Deaf and Daft, getting my first sale

[Nicoknowsbest]

First off, @jpanarra, you are an inspiration to all of us.

I have mad respect for your attitude towards life.

You worked your a$$ off.

You learned a ton of new skills.

Yet, the results are not as expected.

Are you in for a little thought train?

What if...?

What if you stopped cold-calling?

What if you stopped cold-emailing?

What if you stopped learning more technical skills?

What if you stopped building stuff? (Thread: Stop "Building" Stuff)

What if you just stopped everything you have been doing for a moment? (Thread: Stop)

What if you spent your money on diesel and coffee? (Thread: "Spend your money on diesel and coffee")

What if you just helped people? (“Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you.” - Mother Theresa)

What if you helped your friends/family/personal network with something they struggle with today?

What if you turned the equation around?

What if you went to your potential clients first and asked them what they need?

What if you got paid to learn to help them?

What if you got paid to build a business that helps their businesses?

What if you are good enough ALREADY? (Thread: You already know enough)

What if you walked your OWN pace?

What if...?

I have been struggling and I am still struggling with very similar problems.

I had somebody ask me these and similar "What if"-questions not so long ago and it helped me tremendously.

I hope they help you too.

Although we call it the FASTlane, it takes a hell lot of patience to get THERE.

Try to relax and take a step back.

Give your brain some space to connect the dots.

And hang in there.

I believe in you.

P.S.: Feel free to PM me so we can talk on Skype, if you wish to do so.

 

[jpanarra]

Hey JP here,


Been some time since I posted on here. I know its said over and over again. Working to sell is like running a marathon. I’ve heard over and over again the saying of “business is a marathon” I respectfully disagree, I think it’s harder.

For anyone who has run a marathon. The hardest part isn’t the marathon itself, the marathon is the end and you know it’s going to finish soon and you’ll be able to go home and recover and move on with your life. I would say its much more similar to training for the marathon itself, but the training never ends.

I’ll be honest with you, I’ve been struggling with cold calls. Rejection is not easy especially when you have a 3rd party in the middle of the conversation when you’re trying to sell. I’ve tried several different routes from emailing, to texting but the best return of my time is cold calling companies that have poor websites or even NO websites at all. Back to the analogy of training for a marathon.. Preparing for a cold call reminds me of the moments before I go out for a run. I dread it and I have a small routine before I do it, but once I’m into it I have to push through till I’m done. Then I’ll have to do it again the next day and the next until I find someone suitable to sell for me.

What helped me improve in the past 2 months is the practice of prospecting and preparing before I reach out to people. I look for businesses all over ranging from Facebook to google maps to try and find businesses. Then I rank them from 1-5 from how likely do I think they’ll be interested, this depends on a number of factors from personal experience. Then I set a power hour either at 8am or 9am and I call for an hour straight.

The time block helps immensely. I usually do maybe 10-20 calls a day now because of it. In the past I would tell myself 2-3 then that’s it and back to working on the computer. The truth is, I’ve gotten at least 5x more prospective warm leads just by introducing myself and offering to email them more information.


Two books that I just read that are helping my sales move forward are

Fanatical Prospecting ( about keeping your pipeline full)

And

SPIN Selling (great mind set about sales and how to approach them - thanks to @Fox for this one! Still reading this atm)

Got around to updating my website for the business as well, Arra Development featuring my portfolio with companies and people I trust.

Also, My Wife is getting into her own FL idea and I'm helping her with the product development and marketing plan.

 

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[jpanarra]

Hey guys, JP here!

Remember that guy I found on social media that might bring me 18k in revenue, his assistant got back to me and it looks like they’re ready to move forward with me for the web design. So waiting for them to pay the invoice so I can get it going. So that is great news.

I’ll be honest I haven’t been cold emailing or cold calling myself as much anymore but I’m working on a system that I will be able to utilize and should be able to generate me some great leads. This ‘system’ is my current project and I plan on marketing this system to other entrepreuners and business owners that face the same challenges as I do. The website is all done with the copy. I’ll have more info on my INSIDERS thread about it. I feel like this is something ‘big’ because I’m thinking ‘bigger’ and not backing down from the challenge of a high price tag for a service that I will provide in spades compared to the others in the market space.

