Why a Niche Agency May Be Hard to Sell — Transcript

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1. 0:00I run a marketing agency for martial
2. 0:02arts schools.
3. 0:04I also do lead generation and yeah, I
4. 0:07also do lead generation and appointment
5. 0:08setting services.
6. 0:10I currently am at 420k in revenue, 100k
7. 0:12in profits
8. 0:13and
9. 0:15yeah, I guess the problem right now is
10. 0:17that I kind of started this just doing
11. 0:19freelancing, kind of stumbled into
12. 0:20martial arts on a whim after having
13. 0:22success with the clients.
14. 0:24I figured out like a repeatable system
15. 0:26to get them results, get people showing
16. 0:29up, get people coming to the first class
17. 0:30and that's kind of where I'm at today.
18. 0:32I
19. 0:34guess my problem right now is
20. 0:36you know, I'm selling 3-month contracts
21. 0:38and uh
22. 0:40turn is pretty high still and I kind of
23. 0:42just didn't really fix the turn issue. I
24. 0:44kind of just started selling a lot and
25. 0:45getting clients and I have a good
26. 0:46relationship with all of them but uh
27. 0:48I've been kind of stuck at this range,
28. 0:50this 35,000 per month for a while now
29. 0:52and uh
30. 0:53clients just leave for a lot of reasons
31. 0:55out of my control. Either A, I do a
32. 0:56great job and they can't handle the
33. 0:57volume coming in or B, they don't have
34. 0:59the patience to kind of keep going with
35. 1:00it and I think
36. 1:03I don't
37. 1:05I don't run a martial arts school myself
38. 1:07so sometimes I have an issue with sales
39. 1:09and
40. 1:10I can't really run it myself so I kind
41. 1:11of just grew this agency on a whim.
42. 1:14>> What do you want to have happen before I
43. 1:16answer the question? What do you want to
44. 1:17>> going to say, what's your goal?
45. 1:18>> Yeah.
46. 1:19>> That's the the question I like to start
47. 1:21with.
48. 1:23>> Yeah, I think right now I'm trying to
49. 1:26figure out if I should keep pushing on
50. 1:28this or if I should pivot. I didn't like
51. 1:29I didn't really set out to start an
52. 1:31agency.
53. 1:32>> What do you want to have happen? What's
54. 1:33the goal? It depends whether you should
55. 1:35push or pivot depending on your goal.
56. 1:36>> Are you trying to make a certain amount
57. 1:37of money? Trying to sell a business? Do
58. 1:38you want a lifestyle business? Like, you
59. 1:40know what I'm saying? Like, what do you
60. 1:41want to end up?
61. 1:42>> I think right now
62. 1:43I think I want to learn how to make a
63. 1:46lot of money and exit and
64. 1:48>> Well, this business will not exit,
65. 1:49that's for sure.
66. 1:51>> Yeah.
67. 1:52We we can tell you that.
68. 1:53>> Yes, yeah.
69. 1:54You will not exit, that's for sure.
70. 1:56>> So, the question is, can you learn
71. 1:58something from this business
72. 2:00and make money at the same time or is
73. 2:02there a better opportunity?
74. 2:06>> Yeah, I thought about potentially
75. 2:08selling my book of business and then
76. 2:10opening up and pivoting to some sort of
77. 2:13brick and mortar kid education business.
78. 2:15I mean, I've I've kind of flushed out
79. 2:16the scripts on how to get parents and
80. 2:18getting them invested into martial arts
81. 2:19program and the whole nurture sequence
82. 2:21behind it.
83. 2:22So I thought about investing the money
84. 2:24cuz I've saved about $100,000 in this
85. 2:25business and I'm thinking of kind of
86. 2:27leveraging that into maybe investing in
87. 2:29an actual brick and mortar and learning
88. 2:30how to scale that. But I guess I'm just
89. 2:32trying to figure out do I, you know, am
90. 2:35I in a good spot? Should I push the
91. 2:36agency, grow it, you know,
92. 2:38>> what Leila's going to say. We'll
93. 2:40probably have two different pieces. Like
94. 2:42we'll probably come at this from two
95. 2:43different angles, so you'll get a double
96. 2:44trouble on this one.
97. 2:45Um
98. 2:46>> Sure.
99. 2:47>> But I'll say this.
100. 2:49Congratulations on learning how to
101. 2:51generate leads in a market and work them
102. 2:54and get them in. You've You've learned
103. 2:55acquisition.
