Transcript:
Yassin
All right. Hey, its yassin here, with, my buddy and partner Dan Barret. Dan, how are you doing today? I'm doing good man. How are you? I'm doing awesome. I'm excited to do this quick case study interview with you, we've been working together for the past, I don't know, five months or so. I think, I wanted to share with the world what we've been able to achieve together. I think it's very inspiring. When two good guys meet together and, they have a good process in place, the kind of impact they can make on the marketplace and the kind of revenue they can generate.
So I just wanted to take some time today, so I appreciate you for coming on. Just have a few questions and we'll wrap up here. Cool. So, can you give us like a two minute background about you, your business? Like give us a sense of like what market you're in. how long have you been in business? What like stage of growth you are, whatever you're comfortable sharing with us.
Dan
Sure. Yeah. So my company is called AdWords nerds. We do online marketing for real estate investors. So we say like, we help real estate investors find more deals online. Whether that's via, ad words or Facebook ads or search engine optimization. And we've been in this market for about five years. Five or six years.
Yassin
I mean, you've been the first to like come to the space with like Google ad words. Right? I've never heard Google, running Google ad words for sellers before you guys came to the scene.
Dan
Yeah, it's weird. We, we, yeah, I think we got into the market like a really good time where investors were starting to move away from, not move away from direct mail, but they were looking for alternatives to Direct mail. And investors are kind of like behind the times in terms of getting online and
Yassin
like going after off market properties because like for closures, whatever inventory was starting to go down. And you guys like,
Dan
yeah, there's a lot of people having trouble finding deals on the MLS or at auctions kind of like the traditionally done. And so yeah, we've kinda got on the market. We’re now; we're a team of 10 or nine actually, which is pretty awesome.
And I love my team; I've had them all pretty much forever. And, yeah, we're, I think we are, we're, I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure we are. We're the biggest agency in the space.
Yassin
That kind of focuses on the client. Yeah. Awesome. So how did you, how did you first hear about me and, and about what I do and stuff? You remember?
Dan
I think you reached out to me. I'm not a hundred percent Oh, no, no. Okay. You were referred to me by a mutual friend, Jonathan Rivera, who actually helps me run my podcast. He's like, Hey, Jonathan. Also has like a real estate investing background and he, so he knows what I do and he was like, Oh, you've got to meet this dude yassin.
He's like in the same space and really, really smart. And I was at a point where I was like; I think I had complained, Jonathan and I were in mutual kind of business masterminds. Yeah. And I think I complained multiple times that I was like, I have this mailing list and I don't know how to make money from it. And then people would always be like, well how often do you email them? And I'd be like, I don't know, like twice a year. Yeah.
Like I never email them at all. And he was like, just go talk to yassin, cause that's, something that he does really well. So that's, that's how we connected. Yeah. Jonathan's a very good connector type person. So when he recommended someone, i am usually like, cool.
Yassin
yeah, I've known John for quite a while. We were also in the same mastermind. And he hasn’t yet hadn't get started the podcast factory. so he wants to just kicking that off I think was like 2016 or, yeah, around 2016 when he kicked it off , I knew him like two or three years before that. So I've known John forever and we were just like, masterminding around like what I'm doing and what he's doing.
And I was like, like, and he talked, he brought up, I don't know how that he's doing a podcast for you. I'm like, and it's like, all right. It's like, like what are they doing with their email? It's like nothing. It's like, well dude, bring us together. They're leaving a lot of money on the table and I have known you from the space. I'm like; you've got to connect me with Dan.
Dan
I think a lot, a lot of people say that I'm, I'm everybody's ideal client because I'm very ambitious. I'm very ambitious, but I'm terrible at everything. So I leave lots of money laying everywhere. Everybody that has a skill is like, and I'm like, so let a good matchup for sure. Awesome.
Yassin
Yeah. So, and we hit it off from there. But I mean you kind of touched on it. But before starting working together, like what was your biggest challenge when it came to like turning your email list into high ticket sales?
Dan
I mean, I think it was,
Dan
I think there was a couple things. I mean, for one I don't have, I still, I mean it's, it's not my strength, so I don't have a great idea of how to move people through the process of they're on the email list and they're passively consuming content to, they're ready to make the jump into a program. So I didn't really have any system for that.
And then, partially it's, it was time management. So I was like, I was, I think at the start of the year I was like, I'm going to email them every day. And that was like my thing and I was doing it, but it took a ton of times or it was like a major time eater for me and I was kind of taking my attention away from other parts of the business where I was better suited.
