Online Businessmaxxing (from a 15k/month biz owner)

[Deleted member 23022]

What's up guys it's golfgod69 your fav greycel. I can't get to sleep so I figured I would type this out. This thread is going to be about my business journey as well as some suggestions I would do if I had to start all over again.

In the past two months I have tripled my online income - going from $5k per month to $15k per month. It's been an insane amount of hard work and I really started 2023 like I was shot out of a cannon. I see a lot of threads here on moneymaxxing, how difficult it is to make $...etc - and I think I can help point you in the right direction.

When I first tried to start an online business about 3 years ago, I tried things like Dropshipping, Funnel Building, Website design...etc - these business ideas all failed miserably - now I know exactly why.

You can't start a business without skills.

In order to be a successful dropshipper you need to be able to build functional, aesthetic, and conversion optimized landing pages. You need to know how to drive traffic with digital advertising (FB, TiK, IG..etc), you need to have good Ad Copy (Copywriting) to get people to click on your ad, you need to know how to do A/B testing, you need to have a good product that customers want and that takes a lot of testing ($$$) ...etc

I do not dropship, I am just using dropshipping as an example. Dropshipping is not a beginner friendly biz model because of all the Skills and $$ you need.

So - anyways I eventually stumbled on a local business model (a subniche of flipping) after about 8 months of failing online business models in my early 20s. I bought a $60 course from this guy I followed on twitter, and immediately took a liking to the business model. It just clicked for me (this is important).

Local business is not bad, but it lacks the freedom that online business affords. My local business was a sub niche of flipping and I was one of the only people in my city to do it. I mastered my local business extremely fast, and was making $10k per month within 6 months of starting. Pretty crazy, but it was a super simple business model. I didn't know it at the time, but fuck was I lucky. Making $10k per month is rarely this easy, but this was one of those cases where the stars aligned and everything worked out in my favor.

But I wanted more. I had joined a few free facebook groups of other entrepreneurs who were doing the same thing as me. There was this one guy in there who was running Facebook Ads for people and he was charging $1000 per month + Ad spend. I knew how to run Facebook ads from my previous failed online business attempts - but I didn't have a lot of confidence, had a GF who wanted my time & attention, and honestly just didn't feel like doing it. So I hired the guy and he did ok. He made me about $1-2k net profit per month - $5 or 6k profit per month - $3000 spent on ads & $1k fee.

This went on for about 6 months, until some complaints started to arise about him in the group, and I thought - shit if I just re-learned Facebook ads I could undercut him and charge $500 per month - I would only need 10 clients to make $5k per month. So I spent a couple months re-learning Facebook Ads (a skill) - I started running ads for business. And they did better than his ads. So - I started advertising that I can do FB ads - I got a few free trial clients & did a good job.

A few months later (this was about a year ago) I had 8 clients paying me $500 per month - $4k per month plus a steady $10k coming in from my local business. Things were going really well. And then Facebook banned my account.

No reason. Literally no reason at all. I just woke up one morning, and Facebook's AI detected something about my account that it didn't like - it glitched out and banned me. This is not an uncommon incident, Facebook does shit like this all the time. They don't even have a customer service number you can call. Fuckers.

So, my online income was zero'd out of nowhere. I was extremely upset, and one thing led to another, depression..etc and my local business started to go downhill as well. Around my birthday, I picked myself up, analyzed what had happened, and made a plan to get it back.

I realized I had gotten extremely lucky with the local business, but I could still use it to generate income while I got back into online business. I had used a Skill to build an Online Business, but I was too reliant on that one skill for my income. It was also stupid not to have a backup Facebook account. I asked myself, "what other skills could I learn and leverage in order to create a better online business"? I wasn't sure yet how it would fit together but I wrote down Landing Page Design - Conversion Rate Optimization - Copywriting - Facebook Ads - Sales

Eventually I would come up with my new business plan - I could learn Sales skills to get people to purchase my services & help with cold calling prospects..etc I could use Facebook ads to drive traffic to well designed Landing Pages - that have good sales copy, and are optimized for conversions. I will need to constantly A/B test and improve these landing pages.

I used a combination of Udemy and Youtube to learn these skills. And to this day I am still learning more about effective landing page designs and conversion rate optimization techniques...etc - You can never stop learning and improving your skillset if you want to increase your income. After 6 months of using my local business to pay my bills, and learning online business skills full time - I was ready to give it another shot.

I worked for free for a few clients in my new niche - I crushed it and got the good testimonials. 3 months ago I had 3 clients and was making $4500 per month. And now, just 2 months later I just hit 9 clients - $15k per month. My business is also very scalable, as it is niche specific and almost a copy/paste method for each new client that signs up for a retainer with me for $2k per month (will raise the price again when I get 10 clients)

Some key takeaways - in no particular order.

1. Online Business is not easy. It's hard. If it was easy everyone would do it. I got lucky with my first business, and am also blessed with a high IQ (130) and my personality is suited for entrepreneurship. I would say that you need 2 of 3 things (Luck, IQ, Right Personality) in order to be successful entrepreneur.

2. If you want to succeed with online business - don't think about starting a business right off the bat. It won't work unless you have skills. Learn the skills first and then try to combine them in different ways until you find a strategy that works. Constantly be improving your skillset.

3. Choose a business model that doesn't require many different complex skills. These can include E-Mail Marketing - running Facebook Ads - building websites - high ticket sales (being a setter or Closer)

4. Choose skills and business models that appeal to you. I was more drawn to marketing than I was Sales. I don't want to learn to Code. I'm not interested in science..etc - Know thyself but don't be afraid to spend a day or two learning about a skill and realizing "Nah, this isn't for me" and if you do not absolutely need that skill, just forget about it- I do this constantly.

5. B2B (Business to Business) or (ervice Based Businesses --- these tend to be better for beginners. B2C (Biz to Customer) is more difficult for beginners imo.

6. Choose the right niche - and stay in your lane. Don't choose restaurants or coffee shops. Focus on things that are more high ticket - Dentist, Realtor, selling/marketing high ticket info products..etc - the more a business in your niche is making, the easier it is for you to justify a $2-$5k per month retainer for services.

7. DO NOT BUY ONLINE COURSES FROM ANYONE BELOW 25. These kids are so annoying. "Bro learn this new method that made my student Timmy 4.5 million dollars in 31 seconds" - lemme pull a Hamza here SHUT THE FUCK UP BRO. These scammers are trying to be Andrew Tate and just repackaging information that is easily accessible online and then giving it an inflated price, and somehow justifying it as if their customers fail it must be because they didn't work hard enough.

7. E-Learning is legit. Paid learning companies like Udemy are your best friend. Thousands of info products and courses on a wide range of subjects for $200/year I think? I know there are others but Udemy is what I use. Youtube is also good for specific use case information.

8. College is a scam - especially if you want to be an entrepreneur. I hold a bachelor's degree from a good university but I barely learned anything. Skills > Textbook Knowledge. "Ok cool Stacy, you studied Marketing. Do you know how to run Facebook ads? Do A/B split testing? Build landing pages? Write Ad copy? Oh you don't... well your hot so I guess your hired, but you're still useless"

9. Study your competition. Deconsruct their methodology. What ad copy do they use? What Facebook ads are they running (Facebook ads Library) - How good is their own landing page? What can you do better than them? I could go on about this - this shit is important.

10. You need to interrupt potential clients in their day and have smooth sales pitches ready. It's rare to get clients as a new business owner without reaching out to them (Cold Call, Cold E-Mail, Cold LinkedIn...etc) - pretty much every business owner went through this, even if they now can lean back on their reputation and have customers come to them. Pick up the phone and start dialing buttercup. Get some practice being rejected, both with prospecting and sales calls. You will get better with time.

11. You need a smooth onboarding process. The client just agreed to pay you $2k per month. "Oh fuck what do I do" -- You should have this planned out ahead of time. You can have them zelle/paypal you, or send them a link to a payment processor. When they agree to pay you - you don't want them to have any second thoughts - it needs to be smooth.

12. Don't be afraid to work for free in order to get testimonials within your niche. That's how I got started with both of my online business ventures. Just don't expect your free trial clients to end up paying you. Imagine getting sex from a HTB and then one day she tells you that she wants you to pay her. Well I suppose that is like having a GF/wife. Nevermind.

