Hello There,
If you're reading this there's a good chance you're building a business.
That business could be an agency (or consulting business), an affiliate site, SaaS, a blog, or any other business that can leverage digital channels (like SEO) for growth.
Which is likely why you joined my mailing list, bought a product from me, or downloaded one of my free tools, resources, guides, etc.
At some point you wanted to get something from me and in return you gave me your email address.
So here we are, and I've got a short story to share with you.
Back in 2007 I created my first digital agency, called atomni. We did a little bit of everything; web design, web development, SEO, PPC, email marketing, network management.. pretty much anything you would pay us for.
There were 3 Partners, and at one point we had 3 employees - mostly from doing pretty much anything for anyone that would pay us.
We ended up building a lightweight CMS (we called it Molecule) for spinning super simple to use, small websites, really fast. We built it to help service some of our clients and it garnered the interest of Dietz & Watson who wanted to use it for their franchisee's to build and manage their individual stores (think like corner stores, deli's, sandwich shops, etc).
This was our golden ticket out of the agency game - because honestly, we had no idea what we were doing. It was like a golden parachute in many respects.
Fast forward to 2014 I've now been at TrafficSafetyStore.com for 2 years (as the VP of Digital Strategy) and have a blog (SEONick.net) that's picking up some traffic (40-50k visits/mo) and I have a course for sale (Master Keyword Research) that people are actually buying it; a lot of people.
In a conversation with my then accountant early in the year, it becomes evident that I'm going to have a massive tax bill for the 2013 tax year... so that sucks.
In an attempt to make sure that never happens again, I create an LLC in March of 2014 called I'm From The Future, LLC. and will use it to claim any and all personal revenue moving forward.
Through the rest of the 2014 tax year I do about $80,000 in product sales, and then in the fall I sell SEONick.net for $100,000 and SEOLeads.org for $35,000. Thank God for that LLC.
I stay focused on growing TrafficSafetyStore.com to break $10 million but in the background I start to take small steps to generate leads for I'm From The Future. In 2015 we do just under $400,000 in revenue, with me cherry-picking leads that look to be the best fit for my skillset and being able to be fulfilled by my ragtag team of 4 contractors; comprised of 1 wordpress developer, 1 content writer, and 2 college SEO interns.
What I changed
Even though after atomni I vowed I would never start another agency - here I was.
But it was different this time, I didn't fall victim to the same downfalls I had my first time. I had learned some lessons between atomni, growing and selling an angel-funded Japanese consumer review site (Factor Media), and tripling top-line revenue at TSS in just 2 years.
I had a few new tricks up my sleeve and the right mindset toward building sustainable sources of revenue.
Fast forward to today
After existing TSS in October 2017 upon growing the company well into the 8 figure revenue mark, to buying 2 other agencies in January of 2018, and growing my current agency (From The Future) to millions of dollars per year in sales, and it's different.
The inputs were different - the systems and the design of the key milestones needed to achieve them, were all different.
The biggest differentiators I learned along the way were: - How to protect my time against working on tasks that I shouldn't be.
- A system for prioritizing what I should be working on and how to get everything else off my plate.
- How to build an engine that consistently sends me new, qualified leads.
- A proven process for converting leads into clients.
- How to scale my team (we're now at ~40 people) while doing less work, and making more money.
- How to retain the clients we want, that best support the company I want to build.
And perhaps most importantly I've learned that I really love meeting (and working with) other agency owners. To be fair, I love meeting entrepreneurs of all kinds - but there's a special place in my heart for agency owners.
I understand the exact problems and pains of running an agency, as it's such a nuanced business to any other I've ever been involved with.
And so in 2019 I've made it a goal to connect with other agency owners - and make as significant of an impact as I can on them and their businesses.
I'm doing this in the form of a 12 month training program called 7 Figure Agency, that officially launches next Monday, March 18, 2019.
BUT - I opened it up for early, discounted registration this morning. So if you're interested, I would strongly encourage you to go to the site right now and drop in your email address (there's no cost or commitment) and then you'll receive the final discount offer tomorrow morning when it goes out, right before ending.
If you're intrigued but find yourself immediately asking yourself "Ok, but is it right for ME?" that's a question I've been getting a lot and so I wrote a detailed answer here.
If you have any questions about anything in this long email (whether about 7FA or even just my story), my inbox is always open to folks on my mailing list - so just hit reply and I'll get back to you. I personally read and respond to every email.
To your high rankings,
Nick | | | |
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