I run an affiliate business (well…you know the kind). I have a new business opportunity that will take up all of my time to execute.
I have one sales guy who could take over the entire ops. He socializes too much and is the type to work on 5 projects at once. Tons of talent. Top 1% guy.
What’s the best way to get him to focus and run the ops?
I was thinking required office hours and setting deadlines.
Telling someone to do something will never work.
Align incentives, make it worth his time to focus on your project only. I.e. Money talks.
About a year into management consulting and looking to switch to IB or enterprise sales after realizing as you progress the $ caps and hours increase. I’m a top performer at my firm and feel my skills are in synthesis. Currently working on side business and affiliate campaigns and making progress.
Would you suggest:
A: take any porject at my current firm that free up time to work on affiliate campaigns, but may not be that related to finance or help to break into IB
B: take a project that consumes more time (60-70hrs/week) allowing little time for side projects, but is slightly more in the related to finance although not IB related
Easy A.
No one in banking will really know the difference in your consulting projects or care.
I’m in a weird position (but in a good way) where I am about to start talks to get equity (15-25%) in my company in exchange for a multi-year commitment.
I won’t get too into the weeds here but the CEO likes me and wants to keep me around for awhile, and I enjoy the job and feel the company could quadruple in value over the next five years.
What are the absolute basic, can’t-miss things I need to ask for in terms of security, voting rights, etc, and where can I learn more about how these kinds of deals are usually structured?
Thanks for the Q&A as always.
We would hire a lawyer if serious to look at the contracts
Generally you just want to make sure your ownership cannot be diluted, meanining thwy can’t push out tons of shares or suddenly take your ownership percentage down. That’s the name of the game assuming you’re fine with 20% ownership
Great point about dilution, (and when it gets to that point I will definitely be hiring an attorney).
Thanks for the advice!
Hey guys –
My question is around getting and staying profitable in online business.
Been in business for ~3 months have done ~1,500 in # of sales for context.
I run an online brand (not dropshipping) and ~15% of my sales are recurring customers and the other 85% come from paid traffic, 95% Facebook at the moment.
The model right now is to essentially sell a quantity of 1, 2 or 3 products up front -> upsell 1 -> upsell 2. The sales strategy is FB ads -> long form product page. I’ve also doubled my AOV over the past 2 months.
The “sales concept” works fine, I can easily sell 100s of products a day if I wanted, but the issue is profitability (see below) .
I still struggle to stay consistently profitable under this model, some days are 40% net profit, some days are -30% netprofit, but cumulatively it comes out to around breakeven. I have tried a number of Facebook strategies to get consistently profitable, additionally as you can see increasing AOV is one of them. Some options I see
– Create and test a VSL / presell article instead of direct to product
– Hire someone else thats an expert to try and make FB profitable
– Run clickbait traffic to an article for far lower CPCs, collect emails and then remarket that way
– Go full continuity model, and take a loss on the front-end (way lower conversion rate, though)
I know you might need more info to make a perfectly educated decision, but at first glance, how would you go about solving the profitability issue?
Thanks guys!
Same as prior question, you have to decrease ad spending and create recurring base.
Change the sales to encourage repeat buys or recurring revs. This reduces need for ad spending driving up profit margins.
If you’re breaking even, it’s not optimized at all
Thanks, makes sense!
Coming from an affiliate background, the mindset had always been to drive as much ROI on the first sale as much as possible. Going to take some adjusting.
The problem with offering multiple bottles up front is that you have to wait multiple months to see if retention is still there. Will take some testing to see what works best I suppose.
Additionally – should look into “free” traffic which I currently don’t know much about.
Thx!
When selling online do you recommend dropshipping from asian manufacturers or local? How do you manage logistics (presume Shopify and similar services)?
This is already in the book, 1) affiliates need none of that, 2) if you do your own product you go to trade shows and use their manufacturer.
We don’t do dropshipping and never will (have never recommended it).
Context: Rising star (as told repeatedly by senior leadership, including the global head, and high performers on the team) in a high growth and margin niche division of a F500 financial company in NYC still in an upcycle. Play the political game well (liked by MDs and global head, report to one of the highest performers on the team globally). All in comp rising decently (20% per year, been here 5+ years. Age is late 20s).
Question: Even with such a promising backdrop, is it realistic or worthwhile to try and scale the corporate ladder asap to where bonus>base in a big way by mid 30s, learning a ton about sales (big part of the job), etc. or is it always a waste of time and having your own business is the only real way to success and freedom?
Thanks as always for your feedback and posts.
Depends on what numbers you need to hit. Top sales guys can make $500K or so a year etc.
If that’s good enough then go for it. If it’s not good enough you have to take ownership/equity. Just not mathematically possible to get to $10M by 40 or so if you only make $300-400K on average for 15 years or so.
funny enough the “context” part wasn’t relevant at all. You have to decide how much money you want/need and see if it’s achievable on your path or not. The numbers will give you the answer, no need to ask us!
