You’ve advised a couple of times to [paraphrasing] “think of what you would like to do that won’t be able to do past 5-10 years, and do it now”, short of a minimising regrets mantra.
As a healthy guy in my mid 20s I struggle to think of something that won’t be still there in my mid 30s, besides the obvious (start side biz, healthy habits, social skills). Could you please provide some colour/examples as to which kind of things were you referring to?
Thanks
Ha not much changes from 20s to 30s. Guess you could throw in basic stuff.
Going to spring break to party hard in mexico, going to some house parties with nothing but young people (partying hard). Going to raves etc. or other events where most people are 20.
Thats about it, past 40-50 the scene changes a lot more.
how did you get your start in affiliate marketing / did you use something like STM forum? learn from friends/acquiantances?
Knew people working in internet companies who explained how their ads worked
Efficiency gave us what we needed to get the ball rolling.
Do you recommend STM at all or is there no merit? (scaling products, new offers, networking, etc)
Never used it so no comment
Residential real estate agent in market (metro Detroit) avg home is $200k
Or
At home tech support role for a 2 year old digital marketing biz. He helps gyms generate more clients. Paying $17/hr
Real estate. Never trade time for money same concept
Mid 20s at early stage startup. Currently: well paid, lots of free time (effectively 4 full days free per week including weekend), and some upside but very unlikely to make enough to never have to work again in the event of successful exit ($500k max).
Have the option to step up to C-level role with no pay rise, but strong upside (likely $1mn+ if exit successfully). Will however will have the same free time as an IBD guy.
What factors should I consider to decide?
sure easy go to second option. If your max is 500K its a complete waste of time. You can start a side biz with IB hours so no issues.
Would you still recommend option 2 if they make you sign something saying the company owns any business you start whilst being employed there? This is growingly common at senior roles in startups..
Yeah because all you do is put it under a family members name. Easy solution man
Currently working diligently on my Sales and closing skills. There’s a company in my major city that is new and hiring. They make rich people’s and companies run efficiently by offering full scale concierge services. Also services such as picking up dry cleaning/groceries/ car cleaned etc. etc. while the CEO’s are busy running their companies.
My role would be strictly finding and closing the deals for these services to ultra rich people and large scale companies.
Do you think this is a profitable sales role to get into?
Just figure out how much you make per sale, if its under 4 figures then no. If you’re making 5 figures plus then yes.
Run the numbers!
I will run the numbers, Thank you! A pleasure as always.
2 ids 2 qs
Found profitable white hat campaigns for nutra w/ google
Account then got banned.
Created new one (the hard way w/ all new bells & whistles)
Q: how much do you have to change your funnel w/ new account? Are we talking new landers, ads, keywords, bids and yes… even possibly creating a new affiliate account w/ aff network (some aff networks put aff IDin your links which google may track)?
Also, is best way for new account (assuming you do white hat) to create one or buy?
1) you should have contacted them if there was no issue. Thats ridiculous to start from scratch if you had no illegal items. You should redo everything essentially if you’ve gone this far.
2) unless you broke an actual rule always aggresively contact and complain. If you have to start never buy, always rebuild, most bought are scams (selling for a reason – ie. something broke and you won’t know till you buy).
Just ordered “Color For Men.” Do you recommend any other books for dress (fit), haircut, etc.
I live in NYC. Would love to put together basic wardrobe for work, going out, and whatever else. Look presentable and not put any thought into it after that.
Go to a high end hair Salon for 3-6 months, they will know a person in the industry who will then help you. Easiest way to do it beyond books.
1) What is the best way to find and reach out to influencers in your chosen niche? (‘your’ as a general term)
2) Would you consider buying a website that is using a PBN? Note this is when the seller is upfront about it, and is their own private PBN. It’s higher risk and more contingent on external factors (the seller’s good will + google) but is generally cheaper. I’ve seen some websites that *used* to use PBNs. The pitch would be to build backlinks (leveraging the website’s high DA) over the next 2-3 years and drop the PBN. Would value your thoughts and/or past experience.