And then I think the last thing is, is kind of a, a common thing with me specifically, which is that I really, I, I want to provide value so I over teach and like one of the things that's been difficult for me kind of as I do content, I do a lot of content now.
Dan
It's like understanding the balance of you can teach but if you try to give people too much, it actually hurts them more than it helps them. Right. And so having someone outside of that be able to come in was really, really helpful because it, got me a lot of time back.
But I didn't have to come up from scratch with some kind of system of moving people through, like understanding how to do that. I was able to just put my time and focus on what I'm best at, which is teaching the in depth stuff, kind of doing the video marketing and stuff like that. So it's been, it's been,
Yassin
yeah, I mean you're, you're brilliant at putting out content and I mean, you, you have a teaching background, right? The education, background and you're great at teaching people and, getting your message out. but yeah, I mean it's, it's a whole another world, but like getting people on the list, then getting them to pull out their credit cards, right.
And it's very savvy of you to know that, Hey, like this is, these are two different skillsets.
So, awesome. And so before we started working together, like, and like when John introduced us and like, all right, let's set it off and see how it works. And you can be brutally honest. You won't hurt my feelings. Like what was your biggest skepticism or like reluctance to like work together?
Dan
I would say there were two. Right. And so, I'd say there's two, right? So, so one is like whenever you hand over your audience to someone else, right. It’s a little nerve wracking, right? Because someone can do a lot of damage to how people perceive you, yeah.
And it's like, it's like if you inter, like you have a group of friends and you introduce someone new to that group of friends, they're like, ah, I hope this goes well because, it's going to be bad for me. Right. So there's, there's definitely some reluctance on that. On the other side of that is like, we work on a coaching program together. That's primarily what we focus on. And at the time, the coaching program, I was selling it, but we weren't selling a lot of it.
Dan
And so it was just kinda like, well, I'm going to partner with someone else. I'm going to need to pay them for the work that they do. And so, is that going to make this kind of unprofitable? So they're going to make it something that I could sell but it's not really worth it to me. Right.
And the thing that I kind of needed get used to or get over is the idea like, one; other people can talk to your audience besides you. That's fine. You know what I mean? Like no one was like, give me Dan, oh I hate this,, and like, , it's, it's not the case that, your voice is so unique that everyone will leave if it's not exactly you doing it all the time.
Dan
Part of that's just being comfortable giving up the control. And then second, a big part of it too was understanding that like, yeah, like it's hard to partner with someone and give away, in our, in our case, I give away a percentage to you of every sale and that's hard. But I also wasn't selling hardly any of it. Right. It wasn't something we were marketing or working on.
So it's like, yeah, it's like you're getting a smaller percentage but a smaller percentage of a much bigger pie. And so, that kind of process of going through that, it's like, Oh, okay. Like the coaching program is way more profitable for us now than it ever was. And that's because, we worked with you and I have someone else giving input and working on marketing it and like giving their full time to it.
So it's just one of those things where, it's new, it's a new relationship. It can be hard to do that, especially if you're right and you're like, me, I'm the boss. I've been the boss forever. I don't have a partner. I have employees. Right? Right. So it's just, it can be weird getting into that relationship, in our case it worked out really well and,
Yassin
Anyone bringing with them someone in, right? Reputation is something you can't repair, or it's very hard to repair once it's damaged and profit margins of course, right? You want to do it in the first place to make more money, not to make less money. Did the arrangement of getting paid on performance versus a retainer, did that have any influence on us working together at all?
Dan
Yeah, well that was a big part that I did it. Because I was like, obviously I don't have to pay you if you're terrible at this, but it's also like, it goes both ways, right? Because if you're paying a retainer, you understand where it stops. Right? But I do think, and this is, when we were, when we were talking about doing this originally, I think part of this for me is like, I really believe philosophically that like when you align people's incentives, you get everyone's best to perform. Right?
It was like when I pay my team, I was just talking about this on Facebook, other agency owners are talking about hiring and they have a ton of trouble hiring. They're constantly losing people. I've only ever lost or let go a single person on my team. Everybody that's on my team now has been there since they were hired multiple years.
No one really is going anywhere. And like part of that is because I really, I'm like everybody is invested in the success of the company cause they get paid more when we're successful. I very deliberately made it that way because it's like, yeah, like I pay out a lot but I only pay out a lot if we're all successful.
Yassin
If we're making money. It makes total sense. And you guys were focused more on the service side providing a service really than like the education, right. So the education was kind of like if it works, it works. Like it's, you're not going to lose sleep if you didn't make a sale. Right?