13. Bend over backwards for your first clients. CRUSH IT FOR THEM. Their success = Your success. Get a good rap going with them, and they will sell your services for you. Also, pick a good niche that you enjoy and try to work with people that you like as people. This isn't necessary but it makes things a lot easier. My first 2 paid clients are absolute G's and each of them have gotten me multiple sales calls that turned into a couple other clients. I'm now at a point where I might tell this client to fuck off and fire him if he keeps annoying me - but you can't do this at the start.

13. Don't be afraid to fail - but fail small. Failing is nbd. I have talked a lot about my successes - but I spent 8 months failing small - burning through cash trying to start a business. I don't recommend you burn through cash - the whole "Burn the Ships" idea only works for certain, unique individuals. If you do not do well under extreme pressure, it's ok to fail - but don't fail big. Don't go all in on a business idea unless you are absolutely sure it will work.


Honestly that's all I can think of for now. Hope this was helpful.
-Golfgod69, forever greycel

 

[Deleted member 7725]

And now u learn that $15k/mo isnt all its cracked up to be. $100k/mo is bare minimum to be considered successful.

 

[Deleted member 6128]

I read every word good thread op

 

[Deleted member 23022]

I read every word good thread op

Thanks G

 

[Deleted member 23022]

And now u learn that $15k/mo isnt all its cracked up to be. $100k/mo is bare minimum to be considered successful.

Yeah I agree that most people think too small. I can probably get to $25 to $30k per month without hiring any full time employees (my VA is cool) and I'm trying to do that by summer.

But $100k/month is not necessary. I will get there. But bare minimum? Come on man

 

[malicieusss]

Bookmarked + high effort post, thank you.

 

[shychad]

any advice for furniture online(sofa, bed, chair etc…),
I have a factory,all i need to do is looking for customers



2-3 year ago it fucking stupid easy to make money… all i do is facebook ads, no website, seo, video or anything like that but it’s don’t work anymore
.
I think i need to build a website, seo, and paying ads on social media (fb, ig, tiktok, google, etc)
what do you think?
sorry for my bad english

 

[Deleted member 23022]

Bookmarked + high effort post, thank you.

Thanks. Has a bunch of typos as I typed this shit at 2am without really proof reading - but I think the overall message is clear. High IQ users should be able to learn & extrapolate to their own lives/business ideas.

 

[Deleted member 23022]

any advice for furniture online(sofa, bed, chair etc…),
I have a factory,all i need to do is looking for customers



2-3 year ago it fucking stupid easy to make money… all i do is facebook ads, no website, seo, video or anything like that but it’s don’t work anymore
.
I think i need to build a website, seo, and paying ads on social media (fb, ig, tiktok, google, etc)
what do you think?
sorry for my bad english

I'm not surprised. Business is constantly changing, you can never get too comfortable with a method that is working. Always be exploring new possibilities. 80% of your strategy (work time) should be spent on things you know that work - 20% on new ways to improve your business.

For your niche (Furniture) you definitely need a website, but I imagine SEO would take years + $50k (bare minimum) to get you to the top spots on Google. A solid SEO agency could probably rank you on page 1 within a year for some of your keywords, but they would probably charge $5k or more per month.

I think a great website + google ads is the way to go for your business. I would stay away from Tik and IG because I doubt anyone wants to see furniture when they are mindlessly scrolling - but I could be wrong. Google ads should be good because people are actually searching for your products. Hire someone to do both your website and google ads for you - who understands your niche. DO NOT CHEAP OUT and hire a cheap service provider just because you don't want to spend money.

There is a guy named Surfside PPC on YouTube - I would start there. He makes videos about running Google ads for his furniture store (Farmhouse Goals) and he seems to be doing pretty well. Google Ads is pretty complicated so I would suggest outsourcing it to someone like him unless you want to spend 3 months learning it (like I did) and then trying and failing a lot with your own budget. It's easier to just hire a quality service provider.

 

[shychad]

I'm not surprised. Business is constantly changing, you can never get too comfortable with a method that is working. Always be exploring new possibilities. 80% of your strategy (work time) should be spent on things you know that work - 20% on new ways to improve your business.

For your niche (Furniture) you definitely need a website, but I imagine SEO would take years + $50k (bare minimum) to get you to the top spots on Google. A solid SEO agency could probably rank you on page 1 within a year for some of your keywords, but they would probably charge $5k or more per month.

I think a great website + google ads is the way to go for your business. I would stay away from Tik and IG because I doubt anyone wants to see furniture when they are mindlessly scrolling - but I could be wrong. Google ads should be good because people are actually searching for your products. Hire someone to do both your website and google ads for you - who understands your niche. DO NOT CHEAP OUT and hire a cheap service provider just because you don't want to spend money.

There is a guy named Surfside PPC on YouTube - I would start there. He makes videos about running Google ads for his furniture store (Farmhouse Goals) and he seems to be doing pretty well. Google Ads is pretty complicated so I would suggest outsourcing it to someone like him unless you want to spend 3 months learning it (like I did) and then trying and failing a lot with your own budget. It's easier to just hire a quality service provider.

Thanks you so much, i live in 3rd world(asia) so i think i need to do it myself because outsourcing in here in so suck!

 

[Deleted member 7725]

Yeah I agree that most people think too small. I can probably get to $25 to $30k per month without hiring any full time employees (my VA is cool) and I'm trying to do that by summer.

But $100k/month is not necessary. I will get there. But bare minimum? Come on man

The quality of life increase from $5k/mo to $15k/mo is marginal. You can't afford mansions, PJs, exotic cars, etc until you are making $100k+/mo.

 

[Deleted member 15302]

good thread. always make a backup account, same shit happened to me (however i worked around it).

a lot of good info here. i can say that my niche business is only working because i have a ton of different skills and knowledge in that niche, and most importantly, i got lucky.

i’m curious to what you’re selling for $1000+ per person but i understand if you don’t want to give any info on it.

 

[Sondern]

What's up guys it's golfgod69 your fav greycel. I can't get to sleep so I figured I would type this out. This thread is going to be about my business journey as well as some suggestions I would do if I had to start all over again.

In the past two months I have tripled my online income - going from $5k per month to $15k per month. It's been an insane amount of hard work and I really started 2023 like I was shot out of a cannon. I see a lot of threads here on moneymaxxing, how difficult it is to make $...etc - and I think I can help point you in the right direction.

When I first tried to start an online business about 3 years ago, I tried things like Dropshipping, Funnel Building, Website design...etc - these business ideas all failed miserably - now I know exactly why.

You can't start a business without skills.

In order to be a successful dropshipper you need to be able to build functional, aesthetic, and conversion optimized landing pages. You need to know how to drive traffic with digital advertising (FB, TiK, IG..etc), you need to have good Ad Copy (Copywriting) to get people to click on your ad, you need to know how to do A/B testing, you need to have a good product that customers want and that takes a lot of testing ($$$) ...etc

I do not dropship, I am just using dropshipping as an example. Dropshipping is not a beginner friendly biz model because of all the Skills and $$ you need.

So - anyways I eventually stumbled on a local business model (a subniche of flipping) after about 8 months of failing online business models in my early 20s. I bought a $60 course from this guy I followed on twitter, and immediately took a liking to the business model. It just clicked for me (this is important).

Local business is not bad, but it lacks the freedom that online business affords. My local business was a sub niche of flipping and I was one of the only people in my city to do it. I mastered my local business extremely fast, and was making $10k per month within 6 months of starting. Pretty crazy, but it was a super simple business model. I didn't know it at the time, but fuck was I lucky. Making $10k per month is rarely this easy, but this was one of those cases where the stars aligned and everything worked out in my favor.

But I wanted more. I had joined a few free facebook groups of other entrepreneurs who were doing the same thing as me. There was this one guy in there who was running Facebook Ads for people and he was charging $1000 per month + Ad spend. I knew how to run Facebook ads from my previous failed online business attempts - but I didn't have a lot of confidence, had a GF who wanted my time & attention, and honestly just didn't feel like doing it. So I hired the guy and he did ok. He made me about $1-2k net profit per month - $5 or 6k profit per month - $3000 spent on ads & $1k fee.

