So a quick update of my current operations:
I volunteered to do marketing and build a website for the St. Pete young professionals group. The event I marketed was in September and I was able to connect with high level achievers in the area.
I asked some of our guest speakers out for coffee and I ended up getting hired on the spot to do internet marketing for a property management franchise.
See the Franchise Website here:
allcountyfranchise.com
So I now spend 30 hours a week taking care of their website, SEO, content marketing, and all things internet marketing related. The main goal is to increase organic traffic to the website in order to get more franchisees and pay less for each one.
So far, in the last 60 days I’ve moved our Google ranking for the keyword “property management franchise” from position 14 up to position 8 or 9, I’m rebuilding the entire website to update it and optimize the headlines and sales copy, and next I’ll be focusing on content marketing and traffic generation.
I’m learning a lot every day, though my biggest challenge seems to be in self-discipline and maintaining a high level of energy, enthusiasm, and motivation. I’m smart enough to get the work done, but talent is simply not enough these days. So to address this issue I have been waking up at 6AM to spend the first two hours of my day reading, journaling, visualizing, and praying (building up confidence and a burning desire as prescribed by Napoleon Hill in his book Think And Grow Rich).
It’s helping.
My 2018 Income Strategy
So with a bit of backstory I thought you might be interested in my plan for 2018.
As of right now I am in a small amount of debt ($4500), but I’ve lined up two freelance commissions for drawings that will bring in a total of $4400 and get me back up to breaking even. And working 30 hours a week at my day job will cover my living expenses.
So my main focus for 2018 is income.
I am toying with the idea of starting an online digital marketing agency, providing SEO and content marketing services to franchises. Specifically to the franchise development side of things.
There are a lot of franchises out there with terrible Internet marketing strategies, and so far I’ve had reasonable success with my current delve into marketing All County Franchise.
The basic idea is to position my “agency” as the #1 expert in the franchising industry for SEO and Content Marketing.
My ideal client are the “Do it for me” clients where they pay me monthly with minimal communication as long as I continue to get results for them.
I would start small, taking on one client at a time, with a monthly recurring contract of ~$2000-$5000 and a minimum commitment of 3 months.
Marketing for the agency website would be heavily focused on content, giving away 100% of my knowledge for free, and reinforcing my expertise in this segment of the market.
And of course I would do a good bit of outreach to build relationships and connect with potential clients to learn more about their needs. All of this would be included in my ongoing market research.
After I build up a bit of recurring revenue, I would quit my day job and bring them on as a monthly contract with a discounted rate. My employer is acting as a bit of a mentor and coach, as well as giving me space to learn and be creative with my marketing efforts. He seems pretty open to this idea and understands how valuable time is for an entrepreneur. After all, he did build a franchise with over 50 locations nationwide.
So far, this is the basic overview of my next online business experiment.
I’m serious about moving away from trading my time for money. Having a value-based pricing model is exactly how I intend to do that.
I’ve kind of got my instagram and my art career on auto-pilot, but its going to be on the back-burner until I establish a bit more financial stability.
Upcoming Challenges
Now, all of that being said, I foresee my biggest hurdles as being:
1. My ability to commit to a single idea, and execute on it over a long period of time.
2. Dealing with my fear and self-doubt.
Even though I am getting smarter and every new success helps to build up my confidence, I still struggle with fear.
When planning out my goals for 2018, I can sense the little voice in the back of my head saying “You aren’t smart enough to do this yet. You haven’t earned the right to make this much money. And besides, why would businesses want to work with you when there are much more qualified experts out there?”
I think this is a common experience, especially when stepping out of your comfort zone, but I have to trust the fact that I’ve been smart enough to get this far and I’ll be smart enough to handle the problems that arise in the future.
One of my immediate plans for dealing with these issues is to proactively level up my circle of influence. Reaching out to mentors, inviting business owners and CEOs out for meals, spending more time with high-level achievers in my area… The whole idea of “If you want to be a Millionaire, hang out with Billionaires.”
This combined with my new habit of daily journaling and daily reflection should be a good start to practically combating my fear.
So that being said, my clock just hit 8AM and I’ve got to finish up my morning routine to get ready for work!
I wish you all an exciting end of 2017, and I cannot wait to see what 2018 has in store.
Warmest,
Brandon Mikel Paul