In my experience coaching hundreds of people, anytime you go against your gut (aka intuition) you will lose. Data is important to consider, but your gut often knows the path.
Fractional CTO
"Growth Hacking" relates to identifying highly efficient ways of growing business. Where efficient, to me, tends to by $0 methods, as these scale forever. If you can create a $0 based system to grow your revenues, you can plow huge chunks of cash for even faster profit increases. I tend to use this approach to validate ideas + just to bring in new waves of customers/clients. My approach is Meetup trolling. Attend Meetups where people will be who can use your product/service/information/courseware + where you have zero competition. For example, one of my companies provides high traffic hosting for WordPress sites. Easy places to pickup new clients/customers include any Meetup.com group event where people network... because... likely many have WordPress sites + most hosting tends toward slow + glitchy. Likely no one else will be pitching WordPress hosting, so I'd have no competition. This example is using offline tech to push to online service. You can use the exact same approach to promote lawn mowing, only you call it... Executive Landscaping... Or coaching or computer repair. Marketing is marketing. Whether your product is online or offline.
Fractional CTO
Search for the term... Meetup Group Construction Kit which explains how to abuse Meetup.com for pleasure + profit.
Personal Trainer/Coach
What I would recommend is to find out what your competitions are not doing. then figure out how you can add more value at that area. Adding more value to people life that out weight your competitions is the key to stand out.
Better business systems for more time and money
I think as stated below, its important to do some research on who would use this platform and why? I think there are so many platforms out there, you need to be clear about what you’re offering and why your target market would continue to log on to your platform, and not an established platform like Linkedin, which is evolving more and more, and also how you are going to make money from it (unless it’s a charity thing).
| Experienced professional| Problem-solver|
It is difficult to provide an exact number as it would require an audit of all stripe merchants' systems to check for dynamic billing descriptors enabled and their equivalents.
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This is a tricky question and a bit hard to follow, just FYI. My first thought, and I apologize if it sounds rude in any way, is that if you are a lead generation service or can do that, wouldn't you be able to do that for yourself? I am a 10 year veteran marketer and constantly face newbies who try to compare or pitch against us but after running a quick analysis on their platforms and all else, you can tell they struggle even for their own sake. With that said, it sounds like what you have offers a lot of potential if properly 'packaged.' You obviously need to approach this as a SaaS model where you drive and offer as much value to prospects upfront and come back with the ask once a company has tried it or has encountered enough value to commit to a trial. The product packaging should be addresses in a reverse eningeering appraoch from the product market fit based on your realistic value proposition, value innovation, and the targeted demographic. Once you know who is your potential best client - you would then shape the product and its entire experienced based on them. For this, companies like ours www.Unthink.me - can help you find the right target market and do some basic research to get the demographic started and a go to market strategy. On your 3rd question, there are many ways of approaching potential clients once you know who they are... from the ever helpful but slow to kick in SEO, to the quick and scalable Google PPC, to growth hacking is possible or inbound through blogging and content creation. If you would like to some help or have any other questions please don't hesitate to message me.
Email Marketing
3
Answers
Fractional CTO
Tricky. Likely many email addresses are dead + others have forgotten your name + why they subscribed. Your steps. 1) Clean your list. 2) Place a link at top of each message that says. Report this message as spam, which then connects to a non-interactive, instant unsubscribe mechanism. This keeps people from reporting you to real spam authorities. 3) Wait 10 days, for all unsubs to come in. 4) Create a targeted audience in Facebook or Traffic Oxygen to get your name in front of these people + generate some cash, without emailing them. 5) Then run this for... say 30 days... 6) Then start weekly emails + keep these email going, so your list stays warm. If all this makes your head spin, hire someone to assist you with this.
