identify.

I'd read the books. Get all motivated for a few weeks. Come up with an idea and spend weeks planing, writing, and action-faking. I'd wake up a few months later with nothing to show for it. No closer to launching my website that gives people the ability to know the tailor nearest them that can get their alterations done the quickest. But hey, I've got like 13 notes in my phone that outline my idea... still no customers though.

Then one marvelous day... C0VlD-19 causes the mall to close. The job I hate shuts down. OMG. I wonder how long this will last? I've got time, I'm gonna troll the FLF. I find GOLD! - Getting started is this simple... and I realize damn... I've got A TON of time on my hands now. What should I do with it? I enroll in a Udemy digital marketing course that day (day 1 of my quarantine).

I spend the next week PMing Andy Black and progressing through my Udemy course, doing my best to apply it as I go somehow. I get about a quarter of the way through my course and find threads like HOT TOPIC - (Audio) Who have you helped? and GOLD! - Is This Idea/Business/Blah Blah Fastlane? (Uh, no, it isn't.)

Damn. I need to get something going here. But what?

I come face to face with my Scripted mindset... "I'm not qualified to offer any value" and "I don't have any skills" but the FLF (special shout out to @Andy Black) comes to the rescue You don't need to be an expert and (Radio Interview) Freedom, Motivation, & Grow What You Know

It's week 2 and people start to get laid off and businesses dry up. The financial fear sets in... I'm probably gonna get laid off too. "Oh no!"

Then "Thank God!"

Followed by "Oh F*ck! Im gonna need money!"

Well didn't I just learn a thing or two about digital marketing from that Udemy course? I know I'm no expert, but hey, Andy says I don't have to be an expert to help somebody. I know that I have some natural skills. MJ says it's about the process, right? F*ck it. I'm gonna build a website and go from there.

I have absolutely no prior knowledge or experience about website building, but I don't need much... just something according to HOT TOPIC - AndyTalks with @Contrarian about starting his side hustle in local lead gen and with Wordpress and the software nowadays... it can't be that hard.

A few days go by and I prove to myself that not only can I build a fully functioning website, but I can succeed at something my head tells me I'm not ready for.

Before I launch it I should get a customer. Wait a minute, a customer for what? I still don't have a business idea or know what I'm gonna do. Hmmm... I can't do what Andy does because thats his business and I can't step on his toes like that... but isn't he in Ireland? I don't think he'd mind if I took what I learn from him and use it to help others, would he? (Side note: if you do mind @Andy Black let me know)

Then my phone rings. A good friend of mine who also happens to be a plumber calls to check in with me. We start talking and I learn about how slow his business is right now because people don't want plumbers in their homes... unless it's an emergency of course.

I could make him a landing page with my newfound website knowledge. In fact, Andy Black has a ridiculous amount of educational content on how to run AdWords campaigns [see Andy's AdWords Posts.] Whats preventing me from learning everything I can and trying to help my friend boost his business?

The only thing preventing me is him. He doesn't want to pay to post his ad. Hmmm... now what... HOT TOPIC - Spend your money on diesel and coffee

It's been about 2 weeks of me trying to keep in touch with my network, plant the seed that "I'm a digital marketing guy" now, all while simultaneously trying to learn from Andy's posts. I'm waiting to hear back from a friend who runs a moving company that seemed really interested, but I feel like thats gone cold. I've got a list of phone calls to make. Thats whats next on my critical path.

In the midst of all this, the opportunity to write a sales script came up. I took it and made a quick $500 for 13 hours of work. That was interesting. I've never made money from home before. At the job I hate it would've taken me probably 3 days to make that much money (then lose 20% of it to taxes). And as I write this, someone in my network texted me saying he has 4000 warm leads and he needs someone to look them up to get their phone number and email. He's offering $15/20 an hour but MJ taught me to detach my time from money. I asked him how much each lead was worth to him. Maybe I can make him an offer based on that info if I hear back from him.

It seems the process of me working to build something and get my name out there with this "yes I'm ready and capable" attitude opens up doors for unexpected opportunities. There is a certain kind of magic that happens when I pocket that inner voice of "you're not ready for that" or "what if you don't do a good job?" and just do it. What usually happens? I finally prove to myself that I'm way more capable, ready, and qualified than I ever thought I was.

I wanted to outline my progress in the last month to demonstrate that NOW is better than ever to build something. For those panicked, depressed, or discouraged by the pandemic - specifically those newer to the forum than myself - I hope this thread brings you solace and inspiration.

Hearing other people's stories helps me. I hope mine can help you. The threads I've linked in this post have played a particularly ENORMOUS part in my taking action this last month.

I'd love to hear the details about your progress/execution this forced isolation has freed you to do!
 
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Andy Black

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I can't do what Andy does because thats his business and I can't step on his toes like that... but isn't he in Ireland? I don't think he'd mind if I took what I learn from him and use it to help others, would he? (Side note: if you do mind @Andy Black let me know)
My goodness, of course I don’t mind. How many millions of businesses and billions of people out there are hurting that we could help?



I’m glad you’re starting to get out of your own way. You can add value already. No need to learn more.


Oh, and big congrats on your first dollar earned outside of a j.o.b.
 

sonny_1080

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Black_Dragon43

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You can add value already. No need to learn more.
This is very important - just like with losing weight, getting in shape, and the other things that many people never achieve, the difficulty is not with getting the right knowledge, but with the consistent application, day after day. It's the hard work that kills people, not the lack of knowledge. If you can fail, pick yourself up, and go at it again and again with the same energy, commitment, and dedication, you will make it. You're already one of the 1% - most people cannot do that.

Seeking after knowledge is dangerous when this comes at the expense of taking action. If you have a task to do, but you "go read" because "reading is good and useful", then you're using a good thing in a bad way - you're using a good thing as an excuse not to do your work. Or as a way to avoid facing your fear that you're not good enough. And so on.
 
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sonny_1080

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Seeking after knowledge is dangerous when this comes at the expense of taking action. If you have a task to do, but you "go read" because "reading is good and useful", then you're using a good thing in a bad way - you're using a good thing as an excuse not to do your work. Or as a way to avoid facing your fear that you're not good enough. And so on.

