YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → Luke Van Der Veer - SEO Expert & Entrepreneur | Ranking (and Renting) Websites With SEO

Luke Van Der Veer - SEO Expert & Entrepreneur | Ranking (and Renting) Websites With SEO — Transcript

by Scott D. Clary - Success Story Podcast · 13,406 words · 1,881 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00a lot of business owners think I need a
0:02website and as soon as I have one it's
0:04automatically going to bring in leads a
0:05website's just a business it's not doing
0:07anything just sitting there you could
0:09have a 30 000 website and it's going to
0:11sit on page 10 with everybody else until
0:13you do some Luke Luke Vander Veer
0:16vanderveer is earning six figures per a
0:18month with Rank and rent SEO we've tried
0:21it all but that was 24. I was working at
0:24GE my first nine-to-five job right
0:26everybody I know they're all stuck
0:28trading time for money we just now work
0:31for us just never accepted this idea I
0:34was like I can't I can't do this I'm not
0:36doing this there's got to be a way out
0:38Warren Buffett I really need this quote
0:40he's just like whatever you're paid is
0:42just what the market thinks your skills
0:44are worth so so we want to think
0:47I've always liked doing things on my own
0:48I'm like these websites looking at what
0:50I'm doing for the clients I'm like why
0:52do they have control over my time they
0:54have control over my time because I'm
0:55working for them I'm like but what are
0:57they getting at all they're really
0:58getting is the needs I'm like how can I
1:01have it where I've got
1:04it's like the perfect solution
1:06what was the biggest mistake that you
1:09made when you first started trying to
1:10build something yourself oh God there's
1:13so many mistakes
1:14but
1:17welcome to success story I'm your host
1:19Scott Clary the success story podcast is
1:22part of the HubSpot podcast Network
1:24they've been supporting the show for
1:25over two years now and when it comes to
1:28running an incredible business hubspot's
1:30got your back now if you're an
1:32entrepreneur you know that nothing
1:34matters more than generating Revenue but
1:36sales people aren't just closing deals
1:38they're tracking down leads they're
1:40forecasting growth they're whipping up
1:42reports managing contacts creating
1:44content crunching numbers the list of
1:47tasks goes on and on with Q4 around the
1:50corner there's a better way to win it
1:51all starts with the new HubSpot sales
1:54Hub now with the HubSpot sales Hub your
1:58data tools and teams are fully linked
2:01inside a smart and highly customizable
2:03platform that feels good to use it's
2:06easy turn prospects into Pipeline and
2:09close your deals all in one place plus
2:12sequences and smooth workflows help reps
2:15streamline tasks and spend more more
2:17time on what they do best connecting
2:20with customers with sales Hub closing
2:22big deals is simple try it for yourself
2:24at hubspot.com sales
2:28foreign
2:37when I was working at GE it was my first
2:39real job first nine-to-five job after
2:42the MBA program
2:44at Albany and I was there for a few
2:48weeks trying to get used to
2:50that type of company
2:52just a true nine to five human resources
2:56department lots of smart people and just
2:58a lot of work as you'd imagine at a you
3:01know multinational company Six largest
3:03in the world or whatever at the time
3:04and talking to some of the different
3:07colleagues I noticed that most of the
3:10people in the department were a lot
3:12older than me like I was what 24.
3:15everybody was nearing retirement they're
3:18all like late 50s early 60s and person
3:21after person after person was telling me
3:23the same two themes I don't have enough
3:26money to retire
3:27or I haven't been able to do the things
3:30I've wanted to do over the past 35 40
3:32years and one woman in particular was
3:35one I was really close to she was the
3:36person who was kind of training me to
3:37get me up to speed to be the subject
3:39matter expert for the benefit stuff I
3:41was handling
3:43um and she was just talking about not
3:45being able to see her daughter
3:46and how important this was to her and I
3:49just kept hearing this from everybody
3:50and I just was sitting there adding up
3:52the years in my head like I don't want
3:55to do this for 30 40 years and not have
3:57money and not be able to do any of the
3:58stuff I want to do I want it now like
4:00while I'm young
4:02so I mean that was the thing for me it
4:03was just kind of a trigger like I can't
4:04do this I started getting immediately
4:06stressed I'm like I have to make a
4:08change so that was the thing for me I'm
4:11like I'm not doing this I decide to do
4:12something I don't know what it is yet
4:14but I'm going to do something you know
4:15you had this like you had this moment
4:18this like Crisis when you were just
4:21starting out at GE but
4:23the fact that you took the initiative to
4:25go build something
4:27I think it's so commendable because
4:28everyone has like this different
4:29entrepreneur story when they're like I
4:32just had to do it but a lot of people
4:34they didn't get that bug when they first
4:36started working a lot of people went
4:38through a lot of [ __ ] before they
4:40decided to build something themselves or
4:42they came from a family that was
4:44entrepreneurial what do you think was
4:46different about you that made you want
4:48to build something yourself like you
4:49have this stress this pressure a lot of
4:51people feel that though
4:52it was just the you you looked out and
4:55you saw the 40 years and you're like no
4:57I'm not doing this I can't I'm like I
5:00can't do it maybe it's just growing up I
5:03mean my my father is a small business
5:05owner he's a chiropractor started his
5:06own practice my mom would be an employee
5:09she's a clinical nurse specialist a
5:10psychiatric nurse my brothers are both
5:13just employees right everybody I know
5:16all has the same thing they all they're
5:18all stuck trading time for money
5:21and it was something I never wanted to
5:22do and I had never understood you know
5:23we go have this great time at school but
5:26after that we just now work forever and
5:28I just never accepted this idea so as
5:31soon as I get on there I was like I
5:32can't I can't do this I'm not doing this
5:35there's got to be a way out if I there's
5:36other people I see that can do this I
5:38don't know them but there's other people
5:39that are out so there's got to be a way
5:42I gotta find out what it is what was the
5:44biggest mistake that you made when you
5:45first started trying to build something
5:47yourself
5:49not
5:51oh God there's so many mistakes that's a
5:53trick question unlimited mistakes
5:55there's so many
5:57not clearly defining what I wanted
6:01so I spent years focused on just making
6:06money I thought money was the ticket if
6:08I just had a lot of money I don't have
6:09to work like it doesn't have to be like
6:12Powerball money but enough where it's
6:14like Millions I don't have to do
6:15anything then I can just hang out
6:17or do whatever but
6:19going into different business models
6:22like all the different things they tried
6:23Drop Shipping and Amazon and MLM and
6:26trying to create a Facebook Ad Agency
6:28and all these different things with
6:30just trying to make money
6:32I never really realized that time was
6:34what I wanted I didn't care about the
6:35money I want you need some but I needed
6:37time
6:38because I wanted control of what I'm
6:40doing with my schedule and having to ask
6:42somebody for permission to take vacation
6:45is uh it makes me feel like a kid in
6:48class
6:49right and
6:51building all these different business
6:52models and getting to a reasonable
6:55amount with each of them I realized that
6:57it I don't care about the money if I
6:58can't use any of it
7:00so I eventually found my way to
7:02something that gave me that time back
7:04but only after screwing up with so many
7:07models not knowing this just so didn't
7:09plan it out so plan it out in advance
7:11would have been the smart move you know
7:12so all the all the different things you
7:15tried these are all like the the the
7:17typical side hustles right so you talk
7:20to you spoke about building an agency
7:22Drop Shipping MLM whatever it is is the
7:25very typical side hustle and these can
7:27all be valid businesses I think that
7:29there were points in time when some of
7:32these worked better than others because
7:33you know you had first mover advantage
7:35or you know you're one of the first
7:37people to try the thing the Drop
7:39Shipping you're running a Facebook Ad
7:40Agency but now saturated Marketplace
7:42because everyone and their mother has
7:44tried these side hustle businesses
7:46but they all kind of work to a degree
7:48but they're they're what I have an issue
7:52with with all of these types of side
7:53hustles is for some reason they're
7:56marketed as passive income they're all
7:59marketed as passive I don't know
8:00actually now that I'm thinking about it
8:03when the concept of Entrepreneurship and
8:06passive ever was aligned and and in sync
8:11because from my experience
8:13entrepreneurship is like okay we'll get
8:16ready for 80 hours a week that's what
8:18you're going to be doing and I think
8:19it's this
8:20you know you look on Instagram and you
8:23see people that promote these types of
8:25things and I think to get people to buy
8:27into their concept they show this
8:30beautiful lifestyle where it's like
8:31working from wherever
8:33I have a laptop in front of a pool and I
