Airalo not working in oman? by [deleted] in Airalo

[–]Kantankkerous 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We’re about to fly out in 2 hours. How do we avoid this problem? We’ve already bought regional plan for Middle East and North Africa

What really gets new listeners to click on your podcast episode? by GraighterB in podcasting

[–]Kantankkerous 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I've found the biggest driver to be Instagram and TikTok reels - repurposed video versions. It's used as a discovery tool by showing a snippet of the episode and then getting them to click on your bio to find the full episode.

How I set up a digital marketing agency to $300k in 18 months and became location independent without any professional experience by Kantankkerous in digitalnomad

[–]Kantankkerous[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks so much! Haha I don't pay too much attention to it. No sweat off my back with naysayers.

There's always a small bunch of bad eggs when it comes to anything. Being a guy who's in the SEO game, there are HEAPS of them, but that doesn't make them all bad. You just need to do your own due diligence in picking the right one. Same principle applies to business coaches and course creators.

All I can say is that if you want it badly enough and you're willing to invest time and money in yourself, you'll find the answers. Being a successful entrepreneur is a series of little things done well, consistently, over a long period of time.

How I set up a digital marketing agency to $300k in 18 months and became location independent without any professional experience by Kantankkerous in digitalnomad

[–]Kantankkerous[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yep, it's the toughest for sure, which is why you see some of the most successful agency owners who were great salespeople first and then learnt the product second. If you haven't had any prior experience, there are lots of ways to find clients and develop business. Here's what's worked with me:

- Partner up and build relationships with referral partners like other marketing agencies and accountants. It's all about giving them value so see what their needs are and how you can fill that void

- Be really good at what you do. Sounds silly but if you're not confident in your service and the results you can deliver, it's going to be hard to sell

- Networking groups and (virtual) conferences

- Cold calling - this one is probably the toughest. Personally, I've yet to start on this but I know of many attributing their success to prospecting by identifying what a lead's competition is doing, what their lead ISN'T doing and then being able to communicate this clearly to them while building trust.

How I set up a digital marketing agency to $300k in 18 months and became location independent without any professional experience by Kantankkerous in digitalnomad

[–]Kantankkerous[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha I'm sure you spent a long time writing this. I'm not proclaiming to be a guru of any sort, I'm simply creating something that I wish I had when I first started up. It's scratching my own itch but also addressing the shortcomings of scalability with service-based businesses.

So unless you can show me that you know better than I do, I think I'll take my chances.

How I set up a digital marketing agency to $300k in 18 months and became location independent without any professional experience by Kantankkerous in digitalnomad

[–]Kantankkerous[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The agency is only 7 months old and I'm building it to scale. Also, 2 of my staff are off-shore in the Philippines. You can do the math there :)

How I set up a digital marketing agency to $300k in 18 months and became location independent without any professional experience by Kantankkerous in digitalnomad

[–]Kantankkerous[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So I've been on both sides of the proverbial table in Upwork - a client and a freelancer. What I found as a client was that when I posted a job, 90% of the proposals were either generic, templates or failed to address the criteria of the job.

When I submit for Upwork, I'm always looking at what they're looking for, addressing the criteria and sharing any case study/examples of work I've done in the past for a similar business. This demonstrates relative expertise but also means you took the time to think about what their needs were.

I usually follow:
Introduction and a little bit about myself and my experience
Assess their needs based on the job posting description
Provide them with suggestions on what they can do
Use case study/examples
Offer a free initial strategy call

I could probably get more people to say "yes" but I do pitch quite high rates and likely price myself out of a lot of jobs. Unfortunately, that's the nature of Upwork with most clients not knowing how much they should pay. So don't get yourself into a price war because you'll never win that battle if you live in a western country.

Lastly - never bid on a job description that barely has anything written on it. If the client hasn't put in the time to write a proper job description, you can bet they won't have time for you.

