hey there I’m mark Trager and I sit down
with Evan Carmichael in a 10 part series
because I was able to build an over
million dollar a year business ten years
ago now I was at in the recession I was
at the point in my life where I had no
revenue
I had no employees I had no clients and
I thought I was gonna shut down my
business I was able to go from zero to a
million dollars plus by following some
simple steps in this 10-part series Emma
and I sit down and we break through
everything we look at operations we look
at how to build your portfolio we look
at where to get your customers from the
first video starts right now that’s
going to help you take your business to
what’s the believe nation I am testing a
new series on how to build a million
dollar company and I thought I’d start
with the friend of mine mark Draper
Draper that’s awesome let’s keep that in
mark Drager I’m so happy I flubbed the
inch yet we got to keep all this in mark
has built an awesome million dollar plus
business in the what are you doing
this is dog just randomly showing up of
course this is fun what do we teach me
we’ll do what you have to build an
agency marketing agency if you want to
build a million dollar-plus marketing
agency that is what this series 10 part
series is all about and so do you have a
quick like something quick you want to
intro say about yourself what you do
sure yeah so I started fanta 12 years
ago we started really heavily focused on
video but you know as marketing has
changed as advertising has change we’ve
been able to expand into all assets or
facets of digital marketing and
analytics because really you wanted me
to start with one piece of value so
we’ll start right away yeah yeah the
only BK yeah you’re okay the only thing
that matters yeah
is the value you drive to a client it
seems basic but that’s that’s the only
thing that matters okay so point number
one this video you have to drag down to
your client how do you do it so it
starts with trying to figure out what
your skill sets are so what are you good
at ya know if you’re really great at
design and you like marketing then it
makes more sense to start a creative
type of agency if you’re really great at
websites and building websites and it
makes more sense to start a digital type
of agency whatever your passion is and
whatever you focus on is where your
business will go anyway so the first
place to start is figuring out what are
you really good at and you don’t have to
be the best at it but when you’re
starting you know you want a few people
to be able to say like oh you got a gift
here you’re talented or that’s really
good or we really like it and it seems
super super basic but but that that
positive reinforcement is gonna help you
build confidence and get you through
things and that’s where you start so for
us we started with video yeah I went to
film school I went and worked in
corporate video if you go back and look
at her stuff from 12 years ago it’s not
good it’s it’s really really bad work
and
but I started with video because that’s
that’s what I knew and then the video
Marta became video marketing and then
video marketing became oh we need to put
this on a landing page and then the
landing page became oh can you do the
microsite and for years we had clients
asking us they said oh we love how you
do video so much can you please do this
other stuff for us and we said no we’re
just we’re video agency only so so sorry
you have to go find someone else and we
would hear all these bad things about
bad experiences and finally we said why
are we why returning clients away when
they like us when they like what we do
why don’t we apply what we’re doing to
all of these other styles of work yeah
and so that’s how our company turned
into you know a full service digital
agency or full-service marketing agency
because the clients we’re coming to us
and saying saying please help us with
these other things right and so it’s
okay to start with just focusing on logo
design or it’s okay to start with trying
to be the best at creating a landing
page and driving traffic to that landing
page yeah it’s all about what you’re
good at and then marrying up that with
value right we can’t lose sight of the
fact that like I say this to my team it
matters more what clients think about
your work and the quality of the work
okay all right that bothers me because
I’m a yeah because I’m a perfectionist
yeah like I have high standards so I go
oh you know it’s it should all be about
how good the work is but it’s not yeah
it’s how people feel about the work
right right so you’re working with
people and you’re starting out and you
go I don’t have a portfolio you have one
or two people who like you right that’s
that’s great
right like start right right like that I
called you Draper and said a drinker
oh no one likes eyes like that what in
the comments this is I’m gonna
screenshot and show mark how much you
love that we call them Draper what so
the point of this series is to get to
get specific right so like somebody
wants to build a million dollar plus
marketing agency so tip number one is
you have to know yourself what you love
doing where you can bring the most value
so I’m thing okay I love that I agree
now how do I what’s my next step if I’m
just starting how do I figure out maybe
like what I’m good at yet because you
may not be good at at the start but you
have a passion for the thing to get
better at how do i how do I make that
decision to know yes this is the right
path so you can do as much planning as
you want you
do as much thinking as you want I you
know I started my company I was really
young I was 24 yeah but I actually had
written a business plan not that sounds
really fancy I had actually printed off