8:36run a Drop Shipping business and I don't
8:37have to do any basically nothing and I'm
8:40making millions of dollars but these are
8:42very these are not easy businesses
8:44perhaps people optimize them and they
8:46remove some of the uh
8:49problems and and Logistics that a
8:52traditional business would require but
8:53it's still a business if you're building
8:55it if you're Building A Drop Shipping
8:56site you're still spinning up a website
8:58you're still finding product you're fi
9:00you're basically doing a gamut of
9:02marketing activities all the time you
9:04still have to make sure they're
9:05fulfillment customer service I mean Ad
9:07Agency is you're finding new customers
9:09you're running ads for them maybe
9:10there's some parts that can be automated
9:12or outsourced but it's like you still
9:14have a business it's still a business
9:16which is fine but it's hard and
9:18Entrepreneurship is very hard and people
9:20build themselves jobs right
9:23they've done it multiple times so I'm
9:25aware so you've gone through all these
9:27and and like when you go through them
9:29all like you make money but
9:33you're not free because when people
9:34build businesses they have to spend more
9:37time in the business they don't have
9:38time for their family it's like almost
9:40like worse
9:41than working a nine to five in terms of
9:44time and freedom
9:46it is it is it started with MLM that was
9:48kind of the first one I spent three and
9:50a half years on that that's the first
9:52one that I kind of hit and it makes
9:53sense because in the beginning you
9:55didn't have as much money well I didn't
9:56so it you know 400 bucks get in start
9:59your MLM company
10:01so I'm in there and I mean you you learn
10:05things from it I I guess it helps me
10:07become a little bit more
10:09focused on self-education I was really
10:11self-conscious speaking in front of
10:12people so I never would have done this
10:14in a million years
10:15but you know you keep screwing things up
10:18and I was worried about being judged but
10:20the people who are making all the money
10:21said you have to just push through that
10:23don't worry about it and just get good
10:25at this so I just kept trying to
10:27practice presentations or whatever I'm
10:29talking in front of people we're doing
10:30presentations to people's houses I'm
10:33always wearing black just in case I
10:34sweat like crazy and actually you know
10:36that I'm thinking about I'm still
10:37wearing black because it's ingrained in
10:39me now
10:40but just like putting all those reps in
10:43like made me good at that but I'm
10:44listening to the people on stage that
10:46are talking and they're saying yeah you
10:47know if you get up to this big team you
10:50can have your team working and then you
10:52don't have to work you could just sit
10:53back and relax and it's like all right
10:55cool so I learned how to do it I
10:57listened to them I go all this training
10:59I recruited a ton of people and I had my
11:02big team now so I was like all right I'm
11:03gonna try to do this and I just stopped
11:04working everybody else stopped working
11:06too and then I realized I'm supposed to
11:09be leading by example so of course if I
11:11stop there going to too so it was a lie
11:13it's like it's not really passive at no
11:15point can I walk away and just have them
11:17continue it because they're looking to
11:18me
11:19so that business model is flawed so I'm
11:22like okay that one's done so we try
11:23something else so I try eBay and I'm
11:26like this might be a good one sell stuff
11:27on Amazon and eBay and with my partner
11:30and I we built this up we're selling
11:31liquidation products we get it up to
11:33like 35 Grand a month but we're pilling
11:35we're pulling 15 hour days seven days a
11:37week we have no lives
11:39so that was another terrible thing it's
11:41like I don't care about 35 Grand a month
11:43when you have to pay taxes split it with
11:45him eBay fees and just all of our time
11:47disappears
11:49but it did teach me that I didn't have
11:52any leverage so that was something now I
11:54have to look for
11:56so it's like program after program I
11:58learned all the things that I was
11:59missing that I should have known up
12:00front but I didn't know and I had to
12:02learn it through that experience
12:04until finally I hit SEO
12:08and that was kind of the the Difference
12:10Maker I started investing in programs
12:12and mentors to learn SEO and I created
12:15an agency but once again like you
12:16mentioned created another job for myself
12:18I can generate leads for anybody
12:20anywhere but now I got all these people
12:22that are asking me for reports and hey
12:24update this picture on my website send
12:26me this send me that
12:28and it wasn't until a client called me
12:31at midnight on a Sunday complaining
12:33about his rankings which were fantastic
12:35where I just snapped and I was like I
12:37gotta find a way to get out of this
12:39there's got to be a way to do this where
12:40I don't have to be involved all the time
12:42I'm just laughing at somebody
12:43complaining about the rankings on a on a
12:46on a Sunday at midnight it was so he
12:49woke me up I was sleeping I was like I
12:51have a bedtime for myself he just woke
12:53me up out of a dead sleep I was like
12:55confused like what's going on I saw the
12:56name it's like not clicking I'm like why
12:58is this person calling me right now
13:00and he was just complaining about call
13:03volume and like mind you two months
13:06before he's on like page five or six in
13:08Google and like if you've ever seen the
13:10actual statistics on this nobody goes
13:12past page one
13:13it makes sense right you're Googling for
13:15something you say you want a plumber
13:18why am I gonna go seven pages back and
13:20look at 70 different companies I'm gonna
13:21pick one of the first few or a person
13:23with some good reviews I'm not going
13:24seven pages back I don't have time for
13:26that
13:27that's what everybody does right
13:29and this guy was nowhere to be found and
13:32I had him on page one for like 30
13:33different terms he's getting four five
13:35six seven calls a day
13:38from nothing before
13:40and now he's complaining about this I
13:43was like you ungrateful
13:46I I had some Choice words and then I
13:48just fired him on the spot I'm like
13:49you're done I'm not that's it we're done
13:52and then it just the next day I got up
13:54and I was like we got to do something
13:55different
13:56so that was kind of the transition I
13:58just started thinking about this and I'm
14:00like I can if I could do this for
14:01anybody why don't I just do this for all
14:03the same niches I'm already in with
14:05these clients and I will just rent the
14:07sites to them I own it so I'm in control
14:10I don't have to do reports for anybody I
14:12don't have to change anything because
14:13it's my site and then you follow my
14:15rules or you're done and I'll find
14:16somebody else because if I have the
14:18leads
14:19that's what's valuable
14:21so I just started trading it like a
14:22rental property and finding tenants
14:24instead of going out and finding clients
14:27and that little switch made it passive
14:29for me because now I got something I
14:30could just Build It Up rent it out and
14:32then I'm done move on to the next one so
14:34I want to understand this process a
14:35little bit I want to understand your
14:37mindset too because
14:38so the the two things that I think of
14:41when you so you thought build a website
14:44rent the whole website out to a brand
14:47right when you ex can you explain that
14:50and what I mean by explain it is a
14:52website has a has a brand attached to it
14:56how is it used for another company is it
14:59just your passing over leads
15:02yeah yeah we're just exclusive leads so
15:05I gotta differentiate a couple things so
15:07first thing
15:08a lot of business owners think I need a
15:11website and as soon as I have one it's
15:12automatically going to bring in leads
15:13which is not the case yeah a website's
15:16just a business card you it's not doing
15:18anything just sitting there you could
15:19have a 30 000 website and it's going to
15:22sit on page 10 with everybody else until
15:24you do some search engine optimization
15:26or SEO to move it up to the point where
15:29people see it
15:30so that's the first thing and then once
15:32you have that asset whether you know the
15:36business owner only said or I do Whoever
15:38has got that asset people are going to
15:40see it right if I'm ranked number one
15:42for New York City for the term New York
15:44City Plumbing when somebody needs
15:45Plumbing in New York City and they type
15:47that in they're going to see me and
15:48because there's a ton of people in New
15:50York City and everybody searches that
15:51term that website whoever's getting that
15:53traffic that's worth a crazy amount of
15:56money
15:57so if that's the business owner cool he
15:58could use it for himself is that to me
16:01I have to find a way to get that to the
16:03business owner so I essentially just
16:05started creating generic brands so I
16:07would create something like New York
16:09City Plumbing so if anybody just called
16:11that they're not really going to
16:12remember it it's not anything as a
16:14memorable name
16:15but it's generic enough where I could
16:18send it to another plumber and he could
16:20just be like oh yeah that's one of my
16:21marketing sites or oh yeah it's just you
16:23know that's that's my my DBA
16:26and I would just send all the leads to
16:28that business owner exclusively using
