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RSSHow I Freed Myself From The Wrong Model (And Doubled My Money Because Of It)
This is a guest post from Laura Roeder. Laura is a social media marketing expert who teaches small businesses how to create their own fame and claim their brand online. She is the creator of the Creating Fame Classroom, Your Backstage Pass to Twitter as well as other courses she offers online. Laura’s free program, The Dash, provides weekly actionable tips on how to leverage social media. To become a member, go to GetTheDash.com.
Not this again.
I found myself on another looong Chicago bus ride, on my way to present a proposal (AKA spend an hour of my time without getting paid) to yet another hesitant prospect. By all measures my web design business was doing incredibly well – I was 23 years old and had hit just over $60,000/year.
But I was already getting drained, frustrated and burned out.
Every time I wrapped up a project I was back at zero – the song and dance of getting new clients was never-ending. The most frustrating part was that there didn’t seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel – the only way to grow my business was to spend MORE time getting new clients and spending MORE time working on their projects. None of my marketing was leveraged – I had to start fresh with every new prospect.
And truthfully, working with clients was hard. I felt like I was on call 24/7 to their whims and frustrations. It was difficult to know when a project was done and any kind of setback fell squarely on my shoulders.
In other words – it sucked.
I knew that I had to get out before I became completely miserable, so in the beginning of 2009 I made a radical decision -
I fired all my clients.
Keep in mind – this was my full-time business. I didn’t have a day job, part-time work, or family to back me up. I guess I’m kind of all-or-nothing that way but I knew the faster I ditched my old business the sooner I’d be able to fully commit to my new one.
And I did.
I started out by publishing a weekly newsletter called The Dash (you can still sign up here) with a quick social media how-to. I didn’t have a list (or even a website!) for my new business built out yet, so I just sent it to my old web design clients. They loved it and word started to spread.
As I crafted my social media business, I thought about what I had learned before. I didn’t want clients. I didn’t want to constantly hustle for proposals. I wanted a model where my marketing could keep working for me, where someone would be able to buy something without a one-on-one conversation.
I could have never predicted that exactly what I was looking for would be handed to me on a silver platter.
Right after I moved to Los Angeles in 2009 I won a contest where I received a box full of business and marketing training programs and admission to a local conference. The conference taught exactly how to make an information product – how to determine your topic, get clear on your ideal customer, even how to market it.
So I went home and put in place what I had learned.
My first information product, Your Backstage Pass to Twitter, brought in just over $3,000.
Let me say that again – THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS! I used to chase one client for months to get three thousand dollars! I used to have to go to four networking events to find someone that wanted to hire me!
From that day, I KNEW that I had found the business model that I was looking for. It had everything my old business didn’t – and the best part was after I created the program other people could keep buying it! (And still do – an updated version of course.) This was miles away from my one-off web design projects where no part of the work could be leveraged or duplicated – every project started at zero.
Building a profitable information product business is not easy. It doesn’t take any less work than my web design business and every day I’m confronted with something new to learn.
I think the big difference is leverage and finding a business model that I love. In less than a year my social media business made more than double my highest-earning year in my web design business. Once I hit on something that worked I stuck with it and kept iterating and improving.
I don’t think there’s one right business model for everyone. Some people love having the one-on-one interaction with clients. There’s some work that just needs to be done hands-on. But if you’re sick of the services you’re providing, there are more options out there. Moving from services to products allowed me to skyrocket my growth, build a business I love, and have a blast doing it. I couldn’t ask for more.
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I have been selling information products (ebooks) for the past three years. I started out with one ebook and in the last several months I have created two new ebooks.
I love selling ebooks and I highly recommend selling them. There is work involved with information products.
First you have to create an ebook product that has a decient amount of people seeking information about that subject. That means that you need to create or have someone create an ebook cover and a PDF file for the information that you are selling.
Next, you have to make a website for your ebook. You not only have to create a website, you also have to optimize it for the search engines (SEO).
Third, and this is what requires the most work, you have to go and market your ebook. You need to know your target market. Marketing your ebook should be done on a regular basis if you want to sell lots of ebooks. If people don’t know that you sell a product that they would be interested in buying from you they will buy it from someone else instead of from you.
The fact that she knew how important it was to get rid of the previous business completely; so that the new business can be taken with complete focus; is the key to her success. Most people, though know this basic tenet to success, don’t have the will to act on it.
Inspiring article Laura! It’s tough to totally change your business model, but if things aren’t going the way you want, sometimes that’s the only way to go.
I recently started a freelance consulting business and I already see how trading hours for dollars is not an ideal business model. I’m already working on an ebook to supplement and compliment my consulting business and this post was great motivation to continue on that path.
Laura, great story. In addition to observations from previous commenters, the one thing that jumped out from your story was this:
“So I went home and put in place what I had learned.”
Many people are exposed to great suggestions, but so few actually have the follow-through to do it. Congratulations on applying what you learned for great success!
With Warm regards from snowy Toronto.
Quite an inspiring story — took a lot of courage to change so radically. I think you made a good point about loving what you do — once that comes into place, the work you put in and the training you need no longer seem like burdens.
Thanks everyone, glad you got some take-aways from the article
I love this story. It shows you how powerful it is when you know what you want, and you’re willing to work to make it happen.
[...] Change is gonna do you good. Despite any startups best efforts, there may come a time when your business model just doesn’t work anymore. It may be at the beginning of your business, when you realize some or all of your assumptions are wrong, wrong, wrong. It may be after your business is up and running when you realize the business model you’ve created is just not working, or just not working for you. Making a change can be tough, but at times it’s the only answer. Here’s one entrepreneur’s story. MyWifeQuitHerJob.com [...]
[...] Change is gonna do you good. Despite any startups best efforts, there may come a time when your business model just doesn’t work anymore. It may be at the beginning of your business, when you realize some or all of your assumptions are wrong, wrong, wrong. It may be after your business is up and running when you realize the business model you’ve created is just not working, or just not working for you. Making a change can be tough, but at times it’s the only answer. Here’s one entrepreneur’s story. MyWifeQuitHerJob.com [...]
[...] Change is gonna do you good. Despite any startups best efforts, there may come a time when your business model just doesn’t work anymore. It may be at the beginning of your business, when you realize some or all of your assumptions are wrong, wrong, wrong. It may be after your business is up and running when you realize the business model you’ve created is just not working, or just not working for you. Making a change can be tough, but at times it’s the only answer. Here’s one entrepreneur’s story. MyWifeQuitHerJob.com [...]
[...] Change is gonna do you good. Despite any startups best efforts, there may come a time when your business model just doesn’t work anymore. It may be at the beginning of your business, when you realize some or all of your assumptions are wrong, wrong, wrong. It may be after your business is up and running when you realize the business model you’ve created is just not working, or just not working for you. Making a change can be tough, but at times it’s the only answer. Here’s one entrepreneur’s story. MyWifeQuitHerJob.com [...]
Laura that was the definition of INSPIRATIONAL. I was hesitant to offer informational products but I’ve always been drawn to it. I’m going to try to do the same and hopefully have similar success as you. Thanks for sharing your story!
This was a great article. I’m in the same situation where I’m starting over with each client and invest 110% of my time and efforts to each. I coordinate weddings and it is fun, but it can be a lot at the same time. Hoping to break through to a product business model.
Superior job on explaining a common issue.