As for my youtube, I’m getting great feedback and people are saying that I have a good camera presence and getting more views everyday so hopefully this will help me build my personal brand and will support everything that I’m doing. Next video is up now as well!!

 

[jpanarra]

Don't see what you'd need them for (unless you're trying to fix up their already decent website). I'd stay away from them just because of the predatory air at this point in your journey. They're likely to get you into their services, unless you've got something you can offer them that is (besides your cash and time).

Yeah That's what i thought, but just noticed them and was curious what was the general feeling about those "launch" centers here on the fastlane forum.

Also, I wouldn't recommend posting your finds (biz ops) here. Your work is likely to get sniped on the outside (but less so on the inside).

Ok, I'll keep my business opportunities on the hush hush and keep updating my progress on a generic scale.

 

[OldFaithful]

I graduated in the top 15 of a rather large and prestigious HS regardless of some teachers saying I’ll be struggling to graduate because of my disability (which I’ll rather call enability).

Ended up in Rochester Institute of Technology graduated with a BS in Chemistry, hopped around awhile with jobs in the manufacturing industry and teaching at a Deaf school realizing that I’m not satisfied. Still itching for something so I started an online MBA program which I will graduate in April with student loans, which I understand now is slow lane mentality but I only have a few classes left, might as well go for it.

Over the course of my early adulthood journey, I’ve accumulated three, way cool kids and a very tolerable wife....

...I have gone through my entire life of people telling me things were impossible, and I’ve proven them wrong time and time again. I plan on continuing this trend, and this is only my first step to real success.

Man I love your attitude and determination! You have my respect at accomplishing so much without letting a physical challenge get in the way. I had an acquaintance some years ago that was deaf and he used it as a crutch in every aspect of life. It always bothered me. He claimed that was the deaf culture, but you've blown that theory away!

I really like this advice:

product ideas:
"Growing up deaf...I wish I had"
"Going through college deaf...I wish I had"
"Working at a company deaf..I wish I had"

You have an insight into a segment of the population that many do not understand. I see opportunity here for some great products!!! Keep up the progress and keep searching. You'll find the need that you can fill better than anyone else.

 

[jpanarra]

Man I love your attitude and determination! You have my respect at accomplishing so much without letting a physical challenge get in the way. I had an acquaintance some years ago that was deaf and he used it as a crutch in every aspect of life. It always bothered me. He claimed that was the deaf culture, but you've blown that theory away!

I really like this advice:

You have an insight into a segment of the population that many do not understand. I see opportunity here for some great products!!! Keep up the progress and keep searching. You'll find the need that you can fill better than anyone else.

Yeah, I've been thinking how to tackle that disability angle myself. I've always struggled with trying to exploit my deafness/disability for an advantage. But now maybe i have to push my ego aside and try and find the opportunities that might come along with my disability


Unfortunately, I don't think it's limited to just deaf culture. It's all of american culture and possibly all of western culture. We want everything handed to us and have an easy ride to paradise just because we graduated high school. It may be easier to feel entitled because we have a literal handicap compared to the general population but the reality is, we have to work for it and continue to knock down those challenging barriers to possibly reach paradise. I have a lot on my plate right now, and I'm still exploring several different gates and trying to decide which one i want to try and tackle.

 

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[jpanarra]

Ok,

Working on my book... First time trying to write one, it is much more mentally tasking that I thought. I'm ok with that because its part of the barrier to entry that is mentioned everywhere. Got an outline set up and working on brainstorming on how to categorize everything. My goal for this book is around 200 manuscript pages. Being a math guy type of guy, I'm breaking down the goal if I have 3 pages typed a day for the first draft, i should be done within 2 months and allowing to put up a decent sized book up on amazon.

JP

 

[jpanarra]

Still no update on whether I have a job anymore...


I did a breakdown of my finances; I will need to have about 1.5k biweekly to make up for the lost income which is not impossible from what I have seen on here to achieve in a short amount of time.

After some self-reflecting, I had to figure out what can I do today and now to provide value and try to make some money immediately. So using the tools to my disposal and YouTube I’ve searched to find how to make a website that can make me money, the choices I came across were AdSense, Affiliate Marketing, and E-commerce.


