Trying to get started freelancing - Google Ads / Web Design

[mavdm22]

The beauty of providing Google Ads as a service is that clients are already paying monthly for the Google Ads. It's logical (even preferrable) for them to pay a monthly fee to a freelancer or agency to manage their campaigns.

Another beauty of Google Ads is they can be very consistent when dialled in (note the two highlighted words... you can't always dial it in, and you can't always make it consistent).

So you can get campaigns setup, as a freelancer, that pay you $500/mth and run for years with barely any changes on your part except to update ads as Google introduces new features, and/or create/pause campaigns at the request of clients.

Get 10-20x $500/mth clients where the MRR is low maintenance.

I've 10x $500/mth clients in just one niche. There's just me who sets up campaigns and I have a freelancer who creates landing pages and sets up conversion tracking. Oh, and my 14 year old son sends the weekly reports for each client on Monday morning.

How could I scale as a freelancer?

• I could get 10 more of those clients in that niche.
• Those clients may want to sell other services and need more pages and campaigns, potentially going to $1,000/mth or $1,500/mth.
• IF I go that route I'd create SOPs and train my son to manage campaigns while I setup new ones. Then I'd train him to setup new ones.
• Then I'd train our 12 year old up to do the reports.
• So now I'm building out a productised service, possibly with a low/intermediate skilled team.
• Or you could call it an agency, but whatever.

I get the occasional $6k/mth consulting client, and many levels in between.

• I'm still a practitioner. I could do higher priced consulting work, but choose not to if I can.
• Being still at the coal-face I can train others to do what I do (not just the technical side, but also acquiring clients and managing projects).
• So I'm able to spot something dumb in an account today and knock out a quick video in half an hour (here's today's video). Good luck doing that if you're not still a practitioner at the coal-face.

And while I'm figuring out YouTube, do you think Google Ads clients might be interested in YouTube Ads? YouTube Ads are a subset of Google Ads anyway.

Lots of ways to skin a cat.

Check out my tagline in my avatar:
Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Start. Sell. Scale.

Get started by helping people.
Figure out how to get paid (sell).
THEN figure out how to scale.

MJ has a great video about it here:

• From Flat-Broke to Financial Freedom: How to Get Started When You Have No Money

Hi Andy,

Yes, that's exactly how i want to do it and thought out in my mind apart from the YT ads bit. At least the YT ads isn't in my plans at the moment but i completely agree that its also a possibility.

I have watched the video several times, really enjoyed it and clearly sets out a logical path.

 

[mavdm22]

get a list and send out 50,000 emails not 200.

Like starting a lawn care company and cutting grass with scissors

Hi Johnny,

Hope you are well

Sending 200 emails is nothing, i agree, i am actually surprised no one said that until now. But the Uk market is considerably smaller than the US. I don't even think there are 50k companies in my niche. There could be but either way your message was loud and clear.

Thank you and if you can or want if anything else springs to mind, do let me know, i appreciate all the help i can get

 

[mavdm22]

You don't have an angle.

Let me ask, what's the more compelling sell?

A: "Hey, I'm ____ and do SEO PPC FFS XYZ Marketing. Hire me."

or...

B: "Hey, I've generated X leads for you. They want to hire you NOW. Just pay me a % for the referral."

Obviously B. You're practically selling money to your customers.

@MJ DeMarco did a great demonstration at the Fastlane Summit a few years ago. He stood up in front of the audience and asked "I'm looking for a $10 bill. I'll pay you $100 for it. Any takers?"

When you're speaking to potential customers, your value needs to feel like you're selling $100 bills for $10. If it's not, you have some real work to do. Please keep in mind that there's a million other marketers out there...What's your angle? How will you compete?


Agreed but be sure your copy is airtight before scaling send volume.

No sense in doing that if it goes to spam.

@mavdm22 I'm in your industry (lead generation) and sincerely believe you want to succeed. There's a lot I've written prior that'll come in handy. I highly suggest you dive in and read from start to finish:

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/brokering-connections-for-fun-profit.100520/

Hi Mike,

Hope you are well

After researching the niche that i decided to niche into (even though i am swaying to what Fox said which is to cast a net as wide as possible at the start) my angle was to provide leads for one service which (in my mind) was the service where they would make the most profit. So for example instead of leads for finding electrical faults i wanted to provide leads for full house rewires. Not my niche by the way. Is it a good angle, i don't know. In my mind it is. Could i be wrong. Highly possible.

In your B example you made me think of rank and rent. Was that what you were referring to? Or setup a site, pay for ads and then forward them to clients.?

Actually creating offers is a huge problem for me. Everything seems to boil down to. Free this for x period, Pay nothing until this happens. Pay nothing for x days. Pay this trial for x days. Only pay once you make x. Obviously there are others, many others and i know that i could be completely wrong here. Hence my statement earlier that i do struggle with making offers. Maybe i should of started the thread by explaining what i want to do and if anyone could help with the offer!