Love it!
 

reedracer

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Well didn't I just learn a thing or two about digital marketing from that Udemy course? I know I'm no expert, but hey, Andy says I don't have to be an expert to help somebody. I know that I have some natural skills. MJ says it's about the process, right? F*ck it. I'm gonna build a website and go from there.
I'm walking a similar path only I graduated years ago from many schools and carried the scripted tome around like some Sisyphean penance while dreaming of business after business I would love to do. Fear of both failure and success expressed in a variety of ways have always stayed my hand.

Books by the hundreds followed by the internet of ideas, classes and scams galore and I have consumed each only to turn aside before I could fail ensuring failure and fulfilling my fears.

But along the way I have learned! Everything from programming to business, from marketing to writing, and from WordPress to Shopify. I have also grown emotionally and in wisdom. I have had successes along with the failures, and best of all, my third time trying I finally married a woman who sees through all my crap and I got the bright idea to listen when she says something.

C0VlD-19 and the Quarantine has been like magic. Hitting nearly a year after I read MJ's books and found this forum the timing could not have been better. My job really hasn't changed, but it has entered a season where I find myself with hours of more free time than normal. I work from home and service servers in a data center, so this does not make sense, but I'm capitalizing on it.

About 5 weeks ago I started working through a Shopify course I started back in 2016. It took a lot more effort than I thought, but I persevered and ended up with a fully functional store complete with Pixel and Google analytics churning up data. My Printful products are there and I have a raft of designs in the works. It's going to work at whatever level I can take it to.

Meanwhile I've been working with my wife to make an offering of her coaching and getting her paid for the tons of help and content she provides. The lockdown cancelled 3 trips we had planned. One for me to do the Bataan Memorial March, one for a Toastmasters Conference, and one to a Coaching Conference. All good, but now we can redirect those funds to learning and bootstrapping.

After these projects I will build on the apparel and go into onlie challenges that are for physical goals. Then on that a sports event business that I've been architecting for some time now. All the above businesses have been worked on before, but the synergy has hit at such a time as this!
 

sonny_1080

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I'm walking a similar path only I graduated years ago from many schools and carried the scripted tome around like some Sisyphean penance while dreaming of business after business I would love to do. Fear of both failure and success expressed in a variety of ways have always stayed my hand.

Books by the hundreds followed by the internet of ideas, classes and scams galore and I have consumed each only to turn aside before I could fail ensuring failure and fulfilling my fears.
My mind was blown when I realized that all the classes, books, and courses I've taken were all different forms of CONSUMPTION. Strong relates @reedracer

But along the way I have learned! Everything from programming to business, from marketing to writing, and from WordPress to Shopify. I have also grown emotionally and in wisdom. I have had successes along with the failures, and best of all, my third time trying I finally married a woman who sees through all my crap and I got the bright idea to listen when she says something.
Its amazing what good woman can do.

C0VlD-19 and the Quarantine has been like magic. Hitting nearly a year after I read MJ's books and found this forum the timing could not have been better. My job really hasn't changed, but it has entered a season where I find myself with hours of more free time than normal. I work from home and service servers in a data center, so this does not make sense, but I'm capitalizing on it.

About 5 weeks ago I started working through a Shopify course I started back in 2016. It took a lot more effort than I thought, but I persevered and ended up with a fully functional store complete with Pixel and Google analytics churning up data. My Printful products are there and I have a raft of designs in the works. It's going to work at whatever level I can take it to.
Daaaamn... a fully-functional store ready to be scaled within 5 WEEKS!?!? What Shopify course was this?

Meanwhile I've been working with my wife to make an offering of her coaching and getting her paid for the tons of help and content she provides. The lockdown cancelled 3 trips we had planned. One for me to do the Bataan Memorial March, one for a Toastmasters Conference, and one to a Coaching Conference. All good, but now we can redirect those funds to learning and bootstrapping.
The "3 A's" at work!
ACT.
ASSESS.
ADJUST!

After these projects I will build on the apparel and go into onlie challenges that are for physical goals. Then on that a sports event business that I've been architecting for some time now. All the above businesses have been worked on before, but the synergy has hit at such a time as this!
I love it! Thank you for your post!

I just want to slide in with a reminder to watch the polygamy! Directing all that synergy into the priority project might be the way to go.

Just a thought!
 
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sonny_1080

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I'm new here, so I’ll start with suggested articles.

Keep it up, great story you're making right now!
You're new?!!! Bruhhh...

You just found the BEST online community in the WORLD!

The articles I posted have LITERALLY changed my life.

I wish you the best of luck!
 

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sonny_1080

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In case you guys haven’t already read this one:
> What if you already know enough?
Thank you Andy!

I was looking for this thread but I couldn't find it. This is the one that I wanted to refer to when I said:

"My mind was blown when I realized that all the classes, books, and courses I've taken were all different forms of CONSUMPTION."

:smuggy:
 

Andy Black

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Thank you Andy!

I was looking for this thread but I couldn't find it. This is the one that I wanted to refer to when I said:

"My mind was blown when I realized that all the classes, books, and courses I've taken were all different forms of CONSUMPTION."

:smuggy:
Funnily enough I wrote a similarly titled threads years before that:
> You already know enough
 
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reedracer

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My mind was blown when I realized that all the classes, books, and courses I've taken were all different forms of CONSUMPTION. Strong relates @reedracer


Its amazing what good woman can do.


Daaaamn... a fully-functional store ready to be scaled within 5 WEEKS!?!? What Shopify course was this?


The "3 A's" at work!
ACT.
ASSESS.
ADJUST!


I love it! Thank you for your post!

I just want to slide in with a reminder to watch the polygamy! Directing all that synergy into the priority project might be the way to go.

Just a thought!
No polygamy. focusing on one thing at a time in my line and helping with my wife's efforts - okay, I grant you bigamy :)

The course is from a kid I did a challenge or two with a few years back and he seems to have disappeared. The effort came from having to adapt to apps in the store that had changed or outright banned and policies that are ever changing. His name is Adam Reed and my courses haven't cost much but if my unused store and funnels over the years are any indication, I am sure his affiliate checks are pretty sweet.

The Udemy course wasn't perfect but the price was right:
The clickfunnels course really opened my eyes to some possibilities and it's free. And yes, I know you can funnel without the cult of Brunson.