1) easy direct message with a reason why and likely a trial of your product. Or you do the handshake steps we outlined numerous times in the past where you get introduced in person
2) we have never bought one of those so we can’t comment. They are hard because most are scams, so would have to really look at the underlying network. Which then means better to build one yourself.
I’m 24 in NYC and looking for a neighborhood with great parties.
What are the best NYC neighborhoods for nightlife for a 24 y/o?
Thanks
Soho meatpacking tribeca don’t know any other area worth the time.
If low income hear Brooklyn has been fixed
What’s up guys. Took up your advice, drove traffic via proven ad to a proven lander – broke-even on an unoptimized, 5-day FB ad test, and have finally validated a winning product (30-day supplement w/ recurring revenue potential). Demo = 25-54 year-old exotic women in The States. First sale felt 1000x better than getting an IBD offer!
1.) If you were in my shoes, what is the next actionable step you would take before jumping the gun and placing a large MOQ with a supplier?
2.) In Heath/beauty is seems social/SEO/beauty bloggers are becoming more important for LTV and long-term brand success. When you were creating your first brand, what was the highest ROI and return-on-time SEO/organic traffic strategy you used, and how did you build it out?
Many thanks again for all your help. These baby steps are finally beginning to pay off and I love it.
1) Can’t tell based on your question, if you’re breaking even you definitely can’t make a big order. Have to improve optimization to get it to be profitable for at least 3 months then go ahead and start trying to scale.
2) This is easy, the first big item you need is an influencer after your ads work. If you’re converting without any influencer then go straight to getting a good one. Once you do that your sales go up because when people google the product/company they find the influencer. It’s a win win… ie you win twice ha!
Thanks for the response! I’ll spend a bit more time optimizing and making sure I can get profitable on the front-end before trying to scale. Will then begin researching influencers. Will let you know my progress next Q&A or so. Cheers!
Day job is a mechanical design engineer where I have a strong skill-set in product design, robotics and manufacturing. Does it make sense to design a product (ex. 3d printer, cnc machine, mechanical keyboard etc.) when that is where my skills lie or should I stick to the verticals mentioned in efficiency? My thought is to apply the skills I have been developing in AM to drive traffic to products I prototype to test. Difference is I am designing product myself. Thanks for the Q&A.
Sure if you make your own product then you own the supply chain so margins should be higher don’t see why it wouldnt work
What are common signs that a startup SaaS company is not the right place to work? I mean it’s likely to go bust or they will milk you and toss you aside in order to maximize company value?
Thanks.
Don’t know we have never worked in tech so can’t answer.
Just turned 24, Took your advice on software sales (luckily made the enterprise team, not mid-market).
Year 1 made $55k grinding as an SDR. I would soon have a hybrid role (small quota), but it would be another year before I get to be a sales exec. It’s a fantastic company and market leader by far. We are the go to enterprise solution in the space.
Cons: they’re pretty cheap and pay under the industry average. I would start out with a crappy territory. Territory is always changing – my hot accounts can be taken away at any minute. Company is growing rapidly which means a shrinking pie – there’s obviously only 2000 Fortune 2000 companies to go around! Older/more established reps have the BIG $1m+ accounts (Amazon, J&J, IBM) and there’s no shot they get taken off.
Option 2:
Just got an offer for Insurance broker sales for higher ed niche. Would start out as account exec out of the gate (which would save 1 year) and would easily double last year’s income. Similar deal sizes (maybe a bit smaller) than software deals. My boss here would be 34 (perfect age for mentor) and has been making $500k+ for the past few years in the same role I would be in. he would hand me accounts my first year to take off his plate and show me the ropes. I would be his only sales rep. To boot, he’s a RE investor and has a smokin wife. In other words, he’s a beast and he’s got what I want (except his age of course!)
To me it’s an easy decision – take insurance job.
Question is: do you see insurance industry changing in the near future due to blockchain, AI, IoT that could negatively affect me as a higher ed insurance broker?
P.S. working on affiliate marketing too but haven’t made anything yet. Still trial and error for me.
THANK YOU for your information. Literally life changing.
dude this is way too long, just tell us which one requires the least amount of hours.
