Great story, thanks for sharing. It is super interesting to see the process documented and the ups and downs of it all.
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Free registration at the forum removes this block.Agree 100%All that by age 21! Congrats! Sorry about your girlfriend. Honestly, I suggest not having another until you are older than 25. Focus on you and the rewards will be great. This is potentially the only time in your life you won't have to be responsible for other people like a wife or children and you can work all hours.
How did you come up with the e-commerce brands? Did you develop the product?
Am I the only one who sees this as a HUGE red flag?*I paid influencers with decent followings to do Instagram posts featuring the product so that the brand would have credibility.
There should be a "huh" thinking emoji for the like! LOL I would love to know how this turned out. It's crazy what influencer's get paid to do. Many of them were actors but turned to social media and then did better with that.. but now many productions stay away from them because of their "false" diva status. They may be popular in the social media space but not in the TV/Film space. They are used to staying in the most expensive hotels for free then production only pays for decent hotel.. are they going to put up demands? AND most burned productions by being late... and not respecting it... and then bad acting on top of it! I would love to know if it was worth the money of them being paid. How that translated to profit or was it just a selling point.Am I the only one who sees this as a HUGE red flag?
Am I the only one who sees this as a HUGE red flag?
> influencerWhy would paying influencers to promote and give credibility to new products be a huge red flag?
I actually feel this method helps an unhead-of-company get traction.
Some influencers are experts in their niche. Perhaps we're not looking at the same type of people. I consider people with strong social media followings to be influencers.> influencer
> credibility
pick one.
Some influencers are experts in their niche. Perhaps we're not looking at the same type of people. I consider people with strong social media followings to be influencers.
For example, Mrwhosetheboss, a YouTuber who focuses on transparency and integrity with his viewers, would be an excessively good influencer for those trying to target the smartphone niche. But it's not the type of guy to accept $500 to shoutout a product he never tried. If the guys says to his people "This thing is great, buy it", you'd probably end up with 5000 sales in a day only from his comment on your product.
*I paid influencers with decent followings to do Instagram posts featuring the product so that the brand would have credibility.
> influencer
> credibility
pick one.
> influencer
> credibility
pick one.
FMJJ, can you kindly give me some advice for the right people to follow for learn and create a profitable shopify store?That's black and white thinking. If you work with a credible influencer, he/she will vet the product or service you're promoting before agreeing to promote it.
Most of the time, the best way to go is to get out and do it yourself. You'll make mistakes, but you'll learn infinitely faster than reading or listening to someone else. It's also easier to get a mentor or someone to give you feedback if you are IN the process rather than starring at an imaginary brand.FMJJ
FMJJ, can you kindly give me some advice for the right people to follow for learn and create a profitable shopify store?
Who are the people that you learned from?
Thank you very much
Before this job in the medical field, I started my marketing agency when I was working for a bakery at minimum wage. This place was a terrible place to work, but we don’t have to get into that. I acquired clients by building funnels and running targeted audiences (paid traffic) to them. I also closed some clients directly. I took clients on monthly retainers. When I first started this, it was nothing serious in terms of income. The service that provides the most value to my clients is managing marketing campaigns on major platforms like Facebook and generating leads. As my experience and skills developed for my marketing agency, I closed clients that were paying enough money to enable quitting the job I was working in the medical field.
It's the month of August 2020. In this month alone, I made $126,727 in profit so far (before taxes). I'm 21 years old, and I'm honored to say that the content from MJ and this forum has helped me enormously alongside many other valuable sources out there for guidance.
I hope this gives a little bit of inspiration to a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs out there because it wasn't that long ago when I used to be an aspiring entrepreneur myself. Reaching the point I'm at right now was not an easy process to embark on. I had to overcome extremely difficult situations and face my most appalling fears. I'm making this thread with tremendous gratitude in mind for @MJ DeMarco. I remember when I first read the The Millionaire Fastlane a few years ago. I remember how I marked it up and read it over several times. I remember when I first joined the forums and lurked everything. I studied all the GOLD threads. I watched MJ's YouTube videos repetitively. I felt so motivated. I remember how excited it got me to pursue entrepreneurship. Turns out it wasn't an easy pursuit.