They all require time to make money. The first one I had to eliminate was E-commerce, money is tight and I don’t have enough room to dig into my savings to spend on products and the return might come a bit later. AdSense was the next one to go it requires a lot of blogging and writing articles and guest posting etc. The last one left was affiliate, and even if it takes some time, the upfront costs to build the websites with WordPress is minimal and with my experience I know I can throw one together really quick.


So, I dove in, now I've been working hard all night and most of today building an affiliate website... I know it’s not popular around here on the forum. The truth is, I see a lot of value coming out of this for me, learning how to build a ‘storefront’, researching for a specific niche.


The Niche I settled in on had a decent amount of traffic, 40k a month from the primary and floating at 20k a month with secondary. The keyword difficulty ratings from SEMRUSH were promising so I got to work.


More Info on the INSIDERS Thread I’m going to reveal what’s the niche and the website for feedback.

 

[jpanarra]

OK,

Time for a update, I’m not out of a job… I’ll just leave it at that for now.


One thing that’s fascinating, even with my distrust in the script and how I’ve always searched for a way out, I still somewhat trusted it. It really is trained and immersed within ourselves that we still march along like the good soldiers that we are hoping for greener grass.


I’m shaken from the current incident and am driven more than ever. I’ve spent the 3 days building a proper affiliate website. And spent the rest learning on how to drive traffic which is a skill that will always benefit me in the future. I intend to stay on the internet so, this will help me for sure.

I set a goal of 1 year from January 2017 to 2018… I have now an affiliate website that I can work with on my down time. Still trying to make sales with the agency, now I have them making the phone calls as well following up all of the emails that went out.

So lets see what happens next! Always pushing harder!

 

[CareCPA]

Good luck and keep pushing through.
We don't become experts in an area without going through a lot of crap first. If it were easy, everyone would do it.
You're still years ahead of some of the others on here who haven't even tried to make a sale.

 

[jpanarra]

I have to say thank you,


This is one of the reasons that I frequent this forum.. the people here are genuine and always open to help.


This actually gave me a pretty good boost and got a lot done over the last few hours.


So, Thank you and as always, I will keep pounding away

 

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[G-Man]

I'm currently reeling from the repercussions of a procrastination wave, what happened here is that one of my kids got really sick and even had to attend to hospice care for some time. At the time I dropped everything I was doing and focused on my children, and rightly so. The major issue is what happened after my kid recovered and went home and my routine and commitment got thrown under the bus. I wasn’t sending as much emails as I used to, I didn’t call people that didn’t respond. I kept telling myself I'll do it tomorrow.

I hope your kid is ok now, and don't beat up on yourself about the procrastination. You aren't a procrastinator. You're a guy that temporarily procrastinated because he had more important shit going on.

Good to hear from you!

 

[Imgal]

I over criticize myself and that inhibits me from moving on and getting back on the horse.

This is going to sound harsh - it's not meant to. I just recognise similar behaviour in myself. The problem a lot of us have is that we're fearful of change and what could happen if we jump in feet first... so our minds find something to fill the space in time when we could be doing something. In a lot of cases that's exactly what you're talking about. We beat ourselves up so we don't feel strong enough to do anything. Basically, we're the parents who hold their kids back and the friends who find the negatives in everything we want to do because they're intimidated by it and embarrassed they're not doing the same.

You, @jpanarra, are more than enough and I love you for that confession about accountability. I've never been able to really benefit from it because I would lie about what I was doing / manipulate what I'd set as my goals so it looked like progress was happening when there was none.

 

[jpanarra]

Hey guys,

Making progress. My best month yet in terms of # of sales. I sold 3 sites this month for all over 1,500 and getting better at the conversations leading people to accepting the price without them even doubting it’s worth. I think that’s a massive step for me.


Also, the interpreters that I have cold calling for me seem to be on a positive pathway compared to past experiences. In the past people would just try and then give up after a few days or a few rejections and fall off the face of the earth. The people I have now are actually asking questions on how to improve and looking for strategies to actually sell stuff. I’ve been making videos to help them out via ASL and the reception has been positive.