a bunch of other people’s websites and
kind of came up with the idea for what I
wanted to start yeah three years earlier
and and I only remembered that like much
later I found all these notes and I was
like with all these websites I was like
oh yeah when I was like 19 or 20 I had
this vision of starting something yeah
so do you want to start something like
ask yourself if you want to start
something and you’re really good at it
then like yeah it’s not complicated like
you just have to start you just have to
start because it’s gonna take you time
to get better and that’s okay it’s gonna
take you time to listen to the clients
who you’re working with and and fix your
operations and all the other topics that
we’re gonna kind of get into in other
videos yeah but there’s there’s not
really much magic to it other than the
courage to just say this is something
I’m doing and being okay with with
getting better yeah and being okay with
figuring it out later you know when we
switched maybe three and a half four
years ago from being only video right
and and the previous video we did was
how to build a multi you know
multi-million dollar or whatever video
company and now we’re talking about
marketing yeah we just switched yeah
right I was like this is who we are now
this is what we do and I started talking
to people I took them out for lunch and
I said this is what we want to do this
is how we want to help and people like
that so if you want to start a website
company yeah decide okay I want to start
a website company start talking to
people about the fact that you are now a
website company yeah and how you want to
help them I get it I mean and that’s the
point of this series because it people
will overthink those things yeah yeah
yeah like like when I started we didn’t
have a website for the first two months
yeah
now this isn’t 2006 but yeah I mean in
2006 we start the company start the
company with no website for two months
right even if you go through if anyone
goes through the wayback machine it’s
like it’s it took us four years to
actually create something that was until
never say back but yeah I think they say
that was even shocked know if they still
to keeping track yeah if you want to go
if you want to go away back fanta
mediacom like like it’s embarrassing
it’s embarrassing
we I was saying to someone the other day
I’m like I think we’re on our fourth
logo only we’ve been around 12 years
when our fourth love oh yeah
and that’s because our first bunch of
logos were really bad okay all right
they just they just weren’t good
you know we incorporated the company
because we thought like oh if we have
you know the word incorporated or
limited or company or seemed big like we
just made lots of mistakes so just just
don’t worry about that get started right
it started with one client that turns
into three yeah it turns into six
records into you know do try to do good
work try to listen so but but really the
core for kind of the first part of it is
thinking about the type of company you
want to build do you want to be a great
freelancer okay that’s running a company
yeah right do you want to be a
freelancer as two or three people
working for you do you want to have a
team of 30 or 40 people that’s like a
totally different type of company and
you’re not gonna be there from day one
but but you know understand what do you
need to be at to get them to hit a
million in revenue what size can you
can’t do those a freelancer can you do
as a freelancer no right so like what
what size team do you need to be at to
hit a million so the range
yeah I mean you’re gonna be anywhere
between oh gosh maybe if you’re killing
yourselves four or five people yeah up
to I mean up to anything I guess but if
you yeah anyway thousand people you
million visit now I mean if you’re if
you’re so so I’m talking about like
full-time staff yeah if you’re
outsourcing cuz you can build a great
outsource yeah to we’re outsourcing tons
and tons of stuff yeah I mean if you’re
doing a million dollars and you only
have 20 percent margins and you’re only
earning 200,000 in-house yeah so so
you’re only gonna have to three people
on salary yeah but if you do everything
in-house and you’re doing a million
dollars you might have eight nine ten
twelve it depends on your cost of living
it depends the area you’re working in
yep right so somebody’s just getting
started or they started their agency
they and they like men I want to be like
mark in a couple years the biggest thing
I hear sorry after out the biggest day I
hear from people because I have
conversations once or twice a month with
other people trying to do it yeah most
people aren’t starting out okay right if
you’re starting out think think ahead
okay most people are doing this for a
year or two and they’re not getting any
traction okay right are we gonna cover
that in future videos or that this is
let’s add it okay it wasn’t a top okay
here we go
bringing it how to gain traction but I
was gonna say yeah these things take
yeah and there are these tipping points
right you always talk about focus on
momentum yeah
right focus on momentum things things
start to pick up yeah I never I never
knew that your floor would be easier
than year three right or that your three
would be slightly easier than your two
right like the longer you’re doing it
the more that you’re doing it’s not that
things get easier but you’re just more
well known you know more people you’ve
had more opportunities you’ve done more
work you’re you’re in the game for
longer and so focus on some momentum but
most people who feel like they’re not
getting traction yeah because they’re
only two or three years into it or
they’re four or five and then they’re
