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For what its worth I can talk more about how I do it. I tried to start a SaaS company, realized my CAC was out of control and started taking on consulting clien

For what its worth I can talk more about how I do it. I tried to start a SaaS company, realized my CAC was out of control and started taking on consulting clients as a way to fund the SaaS and pay my bills. We've been doing the consulting portion for 3 months now and are on pace to hit 10k (mostly mrr) this month. I don't believe there is any super special process. I figured this out through months of failing and piecing things together. You should make content to establish yourself as an expert. I did for recruiting. Over the course of 6 months I went from some random person who knew nothing to an authority in the space. By doing that, I get invited to speak and train teams across the US. Our business is pretty simple. We make content, which helps our lead gen efforts be more effective because people know who we are. Through that, we shoot for 20 meetings booked a month. We try to close 5% of the opportunities we generate since we aren't really sales people. And then once clients are closed we work like hell to fulfill what we told them we were going to do! There really isn't a magic sauce. Its just about the volume needed for sales (I struggled with this for awhile as an engineer).

samfisher83 9y ago
How do you do this: You should make content to establish yourself as an expert. I did for recruiting. Over the course of 6 months I went from some random person who knew nothing to an authority in the space.
- joshklein 9y ago
  Searching for the term “inbound marketing” should give you a good sense of the process. The website submitted for this thread is a textbook example of what you would create, as appropriate to your target client.
  - raleigh_user 9y ago
    True. A lot are not very good though. A lot are covers for getting your email and trying to sell you services. I like Drift.com's Seeking Wisdom podcast and anything by Gary Vaynerchuk(I am sure this audience will hate him but he knows what hes doing)
- raleigh_user 9y ago
  To be honest, you'd be shocked how easy it is to do. One thing I struggled with for awhile was trying to make the perfect piece of content, editing and getting stuck in that paralysis. I was able to make a dent in recruiting because I am an engineer and know about problems engineers have. Further, I found a niche where recruiters want to learn how to write basic web scrappers and started teaching them how to do so. If you find a similar niche or compliment to the industry you want to enter that you have some experience in, its pretty easy!
- hluska 9y ago
  This can be as simple as: 1.) Find a niche. This is the most difficult part. If your niche is too obscure, you'll find yourself in a situation where you're an expert in a field that three people on earth have heard of. That's not a good way to get consulting leads! But, if your niche is too general, you're going to end up competing with so many people that your ability to become an expert will be a function of how good you are at marketing. In a perfect world, you would already have some expertise in this space, but this isn't a strict requirement, just be aware that if you're trying to attract consulting clients, it's very bad if your potential client knows noticeably more than you do. 2.) Start a topic board. (An outliner is an excellent tool for this, but you can use anything - a text editor, paper, a white board.) Chances are, as soon as you pick a niche, you'll believe there are an endless number of topics to write about. You'll start off strong, publish five good articles, then sit in front of your computer, try to start an article and realize you have absolutely nothing to say. Sometimes, you can generate a topic by reading some relevant news sources, but most of the time, you'll lose momentum, so it's important to have a repository of half baked content ideas. 3.) Figure out your medium. Are you a great writer? Do you have a good voice for podcasting? Do you have a good face for video? Do you have a good face for podcasting?? ;) When you get good, you'll likely want to branch out into other mediums. Think, for example, of the legions of marketing bloggers who have branched out into marketing podcasts. But, at first, it's easier to focus on one medium, get really good at it and then branch out. When you're new to producing content, it's too easy to blame the wrong medium when you should really blame shitty content. After you've been around the block, you'll get a sense of whether your treatment of a topic will work on your audience if it's presented in a certain medium. 4.) Find one or two people who you trust to serve as editors/first eyes. Ideally, this will be someone who cares about you enough to tell you that you sound like a buffoon. 