With the little free time I have I’ve been working on learning how to write a webapp via JS ,AngularJS, and Ruby On Rails. My goal for this learning process is to become a full stack developer that is capable of building anything that comes to mind. I hope to build something for myself that’ll be able to sustain itself. I have an idea that is sort of SAAS, that’ll be able to help generate leads by digging through yelp or google. I’m still exactly not sure yet but I’ll keep you all posted on my progress!

 

[jpanarra]

Hey all! JP here

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Looking to make this year my best one yet! Last year i started out as a clueless noob lurking and trying to get myself involved around here with no real direction. After finding a number of different threads and inspiration i pieced my own path from the advice i found.

Now I'm working on a web design business with a legitimate LLC and clients. Working on a YouTube channel to spread the message of entrepreneurship and the pursuit of happiness.

Here's my intro video, I plan on posting more and look forward to sharing my insights and experiences with you guys!

 

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[GuestUser155]

Using Google maps, I was looking around for businesses that had blanks in the spot for their websites to be implanted. I came across this, http://www.launchfishers.com/ which is less than 10 minutes away from my house. After looking at their prices, it seems like they're trying to suction funding from wantapreuners, so what's your take on places like this. Should I try and go and network or avoid it all together?

Don't see what you'd need them for (unless you're trying to fix up their already decent website). I'd stay away from them just because of the predatory air at this point in your journey. They're likely to get you into their services, unless you've got something you can offer them that is (besides your cash and time).

Also, I wouldn't recommend posting your finds (biz ops) here. Your work is likely to get sniped on the outside (but less so on the inside).

 

[jpanarra]

yeah that reminds me of this feeling I used to have, especially when I was working for someone else. The feeling was of being in waaay over my head, and not knowing what to do next. I think I *was* in over my head. Some of that was perfectionism creeping in, but a good portion of it was that I hadn't learned the basics yet. With my business, I'm focusing on what I know I do well, and capitalizing on that.

Hahah, Thats exactly what I feel like. No idea what im doing but im doing something... lets hope money follows!

 

[OldFaithful]

 

[jpanarra]

After re-reading the Fastlane Millionaire for the 3rd time, I started to ponder what is my advantage for the barrier to entry.

You guys already pointed out one of my major advantages; I have access to knowledge and understanding of what it is like to face challenges as a disabled/deaf person.

Another barrier that I have knowledge is related to my occupation as a chemist; I am currently a plating chemist, and I understand how to make metal plate upon another metal along with experience in lean manufacturing processes. I have written down a few ideas how I could implement those skills I have as opposed to learning how to write a website which has a much lower barrier to entry and more accessible for several others.


After analyzing the CENTS approach, I’m going to try something by using my metal plating skills and maybe sell a few products on e-bay with that. Also, I will start writing a book regarding the challenges and solutions I faced as a Deaf person.

 

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[jpanarra]

Ok, I've made some progress on my first free "Funnel" book, in around 2000 words in. It'll need editing for sure, and it’s a bit random but with a bit of cleaning up on the grammar. I just realized that my tinkering habits might come in handy because I have a 3d printer that I do as a hobby on the side. Which is a barrier to entry at this point and not many people can print up products within a matter of hours. So I'm going to put some of my designs up on eBay and see if they sell. If some people are ordering them, I can print them out as ordered.

 

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[jpanarra]

Hey,

Been crazy busy over the past few days working real hard. Now I've made real progress writing my own "portfolio/contact" site for myself. It does take some real commitment and time to those kinds of projects because some things you will have to spend hours on just for a small adjustment in the web page.

I also had a few chats with @Fox and he really gives great insight and direction. I have to tell you the content he shares are straight to the point and I've made faster progress on my work thanks to him! If you have the money and opportunity I would definitely take up on fox's offer over in the marketplace over here.

Thanks to all of my hard work, I might have just got me a new cold caller/salesperson and with my efforts trying to reach out to the community. I might have my first sale for a moving company this Monday. I've been on this forum for almost 3 months now, I don't know why my avatar profile says 2014, but reading and getting inspired by on the people here is real. Just have to stick with it and continue to move forward with your ideals and BELIEVE that things can happen, then things WILL happen. TILL NEXT TIME!!!