In regards to sending amounts. I know that the outreach system i have in place is setup correctly. I have tracking and see the email opens. Mentioned earlier that the emails are opened several times some of them. Its a basic system setup with a max capacity of 50. The idea here was to test (as you can see from the original first post and as Dan pointed out about the audits) I wanted to see what worked and what didn't on a small scale and then move from there.

In regards to your link, i will be checking that as soon as i have checked Andy's list of threads to check. Kind of like on a list and working my way down. I appreciate you sending me the link.

I also appreciate your reply and help.

Thank you Mike

 

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[mavdm22]

To use it as a follow-up sounds like a good idea.


Nope, none explained why is unethical, that's my personal view.
But based on their reaction, I know there wasn't something right about the reaction. Then most of them reacted the same way.

Hi Mister,

Hope you are well.

The follow up idea. Yes and no. I have not tested it yet. It could be good in finding out the general sentiment, it could also backfire fantastically well! Potential client could say " so let me get this straight, i didn't reply and you thought it was a good idea to call me. So if me not replying wasn't a big enough clue for you, now you want me to tell you over the phone as well!" To which me in my stupidity would reply in a calm tone, "I didn't know you weren't interested and wanted to save you the time of writing an email" Jokes aside, i know you know what i mean.

Some business owners want to hear from you, others don't, some reply to emails, some ignore all communication from anyone reaching out like the plague. Keeps us on out toes that's for sure. One thing that's for sure is that i am going to do it anyway. At least to get that sentiment you mentioned. Probably should have done it before i started the site, setup the outreach to be honest and in hindsight. Would have been better. Next time i suppose.

Thanks again. I appreciate it.

 

[mavdm22]

Oh, and another benefit is you're dealing with business owners, who believe in spending money to make money. No need to pay to learn from business owners, get paid to get kicked into shaped by them.

True and i don't mind that at all

 

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[mavdm22]

Correct. Demonstrate that your system works, and ask for a referral fee.

After you've developed a reputation of delivering results, only then can you go for a monthly contract.

At this point nobody wants to listen to you because nobody knows or trusts you.

Fix that. Prove yourself first.

Hi Mike,

I thought about that when i wanted to offer SEO services. The conclusion that i reached was that SEO took time. I still believe that seo is great for small businesses. Ideally a business should be doing google ads and seo. Google ads for results now and seo as the long term strategy. Obviously we also have reputation management for getting reviews. I see fb as more of a brand marketing strategy. I could be wrong, people may have a different opinions and i respect that.

In light of your comment, to which i completely agree with by the way. Would you say that at this stage offering the setup, landing page and campaign build and client investing the ad spend is too much too soon? Based on the fact that nobody knows me or trusts me? This was the primary reason why i jumped so much from seo, to reputation management and Google Business Profiles because that was exactly my thought and therefore i wanted to reduce what someone would consider a risk. Think a simple foot in the door offer. Can't remember where i saw this but instead of asking for marriage i am only asking for a quick coffee.

This is also the reason why i am offering to build the site. I know once the site is built, the relationship can grow from there.

what do you think?

thanks again.

 

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[mavdm22]

No problem, wishing you the best on your adventure.

Let us know how it goes, and never give up!

Hi Mike,

Yes will do. Got a meeting booked with a web dev. On the client side nothing as yet. Working on it

Thanks again

 

[mavdm22]

Good luck. Just be careful of limiting bekiefs. There are other ways.

Remember the first call I mentioned. We got talking because his calls stopped when he started doing ads by himself . The reason I spent time working with him 1 and 1. Landing page (literally drew up a landing page for him) , keywords and ad group and ads, tracking. You know.
Funny point he didn't want me to do it for him but used everything I gave him.

Just received a message from him stating that he got two calls today. So at least he is happy which was the original intention anyway.

Andy I know your busy but would you mind explaining the other ways? I cant afford the ads at the moment so I am here wondering how to pivot to generate money to run the ads?

Also I would like to mention. Regarding limiting beliefs. Yes absolutely agree with you, however I really cannot see any business owner thinking yes this is the guy I want to run my ads for me. I can't. I've nothing that proves I know what I'm talking about. It may sound negative (and I am not trying to be) I'm not throwing some sort of pity party I'm genuinely trying to be as realistic as possible. I thought to myself hey people who cant prove what they are talking about are technically liars.

I want to be in a position where I am at the stage where I'm approaching a potential client and basically say. This is what I can, here is the proof that I have done it before and these are my results. Would you like to have a chat about whether or not this is something that would benefit you. This is not the position I'm in at the moment.

Whether you go into more detail or not I'm grateful already for all the information and time you've taken to reply to me.

Thanks Andy

 

[mavdm22]

Hmm. Can't prove what? I'm figuring out TikTok at the moment. I've only uploaded 4 videos. If I told you I'd warched some workshop recordings that told me videos should be 12-15s unless it's a tutorial then would I be a liar because I can't prove it?

Seems like you lack confidence. What can give you the confidence? If it's working for free helping someone for a while then do that. If it's taking courses and getting certified then do that. If it's running ads with your own money and landing pages then do that.