This went on for about 6 months, until some complaints started to arise about him in the group, and I thought - shit if I just re-learned Facebook ads I could undercut him and charge $500 per month - I would only need 10 clients to make $5k per month. So I spent a couple months re-learning Facebook Ads (a skill) - I started running ads for business. And they did better than his ads. So - I started advertising that I can do FB ads - I got a few free trial clients & did a good job.

A few months later (this was about a year ago) I had 8 clients paying me $500 per month - $4k per month plus a steady $10k coming in from my local business. Things were going really well. And then Facebook banned my account.

No reason. Literally no reason at all. I just woke up one morning, and Facebook's AI detected something about my account that it didn't like - it glitched out and banned me. This is not an uncommon incident, Facebook does shit like this all the time. They don't even have a customer service number you can call. Fuckers.

So, my online income was zero'd out of nowhere. I was extremely upset, and one thing led to another, depression..etc and my local business started to go downhill as well. Around my birthday, I picked myself up, analyzed what had happened, and made a plan to get it back.

I realized I had gotten extremely lucky with the local business, but I could still use it to generate income while I got back into online business. I had used a Skill to build an Online Business, but I was too reliant on that one skill for my income. It was also stupid not to have a backup Facebook account. I asked myself, "what other skills could I learn and leverage in order to create a better online business"? I wasn't sure yet how it would fit together but I wrote down Landing Page Design - Conversion Rate Optimization - Copywriting - Facebook Ads - Sales

Eventually I would come up with my new business plan - I could learn Sales skills to get people to purchase my services & help with cold calling prospects..etc I could use Facebook ads to drive traffic to well designed Landing Pages - that have good sales copy, and are optimized for conversions. I will need to constantly A/B test and improve these landing pages.

I used a combination of Udemy and Youtube to learn these skills. And to this day I am still learning more about effective landing page designs and conversion rate optimization techniques...etc - You can never stop learning and improving your skillset if you want to increase your income. After 6 months of using my local business to pay my bills, and learning online business skills full time - I was ready to give it another shot.

I worked for free for a few clients in my new niche - I crushed it and got the good testimonials. 3 months ago I had 3 clients and was making $4500 per month. And now, just 2 months later I just hit 9 clients - $15k per month. My business is also very scalable, as it is niche specific and almost a copy/paste method for each new client that signs up for a retainer with me for $2k per month (will raise the price again when I get 10 clients)

Some key takeaways - in no particular order.

1. Online Business is not easy. It's hard. If it was easy everyone would do it. I got lucky with my first business, and am also blessed with a high IQ (130) and my personality is suited for entrepreneurship. I would say that you need 2 of 3 things (Luck, IQ, Right Personality) in order to be successful entrepreneur.

2. If you want to succeed with online business - don't think about starting a business right off the bat. It won't work unless you have skills. Learn the skills first and then try to combine them in different ways until you find a strategy that works. Constantly be improving your skillset.

3. Choose a business model that doesn't require many different complex skills. These can include E-Mail Marketing - running Facebook Ads - building websites - high ticket sales (being a setter or Closer)

4. Choose skills and business models that appeal to you. I was more drawn to marketing than I was Sales. I don't want to learn to Code. I'm not interested in science..etc - Know thyself but don't be afraid to spend a day or two learning about a skill and realizing "Nah, this isn't for me" and if you do not absolutely need that skill, just forget about it- I do this constantly.

5. B2B (Business to Business) or (ervice Based Businesses --- these tend to be better for beginners. B2C (Biz to Customer) is more difficult for beginners imo.

6. Choose the right niche - and stay in your lane. Don't choose restaurants or coffee shops. Focus on things that are more high ticket - Dentist, Realtor, selling/marketing high ticket info products..etc - the more a business in your niche is making, the easier it is for you to justify a $2-$5k per month retainer for services.

7. DO NOT BUY ONLINE COURSES FROM ANYONE BELOW 25. These kids are so annoying. "Bro learn this new method that made my student Timmy 4.5 million dollars in 31 seconds" - lemme pull a Hamza here SHUT THE FUCK UP BRO. These scammers are trying to be Andrew Tate and just repackaging information that is easily accessible online and then giving it an inflated price, and somehow justifying it as if their customers fail it must be because they didn't work hard enough.

7. E-Learning is legit. Paid learning companies like Udemy are your best friend. Thousands of info products and courses on a wide range of subjects for $200/year I think? I know there are others but Udemy is what I use. Youtube is also good for specific use case information.

8. College is a scam - especially if you want to be an entrepreneur. I hold a bachelor's degree from a good university but I barely learned anything. Skills > Textbook Knowledge. "Ok cool Stacy, you studied Marketing. Do you know how to run Facebook ads? Do A/B split testing? Build landing pages? Write Ad copy? Oh you don't... well your hot so I guess your hired, but you're still useless"

9. Study your competition. Deconsruct their methodology. What ad copy do they use? What Facebook ads are they running (Facebook ads Library) - How good is their own landing page? What can you do better than them? I could go on about this - this shit is important.

10. You need to interrupt potential clients in their day and have smooth sales pitches ready. It's rare to get clients as a new business owner without reaching out to them (Cold Call, Cold E-Mail, Cold LinkedIn...etc) - pretty much every business owner went through this, even if they now can lean back on their reputation and have customers come to them. Pick up the phone and start dialing buttercup. Get some practice being rejected, both with prospecting and sales calls. You will get better with time.

11. You need a smooth onboarding process. The client just agreed to pay you $2k per month. "Oh fuck what do I do" -- You should have this planned out ahead of time. You can have them zelle/paypal you, or send them a link to a payment processor. When they agree to pay you - you don't want them to have any second thoughts - it needs to be smooth.

12. Don't be afraid to work for free in order to get testimonials within your niche. That's how I got started with both of my online business ventures. Just don't expect your free trial clients to end up paying you. Imagine getting sex from a HTB and then one day she tells you that she wants you to pay her. Well I suppose that is like having a GF/wife. Nevermind.

13. Bend over backwards for your first clients. CRUSH IT FOR THEM. Their success = Your success. Get a good rap going with them, and they will sell your services for you. Also, pick a good niche that you enjoy and try to work with people that you like as people. This isn't necessary but it makes things a lot easier. My first 2 paid clients are absolute G's and each of them have gotten me multiple sales calls that turned into a couple other clients. I'm now at a point where I might tell this client to fuck off and fire him if he keeps annoying me - but you can't do this at the start.

13. Don't be afraid to fail - but fail small. Failing is nbd. I have talked a lot about my successes - but I spent 8 months failing small - burning through cash trying to start a business. I don't recommend you burn through cash - the whole "Burn the Ships" idea only works for certain, unique individuals. If you do not do well under extreme pressure, it's ok to fail - but don't fail big. Don't go all in on a business idea unless you are absolutely sure it will work.


Honestly that's all I can think of for now. Hope this was helpful.
-Golfgod69, forever greycel

Amazing thread, tag me in this kind of thing when you make it. Not super good advice, but def good success porn and lifefuel

 

[Deleted member 23022]

good thread. always make a backup account, same shit happened to me (however i worked around it).

a lot of good info here. i can say that my niche business is only working because i have a ton of different skills and knowledge in that niche, and most importantly, i got lucky.

i’m curious to what you’re selling for $1000+ per person but i understand if you don’t want to give any info on it.

I won't give away my niche. It's very profitable for me, and I'm wary about giving too much info away because right now it seems like there is not a lot of competition & I don't want anymore.

The clients I look for have a decent website that could be improved, poor to average informational content on the site, landing pages that are not designed for conversions, a google my business profile that could use some work...etc essentially a marketing funnel that has holes on it.

However, the client needs to get good results in their business and they need to have a strong social media presence (IG and FB) for social proof purposes. I do not do content marketing or IG growth (yet). My ideal client is not running social media ads, but if they are - the worse they look the more I can improve it. If their ads look good I don't bother.

Every week I spend a lot of time reaching prospecting for clients and keep detailed KPIs. Each week I research about 30 businesses. I reach out to 8-10 of them. I get about 3 or 4 solid responses back, and I book sales calls with 2 of them and lately I have been averaging about 1 new client per week in 2023. This whole process takes me about 10-15 hours per week.

