How to $ucceed with No Money!!

[Reader Note: This thread has been merged with another ... some posts appear to be duplicates]


I have participated in more than a few startups where money was limited or nonexistent. IT IS ENTIRELY POSSIBLE TO SUCCEED IN STARTING YOUR OWN BUSINESS WITH LITTLE OR NO MONEY! How is this possible when it takes money to make money? You trade your time for the money you would spend. How is this possible? You get your customers before you open the doors or create any overhead!

This thread is about Fastlaners challenging each other with scenarios where they think it might not be possible to "Get customers 1st." I will answer said challenges with strategies on how to accomplish this. Stories welcome too.

To kick things off I will offer this true scenario from my past:

In the beginning of 2005 I was asked by a few people I knew in the Health Insurance business how I as a Web Marketing Consultant would recommend they generate leads because they were agents. I gave them a recommendation assuring them how easy it would be. They scoffed at my recommendation so I told them I would prove it. I made a deal with 3 large health insurance companies to get 100 agents subscribed to my service if I could prove results based on their criteria. They gave me their criteria and I did them one better, I told them I could develop premium leads from people ready to purchase health care from them, pre-screened by their medical data without having to worry about HIPPA compliance issues.

One month later I finished a website designed to collect private medical information from people looking to get health insurance. I setup the service to be free for anyone or small businesses to seek reputable health insurance agents (we rated the agents). The agents would subscribe to our service and pay even more for premium leads. After the second month the article I had written about a great new free program like 1-800 dentist but online much like LoanTree.com had been released across the wire services generating over 10,000 visitors with a 52% conversion rate. Over 5,820 leads were generated and the 3 large companies had 300 total agents subscribe to our service. In 5 months from the day I finished the website, we grossed $2,500 per day. Total investment to get started was $300 for website, $200 for phones, and $600 for press release. We eventually staffed 22+ employees at the end of 6 months.

We all can make similar scenarios like this happen, probably even better. Does anyone else have a scenario they would like to post? I will be happy to meet the challenge.

So who really needs investment capital?

As servicefly mentiones. In order to succeed in startups and getting financing, you first need the customers. You first need the cash to prove your idea works. People get it backwards. They think investors should come onboard on a hunch or a feeling. They never do. Hard facts convinces smart investors. So all posts related to this threads main aim are welcomed.

And a thank you to servicefly for starting this thread.

To get this thread mov'n I'm going to explain a scenario I participated in which explains one strategy for getting customers 1st:


In the beginning of 2005 I was asked by a few people I knew in the Health Insurance business how I as a Web Marketing Consultant would recommend they generate leads because they were agents. I gave them a recommendation assuring them how easy it would be. They scoffed at my recommendation so I told them I would prove it. I made a deal with 3 large health insurance companies to get 100 agents subscribed to my service if I could prove results based on their criteria. They gave me their criteria and I did them one better, I told them I could develop premium leads from people ready to purchase health care from them, pre-screened by their medical data without having to worry about HIPPA compliance issues.

One month later I finished a website designed to collect private medical information from people looking to get health insurance. I setup the service to be free for anyone or small businesses to seek reputable health insurance agents (we rated the agents). The agents would subscribe to our service and pay even more for premium leads. After the second month the article I had written about a great new free program like 1-800 dentist but online much like LoanTree.com had been released across the wire services generating over 10,000 visitors with a 52% conversion rate. Over 5,820 leads were generated and the 3 large companies had 300 total agents subscribe to our service. In 5 months from the day I finished the website, we grossed $2,500 per day. Total investment to get started was $300 for website, $200 for phones, and $600 for press release. We eventually staffed 22+ employees at the end of 6 months.

We all can make similar scenarios like this happen, probably even better. Does anyone else have a scenario they would like to post? I will be happy to meet the challenge.

I have participated in more than a few startups where money was limited or nonexistent. IT IS ENTIRELY POSSIBLE TO SUCCEED IN STARTING YOUR OWN BUSINESS WITH LITTLE OR NO MONEY! How is this possible when it takes money to make money? You trade your time for the money you would spend. How is this possible? You get your customers before you open the doors or create any overhead!

This thread is about Fastlaners challenging each other with scenarios where they think it might not be possible to "Get customers 1st." I will answer said challenges with strategies on how to accomplish this. Stories welcome too.

