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The $64,000 Etsy Roadmap

The Simple 5-Step Process We Used To Generate $64,000 In 12 Months Working Part Time On Etsy.

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RYB 978: How The Pandemic Killed Business But Now Is Thriving with David Schloss

By Scott Voelker •  Updated: 04/28/21 •  9 min read

Welcome back to another episode. I'm so happy you're here! As always, thanks for taking the time to join me. Today I have another great guest on the show, David Schloss. 

A few years back, he helped my team run some Facebook ads, and we've been friends ever since. I wanted to have him on the show today to highlight his story and how this recent pandemic nearly killed his business overnight, and how he's turned it around. 

Things aren't always easy, and he's going to share how he's gotten through this recent challenge. He's also going to share how he now has shifted his business to focus only on bringing in the clients that he wants to work with and who will help him grow his business.  

How David Got into Paid Advertising

I first discovered paid advertising during my freshman year of college. During my first semester of college, I goofed off and let my grades slip. So the business school that I was attending said they were going to kick me out if I didn't get my GPA up the second semester. So at the time, I realized that I really had to figure out what I wanted to do with my life and create an action plan if I wanted to stay in college.

I heard about paid advertising, and it interested me, so I started learning everything I could about it. Back then, the way to learn about it was to go read blog after blog where people would share their own experience with PPC and SEO and what they did to see success. I loved learning about it so much that many nights after a full day of school, I would stay up the entire night practicing and learning everything that I could.

During that time, I read a blog post where someone recommended looking into PPC for social media. It was still new at the time, and there was a lot of potential in that business. As I started doing more research and testing out ads on Facebook, I realized that I really liked it and wanted to start an agency.

To fund my business venture, I was actually using my student loans. I would test out affiliate marketing, SEO, and PPC. I spent months at a time testing out several ads to learn what worked and what didn't. By the time I finished college, I was working on my agency.

To be honest, I didn't have much experience when I landed my first three clients. I was really just learning everything as I went along. But I had shown to them that I knew enough to land the gig in the first place. I did everything I could for each of them to help them with their website and ads.

However, I was mostly focused on Facebook ads because that's what I liked best. They were fairly new at the time, and the entry barrier was so low. There weren't any courses out at the time for Facebook, so I was just doing everything on my own and learning as I went.

During the first four years of running my ad agency, I was doing a little bit of everything to make money, but I knew that in the long run, I wanted to solely focus on Facebook ads because that's what I enjoyed the most. When I graduated, I still didn't have enough money to run my agency full time.

So, for the first year and a half, I was working 30 hours a week at a job and was working on my business another 40+ hours. I was working all the time, but I knew that I didn't want to do that forever. It was such a great feeling when I was finally able to give my two weeks at my job and go out and start my own business.

However, within six months of leaving my job, I had blown through my savings because I didn't realize at the time how to do lead gen correctly for my business. The first year was really tough, and I went through so many ups and downs.

However, all of my hard work finally paid off because, by 2014, everyone was coming to me to run their ads. No matter the business type, Facebook ads were fairly affordable and could benefit almost any business. During this time, there were also several courses out there on the importance of Facebook ads, and everyone needed help to get started. Starting in 2014, I had five years of steady growth, and my business evolved with the platform over time.

Why David Reevaluated My Business

By the time I had been in business a few years, I had seven employees working for me. In fact, those same seven employees still all work for me to this day. We were all getting overburdened, and I knew that I had to make a change.

I knew how many clients that we needed to keep in order to take care of my entire team and make sure that we're all getting paid what we needed. When I went through the process of evaluating our accounts, I made the decision to get rid of three clients right off the bat. 

Everyone on the team agreed that those clients were too much work and not worth our time anymore. Making this decision lifted a weight off my shoulders It was such a relief not to worry about getting late-night messages or calls from those people anymore, and I think it was the best decision my team and I could have made.  

The $64,000 Etsy Roadmap

The Simple 5-Step Process We Used To Generate $64,000 In 12 Months Working Part Time On Etsy.

Yes, Send Me The Roadmap!

How My Team and I Got Through The Pandemic

When the pandemic hit, nearly all of our clients were in a holding pattern and stopped working with us for a few months. Luckily, we had reserves in place and allowed me to take some time to wait and figure out our next step. We were on the offensive trying to figure out why some people stayed with us in the long run and why others stopped working with us.

After a few months, I started putting content together about how businesses could get PPP and help from the government and get back on their feet. I really needed to plan ahead and just kept going with the flow while we waited. After six months, several of our clients were doing very well, and I had several other people coming back to work with us. Now we're super busy again, and things worked out.

Lead gen is more important than ever. It's so important that you have an email marketing plan in place this year to see the most success. Another surprising trend is that SMS messaging is becoming really popular and doing very well.

People are constantly getting bombarded with email marketing and are more inclined to ignore emails when they get them. However, most people will always check their phones when they get a text. So this is a great way to get your message out there and increase your engagement rates in the process.

Another trend to implement if you sell high-ticketed items is to pick up the phone and give your prospects a call. You would be surprised at how many people now are eager and willing to talk on the phone. Now that they've been out of the office for so long, they're longing to have meaningful conversations over the phone, so what better way to sell your product.

Keep In mind that if you're going to take time to grow your email list, you should also put everything on your list into a relevant Facebook group. This is a great way for your community to connect with each other and ask questions related to their business.

Final Note from Scott

Another great episode in the books! I enjoyed hearing how David came back even stronger when he had struggles. There are always some great lessons to learn from this. No matter what business you're in, there are going to be ups and downs in your business, and it's important to remember that. It's never going to be perfect, but you're able to learn from those difficult times.

The main takeaway from today's episode is to ask yourself what you truly what and make a plan on how you're going to get there. It's important to make sure that you enjoy what you're doing and keeping your goals in check.

Thanks For Tuning in!

“Remember, I'm here for you, I believe in you, and I'm rooting for you! Now it's time for you to take action and go rock your brand”! 

Take-Aways From Today’s Episode 

  1. How David Got into Paid Advertising (4:55)
  2. Why David Reevaluated My Business (21:07)
  3. How My Team and I Got Through The Pandemic (29:02)
  4. Trends to Help Your Business Grow In 2021 (37:40)

Quote:

Making the decision to cut back on my workload lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. It was such a relief not to worry about getting late-night messages or calls from clients who were taking up all my team’s time. It was one of the best decisions that I made for my business. 

Scott Voelker

Over the years I’ve helped thousands of people TAKE ACTION to UNLOCK their true potential on building their ultimate freedom business, by developing the skills to make them resilient, confident and FUTURE PROOF. I’ve clocked my 10,000 hours over the years working in the trenches myself and helping others build and grow their brands. I know the power in TAKING ACTION better than anyone and I’ve seen people lives changed as a result of it...including my OWN!
The $64,000 Etsy Roadmap

The Simple 5-Step Process We Used To Generate $64,000 In 12 Months Working Part Time On Etsy.

Yes, Send Me The Roadmap!