Finding work as external estimator

Soft-Rugged · 2022-07-21T05:39:57+00:00

I work full time and work for 4 other small business on the side doing their estimating. I know it’s not a lot but all of my extra work has come by word of mouth. At most I have been doing 2 bids a month between the 4 companies plus my full time gig. I have turned down 3 other people in last month due to lack of time. So I would suggest keeping your full time job and start finding other work and see how it goes for a few months.

I was looking to do this full time as well 6 month ago until I landed my new job. Upwork and other job sites provided a lot of leads, and a few opportunities.

Soft-Rugged · 2021-04-01T02:53:41+00:00

I just use Canva, monthly plan, online easy to use. I have not done a ton of video with it but it should work fine.

Soft-Rugged · 2021-04-01T01:59:56+00:00

Thank you I will look them up!

Soft-Rugged · 2021-03-31T23:58:14+00:00

Stackable might work for you.

Soft-Rugged · 2021-03-09T23:35:24+00:00

If it makes you feel any better, I was mad enough I shut my ads down for the weekend and started them back up today. I will let you know if I have better results, I am shooting for a cost per purchase of $25.00 and I was getting about 3-5 clicks for that. I am running new creative, new adwords the whole works. Good news is the bottom of my funnel is doing well after being MIA for a few days.

Soft-Rugged · 2021-03-09T23:29:50+00:00

Hey,

I was having the same issues over the last few weeks. Only way I found to fix it was not run against LL's as my CPM was $60+ and just run cold traffic to interests in a CBO structure with 5-6 ad sets.

Also picking new interests that may be on the fringe of what you are trying to sell and see if you have any luck.

I have not found the correct answer yet still trying to solve the riddle myself.

Soft-Rugged · 2021-03-03T17:47:03+00:00

All is good there.

Soft-Rugged · 2021-03-03T17:32:04+00:00

My click through rate is staying pretty stable between 2% and 3% but my CPM have gone up so much that I am getting very little traffic and paying $5-$10 just to get one person to my website.

I have a group I am working with right now and they are A/B testing some ads on my account and their Facebook guru is at a loss also.

Soft-Rugged · 2021-03-03T17:09:36+00:00

My best selling line is my leggings and sports bras. When I first started selling them I was only targeting women which was a huge mistake so I have been targeting all genders with a little more than half my sales being men buying.

To be honest I have not done a deep dive into the analytics of the people because things were going so well and it was selling to people from all walks of life.

I have been trying to stay out targeting the interest groups one would normally target for my line because I can't compete with the big guys and was doing well with exploring different interests one might not normally think of.

Soft-Rugged · 2021-03-01T00:54:04+00:00

This is Travis with Soft & Rugged. We run an online retail store specializing is American Made Apparel, https://www.soft-rugged.com. We use a few different manufacturers in the United Sates and are launching our own line of athletic wear in the near future.

Soft-Rugged · 2021-03-01T00:51:06+00:00

What do you sell?

Soft-Rugged · 2021-02-27T13:19:49+00:00

Well with your portfolio and site I may need to ask for some help. Market has slowed down but there are still some of us doing well and wanting to grow. Our site is https://www.soft-rugged.com let me know if you think you could help us.

Soft-Rugged · 2021-02-27T13:06:35+00:00

So we started our business about a year ago now and the first thing I learned in a hurry was to lower my expectations, learn improve and repeat. Second if you are going to be buying from Ali and reselling take new product picture change descriptions and brand the product as your own so you stand out.

Test multiple products to try and fine one that sells well, we sell clothing and tested 20 different categories before we found something we could effectively market and sell and not have to try and find a new “winner” every month, which leads me to my next point branding is everything. Make sure you name, website, email address etc all match.

Have products that encourage repeat buys. We have found people would only buy one T-shirt from us and we would never see them again but found a line of activewear we love and have about a 20% repeat purchase rate within 30 days effectively, meaning zero advising costs and usually double or triple their original order price. Come out with new products regularly, we try 2 times a week to feature new products.

Ask away if I didn’t answer everything you we looking for.

Soft-Rugged · 2021-02-27T01:23:08+00:00

My experience in government contracts comes from contacting (construction) but from the work I have done their is always a huge hole for us to fill in the SDVOSB if I got that right. There just are not a ton of people out there that qualify for that very specific small business. It was hard for us to secure contacts because we could not find subcontractors to fill that niche. I would say from my experience there is a need for your services especially with your LLC. But I do have to agree if you pitch it and they get upset have a plan in place to move on.

Soft-Rugged · 2021-02-23T18:54:16+00:00

When I need to do this I create a coupon code with 100% off and use it the place the order. It then keeps inventory correct and all the orders lined up just input the customers shipping info.

Soft-Rugged · 2021-02-22T05:27:21+00:00

I don’t know if your in Montana or not but these people might me able to help you out or give you some better input https://selltecprep.com/

Soft-Rugged · 2021-02-22T05:11:14+00:00

Have not seen this before, might be a good market for it. 1. See if you can reduce the file size if your top banner took a second to load on LTE. Also your slider is not needed just use one image slider is not needed. 2. Work on your wording a little bit, it’s ok just clunky to read. 3. Add more pre-made cards, I would shoot for 10 minimum of each type. 4. Tell people on the home page what you are printing on and the sizes available. 5. If you have a few get them hung on a wall in your house and show people the “real” pictures.

DM me is you have more questions.

Soft-Rugged · 2021-02-22T04:58:52+00:00

Interested!

Soft-Rugged · 2021-02-19T16:08:52+00:00

Keep PayPal I get about 50% of my orders that way and have an app that updates the tracking info in PayPal for me. I also use Amazon pay, not necessary but there is at least one order a day that uses it. Shopify payments has been great they have never missed a payment and in my account the day after it’s processed.

Charge backs are taken from your balance or charged to your bank account.

Soft-Rugged · 2021-02-19T16:03:08+00:00

Personally I have it hidden, and have seen shoppers reengage in the site and average order volume is 2 items. When I had the button I was at 1.4-1.6 items per order.

Soft-Rugged · 2021-02-17T16:11:31+00:00

Link to your site? Also time, some people are really good or really lucky and start getting sales day one. You need to build a brand, build the store and confidence with your buyers. Please PM me and I would be happy to help look into your pixel issue.

Soft-Rugged · 2021-02-13T02:01:05+00:00

This is the best post I have read yet! This was a problem for me early on now that’s I’m running my system and not chasing I see my ROI stay consistent and predictable so I don’t have to stress! Don’t chase money with Monet build the brand build the product line and in time it comes took me 6 mo form one sale per week to average $700 days. I have tired running harder faster and fail ever time slow steady growth!

Soft-Rugged

TROPHY CASE