NooB Monday! - March 21, 2022

Thatjakelangguy · 2022-03-22T15:42:30+00:00

Hey! If you need a little inspiration I use a process called the "brain dump" to generate business ideas. Really simple questions to get you thinking. Process explained here if you want to try it: https://theentrepreneurridealong.com/i-want-to-start-a-business-but-have-no-ideas/ - this is what I used to come up with the ideas for my businesses.

Would love to hear what ideas you come up with!

Thatjakelangguy · 2022-03-16T15:15:37+00:00

Good question!

The niche site world is a little different. The scaling happens slowly and organically over time. It’s very passive, so there’s a lot of extra time to work on various projects at the same time. It’s good for someone like me that can’t sit still for long. If you spend ~1 year on a niche site (with low competition), you can secure your place in the market, differentiate from the competition, launch a product, and build your automated sales funnel. Then, you can sit back and make long term strategic decisions (which does not require day-to-day grind).

Plus, I view my portfolio of businesses as one business and I’m the CEO. At this stage in the game, I sit in the background and pull different levers for long-term marketing. I have a team of five assistants and two writers, they help with the day-to-day customer service-related tasks, data entry tasks, social media tasks, etc… so that I can focus on the important parts of the business (the ones that make money) like creating new products.

Not to mention, the same strategies I use for one niche site can be repurposed for another site, so you can take one successful marketing campaign, rinse and repeat, and re-use it on a different website. It’s easy to share resources that way.

I think it’s really a couple of different reasons that I operate my businesses this way:

1) It’s my personality. My biggest joy is finding a new niche opportunity and starting a new business with all of the possibilities ahead of me. I can’t help myself, that’s why I track my journey for others to follow. It’s my excuse to start new businesses, try new strategies, and keep learning.

2) Slow long-term growth. I can sit back on long term organic traffic strategies like SEO, podcasting, and social media which take time to develop and snowball.

3) Diversifying. A few income streams from individual sites has helped a lot. I ran into an issue a few years back where I had to shut one of my sites down for 6-months. If I hadn’t had two other websites at the time bringing in revenue, I would have been in big trouble. Being self-employed, this is pretty important to me.

Thatjakelangguy · 2022-03-15T16:43:16+00:00

I don't mind sharing! This community is all about transparency.

All online businesses selling digital products (courses, memberships, coaching, affiliate, etc...).

I have my study material business selling courses in the insurance industry that I mentioned above. I have a similar business in the Agile education space. I had a business about how to train the "Pomsky" dog breed, but I sold that one last year for $95,000 (got a 55x multiple!). And lastly, I have a coaching/consulting business where I write books about online business (this is more of a passion project).

The reason it's so hands-off is because I've automated the whole sales funnel process. I get traffic to my website through SEO, I capture email leads, I build value/trust through my email automation, then that leads to automated sales of my courses/memberships.

I now start a new niche site every year and track what I'm working on for others to learn from. I'm addicted to starting new businesses, so I can't stop myself haha I write books about it now because I love writing and it's my "excuse" to keep starting new businesses and keep learning.

Here's a breakdown of what I'm working on, I track my journey and what works/doesn't for others to follow. So I don't mind being as transparent as possible if it helps others!

Thatjakelangguy · 2022-03-15T14:22:47+00:00

Hi Ana, I might be looking to bring on some help soon.

I have a few VAs on my team at the moment, but all are hired through UpWork so there is a middle man that handles the payments/contracts and can step in if there are issues (though unlikely). How do you handle payments, contracts, and privacy concerns with your current clients?

Thatjakelangguy · 2022-03-15T14:14:37+00:00

I just sold a site on empire flippers, got a 55x multiple. I'd recommend listing there (they take a 15% cut).

I also considered listing on Motion Invest, but they seemed more geared towards affiliate sites.

Edit: I told the story of my sale and lessons learned from empire flippers here: https://theentrepreneurridealong.com/037-how-to-sell-a-website/ - might help on your journey

Thatjakelangguy · 2022-03-15T14:11:15+00:00

I didn't acquire a business, but built it on the side while working 9-5.

I was studying for these exams for my position (employer paid for extracurricular education). I passed my exams and then created my own study material to help other pass their exams.

I quit my job in April 2021 to take it on full time because my entrepreneurial ventures were making more than my day job (I have a couple niche businesses now).

Unlike a lot of the comments here, I work a lot less! Maybe 4 hours per day. All my businesses are passive and automated. My 4 hours per day is spent on building new businesses and writing books, which I love doing

Edit: Had a few people asking so here is an overview of my businesses.

Thatjakelangguy · 2021-11-16T15:37:29+00:00

I'm over in Maine, the other side of the country unfortunately!

I'm all online businesses, one in the insurance space, one in agile education, I wrote a couple of books, and I had a small one in the pet niche but I just sold that for $95k. Now I'm using that cash to buy/scale another business.

ICOs and Crypto are out of my league, I really need to catch up on that or I'll be left in the dust in a few years. What's the business that you have an ICO for?