Unless one option pays 60-70% more, then choose the one with lower hours.
Any thoughts on marijuana stocks?
Cant really imagine a future where marijuana isnt what alcohol is today.
Most are ridiculously overvalued.
Question 1:
You guys recommend coffee for only occasional use. Is this because it’s depleting your energy long term? I started adding coffee with butter after I wake up. Wanted the butter more than the coffee, seemed weird to try with green tea.
Question 2:
You guys mentioned long term should just focus on consistent sleep. Think it’s OK to be waking up at 10am daily? Tried waking up at 6:30 daily for a month and would say I just felt tired every single day. Usually can just work non-stop if I wake up around 10am. Thinking I should get a sleep study done but not sure if 10am is a problem.
Thanks,
college_swe
1) yeah its terrible because you become reliant on it. It’s essentially borrowing energy from the rest of your day (future)
2) Sure as long as it’s maximizing your earnings
What option would you recommend specifically for a young man living in a semi socialist third world country as a source for location independent income? High taxes and customs restrictions might make several internet based businesses harder. Should I resort to selling motivation?
Thank You
What? internet has nothing to do with restrictions if you sell another persons product u can do that from anywhere except maybe North Korea… so don’t see a real issue here.
I’m at a tech firm where I have direct, measurable impact on profit.
Current Situation: $90k base + $30k performance bonus + (verbally promised) Profit Sharing–potential 1.5x base assuming no further increase in profit.
What is the premium of political positioning within current firm versus potential new firm?
How do I determine the threshold above which I should jump?
The only thing that matters is variable comp. Just choose the one with highest payout for performance. You shouldn’t care about base salaries beyond living wages.
Same answer, choose the one with least hours unless 75%+ increase in pay
Not trying to be rude, the whole “what if” stuff is a waste of time and typically done by college students who never go anywhere in life. The same guys who “check” answers after the test is turned in as if it’ll change the result
You’ve advised a couple of times to [paraphrasing] “think of what you would like to do that won’t be able to do past 5-10 years, and do it now”, short of a minimising regrets mantra.
As a healthy guy in my mid 20s I struggle to think of something that won’t be still there in my mid 30s, besides the obvious (start side biz, healthy habits, social skills). Could you please provide some colour/examples as to which kind of things were you referring to?
Thanks
Ha not much changes from 20s to 30s. Guess you could throw in basic stuff.
Going to spring break to party hard in mexico, going to some house parties with nothing but young people (partying hard). Going to raves etc. or other events where most people are 20.
Thats about it, past 40-50 the scene changes a lot more.
how did you get your start in affiliate marketing / did you use something like STM forum? learn from friends/acquiantances?
Knew people working in internet companies who explained how their ads worked
Efficiency gave us what we needed to get the ball rolling.
Do you recommend STM at all or is there no merit? (scaling products, new offers, networking, etc)
Never used it so no comment
Residential real estate agent in market (metro Detroit) avg home is $200k
Or
At home tech support role for a 2 year old digital marketing biz. He helps gyms generate more clients. Paying $17/hr
Real estate. Never trade time for money same concept
Mid 20s at early stage startup. Currently: well paid, lots of free time (effectively 4 full days free per week including weekend), and some upside but very unlikely to make enough to never have to work again in the event of successful exit ($500k max).
Have the option to step up to C-level role with no pay rise, but strong upside (likely $1mn+ if exit successfully). Will however will have the same free time as an IBD guy.
What factors should I consider to decide?
sure easy go to second option. If your max is 500K its a complete waste of time. You can start a side biz with IB hours so no issues.
Would you still recommend option 2 if they make you sign something saying the company owns any business you start whilst being employed there? This is growingly common at senior roles in startups..
Yeah because all you do is put it under a family members name. Easy solution man
Currently working diligently on my Sales and closing skills. There’s a company in my major city that is new and hiring. They make rich people’s and companies run efficiently by offering full scale concierge services. Also services such as picking up dry cleaning/groceries/ car cleaned etc. etc. while the CEO’s are busy running their companies.