16:30some call tracking call forwarding
16:32software
16:33and then that keeps me out of it so now
16:35the leads are coming in from the organic
16:37rankings I've achieved I'm no longer
16:39involved because it's basically sitting
16:41there unless I pick a super competitive
16:42market
16:43the leads being sent from the business
16:46or from the the website to the business
16:48are out of my hands because that's all
16:49automated with the systems
16:51and the business owners just getting
16:53call volume so now I'm just renting the
16:56exclusive rights to all the leads that
16:58come in because I'm not a plumber but I
17:01could still make money off it if I treat
17:02it like real estate so this this
17:04strategy for the business owner when
17:07when they do this they're they're
17:09getting access to these leads and
17:12I I think it's a really it's a really
17:14smart idea I've never heard of it before
17:15but it's an incredibly smart idea to do
17:17this so you just know how to you know
17:19how to build like lead generation
17:21machines again and again and again
17:22building leading Generations
17:25and digital assets put on the site
17:27generally yeah now I I am curious though
17:30how your mind went to this because when
17:34you were when you had your SEO agency
17:35like why did you not just hire out uh
17:39like a a CEO director of operations
17:42higher out and operator literally the
17:44things we're talking about before we
17:45jumped on the call with private Equity
17:47why how did your mind go to this because
17:50this model I don't think I've ever
17:51really I've heard of lead generation
17:53Services of course but like it's so
17:55specific it's like website rental it's
17:59it's something new
18:00I just a couple things so number one I'm
18:05not great at dealing with people I've
18:07always liked doing things on my own so
18:09the idea of having employees and having
18:11to hire people
18:12is the opposite of anything I'd want to
18:14do so that's probably why that went to
18:16the back of my mind the other thing was
18:18I'm thinking these websites looking at
18:20what I'm doing for the clients I'm like
18:22why why do they have control over my
18:25time
18:26they have control over my time because
18:27I'm working for them
18:29I'm like but what are they getting out
18:31of it all they're really getting is the
18:33leads I'm like how can I have it where
18:36I've got the leads and I'm like I could
18:38just build the site and then I'm like
18:40okay but then I have to find a way they
18:42have to like rent it from me I'm like I
18:44guess I can just do it exclusively and
18:47like I knew of HomeAdvisor and thumbtack
18:48I know like gigantic multi-million
18:50dollar companies and they take leads and
18:53they'll sell them piecemeal to multiple
18:55companies
18:56but then it's kind of like a shared
18:58thing right those companies all fight
18:59over one lead that's not good but if I
19:02had everything myself and I found one
19:04company I could send it to it could be
19:06like an exclusive deal so it's a hell of
19:07a deal for them and then if they're
19:09renting it from me since I'm in control
19:11of it I can do whatever I want
19:13so now
19:15I have control of my time again
19:17so it's like the perfect it's like the
19:19perfect solution
19:20yeah and and when you build these out
19:24when you when you build up these sites
19:26because a lot of people that are
19:27listening to this are for sure thinking
19:30like I have enough time I have a hard
19:32enough time building out one website
19:34that generates leads how how is this guy
19:37doing it like he wakes up in the morning
19:39builds a site generates leads can rent
19:42it out like no problem because building
19:44out a site is like building out a
19:46company it is a business card but then
19:47you have a brand attached to it but it's
19:49a generic brand okay I understand that
19:50but you know the content the keywords
19:53like all the SEO pieces how much content
19:55how much time all these different things
19:57that it takes to build out this website
19:59generates leads but you do it like again
20:01and again and again and again and again
20:02so are there right certain categories
20:04certain niches that work better than
20:06others what's the sort of the the
20:08strategy because obviously going into
20:09this you probably it was a it was sort
20:11of like a thesis a working thesis now
20:13yeah hindsight's 2020 you kind of know
20:16what works what doesn't
20:18yeah I mean I started with the niches
20:19that I was already in because I had
20:21clients in all the niches I was doing
20:22I'm like let's try water damage let's
20:24try Roofing let's try concrete
20:27but I learned things about each of the
20:28niches as I was trying to use them and
20:30that a lot of them were really difficult
20:32and I'm noticing a thing a pattern
20:33between
20:35some of the niches and some of the city
20:37sizes and I started trying to narrow it
20:40down to see if I could find something
20:41where it's a niche that's high value
20:44something that everybody needs something
20:46that has a really short sales cycle so I
20:49can basically convince somebody to want
20:52to work with me fast right like for
20:54example if I generate leads for like
20:55pool construction like that's a six
20:57month process somebody wants to get a
21:00pool design they go through the design
21:01the construction all the stuff that's
21:03going to take forever so if I give that
21:05to a business owner he's not getting
21:07paid on that for months so I can't
21:08really convince him to do that right
21:10away
21:11and I'm knowing I'm not good at sales I
21:14have to find a way to do this where I
21:16get something really fast and they can
21:17see the money quick so then I can keep
21:20doing this
21:21and I mean it's kind of a crap shoot
21:23just testing out different niches and
21:25things but I've kind of narrowed it down
21:27into something that's phone driven so
21:30people are calling in for the service
21:32and then whatever that contractor is or
21:35business owner will go out to them to do
21:37it so not like a nail salon I want
21:39something where people are calling in so
21:40like a plumber a tree service concrete
21:43those are okay
21:44but then I also want that short sale
21:46cycle I want something where there's not
21:51a ton of competition in whatever area
21:52I'm doing it right like I'm not going
21:54straight for New York City because
21:55although it's worth a ton I'm gonna have
21:57to do so much work and compete against
21:59other marketing companies to do that
22:01and just because I can doesn't mean I
22:03should right I would rather find the mom
22:05and pop business who has no idea what
22:07they're doing and they put up a website
22:08because their best friend told them to
22:10and they're the person who's ranked at
22:12the top because I know if I go into that
22:14market even if I screw up everything I
22:16can still beat them and I also won't
22:18have to do very much work on going which
22:20is the passive piece because I don't
22:22want to work after I build this and get
22:23it all going I want it to be minimal I
22:26want to get it up get the thing ranked
22:28get it rented out and then I want to
22:29just be able to sit back and just
22:31collect checks so and it can work like
22:34that if you pick the right niche in the
22:35right market so that's I think that's a
22:37that's a a huge sort of
22:39uh that that's the secret sauce that
22:42makes this more of a passive thing than
22:44an active thing yeah it's very important
22:46and the reason you know when I when I
22:49think about this this business model I'm
22:51thinking like holy [ __ ] if I had 10
22:53websites that I'm renting out I have to
22:55be posting articles backlinking to these
22:57all the time and then so so no but
23:00explain that though because when you
23:01think SEO that's immediately what you
23:03think like how do you SEO a site you're
23:05putting up an article
23:06every day if you can or multiple times a
23:08day right because that's how you keep
23:10putting up new articles so this is where
23:11it comes down to right Niche right
23:13category right city right demo right
23:16geography because
23:17those don't require that level of
23:19commitment
23:20right yeah so I mean like without any
23:24without having experience that most
23:26people will pick the stuff that comes to
23:28mind immediately yeah right they'll pick
23:29the things that they think make a lot
23:31they'll pick concrete they'll pick trees
23:33plumbers electricians lawyers personal
23:36injury lawyers they're like oh that
23:37makes a ton of money yeah okay so you
23:40can generate leads for that but your
23:41work is going to be ongoing because
23:43you're competing against other marketing
23:45companies right you have to know if the
23:47personal injury lawyers they're paying
23:48thousands and thousands of dollars a
23:50month five ten twenty Grand a month to
23:53keep their website where it is
23:54so it's like you could do that by
23:57posting all these articles and
23:58constantly adding new links and all this
24:00stuff but why it's so much work instead
24:03we want to look at something obscure so
24:06personally I like blue collar stuff like
24:08excavation in Des Moines Iowa just some
24:10random Niche no it's not sexy right it's
24:13boring nobody cares about that and
24:15that's why I'd rather be there I want to
24:16fish where people aren't yeah so that I
24:18have a shot and it makes it easier and
24:20then I don't have to do that constant
24:22posting I can just throw up a site with