 

[jpanarra]

Hey,


Been some time since I’ve updated my progress on here. Been crazy busy lately with learning code. I know that there is a number of threads on here you don’t have to learn code to have a good business and I agree with that. I’m actually just enjoying the progress of learning and working with websites. I haven’t closed a larger client yet but I’m almost done with the website I sold earlier, right now it's more so waiting for his end of things to be finished and minimal changes are needed based on his feedback.

As for closing the next client, over the past 2 days I must’ve sent out 30+ cold emails. I’ve gotten a few responses but none of them really expressed interest. Oh, I did have 1 that seemed interested and he just dropped off the grid and stopped talking to me. I scheduled on trello that once I send an email to a certain site, I’ll call them 3 days later (just like a pretty lady after a good first date).

I’m also working on my own project, a website for sure. I might have to bootstrap the back end of this project but that money hopefully will be coming from my web development side of things. Also to help me with this, I’m going through courses on Udemy. Currently, on my "downtime" I’m doing Javascript and learning more about Jquery and what would really make me effective on making things work on the front end of things. I also intend on learning ruby on rails if the other stuff doesn’t catch on and write the project out myself.


I’ve decided that I will be making 6+ figures by the end of 2017, and if I end up making 3x of my current work salary for 3 months, that is when I will be turning in my 2 weeks’ notice at my J. O. B.(Just Over Broke) .

 

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[jpanarra]

Sometimes you got to face the reality that things don’t work out like you mean them to. That 30-50k deal we made, over a month ago. The client hasn’t paid yet or sent us the things they want to be fixed yet, so things are still floating around in limbo with that. The deal I made with 5k for a website, they postponed it a month later, not even sure that they’ll follow through on it. The website that I got from a local business, I closed the deal for 800 but outsourced it to save time so I can focus on the other two that didn’t happen. So I lost some money on that, but no mind because I still have my time to try and get more sales.

The email system that was smoking hot a few weeks ago, people responding easily ½ to 2/3 but they never got warm enough for the phone calls. Also, due to my arrogance and laziness, I slowed down the cold emails going out because I thought I’ll have more working coming in soon. Now I’m sitting here without any heavy clients. Last week I turned up the heat on the emails, sending out at least 3-4 a day but still no responses regardless of the emails being typed out similar to what I’ve been doing for a while.

Now, I’m changing my strategy a bit. I’ve noticed that when I target the prospects I have a better chance of getting a response. Once I identify a prospective website, I turn up the heat on the detective work. Understand, I have a pretty large network on LinkedIn, if you know LinkedIn, you have a bigger network, the more names, and positions you can see. This allows me to have an advantage to see who has what position and who would be more likely to be the decision maker regarding websites, for example either a Marketing Director or President on top of the food chain that would pass me down to the lower ranks that would put me in a favorable position to push for a sale. Along with that, I try to find some typing or work by the prospect such as shared presentations or some sort of work they uploaded to the net, using @SinisterLex strategy of analyzing the personality by understanding enneagrams. I’m still a major noob when it comes to this type of thing but still working on it. I do see my emails are getting better, I know the breakthrough is coming sooner than later.

How I’m writing my Cold emails at the moment when I reach out to them the first time I usually keep it short and I point out what’s lacking on their websites and the fact that I help and fix those issues. The second time, I send out screenshots of their websites with notations on it pointing out the pain points and a screenshot of a competitor and why they’re doing so good. Then finally I mention that I can make their website better than said competitor. If they respond and ask some questions, I usually answer the questions and then try and set them up for a phone call for one of my “representatives”(people who can hear). I have not gotten to this point for the past 2-3 weeks so I’m still gnna chip at that wall.

 

[jpanarra]

Hey all,


know I’ve haven’t been on the forum in some time. I’ve been mad busy with my MBA. I just finished my last class which was really time demanding and a pain in the a$$. However, where I’m at right now is working on my capstone project which I will write another thread about and keep you all updated so you can have some insight of what a MBA capstone paper looks like and the stages of development of it too.