Of course YMMV and don't blame me if 3 years from now your are still paying for crap you never finished :)
I like video courses because I can speed them up.

If you do decide to work these, I can help you with the apps and the substitutes I went with.

I need to start a progress thread. It'll come.

<edited for punctuation and spelling>
 
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Four months ago I graduated from college significantly depressed. My biggest life goal had been reached.

It 's ALWAYS been my dream to be a successful entrepreneur. Somewhere along my scripted life I put it on the back-burner. It became something to dream about, smiling to myself thinking "...someday." Then I'd wake up in the cold reality of bills and indentured servitude, jolting me out of bed scrambling to a job I couldn't wait be free from. Making enough money to stay in debt, driving the hamster wheel of mediocrity.

Yep. I know what it's like to read Unscripted and break down in tears because of how much I identify.

I'd read the books. Get all motivated for a few weeks. Come up with an idea and spend weeks planing, writing, and action-faking. I'd wake up a few months later with nothing to show for it. No closer to launching my website that gives people the ability to know the tailor nearest them that can get their alterations done the quickest. But hey, I've got like 13 notes in my phone that outline my idea... still no customers though.

Then one marvelous day... C0VlD-19 causes the mall to close. The job I hate shuts down. OMG. I wonder how long this will last? I've got time, I'm gonna troll the FLF. I find GOLD! - Getting started is this simple... and I realize damn... I've got A TON of time on my hands now. What should I do with it? I enroll in a Udemy digital marketing course that day (day 1 of my quarantine).

I spend the next week PMing Andy Black and progressing through my Udemy course, doing my best to apply it as I go somehow. I get about a quarter of the way through my course and find threads like HOT TOPIC - (Audio) Who have you helped? and GOLD! - Is This Idea/Business/Blah Blah Fastlane? (Uh, no, it isn't.)

Damn. I need to get something going here. But what?

I come face to face with my Scripted mindset... "I'm not qualified to offer any value" and "I don't have any skills" but the FLF (special shout out to @Andy Black) comes to the rescue You don't need to be an expert and (Radio Interview) Freedom, Motivation, & Grow What You Know

It's week 2 and people start to get laid off and businesses dry up. The financial fear sets in... I'm probably gonna get laid off too. "Oh no!"

Then "Thank God!"

Followed by "Oh F*ck! Im gonna need money!"

Well didn't I just learn a thing or two about digital marketing from that Udemy course? I know I'm no expert, but hey, Andy says I don't have to be an expert to help somebody. I know that I have some natural skills. MJ says it's about the process, right? F*ck it. I'm gonna build a website and go from there.

I have absolutely no prior knowledge or experience about website building, but I don't need much... just something according to HOT TOPIC - AndyTalks with @Contrarian about starting his side hustle in local lead gen and with Wordpress and the software nowadays... it can't be that hard.

A few days go by and I prove to myself that not only can I build a fully functioning website, but I can succeed at something my head tells me I'm not ready for.

Before I launch it I should get a customer. Wait a minute, a customer for what? I still don't have a business idea or know what I'm gonna do. Hmmm... I can't do what Andy does because thats his business and I can't step on his toes like that... but isn't he in Ireland? I don't think he'd mind if I took what I learn from him and use it to help others, would he? (Side note: if you do mind @Andy Black let me know)

Then my phone rings. A good friend of mine who also happens to be a plumber calls to check in with me. We start talking and I learn about how slow his business is right now because people don't want plumbers in their homes... unless it's an emergency of course.

I could make him a landing page with my newfound website knowledge. In fact, Andy Black has a ridiculous amount of educational content on how to run AdWords campaigns [see Andy's AdWords Posts.] Whats preventing me from learning everything I can and trying to help my friend boost his business?

The only thing preventing me is him. He doesn't want to pay to post his ad. Hmmm... now what... HOT TOPIC - Spend your money on diesel and coffee

It's been about 2 weeks of me trying to keep in touch with my network, plant the seed that "I'm a digital marketing guy" now, all while simultaneously trying to learn from Andy's posts. I'm waiting to hear back from a friend who runs a moving company that seemed really interested, but I feel like thats gone cold. I've got a list of phone calls to make. Thats whats next on my critical path.

In the midst of all this, the opportunity to write a sales script came up. I took it and made a quick $500 for 13 hours of work. That was interesting. I've never made money from home before. At the job I hate it would've taken me probably 3 days to make that much money (then lose 20% of it to taxes). And as I write this, someone in my network texted me saying he has 4000 warm leads and he needs someone to look them up to get their phone number and email. He's offering $15/20 an hour but MJ taught me to detach my time from money. I asked him how much each lead was worth to him. Maybe I can make him an offer based on that info if I hear back from him.

It seems the process of me working to build something and get my name out there with this "yes I'm ready and capable" attitude opens up doors for unexpected opportunities. There is a certain kind of magic that happens when I pocket that inner voice of "you're not ready for that" or "what if you don't do a good job?" and just do it. What usually happens? I finally prove to myself that I'm way more capable, ready, and qualified than I ever thought I was.

I wanted to outline my progress in the last month to demonstrate that NOW is better than ever to build something. For those panicked, depressed, or discouraged by the pandemic - specifically those newer to the forum than myself - I hope this thread brings you solace and inspiration.

Hearing other people's stories helps me. I hope mine can help you. The threads I've linked in this post have played a particularly ENORMOUS part in my taking action this last month.

I'd love to hear the details about your progress/execution this forced isolation has freed you to do!

That's absolutely astonishing! I am a slave of this "I am not good enough yet" mindset. It's so devastating. But your story is a perfect example how quickly you can learn new skills. Like learning how to create a website so fast, without any prior experience. So inspirational, keep the momentum going, and keep us updated.

Also I am grateful for the threads that you've shared in your posts. I will come back in need of inspiration.
 
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Andy Black

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I am a slave of this "I am not good enough yet" mindset. It's so devastating.
Ah. The “I am not enough” gene. It’s what causes man to conquer new continents, and forever have a bee in his bonnet. It can be a force for change. It can also be a force for no change.

Years ago someone told me a simple cure...

Whenever you feel you’re not enough, say:

“I **AM** enough.”