104. 2:57Super valuable and you've learned it for
105. 2:58a specific avatar, right?
106. 3:02>> Appreciate that.
107. 3:03>> The next step that this business like I
108. 3:05can tell you where this is going to go.
109. 3:06You would have to You'd have to
110. 3:07basically change this entire business in
111. 3:09order to make it
112. 3:11a bigger sellable business, which is
113. 3:13essentially the same as starting over.
114. 3:15If and that's all based on your goal
115. 3:18because the reason that you have the
116. 3:19churn you have is because martial arts
117. 3:20studios in general tend to have signi-
118. 3:23you know, they have high churn. They're
119. 3:24typically not very good business owners.
120. 3:26Uh not very good, but just they're
121. 3:26small, right? They're very volatile. And
122. 3:28so that volatility is reflected in your
123. 3:29business and volatility in their
124. 3:31business in your business therefore
125. 3:32creates a business that is not valuable,
126. 3:34right? And so that's going to be based
127. 3:35on them. The only way that you can get
128. 3:37those types of customers um who are
129. 3:39volatile inherently to be sticky is to
130. 3:41look at the things that those people
131. 3:42already buy that they don't churn out
132. 3:43of. So what are the things that they buy
133. 3:45that they don't churn out of? If you
134. 3:46were to stick with this and I'm just
135. 3:47using this as a mental construct and
136. 3:48then I'll get into more specific
137. 3:49examples of what I think you should do
138. 3:50next. But, big picture, you could their
139. 3:53their payment processor, they don't turn
140. 3:55out of, right? Their CRM, they don't
141. 3:57turn out of. Um
142. 3:59>> Right.
143. 4:00>> Their insurance, you know what I mean?
144. 4:02Like they're like there's there's things
145. 4:03that they don't turn out of. Marketing
146. 4:05stuff, they will turn out of left and
147. 4:07right and center, right?
148. 4:09So,
149. 4:10>> Okay.
150. 4:10>> I think that you have this whole kids
151. 4:12education thing. If it were me,
152. 4:15I would prefer you go and find an
153. 4:18industry, if you want to do brick and
154. 4:19mortar, which is fine. If you want to go
155. 4:21brick and mortar, I would
156. 4:22[clears throat] find an industry that
157. 4:23already has a product or service that
158. 4:26people don't turn out of. Then I would
159. 4:27apply your skill of learning acquisition
160. 4:30to that business, and then you'll be
161. 4:33able to like you can go and start
162. 4:34acquiring businesses,
163. 4:36um and then filling them up because you
164. 4:37know how to acquire, and those
165. 4:39businesses
166. 4:40um
167. 4:41will already have the stick in place,
168. 4:42and so you'll have the full stack.
169. 4:45>> Mhm.
170. 4:46>> What was your experience prior to this
171. 4:47business?
172. 4:50>> Uh well, I worked for a marketing
173. 4:53company, and I learned lead generation
174. 4:54there, and then I kind of just um
175. 4:58the company ended up getting sold, so I
176. 4:59ended up, you know, trying to
177. 5:02do the have a freelance thing, and I
178. 5:03learned Yeah, I took I I got my own
179. 5:05clients, and then uh after I did that
180. 5:07for about 2 years, and here I am with a
181. 5:09bunch of clients, and I don't really
182. 5:10know what the next step is, so
183. 5:11>> Okay, that's great to know that you came
184. 5:13from a marketing background.
185. 5:14>> Yeah.
186. 5:16>> Yeah, so I I I thought about getting
187. 5:18into the uh kids education space
188. 5:21because, you know, I did martial arts
189. 5:22because
190. 5:23um I came from a sports background
191. 5:25teaching kids like different sports,
192. 5:27specifically frisbee, um which was cool.
193. 5:29Um
194. 5:29and I guess
195. 5:31I thought about, you know, buying some
196. 5:33sort of like tutoring business or kids
197. 5:35education, and taking my marketing
198. 5:36skills there, and growing that. Um
199. 5:38but uh just because if my goal is to
200. 5:41learn how to sell and and and sell a
201. 5:42company is I'm not sure if the agency
202. 5:44space is there, too. That's where my
203. 5:45head's head's at then these days, so.
204. 5:47>> Just find something that has high
205. 5:48revenue retention, high stick.
206. 5:50>> I was going to say, you want to find
207. 5:51something easy to market. Like
208. 5:54>> Right.