My role would be strictly finding and closing the deals for these services to ultra rich people and large scale companies.
Do you think this is a profitable sales role to get into?
Just figure out how much you make per sale, if its under 4 figures then no. If you’re making 5 figures plus then yes.
Run the numbers!
I will run the numbers, Thank you! A pleasure as always.
2 ids 2 qs
Found profitable white hat campaigns for nutra w/ google
Account then got banned.
Created new one (the hard way w/ all new bells & whistles)
Q: how much do you have to change your funnel w/ new account? Are we talking new landers, ads, keywords, bids and yes… even possibly creating a new affiliate account w/ aff network (some aff networks put aff IDin your links which google may track)?
Also, is best way for new account (assuming you do white hat) to create one or buy?
1) you should have contacted them if there was no issue. Thats ridiculous to start from scratch if you had no illegal items. You should redo everything essentially if you’ve gone this far.
2) unless you broke an actual rule always aggresively contact and complain. If you have to start never buy, always rebuild, most bought are scams (selling for a reason – ie. something broke and you won’t know till you buy).
Just ordered “Color For Men.” Do you recommend any other books for dress (fit), haircut, etc.
I live in NYC. Would love to put together basic wardrobe for work, going out, and whatever else. Look presentable and not put any thought into it after that.
Go to a high end hair Salon for 3-6 months, they will know a person in the industry who will then help you. Easiest way to do it beyond books.
1) What is the best way to find and reach out to influencers in your chosen niche? (‘your’ as a general term)
2) Would you consider buying a website that is using a PBN? Note this is when the seller is upfront about it, and is their own private PBN. It’s higher risk and more contingent on external factors (the seller’s good will + google) but is generally cheaper. I’ve seen some websites that *used* to use PBNs. The pitch would be to build backlinks (leveraging the website’s high DA) over the next 2-3 years and drop the PBN. Would value your thoughts and/or past experience.
1) easy direct message with a reason why and likely a trial of your product. Or you do the handshake steps we outlined numerous times in the past where you get introduced in person
2) we have never bought one of those so we can’t comment. They are hard because most are scams, so would have to really look at the underlying network. Which then means better to build one yourself.
I’m 24 in NYC and looking for a neighborhood with great parties.
What are the best NYC neighborhoods for nightlife for a 24 y/o?
Thanks
Soho meatpacking tribeca don’t know any other area worth the time.
If low income hear Brooklyn has been fixed
What’s up guys. Took up your advice, drove traffic via proven ad to a proven lander – broke-even on an unoptimized, 5-day FB ad test, and have finally validated a winning product (30-day supplement w/ recurring revenue potential). Demo = 25-54 year-old exotic women in The States. First sale felt 1000x better than getting an IBD offer!
1.) If you were in my shoes, what is the next actionable step you would take before jumping the gun and placing a large MOQ with a supplier?
2.) In Heath/beauty is seems social/SEO/beauty bloggers are becoming more important for LTV and long-term brand success. When you were creating your first brand, what was the highest ROI and return-on-time SEO/organic traffic strategy you used, and how did you build it out?
Many thanks again for all your help. These baby steps are finally beginning to pay off and I love it.
1) Can’t tell based on your question, if you’re breaking even you definitely can’t make a big order. Have to improve optimization to get it to be profitable for at least 3 months then go ahead and start trying to scale.
2) This is easy, the first big item you need is an influencer after your ads work. If you’re converting without any influencer then go straight to getting a good one. Once you do that your sales go up because when people google the product/company they find the influencer. It’s a win win… ie you win twice ha!
Thanks for the response! I’ll spend a bit more time optimizing and making sure I can get profitable on the front-end before trying to scale. Will then begin researching influencers. Will let you know my progress next Q&A or so. Cheers!
Day job is a mechanical design engineer where I have a strong skill-set in product design, robotics and manufacturing. Does it make sense to design a product (ex. 3d printer, cnc machine, mechanical keyboard etc.) when that is where my skills lie or should I stick to the verticals mentioned in efficiency? My thought is to apply the skills I have been developing in AM to drive traffic to products I prototype to test. Difference is I am designing product myself. Thanks for the Q&A.