“Because I say I am.”
 

sonny_1080

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Ah. The “I am not enough” gene. It’s what causes man to conquer new continents, and forever have a bee in his bonnet. It can be a force for change. It can also be a force for no change.

Years ago someone told me a simple cure...

Whenever you feel you’re not enough, say:

“I **AM** enough.”

“Because I say I am.”
@Andy Black for President! :praise: :):clap::
 

sonny_1080

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[Progress Update]

Since the original post on April 18th, I’ve made some progress. The critical path I left off on was:

“It's been about 2 weeks of me trying to keep in touch with my network, plant the seed that "I'm a digital marketing guy" now, all while simultaneously trying to learn from Andy's posts. I'm waiting to hear back from a friend who runs a moving company that seemed really interested, but I feel like thats gone cold. I've got a list of phone calls to make. Thats whats next on my critical path.”

I’ve continued becoming known locally as a "digital marketing guy" and reaching out to my existing network. I’ve continued to learn as much as possible on a need to know to progress down the critical path basis. I’ve made some phone calls and on April 20th, I spoke to one of my best friends.

He's a barber by trade and he was telling me he's struggling to pay his bills because the shop he works at is closed down due to C0VlD-19. I told him I could make him a website and run some Google Ads for him to see if I can help him make some money during these tough times.

He took some convincing (like 6 different phone calls), but he finally agreed to cover the ad spend and let me do it for him.

I was super excited! I landed my first customer who was willing to cover the ad spend while I worked with my first Google account.

I spent the rest of that day making the landing page under my domain. The next day was spent creating and launching the ads. After the first day, my ad never showed. I posted on the inside and got a lot of feedback super quickly. Then @Andy Black was down to jump on a phone call and generously shared a ton of wisdom for like an hour and a half.

I took his advice and started to get results.

My barber friend got a customer within a day. I told him to text me every time he gets a new customer so I can verify that the ads are working properly.

He never texted me.

He called me twice, but he’s very rude, entitled, and kind of slow so it’s very frustrating to talk to him about business. I avoided his phone calls and texted him but he never responded.

10 days went by and I never heard from him.

I spent that time tampering with the account, adding more campaigns, adjusting the budget, revamping the website, and making changes trying to optimize with the data from the Google account. We had about 400 impressions with almost a 13% CTR rate in the first week… but because I never got a text, I figured he wasn’t getting any calls.

There was a couple nights I couldn’t sleep until 5am because I couldn’t figure out why his ads weren’t converting.

I kept the inside updated with the details of what changes to make on my website and ads. I took their advice.

Still no texts from my friend.

I took Andy Black's advice and made a facebook to join some facebook groups of local business owners. That way I might be able to come across more folks to help.

Three days ago, I sat down to work and my brain LITERALLY could not think. It was the weirdest thing. I just stared at the computer screen for like 2 hours and realized I was just burnt out and frustrated. I figured I should just take a day or two off and relax. Ironically, it seemed like that was the best thing to do for the critical path.

Yesterday morning, my friend called me. I answered. He said in the last 10 days, he’s had 11 phone calls, 8 of those converted to a new customer. He made $400 from cold traffic (not including whatever tips he got) because of the ads and spent $45 in google ad spend.

I was ecstatic! I was so happy that it was working!

He acted like it wasn’t a big deal. Like he could take it or leave it. On top of that the way he spoke to me was like “yeah, whatever…” it pissed me off, especially because right after that he complained about not being able to pay his rent.

But we were profitable and what I was doing was working, so I didn’t let it get to me.

Right when we hung up, I got an email to my phone from my website. Someone was requesting a callback!

Excited again, I called my friend back who answered with an annoyed and uncaring “what?”... I told him to call the number back immediately and book the appointment.

Instead of being thankful and excited, he said “why the F*ck are you getting the email and I'm not?” To which I said, “when was the last time you checked your email?” He responded with “2 days ago”.

Then I proceeded to lose my temper a little bit.

I said “THAT’S WHY YOU F*ckING IDIOT. NOW CALL THIS PERSON BACK AND GO MAKE SOME MONEY. YOU’RE WELCOME”

He went quiet. My girlfriend took my phone and told me to calm down. She spoke to him nicely and made him understand the situation. I apologized and that was that. 90% of the time, I'm very grateful for my friend trusting me enough with this. That other 10% of the time though... is frustrating.

He hasn't given me any pics or testimonials from his previous clients after I asked him like 30 times. That stuff would've really helped the website especially for a barber. If it was a plumber, probably not. But as a barber, this fool had no portfolio of work to show and he's been a barber for years. Very frustrating.

Dealing with people I’m trying to help has definitely been the hardest part of this journey. I envy Andy Black because of the politeness that he emanates. I wish I was like that. I’m impatient. It's definitely something I’m working on.

So today, the new critical path is to make a couple little tweaks to the account, reach out to more people on Facebook to see if I can help anyone, and hopefully have another barber lined up who would appreciate what I'm doing enough to pay a subscription fee because my friend probably won't.

I’m gonna start answering questions on quora with the hopes of helping some folks. I want to start learning facebook ads too because someone on the inside suggested that might be a better marketing channel for my barber friend.

I think another part of my critical path is to find a way to develop more patience. Any suggestions?

Heres the latest data from my account:

32717



It looks like California is gonna open up in another 12 days. I don’t want to go back to my job. I’d love to replace my income with this as soon as possible. That’s the goal.



How have you guys progressed in the quarantine?

Anyone have some significant life-changes professionally?
 
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[Progress Update]

Since the original post on April 18th, I’ve made some progress. The critical path I left off on was:

“It's been about 2 weeks of me trying to keep in touch with my network, plant the seed that "I'm a digital marketing guy" now, all while simultaneously trying to learn from Andy's posts. I'm waiting to hear back from a friend who runs a moving company that seemed really interested, but I feel like thats gone cold. I've got a list of phone calls to make. Thats whats next on my critical path.”

I’ve continued becoming known locally as a "digital marketing guy" and reaching out to my existing network. I’ve continued to learn as much as possible on a need to know to progress down the critical path basis. I’ve made some phone calls and on April 20th, I spoke to one of my best friends.