To kick things off I will offer this true scenario from my past:

In the beginning of 2005 I was asked by a few people I knew in the Health Insurance business how I as a Web Marketing Consultant would recommend they generate leads because they were agents. I gave them a recommendation assuring them how easy it would be. They scoffed at my recommendation so I told them I would prove it. I made a deal with 3 large health insurance companies to get 100 agents subscribed to my service if I could prove results based on their criteria. They gave me their criteria and I did them one better, I told them I could develop premium leads from people ready to purchase health care from them, pre-screened by their medical data without having to worry about HIPPA compliance issues.

One month later I finished a website designed to collect private medical information from people looking to get health insurance. I setup the service to be free for anyone or small businesses to seek reputable health insurance agents (we rated the agents). The agents would subscribe to our service and pay even more for premium leads. After the second month the article I had written about a great new free program like 1-800 dentist but online much like LoanTree.com had been released across the wire services generating over 10,000 visitors with a 52% conversion rate. Over 5,820 leads were generated and the 3 large companies had 300 total agents subscribe to our service. In 5 months from the day I finished the website, we grossed $2,500 per day. Total investment to get started was $300 for website, $200 for phones, and $600 for press release. We eventually staffed 22+ employees at the end of 6 months.

We all can make similar scenarios like this happen, probably even better. Does anyone else have a scenario they would like to post? I will be happy to meet the challenge.

So who really needs investment capital?

Servicefly,

Nope, no need to redo this thread. I had to search for this thread as it's one I'm paying attention to. This reply will bump it back up. I would like to thank you for starting the thread.

Personally I'd like to hear more about the exact business you are talking about above as I'm the guy looking at insurance as a back-up. MJ who owns this site is a big proponent of lead generating sites and you've caught my interest in insurance leads specifically.

I spent much of my day trying to figure out how I could take your funnel approach and turn it into something that I would like to do. My thoughts are to build the funnel system and sell the leads that are not in my state and work the ones that are.

I can put up plenty of very specific questions if you like as my interest is in exactly what you are getting out of. By the way, and I'm not sure I should mention this. I noticed some guys saying a company named leadco seems to be going out of business.

Are you familiar with them? Is there something fundamentally wrong with the insurance lead business or is it just normal turnover?

I look forward to hearing from you.

PurEnergy,

As to not linger this thread on just the lead business, If you want to start a new thread for your specific questions, I will answer them for you and other readers. Just pm me the thread and I will subscribe to it.

What I really want is to stimulate other Fastlaners to post a scenario and we can all work on the "get your customers 1st" strategy so other will know that OPM, or business loans, or savings is not required to achieve success.

I never knew this thread existed; I can change the thread title let me know what you think will have more "hook".

The lead gen business works great whenever there is a large base of independent / non-homogeneous business units / professionals that need aggregation for consumers.

Insurance agents are one of the largest, but some other spaces that work:

Real estate agents
Lawyers
Cosmetic surgeons
Chiropractors
DJ Services
Rental Properties
Photographers
Psychologists or any other specialized doctor
Therapists (Message or otherwise)
Financial Planners
Personal Trainers
Moving Services
Auto Transport
Accountants

The pattern is that each industry is very fragmented with no centralization -- namely, there isn't 1 big player who dominates the entire marketspace, nor a central clearinghouse to aggregate data conveniently for consumers.

I would like to hear about this philosophy with product based businessses, as opposed to service businesses. I believe it's possible but certainly much slower. I find myself wondering if :

1) product based businesses are not fastlane;
2)only biz to biz is fastlane (as opposed to selling to end consumers/retailing).

For example, an online product business with an inventory or a dropshipper model, you start it up for not much more than you mentioned in the lead biz above, and possibly a lot more if you need to carry inventory.

Then you realize the customers are coming and you push forward only to realize that your suppliers cannot meet your needs. The options become:

1) I need to produce this stuff myself;
2) I need to find the manufacturer (and whoops my next shipment will take 4 months because it's made in China);
3) I need to partner with the manufacturer to get this stuff coming.

Probably all the above are needed to move unto the fastlane.

Ha! Writing this post makes me realize that I have already made a case for the product based biz. Well, hope it makes sense to others.

The problem there is the DRIVER vs PASSENGER concept.