5.) Build out a schedule. When you're getting started, your real task is to produce a habit, not produce amazing content. If you form the habit while producing great content, that's even better. If I was publishing a piece of content every Monday, my schedule would look like this: Sunday - Start new draft. Monday - Publish previous piece. Finish first draft of new content + send to editors. Tuesday/Wednesday - Wait for first round of feedback. Start picking a topic/finding sources for next week's article. As soon as you get that feedback, drop everything and make a choice. Can you salvage this piece by Monday? If yes, move forward. If no, bail and start on a new draft. Thursday - Send current draft to editors. Depending on the first round of feedback, this may be a first or second draft. Friday/Saturday - Wait for feedback, make sure all your sources are together for your next article and figure out what you'll really want to say. As soon as you get feedback, massage the article and prepare the post to be published Monday. Scheduling a post works great here. ---Repeat--- You'll notice there are only two rounds of feedback from editors. In my experience editing and writing, if I can't massage a piece within two rounds of feedback, it's best to put that topic back on the topic board and revisit it at another time. This problem is especially acute if you have more than one editor. For some reason I don't understand, if I'm working with multiple editors, by the time we get to a third draft, my editors start to diverge. The small lesson is don't waste time on fucked content. The bigger lesson is that if you routinely need more than two drafts to complete a written article, you're either a shitty writer who picked the wrong medium, or you're a shitty expert who picked the wrong niche. 5.) Always be open to learn.
everdev 9y ago
I run an agency at ever.io. My close rate is much higher, around 50% (I'm a sales guy). I've been coding for 20 years, but not as focused on that anymore. If you want to reach out to me, I'd love to connect and see if I can help.
- raleigh_user 9y ago
  I'd love some help. I will shoot you a message. Thank you.
- tomcooks 9y ago
  Care to share some wisdom and protips? If not in a public comment can i bother you privately?
  - everdev 9y ago
    Sure, you can ping me at ever.io
raleigh_user 9y ago
One other thing that took me awhile to get over was making asks (asking potential customers to become customers). Some people say this is like asking someone out on a date. I've been in a relationship for 5 years so that didnt help me a lot. I had to just start doing it. And anticipated the first 20 would go horribly wrong. And thats kind of what happened. Now I don't really get attached to an opportunity at all. The faster you can get to that point the better you will be at selling.
- hluska 9y ago
  When I was young, I got a great piece of advice about dating that has oddly turned me into a pretty good salesperson. When you're looking to date, you'll see (and hopefully meet) lots of interesting people. On average 1/10 of the people you find interesting will find you interesting. Then, of the 1/10 who find you interesting, about half will be in a place to do anything about that. That attitude has been good for me in sales, because it has kept me from getting too attached to a prospect. Though, when I was getting started, it was tough because I didn't iterate on my approaches quickly enough.
justaguyhere 9y ago
Could you please link your blog?
jacquesm 9y ago
There is no bigger enemy of a SaaS company than a successful consulting play. Good luck trying to re-focus on your SaaS project once the consulting company brings in a large multiple (with much larger overhead). You are also substantially reducing your chances of finding funding and as a side effect are reducing your valuation, so unless you plan to self fund for the foreseeable future you may want to re-consider the strategic impact of this decision. If you can please do it under a different legal entity. Also: a crisis in your consultancy department will further reduce your focus on the SaaS part. A successful SaaS play with longer lead times and a hard to reach market requires deep pockets or a very tight belt. Adding a consultancy arm is akin to killing the SaaS project, only slowly.
- goatherders 9y ago
  Agree. If you are going to consult then try and productize whatever it is you are getting paid for as a consultant. Even if the back end is still people powered, this layer of abstraction can go a long way in the consulting revenue not being directly tied to your (or anyone) being hands-on directly involved.
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    Funny you should say that, I'm struggling with that exact problem right now. And it's a tough one.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- HeyLaughingBoy 9y ago
  Would you say that generally applies to Product companies doing consulting, or do you see something that's specific to SaaS? FWIW, I agree with you :-)
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    The former.
- 9y ago
shove 9y ago
Also in Raleigh, we should "network" (aka eat and drink).