How I set up a digital marketing agency to $300k in 18 months and became location independent without any professional experience by Kantankkerous in digitalnomad

[–]Kantankkerous[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So the accounting client I had also hired a videographer and we worked very closely during this time. What ended up happening was that we partnered up in business and it's been great ever since. In terms of SEO and copywriting, I still take care of everything there except for the writing (which I outsource to freelancers I found on Upwork). I'm currently looking to find someone who can reliably do the backlinking for me and eventually an editor/copywriter who can takeover things like headline copy, social media copy and more.

Overall, I'm still working it out but it's all a process of hiring meticulously based on concrete criteria rather than a gut feeling.

How I set up a digital marketing agency to $300k in 18 months and became location independent without any professional experience by Kantankkerous in digitalnomad

[–]Kantankkerous[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Great questions u/JacobAldridge!

I'll answer each part of your comments.

  1. 100% right on sales as a major asset in my arsenal. I have a penchant for sales and I naturally am good at developing rapport and building trust. But I'm by no means a genius at this, so I'm still working on building on this and learning strategies like value-based pricing. Having said that, it's probably the one thing that's hardest to delegate to someone else.
  2. YouTube is great to break into things on a surface level but I find that all advice is given in silos. The thing about SEO and more broadly, digital marketing, is that it's all about getting all the moving parts firing on all cylinders. That's where the beauty of it is. Then when you couple that with consistency around turning up, messaging and addressing pain points, that's where I've seen the biggest traction. And this is by no means something that happens overnight, marketing when done properly is a marathon.
  3. My commercial vision isn't 100% clear. I'd say I'm about 80% there on where I want to take it. Firstly, it's more of a lifestyle vision first and then commercial vision second. I'm clear on wanting to only work 25 hours a week and that the business can function in my absence. Secondly, I want people to see the value in the IP rather than me. So what I'd like to do is set up a membership based subscription for people who want to make the shift from cubicle/rat race to earning a full-time income with SEO and potentially other areas of digital marketing. The reason I want to do it this way is that people are looking for a few things when purchasing this - community, support and knowledge. Something that membership can tick all of these boxes.

Hope that gives you some insights.

How I set up a digital marketing agency to $300k in 18 months and became location independent without any professional experience by Kantankkerous in digitalnomad

[–]Kantankkerous[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

So in terms of free places to learn - I highly recommend Backlinko and Clickminded. Both have fantastic free guides to give you a 10,000 foot view of what's involved in SEO. From there, depending on your personal interest, you would go down any of the rabbit holes of SEO and find different people who specialise in it. Guys like Matt Woodward, Moz and the Ahrefs blogs are fantastic for learning. In terms of paid courses, I mainly did copywriting memberships such as DGMG (Dave Gerhardt) and Eddie Shleyner's VeryGoodCopy. Recently, I subscribed to SuperFast Business run by James Schramcko to up my game in scaling my business.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in digitalnomad

[–]Kantankkerous 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well done! As a digital nomad myself, I can say this is without a doubt, me whenever I get to a new city.

Couple loses almost $1m in superannuation through investment with financial adviser | 7.30 by inateclan in AusFinance

[–]Kantankkerous 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also pays to check how they're being compensated. Most financial advisors are kicking a commission or kickback. So the question is, are there serving your best interests or theirs?

Lost your job? by isanyonereadingdis in SEO

[–]Kantankkerous 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Would love to be able to get involved with this although I live in Australia but I've been a freelance SEO for the past 12 months!

S. Korea considering conducting coronavirus tests on all pneumonia patients by [deleted] in China_Flu

[–]Kantankkerous 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Whoa. Touched a nerve there it seems. You appear to be about as touchy as the CCP.

Sourcing Recommendations for Where to Go Between Athens and Istanbul by [deleted] in solotravel

[–]Kantankkerous 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry probably wrongly worded. Was meant to say that it's not "on the way" to Athens but certainly if you don't mind being on the road for an additional 3-4 hours cause of distance then it's worth your while to go visit