Introductions Thread

Not doing proper Market Research is probably your biggest hindrance.

Creating 3 customer profiles for your potential business will help clarify at of the gray areas before you take the steps to build. Example if you did that for the "offline project for kids", Using first principle thinking you would eventually ask yourself "Do parents needs this service?" "Are they willing to pay for it?" "What evidence in the marketplace suggests that?"


Coming up with a new idea is one thing, but convincing people to give you money for it is another. That's where real marketing comes into play and the first step is to understand your potential customers.

People skip this step, a 2-10 hours exercise, which would save them weeks, months, or years of spinning their wheels on project that would fail from the beginning.
 
I'd say another issue you're having is deciding something is a failure and not giving it enough time and elbow grease. Failing fast is great, but 9 times since 2020 is kind of absurd. No single business is going to be started, grown, and be a success in the less than 3 months you gave each.

The HR chat bots, for instance, only remained useless because you didn't learn from your mistakes and make them useful.

The idea that kids don't need career guidance on a large scale is flat out untrue. They really need that, to the point where every school in the USA has guidance counselors and have career weeks and all that crap. And even if they didn't "need it" you make them feel they need it. That's what marketing is for.

I disagree about things failing based on the economics of it too. Again, that's what marketing is for, negotiating, finding better providers, charging more, better customer retention and improved lifetime revenue per customer.

Hell, we have a guy here crushing it with a site that's literally about "offline projects for kids". I won't say who it is or how much, but give me a break. Parents are doing nothing but begging for kids to get off the internet and off of video games.

I'm not trying to poke holes in everything you do. I'm just saying that if you quit within 3 months, of course it was a failure: a failure on your part to stick with something and work it till it works. Every business goes through iterations until it carves its groove and finds its stride, and even then it's going to be optimized constantly.
 
Ryuzaki said:
I'd say another issue you're having is deciding something is a failure and not giving it enough time and elbow grease. Failing fast is great, but 9 times since 2020 is kind of absurd. No single business is going to be started, grown, and be a success in the less than 3 months you gave each.

The HR chat bots, for instance, only remained useless because you didn't learn from your mistakes and make them useful.

The idea that kids don't need career guidance on a large scale is flat out untrue. They really need that, to the point where every school in the USA has guidance counselors and have career weeks and all that crap. And even if they didn't "need it" you make them feel they need it. That's what marketing is for.

I disagree about things failing based on the economics of it too. Again, that's what marketing is for, negotiating, finding better providers, charging more, better customer retention and improved lifetime revenue per customer.

Hell, we have a guy here crushing it with a site that's literally about "offline projects for kids". I won't say who it is or how much, but give me a break. Parents are doing nothing but begging for kids to get off the internet and off of video games.

I'm not trying to poke holes in everything you do. I'm just saying that if you quit within 3 months, of course it was a failure: a failure on your part to stick with something and work it till it works. Every business goes through iterations until it carves its groove and finds its stride, and even then it's going to be optimized constantly.
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Hi! Thanks for your comment!

I've been working on each idea during 2-5 months. My strategy was to make an MVP and test it as fast as possible. Of course I made customer interviews and did 3-5 iterations for each project. However I agree with you. If I had devoted more time to any of the projects, I would have reached success.

Now I'm going to spend more time on the product I'm working on.
 
Heya Gleb, welcome to BuSo.

There's definitely something to be said about failing fast instead of spinning your wheels on one thing for 2 years delusionally hoping it'll work out and ending up in the same spot, but I tend to agree with the mod squad that a little more time upfront could probably drastically increase your odds of success and being on the right path.

Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing how your current endeavor goes for you, and I appreciate anyone who posts honestly about their ups and downs.

How are you planning to avoid some of the previous pitfalls from your past projects, on this new one?

Hopefully you'll keep us posted on how things are going!
 
Hey all, great forum this. Learned heaps already and constantly finding new nuggets of info scattered around the place.

I’m a Financial Advisor who doesn’t like being a Financial Advisor. This is my escape plan!

I started a podcast in 2020 which has been going better than I ever thought it would. I’m no Joe Rogan by any means, but I get around 10k listeners a month.