not making big changes and so you have
to be willing to make those changes you
have to give it some time so some going
all the way back to start yeah like like
start the clock now start the clock
tomorrow yeah so that way you’re like
this is what we’re doing and don’t worry
about the business card don’t worry
about the website start telling people
this is what you’re doing start doing
free work okay start honing your skills
start talking to lots of people I decide
the type of company want to be think
about your skill sets and just start
okay so if somebody is trying to go from
deciding like the point of this video is
decide what you want to do tell you
coming you want to be and how you can
bring value to your clients
yep right what are three questions that
I need to be asking myself to figure out
that problem oh very good so everybody
watching ask yourself these three
questions yeah so I would say what is
something that you feel is easy but
you’re surprised that isn’t easy for
other people okay good right that was
that was mind blowing for me when I
started and I was a few years in and I
started hiring people and I got
frustrated I was like I was like this is
really simple stuff right and then I
learned I was like oh I’m just actually
really good at this right okay that’s
everyone but I’m so easy to me like like
I felt bad charging people money for it
right it was so easy right but so so
that’s the first question what’s
something that seems really easy to you
but others are like they can’t do or
they struggle with there’s just value
there yeah
the second question always ask yourself
if you’re good enough okay right now
this can be really depressing right ask
myself I’m good enough and I just end up
with like no I’m not okay
all right so that so the other side of
that is to pull yourself out of that
hole by figuring out what are the few
things you can do to get better all
right like I look at competition and I
go gosh they’re so good we even doing
anything good right and we’ve been doing
this for 12 years like people look at me
like I actually add a conversation with
someone who’s my competition right and
he’s looking at me and he’s so good I’m
looking at him alone these guys are so
good I mean while we’re like we could be
best friends because we’re in the same
place and doing the same thing but
there’s like some kind of healthy
competition there yeah so when you’re
starting out look at a few people that
you think are achievable ask yourself if
you’re good enough and then and then
like really use that not to get yourself
depress but to close that gap right
because everybody starts somewhere right
and so if you’re able to it’s a kick
forward not down yeah well you still
getting the kick yeah that would be the
second thing yeah I like it
and then the third thing I would say is
you can’t be everything to everybody
okay and I still I still struggle with
this too so what’s the question with
that the question would be what are
those core elements that I really should
be focusing on and doing and what are
the things that I shouldn’t be wasting
my time on uh saying no to I fallenness
all the time you know I have friends
asked me to help them with their website
when I have no time right dump those
friends do I mr. Carmichael right when
some serve you mean yeah so so you can’t
be everything to everybody yeah when
you’re starting the more niche you are
yeah the like the harder and yet easier
it is so picking it’s like what would be
an moving niche example so if you’re
like I’m only gonna ever focus on logo
design right or like for athletes of
course well that’s he’s like that’s even
better like like it depends on again the
type of company you want to build right
if you want to be started point like I’m
gonna develop websites for the yoga
industry and be the best yoga website
person and then expand from there that’s
a great way to look at it okay it’s hard
but it’s a fast way to grow okay
alright so when I started the company we
were doing it’s hard because when
there’s no one talking to you there’s no
one talking to you there’s zero revenue
there’s nothing happening but how does
the yoga thing make it worse so when I
when I started we were we were doing
lots of things for lots of people
again I was like a little money here and
a little money and a little money here
you know I need $800 and $1,000 is that
good I mean it held it helped me
generate a hundred thousand dollars of
revenue in my first year that’s a lot
more than everybody when right certain
now that was great but I reckon but when
I you do it again is that the path like
people are watching is like 100k like
they would love to have 100k I know but
here’s but here’s the problem
yeah here’s the problem I had under pay
of revenue but only only like eighteen
of it was doing the stuff I wanted to do
and so do you recommend that or no if
you put your foot down say this is what
I do I wouldn’t do it again that way how
would you do it if you starting over if
if you’re if you’re light all Drager
again yeah I mean I said it right this
time
twenty-four-year-old Reiger so this is
the this is the struggle right like my
like when I started my company my wife
had no income because she was just
graduating college my first daughter was
three months old and I quit my job I
quit my $40,000 year job and I was like
I’m out of here I’m gonna start my
company and I heard under $100,000
revenue yeah and that year we took him
$17,000 pay right so we were living
below the poverty line for the first
year so I mean I had to hustle I had to
I had to not go bankrupt I had to make
it happen so so but if I could have yeah
if I could do it again
it I would say you know what we did all
of that work on all of those different