As for my business, it’s slowed down dramatically due to the timing restraints from the class. Am still sending out cold emails and digging up google trying to find some good prospects. Due to the timing issue, I was trying to come up with some solutions so I can save some time and continue growing. So, what I have done was hire a freelancer from up work to generate leads on a google spreadsheet with a decision maker’s name, email address, business, and their website.

Now I’m cutting out my time of searching the prospect and am just emailing them cold. I haven’t gotten a solid response from the list yet but it’s a start of trying to delegate my work and save some time.

 

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[jon.a]

Oh and BTW, I be considering making that company "internet famous"

I had an interesting experience today. Started normally, as usual, sending out cold emails and started up on my phone calls and stuff.

Remember I make phone calls through a sign language relay call and I don't talk on the phone myself because I can't hear... So this one call it happened to be an elderly lady interpreting for me. I had a cold prospect that never responded but viewed my email and follow ups a number of times.

I hit a gatekeeper trying to inquire me about why I'm trying to get in touch with the decision maker. She was incredibly rude (which happens alot with gatekeepers I've noticed) It's usually easier if you explain what you're trying to do right out of the gate. "Hello, im so and so from this company and im trying to get in touch with "Bill" due to an email I sent about his 'website layout'. Sometimes it works and they'll hold and check with the decision maker, sometimes they just hang up.

This situation was different, The lady didn't believe it was a relay service and went off on the interpreter for lying and trying to use a handicap to get through the gate. She said a number of obscene things that could've bothered me, but it really bothered the interpreter and looked like she was on the verge of tears... When she finally hung up, I told her not worry and I'm used to gatekeepers being assholes...

I felt bad but I guess some people just aren't cut out for the cold calling game...

I think i need to come up with some strategy to get around the cold emailing and cold calling...

Now picking up the phone and calling another cold lead!

 

[Scot]

X-POST with an INSIDERS thread i started

I sat there, feeling a strange buzz in my head.

To my Right, my boss to my left is my ASL interpreter across from me is the supervisor of HR.

I didn’t need to look at my interpreter to understand what she just said,

“You are under investigation, as of today you are suspended with pay.”

I thought to myself, is this it? That’s it?

My anal documentation, my integrity, hours of my life given to this company, over a documentation error, I know OSHA is hard a$$… I felt like I was exceptional, I should be given some slack.. I knew better, I know people that have been let go for less… The fact that I was suspended was the slack they gave me, but still this means that I probably will be out of the job when the week out.

My mouth dried up, staring at the calendar at the date the mishap happened. Trying to think how could I screw up this badly? It made no sense… The urge to come up with an elaborate story and LIE to save my a$$ was extremely high, still I didn’t bc the implications will be worse…

I asked the meeting for me to go back and collect all of my documentation and see if we can piece together what happened that day, gave them all my stuff. My boss was very reassuring, felt like he truly was on my side, we have a good working relationship.

I gave them all I could get, walked out to a beautiful blue sky all the while resisting the urge to vomit…


THIS F*ckING SUCKS…


On the drive home, I’m thinking to myself. is this the F*cking Script F*ck this thing.. I read both books fastlane millionaire and unscripted more than once still didn’t really understand the weight because I never had this moment… my moment… my FUUUUUUCKKK THIS EVENT!

It’s funny, I’ve had moments thinking about the FTE in the past, still pale and hoping I get it soon because I wanted to take the full plunge into what I’m trying to do. I still feel like a chicken with his head cut off and running around, but I know I’m not going to take this hit laying down, things will be moving high gear on my projects while im suspended.

Hurts hitting that "like" button. Every day I feel like I'm going to get that call or email "you're on an improvement plan" and get slowly worked out of my job.

But this could be the moment where you truly say F*ck it and you make this business 100%.

Either way it goes, I hope it works out for you.

 

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[MidwestLandlord]

what is really stopping me i think is the amount of work that has to go into things and my mind just kinda goes "bleh" as opposed to "F*ck yeah" at the time.

Which is why everybody and their brother wants to "follow their passion" because it may not get you anywhere, but boy does it feel good.

Remember that the passion will come as you make progress.

Go out and triple the number of clients you have, then try to say your mind goes "bleh"

 

[jpanarra]

Hey guys,


JP here… Busy Busy Busy. Its funny the more busier I get the less time I spend time reading about others being busy and dreaming about it. I just thought it was time for me to update with whats going on with my journey.