Podcasting is really cool and I love doing it, but it’s tough to get organic reach and tough to monetize unless you’re a big boy.

I tried YouTube. I actually like making videos but I can’t handle the clickbaity nature of the platform, blowjob face thumbnails and all.

SO, here I am. Decided to crank up the website of the podcast, making it a personal finance brand rather than just a podcast.

The pod and site are in the finance niche, which I know is super competitive but I know it well from my job and it’s a lucrative market.

Site is going ok so far I think. Been about 2 months since I’ve been actively adding articles, I have 49 live and I’m getting around 10 clicks from Google each day and another 20ish direct - which I assume is podcast listeners who I try drive to the site however I can (free eBook, ask a question for the show etc)

looking forward to getting more involved here and hopefully adding back value as I learn more!
 
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Heya welcome to BuSo, sounds like a good plan!

Random question. If you're a financial advisor doing a podcast about financial advice, do you still have to do the "this isn't financial advice wink wink" memes or can you just straight up be like, hell yeah, this is financial advice?
 
jplizz said:
The pod and site are in the finance niche, which I know is super competitive but I know it well from my job and it’s a lucrative market.
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This is great. Just make sure you underline you authority/experience in the sector, link to your linkedin everywhere, any citations. Build up Google's view of you in the financial space and crank out the content!
 
Potatoe said:
Heya welcome to BuSo, sounds like a good plan!

Random question. If you're a financial advisor doing a poccdcast about financial advice, do you still have to do the "this isn't financial advice wink wink" memes or can you just straight up be like, hell yeah, this is financial advice?
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This is not financial advice and I don't have my series 7. DDDDD

You have a duty as a broker dealer to qualify prospects before sharing marketing information for the majority of stuff worth shilling. That can't be met if you just go posting off with out doing a vetting and verifying step.
 
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I don’t get too bothered with the “this is not financial advice” stuff. I cover my ass in 2 ways.

1. I don’t create any content that talks about specific investments or products. For example I’ll write an article that would be “How to choose an ETF that’s right for you” not “the 3 best ETF’s” on the market.

the industry focuses too much on specific products anyway rather than the strategy/plan which is what moves the needle the most.

2. I naturally caveat things whenever I talk about them. So if I’m talking about the stock markets potential returns over the next months, if I’m saying it looks like it could a strong year for the markets, I’ll follow that up “but who the fuck knows really, anything could happen”

that’s not just to cover my ass it’s also because it’s true. Same if I’m talking about a category of product. I’ll say the type of person it might be right for and the type of person it might not be right for.

basically, I avoid talking in absolutes because in finance there actually aren’t many.

secretagentdad said:
This is not financial advice and I don't have my series 7. DDDDD

You have a duty as a broker dealer to qualify prospects before sharing marketing information for the majority of stuff worth shilling. That can't be met if you just go posting off with out doing a vetting and verifying step.
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I’m not in the US and I plan to make money through info content not affiliates
 
jplizz said:
it’s tough to get organic reach and tough to monetize unless you’re a big boy.
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Couldn't agree more. If you can invite a celebrity to your Podcast, it should be great for earning recognition.
 
Rewire said:
Couldn't agree more. If you can invite a celebrity to your Podcast, it should be great for earning recognition.
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Yeh it’s an interesting one that. Unless you can land actual massive, global celebs like Joe Rogan or Lex Friedman I actually don’t think having people with a big profile does much.

I’ve had 2 “big names” on my show. One with 250k followers on Twitter and one with 500k. The episodes were good, nice interview, covered some interesting topics, but had the same level of downloads as an episode of me talking to myself about tax rates.

a friend of mine has a podcast as well and he recently had a guest on his show who has 350k followers on Instagram, the guy interviewed was kind enough to plug the episode on his stories and yet he reported the same thing to me, downloads the same as any other episode.

I think if the big name was your friend and prepared to do some consistent promotion over the course of a week or so, I agree it would catapult you. But if they did that for everyone they spoke to, their total social feed would just be promoting random podcasts and YouTube channels!
 
Potatoe said:
Heya Gleb, welcome to BuSo.

There's definitely something to be said about failing fast instead of spinning your wheels on one thing for 2 years delusionally hoping it'll work out and ending up in the same spot, but I tend to agree with the mod squad that a little more time upfront could probably drastically increase your odds of success and being on the right path.

Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing how your current endeavor goes for you, and I appreciate anyone who posts honestly about their ups and downs.

How are you planning to avoid some of the previous pitfalls from your past projects, on this new one?

Hopefully you'll keep us posted on how things are going!
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Thanks for the support!

I agree that I need more time to develop any project. So the main plan is to spend more time on it :smile: and do more customer interviews to understand customers problems.

Now I have 2 project that I start from scratch. First of them is for my main job. With a small team, I want to make a service for entrepreneurs that will help them work more concentrated. Moreover, we want to do this project for USA market while we are in Europe. So in fact we don't really know USA market and now we're trying to research it. It turned out to be very difficult, but exciting.

Second project is my own. I am a musician, I can create songs of any complexity. So I decided to create songs for brands. Now I'm trying to do my first order for a local chain of hairdresserswith.
 
Hello BuSO!

My name is Shawn, and I have come here to learn, to grow and TO BUILD!

I am 51 yrs. old; I currently have a job that I can honestly say is the best job with the best company with the best group of co-workers earning the most money I have had in all my year of working.

BUT....IT"S NOT ENOUGH!

For years I watched and wished and dreamt as others made moves, made money, and made better lives for themselves and their loved ones. I had this crazy dream in my 20's, at the start of the dot com era that I could become a billionaire. Well, if I had the discipline I could have. But alas I was more interested in dreaming that doing. I have steady grown frustrated over the years as I have felt like life was just fading away and I was just existing instead of living.

Then, Dec 31st, 2021, I found myself in Thailand, on a beach, in short, a tee shirt with my feet in the sand as the clock struck 12am and it was Jan 1st, 2022. I will never forget that as the day I had had enough and decided it was time to get my freedom back.

Although I do not need a billion anymore, my goal is to build a business that generates a profit of at least 30k per month with digital publishing and info products. In the short term - 12 to 18 months - I want to generate enough income to replace my current salary so I can fire my boss.

I want my time back; I want my freedom back! I want these things to continue building a business, teach my daughter to build her own business, travel while making money and live life without being at the mercy of a job that pays enough to keep you working there but not enough to leave, or needing the permissions of a another person to go wherever I want, whenever I want and to stay however long I want.

So, as I said in the beginning, I am here to Learn, to Grow and to Build. These are things I can do; I will do, and I must do for myself to live the days I have left on this planet to the fullest. I look forward to digging into this community of others who are on the same journey or are already there and reaching back to help those of us trying to get where they are.

Cheers!
 
Welcome. My first time in Thailand was magical as well.

If you want to make 30K a month do not make that your goal. Make your goal at least 300K a month. That will open your eyes and your mind to new possibilities and ways of doing things that will actually make you money. If your goal is just 30K a month you’ll likely be stuck grubbing for earthworms the rest of your life.
 
Sutra said:
Welcome. My first time in Thailand was magical as well.

If you want to make 30K a month do not make that your goal. Make your goal at least 300K a month. That will open your eyes and your mind to new possibilities and ways of doing things that will actually make you money. If your goal is just 30K a month you’ll likely be stuck grubbing for earthworms the rest of your life.
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As soon as I fire my boss, I will make my second home in Thailand and spend at least 6 months out of the year there.

I have always wanted to make 1k per day as I thought that would be enough for me to live the way I want and it might be BUT I do confess I want all that is mine, I want to recover all that passed bye as I sat on my ass working for someone else who is living their best life.

I was listening to a personal development podcast last week getting my mind ready for this battle and I began thinking why I am settling for 30k per month, why not go after 100k per month or more.

Thank you for the confirmation and kick to shift my thinking and perspective!
 
Great. You can have it all. Go for everything that passed you bye and more. Take everything. You don't need to confess, as that implies shame. What you want is what you want. That's it. Don't be ashamed. Take it all.
 
Hi everybody,
I am starting a new venture where I want to have my initial customers from my blog itself. I am a tech guy and full time employed.

my plan is to build some authority so people will at least respond when I ask them for problem discovery and also gain the first 20 customers from the blog and free tools (related to blog).

that's my plan so the first step is to find the market and start a blog.

would love to hear you thoughs
 
@Raja, sounds like a plan.

