Background:
My current line of business is consulting. My business mentor developed a program for helping small to mid-sized businesses better qualify for funding, protect their assets, and save on taxes. It's basically the wisdom and experience of 40+ years of entrepreneurship rolled up into a neat package which any small biz owner can implement. He's allowed me to partner with him, so he does the heavy lifting on the back end, and I'm essentially the marketing arm of the program. It's all branded under my own consulting firm, and all clients go through me and my company to get to him and his wizardry.
Situation:
To the end of Scale, rather than market directly to business owners, we decided to focus on Centers Of Influence...people who already have direct access to business owners and C-level employees who can make decisions (or at least have relevant input) regarding the overall structure of the business. This means CPAs, attorneys, consultants, etc... Oddly enough, we've gone even higher up the chain in some cases with people who influence the attorneys and CPAs. So each CPA, for example, represents multiple potential clients...and these guys represent multiple CPAs. So...happy math, good scale.
It's been EXTREMELY well-received by everyone we're presented to, but since they aren't our end-clients, we're just filling our funnel...but they are each going to be providing multiple warm, trusted referrals into the businesses they work with. We have a significant amount of pressure building, but it's still a very long pipeline. When the wave hits, it's going to be extremely profitable.
The Dilemma:
I'm still working my J.O.B. while working on this new gig in my spare time, and barely have any time to sleep. It's been hell, but the progress has been worth it. I just don't know how long I can keep it up. So I asked my partner how long he anticipates before I'll see revenue. He tells me "2-3 months, probably...less if we're lucky".
Well, crap. I know 2-3 months really isn't much in the grand scheme, but honestly, I don't know if I can sustain these levels of sleep disruption for that long.
The Solution:
I don't have time for luck. I immediately went out and followed up on a message I'd sent to the CEO of my current employer (they are a good candidate for the program we're doing) about a week prior. I hadn't heard back, so I hit him up again to make sure he got my message. He did, and was interested in more info on my partner and what we had in mind. Woohoo!
Then I had a presentation with another CPA the next day, and that one not only wanted to implement our system for his own practice ASAP, but had several clients he wanted to get in the door right away as well.
I'm also working with another buddy (who is part of the marketing effort under my own company) to do some unrelated consulting work...we're helping a food distributor get a 40,000lbs of cheese financed.
And so on...guess I just got "lucky".
The Moral:
Don't wait for luck. Go make some.
Later, fastlaners!
My current line of business is consulting. My business mentor developed a program for helping small to mid-sized businesses better qualify for funding, protect their assets, and save on taxes. It's basically the wisdom and experience of 40+ years of entrepreneurship rolled up into a neat package which any small biz owner can implement. He's allowed me to partner with him, so he does the heavy lifting on the back end, and I'm essentially the marketing arm of the program. It's all branded under my own consulting firm, and all clients go through me and my company to get to him and his wizardry.
Situation:
To the end of Scale, rather than market directly to business owners, we decided to focus on Centers Of Influence...people who already have direct access to business owners and C-level employees who can make decisions (or at least have relevant input) regarding the overall structure of the business. This means CPAs, attorneys, consultants, etc... Oddly enough, we've gone even higher up the chain in some cases with people who influence the attorneys and CPAs. So each CPA, for example, represents multiple potential clients...and these guys represent multiple CPAs. So...happy math, good scale.
It's been EXTREMELY well-received by everyone we're presented to, but since they aren't our end-clients, we're just filling our funnel...but they are each going to be providing multiple warm, trusted referrals into the businesses they work with. We have a significant amount of pressure building, but it's still a very long pipeline. When the wave hits, it's going to be extremely profitable.
The Dilemma:
I'm still working my J.O.B. while working on this new gig in my spare time, and barely have any time to sleep. It's been hell, but the progress has been worth it. I just don't know how long I can keep it up. So I asked my partner how long he anticipates before I'll see revenue. He tells me "2-3 months, probably...less if we're lucky".
Well, crap. I know 2-3 months really isn't much in the grand scheme, but honestly, I don't know if I can sustain these levels of sleep disruption for that long.
The Solution:
I don't have time for luck. I immediately went out and followed up on a message I'd sent to the CEO of my current employer (they are a good candidate for the program we're doing) about a week prior. I hadn't heard back, so I hit him up again to make sure he got my message. He did, and was interested in more info on my partner and what we had in mind. Woohoo!
Then I had a presentation with another CPA the next day, and that one not only wanted to implement our system for his own practice ASAP, but had several clients he wanted to get in the door right away as well.
I'm also working with another buddy (who is part of the marketing effort under my own company) to do some unrelated consulting work...we're helping a food distributor get a 40,000lbs of cheese financed.
And so on...guess I just got "lucky".
The Moral:
Don't wait for luck. Go make some.
Later, fastlaners!
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