Massive change this month. I closed one more sale for almost $3,500 for a well known connection in a major city so this is a client that potentially will get me 10 more high profile clients if it goes well so I’m looking forward to that.

The funny thing is that’s not what im excited about. I’m excited about a new idea I’m working on. As the people who have been reading this thread all know I deal with the challenges of cold calling and prospecting due to the limitations I have with me being deaf.

So trying to come up with a solution I got in touch with some sign language interpreters that was interested in making some extra cash. I came up with an option that I can train them with all of the different sales techniques and strategies that I’ve learned over the past year. My thought process is that if I’m able to make regular sales with the obstacles I face, if I’m able to train them properly they should have some success. Then if they get an appointment they can easily facilitate you the conversation between myself and the client while they’re on a headset and speaking to me and doing the exact thing they’re trained to do as translators and communication experts. Now the thought I had was that I cannot be the only deaf business out there that can benefit from this, so this might be a decent idea if it works.

Another thing, I’ve been making videos and sharing my knowledge with the new sales people and I might be open to moving them to youtube and appeal to the ASL audience to share what I know about sales and business. I know I’m not an expert but we all gotta start somewhere!

 

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[jpanarra]

Hey Guys JP here!



Might've seemed like I've been MIA for some time now but the reality is I've been biting off a lot more than I can chew and juggling through them instead of being on my favorite place on the net. Now, the thing is I have not been on here because I've been busy doing so I have a good amount of stuff to share with you guys.


A short list what I've been up to but I'll elaborate on each one

• Certification in Electrochemistry Finishing (career) and Working
• 95% parenting at the evenings
• Working on a patent for an Idea I came up back In December
• Web Design business now making sales in the (3-5K) range
  • Starting to Offer SEO and SEM services via subscriptions
• Sales Agency with a niche focus to other Deaf Business Owners

(CEF) - Certified Electrofinisher


First was a career move, I took the course to become certified in Electrochemistry Finishing and took the test just last Friday. I don’t know if I'm certified Just yet but I have a good feeling about it. This will help my career side of things and instill more career insurance. This will open more doors for me to work and earn more $$ in return to invest right into my Fastlane ventures and be able to support my family via benefits. Healthcare costs in the US suck especially when you have 3 active little ones. This course was able to be worked on at work, thankfully because I would've never had the time to do so. I'll elaborate on that a bit later.


However, what I've learned from this course was huge because I now have a better understanding of the electroplating industry which is an extremely niche space that depends on HUGE clients such as Aerospace and Automotive giants. Also, since this space is extremely niche as well there are not a lot of electroplating patents for functional purposes that could lead to a massive opportunity if I think of one. For instance I learned how to electroplate on ABS plastic, which means you could have any metal finish on a 3-d printed part, if I can think of a problem that I can solve with 3d printing, I can add wear resistance and durability by plating metal over it and still be much cheaper than a metal part being forged to fit the purpose. So I'm excited even if I don’t pass the exam to become certified, I've gained so much material I can work with. Now the exam is done, I'll have some more time to hang out on here again!


'95% Parenting'


I don’t know if 95% is the best way to say it but my wife has been studying hardcore for her Real Estate license, She already passed the state exam and only needs to pass the national exam which I've heard is ridiculously tough. So to make sure she passes, she is locked up in our office to study where I take care of the kids from the time they get off the bus at 4 pm and in bed by 7:30-8. And I say 8pm lightly because I've never had all kids stay in bed after 8, they always get up for something aka water, bathroom, cookies, etc… So this cuts into my content creation timeframe since I work from 6:30-3:00, Get home at 3:30 to prep dinner and take care of the kids till bed. So I only have 2-3 hours to work with at night.


This is worth the sacrifice regardless, my wife already has a team lined up that wants her on board. Primarily because she is Deaf as well and has the opportunity to tackle the niche deaf community that will always need accessibility and communication so the opportunity for her and us is HUGE. I view us as a unit, if she succeeds I succeed. We've been spreading the word and the reception has been extremely positive.


THE PATENT!