Dan
exactly. It wasn't my core business. Their core business was the agency. So I was all upside to me and my friend Nick talks about that because like his, his business model is you bring them into your business. They rework your sales; they rework your, your finances. They do redo a lot of your stuff. But then they take a percentage of your business forever, right?
So it's like a really good business model for everybody because if your business is struggling, they can help you, but they get a piece of the upside. And I think it's true that, he's talks about a lot, like, like everyone's super grateful for it in the beginning and then like two years later they forget that they were struggling and then they start to resent it. Right.
And for me, I don't really think about what I'm, what I pay out to the people that work with me, like whether it's partner or employee or whatever. I'm like, there's no way I could do any of what I do by myself.
Dan
I paid my account manager on the service side a lot. I pay my sales guy more than I get paid, right. Like significantly more. But I wouldn't have a business without those people. Right. Or I wouldn't have the same business.
And so to me it's like, I'm like if we get people together and the sum is greater than the parts and then everybody gets compensated fairly, right. It's a really rational way of doing it. And make sure that like you, you do a great job partially because of the way you could pay. Right. Same with me. Like I want to do a great job because I get paid
Yassin
right. To get us both results. Right. We do exactly those things and there's only upside, right? If I don't perform, you don't get paid. If you perform awesome, we'll both make money. It's awesome. So your hesitation primarily where reputation and profit margin, so how did that perception change after working together? Like in terms of reputation and profit margins?
Dan
Yeah, I think it's, it's always a little weird with emails specifically. I think people have a lot of hang ups with email. But I think partially it was just that, I mostly watched reactions to the stuff that you sent and the reactions to the stuff that you sent were largely positive. There were people that have, there are people that had negative reactions, but there are people that post like I run Facebook ads that are like really boring that are just like my face and its like, I'll help you get deals.
And I have people that post basically like I broke into their house and like shook them while they were sleeping. You know what I mean? Like they're like how dare you, yeah, exactly. Yeah. How dare you get on my, I'm like, I'm not in your face. You know that right. I don't log in your face. And like, even like my clients I know have the same thing where they'll send out postcards and people will call them and be like, I'm calling the FBI on you, they are upset with you.
So it's like, I know that like people have a rational, there's always some people that have an irrational reaction to what you do. The vast majority of the people that we met had a positive reaction to it. Bunch of people bought stuff then never bought stuff from us before, which is awesome. So it's like that really, just going through. The proof was in the pudding basically, yes. The pudding was delicious.
Yassin
Well, we will talk about the pudding. That’s a great Segway. So I mean, now that we've been working together for like five months or so, what specific results, have we been able to get together so far?
Dan
Do you need me to say this in? Do you want me to talk in pudding metaphors or can we leave the
Yassin
pudding metaphors and dollar metaphors?
Dan
Well, there's like a skin on top of the pudding and when you peel that off, so let's say, so I think the numbers that I thought were really cool were, so we got over 80 clients, so we haven't been, it's not been that long of like actually we really only launched twice. We've got over 80 clients, I think high ticket clients, right? High ticket clients.
So like our revenue per, I had the, I had a list but we did some list building together. You emailed me some of your list. We did. It was $42 in revenue per email subscriber. So not even like open. It was per subscriber.
Yassin
Every subscriber on your email list, generated $42 per subscriber in gross revenue, and in five months. So that's awesome.
Dan
That's pretty awesome. And I would say too, I think the thing that was really nice about working with you is it wasn't just that you took what we had and then you wrote a bunch of emails about it. You and I worked very closely on redesigning the program.
So like the way that the program is structured right now is totally different from what we had when we started. And I think there's a nice kind of flow to, there's like a natural upsell. So it's like there was a lot of input from you on that whole process and I think we sold more and made more money because of that. Right.
So it's like, it wasn't just like an email thing; it was really getting into the offer, product, and how do you do a launch? We did a full rehab. Yes. Yeah, to use house flipping metaphors.
Yassin
We completely changed the recipe of the pudding. It was a vanilla then it became a chocolate pudding and it worked out really well.
Dan
Yeah, it did, man. It's been quite good. And I think it's, it's a real growth area for us revenue wise. And I think it's, it really, I really saw the impact of the revenue because we had a couple of slow months that were actually really good months in the end, mostly because of the coaching revenue, which wasn't there before.