24:24a few thousand words of content I don't
24:26have to do the blog posts I can get some
24:28links going I can get all that up and
24:29going and once it's at the top I'm done
24:31there's none of this continuous blog
24:33posting and linking and all this and
24:35then I can just watch the rank tracking
24:36software and if it dips occasionally
24:38okay I'll send another link yeah but
24:42it's not a constant thing where I have
24:44to hire people to keep managing it
24:45that's why so what's the effort required
24:47like if you're actually trying to bring
24:49some of these like what would be the the
24:50ideal setup for you like how many blogs
24:53how long would it take you to set one of
24:55these up
24:57I mean to build a website 10 minutes now
25:01I mean originally the idea was I would
25:03build something get the website up and
25:04then once I had kind of a structure I
25:06want which is basically like a home page
25:08five service pages and about in a
25:10contact all with a ton of content
25:12I'm just going to take that structure
25:15I'm going to duplicate it or template it
25:18and then reuse that template over again
25:19now the content I have to create again
25:21because I don't want duplicate content
25:23in Google
25:24but that's easy enough to Outsource and
25:27then I could just plug and play my
25:29template in five minutes so then I could
25:32just have that done for me by somebody
25:34else sorts to like a VA and just repeat
25:37it place after place after place so my
25:39time is just spent trying to figure out
25:41what place is worth it what place should
25:43I do it in so I get the most right get
25:45the most effective use of my time so
25:47let's let's uh let's talk about like the
25:49the financials and the commercials about
25:52how to build up this business you build
25:53this out leads are coming in like how do
25:56you price this out like what is I'm
25:58super curious as like a business model
25:59like how you scaled this out like how
26:02much can you charge a business for this
26:04what's the potential
26:06um because it's it's very very again
26:08it's very smart and I always wonder why
26:10people over complicate entrepreneurship
26:11so I am curious about how how you
26:13monetize this and how much it makes you
26:15if you want to talk about it fine if you
26:16want to just give vague numbers also
26:18cool but I am very curious about how
26:19much it can make
26:21yeah I mean I've made several million
26:23with website rentals so you can
26:25the sky's the limit with this it's just
26:28how long you want to keep doing it you
26:29don't really need many to create a
26:32really big income
26:34um in terms of pricing I mean the
26:36average across the students is around
26:381500 bucks
26:39for people I've coached on this
26:42um
26:44you're kind of all over the map with
26:46what you want to charge my personal
26:47philosophy is charge enough where the
26:51business owner gets a pretty massive Roi
26:53so I like to try to give a business
26:54owner a minimum of a 10x Roi because at
26:57that point it's stupid for them not to
26:59use me and when I do that I find that
27:02it's more passive for me because they
27:04don't bother me because they know
27:05they're getting such a good deal
27:07so some people don't like doing that
27:09because they want to be able to maximize
27:11how much you can charge for every site I
27:13don't care I'll just do it over and over
27:15and over again so there's like competing
27:17thoughts on this because obviously it's
27:19everybody's own business you can do what
27:21you want with it if you have this skill
27:22set and you know how to use the model
27:23right
27:24but like I've seen people rent one site
27:27out for 6 500 bucks a month that was one
27:30two people worked on together super cool
27:33that's somebody's annual income from one
27:35site they just did
27:37most people are going like thousand
27:39bucks a month 1500 bucks a month but
27:40even at that
27:41thousand bucks a month is 12 Grand a
27:43year so five six of those and you could
27:45replace a full-time job for sure no and
27:48I've seen business owners do it I've
27:49seen nine to fivers do it it's just a
27:52way to to get to really build wealth and
27:54get your time back without having to put
27:56continuous work in it's just the work up
27:59front as you all know the success story
28:01podcast is part of the HubSpot podcast
28:03Network which has incredible podcasts
28:05for entrepreneurs Business Leaders
28:07people just wanting to upskill
28:09themselves one of my favorites that you
28:11need to go check out is my first million
28:13hosted by Sam par and Sean Perry they
28:16have incredible guests Alex or Mosey
28:18Sophia amoruso Hassan minhaj all sharing
28:21their secrets how they made their first
28:23million and how to apply their learnings
28:25to capitalize on today's business Trends
28:27and opportunity go listen to my first
28:30million wherever you get your podcast
28:32um
28:33I'm so curious
28:35I I was listening to other podcasts one
28:37of the stories you spoke about was a car
28:39wrap story yeah I want to understand
28:42when you were building out this this
28:44business concept which is super novel
28:46like again like it's not like you're
28:48going on YouTube and you're seeing
28:49people that are posting videos about
28:51again how to start a website rental
28:53company so you had this idea you started
28:57it I want to talk about you know that
28:59story with the car rap story but also
29:01like what solidified this is yes this
29:03makes sense for me
29:05yeah
29:06so the car wraps one I had
29:10um I had some ideas of what niches I
29:13wanted to do something obscure and it's
29:15just kind of going through Googling
29:16online like niches for I don't even
29:19remember the exact search term but just
29:20like niches for internet marketing or
29:22something
29:24um and I saw a person drive by with a
29:26wrapped car and I was like I wonder
29:27about car wraps so I started looking
29:29around the country I just randomly kind
29:32of picked Phoenix I don't really know
29:34what the idea was for that that was just
29:36a pretty random pick and just looking at
29:38Phoenix I saw that there wasn't a ton of
29:40competition
29:41and I was like okay well maybe I can do
29:43it for this one so I started Googling
29:45and I looked up some of the other
29:47companies that were kind of ranking at
29:48the top and I used some tools sem Rush
29:51is the the one I was using to just look
29:53at the top competitors and what keywords
29:55they were ranking for and I noticed that
29:57a lot of the words sounded like company
30:00names or like they could be a company
30:02name and then I was like all right let's
30:04just do something related to Arizona and
30:06like I probably would do this
30:07differently now but
30:09Arizona I was like all right easy I'm
30:11like I'll just do AZ Car Wraps so that
30:14was just my Great Name by the way that
30:15is absolutely phenomenal name oh thank
30:18you thank you that was a random pick
30:21so I was just kind of doing this and I
30:22built I built a site for this I'm like I
30:24don't know anything about car wraps so
30:26I'm looking at everybody else's sites
30:27and trying to like take all the top
30:28competitors and see what the
30:30commonalities are between what they're
30:31talking about and some people had like
30:34FAQs some people had the pricing some
30:37people had like service areas I'm like
30:39all right what if I just take all of it
30:40and I put it all on mine I'll just
30:42create like the Wikipedia of car wraps
30:43but I'll try to make it like a business
30:45and that's what I try to do so I just
30:48had a massive home page with like tons
30:50of information on it I built out
30:52services for all of it I had like a
30:53commercial page like what else can we
30:55use wraps for like people wrap buildings
30:57they wrap boats they wrap all kinds of
30:59things so I was like all right let's
31:00just write about all of it so I put all
31:01of it on the site and it started getting
31:04some organic traffic without me really
31:05doing anything
31:07and then I was like okay now how do we
31:09push this so I started doing the links
31:10and like I had this kind of experience
31:12for my SEO agency so I'm like let's kill
31:14the content first really solid
31:16foundation I'll make the link building
31:17easier so then I started building links
31:19to it and the thing just kind of was
31:21like not really doing anything for a
31:23while it was kind of slowly moving up
31:24but on the surface it's not getting any
31:26calls but the rankings are improving and
31:29then eventually around like four month
31:30Mark somewhere in there the rankings
31:32just jumped I hit page one for some of
31:34the really big terms in the market and
31:36then all of a sudden it's like flood of
31:38calls and I'm like oh crap I gotta find
31:40somebody to do this because they're like
31:42calling me for car wraps and I'm like I
31:43don't do this
31:44I'm like ah so my phone's like ringing
31:47and ringing and ringing I'm like what do
31:49I do with these people and so I just
31:50kept answering and I'm like uh yeah hey
31:52how can I help you and they're like I
31:53want this and this and this you know how
31:54much I'm like uh let me get back to you
31:56and just person after person after
31:58person so I'm like writing all this down
31:59I got all these leads I'm like cool all
32:02right we gotta find somebody to send
32:03this to so I just was looking for
32:05companies I'm like I can't send it to
32:06the top guys they don't care because
