ZackerySprague
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Hi Guys!
How's it going? My name is Zackery and I am 27 years old. I am new to the Fastlane Forum! @MJ DeMarco Thank you for accepting my request!
A little bit of background of me, I currently work in Information Technology and have been for the past 6 years. These days, it seems like I have hit a brick wall and I am experiencing burnout. I make decent pay for a living but would like to go Unscripted . (I have yet to read the book, but I am currently on the Millionaire Fastlane ).
Thanks to James Jani and his recommendation to read The Millionaire Fastlane . I have been hooked and believe in MJ DeMarco's teachings. It has changed my view on the psychology of money and entrepreneurship. I won't lie to you I have been around the block and dabbled in all of the different business models (Amazon FBA, Shopify Dropshipping, and Social Media Marketing) and spent quite a bit on courses.
But I have never seemed to find one that fits or keeps my interest. After reading the Millionaire Fastlane and the CENTS method, I have been trying to find ideas or problems I can solve and I think I have found and would like to tell you guys about it. In other words, I am hoping that I can get another set of eyes on my idea.
Ecommerce is growing at a rapid pace, stores are going from physical to digital these days and it will continue to grow year after year. We can probably thank COVID for the rapid expansion of spending from this previous year.
Nowadays adults older or younger than me are creating Social Media Marketing Agencies that specialize in Paid Advertising to help eCommerce brands increase their ROI and ROAS with their Ad Spend. I do agree that there's a need there, but if you really take a step back and see the big picture. To it seems to be a red ocean or a crowdfed trend that is occurring. Not only that, but it defies the E in the CENTS method.
Anyone can easily start an Ecommerce Marketing Agency specializing in Paid Advertising the next day. This means it's not difficult to start. This leaves you with having to be an EXTRAORDINARY person or basically be number one in the space because of this violation.
Last year, I tried my hand at Shopify Dropshipping and I'll say. I had my breakthrough. I actually made my first 3 sales within the first night of running Paid Advertising. I found an evergreen product within the Beauty/Skincare space and created a branded Shopify website. Which surprisingly was very well made.
Unfortunately, I had to close down the store because I was unable to keep with the cash flow and orders. I had cash flow issues. So I decided to put it on the Shopify Exchange and sell it for $500 dollars, and surprisingly I definitely had some great feedback and offers from people wanting to buy it, but not at the full price of course.
Recently I was running an Ecommerce Marketing Agency offering Paid Advertising services to ecommerce brands, but yet I was relying on media buyers to perform the service. I decided to shut down the business because of a few reasons.
1. I know about Facebook Advertising, but have not spent enough money to say I am an expert at this. Of course, this is a skill I can still learn and service for the future, but I would like to get my hands dirty first before doing so.
2. Media buyers can go to another agency if a better offer is presented in front of them. Meaning that if I had clients to service and they left, I wouldn't be able to service them with my limited/basic knowledge of Facebook Ads and this can be dangerous. Of course, I can go ahead and get more media buyers, but then I would have to rush the hiring process and this can be dangerous in out of itself.
3. Imposter Syndrome - In Essence, I do not want to come off as an imposter. I actually want to learn a skill that can be transferred or be trained to another person. I'll be honest, I was not feeling confident enough to sell a Facebook Ads service to Ecommerce Clients with my limited knowledge of Facebook Ads and relying on Media Buyers to perform the job.
So, therefore, I quit this service for my agency.
But I thought what if I created websites for new/existing Ecommerce Brand owners? Specifically for Shopify for now because that's the only platform I'm pretty good at it.
Using the CENTS method I came up with this:
1. Control:
-When running a web design agency and creating/service Ecommerce Brand websites. I am in control of this business and I am not relying on any 3rd party platform that could potentially risk my business of closing the next day (i.e. Facebook Advertising/Amazon FBA)
2. Barrier To Entry:
-According to a friend who's already doing this, it takes skill and he believes the barrier to entry is high already. You need to know how to create websites that convert current/future visitors into paying customers. A good idea is to be able to improve the website to increase its conversion rate. However, I am a bit skeptical to a point. I do believe anyone can create websites using Shopify already just through free resources as well. But the market I would be aiming for is individuals who are non-techy. Since Ecommerce is growing at a rapid pace I thought this would be a good opportunity to try and seize this market with this service. In a way, it's basically me selling shovels to new/existing Ecommerce Brand owners.
3. Need
-I believe there is a great need for new/existing Ecommerce Brand owners to have a website for what they are trying to sell. The audience I would be targeting are individuals who are non-techy and would like to get their website up and running as soon as possible. So this would be a one-time project. There could be a potential to create a subscription for maintenance and other related services, but I have not thought this far.
4. Time
-For Time and removing myself from this business, I would first learn how to create high-quality converting Ecommerce Brand websites and then teach or find others to do what I am doing, this will allow me to remove myself from the service delivery side and be able to focus on growing the agency such as hiring a Sales Rep to close deals, Virtual Assistants to prospect/find new customers, and maybe Appointment Setters to book prospects on my calendar on my behalf.
5. Scalable
-Since this is a service-based business idea, the variable I would manipulating is the Magnitude side. This business will be hard to manipulate with the scalable variable since it's not product-based and I believe service-based businesses of course take time to scale.
What do you guys think of this idea? Do you think it's a good Fastlane Business to try?
Honestly, I wouldn't even know where to begin.
Thanks for reading,
Zackery Sprague.
