My first newsletter issue was about my roadmap to 1M, I had specific goals and a plan of action, but I missed one thing. I should have deconstructed those specific goals into smaller goals.

I gave myself the freedom to pivot. I didn’t want to be enslaved to my plan and close-minded to new opportunities.

Since I published my first issue, I made $11980. I also have 5k in no-collected cash, but I don’t count it. (Project not finished)

It is not a lot. I already made half of that in a month. But, I humbled myself in many aspects. What I have learned on Twitter for the past seven months is worth over 100k.

I met new friends online, and I’m forever grateful for that, mainly because I’m not the type of person that makes new friends.

In this intersect, I’m gonna blow your mind because I was blown when I saw all those opportunities right before my damn nose (without any extraordinary effort).

Feel free to steal my roadmap, strategies, or whatever. At the end of the day, this model is based on trust. You can immediately forget it if you think this is an overnight get-rich scheme.

If you don’t give a fuck about my mistakes, accomplishments, and lessons. Feel free to jump right to my blueprint (last section).

My Mistakes, Accomplishments, and Lessons

‍My Mistakes

I made some mistakes, but who doesn’t? Let’s dissect them and see what I’m gonna do about them.

1) Not deconstructing my goals

This mistake was a huge pitfall for me. I didn’t see it coming because I was blindfolded with the “clarity” I had writing my roadmap to 1M.

I failed to understand to achieve those goals. I had to execute smaller steps.

For instance, one of my goals was to have three web design clients per week. Hell, I never asked myself how I’m gonna do that SPECIFICALLY. What action I’m gonna take to put myself 1% ahead?

Yes, I was sending cold emails. But it wasn’t specific enough. To be fair, I lacked HARD in sending cold emails, which reflected my income.

Still, I closed three clients, but it’s clearly not enough. Two clients are worth 5k. The last one is worth 7k.

The fix:

1- Deconstruct my goals

I determined my high-value lever-moving tasks to get more clients for my web design services.

To get more clients, here are my high-value tasks:

• Send at least 5-10 cold emails per day.
• Film at least 1 Tiktok/Reels per day.
• 1 Strategic Networking call per week.

You can call them non-negotiables.

I learned this from Elle over a call.

2- Prioritize tasks

This one is so important. Yet, I failed to take it seriously.

I like to write in the morning and do design work from 2 pm to 5 pm.

Also, I will draft my cold emails the night before. I already tried the one-liner personalized method etc. But, I had to come up with another lazy alternative which is more valuable.

The traditional way is to learn more about the owner, compliment them, etc. That alone is around 10-25 min. I prefer to invest it differently.

Instead, I redesign their hero section with one of my pre-made templates. It takes me a maximum of 15 min. For 10 leads, that’s 150 minutes. That’s 2.5 hours that could potentially turn into one lead valued at 3k+. 

At some point, I can delegate it (working with someone on it).

That’s how I’m signing clients. My only problem was the execution and volume.

In conclusion, my email is the same. The personalization is the hero section.

My priority list:

1- Hero section redesign

2- Cold emails

3- Follow-up

2) Underestimating the Importance of Systems

Even if it looks like I’m a highly organized person. I’m not the best at it. I would’ve paid someone to craft a system for my two businesses if I could afford it.

Surprise, surprise. I met an extraordinary individual, incredibly talented at his craft, Ve.

I learned a lot about systems and project management. From the moment I can spend a dime on it, I will collaborate with him for my business.

The fix:

1- Streamline and automate the onboarding process

2- Potentially move to Trello

3) Overestimating My Productivity Level

I consider myself highly efficient in work, learning or focus until I start mixing things. 

See, there wasn’t content creation, networking, and engagement before. So yes, I was productive when I only had my freelance business, but it’s an entirely different story now. I had to adapt and pivot to reach my level again.

Speaking of which, I just had a productivity coaching session with my new Twitter friend Elle. She did a fantastic job helping me regain clarity and boost my confidence about my productivity level. (A pleasant ego boost)

If you’re looking to improve yours, I highly recommend her.

The fix:

Allocate 70% of my time to the freelance side of the business and 30% to building my personal brand. I’m not doing the same mistake again. So, what does that mean exactly?

It means I have to understand how I’ll spend my time and on what precisely.

What are the tasks that play a role in building my personal brand?

Good question. Here they are (by priority order):

• Building my digital products #1
• Writing newsletter #2
• Writing tweets #3
• Networking #4
• Engagement #5
• Responding to comment #6 (Elle suggested I do it in the gym between my set’s rest.)

Here are the tasks for my freelance business:

• Send at least 5-10 cold emails per day.
• Film at least 1 Tiktok/Reels per day.
• 1 Strategic Networking call per week.
• Design templates
• Clients work

On average, I work 6h per day, 6 days a week. That’s 36h per week.