Wise words, as always. Thank you for the response. I laughed out loud at how right you are about the “context” portion. It really does come down to the current path vs goals. Appreciate it.
What is the Most efficient framework for consistently finding products (which you already know convert) to test?
No real framework if you’re looking for products it’s always the same markets: 1) diet, 2) skin, 3) muscle building, 4) money making and 5) pure gambling/degenerates… That’s really it
So you find a commodity product in the space, learn to sell it and you’re golden. Trying to sell something that is a necessity is a waste of time since you don’t need good sales people to sell something they are forced to buy anyway (hence why grocery store clerks dont make anything).
What do you guys think is the best way to pivot / switch industries in late 20’s/early 30’s if have no significant network that can help you get exposure to other areas? Thinking of something like tech sales/ top tier pwm/ etc — all of which require either an elite pedigree or connections, but have neither.
MBA. We would never do it but it’s the easiest way to pivot. Then you just go into that new space. We would just start selling online instead since the income from careers is meaningless long-term.
Just top tier tech sales or SMB SaaS sales? You can get in pretty easily by making a good phone call/writing a good email.
Literally that’s it. Worked for me – CEO made me an offer without knowing I existed less than 24 hrs after I sent him a cold email. Show you’ve got talent.
Don’t need an MBA for that.
Personal question and a question for lols – currently dating someone for about ~6 months. both of us are late 20s.
I like her a lot, but not sure if feel real connection/serious/wife for the long term (I already know your stance on marriage and partially agree for the finances), and she is a bit crazy (lol). by nature i like to be alone and always feel this way about every girl ive dated. also would like to hook up with other women.
break up or keep her (for now and evaluate as we go along)?!
We gave up on that nonsense years ago. Your decision, if you don’t want kids you shouldnt be dragging on relationships.
what do you guys think of “day trading” crypto? is it a real thing and able to make real massive $$s like trading equities/forex/futures/etc? if so, any idea on where to start to learn about day trading cryptos? cryptos BEEN GETTING BEAT UP THIS YEAR so there must be money to be made
Unlikely, there are already wall street algorithms running on those platforms… but if you want to try good luck!
Do you know anyone who succeed doing *both* RE and online sales?
I am currently flipping RE as mentioned in another Q&A.
Actually yes, lots go guys start selling RE online as well. It’s complementary. Usually one takes over (product sales or RE sales).
I run an affiliate business (well…you know the kind). I have a new business opportunity that will take up all of my time to execute.
I have one sales guy who could take over the entire ops. He socializes too much and is the type to work on 5 projects at once. Tons of talent. Top 1% guy.
What’s the best way to get him to focus and run the ops?
I was thinking required office hours and setting deadlines.
Telling someone to do something will never work.
Align incentives, make it worth his time to focus on your project only. I.e. Money talks.
About a year into management consulting and looking to switch to IB or enterprise sales after realizing as you progress the $ caps and hours increase. I’m a top performer at my firm and feel my skills are in synthesis. Currently working on side business and affiliate campaigns and making progress.
Would you suggest:
A: take any porject at my current firm that free up time to work on affiliate campaigns, but may not be that related to finance or help to break into IB
B: take a project that consumes more time (60-70hrs/week) allowing little time for side projects, but is slightly more in the related to finance although not IB related
Easy A.
No one in banking will really know the difference in your consulting projects or care.
I’m in a weird position (but in a good way) where I am about to start talks to get equity (15-25%) in my company in exchange for a multi-year commitment.
I won’t get too into the weeds here but the CEO likes me and wants to keep me around for awhile, and I enjoy the job and feel the company could quadruple in value over the next five years.
What are the absolute basic, can’t-miss things I need to ask for in terms of security, voting rights, etc, and where can I learn more about how these kinds of deals are usually structured?
Thanks for the Q&A as always.
We would hire a lawyer if serious to look at the contracts
Generally you just want to make sure your ownership cannot be diluted, meanining thwy can’t push out tons of shares or suddenly take your ownership percentage down. That’s the name of the game assuming you’re fine with 20% ownership
Great point about dilution, (and when it gets to that point I will definitely be hiring an attorney).
Thanks for the advice!
Hey guys –
My question is around getting and staying profitable in online business.
Been in business for ~3 months have done ~1,500 in # of sales for context.
I run an online brand (not dropshipping) and ~15% of my sales are recurring customers and the other 85% come from paid traffic, 95% Facebook at the moment.
The model right now is to essentially sell a quantity of 1, 2 or 3 products up front -> upsell 1 -> upsell 2. The sales strategy is FB ads -> long form product page. I’ve also doubled my AOV over the past 2 months.
The “sales concept” works fine, I can easily sell 100s of products a day if I wanted, but the issue is profitability (see below) .