As time went by and my motivation faded, I faced some serious mental health complications. I was ridiculed for dropping out of college. I failed at several different business models. I failed at starting brands. I failed to turn a profit over and over again. I was working jobs that were mind numbing and utterly exhausting. I had constant issues with my family. That's a long, terrible story to get into... A few months ago, I suffered going through a devastating breakup with my girlfriend I loved so deeply. This is just a small preview of the adversity you'll face while you pursue the CENTS Entrepreneurial Framework. Everything about entrepreneurship is definitely not all that amazing. You have to focus and stay dedicated despite the stress you may face. However, for me, it was worth embracing the process. I look forward to executing towards my next goals in line to be achieved. I've got a lot in mind for the future. I believe in my vision.
Aside from running a marketing agency, I'm running three eCommerce brands right now. Two of the three brands are massively profitable. The numbers have been rising month by month pretty quickly. This is where the majority of my income is coming from. I've invested in several real estate properties at this point, and obviously I'm developing my portfolio with investments into the market. I'm still working on the third brand to become profitable. I'm managing a lot of different expenses for that brand because it's still relatively new. All expenses considered though, I stated at the beginning of this thread that I'm still in the green.
The hard truth about making your dreams a reality is that you have to put in the effort. You have to believe in yourself. You have to go all out regardless of your circumstances. You have to build yourself mentally and physically. You need to master skills that make you more effective and productive. You have to be creative and innovate. You have to provide VALUE. There's no way you're going to make decent money without figuring out a way to provide great value to your customer. I had to figure that out the hard way. You need to have meaning and purpose in your life. Develop the clarity you need to achieve your most important goals. If it's important enough to you, you'll find a way.
Be courageous.
“All events of wealth are precluded by process, a backstory of trial, risk, hard work, and sacrifice. If you try to skip process, you’ll never experience events.”
- MJ DeMarco
You are f*****g beast, 100 000 and you have 21y, that is soo awesome.It's the month of August 2020. In this month alone, I made $126,727 in profit so far (before taxes). I'm 21 years old, and I'm honored to say that the content from MJ and this forum has helped me enormously alongside many other valuable sources out there for guidance.
I hope this gives a little bit of inspiration to a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs out there because it wasn't that long ago when I used to be an aspiring entrepreneur myself. Reaching the point I'm at right now was not an easy process to embark on. I had to overcome extremely difficult situations and face my most appalling fears. I'm making this thread with tremendous gratitude in mind for @MJ DeMarco. I remember when I first read the The Millionaire Fastlane a few years ago. I remember how I marked it up and read it over several times. I remember when I first joined the forums and lurked everything. I studied all the GOLD threads. I watched MJ's YouTube videos repetitively. I felt so motivated. I remember how excited it got me to pursue entrepreneurship. Turns out it wasn't an easy pursuit.
As time went by and my motivation faded, I faced some serious mental health complications. I was ridiculed for dropping out of college. I failed at several different business models. I failed at starting brands. I failed to turn a profit over and over again. I was working jobs that were mind numbing and utterly exhausting. I had constant issues with my family. That's a long, terrible story to get into... A few months ago, I suffered going through a devastating breakup with my girlfriend I loved so deeply. This is just a small preview of the adversity you'll face while you pursue the CENTS Entrepreneurial Framework. Everything about entrepreneurship is definitely not all that amazing. You have to focus and stay dedicated despite the stress you may face. However, for me, it was worth embracing the process. I look forward to executing towards my next goals in line to be achieved. I've got a lot in mind for the future. I believe in my vision.
Aside from running a marketing agency, I'm running three eCommerce brands right now. Two of the three brands are massively profitable. The numbers have been rising month by month pretty quickly. This is where the majority of my income is coming from. I've invested in several real estate properties at this point, and obviously I'm developing my portfolio with investments into the market. I'm still working on the third brand to become profitable. I'm managing a lot of different expenses for that brand because it's still relatively new. All expenses considered though, I stated at the beginning of this thread that I'm still in the green.
The hard truth about making your dreams a reality is that you have to put in the effort. You have to believe in yourself. You have to go all out regardless of your circumstances. You have to build yourself mentally and physically. You need to master skills that make you more effective and productive. You have to be creative and innovate. You have to provide VALUE. There's no way you're going to make decent money without figuring out a way to provide great value to your customer. I had to figure that out the hard way. You need to have meaning and purpose in your life. Develop the clarity you need to achieve your most important goals. If it's important enough to you, you'll find a way.
Be courageous.
