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Hi Fastlaneforum.
I’ve lurked intermittently throughout the past couple of years, but it's my first posting as a (wannabe) biz owner. Looking for a little help regarding the next steps!
I last worked at a big-name tech company (one of the big ones) doing lead gen for their enterprise SaaS solution.
Day after day, I'd call top Fortune 500 companies, selling into the C-suite. 20 cold calls, 40 personalized emails. Brutal shit.
Was a middle-of-the-pack performer. Never ended up becoming a closer. Sending emails all day with no human interaction was soul-sucking.
However, in my prior sales job doing the same thing appointment setting into SMBs, I was the top lead gen rep.
Prior to sales, I was a staff writer for a major publication and spent a year in-house doing direct response copy/VSL stuff for an info product coach.
I quit my job, and decided to relocate to Asia permanently for mental health reasons. I didn't exactly have a massive network regardless in NA so there's not much of a loss.
However I am mentioning this because I don't speak any Asian languages, so serving the APAC market besides Singapore + Australia might be a challenge. I'd still like to service USA but the timezone difference will be a challenge.
I have about 5 months of expenses and need to get to 2k/month ASAP, but also want to tunnel into a skillset where I can sustainably grow long-term.
The problem is, I'm sure I've very much been influenced by the make-money-online noise and would love some clarity and direction from experienced guys on here.
Copywriting agency for SaaS/Info Product Offer Owners
+ Plus
- I already feel comfortable with the copywriting skillset.
- I love writing. It's fun for me, refining drafts feels relaxing, and the process makes me lose track of time.
- Minus
- Longevity of usefulness seems muddy. Reading several threads on this forum, the overwhelming majority of experienced guys seem to share a similar sentiment: it's one of the worst value levers you can pull, it's not scalable long-term, and AI will kill it off in a handful of years regardless.
- I'm averse to working within the info product space. I've witnessed firsthand how MLM-esque and scummy some of the offers are, often trying to reap disproportionate profit. However, this seems to be the only industry royalty/commission-friendly that could conceivably help you reach multiple $100ks.
- If I try to do landing pages for SaaS clientele, seems ridiculously difficult to get clients off the rip.
Personal Brand Ghostwriting for LinkedIn/Twitter
+ Plus
- Same as copywriting.
- Minus
- Market looks ridiculously saturated on Twitter and LinkedIn. Seems like most people quickly scaling to 10k-30k/month are ghostwriting case studies for scammy info product "make money online" offer owners.
Social Media Marketing Agency
+ Plus
- Seems sustainable long-term (AI can't handle all the necessary skillsets i.e. Meta ads, copywriting ads scripts, video editing, graphic design, sales... too many moving parts to see AI disruption)
- Minus
- No video editing/graphic design skills (Would have to outsource to Upwork)
- The country I'm in has banned TikTok - can still circumvent this with VPN, but feel like most brands are looking for TikTok on top of meta these days, and IG Reels seems exponentially tougher to crack
- Not passionate about social media the way I would be about writing
Common Issues Across All 3:
- Fear of AI disruption, and eventual elimination. Worrying too much about starting writing-related stuff because of this.
- Fear of time zone differences creating conflict when meeting with clients (US remains the best English-speaking market to target for clientele).
- Desire to pick a business model based on least necessity to interface with clients on a weekly basis.
Ways I think my limiting beliefs could be challenged:
- Perception that the time zone difference even matters in the way of scheduling client calls... that clients will help you make it work?
- Perception that AI disruption matters (Counterargument could be that top 10% writers will never be out of business?)
- Perception that copywriting can't be aggressively scalable
- That I'd have to do TikTok if running an SMMA, could just focus on IG/FB and leave it at that
- That I can't find genuinely helpful offers in the info product space to work for.
I realize all 3 businesses will, in the short term, break the commandments of CENTS, this is fine for me. I need to get to 2k/month ASAP to cover living, then 10k/month to replace prior income. Everything from thereon out should be about scaling systems, working on an agency model.
Again, total newb at all this stuff, and much of what I'm writing here probably is naive. I'd highly appreciate any constructive criticism about my thought process!
