Journey to starting business from scratch

edgax

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Hey Blackhatworld forum mates,

Happy new year! So as you probably guessed that already (maybe because it's a first day of the year, or because it's in "My journey Discussion" segment, it's another journey thread.

And you're right! However it's not another make 50$/day journey, it's journey to starting my own business.

Sadly, it's not a short journey. On the other hand, it is better for you, because I will share more experience with you, more ideas and you could ask even more questions.

Speaking about updates... Sadly we will not count my earnings. I am a strong believer of focusing on actions instead of results. So what mostly you gonna see (promise not to spam this forum too much, 1 post on Sundays) are things I completed and why I did them. Time by time I will share a paycheck if that motivates you...

Let's move on to my Business 'plan', which isn't too complicated. My main plan can be divided into 3 stages which of course I'm going to present you now.

The beginning (Stage 1):

As you don't know yet, I am working at the moment in Face-to-face direct marketing as huge local brand's ambassador (fancy name for being a salesman). The work isn't a bad, though. It's interesting and it teaches a lot. I just started though and I am not that great at the moment, but well I am trying to improve. Sadly I'm on my holiday (until the middle of month), so I am practicing my stuff at home right now.

The great thing about this opportunity is that it allows you to network around. You visit different branches, work there for some time, meet more people and establish connections. As you can guess, stage 1 is all about getting experience and improving my stats.

Don't worry, that's not going to be a boring offline journey.

We all know that it isn't offline marketing forum. This forum is all about online. So in this stage, I am going to kickstart my blog (which eventually should become my business blog). Will be writing articles, doing SEO and some affiliates (review style, only the tools that I personally use).

Stage 2:
When the blog will be established (making profit), the stage 2 comes. It's basically the same as stage 1, but doing more IM stuff.
That means more single-offer oriented websites.

At this stage, I am planning to more outsource work and start making not just direct marketing network connections, but getting know more different service providers personally too.

Stage 3:
When small portfolio (of greatest and least dodgy websites) would be build and I got know more people in IM niche, I will move to stage 3: starting my business.

Basically, at this stage, I am opening the office and taking proper clients. Eventually, employing more people...
_______
Before you tell me that it is huge and amazing life plan, I have a secret to tell you.

It is my this year plan.

I am planning to reach Stage 2 in the early Summer (or in the end of Spring), and stage 3 in the late Autumn, but well we will see results as we go.
____
What are we starting off?

  • Domain without any history (I know, going to be bitch to rank..)
  • 15 published articles already (600-2k words each)
  • IG 4 accounts (total followers: 766)
  • Twitter 1 accounts (followers: 19)
  • Massplanner + Posting to instagram module
  • Amazon VPS (1year free)
___
What am I working for the next week?

  • Writing everyday (600+ words)- GOAL: 4800W.
  • To schedule some Twitter messages (GOAL: 60 messages)
  • Pitch practice (Goal: 150 times). I'm getting back from holiday in the middle of month, so I am starting to warm up.
  • Instagram Followers 2K total (need to get massplanner settings right)
  • Complete reading REWORK (amazing book.)

Cya. I am out. Have a nice day/night and happy new year!
 
Last edited:
Sup, babes. So WEEK 0 is over!

Done list WEEK 0:
  • 15 published articles in the main project;
  • 2 articles scheduled in the main project;
  • IG Followers:1228 (main: 625 others: 603);
  • Twitter. Main: 352, Other: 72;
  • Scheduled posts for both Google+ and Twitter main project accounts all January in advance;
  • There were several 301 errors in my page, fixed that (I moved the website from subdomain to domain in the really stupid way..)
  • Fixed structured data's "missing: updated" error in my theme;
  • Uploaded sitemap in BING webmaster;
  • Completed reading the book "Rework";

So yeah, that's the short list what I did in introduction week. Speaking more about the project, today I just completed first affiliate article of software that I use every day. From first sight, the keyword I was targeting isn't too hard to rank. We will see in the next several weeks.
Probably, most of you will be interested how I will monetize website (I don't remember if I told you in the 1st post). So it will be mostly from Adsense and affiliates. Affiliates will be reviews of products that I use every day and love (niche: IM/ORM). That means, no bullshitting about products which barely works.

Goals for the week 1:

  • Reach 2k total followers (as I planned before);
  • Reach 1k followers for main IG and twitter;
  • Complete small SEO package for the affiliated product (not hoping to rank it to the first page in 1st week);
  • Schedule/Write/Complete 7 more articles;
  • 150 pitch practices (as I planned before);
  • Complete reading Tribes by Seth Godin, and another book;

Have any questions? Ask!

_________________________

Good Luck on your Journey OP :)

Thank you!
 
Last edited:
Good luck i like your weekly targets / goals. Im going to have to do that for my Journey.
 
Looking forward to reading along with this journey of yours.
 
Guess who's back. It's time to review my week 1.

Done list WEEK 1:

  • Completed 2 articles. One of those is 2200w long. (shame on me)
  • IG Followers:2321 (main: 1053 others: 1268);
  • Twitter. Main: 1058, Other: 171;
  • Backlinks from pdf/ppt sharing websites;
  • Some backlinks from blog commenting;
  • Some profile backlinks;
  • Some Web 2.0;
  • Increased the speed of website;

Pretty lazy week, but technically I complete my Social Media goals.

Started backlinking campaign (really slowly). Mainly focusing on one high competition keyword set and then some of the medium competition ones (for product reviews, affiliates).

As you can guess there is no rush to do crazy SEO, because I am building the authority website. Mainly I am building backlinks on my huge articles, so it not only increases my article standing, but it increases overall domain authority too.

Goals for the next week:
  • Complete another huge ass article;
  • Complete one affiliate article;
  • Complete another 4 posts;
  • Instagram main 1.8k followers (overall: 4k);
  • Twitter main 2k followers (other 300);
  • Link building;
And goals which are overdue:

  • Complete reading Tribes by Seth Godin, and another book;


If you have any question, just ask :)
 
Awesome man! I also want to start a business in my area offering SEO services this year. Keep working hard, i will be following.
 
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