How's it going? My name is Zackery and I am 27 years old. I am new to the Fastlane Forum! @MJ DeMarco Thank you for accepting my request!
A little bit of background of me, I currently work in Information Technology and have been for the past 6 years. These days, it seems like I have hit a brick wall and I am experiencing burnout. I make decent pay for a living but would like to go Unscripted . (I have yet to read the book, but I am currently on the Millionaire Fastlane ).
Thanks to James Jani and his recommendation to read The Millionaire Fastlane . I have been hooked and believe in MJ DeMarco's teachings. It has changed my view on the psychology of money and entrepreneurship. I won't lie to you I have been around the block and dabbled in all of the different business models (Amazon FBA, Shopify Dropshipping, and Social Media Marketing) and spent quite a bit on courses.
But I have never seemed to find one that fits or keeps my interest. After reading the Millionaire Fastlane and the CENTS method, I have been trying to find ideas or problems I can solve and I think I have found and would like to tell you guys about it. In other words, I am hoping that I can get another set of eyes on my idea.
Ecommerce is growing at a rapid pace, stores are going from physical to digital these days and it will continue to grow year after year. We can probably thank COVID for the rapid expansion of spending from this previous year.
Nowadays adults older or younger than me are creating Social Media Marketing Agencies that specialize in Paid Advertising to help eCommerce brands increase their ROI and ROAS with their Ad Spend. I do agree that there's a need there, but if you really take a step back and see the big picture. To it seems to be a red ocean or a crowdfed trend that is occurring. Not only that, but it defies the E in the CENTS method.
Anyone can easily start an Ecommerce Marketing Agency specializing in Paid Advertising the next day. This means it's not difficult to start. This leaves you with having to be an EXTRAORDINARY person or basically be number one in the space because of this violation.
Last year, I tried my hand at Shopify Dropshipping and I'll say. I had my breakthrough. I actually made my first 3 sales within the first night of running Paid Advertising. I found an evergreen product within the Beauty/Skincare space and created a branded Shopify website. Which surprisingly was very well made.
Unfortunately, I had to close down the store because I was unable to keep with the cash flow and orders. I had cash flow issues. So I decided to put it on the Shopify Exchange and sell it for $500 dollars, and surprisingly I definitely had some great feedback and offers from people wanting to buy it, but not at the full price of course.
Recently I was running an Ecommerce Marketing Agency offering Paid Advertising services to ecommerce brands, but yet I was relying on media buyers to perform the service. I decided to shut down the business because of a few reasons.
1. I know about Facebook Advertising, but have not spent enough money to say I am an expert at this. Of course, this is a skill I can still learn and service for the future, but I would like to get my hands dirty first before doing so.
2. Media buyers can go to another agency if a better offer is presented in front of them. Meaning that if I had clients to service and they left, I wouldn't be able to service them with my limited/basic knowledge of Facebook Ads and this can be dangerous. Of course, I can go ahead and get more media buyers, but then I would have to rush the hiring process and this can be dangerous in out of itself.
3. Imposter Syndrome - In Essence, I do not want to come off as an imposter. I actually want to learn a skill that can be transferred or be trained to another person. I'll be honest, I was not feeling confident enough to sell a Facebook Ads service to Ecommerce Clients with my limited knowledge of Facebook Ads and relying on Media Buyers to perform the job.
So, therefore, I quit this service for my agency.
But I thought what if I created websites for new/existing Ecommerce Brand owners? Specifically for Shopify for now because that's the only platform I'm pretty good at it.
Using the CENTS method I came up with this:
1. Control:
-When running a web design agency and creating/service Ecommerce Brand websites. I am in control of this business and I am not relying on any 3rd party platform that could potentially risk my business of closing the next day (i.e. Facebook Advertising/Amazon FBA)
2. Barrier To Entry:
-According to a friend who's already doing this, it takes skill and he believes the barrier to entry is high already. You need to know how to create websites that convert current/future visitors into paying customers. A good idea is to be able to improve the website to increase its conversion rate. However, I am a bit skeptical to a point. I do believe anyone can create websites using Shopify already just through free resources as well. But the market I would be aiming for is individuals who are non-techy. Since Ecommerce is growing at a rapid pace I thought this would be a good opportunity to try and seize this market with this service. In a way, it's basically me selling shovels to new/existing Ecommerce Brand owners.
3. Need
-I believe there is a great need for new/existing Ecommerce Brand owners to have a website for what they are trying to sell. The audience I would be targeting are individuals who are non-techy and would like to get their website up and running as soon as possible. So this would be a one-time project. There could be a potential to create a subscription for maintenance and other related services, but I have not thought this far.
4. Time
-For Time and removing myself from this business, I would first learn how to create high-quality converting Ecommerce Brand websites and then teach or find others to do what I am doing, this will allow me to remove myself from the service delivery side and be able to focus on growing the agency such as hiring a Sales Rep to close deals, Virtual Assistants to prospect/find new customers, and maybe Appointment Setters to book prospects on my calendar on my behalf.
5. Scalable
-Since this is a service-based business idea, the variable I would manipulating is the Magnitude side. This business will be hard to manipulate with the scalable variable since it's not product-based and I believe service-based businesses of course take time to scale.
What do you guys think of this idea? Do you think it's a good Fastlane Business to try?
Honestly, I wouldn't even know where to begin.
Thanks for reading,
Zackery Sprague.
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