My sales and outreach skills are pretty dialed and right now I am getting very good results for my clients. So it's basically the same process that I repeat over & over again.

I charge $2000/month at the moment - and for each of my clients Month #1 involves optimizing the backend of their funnel. I explain it like this - we can't drive traffic to a Business that has holes in its funnel. Plugging the holes in their funnel includes website and landing page re-design and in some cases building new informational pages, re-writing and creating new informational content and optimizing it for both SEO and User Experience (UX). I can also help with review generation if the business is lacking good reviews. Google My Business optimization..etc

For myself, the first month for a client is a ton of work. But it's a huge selling point. I hugely improve, and ideally optimize, most of their marketing funnel. Like I said, there are certain parts of a funnel like IG/Facebook that I do not touch - as well as full scale SEO (link building..etc) - I'm mostly focused on creating a better User Experience, optimizing for conversions, creating more social proof and reviews, and cleaning up various other things like SEO while I'm at it.

After I have their funnel looking nice & clean - no holes, full of informational content, easy to navigate...etc - that is when I start running ads. Google and Facebook. I recommend a $5000 per month budget for my clients - some opt for $3000 per month some for as much as $10000 per month.

Facebook ads take me about 30 minutes to set up and usually I don't have to touch them for months. Google Ads require about 1 hour of maintenance per week, per client. I use both just to give the client diverse sources of leads, and I pitch it as "Omni Presence" - customers in your city will see you much more than they will see your competitors - you can dominate the local market all that stuff.

Basically I just try and make things sound super sweet and kinda complicated so that they think I'm doing a lot for them. I am doing a lot for them, but they need to believe that.

On average, my clients get a monthly ROI of of about 40% - I have yet to lose money for a client, in fact the lowest ROI month a client of mine has had was just under 25%. I make my clients - on average just over $3K net profit per month. They make about $10k per month from their services - subtract Ad spend (5k per month) and my fee ($2k per month).

When you explain all of this to a potential client and throw in a few sales tactics, they all react in similar ways, have similar objections & concerns…etc but once I get them onboard and paying me it’s a very simple process. It was not easy to set up. It requires a fucking ton of work. And I work probably 80 hours per week at the moment, primarily on my new clients setting up their backend.

Clients drop out for various reasons, shit happens. I have one who is going to drop at the end of this month cause he wants to move his marketing in-house (he’s gonna try to do what I do & he will fail)

I can realistically onboard two new clients per month and work 40-50 hours per week. That should get me to/past $25-30k by the start of this summer. And I’m gonna travel a lot and really enjoy myself after I grind it out for the next few months.

But yeah. That’s essentially what I do.

 

[Deleted member 22354]

Every week I spend a lot of time reaching prospecting for clients and keep detailed KPIs. Each week I research about 30 businesses. I reach out to 8-10 of them. I get about 3 or 4 solid responses back, and I book sales calls with 2 of them and lately I have been averaging about 1 new client per week in 2023. This whole process takes me about 10-15 hours per week.

Can you go into a little more detail about sale calls, how you start them, structure them, perform them, what to look for, avoidable mistakes, etc.?

 

[Deleted member 15302]

I won't give away my niche. It's very profitable for me, and I'm wary about giving too much info away because right now it seems like there is not a lot of competition & I don't want anymore.

The clients I look for have a decent website that could be improved, poor to average informational content on the site, landing pages that are not designed for conversions, a google my business profile that could use some work...etc essentially a marketing funnel that has holes on it.

However, the client needs to get good results in their business and they need to have a strong social media presence (IG and FB) for social proof purposes. I do not do content marketing or IG growth (yet). My ideal client is not running social media ads, but if they are - the worse they look the more I can improve it. If their ads look good I don't bother.

Every week I spend a lot of time reaching prospecting for clients and keep detailed KPIs. Each week I research about 30 businesses. I reach out to 8-10 of them. I get about 3 or 4 solid responses back, and I book sales calls with 2 of them and lately I have been averaging about 1 new client per week in 2023. This whole process takes me about 10-15 hours per week.

My sales and outreach skills are pretty dialed and right now I am getting very good results for my clients. So it's basically the same process that I repeat over & over again.

I charge $2000/month at the moment - and for each of my clients Month #1 involves optimizing the backend of their funnel. I explain it like this - we can't drive traffic to a Business that has holes in its funnel. Plugging the holes in their funnel includes website and landing page re-design and in some cases building new informational pages, re-writing and creating new informational content and optimizing it for both SEO and User Experience (UX). I can also help with review generation if the business is lacking good reviews. Google My Business optimization..etc

For myself, the first month for a client is a ton of work. But it's a huge selling point. I hugely improve, and ideally optimize, most of their marketing funnel. Like I said, there are certain parts of a funnel like IG/Facebook that I do not touch - as well as full scale SEO (link building..etc) - I'm mostly focused on creating a better User Experience, optimizing for conversions, creating more social proof and reviews, and cleaning up various other things like SEO while I'm at it.

After I have their funnel looking nice & clean - no holes, full of informational content, easy to navigate...etc - that is when I start running ads. Google and Facebook. I recommend a $5000 per month budget for my clients - some opt for $3000 per month some for as much as $10000 per month.

Facebook ads take me about 30 minutes to set up and usually I don't have to touch them for months. Google Ads require about 1 hour of maintenance per week, per client. I use both just to give the client diverse sources of leads, and I pitch it as "Omni Presence" - customers in your city will see you much more than they will see your competitors - you can dominate the local market all that stuff.

Basically I just try and make things sound super sweet and kinda complicated so that they think I'm doing a lot for them. I am doing a lot for them, but they need to believe that.

On average, my clients get a monthly ROI of of about 40% - I have yet to lose money for a client, in fact the lowest ROI month a client of mine has had was just under 25%. I make my clients - on average just over $3K net profit per month. They make about $10k per month from their services - subtract Ad spend (5k per month) and my fee ($2k per month).

When you explain all of this to a potential client and throw in a few sales tactics, they all react in similar ways, have similar objections & concerns…etc but once I get them onboard and paying me it’s a very simple process. It was not easy to set up. It requires a fucking ton of work. And I work probably 80 hours per week at the moment, primarily on my new clients setting up their backend.

Clients drop out for various reasons, shit happens. I have one who is going to drop at the end of this month cause he wants to move his marketing in-house (he’s gonna try to do what I do & he will fail)

I can realistically onboard two new clients per month and work 40-50 hours per week. That should get me to/past $25-30k by the start of this summer. And I’m gonna travel a lot and really enjoy myself after I grind it out for the next few months.

But yeah. That’s essentially what I do.

have you ever thought about automating the “researching new businesses” to scale and just paying someone to do the job. i know you said ur not interested in programming but you can always just pay someone

 

[Deleted member 23022]

Can you go into a little more detail about sale calls, how you start them, structure them, perform them, what to look for, avoidable mistakes, etc.?

Sure.

I don't believe in 15 minute demo calls. A lot of people promote them, I thought they were silly. The day before a sales call I will send the client a form to fill out to make sure they are a good fit.

Questions include - 1. Monthly revenue -- 2. Profit Margin -- 3. # of employees 4. Who handles/set up most of your marketing? 5. Have you hired an advertising agency like myself before? 6. Can you handle 60+ leads per month. 7. Are you comfortable spending $5000 or more/month on Ad spend? 8. Are your confident that your sales team can effectively convert the leads into bookings?

These are just general questions to make sure that we are a good fit. If they have a super low profit margin, or not enough employees, or can't handle 60+ leads...etc - they probably won't be a good fit to work with me.

In terms of the money questions I ask them to ballpark it - you don't want to scare them off asking for specifics. I already know what industry standards are for my niche (obvi) But yeah basically just looking for red flags and green flags so that you know what to expect.