32:07they're already overloaded I'm like I
32:09gotta find somebody who's buried so I
32:10just went way back in the search results
32:12I started calling people that were like
32:13five six pages back in Google because
32:15I'm like they're not getting any
32:16business
32:17so called up those people and I was
32:19trying to like pitch them I'm like
32:20listen I got all these leads
32:22you gotta like you should take them this
32:24will help you grow your business and
32:26they're like who the hell is this guy
32:28trying to like pitch me these leads like
32:30this has got to be some kind of scam and
32:32I'm like no no I'm like just
32:34I'm like I'll give you them for free
32:36just for like one day two days I want to
32:39just send you some of these people and
32:41we'll just see how it goes they're like
32:42all right cool so I started forwarding
32:44the leads to them and they're just
32:45closing all these deals so I'm like all
32:47right I want 400 bucks a month 500 bucks
32:50a month they're like all right 500 bucks
32:52a month it is I'm like cool so I had my
32:55first person 500 bucks a month and that
32:58person is still with me and I've never
33:00raised their price since I could
33:01probably charge them 15 times that now
33:03because they get way more leads than it
33:05used to get but I just it was kind of
33:07like the proof of concept I got paid for
33:09it and I'm like
33:10I'll just do this everywhere for
33:12everything I'm just not gonna do it for
33:14car wraps
33:15because that Niche I don't like it
33:17there's a lot of Price Shoppers and
33:19there's other problems with it that I
33:20found out that's so interesting see but
33:21you learn about this stuff as you go
33:23concept yes yeah
33:25um I'm also curious about you know the
33:28the strategy really revolves around SEO
33:30and organic and a lot of people myself
33:33included think about SEO and organic is
33:36like a 12 month 18 month strategy not
33:39like a three to six months and again it
33:41depends on what you're selling I get
33:42that
33:43um but you're so heavily focused on
33:46organic I'm curious as to
33:49why this is the strategy businesses
33:51should focus on versus
33:53maybe not not instead of but if they're
33:55going to prioritize something prioritize
33:57organic instead of
34:00paid instead of social like I I know
34:03there's a lot of nuance to this but a
34:05lot of people a lot of business owners
34:07focus on paid immediately they focus on
34:09paid and I've seen entire businesses
34:11being built on paid
34:13um completely neglecting SEO organic
34:16like completely completely not even a
34:18Blog post-op
34:20um and I don't think it's really that
34:21scalable Beyond a certain point I think
34:23can you get to a million yes can you get
34:25to 10 million in Revenue yes totally
34:26with paid but I think there are ceilings
34:29on it I think that keywords become so
34:32damn expensive
34:33um but I'm curious about your experience
34:35with other types of marketing and why
34:37again organic was such a main focus for
34:40you
34:42having tried to build the Google ads
34:44agency and a Facebook agency I know how
34:47much money that is and I think people do
34:49it because of course you can get leads
34:51really fast so you could just pay for
34:53leads and you could have some in a week
34:55or maybe a few days if you get pick
34:57right but
34:59long term I like the organic strategy
35:01better because
35:03you you like build up and put all this
35:05work in but then you get paid on it
35:07multiples of what you can get paid paid
35:10and it's uh
35:12just a I think a better long-term
35:14strategy it's a better Roi because you
35:15put in all that work up front and then
35:17you're getting paid on it for years so
35:19like if I kind of related to that car
35:20wraps example that site still pays me
35:23now so if you look at like a per hour I
35:25spent versus what I get paid
35:28I'm making like 2800 an hour or
35:30something like who gets paid
35:33so like as an organic strategy I really
35:35like that
35:37um just SEO just because I mean it may
35:40take a little while but it's great the
35:41ROI is insane later on and also from
35:44like a customer perspective I think the
35:45customers are easier to close
35:47like I don't know about you when I look
35:49at ads or I'm looking at Google and I
35:51see stuff pop up it's like
35:53unless I have some kind of emergency
35:54thing I need right now the ads are more
35:56of a nuisance 100 at least that's how I
35:59actually I personally avoid them now
36:00because I know that they're paying to
36:02rank I actually funny enough if I'm
36:04looking for something I look for the
36:06first non-sponsored ad and I know that
36:08they ranked and I know that there's a
36:09reason why they're there I look for the
36:11the most reviews or whatever that's
36:12exactly it so it's it's psychology right
36:15it's like you're looking at it as a
36:17customer and you're thinking like okay
36:19they're paying for that spot but this
36:20guy right here this person must have
36:22earned it now the cool thing is you can
36:24manipulate this with SEO so did they
36:27earn it yeah I guess but not in the way
36:30they're thinking but everybody thinks
36:32like that they're like well if they're
36:33number one it must be for a reason
36:34Google put them there for a reason
36:36the reason is they're good at you know
36:38following Google's guidelines or
36:39whatever to get them there um no I mean
36:41it's listen when you're building a
36:43business you play into consumer
36:45psychology it's it's it's not a bad
36:47thing it's it's a required thing I mean
36:48every every part of marketing is is is
36:50is dancing around consumer psychology
36:52right so it's it's a game you have to
36:55play but the other thing that I'm
36:56curious about
36:57um just because there's so much involved
36:59in this world is when you build out
37:00these websites so uh downturns in the
37:04market
37:05um does it affect organic
37:07um Google algorithm updates how
37:08significantly does that affect organic
37:10all these different things that
37:14I mean I've never I've never bothered to
37:16ask people about this because most
37:18people don't focus on organic as their
37:21core marketing strategy so how does it
37:23affect uh the business a lot of people
37:26focus on ads is like their their primary
37:28source of leads and Organics like a
37:29second nice to have which is obviously
37:31the complete 180 of how you built this
37:33out so all these different nuances how
37:35does it affect it
37:37yeah I mean I like organic and then pay
37:39this icing on the cake exactly I know I
37:40know you hear the opposite of most
37:42business owners which is that's why it
37:44works because it's it's it's there's
37:46longevity to it
37:48I mean like so interestingly enough like
37:51the pandemic's a good example and it it
37:54hits some of the sites so different
37:56things affect different niches so I'll
37:58give you an example and when the
38:00pandemic hit 2020 whatever that was I
38:02had seven sites all around the New York
38:04City general area
38:06that were related to restaurant cleaning
38:08and New York City announced that all
38:11restaurants are shut down so that
38:14completely eliminates the need for
38:15cleaning right so all of those sites
38:17although they were all ranked number one
38:19for a ton of terms immediately were now
38:22worthless
38:23but it was only for a period because as
38:25soon as it opened up again they came
38:27right back but during that period those
38:29seven sites the income from those
38:30disappeared
38:31but it didn't affect me because I was in
38:34so many other niches that I would
38:36consider essential
38:38that I don't care if I lose those seven
38:41sites for Seven Grand or whatever a
38:43month because I get so many other ones
38:45that it didn't do anything to me and as
38:48soon as the band was lifted all the
38:49restaurants are open again like a year
38:51and a half later the call volume came
38:52right back because of course everybody
38:54wants to go back to the restaurants and
38:55then they need the cleaning services
38:56again so that was right back but like
38:59the point was the essential Services you
39:01can diversify and like hedge your risk
39:03of like your income disappearing by
39:05diversifying your niches and some of
39:07them are just not going anywhere like
39:09Plumbing is a good example right if my
39:11toilet breaks I'm not a plumber I don't
39:13know anybody who does Plumbing I'm not
39:15going to take a crap in the backyard I'm
39:16gonna call somebody and they're gonna
39:18come fix my toilet it doesn't matter if
39:19there's a recession or you know I just
39:22my 401k took a hit because the economy
39:23is going down somebody's fixing the
39:25toilet
39:26right so that one's not going anywhere
39:28and if you find stuff like that you can
39:30hedge your risk and pretty much
39:32eliminate it if you have enough
39:34different things you're in I love this
39:37um now something that's really
39:39interesting to me that I know you're
39:40working on right now
39:41um and maybe for people that aren't
39:43investing in businesses also it could be
39:45very interesting to figure this piece of
39:47the lead generation Revenue generation
39:48puzzle out you're using this strategy
39:51you're using your own business to do an
39:53acquisition right now have you done
39:55multiple Acquisitions or is this the
39:56first one or uh this is the first okay
39:59so walk me through okay so now you've
40:01built this so so how you've progressed
40:03as an entrepreneur you have this income