In addition to a blog I'd be working on Youtube videos I can embed everywhere. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram wouldn't hurt either. If you want to be "the guy" then this is going to be all about personal branding and trust (from repeated exposure) and then evidence you can do what you say.

If you're hiring people to do the work and it'll run more like an agency, I'd still say to approach it this way. Especially if the work is remote and can be done from any location.

But I'd definitely focus on SEO, too. That'll be some targeted traffic and exposure to people with the problems you can solve.
 
Ryuzaki said:
@Raja, sounds like a plan.

In addition to a blog I'd be working on Youtube videos I can embed everywhere. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram wouldn't hurt either. If you want to be "the guy" then this is going to be all about personal branding and trust (from repeated exposure) and then evidence you can do what you say.

If you're hiring people to do the work and it'll run more like an agency, I'd still say to approach it this way. Especially if the work is remote and can be done from any location.

But I'd definitely focus on SEO, too. That'll be some targeted traffic and exposure to people with the problems you can solve.
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I do want to start making youtube videos as well, for now, I would start with one thing at a time.

also, I am from India hence the accent, working on speaking in a more neutral accent.
thanks for the suggestion
 
Hey Shawn,
I'm new to BuSo and to the world of IM in general, only been involved for a bit more than a year - but I completely relate to your story!

One thing I'll say - make the move to Thailand ASAP.
I've been out here for the last three years and it was the best decision I've ever made.

There's an amazing expat community here when it comes to all things IM - especially SEO and Info product creation. I've found them all to be extremely helpful and willing to provide answers to any question I ask or topic I want to know more about.

Online communities are amazing, but having one IRL with people undertaking the same vision as you is next-level. Big hubs center around Chiang Mai and Bangkok.

Hope to see you here in the next year or two!
 
one more interesting service I could offer is Productized Remote VAs. being in 3rd world country I could use it as an advantage. I have seen guys on Twitter do it and they get to keep 70% of it as the VAs are also being paid fairly and the person hiring gets a trained employee on minimum wage working 6hrs more per week.
 
When a friend mentioned SEO Avalanche, it piqued my interest. When I read about it, SEO Blue Hat just rang the bell. It was the early stage of my SEO journey when I followed SEO Blue Hat. So here I am more than 15 years later. I hope to learn from you as I'm still learning not just SEO but other areas such as social media and content marketing.
 
Hello, my name is Umber and I am a professional On page SEO expert and guest post email outreach specialist. I have worked in the online marketing industry for over 8 years, and have helped countless businesses achieve their desired results through effective SEO techniques and powerful email outreach campaigns.
 
Hello All!
I just wanted to make a thread here as I've been super impressed with everything i've read here so far. I'm a member at STM forum and pay for that and there's great info there and we share a lot of high level stuff there but I will honestly say the value here for it being a free forum is literally off the charts. I'm not promoting STM in anyway and not affiliated with them at all... If you all are newbies and you are just reading this, man... you have everything here you need to launch a new business. Literally. That's all I will say about that. The value here is incredible. I'm a newbie here and in regard to building these types of content sites which is why i'm here. I'm shocked this forum is free, seriously.

Technically, I'm a newbie here at your house, but in the internet marketing game i'm not. Building content sites is new to me, I have a digital marketing agency and currently receiving private equity offers (that i'm turning down) to purchase my agency. It's been a tough road and i've made a lot of mistakes... but I will tell you I am currently trying to build something like what you all do here because that is the true passive income lifestyle. Once you start dealing with clients, employees, lawsuits, the "state", etc, etc... it gets less fun and I'm looking to cash out - get what i can and build a site like what I've seen you all build here. Long story short, I'm happy to be here with you all and thank you for your input.

Just to blunt any potential nay sayers, no... I will never have any marketplace offers about building an agency, I won't do any consulting offers, nothing. I'm not here for that. I'm happy to be a friend, offer advice if i can, but I won't be offering any services, etc... I'm not here for that. Some of the marketplace guys that have solid offers will know who i am because I'm buying their services... I just wanted to say hello here.
Cheers!
 
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