Don't retail, manufacturer.
Don't dropship, have people dropshipping for you.

Here is the link:Are You Driving a Fastlane ... or Riding It?

A small added feature there: Start with dropshipping when you have little money and then quickly change lane to being the one having people do dropship selling for you. The same with retail vs manufacturing.

Alright, finally a scenario: A drop shipping business!

Before I outline the "Get customers 1st" strategy, I want to say that PhxMJ & fanocks2003 are both correct for the fastlane part.

1st you have to find a niche, since one has not been presented I will think of one - Fairy figurines! That has to be a difficult one. Alright step one is to identify a market for this niche. The best way is to find 2-3 eNewsletters online which cater to this market. After a 3 minute Google search I found out that Amy Brown is the premiere artist for fairies. I also found that very few newsletters exist for this niche, great.

Step 2: create a newsletter website probably with a blog and forum for collectors.

Step 3: Find a drop shipper to supply inventory. I didn't know this but figurine manufacturers are easy to find in the drop shipping market. I found many in another 5 minute Google search session.

Step 4: Create an affiliate section for your website, also known as a Reseller section. Sometimes they are different but with the drop shipping industry it seems they are the same. ClickBank is a good start.

Step5: Make sure the Affiliates are getting paid well (your sales force should always make more than the founder in the startup phase).

Note: So far spent should no more than $300 (if that) for website construction). This money is spent only after the market is identified and a newsletter is found for collectors.

Step 6: Get in contact with your market. Find the websites, forums, blogs, for fairy figurine collectors and begin communicating with them as to assess their complaints of the industry (i.e. Not enough artists, hard to find originals, etc.). Can happen before building website.


Step 7: Ask your market through established communication channels if they would buy from you if you answered their most common complaints. As soon as you have enough verbal (email, etc.) commitments, then start building the company based on this theme.

Step 8: Now that they are drooling for your products because they are the cheapest, or the most original, or direct from Amy Brown, get ready to sell to them.

Step: 9 Before you tell them you want to sell them what they want, draft an article about your special circumstance with fairy figurines titled for marketing like: "Fairies do Exist, I've Found Them!" Release this for $400-$600, the article will have a link to a specially designed landing page in your website.

Step 10: Now tell all your new friends you will sell them the figurines for 20% off because they were in contact with you before your launch. Use this scenario to the best marketing possible. As they notice your press coverage from searching for fairy figurines, it will give you the credibility to have them purchase from you immediately.

Step 11: Build a community around your niche. This will be beneficial later with Affiliates and Resellers.

Step 12: Get your original customers (the ones in contact before your press release launch) to become Affiliates and Resellers by offering them what they love cheaper or some other promotion.

At this point your startup phase will or has reached the break even point rather fast. Check out my "Web Marketing Success" thread for the attachment to see how to market this faster over the Web.

PhxMJ,

I started a new thread called "How to Succeed with No Money" as the alternate name. You can delete that thread and rename this one if you like. I really want to get everyone to understand this concept.

How about starting a sport supplement/nutrition business with no capital?

The business would sell or give away information to attract customers (such as diet plans, exercise plans, sport coaching plans etc.)

In the information recommendations for certain products available from the website would be inserted and the idea would be to convert readers into customers with competitive prices and a user friendly site layout being an advantage over many other e-biz supplement retailers.

Could a business like this which sells a product be started with little capital using drop shippers and an inexpensive site design and shopping cart or would this business be at a disadvantage having to rely on drop shippers to ship on time?

If you can offer any input thankyou very much

michael, how would you separate yourself from the competition?
Do you have a strong background in nutrition for instance?

Ramy I have no formal qualifications in sport nutrition (I'm 16) but I have been bodybuilding seriously for about 1 year.

In that time I have been enlightened to what it takes to create a successful diet to gain lean muscle and reduce bodyfat levels. A lot of what I have learnt has come from reading articles by authors such as Christian Thibaudeau, Dr John Berardi, Charles Poliquin, Dr. Alan Logan and other contributors to the site t-nation.

This site is targeted mainly towards 'hardcore' bodybuilders and strength athletes however the nutrition advice and lab research presented by some of those contributors is in my opinion the best there is in terms of shedding bodyfat, gaining muscle and maintaining a healthy body and mind.