After they submit the questionairre - I send them an email basically saying what to expect with the meeting and with a link to my case study (it's really good) - it's my first client who is absolutely killing it now that we are working together and the case study is a really good look. So they can take a look & know what to expect and they know that we get results etc

As for the actual sales meeting - I fire up zoom and have good quality video from my Mac - I'm sat in my office with a very professional set up. Don't use a shitty computer and shitty, unprofessional set up. I have a $150 microphone for clear audio (nice microphone is good to have, doesn't have to be expensive)

I start the sales meeting off by talking shit, rapping with the guy. We talk about normal stuff and then I try to guide it towards the business slowly by mentioning one of customers saying something to me that was good - the prospect can relate. I hear him out about his business, is there anything crazy going on at the movement.

Then I jump in to the question sheet I sent him. I discuss it briefly just to confirm - if he has the green flags I am looking for I tell him that I think he's an ideal client for us & I think we can really help him. If he has a red flag or two, I take some time to hear him out and then explain from there.

I then go into explain how I took a look at his website, social profiles, ads (if relevant) ..etc - and I say good things but clearly state that there is room for improvement and we can help. Listen to the client talk about his business and how he's proud of it - try to complement him but only if it's genuine. Don't bullshit.

Next I ask him if he has any specific questions for me, or if he would like to know exactly how our process works.

If questions - I answer them and then go. If he wants to how the process works - jump right in.

I have a 6 minute sales pitch divided up into two sections. Part One (Backend) and Part Two (Ads & Optimization) I break them up into their own slot and clearly explain how the process works - I went into detail about what I do in the post above. Basically I explain that to the client and how it will benefit them - emphasis on how it will benefit them.

After each part I stop and ask him what he questions he has and I answer them to the best of my ability. It's usually the same 4 or 5 questions so I'm pretty used to it.

After the pitch is over, I sit back and let him talk. When your pitch is over, it's about letting the client talk and overcoming their objections with either sales tactics or client results. But mainly about letting them talk.

Like I said it's mostly the same 4 or 5 questions/objections so I'm quite used to it.

During the sales calls I have - I try to keep talking at 50-50 or 60-40 (client talks more) - they enjoy talking about their business and are usually very proud of it. If you show genuine interest, and genuinely want to help them and know that you can get them results with your service it's usually a pretty smooth and natural call.

I don't use any crazy sales tactics or gimmicks. I only have one price ($2k per month) - the only sales tactics I use are just to guide the client towards signing with me on that call - because I genuinely think it's in their best interest to do so and that shows. Sometimes they have to thin about it..etc - it's difficult to bullshit your way through a sales call. I just do my best to be genuine and show that we can help them like we have helped others in their industry.


What to look out for/avoidable mistakes?

Avoid clients with red flags. Clients you are unsure as to whether or not you can help them.
Do they have the capacity to handle your leads?
Will they work hard to scale their business or do they expect you to do it all for them (I had one of these and had to drop him).
Do you get along with the client? This is important but not a must.
- I have a client who I believe is jealous of the *relative* success I am having at a *relatively* young age and he's kind of a dick but I get him good results so for the most part we just don't talk much outside of Weekly reports. And even then he usually doesn't respond.

Don't overpromise and then underdeliver. If you fuck over clients you will get nowhere. You can't just watch a few Iman Gadzhi videos, take a $100 course that includes a few hours of Facebook ads strategy and then try to approach clients as a digital marketing expert and get them to pay you $1000 per month. If you are able to even convince them at all - idk how these kids do it.

It takes time to build this type of skillset (took me like a year of hard work, and a couple of other years of running business to get to where I am today)


Avoidable Mistakes.

1. Being unprofessional - if you have a chance succeeding in this business you will intuitively know what this means. Will not explain further.

2. Being inexperienced - trying to get clients before you are ready. Same as overpromise/over deliver above

3. Acting like Jordan Belfort - Sales tactics should only be used to guide clients who are iffy towards signing up today. and only if you know you can help them. You're not Jordan Belfort - be yourself and try to be genuine. Try not to sell too hard - people love to buy but they hate being sold.

4. Fumbling the bag after a client says Yes - If a client says yes - you need to be ready to go. Sign over the contract, take payment, send them onboarding email...etc - bing bang boom. Do all this right after they say yes while you two are still on the call.

I also get access from everything I need (website, fb admin, google admin..etc) when still on the call. After the client says "Yes" you get the contract, get paid, send them onboarding and then get everything you need to work and then you get to it.

 

[Deleted member 23022]

have you ever thought about automating the “researching new businesses” to scale and just paying someone to do the job. i know you said ur not interested in programming but you can always just pay someone

Absolutely. I want to find either a hot girl or a young ambitious guy to do my outreach. Call she or him my "Head of Sales" or something. And they do all my prospecting, and admin work. Kind of like an assistant.

I don't mind doing outreach but it's not my fav thing to do and definitely can be outsourced.

 

[Deleted member 12189]

interesting brother. what’s the main way you’re booking calls? currently using Instantly.ai (cold email) and it’s not bad but I want to scale harder

 

[Deleted member 23022]

interesting brother. what’s the main way you’re booking calls? currently using Instantly.ai (cold email) and it’s not bad but I want to scale harder

My strategy is 1st. Cold Call - if I can get an assistant on the line I will try to give her enough information to get me connected to her boss. If I don't get a call back the next day I will call again. In rare cases the boss (person I want to speak with) will answer the phone and I try to pitch them directly.

- next strategy is usually a Cold E-Mail combined with a Loom of what they could do to improve their website and landing pages usually, though if I feel like focusing on ad strategy in the Loom would get a better response I will do that.

And if none of that works I will try to add the boss on LinkedIn or Facebook, wherever I can find him and if he accepts I will pitch him in the DMs.

If none of that works - I stop trying and try again in a few months. I have a list that I have been keeping of people I want to check back in with and will probably start re-apporaching them soon.

Unless you get a Hard NO. Or told to fuck off, keep going. I feel like 3 respectful cold reach outs is fine even if they ignore you every time.

 

[Deleted member 12189]

My strategy is 1st. Cold Call - if I can get an assistant on the line I will try to give her enough information to get me connected to her boss. If I don't get a call back the next day I will call again. In rare cases the boss (person I want to speak with) will answer the phone and I try to pitch them directly.

- next strategy is usually a Cold E-Mail combined with a Loom of what they could do to improve their website and landing pages usually, though if I feel like focusing on ad strategy in the Loom would get a better response I will do that.

And if none of that works I will try to add the boss on LinkedIn or Facebook, wherever I can find him and if he accepts I will pitch him in the DMs.

If none of that works - I stop trying and try again in a few months. I have a list that I have been keeping of people I want to check back in with and will probably start re-apporaching them soon.

Unless you get a Hard NO. Or told to fuck off, keep going. I feel like 3 respectful cold reach outs is fine even if they ignore you every time.

interesting, and this is all for one client basically? sort of like an Omni-Channel approach

 

[Deleted member 23022]

interesting, and this is all for one client basically? sort of like an Omni-Channel approach

Yes. This has worked very well for me in the past couple months since I started using it.

Prospecting (Cold outreach) is all about just finding a strategy that works for you, tweaking and optimizing it here and there - but most importantly PICK UP THE PHONE (or text, or email) and interrupt potential clients in their day-day and pitch them your service.

Most people just don't want to do outreach and would prefer clients to come to them. I don't give a fuck. I'll send 100 emails, messages..etc every week if that's what it takes.

 

[bara]

Decent post compared to most of the trash here.

I think the most important thing with the online business hype is it always seems appealing to younger guys, who need to realize starting one of these isn't free, and the more capital you have access to for allocation the easier and quicker you will be able to get off the ground and scale the business.

Not only that, but if you are really young, don't have a career/track record or are not specialized in anything (as you say, having skills), then no one will really take you seriously, so you can't have much leverage in convincing others to invest in you/your business.

8. College is a scam - especially if you want to be an entrepreneur. I hold a bachelor's degree from a good university but I barely learned anything. Skills > Textbook Knowledge. "Ok cool Stacy, you studied Marketing. Do you know how to run Facebook ads? Do A/B split testing? Build landing pages? Write Ad copy? Oh you don't... well your hot so I guess your hired, but you're still useless"

Time and time again it needs to be mentioned that college is simply a filter to weed out low iq retards that cannot do basic classes for 4 years. It's just the way the world works.

What a degree can do for you is help you sell yourself if you are starting out and still don't have much to show for. It's far easier to convince impressionable boomers with $$ to invest in you if you are coming out from a good school, assuming your business still hasn't taken off yet.

