13 years ago I was lying in the bed listening to my daughter read her book to me…. “Daddy wake up she said.”
“I’m sorry sweetie, Daddy is tired it’s been a long day at work.”
You see 13 years ago I was a single parent. I would take my daughter to daycare early so I could drive to get to work by 7:30 am. My commute was 35 minutes with no traffic, but because of the morning rush… it would take 41 minutes.
So, as a result, my daughter would be one of the first to arrive and because I had a long workday and had to deal with an even longer commute back home, she would be one of the last to be picked up.
So we would get home, I would cook dinner, usually a pasta dish…. that was quick and simple. Cooking is not something that I enjoy doing. I can do it, but I have no desire to cook, I would rather bake.
I enjoy baking the family recipe pancakes and apple pie. But we can’t eat pancakes and apple pie every day… So I was forced to cook pasta and the occasional salmon or tuna.
I remember putting my daughter to bed that night, thinking I have to find another way to earn the same amount of income but with less time spent.
As Robert Kiyosaki said in his Top Selling Book “Rich Dad Poor Dad” the pathway to wealth and financial freedom is operating in the Right Side of the Cashflow Quadrant. You can either be a business owner or an Investor. I’m currently on the left side, Employee
Well, needless to say, I started out as an Investor. Based on my default introvert personality… I figured investing is the better path to start. And plus I really didn’t have a business idea to start in the “Business” quadrant.
But man I lost money trying to invest…
So now, I have to find a way to make up the money that I lost…
How am I going to do that?
A second job is not a solution. My daughter is already in daycare for the near-maximum time allowed. The only solution I could think of is starting a business. I could start a home business and work on it at night and a few more hours on the weekends.
In my research in searching for a home business, I came across ways to market your business using internet marketing techniques. Which peaked a desire to learn more.
Around this time a buddy of mine was looking to start a race team and race shop. He’s been a racing fan all of his life. New every NHRA top dragster and crew chief. He grew up building engines with his father.
I volunteer to help market his race shop as a way to test this new-found knowledge of marketing online.
So once or twice a week, I would write a blog article talking about an upcoming race and the results
of the past race. Also, I would write a press release article each week during racing season, announcing their attendance in the weekend race event.
After about six weeks of consistently writing blog articles and press releases, I received a phone call from a local newspaper writer. He wanted to interview the race team owner.
I asked how he heard of the team.. and he mentioned he find out about us through one of the press release sites. Wow… that was amazing… This actually works.
The editor featured the race team in the local newspaper, which jump-started my buddies race shop business.
Now I had proof that this online marketing thing can work.
So I thought to have a business where I can help people market their business online would be a great business for me.
So I created my business in October of 2009. To help entrepreneurs market their business online.
By the time I finished planning my first marketing campaign using SEO strategy. The Google Slap occurred in 2010. Adwords cost increased significantly, the rules changed and now my plan that I created was obsolete. Old news, it would only work if I had a bunch of cash to invest in Google Adwords.
Which I did not, have the cash. And the credit cards were already maxed out from the multiple business and marketing training courses I purchased to accelerate my learning.
Thus entering me into a challenging period. The bright side is I was getting married in July of 2010, to a wonderful, God Fearing, Proverbs 31 women.
But at the same time, internally this added a lot of stress. I put all of my eggs in this business and now, I have no income to support my new wife and daughter.
You see in October of 2009, I left my current job to focus on starting the business and spend more time with my daughter. I had savings for 6 months and a passion. But guess what… savings was depleted and now, I have no income, savings, or credit to extend the venture.
My new wife was supporting us with her income from a new job.
But this just added more stress, because I desire to support my wife and family. And the end game was for her to be able to be at home and raise our children. We believe in having a parent at home to nourish and teach the children in the way they should go so when they get older they will not depart from it. And naturally, my wife is a better nurturer than me, so having her working while I was at home was depressing for me. But I was not ready to give up and quit the business.