things and I still only made 17 grand
mm-hmm so it was it was about having the
courage to say well get through that
first year things will get better and if
I had focused all my efforts only on
that one thing that we were good at
maybe I still would have made 17 or 18
grand right and maybe I would have
actually been less busy right right it’s
uncomfortable not to be busy so if you
want to do the if you want to be like
yoga website person if you want to be
the web thing here too it’s better by
year three it’s even but say no to the
guy who wants you to make a car
dealership website of course or say no
the person who goes in the hand used to
say no to the person who’s like oh you
seem to be pretty good as I can you do
my business cards right right and say no
if you want to be a design company be a
design company if you want to be if you
want to be a website company be website
company’s gonna be a photography company
do that
what are you age more than 17 K do you
love it no is it your skill set yes but
you don’t like it
nope so what’s your passion I want to be
the yoga guy I don’t
design your business cards so I’d say no
don’t fall into the temptation of making
the money I’m losing errors because
that’s what people do already usually
lose a few years
is it worth costing you a few years
right it will it will slow you down so
Drager like go back to 24 year old
drinker mark can you help me with my
business cards but I’m not gonna pee no
I would have totally done it but I
shouldn’t I shouldn’t have I pay you a P
17 K just my business cards but that’s
Imbaba right yeah listen it was the
thing there was there’s a time to get
through the first year where this
company hired us to do landing pages
right you’re right we were starting a
video agency right but we’re doing
landing pages and I I’m outsourcing it
to my wife and I’m saying like hey copy
and paste this stuff because we needed
the eleven thousand dollars you know to
come in and pay the bills so when it is
high pain and you have bills to pay but
you don’t love it do you still do it
like is that is that the life to could
it save your business or if you say like
it’s gonna if you lose your apartment
yeah if you’re gonna if you’re gonna not
make rent if you’re not gonna make
payroll yeah if you have a gap then take
it yeah
all right like listen like you got a if
those are the case yeah if you if it if
you are taking that 17 grand yeah and
you are losing three months of your time
yeah to make payroll when you and there
are other things that are lower margins
waiting for you in the wings yeah then
that’s gonna hold you back right if you
have nothing to do right well how many
business how many business you know
they’re starting out that have nothing
to do you’re focusing on the wrong stuff
sure right but so it’s it’s paying
opportunities versus non-paying up it’s
like this def right notice they’re
talking people the number one thing that
i see holding business owners back yeah
is they’re too selfish when they start
we mean they they imagine that that they
should be paid first you shouldn’t be
pay first right
they imagine that they should earn some
kind of income like oh if i was working
for someone else i should turn something
in from and they robbed all the
operating capital out of the company
yeah right if you really like the the
ones who take off are the people who
don’t pay themselves for two or three
years yeah who work who live in the
office that they work in because they
can only afford a single rent and they
don’t have to rents yeah when I was
really trying to kick start
three years in my business I took out a
loan I use that loan to hire someone
right and I stopped paying myself for
six months right I remember that and my
wife was like hey right I think I was
like hey hey why are you borrowing money
to pay someone else and you’re not
writing yourself like like I’ve seen it
I’ve seen it with friends who go like oh
we have three partners in the business
and all partners need to earn this to
live it’s right you have too many
partners Yeah right you’re gonna you’re
gonna the company needs revenue to do
what the work it needs to do so that way
later you can be like look at how great
this company is Yeah right
so I and I didn’t know that starting I
just I was nervous to use any cash but
even now like like I feel like I should
earn like double or triple what I pay
myself because I’m worth that right but
I’m trying to do something great here
yeah and that cut takes resources yeah
so don’t rob the company of that money
because because you feel like I’ve
worked really hard I’m entitled to this
or that right I put that off for 12
months 18 months and give yourself
little treats if you need it but like
the little treat should be like your
favorite little tree early on I gave my
wife $500 to buy new clothes like my
treat was going to McDonald’s and
getting a large french fries right
sharing with three people right like I
get it right I think this was this was
two to two and a half years in yeah we
running like we’re like I think I was 17
I think I went to 32 grand the next year
that the cost a lot it’s the celebration
it’s like hey or it was more like a
surprise like like it’s been two years
since we bought clothing yeah you know
like yeah like here you go
yeah have an afternoon like you can
spend a lot of like it feels like a lot
of money we got no money 500 bucks oh
man all right right two years shoot
hearing that bucks a month I hear you
so answer those three questions mark
Drager dropping some knowledge gold we
are going to now cover pricing in the
next video how much to charge all the
financials of your business you’re going
to want to check it out click that link right next to us