He's a barber by trade and he was telling me he's struggling to pay his bills because the shop he works at is closed down due to C0VlD-19. I told him I could make him a website and run some Google Ads for him to see if I can help him make some money during these tough times.

He took some convincing (like 6 different phone calls), but he finally agreed to cover the ad spend and let me do it for him.

I was super excited! I landed my first customer who was willing to cover the ad spend while I worked with my first Google account.

I spent the rest of that day making the landing page under my domain. The next day was spent creating and launching the ads. After the first day, my ad never showed. I posted on the inside and got a lot of feedback super quickly. Then @Andy Black was down to jump on a phone call and generously shared a ton of wisdom for like an hour and a half.

I took his advice and started to get results.

My barber friend got a customer within a day. I told him to text me every time he gets a new customer so I can verify that the ads are working properly.

He never texted me.

He called me twice, but he’s very rude, entitled, and kind of slow so it’s very frustrating to talk to him about business. I avoided his phone calls and texted him but he never responded.

10 days went by and I never heard from him.

I spent that time tampering with the account, adding more campaigns, adjusting the budget, revamping the website, and making changes trying to optimize with the data from the Google account. We had about 400 impressions with almost a 13% CTR rate in the first week… but because I never got a text, I figured he wasn’t getting any calls.

There was a couple nights I couldn’t sleep until 5am because I couldn’t figure out why his ads weren’t converting.

I kept the inside updated with the details of what changes to make on my website and ads. I took their advice.

Still no texts from my friend.

I took Andy Black's advice and made a facebook to join some facebook groups of local business owners. That way I might be able to come across more folks to help.

Three days ago, I sat down to work and my brain LITERALLY could not think. It was the weirdest thing. I just stared at the computer screen for like 2 hours and realized I was just burnt out and frustrated. I figured I should just take a day or two off and relax. Ironically, it seemed like that was the best thing to do for the critical path.

Yesterday morning, my friend called me. I answered. He said in the last 10 days, he’s had 11 phone calls, 8 of those converted to a new customer. He made $400 from cold traffic (not including whatever tips he got) because of the ads and spent $45 in google ad spend.

I was ecstatic! I was so happy that it was working!

He acted like it wasn’t a big deal. Like he could take it or leave it. On top of that the way he spoke to me was like “yeah, whatever…” it pissed me off, especially because right after that he complained about not being able to pay his rent.

But we were profitable and what I was doing was working, so I didn’t let it get to me.

Right when we hung up, I got an email to my phone from my website. Someone was requesting a callback!

Excited again, I called my friend back who answered with an annoyed and uncaring “what?”... I told him to call the number back immediately and book the appointment.

Instead of being thankful and excited, he said “why the F*ck are you getting the email and I'm not?” To which I said, “when was the last time you checked your email?” He responded with “2 days ago”.

Then I proceeded to lose my temper a little bit.

I said “THAT’S WHY YOU F*ckING IDIOT. NOW CALL THIS PERSON BACK AND GO MAKE SOME MONEY. YOU’RE WELCOME”

He went quiet. My girlfriend took my phone and told me to calm down. She spoke to him nicely and made him understand the situation. I apologized and that was that. 90% of the time, I'm very grateful for my friend trusting me enough with this. That other 10% of the time though... is frustrating.

He hasn't given me any pics or testimonials from his previous clients after I asked him like 30 times. That stuff would've really helped the website especially for a barber. If it was a plumber, probably not. But as a barber, this fool had no portfolio of work to show and he's been a barber for years. Very frustrating.

Dealing with people I’m trying to help has definitely been the hardest part of this journey. I envy Andy Black because of the politeness that he emanates. I wish I was like that. I’m impatient. It's definitely something I’m working on.

So today, the new critical path is to make a couple little tweaks to the account, reach out to more people on Facebook to see if I can help anyone, and hopefully have another barber lined up who would appreciate what I'm doing enough to pay a subscription fee because my friend probably won't.

I’m gonna start answering questions on quora with the hopes of helping some folks. I want to start learning facebook ads too because someone on the inside suggested that might be a better marketing channel for my barber friend.

I think another part of my critical path is to find a way to develop more patience. Any suggestions?

Heres the latest data from my account:

View attachment 32717



It looks like California is gonna open up in another 12 days. I don’t want to go back to my job. I’d love to replace my income with this as soon as possible. That’s the goal.



How have you guys progressed in the quarantine?

Anyone have some significant life-changes professionally?
Oh boy. I had no idea this was going on.


Remember these lines:

"Sales is a screening process." (Blaise Brosnan)

"Your job is to find out as quickly as possible if the person in front of you sees the value in what you do, or just the cost." (Blaise Brosnan)


Don't let it get to you. This is just part of your screening process.

I'd ask him if he still wants the campaigns. If not then find someone else and redirect calls and emails to them.
 

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How have you guys progressed in the quarantine?

Anyone have some significant life-changes professionally?
I'm actually having a ball.

I had a few emails from the Local Enterprise Office (LEO) in my county inviting me to join a virtual (Zoom) networking. I was dubious but joined in and thoroughly enjoyed chatting to local business owners. I've done three Zoom networking meetings now and offered to do a Google Ads workshop for one of them (not for the LEO just yet).

I've also availed of a Business Continuity Voucher (grant) of €2,500 worth of consulting with a good business mentor. I've a bit of homework before our next chat. It was good to chat to someone who knew nothing about what I did and get his feedback, and go through his process of working ON my business instead of just IN my business.

Somehow I've ended up with another call tomorrow with a different business mentor, again totally free to me because it's subsidised by the Irish government.

Something that came out of my first chat with the first mentor was that he thinks the course angle has a lot of potential, and that digital marketing services is much needed now and when businesses open up again. In his words, the two biggest problems he sees chatting to businesses are marketing and financials. In my mind, if they got the marketing right then it should help their financials.

Even if you have to go back to a j.o.b. you've got the ball rolling now.

Keep going.
 

sonny_1080

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Oh boy. I had no idea this was going on.


Remember these lines:

"Sales is a screening process." (Blaise Brosnan)

"Your job is to find out as quickly as possible if the person in front of you sees the value in what you do, or just the cost." (Blaise Brosnan)


Don't let it get to you. This is just part of your screening process.