Multi award-winning, ex-SaaS CEO & board advisor
Hi there, That's quite a loaded question, and so I would have a few questions to clarify more. How big are your potential clients? e.g. 0-100, 100-250, 250-1000, 1000+? Do you have any early successes/clients? Are you looking for a low (automated) or high touch sales approach? Be happy to chat over a call and run through some of the things we did to get several hundred global clients in 2 years. Thanks, Ben
Marketing Strategy
3
Answers
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Hello! This is a great question, different that others. I'm surprised others haven't responded to you yet. My knowledge is limited with imports/exports but I will try to be of value matching my experience and insights elsewhere to fit your needs. My name is Humberto Valle, I'm the founder of a small agency in Texas & Arizona www.Unthink.me - we bring big business marketing tools and experts to small startup companies. I am assuming you are a merchant with access to retailers/buyers in Japan then? This is what my strategy would be if I was in your shoes then. Option A) Travel to the origin destination, in this case European countries and personally network with such companies. I had a fellow from Indonesia a few years back that did just that in an effort to find a local distributor who could help with logistics and sales for their metal sculptures (the ones you find on PF Changs...) Option B) What I could try doing would be leverage competing or similar website/companies who import/export products you may have in mind and find what paid ads and keywords they are using to show up on Google Ads for certain searches and if you have a website, even try to implement those searches on your own site so that these European companies can find you as well that way. 1) through paid ads, after finding potential companies and their exact ads 2) through seo and lead generation promoting directly to them through SEO and social sites like Linkedin.
Entrepreneurship
10
Answers
Media Entrepreneur & Entertainment Industry
I've started several online companies where we have been first to market, but there have been marginally similar services out there.... A good investor will probably want to know there is someone else in the space, as if no-one else has thought of the idea, it *might* not be a good idea. Use this to your advantage. First off, it's proof of concept. Secondly, you can study where you think their downfalls are or what they are not doing well, and make that part better. Thirdly, look at which portion of the market they aren't serving, and target that. There may be enough customers to share, or they may end up acquiring you or vice versa. This will also show investors that an exit plan is feasible. In answer to your question about the level of competition, you can probably only estimate. Do some research about the amount of customers they seem to have and what the average spend per customer is. You might find some of this data (or assumptions) in trade press or hire a Virtual Assistant to pool research for you. Think of it not just as determining competition, but as validating your market, which in turn shows investors you're realistic and well-informed. Furthermore, look at some horizontals and verticals in the space. For instance, when I started our Video Chat for Actors website, WeRehearse.com, although there was nothing like it, I could pool data from Auditions sites, Actors Unions, and IMDb to work out how many potential customers there were, and what they are generally spending on similar services, so as to get an educated assumption. Best of luck!
I help you buy, sell, plan, value a business
Your question is very open ended. You're starting with the business structure instead of a money making idea. The part that concerns me is that you want to issue dividends to all the shareholders for businesses that they 'do' together. Doing usually entails working for wages/salaries. Dividends are the returns for putting capital at risk. Arrange a call if you'd like to talk and sort out your ideas a little more clearly, I can help give you some direction. Dave
Wellness, human performance, and tech.
Everyone likes innovation and will rah-rah for it until it gores their ox. The misalignment of incentives and innovation is always the biggest problem. Technology challenges can always be beaten into submission. Real innovation is by definition upsetting to the status quo, and it takes intestinal fortitude on the part of the leadership (not management, _leadership_) to face the incentive issue and get the org properly aligned around change.
3-time founder. 17 years SEO.
I've been doing SEO for nearly 20 years now (about as long as that's possible), built 3 of my own successful businesses from it, and run a 12-member agency in Chicago these days. Here's my take. You mentioned a lot of great tools there, but keep two things in mind. - These tools tend to overlap like crazy, but they're all mediocre at just about all but one thing. That's if you're lucky. - Having a system to use a tool is infinitely more valuable than the tool itself. Tools alone are worthless. This said, here's a basic SEO tech stack that I'd consider: - Ahrefs: they have the largest backlink database and a great web interface. Though, they also have the worst API by a lot (Majestic wins that). - SEMrush: they have the best scrape database of Google search results. - Screaming Frog: the best tool that I've seen to crawl your own site (by far). Somewhat of a learning curve, but pays dividends once you get good with it. - Moz: Mostly just for their keyword explorer, which is quite good. Tracking MozCast is nice too, though that's free. - BuzzStream: The most impressive outreach CRM that I've encountered. - Linkdex: for really intense per-keyword proposals. That's a strong core and how to use it. Best of luck.