with Evan Carmichael in a 10 part series
because I was able to build an over
million dollar a year business ten years
ago now I was at in the recession I was
at the point in my life where I had no
revenue
I had no employees I had no clients and
I thought I was gonna shut down my
business I was able to go from zero to a
million dollars plus by following some
simple steps in this 10-part series Emma
and I sit down and we break through
everything we look at operations we look
at how to build your portfolio we look
at where to get your customers from the
first video starts right now that’s
going to help you take your business to
what’s the believe nation I am testing a
new series on how to build a million
dollar company and I thought I’d start
with the friend of mine mark Draper
Draper that’s awesome let’s keep that in
mark Drager I’m so happy I flubbed the
inch yet we got to keep all this in mark
has built an awesome million dollar plus
business in the what are you doing
this is dog just randomly showing up of
course this is fun what do we teach me
we’ll do what you have to build an
agency marketing agency if you want to
build a million dollar-plus marketing
agency that is what this series 10 part
series is all about and so do you have a
quick like something quick you want to
intro say about yourself what you do
sure yeah so I started fanta 12 years
ago we started really heavily focused on
video but you know as marketing has
changed as advertising has change we’ve
been able to expand into all assets or
facets of digital marketing and
analytics because really you wanted me
to start with one piece of value so
we’ll start right away yeah yeah the
only BK yeah you’re okay the only thing
that matters yeah
is the value you drive to a client it
seems basic but that’s that’s the only
thing that matters okay so point number
one this video you have to drag down to
your client how do you do it so it
starts with trying to figure out what
your skill sets are so what are you good
at ya know if you’re really great at
design and you like marketing then it
makes more sense to start a creative
type of agency if you’re really great at
websites and building websites and it
makes more sense to start a digital type
of agency whatever your passion is and
whatever you focus on is where your
business will go anyway so the first
place to start is figuring out what are
you really good at and you don’t have to
be the best at it but when you’re
starting you know you want a few people
to be able to say like oh you got a gift
here you’re talented or that’s really
good or we really like it and it seems
super super basic but but that that
positive reinforcement is gonna help you
build confidence and get you through
things and that’s where you start so for
us we started with video yeah I went to
film school I went and worked in
corporate video if you go back and look
at her stuff from 12 years ago it’s not
good it’s it’s really really bad work
and
but I started with video because that’s
that’s what I knew and then the video
Marta became video marketing and then
video marketing became oh we need to put
this on a landing page and then the
landing page became oh can you do the
microsite and for years we had clients
asking us they said oh we love how you
do video so much can you please do this
other stuff for us and we said no we’re
just we’re video agency only so so sorry
you have to go find someone else and we
would hear all these bad things about
bad experiences and finally we said why
are we why returning clients away when
they like us when they like what we do
why don’t we apply what we’re doing to
all of these other styles of work yeah
and so that’s how our company turned
into you know a full service digital
agency or full-service marketing agency
because the clients we’re coming to us
and saying saying please help us with
these other things right and so it’s
okay to start with just focusing on logo
design or it’s okay to start with trying
to be the best at creating a landing
page and driving traffic to that landing
page yeah it’s all about what you’re
good at and then marrying up that with
value right we can’t lose sight of the
fact that like I say this to my team it
matters more what clients think about
your work and the quality of the work
okay all right that bothers me because
I’m a yeah because I’m a perfectionist
yeah like I have high standards so I go
oh you know it’s it should all be about
how good the work is but it’s not yeah
it’s how people feel about the work
right right so you’re working with
people and you’re starting out and you
go I don’t have a portfolio you have one
or two people who like you right that’s
that’s great
right like start right right like that I
called you Draper and said a drinker
oh no one likes eyes like that what in
the comments this is I’m gonna
screenshot and show mark how much you
love that we call them Draper what so
the point of this series is to get to
get specific right so like somebody
wants to build a million dollar plus
marketing agency so tip number one is
you have to know yourself what you love
doing where you can bring the most value
so I’m thing okay I love that I agree
now how do I what’s my next step if I’m
just starting how do I figure out maybe
like what I’m good at yet because you
may not be good at at the start but you
have a passion for the thing to get
better at how do i how do I make that
decision to know yes this is the right
path so you can do as much planning as
you want you
do as much thinking as you want I you
know I started my company I was really
young I was 24 yeah but I actually had
written a business plan not that sounds
really fancy I had actually printed off
a bunch of other people’s websites and