Personally, I'm confident in my ability to figure stuff out, and not lie if I don't know.


I can't either, but that's not a skillset or experience thing. People want to hire problem solvers. Do you believe you can solve a problem you encounter? Will you roll up your sleeves, get stuck in, and figure it out?


Sounds like you helped someone?

Hi Andy

Thanks for your reply.

Liars

I said I thought to myself. I should have continued with I'm technically a liar instead of people. Also you have those 4 videos. Stats will show. Using your example I currently have no videos Andy. Do you see what I mean?

Confidence

No not at all. I'm confident in my ability to run ads for myself and others. I've done it for myself, I know the results I can generate. I've completed many course and will continue to take courses that I feel will benefit me but that's just out of curiosity to see if I learn anything new. This isn't my problem.

You cant either

Ok here you left me wondering what you meant and also thinking in regards to skillset or experience and what people want. At the end of the day I know people want results, positive return on their investment.

Will I roll up my sleeves and get stuck in and figure it out. Of course. I have no problems with this at all. I prefer when it goes as planned but if something happens, troubleshoot and resolve.

Helped someone

Indeed, he keeps sending updates. I did ask him to. Was curious to what would happen. So far 4 calls 2 booked and 1 potential. I would prefer to look at the account but that's just me. Am I pleased, absolutely, am I surprised, not really as this was the intention.

I'm at a crossroads. I understand what you said, I agree with what you said. I just cant shake this feeling that if it happens again on another call in regards to someone asking for proof that I cant produce it.

I also saw somewhere and it stuck with me that if you can explain how you are going to help them, what exactly you are going to do and what the outcome is then the request for proof may never even come up.

 

[mavdm22]

I've never been asked for proof in the 13 years I've been doing this.

I was asked on my first call

Maybe you're right. Maybe it's confidence at least on a call. I dont know.

Something's not right here.

 

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[mavdm22]

For starters, ask that guy you helped for a testimonial!

He can, of course, refuse, but it's the least he can do after you gave him your time for free and "literally drew up a landing page" for him. Odds are he'll have no problem doing that if he really ran with all your advice. Stack a few more of these testimonials up to use in your proposals, show as "proof," and paste on your website and suddenly you've got at least a little bit of cred to lean on.

Not enough to put you in the big leagues but enough to help you get some other "starter clients."

That's good you're starting to get some sales calls even if you're getting turned down. You'll get better as you do more of them, gain confidence and feel more comfortable. So keep "practicing" those calls and get better at them. Sooner or later something will give.

I would advise against pitching prices too low, though...

1) Low rates can inadvertently make you look bad (cheap) and make your lack of experience stand out if you're charging less than all the other guys. I'm not saying charge top dollar, but charging a somewhat professional rate will make you look more like a professional.

2) Getting real rates when you DO land some clients will make up for all the ones who said no and make all the failures worthwhile. The great thing about prospecting when you offer ongoing services (at reasonably substantial rates) is that it only takes closing 2 or 3 deals and suddenly you're talking about a full-time income that can replace a day-job, give you some ground to stand on, and remove the desperation that inevitably shines through when you're prospecting from a broke state of mind. On the other hand, if you land a couple clients at bottom dollar rates, you're still stuck in a position where you feel like you haven't quite made it and are throwing anything at the wall to hope another five or so say "yes" just to bring in a little more cash.

Hi Dru-man

Hope you are well.

That's really good advice.

Testimonial

Hadn't thought of that. Reason being that it was him who carried out the changes even though under direction. I will have a chat with him, I'm also curious to see how things are going.

Sales call and prices

Even though i agree, my reasoning behind this was because we had a talk about his income and where he wanted to take the business. Due to the market he is in i decided to go lower. Apparently not low enough. This is all speculation as i really don't know what the problem is / was. The important thing was that i have managed to starting getting replies and booked the call. This is was the main objective. As i work on my outreach i will be working on my sales and pricing.

Everything you said makes perfect sense. Its finding the balance at the moment.

Thanks and any other suggestions are welcome

 

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[Andy Black]

Any updates?

 

[Andy Black]

Hi Andy. Hope you are doing well.

No. Nothing. Going to give it till the end of march and if still nothing, I will need to look into something else.

What are you stuck at?

 

[Tacko6]

This is a really interesting thread. its good to see you working through the problems. The support in this community is priceless.

Im sure you will make a break through!

I look forward to seeing this all unfold.

 

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[mavdm22]

What are you doing and how?

Cold email outreach

 

[mavdm22]

Will offering a different service make it easier to get clients?

I can't answer that question at the moment Andy but I understand the message.
I'm focused on home services and it just seems that with sites like checkatrade in the UK and home advisor in the US amoungst others businesses don't want to pursue Google ads and those that do want to advertise mainly use FB.

Basically what I am trying to explain is that when is enough enough. When does one reach the conclusion that it's simply not working.

I'm sure you can understand or am I looking at this the wrong way?

 

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