3 ms·

Scaling My Side Project From $5K to $25K per month

19 points by jaxsonkhan 8y ago

lucasstarbuck 8y ago
like how tactical this is. right down to the specifics.
michael2477 8y ago
author of the post here! happy to answer any questions
ivzar 8y ago
These posts are a blueprint for a successful business that read like a gripping novel -- really enjoyed it! Bookmarked and will refer back to this as I develop http://www.blog2video.com http://www.blog2video.com as I eventually want to get to the point of scaling and ultimately selling the business. Quick question: what form of free trial structure ended up working best for you? I like the risk-free offer and am trying to craft one of my own.
- michael2477 8y ago
  I originally started with 100 lead free trial since I wanted people to convert one and then sign up for 1,000 or more. But it ended up being costly and not everyone converted their 100. So I switched it to 25 and communicated that the goal wasn't to convert a lead in the free trial but just show the quality of the data we could provide. I think that's an important an often overlooked idea: you really need to help your customer think about how to try your product. Guide them along that process based on what you've seen work in the past. Don't let them figure it out and evaluate on their own.
  - ivzar 8y ago
    "Think about how to try your product" -- exactly what I needed today. Thanks Michael!
simoelalj 8y ago
Thanks for sharing your experience :) I'm curious about your hiring process, how did you found your candidates and interviewed them?
- michael2477 8y ago
  Great question! AngelList is a great source for inbound. That's how I found the operations person. Right when I started looking for a salesperson Zirtual (a similar company) shut down and laid off all their employees so I sent about 5 people messages on LinkedIn and asked if they'd be interested in chatting. Two responded and I hired one of them. This is a great book on hiring and more about running an interview process - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EL6RWY/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EL6RWY/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?...
  - simoelalj 8y ago
    Did you hired them as full time employee in the US or as a freelancer?
confiscate 8y ago
really enjoyable read, especially the evernote on customer journey! I think it would benefit if you wrote a blurb about yourself at the end. I.e. your accomplishments and where you are now etc. The story would be more interesting if we knew the person behind the story!
smithy7609 8y ago
@michael2477 The post series is great! I have a couple of questions as I have to build out something similar for my client this week! 1) Did you niches down into verticals, ie insurance etc 2)Do you use a particular tech stack? 3) You nention the free trial to show lead quality, do you help them convert the lead or do you just provide as much information as possible? 4) Typically do you suppply the leads in a spreadsheet or API or do you put it in a CRM? I’m typically seeing comyhaving no real prospecting process and that leaves leads on the table, rotting, making the service look bad?
- michael2477 8y ago
  1/ We focused almost primarily on B2B tech 2/ I ended up partnering with some guys who built a custom scraper. Will describe that in more detail in part 3. 3/ We just provided about 10-15 pieces of info including name, email, and demographic info 4/ We sent Google Sheets or CSV per their request Hope that is helpful!

19 points by jaxsonkhan 8y ago

lucasstarbuck 8y ago

like how tactical this is. right down to the specifics.

michael2477 8y ago

author of the post here! happy to answer any questions

ivzar 8y ago

These posts are a blueprint for a successful business that read like a gripping novel -- really enjoyed it! Bookmarked and will refer back to this as I develop http://www.blog2video.com http://www.blog2video.com as I eventually want to get to the point of scaling and ultimately selling the business. Quick question: what form of free trial structure ended up working best for you? I like the risk-free offer and am trying to craft one of my own.

michael2477 8y ago
I originally started with 100 lead free trial since I wanted people to convert one and then sign up for 1,000 or more. But it ended up being costly and not everyone converted their 100. So I switched it to 25 and communicated that the goal wasn't to convert a lead in the free trial but just show the quality of the data we could provide. I think that's an important an often overlooked idea: you really need to help your customer think about how to try your product. Guide them along that process based on what you've seen work in the past. Don't let them figure it out and evaluate on their own.
- ivzar 8y ago
  "Think about how to try your product" -- exactly what I needed today. Thanks Michael!

simoelalj 8y ago

Thanks for sharing your experience :) I'm curious about your hiring process, how did you found your candidates and interviewed them?

michael2477 8y ago
Great question! AngelList is a great source for inbound. That's how I found the operations person. Right when I started looking for a salesperson Zirtual (a similar company) shut down and laid off all their employees so I sent about 5 people messages on LinkedIn and asked if they'd be interested in chatting. Two responded and I hired one of them. This is a great book on hiring and more about running an interview process - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EL6RWY/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EL6RWY/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?...
- simoelalj 8y ago
  Did you hired them as full time employee in the US or as a freelancer?

confiscate 8y ago

really enjoyable read, especially the evernote on customer journey! I think it would benefit if you wrote a blurb about yourself at the end. I.e. your accomplishments and where you are now etc. The story would be more interesting if we knew the person behind the story!

smithy7609 8y ago

@michael2477 The post series is great! I have a couple of questions as I have to build out something similar for my client this week! 1) Did you niches down into verticals, ie insurance etc 2)Do you use a particular tech stack? 3) You nention the free trial to show lead quality, do you help them convert the lead or do you just provide as much information as possible? 4) Typically do you suppply the leads in a spreadsheet or API or do you put it in a CRM? I’m typically seeing comyhaving no real prospecting process and that leaves leads on the table, rotting, making the service look bad?

michael2477 8y ago
1/ We focused almost primarily on B2B tech 2/ I ended up partnering with some guys who built a custom scraper. Will describe that in more detail in part 3. 3/ We just provided about 10-15 pieces of info including name, email, and demographic info 4/ We sent Google Sheets or CSV per their request Hope that is helpful!