However it is hard to have people who aren't involved in bodybuilding listen to advice from bodybuilders due to the stereotypes surrounding bodybuilders and figure athetes.

I think there is a possible gap in the diet market for packaging diet advice based around consuming low g.i. carbs, essential fatty acids and plentiful amounts of protein in a manner accessible to the out of shape masses. I believe I could take information from a variety of sources and present a properly cited diet plan and encourage the consumption of protein shakes and other supplements such as fish oil, multi-vitamins as part of the diet (which would of course be available for purchase from my (hypothetical) website).

As far as marketing is concerned I would probably try something along the lines of having some people follow the plan, document their journey and post their success stories for people to peruse. I would drive people to the site through adwords/affiliate programs and attempting to get featured in newspapers and magazines.

I have been doing some brainstorming and attempting some back of the envolope calculations but I would like input on whether it would be feasible to use dropshippers to supply products and whether it would be possible to create a website, website backend, and with a limited budget.

One of the greatest success stories for your market is BodyBuilding.com

There was a write up about him in Inc magazine a couple years ago.I'll see if I can dig up the issue.

http://www.inc.com/30under30/deluca.html

http://www.inc.com/query/index.html?...A%2F%2Finc.com

Here you go........ 300% growth rate and $46 million in revenue.
My advise learn everything you can about this company and try to improve upon the flaws or over site.

Sticking to the subject of finding customers first.

MJ talks about giving it away for free in the beginning which makes sense if that's what it's going to take to get some momentum.

My question is, and please feel free to use insurance agent leads as an example, how do you make the switch from free to paying customers?

For example say you've got 3 guys in Atlanta to buy all your Georgia leads. You really only want to distribute them to say 3 people. I could be mistaken right here but it seems like it could take a while to get 10 leads from Georgia to distribute to these guys to get a feel for the product.

Or can I just assume that this is part of the process and it takes time and is ongoing?

It seems like you could be updating your buyers list constantly if you do this individually rather than institutionally like you did. Trying to keep 3 independent agents in each of 50 states who are ready to buy at any given time seems tough. Then again this spreads the risk where losing one independent agent is better than losing one institutional recommendation.

It seems like the advantage to going the institutional route is a quicker ramp up. The problem for someone like myself is credibility with an institutional customer and the uncertainty of my ability to produce any meaningful amount of leads. I could tell them I'm trying to use your funnel system but for some reason I don't think they'll
understand. There's no certainty for either one of us that I'll be able to produce anything.


Thank-you Servicefly.

Regards to the lead business:

I showed the executives who promised me the 100 agents each our system, then told them to wait a week and see how many leads we generated. The first week we generated more than 80 leads in California, our target region for the week. I told the California based executives to give me agents in their regions and I will distribute them immediately. I received 3 agents in 3 cities (in California) signed up and paid. For them the cost of subscription $99 was worth the 20+ leads each would get because they were used to paying $12-$25 per lead which were bad quality.

As it turned out we had a 80% success rate (80 of 100 were converted to customers). The buzz spread like crazy and we had 40 agents signed up the first month and 4 full offices plus. Marketing seemed all about buzz and if you can get the most skeptical people (Insurance Agents!) to believe than you are gold.


Regards to nutrition: Jenny Craig & Weight Watchers both started and grew faster than any other diet programs when the dieting industry was not considered profitable by offering their programs with above average support systems. If you want your customers 1st, go find a support group, or create one and ask them to participate in your startup. They will be excited to be a part of it, you can offer them freebies, and each member of the group will probably do a little bit to help which can be of great leverage. Stay tuned to this forum and you will probably see an example of this coming soon.

I am working on a business which I will start soon and try to document my steps. Not sure how long before I begin posting here about it, beyond this little teaser.

Affiliate market is over spammed but if you have something unique about your product or service then affiliate system should work. You will get customer and money first and will pay then for the lead.

There are some active affiliate networks where you can promote your affiliate program (COPEAC, Pepperjam, MarketLeverage).

this is what i was going to mention, dropship and reinvest until you have people dropshipping for you, brad fallon of myweddingfavors.com is a good example of this.


He has his hand written version of the story on the forum somewhere, i copied it all into a word doc and saved it, you might want to find that link as well.

I am still reading the rest of this thread, good info!