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What It's About
A marketing specialist finds success in highlighting what he knows best... himself.
Business Model
Service
Skills Required
Research & Marketing
Complexity
Low
Profit Potential
High
Words of Wisdom
Jacob has some important wisdom to share; "There is only one thing that makes you a real business whether side hustle or full-time hustle. It's not a website, not a product, not a home office. It's a SALE. Once you make that first sale, you're a business."
Fun Fact
The average business owner spends 20 hours per week on marketing related activities. This is a huge amount of time and often takes away from other important things. There are plenty of side hustle opportunities by helping out or minimizing this time for business owners.
Notes from Chris
Episode 1184
Jacob Ratliff was just twenty one years old when he first became disillusioned with his day job. He worked as a digital marketing specialist: creating campaigns for clients that would bring them leads and increase sales. He was pretty good at it, producing significant revenue for his employer. But, his thirty thousand dollars a year salary was paltry compared to the value he was providing. Despite his best efforts, he had no luck negotiating a raise. Every day was a struggle and he soon came to the conclusion that the job was a dead end. In an attempt to boost his income—and keep his sanity—Jacob decided to try freelancing on the side. He was confident in his abilities and knew he could do a good job if he found clients of his own. After signing that first client, Jacob indulged in a mild celebration, buying drinks for a few friends. But, he didn’t spend all the money. Instead, he put most of it into a dedicated bank account. (We’ll talk about this more in next week’s Classroom episode.) He came up with a marketing plan that involved different channels, like social media, paid traffic, and even direct mail. From there, the plan involved converting those leads to customers and eventually converting those customers into advocates, people who would refer more business. The plan worked well, and his first client began to see results quickly. However, only when they were satisfied did Jacob move onto the next phase of his own side hustle marketing plan. He asked that client for a referral—if they knew anyone that might be able to utilize his services. It worked, bringing Jacob his next few clients. And this method of completing excellent work and utilizing referrals quickly spiraled out bringing in more and more business. In fact, it worked so well that over the next three months Jacob was earning enough to eclipse the salary he was making at his day job. As the leads kept on coming, Jacob built an official website for his business and registered it under AshevilleMarketer.com, something he hadn’t even bothered within the beginning. He’s now bringing in around $10,000 a month.MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- Learn more Jacob and his business at his website, AshevilleMarketer.com.
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- Best Buy Employee Moonlights as Online Ad Consultant: A digital marketer freelances away his nights and weekends, eventually turning his side gig into a multi-million dollar ad agency.
- College Grads Start Multi-Million Dollar Agency in Social Media Wild West: Today’s featured hustlers were in the first wave of college students to use Facebook. It didn’t take long to see how big it would become—and how much money they could make with it.
Quote of the Day
"There is only one thing that makes you a real business... it's a SALE. Once you make that first sale, you're a business."
—Jacob Ratliff #SideHustleSchool