70% of 36h -> 25.2h -> 4.2h per day on my freelance business.

30% of 36h -> 10.8h/6 -> 1.8h -> 2h per day on Building Personal Brand

My Accomplishments

I haven’t reached thriving success with my freelance business *yet* but I don’t feel like I wasted my time. I built strategic relationships with med spa owners that will explode my revenue once I launch everything.

On the other side, my personal brand on Twitter is going in the right direction. I have built a successful free product *based on reviews* (The Content Intersect Guide) and I’m currently building another free course (Build Your Personal Brand Empire with Framer).

I LOVE building.

My Lessons

I dropped my ego on many things. Such as “working for free.”

Here’s the thing, you have to be strategic with whom you do free work.

I hate to say it, but some people use you to their advantage and move on. 

Well, I don’t do it for anyone. 

I do free work for friends.

I do free work for those I admire their work.

I do free work in exchange for coaching or another service.

For instance, a landing page design in exchange for a web copy of my landing page.

When I do it, I don’t expect anything in return. The power of reciprocity is real.

1- Free work isn’t always bad.

2- Learn, adapt, and pivot when necessary.

How I’m Productizing My Knowledge and Skills

Enough with the fluff. I was focused too much on how I could scale and get more clients and so on. But, I overlooked a golden opportunity right in front of my nose.

I started working with med spa owners. And I noticed that there are three types of clients.

Those who understand the value of a website and can afford it.

Those who understand the value of a website and can’t afford it.

Those who don’t understand the value of a website and don’t care about it.

So, I don’t waste my time with the third group.

The second group always went with Wix because that’s all they knew. I had to reach them before they took that decision (before they opened their location). That’s where my work for free comes into place.

I’m building free websites for Med Spa owners and templatize them to resell the templates for clients who can’t afford my rates.

Now, I can serve them both.

I didn’t realize the potential before. 

But wow, it is insane.

I’m gonna work extremely hard to make it happen, and I don’t care if someone tries to copy me, honestly. 

As I said, this model is based on trust. I took the time to build genuine relationships with owners for months. They will advertise my templates for a commission.

Everybody wins.

Recap:

Knowledge -> FB/IG ads

Skills -> Brand & Web Design

My Blueprint to 10k Per Month

Honestly, I don’t care about the 10k. It just seems nice and appealing to the brain.

First, I want to fix my cash flow and focus on having that first consistent 5k per month. Sometimes, I make 5k for the month. The next one, I make zero. But it’s about to change.

As of Aug 6, 2023, I closed a 3,500$ deal and am working to close another one. I want to get on as many calls as possible. I’m ready to put in the work even if it means getting it done before I get paid because, guess what? If they don’t like it (close to impossible), I sell it as a template.

By next year, I will sign 10k clients.

I’m building a productized studio for design & web development to lock in a stable monthly recurring revenue. To handle the workload, I will cap it at five clients. I will launch it at $1500 per month for my design services and $2500 for design + web development.

I don’t expect it to be easy, but X is a great platform to generate those leads.

As for my Med Spas clients, I already have my cold email process, which is hideous, but only for a short time due to the relationships I have built. I don’t need “X” to get those clients.

Therefore, I’m doubling down on my freelance business to build my cash flow without expecting anything from the digital products I’m making.

Med Spa Design Studio Breakdown:

My first goal is to sign at least one client per month at $3,500.

The second is to build a high-quality website template for Med Spas with Framer. I will package it with a small course that includes a mini-masterclass on FB ads.

Price? $450. Hell yes. Anyone who’ll buy my template and course will 10x his investment GUARANTEED.

I will pitch the template as my 4th follow-up to the lead.

I aim to make at least two monthly sales. Scaling to ten recurrent sales per month seems easily achievable.

2 sales per month = $900.

Total → 3,500 + 900 = $4400

Productized Design Studio Breakdown:

I will use my personal brand to promote it and mainly use “X” to generate leads.

My Productized Design Studio will offer unlimited design (logo, collateral, social media design, email design, landing pages, and websites) and web development with Framer.

This would be a build-in-public project. Therefore, my content is going to be more leaned toward it. 

As mentioned, I will launch it at $1500 per month for my design services and $2500 for design + web development. 

Ultimately, I intend to charge $5,000 per month.

My first goal for this model is to have five clients on the $1500 tier, that’s $7500.

The total:

$4400 (Med Spas) + $7500 (Productized Design Studio)  = $11,900

I love public accountability. It pushes me through my limits and keeps me on track.

You get to see the ugly and the pretty. I don’t show everything in my life, but I don’t hide anything in my business. 

It is an exciting journey, and I’m happy to share it with you.

Have a great day, my friends.

- Imed