I'd ask him if he still wants the campaigns. If not then find someone else and redirect calls and emails to them.
Yes you're right.

I was going to do that, I just wanted to get all I could from this campaign before I let it go. It took me a few days just to land this client and he wasn't the best. That makes me hesitant to let him go because I don't know how long it will be until I find someone else.

Judging from the data I shared, do you think I should be confident in my abilities? I don't if I should be proud of a 12% CTR. Grateful, yes, but proud? I don't know.
 
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I'm actually having a ball.

I had a few emails from the Local Enterprise Office (LEO) in my county inviting me to join a virtual (Zoom) networking. I was dubious but joined in and thoroughly enjoyed chatting to local business owners. I've done three Zoom networking meetings now and offered to do a Google Ads workshop for one of them (not for the LEO just yet).

I've also availed of a Business Continuity Voucher (grant) of €2,500 worth of consulting with a good business mentor. I've a bit of homework before our next chat. It was good to chat to someone who knew nothing about what I did and get his feedback, and go through his process of working ON my business instead of just IN my business.

Somehow I've ended up with another call tomorrow with a different business mentor, again totally free to me because it's subsidised by the Irish government.

Something that came out of my first chat with the first mentor was that he thinks the course angle has a lot of potential, and that digital marketing services is much needed now and when businesses open up again. In his words, the two biggest problems he sees chatting to businesses are marketing and financials. In my mind, if they got the marketing right then it should help their financials.

Even if you have to go back to a j.o.b. you've got the ball rolling now.

Keep going.
I can't thank you enough Andy.
 

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Yes you're right.

I was going to do that, I just wanted to get all I could from this campaign before I let it go. It took me a few days just to land this client and he wasn't the best. That makes me hesitant to let him go because I don't know how long it will be until I find someone else.

Judging from the data I shared, do you think I should be confident in my abilities? I don't if I should be proud of a 12% CTR. Grateful, yes, but proud? I don't know.
Who cares about CTR? Is there some mobile barber out there desperate for your help?

If your friend doesn’t want the campaign (and having 6 calls to convince him to run the test is a big red flag btw) then do you think the campaign would work for someone else?

Did you see the video where I said CTR is a KPI, meaning it’s an *indicator* of performance? It’s not actual performance so don’t focus on it.

More importantly... look in the mirror and say “I AM enough. Because I say I am.”
 

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Hey @sonny_1080

Congrats on taking so much action. You've made significant progress in such a short time.
It's remarkable, thanks for sharing.

Judging from the data I shared, do you think I should be confident in my abilities? I don't if I should be proud of a 12% CTR. Grateful, yes, but proud? I don't know.

You've generated 11 phone inquiries with 78 clicks that cost $45 and turned into 8 paying customers worth $400!
All this with your first Google Ads campaign ever and with no portfolio to show on the landing page!
Give yourself a pat on the back. These are great figures.

CTR? It's helpful but may easily turn into a vanity metric (my ads get so many clicks I must be awesome).

I second @Andy Black - go find more barbers that need customers right now.
 
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Great thread topic and follow up. High 5.

I was in the middle of a Doom and Gloom Festival of marketers at another location and it was going on for quite a while they would not change the channel.

Then I shared that a mom of 6 created a F.B. Group recently called Stimulus Check 2020 Chat and in one month already had 10,000 members.

Now depending on her she could ask for emails at sign up offer resources on any given day for free and paid services, products. 10,000 in less than a month.

This time and every time is a time to see the opportunities in plain sight at all times.

I was waking up a bit depressed recently and I realized it was because of The Stupid Movement I am witnessing daily.

Then I realized that COVID takes care of The Stupid. And I am all Smiles. :)
 

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[Progress Update]

Another day I've woken up at 4:30am thinking about how I have to execute.

Since my last post, I did exactly what @Andy Black suggested: before I put anymore work into my barber friend's account, about a week ago I explained to him (for over an hour) the value of the ads. He wasn't convinced so I paused his campaigns and decided to go find a new barber.

I spent 5 days in Northern California visiting family and doing the whole Mother's Day thing. When I got back home I got straight back to work.

I made a Facebook and joined some barber groups. I made a post about directing traffic to a local barber and got zero responses. Then I went on Craigslist to see if there were any local barbers doing housecalls. I called the only 3 on there and they all said the same thing: they weren't interested because the barbershops will re-open soon and they want to focus on working in the shop instead of doing house-calls.

At this point, I decided that it'd be more helpful to take my chances with other verticals instead of barbering (for numerous reasons). I still have 1 more mobile barber who has an established website and reputation that I can cold call and see if he wants the traffic from my ads or if he needs any help optimizing his account.

First, I re-vamped my website just a little bit and started shopping around for different small business networking groups to join. To my surprise, there are a ton in my local region. I visited 2 meetings yesterday (I have an insurance franchise company semi-interested from that), have 2 lined up for today, emailed my college for alumni entrepreneurial resources, have a meeting with a business coach from the regional economic alliance on Saturday, a SCORE meeting on tuesday, a startup meeting on the 27th, and will most likely join BNI, a chamber of commerce, and another more casual networking group in my area.

I also spoke to my barber friend that I helped out and he wrote a very nice post on his Facebook about how I helped his small business get the majority of his clientele during the shutdown and if other small businesses need help then to DM me.

All that felt really productive when I was doing it yesterday, but I still don't have a new customer and that shit is what woke me at 4:30am today.

Interestingly, of the two networking meetings I've gone to so far, it seems the people in the "internet marketing" space both do Google Ads through SEO. They also cast a wide net with web development, email marketing, and social media. Two people asked me if I do social media marketing after I told them I do Google ads and I just told them no, I only do Google ads. Not sure if played that as best as I could have.

The niche I'm focusing on is much more targeted, but I'm starting to think I should spend some time learning Facebook ads and social media marketing. However, I'm becoming very weary of spending more time learning more shit when I can spend most of my time trying to help people with what I already know. I don't know how I can measure the opportunity cost of either decisions either so thats a little frustrating. I'm just going to play it by ear I guess.