So it's, it's been, it's been great. And like now, we have plans to grow that and have it, have it be a bigger part of the business and like of, of what I do. And I think that's, it's been great cause I love teaching and it's been a lot of fun. So
Yassin
And credit to you. I mean that, that wouldn't, I mean $42 per subscriber, so we're talking about $10 per subscriber every month, right? We're pulling out of the list. So imagine, right? So you can multiply those if like you have, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, 50,000 email subscribers on your list. Like what would that mean to you every month, pulling out $10 per subscriber.
But I think that wouldn't have happened then if it wasn't for your reputation in the marketplace. I can only build on a, on a solid foundation I can't build on, right? Shaky foundation, right? Well credit goes to you that you've built great reputation. You operate with high integrity, you're the first to approach the client of theirs, and we're talking high ticket clients. I mean, the minimum these guys are spending with us like 2000 2,500 up to 15,000 and $20,000.
Yassin
Right? So we're talking really high ticket. We're not talking about nine $87 eBook, right? We're talking about shelling out like probably some of the biggest purchases for these guys that they'll ever make in their education. So while 80 clients may not seem a lot, but when you think that each one is shelling out 2,500 to 15,000, right? It makes up a good chunk of change.
But that wouldn't have been possible without how you operate, how your team operates, your, your reputation in the marketplace and how much you care and you're the first approach the client, whenever there is a problem, you guys don't wait for them to come in and say, I have a problem.
Now, of course, right now with everything going on, right, sometimes, we dropped the ball, but, you guys have the procedures and the processes in place to make sure that we always make sure that they're happy.
Yassin
Whatever the outcome that means renegotiating the terms. Whether it means sometimes refunds, might be sometimes crediting their account, maybe this product didn't work for them. We credit whatever they paid towards something else.
So I, it's just so it's, so marketing on its own can't do any good work without good product and good solid foundation. So, and I think you guys are some of the most ethical companies operating in this space because all we all, there are a lot of people who make big promises but don't deliver so, so awesome.
And how do you see, so our relationships, so now, thank God we've been making some great impact on the marketplace, generating good revenue for all of us. What kind of impact do you see this having on your business and the next 12 months?
Dan
Yeah, it's going to be interesting man, to see where it goes. I mean, I think my, my ambition for this is pretty high in the sense that, I want to be, I want to be the, the primary person doing this kind of marketing in this space.
And I think, this is definitely going to help us get there, whether it's in the 12 months or it's in two years or whatever it is. I just see it growing because I think there's a ton of space to grow. There's a bunch of people who need help and I think there's not really anything that comes close to what we're doing. So, yeah.
Yassin
where do you see that going?
Dan
Yeah, well that's a good question, man. I don't know. Where do you see it going? I'm curious about what you think. This is the thing, I'm very high on impact, but I tend to underestimate revenue, right? Because I didn't, it's like, so we were saying, so like we've gone like together in about five months, we did about 300,000$ in gross revenue.
This is more than I think I sold a coaching program in like the last two years. Right, right. Way more. So I'm like, cool. So that's like the beginning. Like we didn't, we didn't even know what we were doing. Right?
Yassin
We did have two offers. We rolled it out later in February, which contributed a lot to our revenue. But now we've got where we didn't launch, gazillion offers and products, right? We're very focused on a front end offer, right.
At 2,500$ and then a backend offer at 15 K and soon to become 20K. I'm hyper focused on these. I think the key is simplicity, right? Do less but better. And I think that's some of the biggest mistakes people lose. They just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Right? They barely launched an offer and then they jump on the next one, then they jump up.
I think what we're doing here is like more like a Kaizen approach. Also, you as a system, you have systems thinking and that's helping us a lot in staying focused on like go deep. Right. Do it, do less but do it better and just keep it simple. I think that's going to have a big impact on here. So anything to add to that,
Dan
multiple seven figures, that's definitely where I think we're going. I love it. Yeah.
Yassin
I love it. And so, awesome. So if you had to choose just one thing, what is biggest benefit you, you perceive that you're getting out of working together? Like if you want to say like, this is the best thing about working with yassin and his team, what would, what would that be?
Dan
I mean, in terms of benefits? I think so. Like let's say you leave the revenue out of it cause revenues, guys, I think that, I think the, for me it's, it's time and Mindshare, right? So it's like it lets me dedicate time to actually creating the content. It lets me dedicate time to worrying about the delivery and improving that experience.
If I had to split and do all the marketing and do that, I don't think either one would be as good. So for me it's like this point in my business, like I've got a team, there's like a lot of stuff going on. There's, there's multiple teams, multiple concerns.