40:04stream coming from these pieces of real
40:07estate online real estate generating
40:08businesses you started this coaching
40:10program teaching people how to do this
40:12um and we'll drop links as well so
40:14people can go and if they want to learn
40:16more and they want to follow like step
40:17by step how to do it and maybe actually
40:19just speak about like what you teach
40:20people but then I also want to learn
40:22about the investing and the growth and
40:24the acquisition thing that you're
40:25working on right now
40:26I love that so yeah so so with the
40:29actual coaching more or less to make it
40:31very straightforward it's teaching
40:32people the system that you deployed
40:34correct yeah yeah it's it's teaching a
40:36combination of SEO and how to use it how
40:39to apply it to the website rental
40:40concept okay perfect so that you can
40:42create an active income or a passive
40:44income whatever you want amazing okay so
40:45that will drop we'll drop those links in
40:47the show notes now what you're working
40:49on right now with the acquisition so
40:51you're going through a two million
40:53dollar acquisition
40:54um I love the I love the evolution of
40:57employee to entrepreneur to investor
40:59because I mean like we're very similar
41:01in in our career Journey actually to be
41:02quite honest but uh so what was the what
41:05was the rationale what was the thought
41:06process here you you're now dabbling in
41:08private Equity basically
41:10yeah yeah so it there's kind of a
41:13there's this little bit of an evolution
41:14so I started as the employee I started
41:16doing the website rental the website
41:18rental gave me my time back and a lot of
41:20money and I was like this is really cool
41:22but the clients I used to have at my SEO
41:24agency before I started doing website
41:26rental were all like if you're not gonna
41:28teach us or if you're not gonna like do
41:29this can you just teach it to us and I
41:31was like I mean yeah I guess so it was
41:33kind of like the evolution of coaching
41:34program because I didn't I wouldn't
41:35intend to start this they just asked me
41:37like can you teach me this and I was
41:39like yeah all right so I started doing
41:41that and then I found out people were
41:43getting an impact and I was like oh this
41:44feels cool it's like fulfilling it's
41:46nice I could like watch people make a
41:48change and then that brought in even
41:50more so now I got multiple streams
41:52coming in I'm like all right cool but I
41:53still have all of my time I'm like I
41:55can't just sit so I'm like let's let's
41:57do something bigger and I was talking to
42:01my my CPA like what can I do to not pay
42:04taxes uh and she knows you can you can
42:09either buy real estate or you can
42:10acquire a business and like of course
42:12everybody thinks of real estate but I'm
42:13like do I want to spend 2 300 Grand to
42:16get like 1500 bucks a month and I'm like
42:18no I spend that same 200 Grand I can
42:21make like 5 million with website rental
42:22so I'm like let's let's try business
42:24acquisition and see what this is about
42:26so I paid a a person to like get to this
42:29event I learned about acquisitions
42:32and I was like this this sounds really
42:35cool let's let's try to do this and I
42:36started looking for businesses in that
42:38one to five million range because that's
42:39what I could afford
42:41um and my original thought was let's
42:43find some kind of business where I could
42:46install an operator I don't have to be
42:48involved and then I'll just give that
42:50person half the company to keep me out
42:52of it so I could have my half be passive
42:54and I could use lead generation to grow
42:56the business so I'm like I gotta find
42:58something one five million range that I
42:59can afford and something where I could
43:01apply lead generation to it has a lot of
43:03potential and where I'm not involved
43:05and that's how we landed on the one that
43:08I'm doing so so
43:09um I'm I'm super curious what the
43:11business is that you're actually
43:13acquiring because I'm assuming that the
43:15business you're acquiring is like the
43:17perfect example of a company that would
43:19benefit from the from the strategy you
43:21deploy because that's I'm sure that's
43:23how you're thinking you're like I need
43:24this to me
43:26it's a it's a pretty good example but
43:28it's not it's probably not perfect it's
43:30close it's just the best one I could
43:32find so like
43:36I should say before I before I say that
43:38one I want to mention Paving just as a
43:40niche because it's something that I
43:42almost turned into a company it would
43:43work perfectly for this
43:45I had built out a site for Paving and it
43:48was in my hometown and I was like I had
43:51a bunch of leads coming in for it people
43:52are calling me and I'm again I'm like I
43:53don't do Paving I gotta find a Paving
43:55Company and I was trying to find
43:56somebody but in my hometown the people
44:00who are really good at it are
44:02overwhelmed with leads and then there's
44:04a lot of people who stink at it that
44:05don't have any leads and I'm like I need
44:07the person who's really good but doesn't
44:08have any and I couldn't find it so I'm
44:10like calling all these companies and the
44:12the great ones are like not getting back
44:13because they don't care and the other
44:14ones are doing crap work so I'm like I
44:16gotta figure out how to do this so I
44:18poached a subcontractor from one of the
44:21great companies I just found out where
44:24they were going to be doing some work
44:25and I talked to one of the subs I'm like
44:27you want to have your own company
44:28because I can get you the leads
44:30and I just started sending him leads and
44:32in the first month or the first week it
44:35made a grand eight grand for me
44:38so like I don't remember what the
44:39revenue was but my cut was easy you did
44:41like a normal like a ref split on it
44:44no so like I just he told me he was
44:46gonna do the work for two dollars a
44:49square foot or was it three bucks it was
44:52either two or three bucks a square foot
44:53and then I had a person walk off the
44:55yardages like for the people's houses
44:57and the driveways and all that and then
44:59I charged four bucks a square foot and I
45:01just take that I love this so he made
45:02quite a bit and I was just keeping the
45:04difference without me being involved so
45:06I was just kind of like coordinating it
45:07and instead of that website paying me
45:09you know 1500 bucks a month it made
45:11eight grand in a week so it's like that
45:13type of company you could literally
45:14create a company out of thin air with
45:16just a website with this skill set and
45:18this model
45:20but I didn't I just I didn't really want
45:23to do that I didn't want to run a Paving
45:24Company so I just kind of like handed
45:26that off to somebody else and let them
45:27run with it and I was like I just want
45:29the little passive piece give me my
45:31couple thousand bucks so I transitioned
45:33out of that the one I'm doing now is uh
45:35I have to be careful because I'm under
45:36NDA okay but it's a multi-stage it's a
45:39multi-state ice cream business so it's
45:41like the novelty trucks that go around
45:42and they play a song and then everybody
45:44comes out to buy overpriced ice cream
45:46yeah
45:47you know like the screwball and the
45:49Spiderman phase yeah yeah yeah
45:53so I just I was trying to buy a
45:56different type of business that was more
45:57in line with my lead generation skill
45:59set
46:00and when I got into uh the acquisition
46:04or while trying to do the due diligence
46:06for it I found that the person was
46:08fudging their tax returns which I know
46:11people do but I can't buy a business off
46:14fake numbers because the bank only loans
46:17off
46:18what they say so if it makes you make it
46:20look like you're poor the bank's not
46:21going to loan on it right so we ended up
46:24not going through with that business but
46:25I met the broker and the broker hooked
46:27me up with this person who was selling
46:29the ice cream business
46:30and the ice cream business was making
46:32millions but they had no website no
46:36advertising no customer list no CRM no
46:40processes I'm like how are you making
46:42this money like this it's like oh the
46:44customer just comes to the the truck
46:45which is a wild business model
46:49I'm like how is this possible and I'm
46:51just looking at this and I'm like if he
46:53can do that with nothing and it's
46:54growing 20 year over year over year I'm
46:57like if I apply lead generation to this
47:00I I have no idea like I got to be able
47:02to blow this thing up but but explain to
47:04me is really exciting explain to me how
47:05lead generation how would that work for
47:07an ice cream truck
47:09I mean so I can just generate leads for
47:11all of the business services so he's
47:13looking at it like consumers coming to
47:14the truck
47:15but what about events corporate events
47:18business events weddings catering all
47:21this other stuff that's a whole untapped
47:23side and I can hit all of that with lead
47:25generation
47:26and like I've done I mean I can do it
47:28with SEO but I can also do it with the
47:29Facebook ads and the Google ads I won't
47:32personally do it I'll find somebody who
47:33can do it just hand it off because I
47:34don't want to deal with it but all of
47:36that can be applied to this and then you
47:38have a choice do I keep that cash flow
47:41or do I sell this company off for like a