Today's agenda:

Visit another local BNI meeting at 7am. Surf for a couple hours because theres a nice swell in SoCal that I'm about to miss out on. Organize my emailing (use my business email more, more professional email signature, etc). Read this: HOT TOPIC - Crushing B2B Sales with LinkedIn and see if I can apply it to my thing. Seriously consider making a Facebook page for my business. Another networking group at 5pm. A meeting at 8pm. Talk to a friend of mine who owns a local pizza shop about a local advertising paper that I can use to contact more local business owners and maybe get a couple referrals from. Then I'm gonna see if I can't brainstorm a way to try to help someone through Craigslist or even local government bureaus like the police department or something.

Probably won't get to it all.

My biggest issue right now is keeping a strong belief in my business while getting rejected or dismissed by others. Other businesses I've met with tell me how important it is so thats a nice response.

I'm not action faking. I'm not F*cking around. I need this shit to work. I do what President Andy Black says about the whole "I AM enough because I say I am" thing. It helps. That little voice is still there though. I just pocket it and keep going.

Staying re-assured of the value I bring. Staying motivated to keep moving forward. Staying accountable to taking real action and getting in front of people. Staying strong in my belief of my business' value and not dismissing it.

Thats definitly my biggest headwind.
 

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[Progress Update]

Another day I've woken up at 4:30am thinking about how I have to execute.

Since my last post, I did exactly what @Andy Black suggested: before I put anymore work into my barber friend's account, about a week ago I explained to him (for over an hour) the value of the ads. He wasn't convinced so I paused his campaigns and decided to go find a new barber.

I spent 5 days in Northern California visiting family and doing the whole Mother's Day thing. When I got back home I got straight back to work.

I made a Facebook and joined some barber groups. I made a post about directing traffic to a local barber and got zero responses. Then I went on Craigslist to see if there were any local barbers doing housecalls. I called the only 3 on there and they all said the same thing: they weren't interested because the barbershops will re-open soon and they want to focus on working in the shop instead of doing house-calls.

At this point, I decided that it'd be more helpful to take my chances with other verticals instead of barbering (for numerous reasons). I still have 1 more mobile barber who has an established website and reputation that I can cold call and see if he wants the traffic from my ads or if he needs any help optimizing his account.

First, I re-vamped my website just a little bit and started shopping around for different small business networking groups to join. To my surprise, there are a ton in my local region. I visited 2 meetings yesterday (I have an insurance franchise company semi-interested from that), have 2 lined up for today, emailed my college for alumni entrepreneurial resources, have a meeting with a business coach from the regional economic alliance on Saturday, a SCORE meeting on tuesday, a startup meeting on the 27th, and will most likely join BNI, a chamber of commerce, and another more casual networking group in my area.

I also spoke to my barber friend that I helped out and he wrote a very nice post on his Facebook about how I helped his small business get the majority of his clientele during the shutdown and if other small businesses need help then to DM me.

All that felt really productive when I was doing it yesterday, but I still don't have a new customer and that shit is what woke me at 4:30am today.

Interestingly, of the two networking meetings I've gone to so far, it seems the people in the "internet marketing" space both do Google Ads through SEO. They also cast a wide net with web development, email marketing, and social media. Two people asked me if I do social media marketing after I told them I do Google ads and I just told them no, I only do Google ads. Not sure if played that as best as I could have.

The niche I'm focusing on is much more targeted, but I'm starting to think I should spend some time learning Facebook ads and social media marketing. However, I'm becoming very weary of spending more time learning more shit when I can spend most of my time trying to help people with what I already know. I don't know how I can measure the opportunity cost of either decisions either so thats a little frustrating. I'm just going to play it by ear I guess.

Today's agenda:

Visit another local BNI meeting at 7am. Surf for a couple hours because theres a nice swell in SoCal that I'm about to miss out on. Organize my emailing (use my business email more, more professional email signature, etc). Read this: HOT TOPIC - Crushing B2B Sales with LinkedIn and see if I can apply it to my thing. Seriously consider making a Facebook page for my business. Another networking group at 5pm. A meeting at 8pm. Talk to a friend of mine who owns a local pizza shop about a local advertising paper that I can use to contact more local business owners and maybe get a couple referrals from. Then I'm gonna see if I can't brainstorm a way to try to help someone through Craigslist or even local government bureaus like the police department or something.

Probably won't get to it all.

My biggest issue right now is keeping a strong belief in my business while getting rejected or dismissed by others. Other businesses I've met with tell me how important it is so thats a nice response.

I'm not action faking. I'm not F*cking around. I need this shit to work. I do what President Andy Black says about the whole "I AM enough because I say I am" thing. It helps. That little voice is still there though. I just pocket it and keep going.

Staying re-assured of the value I bring. Staying motivated to keep moving forward. Staying accountable to taking real action and getting in front of people. Staying strong in my belief of my business' value and not dismissing it.

Thats definitly my biggest headwind.
Good for you putting yourself out there and “spending your money on diesel and coffee”.

If people want to pay for social media marketing help and you can help them then why not? It’s all part of lead gen and you may find it’s in bigger demand in the circles you’re moving in and/or you have a passion or inclination towards it.
 
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[Progress Update]

I'll keep it brief because I have to get back to work.

I found a way to combat the headwinds I spoke about in my last post:
  1. Engage the market
  2. Get feedback (so far every business owner I've spoken to has seen the value in what I do.)
  3. Remind myself my "initial model of users and service/product is usually inaccurate anyway" and that refining it is a process
  4. Feedback from directly engaging the market is how I will refine it, so "being re-assured" and "not dismissing it" becomes irrelevant when I accept its infancy.
I've been getting out there and talking to a lot of people mostly. As a result, I've got some things in the pipeline:
  • New friend from networking groups is willing to be my guinea pig for social media marketing
  • Insurance company needs website work done
  • Agreed to team up with an Instagram social media marketer with a list of clients he's going to contact this week and use my services as another form of customer engagement
  • 2 IT specialists have agreed to meet. Possible partnering with to expand referral network
Most importantly, I realized that "networking is about farming, not hunting." I've been planting seeds, getting known locally in my community, and building relationships with people.

Most digital marketing agencies seem to be full-service (emails, SEO, content, social media, web dev.) I've decided to focus on this specific niche of getting real-time market intel through Google Ads. I'll partner with others in the field to expand my funnel.