I’ve lurked intermittently throughout the past couple of years, but it's my first posting as a (wannabe) biz owner. Looking for a little help regarding the next steps!
A little bit of background re: my skillset
I last worked at a big-name tech company (one of the big ones) doing lead gen for their enterprise SaaS solution.
Day after day, I'd call top Fortune 500 companies, selling into the C-suite. 20 cold calls, 40 personalized emails. Brutal shit.
Was a middle-of-the-pack performer. Never ended up becoming a closer. Sending emails all day with no human interaction was soul-sucking.
However, in my prior sales job doing the same thing appointment setting into SMBs, I was the top lead gen rep.
Prior to sales, I was a staff writer for a major publication and spent a year in-house doing direct response copy/VSL stuff for an info product coach.
Where I'm at
I quit my job, and decided to relocate to Asia permanently for mental health reasons. I didn't exactly have a massive network regardless in NA so there's not much of a loss.
However I am mentioning this because I don't speak any Asian languages, so serving the APAC market besides Singapore + Australia might be a challenge. I'd still like to service USA but the timezone difference will be a challenge.
I have about 5 months of expenses and need to get to 2k/month ASAP, but also want to tunnel into a skillset where I can sustainably grow long-term.
The problem is, I'm sure I've very much been influenced by the make-money-online noise and would love some clarity and direction from experienced guys on here.
I'll list out the business models I'm looking at doing and the limiting beliefs behind them:
Copywriting agency for SaaS/Info Product Offer Owners
+ Plus
- I already feel comfortable with the copywriting skillset.
- I love writing. It's fun for me, refining drafts feels relaxing, and the process makes me lose track of time.
- Minus
- Longevity of usefulness seems muddy. Reading several threads on this forum, the overwhelming majority of experienced guys seem to share a similar sentiment: it's one of the worst value levers you can pull, it's not scalable long-term, and AI will kill it off in a handful of years regardless.
- I'm averse to working within the info product space. I've witnessed firsthand how MLM-esque and scummy some of the offers are, often trying to reap disproportionate profit. However, this seems to be the only industry royalty/commission-friendly that could conceivably help you reach multiple $100ks.
- If I try to do landing pages for SaaS clientele, seems ridiculously difficult to get clients off the rip.
Personal Brand Ghostwriting for LinkedIn/Twitter
+ Plus
- Same as copywriting.
- Minus
- Market looks ridiculously saturated on Twitter and LinkedIn. Seems like most people quickly scaling to 10k-30k/month are ghostwriting case studies for scammy info product "make money online" offer owners.
Social Media Marketing Agency
+ Plus
- Seems sustainable long-term (AI can't handle all the necessary skillsets i.e. Meta ads, copywriting ads scripts, video editing, graphic design, sales... too many moving parts to see AI disruption)
- Minus
- No video editing/graphic design skills (Would have to outsource to Upwork)
- The country I'm in has banned TikTok - can still circumvent this with VPN, but feel like most brands are looking for TikTok on top of meta these days, and IG Reels seems exponentially tougher to crack
- Not passionate about social media the way I would be about writing
Common Issues Across All 3:
- Fear of AI disruption, and eventual elimination. Worrying too much about starting writing-related stuff because of this.
- Fear of time zone differences creating conflict when meeting with clients (US remains the best English-speaking market to target for clientele).
- Desire to pick a business model based on least necessity to interface with clients on a weekly basis.
Ways I think my limiting beliefs could be challenged:
- Perception that the time zone difference even matters in the way of scheduling client calls... that clients will help you make it work?
- Perception that AI disruption matters (Counterargument could be that top 10% writers will never be out of business?)
- Perception that copywriting can't be aggressively scalable
- That I'd have to do TikTok if running an SMMA, could just focus on IG/FB and leave it at that
- That I can't find genuinely helpful offers in the info product space to work for.
I realize all 3 businesses will, in the short term, break the commandments of CENTS, this is fine for me. I need to get to 2k/month ASAP to cover living, then 10k/month to replace prior income. Everything from thereon out should be about scaling systems, working on an agency model.
Again, total newb at all this stuff, and much of what I'm writing here probably is naive. I'd highly appreciate any constructive criticism about my thought process!
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