209. 5:55>> it's really impressive that you've done
210. 5:56what you've done for martial arts
211. 5:58studios because we've worked with
212. 6:00thousands and it's tough. So, I mean I
213. 6:03can say that objectively.
214. 6:05Uh
215. 6:05it's like you have a you know, like a
216. 6:07level eight skill that you're using on
217. 6:09like a level three opportunity.
218. 6:11And the opportunities that you're kind
219. 6:13of presenting, they're not really that
220. 6:14much better. It's like maybe a level
221. 6:16four.
222. 6:16>> different. Yeah.
223. 6:17>> I'm like, can you get a level eight
224. 6:19eight opportunity to match your level
225. 6:20eight skill?
226. 6:23>> Mhm. And what And what is that to you
227. 6:25guys? It's something that has revenue
228. 6:27retention. I'm just telling you right
229. 6:28now. It's something with revenue
230. 6:29retention.
231. 6:30>> retention.
232. 6:30>> Yeah. If you just solve for that cuz
233. 6:32once you have revenue retention, if you
234. 6:33know how to acquire customers, you just
235. 6:35grow a business. Every year just gets
236. 6:36bigger. That's I mean, the hardest thing
237. 6:38is revenue retention.
238. 6:39>> I
239. 6:40I just want to like open up your mind.
240. 6:42You're looking at opportunities that are
241. 6:44linear. I want you to look at
242. 6:46opportunities that are exponentially
243. 6:47different than what you're doing right
244. 6:48now.
245. 6:49And I think the reason you're thinking
246. 6:51linearly is because, you know, without
247. 6:53noticing, we have these beliefs, right?
248. 6:54That we keep ourselves in these boxes
249. 6:56thinking like this is what I'm good at.
250. 6:58The fact that you're very good at
251. 6:59marketing, you need to find a great
252. 7:01product that retains customers easily to
253. 7:04market. What that is, maybe it does
254. 7:06scare you or makes you nervous and
255. 7:07you're like, I know nothing about that.
256. 7:09That's okay. You can figure it out. And
257. 7:11the thing that I tell people a lot is it
258. 7:13is just as hard to build a small
259. 7:15business as it is to build a big
260. 7:17business. Both of them are going to be
261. 7:18painful. You're going to suffer. There's
262. 7:20going to be late nights. It's also just
263. 7:22as hard to build a uh I would say like a
264. 7:24more advanced business as it is a small
265. 7:26business. I can tell you that from
266. 7:27personal experience. Like building a gym
267. 7:30up to what it needs to be is as hard
268. 7:33emotionally
269. 7:34as building a large company like
270. 7:36acquisition.com. And they are hard in
271. 7:37different ways and they're also easy in
272. 7:39different ways. So, you're going to have
273. 7:4150% [ __ ] and 50% good no matter what
274. 7:43opportunity you pursue. I would love to
275. 7:45see you pursue an opportunity that is at
276. 7:46least worth the 50% [ __ ] you're going to
277. 7:48go through. That's something me and Alex
278. 7:49talk about a lot, which is like pick an
279. 7:51opportunity that's worth the pain.
280. 7:53Because it's going to be pain no matter
281. 7:54what. This goes for everybody on the
282. 7:55call. It's going to be hard no matter
283. 7:57what. So, pick one, even if you're like,
284. 7:59"I don't believe that I could do it."
285. 8:00You will figure out a way. And everybody
286. 8:02does. Even when we start out with
287. 8:03acquisition.com, you know, we didn't
288. 8:04know anything about investing or buying
289. 8:06companies or doing any of those things,
290. 8:09and we learned along the way. It's just
291. 8:11that you have to have the belief in
292. 8:12yourself to just start. Like you're not
293. 8:14going to feel ready for any opportunity
294. 8:16that's exponentially different than what
295. 8:18you're doing right now. You get ready by
296. 8:20starting.
297. 8:23>> Got it. Just got to find
298. 8:26a level eight opportunity.
299. 8:27>> I would literally I would go on I would
300. 8:29literally go on chat GPT and I'd be
301. 8:30like, "Tell me what an opportunity is
302. 8:33that has great revenue retention. Here's
303. 8:35all the industries I've worked in.
304. 8:36Here's all the skills. Where is
305. 8:38something where I can get insane revenue
306. 8:39retention that is
307. 8:41five times more likely to sell and be
308. 8:43worth something and make me you know,
309. 8:45maybe it's $50 million
310. 8:46compared to these businesses I'm in
311. 8:48right now." And just like look at the
312. 8:50list and then think like, "Okay, well,
313. 8:53like where do I have a 30 to 50% shot of
314. 8:56success?"
