Ok so I'm 5 months in to my Fastlane journey, and almost completely free of my old slowlane business's. I chose to exit them after reading TMF and do not regret it one bit.
I wanted to create this thread to help with accountability, to contribute to the forum and to hopefully get advice from some of you great people who have done something similar.
I have started two new ventures which I know goes against the advice of TMF and The 1 Thing. But I'm hoping one will help me build the other through instant cash flow.
My two ventures are a directory website and a niche marketplace.
The directory site was a really old and authoritative site that was being sold by a contact I had from my previous slowlane digital marketing venture. It had some paying customers and over 1300 free customers.
My plan was to redevelop to a more modern look and feature set, then up sell the free customer base. I know this site will never make me serious money but I'm hoping I can build it to a decent recurring income that will support me while I build the marketplace.
This directory site is pretty much finished and I have retained most of the old paying customers who were due in January, which has given me an income. I have managed to upsell some of the free customers but only a tiny amount. So much of the database was dead. The site was built 16 years ago and it had not been maintained as well as I thought. I have a telesales person on commission only selling listings but they have not sold a single one in 5 days. I could use some ideas on selling directory listings to the contractor market.
I also need to improve the traffic to this site to provide more value and maybe bring in a lead capture to generate leads that I can sell or pass to potential directory sign ups.
The marketplace is almost finished, I began testing and snagging things for the developer on Monday. I'm really please with this site, I have spoke with several people in my target market who were all positive and willing to be part of a beta test.
My plan is to make this site completely free for both ends of the marketplace until it is well established. I will only try to monetise through featured advert upgrades and advertising from related companies. So far the people I have reached out to have confirmed the need and obviously jumped at the completely free offering. What are your thoughts on this strategy, I choose this with the affect millions advice in mind.
So my work over the next few weeks is laid out, I need to increase the value to the directory sites members and make enough money from the sale of listings to get by. While also finishing the marketplace and getting 10/20 people to beta test it and give honest feedback.
Appreciate any thoughts and advice, especially if you have experience of similar ventures.
I wanted to create this thread to help with accountability, to contribute to the forum and to hopefully get advice from some of you great people who have done something similar.
I have started two new ventures which I know goes against the advice of TMF and The 1 Thing. But I'm hoping one will help me build the other through instant cash flow.
My two ventures are a directory website and a niche marketplace.
The directory site was a really old and authoritative site that was being sold by a contact I had from my previous slowlane digital marketing venture. It had some paying customers and over 1300 free customers.
My plan was to redevelop to a more modern look and feature set, then up sell the free customer base. I know this site will never make me serious money but I'm hoping I can build it to a decent recurring income that will support me while I build the marketplace.
This directory site is pretty much finished and I have retained most of the old paying customers who were due in January, which has given me an income. I have managed to upsell some of the free customers but only a tiny amount. So much of the database was dead. The site was built 16 years ago and it had not been maintained as well as I thought. I have a telesales person on commission only selling listings but they have not sold a single one in 5 days. I could use some ideas on selling directory listings to the contractor market.
I also need to improve the traffic to this site to provide more value and maybe bring in a lead capture to generate leads that I can sell or pass to potential directory sign ups.
The marketplace is almost finished, I began testing and snagging things for the developer on Monday. I'm really please with this site, I have spoke with several people in my target market who were all positive and willing to be part of a beta test.
My plan is to make this site completely free for both ends of the marketplace until it is well established. I will only try to monetise through featured advert upgrades and advertising from related companies. So far the people I have reached out to have confirmed the need and obviously jumped at the completely free offering. What are your thoughts on this strategy, I choose this with the affect millions advice in mind.
So my work over the next few weeks is laid out, I need to increase the value to the directory sites members and make enough money from the sale of listings to get by. While also finishing the marketplace and getting 10/20 people to beta test it and give honest feedback.
Appreciate any thoughts and advice, especially if you have experience of similar ventures.
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