BI 350: How New Entrepreneurs Can Create A Launch Pad For Their Online Empire

Episode Highlights

[03:44] — A Launchpad’s Benefits

Most businesses are not scalable: more customers are offset by needing more employees.
A launchpad business focuses on leveling up and career progression.
After you succeed with your business launch, you can think about products or building marketplaces.

[06:12] — How Eric Bought Single Grain, for $2

In 2012, Google’s updated algorithms rendered Single Grain's business model useless.
Eric owned 10% at the time, and all the other investors jumped ship.
He bought two 10% stakes from his colleagues at a dollar each.
For the rest of the equity, he negotiated and eventually acquired 100% ownership of the agency.

[09:38] — Tips on Getting Your First Client

When starting, scour for emails or LinkedIn accounts that can connect you with potential clients.
Catch a client’s attention is by offering free services.
In Eric's case, he offered 20-minute diagnosis videos of the mistakes his leads were doing when managing their websites.
Eric says that a 10–20% response rate is good progress.
Check out the resource section for a list of valuable podcasts and books that helped Eric win his first client!

[11:47] — Attracting the Initial Wave of Customers

If you have a full-time gig, it would be best to ask for testimonials instead of charging fees immediately to establish social proof.
It is possible to arbitrage the price of marketing efforts offshore, but make sure you have a system set up first.
A mistake many first-time business founders make is not verifying.

[13:28] — The Importance of Specialization

For Single Grain, they focus on SaaS companies, specifically paid ads and SEO work.
It’s essential to figure out what you are interested in and where you have experience.
If you don’t specialize, you’ll end up doing mergers and acquisitions.

[15:26] — Baby Steps of Building a Team

Single Grain was left with one employee and had to reset itself.
Outside contractors will never be aligned with the company culture.
His first most vital hire was an account manager that had multiple responsibilities.
The company founder is the visionary; an integrator (or operations person) implements the founder’s ideas.

[18:30] — Finding Online Opportunities

Amazon is still a leading opportunity, with lots of tools that you can use to jumpstart your online business.
Exploding keywords and influencer marketing are trends that you can focus on.
YouTube and content creation is a big opportunity at the moment.
Gaming is also on the rise.

[19:42] — Biggest Back-Breakers as You Approach the Million-Dollar Mark

As much as young people need a chance to grow, promoting them too quickly can prematurely cap out their skills.
Experienced, high-level seniors are worth the premiums you pay them.
If you want to lift strategically and have less time taken out of your day, proactive and experienced employees will do the job.
There's still a time and place for hiring rockstars versus having systems run by average employees, and it's all relative.

[25:49] — How to Level Up Your Business After the Initial Business Launch

It's time to transition to high leverage activities, whether learning new skills, establishing relationships, or creating content.
Ask yourself what you can invest in, whether that's your systems or new small-scale online businesses.
An audience is one of the most prominent forms of leverage that you can have.

[29:39] — The Content and SEO Strategy for a Successful business launch