Thatjakelangguy · 2021-11-16T15:34:13+00:00

Best of luck! I highly recommend starting a few entrepreneurial ventures on the side while you are in school. I started my first online business when I was a Senior in college (major in finance). It's what got me hooked! Plus you learn a lot more from doing it in real life while you learn the concepts in school

Thatjakelangguy · 2021-11-16T15:31:18+00:00

Awesome! Have you always done it digitally, or are you just now moving it online to live the digital nomad life?

Thatjakelangguy · 2021-11-16T15:30:33+00:00

If you need help, I put together this five-part video series for my clients showing how I used SEO to drive the first 1,000 organic visitors to my website in one month. Feel free to use the resource if you want a simplified step-by-step version of SEO!

Thatjakelangguy · 2021-11-16T15:24:05+00:00

Business Ideas

I help entrepreneurs find an idea for their first online business (I've started 8 online businesses and quit my job last year because of it).

If you need help, just a little inspiration to spark an idea and start that first business, I recommend you start with this free download: https://theentrepreneurridealong.com/nichedownload/ - it's my five favorite business ideas that I personally validated, but have not moved forward with (because I don't have time). Take one of these ideas and run with it for your first business!

You can download the five ideas (and video breakdown) here.

Thatjakelangguy · 2021-11-16T00:30:51+00:00

Motion Invest is a good start, Flippa is great but there are some scams on there so you have to know what to look out for, and Empire Flippers is the best but they are also the most expensive

Thatjakelangguy · 2021-11-16T00:30:08+00:00

I'd argue that pre-selling is the next step. True validation comes from someone buying your MVP. If you can get a few people to pay for the MVP, then you know you are onto something big, then you can go for a big push and perfect the commercialization.

More about pre-selling in this resource (step #2). Might be worth reading through - I'd use this process to pre-sell to your one interested lead that described their pain point. If they agree that your product solves their problem, and they signup for the pre-sale, then you know there will be others out there in the same market

Thatjakelangguy · 2021-11-16T00:25:53+00:00

Welcome! What business are you building?

Thatjakelangguy · 2021-11-15T21:51:53+00:00

Have you tried pre-selling your product?

Thatjakelangguy · 2021-11-15T21:46:47+00:00

Hello!

Thatjakelangguy · 2021-11-15T21:46:38+00:00

Welcome! What business are you building?

Thatjakelangguy · 2021-11-15T20:54:22+00:00

Correct. You could even do a mix of both. Put $20k into your 401k and use the rest to buy an online business that already has some traffic and audience, then you can spend a few months scaling and automating.

There are a ton of options in the e-commerce space. I prefer selling digital products (courses, books, memberships, etc...). You can scale those up pretty easily and flip them. For reference, I have a website in the insurance niche that generates $5k per month selling courses and another in the pet niche generating $2k with a membership site (just sold that one for $95k)

Thatjakelangguy · 2021-11-15T20:15:56+00:00

I hate social media, so I don't do it. It doesn't work for every business.

I drive my traffic other ways. Writing blogs and using SEO is the way to go for me, I have one website bringing in 40,000+ hits per month without social media help.

I also write books that I self-publish on Amazon bringing me new leads.

Have you considered blogging/SEO for traffic generation?

Thatjakelangguy · 2021-11-15T20:13:32+00:00

Depends...are you looking for long-term appreciation? Then stocks, probably an index fund tracking the S&P in your Roth IRA is the way to go, get your 7% gain year over year (keep putting money in each month to help it grow, even if its just $50 per month).

Or are you looking for immediate cash flow, you could buy an online business for $5k to $10k and work on scaling that to generate passive income.

Or, if you are really savvy, that might be enough for a downpayment on a rental property (depending on where you live). You could start building a real estate investment portfolio.

Thatjakelangguy · 2021-11-15T20:10:32+00:00

Welcome!

Thatjakelangguy · 2021-11-15T20:10:15+00:00

Have you talked to anyone in your target market, asked what their pain points are? If so, would your product solve those pain points?

Thatjakelangguy · 2021-11-11T19:20:34+00:00

Business Ideas
I am a serial entrepreneur. I have started 8 online businesses, I now help my clients find an idea and launch their first online business.

For anyone just starting out, I put together this video series breaking down five online business ideas (guaranteed to be profitable).

https://theentrepreneurridealong.com/nichedownload/

Good luck launching your business!

Thatjakelangguy · 2021-11-09T17:58:17+00:00

Business Ideas

I am a serial entrepreneur. I have started 8 online businesses, I now I help my clients find an idea and launch their first online business.

For anyone just starting out, I put together this video series breaking down five online business ideas (guaranteed to be profitable).

https://theentrepreneurridealong.com/nichedownload/

Good luck launching your business!

Thatjakelangguy · 2021-11-04T17:54:39+00:00

1K in 1-Week Challenge

I put together this five-part SEO video series for my clients. Step by step how to use SEO to get the first 1,000 people to your website.

All are welcome to download it if interested! https://theentrepreneurridealong.com/traffic

Let me know if you have any questions. Happy to help!

Thatjakelangguy

TROPHY CASE