“All events of wealth are precluded by process, a backstory of trial, risk, hard work, and sacrifice. If you try to skip process, you’ll never experience events.”
- MJ DeMarco
Great story and it's one I plan to experience myself. Similar to you, I did marketing and then ecom on the side.the marketing campaigns were profitable overall from the first month. Most notably on Facebook
What value attributes can you add to skew value in your favor when it comes to competing with other businesses in the space?
No, I totally get it.> influencer
> credibility
pick one.
Hey FMJJ,I started “brand #1” after I saved a lot of money to leverage. I already failed at launching business after business at this point. I always kept in mind the metaphor MJ uses. Failure is the sweat of success. The most successful are soaking wet. I learned from and studied my failures. The most important lessons are in your failures. I did a lot of reflection there. I was in the medical field working a job at a small business. I climbed the little corporate ladder to get paid well. This was not a walk in the park. I had to make this business a lot more money than what I was being paid for my labor. I had to notably outperform my co-workers. I used to be almost minimum wage when I started there. The managerial position I was eventually put in was certainly not guaranteed. I made connections and carried out a meticulous strategy. I befriended people that I didn’t necessarily look up to. I just wanted to be a positive influence on them. I wanted them to help me while I was at this job. I was getting paid a decent amount of money (relatively speaking), but the job was draining my time and energy.
Before this job in the medical field, I started my marketing agency when I was working for a bakery at minimum wage. This place was a terrible place to work, but we don’t have to get into that. I acquired clients by building funnels and running targeted audiences (paid traffic) to them. I also closed some clients directly. I took clients on monthly retainers. When I first started this, it was nothing serious in terms of income. The service that provides the most value to my clients is managing marketing campaigns on major platforms like Facebook and generating leads. As my experience and skills developed for my marketing agency, I closed clients that were paying enough money to enable quitting the job I was working in the medical field.
This is when I urgently started brand #1. I’ve been doing product research since forever because I’ve been trying to launch profitable stores for quite some time. How I do it? I look for a big need. I look for engagement on social media. I verify engagement. Are the likes legit? Are the comments legit? How does the competition market the product effectively? How much revenue do I think they're bringing in? How can I come up with my own angle to present this product with value? Facebook is the best platform to do this IMO, however, I do product research to this day on all major platforms. When I started brand #1, I was really confident about the product I found. It was currently trending, and I knew how I’d be able to present and market it. I knew that I'd be able to make an attractive website. I did it a different way from the competitors, but I did it better. I was creative with my marketing campaigns. I had a lot of experience with this because I ran plenty of profitable campaigns for my clients. I was used to overdelivering. Based on my experience and my due diligence, I decided to take what seemed like a huge risk at that moment. I had a connection who was able to help me with a warehouse, and I invested in inventory to be sent over from a supplier in China. That’s also a long story, but not really relevant to share. I problem solved on a problem by problem basis. I launched the product on Shopify, and the marketing campaigns were profitable overall from the first month. Most notably on Facebook. I’d like to note that I do not use Shopify anymore. My websites were custom made by a web design group. That was fairly expensive, but worth the expense to be running off my own platform rather than Shopify. I’m thinking long term.
I’d like to point out that this might all sound simple, but it wasn’t. The concept of success is quite simple, but things get complicated. Why do you think Unscripted is such a long book? I accredit a lot of my critical decisions to having clarity in what I was doing. I have several journals with pen and paper as well as on the app, Day One. I journal about emotions (yes I’m human and have to manage emotions), insightful ideas, failure, deadlines, etc... I journal about everything.
Right now I'm in a great place mentally. My physical health is great too. I'm grateful for the journey I took on. I'm appreciative for everything that helped get me to this point. I have to say that the "paranoia" feeling hasn't gone away, and I don't think it ever will. It's just a trait of a great entrepreneur. I'm always thinking of how I can improve. I'm always thinking about how things can go wrong. I'm always thinking about risks and how I should structure things. I like to think this way though. Not at all annoying. I embrace an entrepreneurial lifestyle. I find great meaning living the way I do.
I studied a lot of sales material and applied it to my process in closing deals with clients.
Thank you for this great thread!
For me there are definitely some golden nuggets in here, which exactly fit my current situation. Fascinating how you scaled your agency by winning clients with Facebook ads.
How have you verified whether a client is worth taking on? Have you researched their products to see, if this can be a success?
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