47:44four or five x multiple and like the
47:46company is 2 million now without
47:48anything
47:50sell that for 10 yeah 15 million a
47:53couple years down the road so it's just
47:55a it's a cool thing that I'm working on
47:56now and we're we're supposed to close on
47:58the seventh but our lawyer is going on
48:02vacation so it's going to have to be
48:03another couple weeks as long as as long
48:06as there's no billable hours while he's
48:08on vacation no no we didn't plan that
48:10way oh that's amazing I'm so curious
48:12have you have you ever done the math and
48:15and seen like the potential uptick in
48:17business Revenue like what what is like
48:20a great number so if you have a business
48:21again super subjective but you have a
48:24business yeah and they do and they're
48:26doing nothing online when you apply your
48:28strategy to it and they have leads
48:31coming in what is the what is the
48:33multiple what is the percentage that you
48:35see the businesses grow oh my gosh the
48:38multiples are stupid High I'm terrible
48:40at math so I don't even know the numbers
48:41but I'll give you an example the first
48:42one that comes to mind one of the first
48:44guys I had as an actual client was a
48:46tree service and he was paying for Home
48:48Advisor Thumbtack and Angie's List which
48:51is now Angie
48:53um and he was paying them for work he
48:55was making like 70 grand a year or so
48:58just single guy no family no kid no wife
49:01or anything
49:03um he was just working by himself and he
49:05was kind of like cherry picking the
49:06leads he wanted so he would go up he'd
49:09do like a single tree A package of trees
49:11he can't really do any commercial work
49:13because he wasn't he didn't have like
49:14any crew it was just him
49:16and I met him and we started working
49:19together I built this process out
49:21started renting a website to him and his
49:24next year he did 370 000 or 320 000. get
49:28out so I don't know what that percentage
49:30increases
49:31five times what he made the year before
49:34and
49:36his the business model completely
49:38changed he called me at one point like a
49:40year and a half in and he's like I'm
49:42getting a lot of leads that are
49:43commercial like I can't do these like
49:46turn it off and I was like turn it off
49:48I'm like who do you know that does
49:50commercial work and he's like I mean
49:52this other guy I know does it like like
49:54a competitor and he's like yeah and I'm
49:56like call that dude and tell him you're
49:58gonna give him all the commercial work
49:59and just take a cut
50:01and he's like what and I'm like yeah
50:04just give him the work I'm like you
50:05don't want it right you want the the
50:06homes and the residential stuff that you
50:08can handle I'm like cherry pick it who
50:10cares give them all the commercial stuff
50:11and just tell them you want 15 and you
50:13could just give them all the work see if
50:15he'll go for it and they like they had a
50:16conversation he's like yeah all right
50:18he's taking it so we just started
50:20diverting all the commercial work to
50:21that guy who's technically competitor
50:23and he just takes all the stuff he wants
50:25so he does the things he wants knocks it
50:27out quick does whatever he wants with
50:29his time just kind of like half does
50:31tree stuff and half spends his time
50:33doing whatever fishing I think was the
50:35thing and uh the hands off all the rest
50:37of the work to other people I love this
50:39um I wanna I wanna it's like I want to
50:42ask just some some questions some some
50:45questions on on your views on
50:47entrepreneurship because I I love the
50:49way that you sort of built your life I I
50:51really admire it
50:53um because we sort of spoke about golden
50:54handcuffs before building yourself a job
50:57um why do you think people over
50:58complicate entrepreneurship so much
51:03I think it's
51:04it's it's tough It's because it's like
51:07everybody tells you it's hard and it's
51:09supposed to be difficult
51:10and yes there are parts of it that are
51:12hard but honestly I think your mindset
51:14is the the hardest part to get once you
51:16get that right the other people's
51:19opinions and your whole all your friends
51:21and your family that don't believe in
51:22you and all that none of that matters
51:23anymore
51:24because if you only care about what you
51:25think and what you want for yourself you
51:28can focus on that then you could find
51:29somebody who aligns with that I know I
51:31want money and time and the people that
51:34I have in my life don't know how to do
51:36that they're not examples of it the
51:39people I'm learning from at school don't
51:40have that so why am I listening to them
51:42I have to find somebody who does and go
51:44like seek that person out tell them to
51:46teach me how to do it because they've
51:48been there
51:49and I think shiny objects and all this
51:51stuff on YouTube and all these there's
51:53so many things you can focus on it's
51:55really tough so it's almost like you
51:57have to Define what you want focus on
51:59that first and then once you figure that
52:00out you can come up with a path to get
52:02there I think a lot of people who build
52:04something
52:05they don't realize how much energy it
52:08can take and I think that people want
52:10lifestyle but then they don't realize
52:13that entrepreneurship may not be the
52:14path to the lifestyle that they want
52:16like you look at the most prolific
52:18entrepreneurs you look at the Elon musks
52:20of the world the I think he was you know
52:23still sleeping in an office in Twitter
52:25offices when he made the acquisition
52:27right like like these are not people
52:30that have time for
52:32in some cases family in Hobbies pastimes
52:36things outside of building and that's
52:39okay but I don't think that that a lot
52:42of people want to be like Elon I don't
52:44think a lot of people understand what
52:47it's like to work that much for the
52:48entirety of your life till you die and
52:51you know you have to have a number too
52:52like how much money do you need and
52:54that's not to say that a million's a lot
52:56because it's not in in 2023 million is
52:58not a lot 5 million 10 million how much
53:01do you have to have liquid to be happy
53:02and once you hit that number though
53:05do you need to do you need to have a
53:07hundred million dollar exit you need to
53:09have a 500 million dollar like where do
53:11you want to go and I think that a lot of
53:13people don't have Clarity they just
53:15think that
53:16if I'm not in a company it'll be okay
53:19but it's like not okay because they have
53:21no they have no idea the direction
53:22they're going
53:24and I think you were very purposeful
53:25about it it'll evolve it'll evolve over
53:27time right what what you want I think
53:29initially my
53:31I was an employee first so my thing was
53:34just get out of my job at all costs so
53:35cool what do I need to replace my job I
53:38don't know four grand a month five grand
53:39a month just to be comfortable
53:40and not have to worry about anything
53:43but then it changed to okay now I have
53:46that I don't really have to work because
53:47I already kind of built it up where it's
53:49not it's more me just kind of looking at
53:51it to make sure nothing falls apart
53:53now what do I do I can't sit and I did
53:56the thing I went to travel and I did you
53:58know hang out with a girlfriend spend
53:59time with the family and do whatever I
54:00tried the laptop lifestyle thing but I
54:02found for me I can't just sit like two
54:05days into chilling at the Bahamas I'm
54:07like okay what can I do for business
54:08make this go faster it just became like
54:10fun to build businesses and figure out
54:13how to do lead generation and all this
54:14and working for myself I just I don't I
54:18like it better I don't care if I have if
54:20I don't have to but I could work 80
54:21hours a week and I would still be cool
54:23with it because I'm the boss and I can
54:25do what I want I can go leave I don't
54:27have to ask anybody for permission it's
54:29like I've taken control of my life and
54:30now I've decided here's what I'm gonna
54:32do with it and I think that power is
54:34really really nice and then you could do
54:36what you want if it's fulfilling talk to
54:38me about your evolution in in your
54:42mindset from employee to entrepreneur
54:46owner to investor what's the difference
54:48that you have to how do you think
54:51differently as you go through that
54:52career Journey
54:56I think just
54:58focusing on self-education has been the
55:01thing that has helped me the most just
55:03because mindset is so important
55:06in our our education system as we have
55:08it now is a little messed up in in 1902
55:11John D Rockefeller creates our general
55:13education board it's like the foundation
55:15for our school system today and there
55:17was a quote from him that was kind of
55:19disturbing and it said I don't want a
55:21nation of thinkers I want a nation of
55:22workers
55:23he knew then that for his oil company to
55:26be successful he needed good employees
55:28people who just show up and do what
55:30they're told he doesn't want
55:31entrepreneurs he doesn't want people who
55:33think for themselves
55:34and he did that strategically right
55:36because then he'd have competition the
55:39problem is the school system that we
55:40have now is still based on that so
55:42society and our school system is set up
55:44for this same thing school doesn't teach
55:46you how to be rich or how to build
55:48wealth it teaches you how to be a good