I still struggle to stay consistently profitable under this model, some days are 40% net profit, some days are -30% netprofit, but cumulatively it comes out to around breakeven. I have tried a number of Facebook strategies to get consistently profitable, additionally as you can see increasing AOV is one of them. Some options I see
– Create and test a VSL / presell article instead of direct to product
– Hire someone else thats an expert to try and make FB profitable
– Run clickbait traffic to an article for far lower CPCs, collect emails and then remarket that way
– Go full continuity model, and take a loss on the front-end (way lower conversion rate, though)
I know you might need more info to make a perfectly educated decision, but at first glance, how would you go about solving the profitability issue?
Thanks guys!
Same as prior question, you have to decrease ad spending and create recurring base.
Change the sales to encourage repeat buys or recurring revs. This reduces need for ad spending driving up profit margins.
If you’re breaking even, it’s not optimized at all
Thanks, makes sense!
Coming from an affiliate background, the mindset had always been to drive as much ROI on the first sale as much as possible. Going to take some adjusting.
The problem with offering multiple bottles up front is that you have to wait multiple months to see if retention is still there. Will take some testing to see what works best I suppose.
Additionally – should look into “free” traffic which I currently don’t know much about.
Thx!
When selling online do you recommend dropshipping from asian manufacturers or local? How do you manage logistics (presume Shopify and similar services)?
This is already in the book, 1) affiliates need none of that, 2) if you do your own product you go to trade shows and use their manufacturer.
We don’t do dropshipping and never will (have never recommended it).
Context: Rising star (as told repeatedly by senior leadership, including the global head, and high performers on the team) in a high growth and margin niche division of a F500 financial company in NYC still in an upcycle. Play the political game well (liked by MDs and global head, report to one of the highest performers on the team globally). All in comp rising decently (20% per year, been here 5+ years. Age is late 20s).
Question: Even with such a promising backdrop, is it realistic or worthwhile to try and scale the corporate ladder asap to where bonus>base in a big way by mid 30s, learning a ton about sales (big part of the job), etc. or is it always a waste of time and having your own business is the only real way to success and freedom?
Thanks as always for your feedback and posts.
Depends on what numbers you need to hit. Top sales guys can make $500K or so a year etc.
If that’s good enough then go for it. If it’s not good enough you have to take ownership/equity. Just not mathematically possible to get to $10M by 40 or so if you only make $300-400K on average for 15 years or so.
funny enough the “context” part wasn’t relevant at all. You have to decide how much money you want/need and see if it’s achievable on your path or not. The numbers will give you the answer, no need to ask us!
Wise words, as always. Thank you for the response. I laughed out loud at how right you are about the “context” portion. It really does come down to the current path vs goals. Appreciate it.
What is the Most efficient framework for consistently finding products (which you already know convert) to test?
No real framework if you’re looking for products it’s always the same markets: 1) diet, 2) skin, 3) muscle building, 4) money making and 5) pure gambling/degenerates… That’s really it
So you find a commodity product in the space, learn to sell it and you’re golden. Trying to sell something that is a necessity is a waste of time since you don’t need good sales people to sell something they are forced to buy anyway (hence why grocery store clerks dont make anything).
What do you guys think is the best way to pivot / switch industries in late 20’s/early 30’s if have no significant network that can help you get exposure to other areas? Thinking of something like tech sales/ top tier pwm/ etc — all of which require either an elite pedigree or connections, but have neither.
MBA. We would never do it but it’s the easiest way to pivot. Then you just go into that new space. We would just start selling online instead since the income from careers is meaningless long-term.
Just top tier tech sales or SMB SaaS sales? You can get in pretty easily by making a good phone call/writing a good email.
Literally that’s it. Worked for me – CEO made me an offer without knowing I existed less than 24 hrs after I sent him a cold email. Show you’ve got talent.
Don’t need an MBA for that.
Personal question and a question for lols – currently dating someone for about ~6 months. both of us are late 20s.
I like her a lot, but not sure if feel real connection/serious/wife for the long term (I already know your stance on marriage and partially agree for the finances), and she is a bit crazy (lol). by nature i like to be alone and always feel this way about every girl ive dated. also would like to hook up with other women.
break up or keep her (for now and evaluate as we go along)?!
We gave up on that nonsense years ago. Your decision, if you don’t want kids you shouldnt be dragging on relationships.
what do you guys think of “day trading” crypto? is it a real thing and able to make real massive $$s like trading equities/forex/futures/etc? if so, any idea on where to start to learn about day trading cryptos? cryptos BEEN GETTING BEAT UP THIS YEAR so there must be money to be made
Unlikely, there are already wall street algorithms running on those platforms… but if you want to try good luck!
Do you know anyone who succeed doing *both* RE and online sales?
I am currently flipping RE as mentioned in another Q&A.
Actually yes, lots go guys start selling RE online as well. It’s complementary. Usually one takes over (product sales or RE sales).