Sure if you make your own product then you own the supply chain so margins should be higher don’t see why it wouldnt work
What are common signs that a startup SaaS company is not the right place to work? I mean it’s likely to go bust or they will milk you and toss you aside in order to maximize company value?
Thanks.
Don’t know we have never worked in tech so can’t answer.
Just turned 24, Took your advice on software sales (luckily made the enterprise team, not mid-market).
Year 1 made $55k grinding as an SDR. I would soon have a hybrid role (small quota), but it would be another year before I get to be a sales exec. It’s a fantastic company and market leader by far. We are the go to enterprise solution in the space.
Cons: they’re pretty cheap and pay under the industry average. I would start out with a crappy territory. Territory is always changing – my hot accounts can be taken away at any minute. Company is growing rapidly which means a shrinking pie – there’s obviously only 2000 Fortune 2000 companies to go around! Older/more established reps have the BIG $1m+ accounts (Amazon, J&J, IBM) and there’s no shot they get taken off.
Option 2:
Just got an offer for Insurance broker sales for higher ed niche. Would start out as account exec out of the gate (which would save 1 year) and would easily double last year’s income. Similar deal sizes (maybe a bit smaller) than software deals. My boss here would be 34 (perfect age for mentor) and has been making $500k+ for the past few years in the same role I would be in. he would hand me accounts my first year to take off his plate and show me the ropes. I would be his only sales rep. To boot, he’s a RE investor and has a smokin wife. In other words, he’s a beast and he’s got what I want (except his age of course!)
To me it’s an easy decision – take insurance job.
Question is: do you see insurance industry changing in the near future due to blockchain, AI, IoT that could negatively affect me as a higher ed insurance broker?
P.S. working on affiliate marketing too but haven’t made anything yet. Still trial and error for me.
THANK YOU for your information. Literally life changing.
dude this is way too long, just tell us which one requires the least amount of hours.
Unless one option pays 60-70% more, then choose the one with lower hours.
Any thoughts on marijuana stocks?
Cant really imagine a future where marijuana isnt what alcohol is today.
Most are ridiculously overvalued.
Question 1:
You guys recommend coffee for only occasional use. Is this because it’s depleting your energy long term? I started adding coffee with butter after I wake up. Wanted the butter more than the coffee, seemed weird to try with green tea.
Question 2:
You guys mentioned long term should just focus on consistent sleep. Think it’s OK to be waking up at 10am daily? Tried waking up at 6:30 daily for a month and would say I just felt tired every single day. Usually can just work non-stop if I wake up around 10am. Thinking I should get a sleep study done but not sure if 10am is a problem.
Thanks,
college_swe
1) yeah its terrible because you become reliant on it. It’s essentially borrowing energy from the rest of your day (future)
2) Sure as long as it’s maximizing your earnings
What option would you recommend specifically for a young man living in a semi socialist third world country as a source for location independent income? High taxes and customs restrictions might make several internet based businesses harder. Should I resort to selling motivation?
Thank You
What? internet has nothing to do with restrictions if you sell another persons product u can do that from anywhere except maybe North Korea… so don’t see a real issue here.
I’m at a tech firm where I have direct, measurable impact on profit.
Current Situation: $90k base + $30k performance bonus + (verbally promised) Profit Sharing–potential 1.5x base assuming no further increase in profit.
What is the premium of political positioning within current firm versus potential new firm?
How do I determine the threshold above which I should jump?
$120k? (Base + Bonus)
$255k? (Base + Bonus + Profit Sharing)
Somewhere in between?
Do you have another offer or no?
The only thing that matters is variable comp. Just choose the one with highest payout for performance. You shouldn’t care about base salaries beyond living wages.
Same answer, choose the one with least hours unless 75%+ increase in pay
Not trying to be rude, the whole “what if” stuff is a waste of time and typically done by college students who never go anywhere in life. The same guys who “check” answers after the test is turned in as if it’ll change the result
Your time is too valuable to waste on rumination