315. 8:58>> Mhm.
316. 8:59>> I mean like I I don't know how to
317. 9:00explain this. Like I have never felt
318. 9:03ready before I tried something. I'm
319. 9:05always like, "I have no [ __ ] idea if
320. 9:06this is going to work. I could totally
321. 9:08fail. This could totally be terrible."
322. 9:10>> And like that's going to happen no
323. 9:11matter what. It's just like you're
324. 9:12picking things that are small. And
325. 9:13here's the thing that's even worse. You
326. 9:15said you want to sell a business?
327. 9:16Well, then that means you have to stay
328. 9:17in the game, which means you have to be
329. 9:19challenged.
330. 9:20>> Right.
331. 9:20>> If you pick something that you know
332. 9:22you're going to win, this is like where
333. 9:23high performers just die. And I can tell
334. 9:25that you're a high performer, is that
335. 9:27you pick something that's too easy.
336. 9:28And then you get disengaged, and then
337. 9:30you're like, "I can already play this
338. 9:31out. I know where this is going to end
339. 9:32up, and I don't want to go there." And
340. 9:34then you don't even want to see it out
341. 9:35to sell the thing because you already
342. 9:36know where it's going to go and it's not
343. 9:37interesting.
344. 9:39>> [snorts]
345. 9:42>> Do you have anything you would add?
346. 9:43>> No, you're right.
347. 9:44I want to watch Yeah, I watched. Yeah.
348. 9:48No, last year I I remember I was at the
349. 9:5010K rate and I I watched a bunch of
350. 9:51Alex's video and he just said double ad
351. 9:53spend and keep the course and here I am
352. 9:56a year later double ad spend, kept the
353. 9:57course and I'm not
354. 9:59I guess.
355. 10:00Just got to find a you know
356. 10:02higher productivity.
357. 10:03>> Also, I would just say this, you're
358. 10:04going to learn more trying something
359. 10:06than you are going to learn thinking
360. 10:07about it. We don't learn while we stay
361. 10:09in our heads. We learn when we get out
362. 10:10into the world and we do stuff. So like
363. 10:13think about a way like how could I test
364. 10:15these opportunities? Can I be an
365. 10:16affiliate of a company like this? Can I
366. 10:17be an affiliate to an insurance company?
367. 10:19Could I just come in and be a contractor
368. 10:21to help build up this X company? Like
369. 10:23you could literally just find one big
370. 10:24client be like, I will do your in-house
371. 10:26marketing just so you can learn the
372. 10:27business.
373. 10:28>> Yep.
374. 10:31Yeah, I would love to do that.
375. 10:32>> Then use the cash that you have as your
376. 10:34savings so that you can be aggressive
377. 10:35with your learning.
378. 10:37As in like that's your nest egg so you
379. 10:38don't have to worry about living.
380. 10:41>> Yeah, I I've been I've been doing the
381. 10:42whole like Chipotle thing frugal thing
382. 10:44I've [laughter] been I've saved up my
383. 10:45first 100K.
384. 10:46>> Good, man.
385. 10:47>> 100K because of you guys. I appreciate
386. 10:48you guys. No, I appreciate that.
387. 10:49>> Appreciate you, man.
388. 10:51>> Awesome. No, I appreciate that. I'll do
389. 10:53the thing.
390. 10:54>> All right, I appreciate you, dude.
391. 10:56>> All right, appreciate you guys.
392. 10:57>> See you later.
393. 10:59>> If you're not getting as many leads as
394. 11:00you want and your business is demand
395. 11:01constrained, [music] meaning you could
396. 11:03service more customers than you
397. 11:04currently have, then this is for you. So
398. 11:06marketing is changing and I think ACQ
399. 11:08[music] tends to be on the bleeding edge
400. 11:09of the stuff. We certainly spend the
401. 11:11money
402. 11:12to do it, but we also build custom
403. 11:13software and we pay amazing vendors and
404. 11:15very expensive people to figure out the
405. 11:17system that we have right now and I want
406. 11:18to share it with you kind of open kimono
407. 11:19style. If you're not getting as many
408. 11:20leads as you want,
409. 11:22boy do I have [music] the thing for you.
410. 11:23Click below, book call and uh
411. 11:25hopefully I'll see you in Vegas.