kind of came up with the idea for what I
wanted to start yeah three years earlier
and and I only remembered that like much
later I found all these notes and I was
like with all these websites I was like
oh yeah when I was like 19 or 20 I had
this vision of starting something yeah
so do you want to start something like
ask yourself if you want to start
something and you’re really good at it
then like yeah it’s not complicated like
you just have to start you just have to
start because it’s gonna take you time
to get better and that’s okay it’s gonna
take you time to listen to the clients
who you’re working with and and fix your
operations and all the other topics that
we’re gonna kind of get into in other
videos yeah but there’s there’s not
really much magic to it other than the
courage to just say this is something
I’m doing and being okay with with
getting better yeah and being okay with
figuring it out later you know when we
switched maybe three and a half four
years ago from being only video right
and and the previous video we did was
how to build a multi you know
multi-million dollar or whatever video
company and now we’re talking about
marketing yeah we just switched yeah
right I was like this is who we are now
this is what we do and I started talking
to people I took them out for lunch and
I said this is what we want to do this
is how we want to help and people like
that so if you want to start a website
company yeah decide okay I want to start
a website company start talking to
people about the fact that you are now a
website company yeah and how you want to
help them I get it I mean and that’s the
point of this series because it people
will overthink those things yeah yeah
yeah like like when I started we didn’t
have a website for the first two months
yeah
now this isn’t 2006 but yeah I mean in
2006 we start the company start the
company with no website for two months
right even if you go through if anyone
goes through the wayback machine it’s
like it’s it took us four years to
actually create something that was until
never say back but yeah I think they say
that was even shocked know if they still
to keeping track yeah if you want to go
if you want to go away back fanta
mediacom like like it’s embarrassing
it’s embarrassing
we I was saying to someone the other day
I’m like I think we’re on our fourth
logo only we’ve been around 12 years
when our fourth love oh yeah
and that’s because our first bunch of
logos were really bad okay all right
they just they just weren’t good
you know we incorporated the company
because we thought like oh if we have
you know the word incorporated or
limited or company or seemed big like we
just made lots of mistakes so just just
don’t worry about that get started right
it started with one client that turns
into three yeah it turns into six
records into you know do try to do good
work try to listen so but but really the
core for kind of the first part of it is
thinking about the type of company you
want to build do you want to be a great
freelancer okay that’s running a company
yeah right do you want to be a
freelancer as two or three people
working for you do you want to have a
team of 30 or 40 people that’s like a
totally different type of company and
you’re not gonna be there from day one
but but you know understand what do you
need to be at to get them to hit a
million in revenue what size can you
can’t do those a freelancer can you do
as a freelancer no right so like what
what size team do you need to be at to
hit a million so the range
yeah I mean you’re gonna be anywhere
between oh gosh maybe if you’re killing
yourselves four or five people yeah up
to I mean up to anything I guess but if
you yeah anyway thousand people you
million visit now I mean if you’re if
you’re so so I’m talking about like
full-time staff yeah if you’re
outsourcing cuz you can build a great
outsource yeah to we’re outsourcing tons
and tons of stuff yeah I mean if you’re
doing a million dollars and you only
have 20 percent margins and you’re only
earning 200,000 in-house yeah so so
you’re only gonna have to three people
on salary yeah but if you do everything
in-house and you’re doing a million
dollars you might have eight nine ten
twelve it depends on your cost of living
it depends the area you’re working in
yep right so somebody’s just getting
started or they started their agency
they and they like men I want to be like
mark in a couple years the biggest thing
I hear sorry after out the biggest day I
hear from people because I have
conversations once or twice a month with
other people trying to do it yeah most
people aren’t starting out okay right if
you’re starting out think think ahead
okay most people are doing this for a
year or two and they’re not getting any
traction okay right are we gonna cover
that in future videos or that this is
let’s add it okay it wasn’t a top okay
here we go
bringing it how to gain traction but I
was gonna say yeah these things take
yeah and there are these tipping points
right you always talk about focus on
momentum yeah
right focus on momentum things things
start to pick up yeah I never I never
knew that your floor would be easier
than year three right or that your three
would be slightly easier than your two
right like the longer you’re doing it
the more that you’re doing it’s not that
things get easier but you’re just more
well known you know more people you’ve
had more opportunities you’ve done more
work you’re you’re in the game for
longer and so focus on some momentum but
most people who feel like they’re not
getting traction yeah because they’re
only two or three years into it or
they’re four or five and then they’re
not making big changes and so you have