samfisher83 9y ago

How do you do this: You should make content to establish yourself as an expert. I did for recruiting. Over the course of 6 months I went from some random person who knew nothing to an authority in the space.

joshklein 9y ago
Searching for the term “inbound marketing” should give you a good sense of the process. The website submitted for this thread is a textbook example of what you would create, as appropriate to your target client.
- raleigh_user 9y ago
  True. A lot are not very good though. A lot are covers for getting your email and trying to sell you services. I like Drift.com's Seeking Wisdom podcast and anything by Gary Vaynerchuk(I am sure this audience will hate him but he knows what hes doing)
raleigh_user 9y ago
To be honest, you'd be shocked how easy it is to do. One thing I struggled with for awhile was trying to make the perfect piece of content, editing and getting stuck in that paralysis. I was able to make a dent in recruiting because I am an engineer and know about problems engineers have. Further, I found a niche where recruiters want to learn how to write basic web scrappers and started teaching them how to do so. If you find a similar niche or compliment to the industry you want to enter that you have some experience in, its pretty easy!
hluska 9y ago
This can be as simple as: 1.) Find a niche. This is the most difficult part. If your niche is too obscure, you'll find yourself in a situation where you're an expert in a field that three people on earth have heard of. That's not a good way to get consulting leads! But, if your niche is too general, you're going to end up competing with so many people that your ability to become an expert will be a function of how good you are at marketing. In a perfect world, you would already have some expertise in this space, but this isn't a strict requirement, just be aware that if you're trying to attract consulting clients, it's very bad if your potential client knows noticeably more than you do. 2.) Start a topic board. (An outliner is an excellent tool for this, but you can use anything - a text editor, paper, a white board.) Chances are, as soon as you pick a niche, you'll believe there are an endless number of topics to write about. You'll start off strong, publish five good articles, then sit in front of your computer, try to start an article and realize you have absolutely nothing to say. Sometimes, you can generate a topic by reading some relevant news sources, but most of the time, you'll lose momentum, so it's important to have a repository of half baked content ideas. 3.) Figure out your medium. Are you a great writer? Do you have a good voice for podcasting? Do you have a good face for video? Do you have a good face for podcasting?? ;) When you get good, you'll likely want to branch out into other mediums. Think, for example, of the legions of marketing bloggers who have branched out into marketing podcasts. But, at first, it's easier to focus on one medium, get really good at it and then branch out. When you're new to producing content, it's too easy to blame the wrong medium when you should really blame shitty content. After you've been around the block, you'll get a sense of whether your treatment of a topic will work on your audience if it's presented in a certain medium. 4.) Find one or two people who you trust to serve as editors/first eyes. Ideally, this will be someone who cares about you enough to tell you that you sound like a buffoon. 5.) Build out a schedule. When you're getting started, your real task is to produce a habit, not produce amazing content. If you form the habit while producing great content, that's even better. If I was publishing a piece of content every Monday, my schedule would look like this: Sunday - Start new draft. Monday - Publish previous piece. Finish first draft of new content + send to editors. Tuesday/Wednesday - Wait for first round of feedback. Start picking a topic/finding sources for next week's article. As soon as you get that feedback, drop everything and make a choice. Can you salvage this piece by Monday? If yes, move forward. If no, bail and start on a new draft. Thursday - Send current draft to editors. Depending on the first round of feedback, this may be a first or second draft. Friday/Saturday - Wait for feedback, make sure all your sources are together for your next article and figure out what you'll really want to say. As soon as you get feedback, massage the article and prepare the post to be published Monday. Scheduling a post works great here. ---Repeat--- You'll notice there are only two rounds of feedback from editors. In my experience editing and writing, if I can't massage a piece within two rounds of feedback, it's best to put that topic back on the topic board and revisit it at another time. This problem is especially acute if you have more than one editor. For some reason I don't understand, if I'm working with multiple editors, by the time we get to a third draft, my editors start to diverge. The small lesson is don't waste time on fucked content. The bigger lesson is that if you routinely need more than two drafts to complete a written article, you're either a shitty writer who picked the wrong medium, or you're a shitty expert who picked the wrong niche. 5.) Always be open to learn.

everdev 9y ago

I run an agency at ever.io. My close rate is much higher, around 50% (I'm a sales guy). I've been coding for 20 years, but not as focused on that anymore. If you want to reach out to me, I'd love to connect and see if I can help.

raleigh_user 9y ago
I'd love some help. I will shoot you a message. Thank you.
tomcooks 9y ago
Care to share some wisdom and protips? If not in a public comment can i bother you privately?
- everdev 9y ago
  Sure, you can ping me at ever.io

raleigh_user 9y ago

One other thing that took me awhile to get over was making asks (asking potential customers to become customers). Some people say this is like asking someone out on a date. I've been in a relationship for 5 years so that didnt help me a lot. I had to just start doing it. And anticipated the first 20 would go horribly wrong. And thats kind of what happened. Now I don't really get attached to an opportunity at all. The faster you can get to that point the better you will be at selling.

hluska 9y ago
When I was young, I got a great piece of advice about dating that has oddly turned me into a pretty good salesperson. When you're looking to date, you'll see (and hopefully meet) lots of interesting people. On average 1/10 of the people you find interesting will find you interesting. Then, of the 1/10 who find you interesting, about half will be in a place to do anything about that. That attitude has been good for me in sales, because it has kept me from getting too attached to a prospect. Though, when I was getting started, it was tough because I didn't iterate on my approaches quickly enough.

justaguyhere 9y ago

Could you please link your blog?

jacquesm 9y ago

There is no bigger enemy of a SaaS company than a successful consulting play. Good luck trying to re-focus on your SaaS project once the consulting company brings in a large multiple (with much larger overhead). You are also substantially reducing your chances of finding funding and as a side effect are reducing your valuation, so unless you plan to self fund for the foreseeable future you may want to re-consider the strategic impact of this decision. If you can please do it under a different legal entity. Also: a crisis in your consultancy department will further reduce your focus on the SaaS part. A successful SaaS play with longer lead times and a hard to reach market requires deep pockets or a very tight belt. Adding a consultancy arm is akin to killing the SaaS project, only slowly.

goatherders 9y ago
Agree. If you are going to consult then try and productize whatever it is you are getting paid for as a consultant. Even if the back end is still people powered, this layer of abstraction can go a long way in the consulting revenue not being directly tied to your (or anyone) being hands-on directly involved.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  Funny you should say that, I'm struggling with that exact problem right now. And it's a tough one.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
HeyLaughingBoy 9y ago
Would you say that generally applies to Product companies doing consulting, or do you see something that's specific to SaaS? FWIW, I agree with you :-)
- jacquesm 9y ago
  The former.
9y ago

shove 9y ago

Also in Raleigh, we should "network" (aka eat and drink).