What to do with sudden freed up time

[Dami-B]

I run a fairly successful Digital marketing agency that has grown quite a bit during the past few years and as a result, freed up my time.

This was a partnership I entered with a friend of mine that owns a widely successful digital marketing training which serves as a lead generation tool for the agency.

I split profits with Him and handle all the execution aspects of the marketing campaign, this has turned out to be a very profitable joint venture, it takes care of the bills and gives enough surplus at the end of the month to stay clear of the fear of lack.

Although this is not Fastlane or near it, this venture has provided me with enough time as setting up the marketing campaigns and the optimizations processes don't take much of my time every day.

Strangely of late, I've found myself a bit confused about how to invest my time going forward.

My natural inclination was to try and scale the agency and invest in advertising and possible lead generation opportunities, but all those have proven to be a waste of time and energy, the clients we have gotten historically were based on relationships, either past students of my partner's training course, or relationships I've built over the years of people who value my competence, the linear methods of advertising, landing pages and lead generation I use to scale my client's businesses often don't work as well for my consulting agency, which is why I focus a lot on building local relationships and just doing a good work that brings them back.

Lately, I've been sincerely attracted to the idea of building a product brand from scratch, the African Northern market is witnessing a significant rise in middle classes and consumer spend, I can't help but dream about building a brand around a product that people want and that has a significant mass appeal for volume transactions.

This might be a grass is greener on the other side mentality and may seem money chasing, maybe I'm better off thinking about scaling the agency, although this indecision and lack of certainty of what to engage in next has had me frightened and concerned and possibly become less diligent with the work I'm currently doing.

I don't know if other fasteners are going through this phase and maybe you might have some good old wisdom for a chap like me.

Thank you!

 

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[kleine2]

Do you think your current business is scalable?
imo, find a way that you can make it scalable, or if it can't be scaled then use your freedom as a base to build a different business which is scalable.

 

[Choate]

If your marketing agency has grown over the past few years while simultaneously freeing up more of your time, it seems that you have a lot more room to scale. There may be a cap at some point but it doesn't sound like you're close to that now. I think you have a sales issue, not a scaling one. I'd ask yourself:

- How many customers would you have to lose for your financial security to be in jeopardy?
- Is the work you're doing at the local level producing regular clients?
- How can you use existing testimonials, case studies, portfolio, etc. to sell the good work you've done to new clients who have no relationship with your existing clients?

I think the road block/obstacle in front of you is trying to get new clients in a way that doesn't rely on your existing network.

If setting up the marketing campaigns and processes is easy for you and doesn't take up much of your time, could you double what you are doing now?

If the going is good, may as well double down. You have a proven concept and execution, and you could very well launch a product brand too, but that would only be made easier with more money.

 

[Deleted78083]

African Northern market is witnessing a significant rise in middle classes

Really? Tell us more, i thought it was the opposite, that with the energy crash, people were getting poorer.

 

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[Dami-B]

If your marketing agency has grown over the past few years while simultaneously freeing up more of your time, it seems that you have a lot more room to scale. There may be a cap at some point but it doesn't sound like you're close to that now. I think you have a sales issue, not a scaling one. I'd ask yourself:

You're 100% correct with your assessment. There's a ceiling for this business and I'm nowhere near it.

- How many customers would you have to lose your financial security to be in jeopardy?

Right now we have a major client that's responsible for 80% of our income, but that client is a major partner that has signed for a year's worth of contract. We have other clients but their aggregated revenue is still very low. Losing our major client will put me in a very dangerous situation.

- Is the work you're doing at the local level producing regular clients?

We are generating referrals, but not at the speed, given that it's organic, we can't predict the number of referrals we get a month. Most of our leads right now come from my partner's training agency.

- How can you use existing testimonials, case studies, portfolios, etc. to sell the good work you've done to new clients who have no relationship with your existing clients?

I've not done a very good job in this area, though we have case studies and testimonials, we don't use them nearly as much as we do towards getting customers.

I think the road block/obstacle in front of you is trying to get new clients in a way that doesn't rely on your existing network.

Very true, my main focus right now is building a client generation process outside of my existing network and my friend's training centre.

If setting up the marketing campaigns and processes is easy for you and doesn't take up much of your time, could you double what you are doing now?

I've decided to double down until I hit a specific revenue target and grow my audience to a particular size. Then I can invest further into a product brand.

Do you think your current business is scalable?
imo, find a way that you can make it scalable, or if it can't be scaled then use your freedom as a base to build a different business which is scalable.

The business has a ceiling, which I'm no where near, my focus right now will be on scaling and hitting a revenue target, then I can safely invest in a product brand.

Really? Tell us more, i thought it was the opposite, that with the energy crash, people were getting poorer.

the energy crash has no doubt been detrimental, but consumer purchase is still on the rise. Yes! Purchase per consumer has drastically reduced, but the volume is still on the rise, if you're going to think African Investment, you'll have to think more scale than magnitude to use Fastlane language.

You'll have to focus more on Volume, low-cost transactions, getting a lot of people on board.

I live in a country of over 180 Million people, the largest population in Africa, and a growing middle-class everyday.

That's a significant opportunity and advantage over most people.

 

[Deleted78083]

I live in a country of over 180 Million people, the largest population in Africa, and a growing middle-class everyday.

That's a significant opportunity and advantage over most people.

I ll guess Nigeria. This is great news, Africa could become the next China and drive economic development up...I ll have to investigate, thx for the answer!

 

[Dami-B]

I ll guess Nigeria. This is great news, Africa could become the next China and drive economic development up...I ll have to investigate, thx for the answer!

Yes, very correct. You can read up on the African Trade Continental Free Trade Area, here's an excerpt of an article from The Work Economic Forum to help with your findings

The African Union has launched the operational phase of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which will be the world's largest free trade area by number of countries once it’s fully up and running.

''After years of talks, the goal is to establish a single market for goods and services across 54 countries, allow the free movement of business travellers and investments, and create a continental customs union to streamline trade - and attract long-term investment.''

 

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[Deleted78083]

Yes, very correct. You can read up on the African Trade Continental Free Trade Area, here's an excerpt of an article from The Work Economic Forum to help with your findings

The African Union has launched the operational phase of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which will be the world's largest free trade area by number of countries once it’s fully up and running.

''After years of talks, the goal is to establish a single market for goods and services across 54 countries, allow the free movement of business travellers and investments, and create a continental customs union to streamline trade - and attract long-term investment.''

Waouw, this is amazing, I had no clue!! Africa has all the raw material one could dream of, and by shifting production there, it means you would de facto have access to 1 billion consumers. This is great man, I wish you good luck and hope everything will work out!

 

[Kid]

Waste it.