Here's a recommendation from me to you, get the 'meet-up' app and go to your local entrepreneur meetup. I've met this gentleman that has over 30 patents is living the Fastlane life that I've chatted with on numerous occasions and he has given me fantastic insight on how to get on the Fastlane. Hanging out on the forum here and chatting is a massive daily boost, but I'm sure the guys that attended the summit can reference this, you get so much more when you talk to someone face to face!


Now this idea I had back in December and I brought it up to this gentleman and he was like, this is a great idea and suggested me to try and patent it and if possible bring it to manufacturing and sales. He set me down this path of finding prior art, comparing them, then making sure they're differentiated enough. He recommended me to get a provisional patent prior to getting with a manufacturer and having them sign an NDA. The product itself only has 1 competitor on amazon and there are 2 similar Prior art patents that might have to force me to tweak my design of the product but the reality is I've done the keyword research and people are searching for this specific product and the reviews of the only one that is solving that problem has poor reviews and is only on amazon.


So, I'm working on getting the provisional patent and finding a manufacturer for this. I know I have the skillset to market and sell it online so I'm looking forward to this opportunity.


Arra Development


I started this over an year ago when I first read Fox's thread, still going strong. I just closed a sale for 5k and this guy might have 3-4 more websites for me at the same price point. Once again, go to meetups in your local area, you'll find people that need help and I met him at one and he needed websites for his local businesses and closed the sale on him. I'm also starting to offer SEO/SEM for my previous clients in a subscription based format. I forgot who mentioned but I believe it was @Andy Black that recommended it, the automatic customer by John Warrillow that made me think about what I'm doing and how can I change it into a subscription type of business. Hopefully this will be the one that helps me to transition to a MRR mindset.


Timafy


I started the journey on this one in February where I found that I'm having a hard time selling my services as a deaf entrepreneur and I wasn’t alone. I teamed up with one friend of mine who's Deaf himself and knows the struggle with trying to sell and find leads to bite. I don't really want to go into detail on how the system works because portions of it will be outsourced and we still have a long way to go in terms of hiring people and training employees. However, we are starting our marketing and sales campaign soon. So I'm looking forward to that.

 

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[jpanarra]

Hey everyone, JP Here!


I've not been on here for some time. A lot has happened in the last year for myself, my family, and I can imagine the same could've happened to all of you during this strange time in the States.

I started another thread before about progress but this is my original and i think i'll continue to update on here as well.

Now, a bit about my journey through 2020.

I was able to save up to 80k, Pay off my credit cards, downsize to a smaller, cheaper but brand new constructed home (large chunk of the 80k ended up here).

That being said, I got my personal fiscal situation under control. Automated my paychecks to go into separate accounts, automated my bills, automated some investing accounts. I am in a much better fiscal position than i was when i started back in 2017. Now I hope this newly formed habit will impact my approaches and thinking when it comes to my ventures.

At the start of 2020, I had started a new job as a plating department supervisor. This was a job that literally was a trial by fire situation. I am very good with the technical side of the process being a chemist and engineering nerd. I was able to build a strong rapport with my employees and build a strong team and management took notice of my progress and encouraged me to keep moving in the direction I'm going.

This was prior to when COVID19 hit, Once Covid hit, production slowed down big time but we still were deemed essential because we produce alot of parts for CAT and they're infrastructure.

As the dominoes fell, people started to get laid off on the corporate level and eventually down to my level and they let go a number of supervisors and managers. Now during this time i was given the management of the heat treat department as well, without pay. I took this as an opportunity to expand my knowledge and connections when it comes to my career.

So I got a 'promotion' to be a manager over 3 departments, and I'm only 32 and report directly to a plant manager.

This is not my long term goal to climb to the top of the ladder, but this is an opportunity for me to learn, expand, connect to make myself a stronger entrepreneur.

I've done Website development, online stores, drop shipping, t-shirts, and right now I'm enjoying 3d printing as a hobby but plan to pivot it somehow. Haven't figured that out quite yet, but I'm thinking of different ways and testing the market.

Oh and if you read this thread earlier, you'll find out that i am profoundly deaf.. so no excuses for high barriers to entry... get working and you'll have a return one way or another.