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I think the problem is not in pain relief but in using the words healing if you don't have data. Relief is measureable yes, but its also very subjective to the person. Take in consideration Chiropractors (citychiropractor.com) or Magnetic Physiotherapists (magneticphysiotherapy.com) - these services provide relief and maybe some healing but theres always debate on the validity of it all. If youre trying to sell a book, your problem wouldn't be FCC, it would be marketing it. My name is Humberto, I'm the founder of www.unthink.me and evangelist of a 100 Software Engineer team called BetaBulls. I have brought products to Shark Tank, and helped some quirky products get to market as well as helped countless startups. I hope my answer provided at least minimum clarity to you. Happy trails and best of luck!
Fractional CTO
Describe your goal for categories, as a starting point. Also answer where you'll define these categories. You mention YouTube + you might mean content categories on a WordPress site. If you're referring to a Website, also be sure to state whether you're primarily targeting natural search engine traffic or you're primarily using paid traffic. Provide more context + likely someone can assist.
Evidence-based fitness coach
I would not recommend using academic writing services. If you get caught you could forfeight your whole degree. It's not worth the risk. Instead, get some personalised one-to-one coaching to improve your writing. I offer these services if you are interested.
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I love this question! First off, congrats on the achievements thus far. My name is Humberto Valle, I'm the founder of www.Unthink.me, a small hybrid agency that brings big business solutions to small growing companies. I've helped bring some products to Shark Tank, helped political figures strategize exposure, and helped countless startups. I have a varied portfolio of investments and companies and I'm an evangelist for a 100 Software Engineer team called BetaBulls. Note that I am not a sports agent, your question, however, is more about the creativity of getting started. The very first thing you need is to assume you are an agent if you want to be. With that, the very first thing I would do is ask yourself who your most engaged followers follow - what sport? what athlete? Do you have any athletes as followers? Do they happen to be in the most engaged sport in your feed? Do you have any franchises following you? Even if they are minor, such as MLB and minor league baseball - for example in this sport the players can commonly bounce back and forth from major to minor - it might be easier to start with minor league for example. But what you need to do is not track athletes, if they are known to you - you have to assume they are known to existing and well-connected agents. What you need to do is build exposure and a good relationship with one or 2 franchises and get their direction on who they want, and you try to make it happen for them by finding that athlete, starting the conversation, etc. For the average agent, social media provides little value as far as signing athletes. What you need is the support of the franchises who back you up when you come up to an athlete with a proposal to get them a good deal. For now, it would be a good effort to change your profile info to state that you are an agent (even if you arent) same thing on your website and all other assets.
Early-stage Startups
5
Answers
I help you buy, sell, plan, value a business
Yes, you need to sell something that earns you money beyond the YouTube advertising. I've had a channel for years and sell books, courses, Clarity calls and consulting. YouTube is a great platform for selling yourself and your expertise but as more people come on board, the revenues from advertising falls. Arrange a call if you'd like to brainstorm some ideas. Cheers. David C Barnett
Business strategy advisor (MBA,BTech)
Play golf, join different sports like horse riding etc
I would seriously consider launching a blog and posting content of the same type to the blog, in abundance. Then add a popup box to the blog to collect email addresses. Post daily blog posts about topics related to your blog and your newsletter. If you do this consistently, over time, you will build up traffic to your blog and also get people entering their email into your popup. This is the free way to do it...
Helping you plan/execute tech & sales strategies
There are a few resource spots you can consider, but I would strong recommend just sticking with what they offer directly on their site: https://www.twilio.com/sms/pricing?v=7 https://www.twilio.com/voice/pricing (VIP or offbook pricing is a little harder to nail down since they are going to make a specific offer to you depending on volume and just how VIP you are haha. I've seen certain companies get as much as a 25-50% discount on top of the book prices for at least a short period of usage or after they meet certain volume requirements) As for the integration side, your search is going to depend on what type of connection you're trying to make. Integration with mobile? Integration with various 3rd party platforms (Salesforce etc)? Regardless, Twilio does have extensive API documentation available which helps developers understand if/how to best connect your platform and theirs. Doing a feasibility analysis for your idea could be as easily resolved as reviewing the Twilio message boards/documentation, or I've seen it require (in certain cases) an actual prototyping phase for both validation of the connection being made and to better scope out an accurate cost of the functional scope. I've helped 50+ new ventures over the years develop planning around their software needs including feasibility planning, platform diligence, functional specification documentation, project charters, cost analysis, business plans and fundraising pitch decks. If you'd like to connect to discuss/answer product-specific questions for Twilio integration or other product dev best practices feel free to reach out and suggest some times!