I was on the verge of getting a new client, which occurred through good old fashion networking.
And to be honest, this bugged me as well, because how can I be an online marketer getting clients through means outside of online marketing. This was just more of a confidence deflator, which intern I didn’t feel worthy of pricing my service where it needed to be to support my family.
I lowered my price significantly, so when I did get a few new clients, the price barely covered my expenses and wasn’t much leftover to support the family.
However, the online strategy I did implement for them did work, which boosted my confidence, but it still didn’t boost my price.
And by this time my wife was 6 months pregnant and I had to make the decision, to put the business to the side and return to the workforce as an Employee.
It was a good decision, because it provided cash, health care, and allowed my wife to stay home with our children.
That stress was gone, but the reality is I failed at getting the business to the point to support us. I was unable to achieve the goal of generating enough income without sacrificing all of my good working hours as an employee.
That sense of failure wade on me, but as a husband and father, I had to make the sacrifice.
But the question was still in the back of my head… how do I make this business work, grow it to the point where I can eventually have it as my main source of income.
I know all of the tactical marketing strategies, but when I try them, I’m still not getting the results I need online. By this time the internet is saturated with online marketing agencies. There is a lot of competition.
However, when I get in front of my ideal client in person through networks, I usually get a client, but how do I get in front of them.
Networking organizations usually meet during the day, while I’m working. and I don’t have enough vacation days to use them for monthly or bi-monthly meetings. Plus this still is going against my one rule… to generate the majority of my leads through online marketing campaigns.
So that’s out. So how do I get my message in front of my ideal customer?
SEO is working, but it takes a long time. And it is extremely harder in the B2B niche, because of the high competition.
Paid advertising works, if you have enough money and a good funnel to offset the cost of acquiring a customer.
Then I remembered a common message my mentors shared, Mike Koening, Ed Rush, Frank Kern, Russell Bronson, and Rich Harshaw about positioning. It’s about how to position yourself as an authority so you can attract highly qualified buyers.
People are attracted to gurus… the person that is influential in helping people solve their problems.
The fact of the matter is I ignored this message because I was scared to do it. I didn’t believe I was an expert or an authority. Even though I knew more about digital marketing than most business owners. And I had proof to show it, but because I didn’t know more than my mentors, I didn’t have the confidence to do it.
Going back to my first marketing campaign for my buddy with the race team and shop. Their success started with an influential person, local newspaper writer, finding my press release and blog, and writing a featured article on my buddy in the local newspaper.
The local newspaper is perceived by the local readers as a guru… Authors of news articles are perceived as gurus even if they have limited knowledge in the subject matter. They receive this status, all from interviewing people in a certain niche.
So if you are not a guru, but use a medium that people perceive as a place where gurus hang out like a newspaper, podcast, Amazon, YouTube, the Internet, etc. and you are featured in the media then you automatically are perceived as a guru.
I was so close to the promised land back then, but because of my lack of faith… I’ve spent 9 years in the wilderness going in circles, similar to God’s people when they left Egypt and spent 40 years in the wilderness because of their lack of faith in God.
Man what a valuable lesson learned though… I know have faith and confidence.
So I have created a plan which I call
Oracle Position, which will position you and me as an authority in our industry, so we can attract highly qualified clients ready to purchase our products and services.
The strategic plan starts with drafting and creating your offer.
Second, drafting and creating your messages.
Third, creating a sales funnel to capture, connect and convert leads into loyal customers.
Fourth positioning your messages and offers everywhere online, to lead through your sales funnel.
Fifth, accelerate the plan with paid advertising.
I failed in the past because I did these steps out of order or in no order at all.
I know this plan will work, which is why I am inviting you to join me on this journey to witness it for yourself, so you can have the faith and confidence in believing it will work for you too.
Join me on this journey by following me on this media by subscribing, liking or whatever means it has for you to get notified of my next publication.