to be willing to make those changes you
have to give it some time so some going
all the way back to start yeah like like
start the clock now start the clock
tomorrow yeah so that way you’re like
this is what we’re doing and don’t worry
about the business card don’t worry
about the website start telling people
this is what you’re doing start doing
free work okay start honing your skills
start talking to lots of people I decide
the type of company want to be think
about your skill sets and just start
okay so if somebody is trying to go from
deciding like the point of this video is
decide what you want to do tell you
coming you want to be and how you can
bring value to your clients
yep right what are three questions that
I need to be asking myself to figure out
that problem oh very good so everybody
watching ask yourself these three
questions yeah so I would say what is
something that you feel is easy but
you’re surprised that isn’t easy for
other people okay good right that was
that was mind blowing for me when I
started and I was a few years in and I
started hiring people and I got
frustrated I was like I was like this is
really simple stuff right and then I
learned I was like oh I’m just actually
really good at this right okay that’s
everyone but I’m so easy to me like like
I felt bad charging people money for it
right it was so easy right but so so
that’s the first question what’s
something that seems really easy to you
but others are like they can’t do or
they struggle with there’s just value
there yeah
the second question always ask yourself
if you’re good enough okay right now
this can be really depressing right ask
myself I’m good enough and I just end up
with like no I’m not okay
all right so that so the other side of
that is to pull yourself out of that
hole by figuring out what are the few
things you can do to get better all
right like I look at competition and I
go gosh they’re so good we even doing
anything good right and we’ve been doing
this for 12 years like people look at me
like I actually add a conversation with
someone who’s my competition right and
he’s looking at me and he’s so good I’m
looking at him alone these guys are so
good I mean while we’re like we could be
best friends because we’re in the same
place and doing the same thing but
there’s like some kind of healthy
competition there yeah so when you’re
starting out look at a few people that
you think are achievable ask yourself if
you’re good enough and then and then
like really use that not to get yourself
depress but to close that gap right
because everybody starts somewhere right
and so if you’re able to it’s a kick
forward not down yeah well you still
getting the kick yeah that would be the
second thing yeah I like it
and then the third thing I would say is
you can’t be everything to everybody
okay and I still I still struggle with
this too so what’s the question with
that the question would be what are
those core elements that I really should
be focusing on and doing and what are
the things that I shouldn’t be wasting
my time on uh saying no to I fallenness
all the time you know I have friends
asked me to help them with their website
when I have no time right dump those
friends do I mr. Carmichael right when
some serve you mean yeah so so you can’t
be everything to everybody yeah when
you’re starting the more niche you are
yeah the like the harder and yet easier
it is so picking it’s like what would be
an moving niche example so if you’re
like I’m only gonna ever focus on logo
design right or like for athletes of
course well that’s he’s like that’s even
better like like it depends on again the
type of company you want to build right
if you want to be started point like I’m
gonna develop websites for the yoga
industry and be the best yoga website
person and then expand from there that’s
a great way to look at it okay it’s hard
but it’s a fast way to grow okay
alright so when I started the company we
were doing it’s hard because when
there’s no one talking to you there’s no
one talking to you there’s zero revenue
there’s nothing happening but how does
the yoga thing make it worse so when I
when I started we were we were doing
lots of things for lots of people
again I was like a little money here and
a little money and a little money here
you know I need $800 and $1,000 is that
good I mean it held it helped me
generate a hundred thousand dollars of
revenue in my first year that’s a lot
more than everybody when right certain
now that was great but I reckon but when
I you do it again is that the path like
people are watching is like 100k like
they would love to have 100k I know but
here’s but here’s the problem
yeah here’s the problem I had under pay
of revenue but only only like eighteen
of it was doing the stuff I wanted to do
and so do you recommend that or no if
you put your foot down say this is what
I do I wouldn’t do it again that way how
would you do it if you starting over if
if you’re if you’re light all Drager
again yeah I mean I said it right this
time
twenty-four-year-old Reiger so this is
the this is the struggle right like my
like when I started my company my wife
had no income because she was just
graduating college my first daughter was
three months old and I quit my job I
quit my $40,000 year job and I was like
I’m out of here I’m gonna start my
company and I heard under $100,000
revenue yeah and that year we took him
$17,000 pay right so we were living
below the poverty line for the first
year so I mean I had to hustle I had to
I had to not go bankrupt I had to make
it happen so so but if I could have yeah
if I could do it again
it I would say you know what we did all
of that work on all of those different
things and I still only made 17 grand