And as you say in your post, if you can fraud hard enough with a degree and get a relevant job i.e Marketing Analyst or some bullshit, then once you do start your business, if you ever look for investors/co founders etc. then it's much more leverage for you to convince them to get on board.

Entering a career via degree is a great way to build a network and networks should not be undervalued.

 

[Deleted member 12189]

Yes. This has worked very well for me in the past couple months since I started using it.

Prospecting (Cold outreach) is all about just finding a strategy that works for you, tweaking and optimizing it here and there - but most importantly PICK UP THE PHONE (or text, or email) and interrupt potential clients in their day-day and pitch them your service.

Most people just don't want to do outreach and would prefer clients to come to them. I don't give a fuck. I'll send 100 emails, messages..etc every week if that's what it takes.

inspiring, was in a situation similar to yours 3 month ago. currently doing 5-6k month, trying to reach that 15k mark like you. keep it up man, love to see it

 

[Bakin donuts 🍩]

@Alexanderr @Niklaus Mikaelson @tyronelite

pin this thread, BOTB imo

Great thread op, mogs 99% of the bs in the money making subforum.

 

[Vegyn]

What's your experience with dropshipping?
I think I have some pretty good web design skills and I'm able to make it quite functional and aesthetic. The problem is that I don't know to pick a good fucking product.

 

[Deleted member 23022]

Decent post compared to most of the trash here.

I think the most important thing with the online business hype is it always seems appealing to younger guys, who need to realize starting one of these isn't free, and the more capital you have access to for allocation the easier and quicker you will be able to get off the ground and scale the business.

Not only that, but if you are really young, don't have a career/track record or are not specialized in anything (as you say, having skills), then no one will really take you seriously, so you can't have much leverage in convincing others to invest in you/your business.


Time and time again it needs to be mentioned that college is simply a filter to weed out low iq retards that cannot do basic classes for 4 years. It's just the way the world works.

What a degree can do for you is help you sell yourself if you are starting out and still don't have much to show for. It's far easier to convince impressionable boomers with $$ to invest in you if you are coming out from a good school, assuming your business still hasn't taken off yet.

And as you say in your post, if you can fraud hard enough with a degree and get a relevant job i.e Marketing Analyst or some bullshit, then once you do start your business, if you ever look for investors/co founders etc. then it's much more leverage for you to convince them to get on board.

Entering a career via degree is a great way to build a network and networks should not be undervalued.

I agree with the young guys aspect of Online Business.

A lot of young guys think they can just watch a few Iman Gadzhi videos, buy his course and suddenly they are a digital marketer. It doesn't work like that. Young guys can and do have success with online business - honestly I had the IQ & personality to learn these skills and start the same business I run today when I was 17 or 18. I just didn't have the discipline back then, I didn't know it was possible, didn't have people like Andrew Tate, Iman Gadzhi, Seb...etc to tell you that it was possible.

When I was 18, the whole make money online thing was not big on YouTube. Nowadays these kids understand it's possible and with the right mindset, discipline, IQ, personality suited for business..etc - young guys can learn these skills and build a successful business over the course of a few years. In their teens/early 20s.

However, the vast majority of young guys who claim to be successful are frauding. Even Iman Gadzhi - the most successful and well known SMMMA guy is probably frauding a bit. Embellishing his success stories...etc

There are outliers that can be successful from a young age, Iman, Seb, Jordan Welch...etc - but they are HUGE OUTLIERS. That shit is not common.

DONT BUY COURSES FROM THESE 18 YEAR OLD DORKS! It's extremely unlikely they are actually successful and are just trying to swindle you out of money. There is also the young guys in their early 20s who claim to be successful and now trying to teach others to do the same.

Luke Alexander - Closer Cartel is a prime example of this. Dude was most likely a good high ticket seller and grabbed life by the balls when he was in his late teens. Became a successful high ticket closer when he was 20.

And now he is no charging $3000 for a course on Sales - and he's making like $100k/month at 23. AVOID GUYS like this - use Udemy to learn the skills you need - don't buy into the hype of these guys selling their courses. They want to take your money and you will most likely fail after you realize the course is way overpriced and there isn't much value there - you're not getting your money back.

This ties into the whole "Fail Small" concept. Don't buy Iman Gadzhi's $2000 course. Don't buy Luke's $3000 course. Use Udemy and Youtube to learn the skills you need. Don't rush into buying a big course because you think it has the secrets you need. It most likely doesn't. Build your skillset every day, week - but don't FOMO into buying a course or trying to get clients before you are ready.

As for college - it's not necessary for the knowledge or networking. College is full of a bunch of NPCs that probably will get jobs and won't be successful until their 30s - if they are at all. No point in networking with people who aren't successful yet.

The textbook knowledge you get has very little practical value in the real world (unless you are studying something specific for a career) Like pre-med or pre-law track..etc - maybe you want to be a journalist...etc - if you are just going to college to do it (like I did) It's all about getting that degree so you can get a job.

FUCK THAT. Fuck working a job & getting enslaved by the Matrix. Fuck college, fuck modern society.

Learn skills, plug and play, try different things, and eventually you will work out how to make money online. And making a good income online is truly the key to success in this new digital age.

Laptop money allows you so much freedom - travel, women, networking..etc none of which are available to you if you go the traditional route and get a degree + job + becky wife who has sex with you 2x per week + shit head kids who don't respect you. Fuck all that shit man.

I want to be free.

 

[Deleted member 23022]

inspiring, was in a situation similar to yours 3 month ago. currently doing 5-6k month, trying to reach that 15k mark like you. keep it up man, love to see it

Keep at it brother. I believe in you.

 

[Deleted member 23022]

@Alexanderr @Niklaus Mikaelson @tyronelite

pin this thread, BOTB imo

Great thread op, mogs 99% of the bs in the money making subforum.

Thank you.

I have had two banger threads on this forum so far in 2023.

I know it's early, but I hereby nominate myself for the inaugural "Greycel of the Year" award

Let's make this happen @tyronelite

 

[Deleted member 23022]

What's your experience with dropshipping?
I think I have some pretty good web design skills and I'm able to make it quite functional and aesthetic. The problem is that I don't know to pick a good fucking product.

I tried it too, first thing I tried when I was 22 and failed hard as fuck.

Like I said it takes too many skills and takes a lot of time and money testing different products, landing pages, ads...etc to find a winner.

It is not a beginner friendly business model. Same with E-Com.

B2C businesses are more complicated than B2B.

 

[malicieusss]

What do you think of starting a video production company? That's what I'm passionate about. I know it's hardly scalable but to be honest I'm just bored af of online businesses and crypto. I've made decent money last year but I want to try something new.
I feel like a lot of your tips would apply to this kind of business. I want to do corporate, real estate and wedding videos btw (all of the high-ticket stuff).

 

[RAITEIII]

any advice for furniture online(sofa, bed, chair etc…),
I have a factory,all i need to do is looking for customers



2-3 year ago it fucking stupid easy to make money… all i do is facebook ads, no website, seo, video or anything like that but it’s don’t work anymore
.
I think i need to build a website, seo, and paying ads on social media (fb, ig, tiktok, google, etc)
what do you think?
sorry for my bad english

Adsense maxxx

 

[Deleted member 23022]

What do you think of starting a video production company? That's what I'm passionate about. I know it's hardly scalable but to be honest I'm just bored af of online businesses and crypto. I've made decent money last year but I want to try something new.
I feel like a lot of your tips would apply to this kind of business. I want to do corporate, real estate and wedding videos btw (all of the high-ticket stuff).

Following your passion is a great idea if you truly believe you can build a business around it. If there are people making $$$ doing what you want to do, then it can be done. Everybody is doing everything already. Finding a business model or skill that you enjoy & clicks for you - that is when the stars can align and great things can happen with hard work.

As for building a skillset around video production - make sure that you have all the skills you need to start your business. Because you don't, if your sales skills suck, if your website sucks - clients will find them.

This is what I do for month 1 for my clients - plugging holes in their funnel because if I don't their clients will find them and the traffic I generate will not convert well to sales/profit.