I've always got to split my attention and any time I can delegate something to someone that's really good at it, that means that like the performance goes up because you're better at this than I ever was.
Dan
But it also lets me focus on other stuff that needs my impact. So it's like even though the coaching programs like really grown, it's done much better and it's awesome. It's helped all the other parts of my business because I can be like, now I can do this and now I can, I have time to worry about this other thing that's been a problem.
I knew it was a problem; I just didn't have the bandwidth to do it. Right. So that's the biggest thing for me. And then like as, as my business grows in multiple areas, I just, I'm like, I always want to find someone that I can give, I can, I can work with and give responsibility to and trust to do a good job. So yeah, that's, that's been huge.
So how many hours would you say are I like putting in production, actually producing the marketing assets? For the coaching program, for promoting the coaching program? I don't do anything, you do everything. I don't do anything. That was a set up question. I was like, why are you asking me this, I don't do anything. I barely do my job much less your job. But that's been the best part. It's like totally hands off. I mean we talk and obviously like,
Yassin
but production wise, like writing the emails, creating the landing pages, running the traffic and doing the sales and closing, right. I don't want to take credit for it without my team also; I wouldn't have been able to do any of that.
so I've got a solid team here, with me who's putting in like their blood, sweat and tears into making sure that like we do everything, literally all, all in, , on promoting, , our offers and serving our clients. So, and I love that. Right. And I wouldn't want it to be any other way. Right. And that's what we committed to white glove
Dan
service.
Yassin
And would you say we've delivered on that white glove?
Dan
Yeah, I think so. Yeah. I mean, your team has been great. They’re very responsive and I think like the, it's a little weird. It's like I associate like white glove with like a lot of, like a lot of communication and like a lot of like high touch stuff. But like with your kind of service, the better it is, the less I have to interact with the team. I don't really ever like talk to them.
I mean, a couple of times, I mean, I talked to you we're in Slack together. We do weekly calls together and that's, that's fine. But that's kinda for me. we've been through the process enough where I'm like, you guys know what you're doing, you know what my priorities are, you run ideas by me and we talk about stuff, but I don't have to get involved in the production process.
Yassin
I love that. Yeah, absolutely. Awesome. So, what would you say to someone who wants, like, considering, like joining us? Right? I mean, in our partnership I think, I've got other partners and like we're, we're starting to get like creating our own group and stuff.
So what would you, what would you say to someone who's considering joining us and working with me as a partner but was on defense? Like, I don't know about this yassin guy. I'm not sure I'm on defense. What would you tell them?
Dan
I mean, I would say, yeah, I mean, I would say to give it a shot. I mean, I think the pricing structure makes it relatively low risk to try, right? So it's like, if you're really afraid of it, I, I think it's just one of those things where, pick a project that you guys can work on that's going to be something that's not going to, make you want to jump out a window if it doesn't go well and give it a shot. Right.
Because it's like, it's like anything else, there's, there's never anything that's perfect for everybody, but I think like the quality of the service would be perfect for this. Who would you say would this be perfect for? This would be perfect for, I would say someone like me who, who's got a business that you want to build, build on top of.
And especially if you have an audience that you're not engaging the way that you know you should. And like most business owners, it's like, you're not, you're not doing all you could, right. You're not getting a hundred percent out of your assets. And so if you have that kind of asset, you're not really exploiting to its full potential, then it's a no brainer in my mind.
Yassin
Sweet. I appreciate that. Anything else you'd like to say or add?
Dan
I think it's been good. And, yeah, looking forward to continuing to grow it and yeah, having fun, having fun every week.
Yassin
I love that. And again, right? Like we couldn't have done this without like you and your team and the great service you guys put out in the marketplace. There was no one else in the marketplace that provides a great service as you guys, you've got the reputation, you've got the integrity, and you’ve got the passion.
More importantly, cause a lot of people sometimes are just focused on making the money, which interestingly enough, by fires back, if you're not passionate about teaching these people, making sure you have their best interests, making sure that they get results, right? So when we set goals together, like at the heart of the campaign planning is like, how many success stories are we going to create? Right?
And we measure our success based on that, not just how much money we pulled out of the list, but right. Right. Revenue is great, but without retention, right, you'll always suffer. We always focus on that and we spend. So this is a great point to end. I appreciate the brother and shout out to my team and, thank you so much, brother. It's been my pleasure and I'll be sure to talk to you, sir. All right, thank you. Bye. Bye.
