Well, not entirely. But mostly. There’s a good reason.
Back in 2020, I had some time on my hands when the world was going to shit. I sat down on my couch with ESPN sensationalizing Lebron James in the background and plopped my laptop on my grey sweatpants. I took a sip of coffee to give the placebo of being productive.
My clients for?my business?had frozen operations and I was poking around YouTube. The platform was pushing a bunch of recruiting agency “moguls” and I started to endulge. Fairly immediately, I could tell some of them really didn’t run a good business but they knew how to sell the dream. “Step by step, I’ll show you the way,” as they would say.
You may think it’s hard to call bullshit from a video or two, and sometimes you may be right. But this felt like I was a chef watching someone use the wrong knives, cross contaminate spoons or not even know how to cook Gordon Ramsey’s famous steak sandwich (it’s good, the recipe’s out there).
I sat there stirring a bit, blown away how they were selling these “$5,000” programs & running ads. At the same time, most businesses that own markets and make money don’t have the greatest products or services, especially in B2B (I’m staring at you, Salesforce). So I don’t look down on anybody that gets their money.
I decided to put out my?own content on YouTube. The idea was to cut through the market and give?better?information for free. I knew in my gut if I compared resumes with the “influencers” in this space, I had run a leaner & more profitable agency. The people would surely know! And I could hook them into an offer down the line.
A small following grew and I started to get a good amount of inbound leads. Aspiring and existing business owners asking for my “rate” or what coaching program I had. I didn’t have one but I started to offer up my time. I’ve sold in every way possible and certainly know how to get clients. I can easily pass along all of that information and get these people up and running.
So I started working with people. And some glaring factors stared me right in the eyeballs (these aren’t “steps” but more of expecations to have if you’re thinking of starting a business):
- People have ridiculous expectations. In my first side business (video production & marketing), I had a goal of breaking even after 12 months & having testimonials. It was important for me to build a skill, and more importantly, a reputation that made my service easier to sell. Anything on top for revenue was gravy. For a majority of people I’ve started coaching, there’s a different mindset.?They are looking for a quick way to money. There are so many recruiting & marketing guru’s talking about how easy it can be to make a $40K check in one month. They show off their case studies of students it has worked for. What most people don’t know is those success stories are going to happen regardless of the program or coach. The coaches are essentially just accelerators & fast forwarding from a strategy or tactical perspective. And those “quick wins” are coming from people with strong sales, recruiting or industry specific experience. They’ve been training for this for a few years already. Starting a business with no experience is 100% doable. But expecting to hit the ground running and driving $20-$50K in your first 3 months is an exception, not the rule.
- They don’t understand sales. “Come to my desk and let’s listen to the call,” my sales manager used to tell me. In my first sales role, I made 80–125 outbound dials a day. We had automated emails set up for us and just hammered the phones. Any time we got cut off or had a bad call, we’d listen to the calls with managers to learn how to overcome objections and stick to the script. Fast forward almost 10 years in sales, and here I am. So many people want to tap a button and let automation take care of everything. The problem is that when there is something easy available, everyone is using it. The bar is now higher. The sales reps and business owners that do the extra things like picking up the phone and dialing warm leads, sending vid yards, creating content, etc are the ones closing the most business. They are also picking their clients. Being great at what you do is important, and if you are exceptional, you will be found. But until you have multiple clients that vouch for you, you might as well be a scammer reaching out to decision makers.
- Paralysis by Analysis. I couldn’t figure out why so many people talked passionately about building a business then never took action. It’s a common thread across all industries. Work ethic isn’t the issue, it’s being paralyzed by decision making. The strategy is incredibly simple for recruiting businesses: a) pick a niche & roles you want to work b) set up some basic pieces like a LinkedIn page, maybe a website to show you’re a real business, and c) send out 100 cold emails or Linkedin messages a day, then follow up with responses. There’s obviously more things to do but I’ve seen a ton of people who make money simply taking this approach. Their emails often are terrible, spelling mistakes and all. But it doesn’t matter because they are one of the small % of people to actually take action. If you can stay consistent with your actions every day, you’ll fall face first into clients. The one’s that don’t often cite “perfectionism,” or “I’m too smart for my own good.” Staring at a guitar and planning how you’re going to learn doesn’t make you smart in any way. That guy who sounds “terrible” learning one chord is getting answers and making adjustments.
So, yeah. There is is. To recap: Believe in yourself but be realistic, know that sales is a grind but you can do it, and small “failures” is a dirty synonym miserable people gave to “answers.”