You need to emit pure competence (ideally confidence too) when dealing with a client & explaining your skillset & business processes and how it can benefit them.

Picking your niche with video production - it is ok to niche hop the first 6 months - 1 year while you try different things out. But once you get a good niche (such as Real Estate) that you are getting great results with that niche and you enjoy it - become exclusive to that niche.

This makes the marketing, sales pitch, and overall processes much easier. You come up with a plug and play system and apply it basically the same for each client. Rinse & Repeat $$$

 

[Deleted member 22714]

This is ad agency right? Considering starting as well as side hustle. I've dropshipped in the past have a ton of experience with facebook ads/tiktok ads. Could you maybe message me on how to start? Would really appreciate it

 

[Deleted member 23022]

This is ad agency right? Considering starting as well as side hustle. I've dropshipped in the past have a ton of experience with facebook ads/tiktok ads. Could you maybe message me on how to start? Would really appreciate it

Ad Agency is 50% what I do.

When I started I was in a similar position to you. I wanted someone to hold my hand. Tell me what to do. It doesn't work like that.

All of the information I typed out above is very high level advice to get you started with online business. You're gonna have to be a problem solver. Figure the rest of it out on your own. Fill in the blanks. Get frustrated, make mistakes, learn, move forward..etc

I'm not gonna mentor someone who I don't know, nor do I have any idea whether or not you're serious about it.

 

[Deleted member 22714]

Ad Agency is 50% what I do.

When I started I was in a similar position to you. I wanted someone to hold my hand. Tell me what to do. It doesn't work like that.

All of the information I typed out above is very high level advice to get you started with online business. You're gonna have to be a problem solver. Figure the rest of it out on your own. Fill in the blanks. Get frustrated, make mistakes, learn, move forward..etc

I'm not gonna mentor someone who I don't know, nor do I have any idea whether or not you're serious about it.

I mean I have an idea on how to start. I think it'd start to pick up once you get your first testimonial / case study but correct me if i'm wrong.

Kinda sucks how I spent 2-3 years trial and erroring ecommerce, built a lot of skill sets and have had semi-success with a few products but couldn't keep it sustainable, college and irl responsibilities also not helping. Now ad agencies are the new dropshipping but I don't think I have enough time to trial and error it. Feels like I almost struck gold but quit

 

[SS-Ritter]

What's up guys it's golfgod69 your fav greycel. I can't get to sleep so I figured I would type this out. This thread is going to be about my business journey as well as some suggestions I would do if I had to start all over again.

In the past two months I have tripled my online income - going from $5k per month to $15k per month. It's been an insane amount of hard work and I really started 2023 like I was shot out of a cannon. I see a lot of threads here on moneymaxxing, how difficult it is to make $...etc - and I think I can help point you in the right direction.

When I first tried to start an online business about 3 years ago, I tried things like Dropshipping, Funnel Building, Website design...etc - these business ideas all failed miserably - now I know exactly why.

You can't start a business without skills.

In order to be a successful dropshipper you need to be able to build functional, aesthetic, and conversion optimized landing pages. You need to know how to drive traffic with digital advertising (FB, TiK, IG..etc), you need to have good Ad Copy (Copywriting) to get people to click on your ad, you need to know how to do A/B testing, you need to have a good product that customers want and that takes a lot of testing ($$$) ...etc

I do not dropship, I am just using dropshipping as an example. Dropshipping is not a beginner friendly biz model because of all the Skills and $$ you need.

So - anyways I eventually stumbled on a local business model (a subniche of flipping) after about 8 months of failing online business models in my early 20s. I bought a $60 course from this guy I followed on twitter, and immediately took a liking to the business model. It just clicked for me (this is important).

Local business is not bad, but it lacks the freedom that online business affords. My local business was a sub niche of flipping and I was one of the only people in my city to do it. I mastered my local business extremely fast, and was making $10k per month within 6 months of starting. Pretty crazy, but it was a super simple business model. I didn't know it at the time, but fuck was I lucky. Making $10k per month is rarely this easy, but this was one of those cases where the stars aligned and everything worked out in my favor.

But I wanted more. I had joined a few free facebook groups of other entrepreneurs who were doing the same thing as me. There was this one guy in there who was running Facebook Ads for people and he was charging $1000 per month + Ad spend. I knew how to run Facebook ads from my previous failed online business attempts - but I didn't have a lot of confidence, had a GF who wanted my time & attention, and honestly just didn't feel like doing it. So I hired the guy and he did ok. He made me about $1-2k net profit per month - $5 or 6k profit per month - $3000 spent on ads & $1k fee.

This went on for about 6 months, until some complaints started to arise about him in the group, and I thought - shit if I just re-learned Facebook ads I could undercut him and charge $500 per month - I would only need 10 clients to make $5k per month. So I spent a couple months re-learning Facebook Ads (a skill) - I started running ads for business. And they did better than his ads. So - I started advertising that I can do FB ads - I got a few free trial clients & did a good job.

A few months later (this was about a year ago) I had 8 clients paying me $500 per month - $4k per month plus a steady $10k coming in from my local business. Things were going really well. And then Facebook banned my account.

No reason. Literally no reason at all. I just woke up one morning, and Facebook's AI detected something about my account that it didn't like - it glitched out and banned me. This is not an uncommon incident, Facebook does shit like this all the time. They don't even have a customer service number you can call. Fuckers.

So, my online income was zero'd out of nowhere. I was extremely upset, and one thing led to another, depression..etc and my local business started to go downhill as well. Around my birthday, I picked myself up, analyzed what had happened, and made a plan to get it back.

I realized I had gotten extremely lucky with the local business, but I could still use it to generate income while I got back into online business. I had used a Skill to build an Online Business, but I was too reliant on that one skill for my income. It was also stupid not to have a backup Facebook account. I asked myself, "what other skills could I learn and leverage in order to create a better online business"? I wasn't sure yet how it would fit together but I wrote down Landing Page Design - Conversion Rate Optimization - Copywriting - Facebook Ads - Sales

Eventually I would come up with my new business plan - I could learn Sales skills to get people to purchase my services & help with cold calling prospects..etc I could use Facebook ads to drive traffic to well designed Landing Pages - that have good sales copy, and are optimized for conversions. I will need to constantly A/B test and improve these landing pages.

I used a combination of Udemy and Youtube to learn these skills. And to this day I am still learning more about effective landing page designs and conversion rate optimization techniques...etc - You can never stop learning and improving your skillset if you want to increase your income. After 6 months of using my local business to pay my bills, and learning online business skills full time - I was ready to give it another shot.

I worked for free for a few clients in my new niche - I crushed it and got the good testimonials. 3 months ago I had 3 clients and was making $4500 per month. And now, just 2 months later I just hit 9 clients - $15k per month. My business is also very scalable, as it is niche specific and almost a copy/paste method for each new client that signs up for a retainer with me for $2k per month (will raise the price again when I get 10 clients)

Some key takeaways - in no particular order.

1. Online Business is not easy. It's hard. If it was easy everyone would do it. I got lucky with my first business, and am also blessed with a high IQ (130) and my personality is suited for entrepreneurship. I would say that you need 2 of 3 things (Luck, IQ, Right Personality) in order to be successful entrepreneur.

2. If you want to succeed with online business - don't think about starting a business right off the bat. It won't work unless you have skills. Learn the skills first and then try to combine them in different ways until you find a strategy that works. Constantly be improving your skillset.

3. Choose a business model that doesn't require many different complex skills. These can include E-Mail Marketing - running Facebook Ads - building websites - high ticket sales (being a setter or Closer)

4. Choose skills and business models that appeal to you. I was more drawn to marketing than I was Sales. I don't want to learn to Code. I'm not interested in science..etc - Know thyself but don't be afraid to spend a day or two learning about a skill and realizing "Nah, this isn't for me" and if you do not absolutely need that skill, just forget about it- I do this constantly.

5. B2B (Business to Business) or (ervice Based Businesses --- these tend to be better for beginners. B2C (Biz to Customer) is more difficult for beginners imo.

6. Choose the right niche - and stay in your lane. Don't choose restaurants or coffee shops. Focus on things that are more high ticket - Dentist, Realtor, selling/marketing high ticket info products..etc - the more a business in your niche is making, the easier it is for you to justify a $2-$5k per month retainer for services.

