Читать книгу The YouTube Formula - Derral Eves - Страница 12

I went to see my dad to ask his advice. My dad had owned several businesses and done a lot of real estate ventures, and he had been successful at both. He gave me some simple advice, but it was some of the best advice I've ever received. He said, “You need to find a way to make more money with less time and with diverse streams of income.” That was his standard way: he would always restate my problem before giving me fatherly advice. “Derral, don't think of solutions, think of the problem. When you focus and obsess on the problem, the solution will present itself.” Take a minute and let that soak in. Einstein believed that our ability to identify problems was in direct proportion to the quality of the solutions we generate. He said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.” I believed Einstein's words, but I really trusted my dad.

I was determined to figure out what I was supposed to do by focusing on my problem, which was this: I needed more clients. I took the next morning to internalize what my dad had said and identified the problems that were keeping me from diversifying my income. I made a list of the problems associated with having only one client. I thought of every problem I might encounter that next week, month, and year if I continued on the path I was on. When I combed through my list, the solution presented itself to me. I had a list of businesses and all of their contact information sitting in a pile of business cards on my desk.

As an independent graphic designer, I created new business cards for my only client, Chuck, at 1001 Business Cards. He paid me $10 a card. Normally, I would have had zero contact with those businesses ordering cards. Chuck would get a new client, collect their logo, their picture, and their design requirements, and send them to me. I would design their card and email it to Chuck. After client approval, Chuck would have the cards printed and delivered. There was no reason why I would have interacted with these businesses. But now I had a plan to diversify. I wanted to sell them a five‐page website design package for $299. I started cold calling these businesses with my offer. After spending a week calling every business card that I had designed, there were only two takers out of 200 calls. Selling over the phone was difficult; telemarketing wasn't for me.

I needed a new plan, so I refocused on the problem. I analyzed my talking points, learning from my telemarketing experience. I devised a new strategy that would take the process from a cold call to a warm lead, but it meant I needed to meet with these people in person. I asked Chuck if I could hand deliver the completed business cards to these businesses and offer my further services for ads and websites. He gave me the thumbs up and go‐ahead, which landed me the opportunity to meet face‐to‐face with people who could be potential clients for my own business. These were the perfect candidates for businesses that needed a web designer.

When I'd present the finished cards to the owner or manager of the business, they were always impressed with the quality of the card. We didn't do simple cards; we printed in quality full‐color graphics with all the bells and whistles of a premium business card, which was uncommon then. As soon as I saw the moment of excitement or approval of the product, I'd pounce. Here was my window to get a new client! I told them I was the card designer, I was glad they liked my work, and I could do a lot more for their business by helping them create a website. I told them that every business needed a website—this was the future in marketing because leads and sales were going digital. It actually was a tough sell, because most businesses in my area were still on dial‐up Internet at the time. If you are unfamiliar with dial‐up Internet, let me explain it this way for you youngsters: dial‐up Internet ran at 56/K (kilobits) per second. Not megabits. Which means that if you wanted to download today's latest update of Fortnite, it would take you 30 days, 22 hours, and 3 minutes, assuming your connection wasn't interrupted and you didn't have to start all over again.

You could imagine that people didn't see the value in spending money on something so slow and widely unused, but I would start using my sales pitch. It really was going to be the way of the future. Even if only 10% of the city was using the Internet to look for a service, their business was guaranteed to take that call if their competitors weren't online yet. Having a website would give them a place to host frequently asked questions, share a bio about the business and/or the owner, and, most importantly, generate leads. It was a digital sales brochure and the future of marketing.

This new plan worked almost every time. I was converting nearly every business card client into a website client. I got more than 100 clients originally, plus referrals at every turn. And as a bonus, they would need a second business card printed because the first one I designed hadn't had a website listed on it! Score! I sold these updated business cards for $20, helping my original client, Chuck, and giving him additional clientele. He had been my first and only client, and I became his biggest client over the years, bringing in lots of business for him.