I've spent days preparing the best way to present who I am and what I do for these networking events and meetings. I've since realized:
  1. [Warren Buffett] says "you can hold a ballet and that can be successful. And you can hold a rock concert and that can be successful. Just don't hold a ballet and advertise it as a rock concert."
  2. My job is customer-centricity. Instead of spending days revising how to present who I am and what I do, I should focus on helping more people. Ultimately letting the market decide who I am and what I do.
Today's agenda:
  • Consume :thumbsdown: a little info about SEO and social media marketing. This will allow me to engage my market more efficiently.
  • Prepare for my meetings tomorrow (IT specialist and insurance company)
  • Another networking meeting
I keep thinking it might be time to go through my TMF notes and apply all the advice that @MJ DeMarco gives at the end with the chess analogy. Not sure if that'll be action-faking or not.

Writing these journals really helps me take a step back and look at the big picture, assess my efforts, and re-focus on what's important.
 

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Four months ago I graduated from college significantly depressed. My biggest life goal had been reached.

It 's ALWAYS been my dream to be a successful entrepreneur. Somewhere along my scripted life I put it on the back-burner. It became something to dream about, smiling to myself thinking "...someday." Then I'd wake up in the cold reality of bills and indentured servitude, jolting me out of bed scrambling to a job I couldn't wait be free from. Making enough money to stay in debt, driving the hamster wheel of mediocrity.

Yep. I know what it's like to read Unscripted and break down in tears because of how much I identify.

I'd read the books. Get all motivated for a few weeks. Come up with an idea and spend weeks planing, writing, and action-faking. I'd wake up a few months later with nothing to show for it. No closer to launching my website that gives people the ability to know the tailor nearest them that can get their alterations done the quickest. But hey, I've got like 13 notes in my phone that outline my idea... still no customers though.

Then one marvelous day... C0VlD-19 causes the mall to close. The job I hate shuts down. OMG. I wonder how long this will last? I've got time, I'm gonna troll the FLF. I find GOLD! - Getting started is this simple... and I realize damn... I've got A TON of time on my hands now. What should I do with it? I enroll in a Udemy digital marketing course that day (day 1 of my quarantine).

I spend the next week PMing Andy Black and progressing through my Udemy course, doing my best to apply it as I go somehow. I get about a quarter of the way through my course and find threads like HOT TOPIC - (Audio) Who have you helped? and GOLD! - Is This Idea/Business/Blah Blah Fastlane? (Uh, no, it isn't.)

Damn. I need to get something going here. But what?

I come face to face with my Scripted mindset... "I'm not qualified to offer any value" and "I don't have any skills" but the FLF (special shout out to @Andy Black) comes to the rescue You don't need to be an expert and (Radio Interview) Freedom, Motivation, & Grow What You Know

It's week 2 and people start to get laid off and businesses dry up. The financial fear sets in... I'm probably gonna get laid off too. "Oh no!"

Then "Thank God!"

Followed by "Oh F*ck! Im gonna need money!"

Well didn't I just learn a thing or two about digital marketing from that Udemy course? I know I'm no expert, but hey, Andy says I don't have to be an expert to help somebody. I know that I have some natural skills. MJ says it's about the process, right? F*ck it. I'm gonna build a website and go from there.

I have absolutely no prior knowledge or experience about website building, but I don't need much... just something according to HOT TOPIC - AndyTalks with @Contrarian about starting his side hustle in local lead gen and with Wordpress and the software nowadays... it can't be that hard.

A few days go by and I prove to myself that not only can I build a fully functioning website, but I can succeed at something my head tells me I'm not ready for.

Before I launch it I should get a customer. Wait a minute, a customer for what? I still don't have a business idea or know what I'm gonna do. Hmmm... I can't do what Andy does because thats his business and I can't step on his toes like that... but isn't he in Ireland? I don't think he'd mind if I took what I learn from him and use it to help others, would he? (Side note: if you do mind @Andy Black let me know)

Then my phone rings. A good friend of mine who also happens to be a plumber calls to check in with me. We start talking and I learn about how slow his business is right now because people don't want plumbers in their homes... unless it's an emergency of course.

I could make him a landing page with my newfound website knowledge. In fact, Andy Black has a ridiculous amount of educational content on how to run AdWords campaigns [see Andy's AdWords Posts.] Whats preventing me from learning everything I can and trying to help my friend boost his business?

The only thing preventing me is him. He doesn't want to pay to post his ad. Hmmm... now what... HOT TOPIC - Spend your money on diesel and coffee

It's been about 2 weeks of me trying to keep in touch with my network, plant the seed that "I'm a digital marketing guy" now, all while simultaneously trying to learn from Andy's posts. I'm waiting to hear back from a friend who runs a moving company that seemed really interested, but I feel like thats gone cold. I've got a list of phone calls to make. Thats whats next on my critical path.

In the midst of all this, the opportunity to write a sales script came up. I took it and made a quick $500 for 13 hours of work. That was interesting. I've never made money from home before. At the job I hate it would've taken me probably 3 days to make that much money (then lose 20% of it to taxes). And as I write this, someone in my network texted me saying he has 4000 warm leads and he needs someone to look them up to get their phone number and email. He's offering $15/20 an hour but MJ taught me to detach my time from money. I asked him how much each lead was worth to him. Maybe I can make him an offer based on that info if I hear back from him.

It seems the process of me working to build something and get my name out there with this "yes I'm ready and capable" attitude opens up doors for unexpected opportunities. There is a certain kind of magic that happens when I pocket that inner voice of "you're not ready for that" or "what if you don't do a good job?" and just do it. What usually happens? I finally prove to myself that I'm way more capable, ready, and qualified than I ever thought I was.

I wanted to outline my progress in the last month to demonstrate that NOW is better than ever to build something. For those panicked, depressed, or discouraged by the pandemic - specifically those newer to the forum than myself - I hope this thread brings you solace and inspiration.

Hearing other people's stories helps me. I hope mine can help you. The threads I've linked in this post have played a particularly ENORMOUS part in my taking action this last month.

I'd love to hear the details about your progress/execution this forced isolation has freed you to do!

Wow ! Really inspiring !
Can't wait to see your progress one year from now.
Wish you the best of luck
 

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