7. DO NOT BUY ONLINE COURSES FROM ANYONE BELOW 25. These kids are so annoying. "Bro learn this new method that made my student Timmy 4.5 million dollars in 31 seconds" - lemme pull a Hamza here SHUT THE FUCK UP BRO. These scammers are trying to be Andrew Tate and just repackaging information that is easily accessible online and then giving it an inflated price, and somehow justifying it as if their customers fail it must be because they didn't work hard enough.

7. E-Learning is legit. Paid learning companies like Udemy are your best friend. Thousands of info products and courses on a wide range of subjects for $200/year I think? I know there are others but Udemy is what I use. Youtube is also good for specific use case information.

8. College is a scam - especially if you want to be an entrepreneur. I hold a bachelor's degree from a good university but I barely learned anything. Skills > Textbook Knowledge. "Ok cool Stacy, you studied Marketing. Do you know how to run Facebook ads? Do A/B split testing? Build landing pages? Write Ad copy? Oh you don't... well your hot so I guess your hired, but you're still useless"

9. Study your competition. Deconsruct their methodology. What ad copy do they use? What Facebook ads are they running (Facebook ads Library) - How good is their own landing page? What can you do better than them? I could go on about this - this shit is important.

10. You need to interrupt potential clients in their day and have smooth sales pitches ready. It's rare to get clients as a new business owner without reaching out to them (Cold Call, Cold E-Mail, Cold LinkedIn...etc) - pretty much every business owner went through this, even if they now can lean back on their reputation and have customers come to them. Pick up the phone and start dialing buttercup. Get some practice being rejected, both with prospecting and sales calls. You will get better with time.

11. You need a smooth onboarding process. The client just agreed to pay you $2k per month. "Oh fuck what do I do" -- You should have this planned out ahead of time. You can have them zelle/paypal you, or send them a link to a payment processor. When they agree to pay you - you don't want them to have any second thoughts - it needs to be smooth.

12. Don't be afraid to work for free in order to get testimonials within your niche. That's how I got started with both of my online business ventures. Just don't expect your free trial clients to end up paying you. Imagine getting sex from a HTB and then one day she tells you that she wants you to pay her. Well I suppose that is like having a GF/wife. Nevermind.

13. Bend over backwards for your first clients. CRUSH IT FOR THEM. Their success = Your success. Get a good rap going with them, and they will sell your services for you. Also, pick a good niche that you enjoy and try to work with people that you like as people. This isn't necessary but it makes things a lot easier. My first 2 paid clients are absolute G's and each of them have gotten me multiple sales calls that turned into a couple other clients. I'm now at a point where I might tell this client to fuck off and fire him if he keeps annoying me - but you can't do this at the start.

13. Don't be afraid to fail - but fail small. Failing is nbd. I have talked a lot about my successes - but I spent 8 months failing small - burning through cash trying to start a business. I don't recommend you burn through cash - the whole "Burn the Ships" idea only works for certain, unique individuals. If you do not do well under extreme pressure, it's ok to fail - but don't fail big. Don't go all in on a business idea unless you are absolutely sure it will work.


Honestly that's all I can think of for now. Hope this was helpful.
-Golfgod69, forever greycel

People doing dropshipping are literal parasites pushing cheap products further, only enriching china… kys

 

[SS-Ritter]

I mean I have an idea on how to start. I think it'd start to pick up once you get your first testimonial / case study but correct me if i'm wrong.

Kinda sucks how I spent 2-3 years trial and erroring ecommerce, built a lot of skill sets and have had semi-success with a few products but couldn't keep it sustainable, college and irl responsibilities also not helping. Now ad agencies are the new dropshipping but I don't think I have enough time to trial and error it. Feels like I almost struck gold but quit

man just stop that dropshipping bs and do sth valuable

 

[pneumocystosis]

I love you.
I always thought this shit was oversaturated so i never bothered.
I’ll take action this time. Actually.
My favourite greycel

 

[Deleted member 22829]

Good post greycel

 

[Deleted member 23022]

I love you.
I always thought this shit was oversaturated so i never bothered.
I’ll take action this time. Actually.
My favourite greycel

Thanks G. You post some fire content too. Good to have you back.

Nothing is really saturated tbh, but at the same time everybody is doing everything. It's astronomically unlikely that you are the next Mark Cuckerburg or Bezos...etc - just pick a business model that you think that you will be good at and roll with it. If other people are having success with it, you can too. Don't worry so much about the competition, almost all of these kids watch a few videos, maybe take a course, try it for a few weeks (if that) and then give up.

Focus on building your skillset, and then combining those skills in different ways (packaging them into different offers). Once you have an offer that is selling within a good niche - go all in on that.

I was niche hopping and testing different offers for a while, but about 2 months ago I realized my current system was good and I went all in on it. I've signed 2 new clients since I started this post.

And yes. I am in fact the Top G (Greycel) of this forum. I actually deserve an award. But the mods won't acknowledge that.

 

[pneumocystosis]

And yes. I am in fact the Top G (Greycel) of this forum. I actually deserve an award. But the mods won't acknowledge that.

Agreed.

you already deserve an award for your high iq high effort posts and replies…

Anyway, Thanks for the lifefuel.
Already I’m trying to figure out what I’d enjoy/not hate doing for a few months. As soon as i figure out I’ll buy a course on udemy

 

[Deleted member 23022]

Agreed.

you already deserve an award for your high iq high effort posts and replies…

Anyway, Thanks for the lifefuel.
Already I’m trying to figure out what I’d enjoy/not hate doing for a few months. As soon as i figure out I’ll buy a course on udemy

If I was you I would do Sales.

It's not a difficult skill to learn. And if you can Sell - you'll always be good.

You're a good looking young dude. And if high IQ + motivated + high performance personality (which it seems like you could be)

I think you would have a huge advantage in Sales.

You could learn Sales the next few months and then start trying to get a position as a mid to high ticket closer for info products. That is a skill/opportunity that is in very high demand right now.

 

[pneumocystosis]

If I was you I would do Sales.

It's not a difficult skill to learn. And if you can Sell - you'll always be good.

You're a good looking young dude. And if high IQ + motivated + high performance personality (which it seems like you could be)

I think you would have a huge advantage in Sales.

You could learn Sales the next few months and then start trying to get a position as a mid to high ticket closer for info products. That is a skill/opportunity that is in very high demand right now.

Wow.
I actually put sales off the table from the beginning, without even really knowing why.
I’ll think about that as soon as i wake up.
Thank you so much for the idea.
I genuinely want this to work. L
I’m tired of trying shit for 2 weeks then giving up or getting bored and moving on to some other shitty project

 

[Bitch]

And now u learn that $15k/mo isnt all its cracked up to be. $100k/mo is bare minimum to be considered successful.

Must feel cool larping this hard out of your mom's basement, making up random numbers and posting pics of lambos from pinterest claiming they're yours

 

[Deleted member 7725]

Must feel cool larping this hard out of your mom's basement, making up random numbers and posting pics of lambos from pinterest claiming they're yours

cry for me more.

 

[5.5psl]

Honestly bro I feel so lucky to have stumbled across this post
Really high IQ and high effort post thanks bro

 

[Deleted member 23022]

Honestly bro I feel so lucky to have stumbled across this post
Really high IQ and high effort post thanks bro

I love that man.

Been going back & forth about deleting my account. Cause there is a lot of negativity and trolling on this site. But posts like this make me want to stick around.

 

[currymunher]

Are there any skills i could learn at 14?

 

[Deleted member 23022]

Are there any skills i could learn at 14?

1000% my friend. Please do.

Start reading books by successful entrepreneurs and start watching YouTube videos. It should give you an idea of what area of business you want to go in.

Start with a Skill that seems cool to you. Only focus on that until you can do it well. Then learn another skill. Start asking yourself, what kinds of Offers can I sell to clients using my skills?

It might be tough for you to get clients at first, as you're so young, But learning the skills is invaluable. You would be starting like 8 years before me if you start now.

For your first few clients, use your skills to work for them for free. Get testimonials. Try to get clients from family, family friends or your friend's parents. It's a much easier sell starting out.