mm-hmm so it was it was about having the
courage to say well get through that
first year things will get better and if
I had focused all my efforts only on
that one thing that we were good at
maybe I still would have made 17 or 18
grand right and maybe I would have
actually been less busy right right it’s
uncomfortable not to be busy so if you
want to do the if you want to be like
yoga website person if you want to be
the web thing here too it’s better by
year three it’s even but say no to the
guy who wants you to make a car
dealership website of course or say no
the person who goes in the hand used to
say no to the person who’s like oh you
seem to be pretty good as I can you do
my business cards right right and say no
if you want to be a design company be a
design company if you want to be if you
want to be a website company be website
company’s gonna be a photography company
do that
what are you age more than 17 K do you
love it no is it your skill set yes but
you don’t like it
nope so what’s your passion I want to be
the yoga guy I don’t
design your business cards so I’d say no
don’t fall into the temptation of making
the money I’m losing errors because
that’s what people do already usually
lose a few years
is it worth costing you a few years
right it will it will slow you down so
Drager like go back to 24 year old
drinker mark can you help me with my
business cards but I’m not gonna pee no
I would have totally done it but I
shouldn’t I shouldn’t have I pay you a P
17 K just my business cards but that’s
Imbaba right yeah listen it was the
thing there was there’s a time to get
through the first year where this
company hired us to do landing pages
right you’re right we were starting a
video agency right but we’re doing
landing pages and I I’m outsourcing it
to my wife and I’m saying like hey copy
and paste this stuff because we needed
the eleven thousand dollars you know to
come in and pay the bills so when it is
high pain and you have bills to pay but
you don’t love it do you still do it
like is that is that the life to could
it save your business or if you say like
it’s gonna if you lose your apartment
yeah if you’re gonna if you’re gonna not
make rent if you’re not gonna make
payroll yeah if you have a gap then take
it yeah
all right like listen like you got a if
those are the case yeah if you if it if
you are taking that 17 grand yeah and
you are losing three months of your time
yeah to make payroll when you and there
are other things that are lower margins
waiting for you in the wings yeah then
that’s gonna hold you back right if you
have nothing to do right well how many
business how many business you know
they’re starting out that have nothing
to do you’re focusing on the wrong stuff
sure right but so it’s it’s paying
opportunities versus non-paying up it’s
like this def right notice they’re
talking people the number one thing that
i see holding business owners back yeah
is they’re too selfish when they start
we mean they they imagine that that they
should be paid first you shouldn’t be
pay first right
they imagine that they should earn some
kind of income like oh if i was working
for someone else i should turn something
in from and they robbed all the
operating capital out of the company
yeah right if you really like the the
ones who take off are the people who
don’t pay themselves for two or three
years yeah who work who live in the
office that they work in because they
can only afford a single rent and they
don’t have to rents yeah when I was
really trying to kick start
three years in my business I took out a
loan I use that loan to hire someone
right and I stopped paying myself for
six months right I remember that and my
wife was like hey right I think I was
like hey hey why are you borrowing money
to pay someone else and you’re not
writing yourself like like I’ve seen it
I’ve seen it with friends who go like oh
we have three partners in the business
and all partners need to earn this to
live it’s right you have too many
partners Yeah right you’re gonna you’re
gonna the company needs revenue to do
what the work it needs to do so that way
later you can be like look at how great
this company is Yeah right
so I and I didn’t know that starting I
just I was nervous to use any cash but
even now like like I feel like I should
earn like double or triple what I pay
myself because I’m worth that right but
I’m trying to do something great here
yeah and that cut takes resources yeah
so don’t rob the company of that money
because because you feel like I’ve
worked really hard I’m entitled to this
or that right I put that off for 12
months 18 months and give yourself
little treats if you need it but like
the little treat should be like your
favorite little tree early on I gave my
wife $500 to buy new clothes like my
treat was going to McDonald’s and
getting a large french fries right
sharing with three people right like I
get it right I think this was this was
two to two and a half years in yeah we
running like we’re like I think I was 17
I think I went to 32 grand the next year
that the cost a lot it’s the celebration
it’s like hey or it was more like a
surprise like like it’s been two years
since we bought clothing yeah you know
like yeah like here you go
yeah have an afternoon like you can
spend a lot of like it feels like a lot
of money we got no money 500 bucks oh
man all right right two years shoot
hearing that bucks a month I hear you
so answer those three questions mark
Drager dropping some knowledge gold we
are going to now cover pricing in the
next video how much to charge all the
financials of your business you’re going
to want to check it out click that link right next to us
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