55:50employee somebody who pays the taxes
55:53feeds the system and I mean I went to
55:55college in grad school so I get it but
55:57why are we listening to people who don't
55:59have the life we want right like that's
56:01not what I want why am I listening to
56:03the person
56:04tell me this they don't know it's like
56:05asking the broke friend how to make
56:07money they have no idea or they'd
56:08already be having it right so it's like
56:11we need the doctors and the lawyers and
56:12the contractors and everybody who's
56:14doing employees like an employee job but
56:17that's not what I want my definition of
56:19success is having time and money and if
56:21my goal is to build wealth and have true
56:23time Freedom then I need to learn from
56:25someone who's already done it and I'm
56:26not going to learn that it's would you
56:28so it's like why the education the
56:30alternative education
56:33exists and I mean that's what I focused
56:36on and I've grown so much just focusing
56:38more on that than traditional if you if
56:40you could go talk to your your 20 year
56:42old self would you would you tell them
56:44not to go to school or would you tell
56:46them to do anything differently what
56:47would be the the lesson
56:49it would be figure out what you actually
56:51want because school works for some stuff
56:53like my brother wants to be a surgeon
56:55right so he goes to school he becomes
56:56that right my my dad wanted me a
56:59chiropractor he went to school and
57:00became that but some stuff like for me I
57:02didn't really know what I wanted to do I
57:03went to school for marketing and when I
57:05got out I ended up doing Human Resources
57:07is my ultimate goal to be helping people
57:10in the human resources department
57:12no I don't think so
57:15so you know time and money for me was
57:18the thing I wanted because I wanted to
57:19be able to spend time with family and be
57:21able to hang out go travel and have
57:23enough to live the lifestyle I want and
57:26for me I didn't have to go to school for
57:28that I did but had I known I probably
57:30wouldn't have it would have been an
57:32argument argument with my parents
57:35um
57:35but you know if that's what I have to do
57:37to get what I want that's what's going
57:38to happen I actually never told my
57:40parents that I started doing this like
57:42when I still had an agency like before I
57:44quit I just quit and I didn't tell them
57:46for like a year they just found out
57:48randomly because I answered the phone at
57:49a time and I probably would have been
57:51working normally
57:52so you know if you have to
57:54you know not tell somebody then don't
57:57tell them well I think I think to your
57:58point like all this comes back to
58:00Lifestyle design like how are you
58:02building the life that you want and
58:05we're talking about okay we're talking
58:06about how many hours you want to work
58:08how much money do you want to make but
58:09there's other components to Lifestyle
58:10too and sometimes it's
58:13it's setting expectations with
58:15relationships of people most close to us
58:18and family I mean you can't really get
58:20rid of family so that's fine but but I
58:23mean there's people in your life as
58:24you're going through like an
58:25entrepreneurial Journey that don't serve
58:27you
58:27in in a meaningful capacity it doesn't
58:29mean you like have to kill those
58:31relationships but you do have to
58:32prioritize where you spend your time and
58:34I think that this whole lifestyle design
58:36it's it's okay to be a little bit
58:37selfish with what you're building in
58:39your life and if you expect things that
58:41none of your friends have
58:43then there's a good chance that they're
58:45not gonna they're not gonna help you get
58:47to where you want to be and and even
58:49like parents like if parents don't
58:51understand what you're building you
58:52still love your parents respect your
58:54parents but I mean you're not going to
58:56be going to them for career advice if
58:57they've only ever worked a nine to five
58:59job and they're not you're not going to
59:01be going to the for entrepreneurial
59:03advice or or how to raise money or how
59:04to close clients if they've worked in a
59:06nine to five job you gotta you gotta
59:08understand that like they mean best but
59:10they also don't know they don't know
59:12what you're doing and there there is a
59:13way for you to succeed in it but it
59:15won't be through your parents teaching
59:17you what to do it'll be through a peer
59:20who's done it a mentor whatever it is so
59:23I think that there's a lot that that you
59:25know like you you sort of like checked
59:27all the boxes of why why are you like
59:29why are you personally successful it's
59:31because through your crew through trial
59:32and error you know you've architected
59:34your life you've made the money you want
59:35you figured out the time work balance
59:37you've you've built relationships with
59:39people that actually have done these
59:40things before so you know like who to go
59:42to for help with this that and the other
59:44like I'm sure you have your own
59:46you Mentor people but I'm sure you have
59:48tons of your own mentors and people that
59:50you look up to like this is this is how
59:52you grow you people are not stagnant
59:55people have to try new things and do
59:57different things that are uncomfortable
59:58but at the end of the day it's it's
1:00:00uncomfortable to become comfortable
1:00:03yeah I mean you got to get uncomfortable
1:00:05to go I really like um everybody knows
1:00:08Alex from fantasy I really like this
1:00:10quote he says you don't want to invest
1:00:11in the S P 500 you want to invest in the
1:00:13S and me I love that yeah we put that
1:00:15money in your self-education there was
1:00:17another one from uh from Warren Buffett
1:00:19he's just like whatever you're paid is
1:00:21just what the market thinks your skills
1:00:23are worth so you want to make more you
1:00:26got to up your skills so if you go seek
1:00:28that out then you can do whatever you
1:00:30want
1:00:31um is there anything that any last
1:00:33lessons anything that you want to leave
1:00:35the audience with that we didn't go into
1:00:36floor is yours so whatever whatever you
1:00:39want to end with
1:00:41I think every decision we make or don't
1:00:45make
1:00:45has an opportunity cost and when there's
1:00:47something you want to do and you do
1:00:50nothing you're making an active choice
1:00:52to give up whatever that other thing is
1:00:54you could have had and I'm guilty of
1:00:55this too we say things like you know I
1:00:58need to think about it I have to look at
1:00:59other options I want to do some more
1:01:00research it's not the right time any
1:01:02number of excuses
1:01:04I've learned that we never have all the
1:01:06information the timing's never right the
1:01:08fear is always there that fear of
1:01:09failure people judging you whatever
1:01:12so it's better to trust my gut instinct
1:01:14than just take it take the leap of faith
1:01:16anyways so that you can live the way you
1:01:18want to live as long as possible
1:01:20because all that time it's like you
1:01:22could have had it but you chose not to
1:01:25I love that
1:01:26um where should people go to connect
1:01:28with you uh you can send them to the
1:01:31website also please drop your social so
1:01:33they can follow you and whatnot um but
1:01:35where should they go to learn about
1:01:36everything that you're working on
1:01:38yeah absolutely
1:01:39um lukevanderveer.com is a good place to
1:01:41start you know that talks a little bit
1:01:43about kind of my story and what I'm
1:01:44doing now and website rentalcoaching.com
1:01:47is more about the business model and how
1:01:49that okay perfect
1:01:50um socials what are you at what are you
1:01:52what's your best ad
1:01:55it's at lukevanderveer.com it's uh
1:01:57Instagram Facebook
1:01:59don't do them all
1:02:02I'm trying to think no no one one is
1:02:05good and the website has everything else
1:02:07on I was wondering if there's one in
1:02:08particular that's totally cool
1:02:10it does it does
1:02:12um okay and then I I mean you've touched
1:02:14on this several times throughout um but
1:02:16I'm just gonna ask because I ask
1:02:17everybody when I close this out so
1:02:18you've had incredible career you've had
1:02:20you know the the season of the employee
1:02:22the season of the business owner
1:02:24entrepreneur the season of the investor
1:02:27um what at this point in your life does
1:02:28success mean to you
1:02:31it's it's just having enough money and
1:02:34the time to do what I want when I feel
1:02:36like it with whoever and I know people
1:02:38say that but it's when you can actually
1:02:41experience it it's like otherworldly
1:02:45it's just really cool like just the
1:02:47middle of the week I don't want to work
1:02:48I'm just going to go out take the jet
1:02:49ski out with my girlfriend you know what
1:02:51maybe I'll fly to Costa Rica for a month
1:02:52and just hang out
1:02:55people you can decide to become the
1:02:58person who can do that
1:02:59it's just a choice it's an active choice
1:03:01you could make the choice to learn how
1:03:03to make enough to be able to do that and
1:03:06then you can do that
1:03:07all right

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of Luke Van Der Veer - SEO Expert & Entrepreneur | Ranking (and Renting) Websites With SEO by Scott D. Clary - Success Story Podcast, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 13,406 words across 1,881 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.