He Niched Down to Concrete and Hit $33K a Month in His First Year

Full transcript of Josh Nelson’s interview with Danny Barrera. Lightly edited for readability.

Josh Nelson: Well, hello and welcome. Thank you for joining us, on this episode of the Seven Figure Agency podcast. We're a series where s- where we're interviewing highly successful digital marketing agencies and kind of unpacking how they've grown and how they've scaled their businesses. And I could not be more excited today to have Danny Barrera with us from the Seven Figure Agency group and contract, Concrete Marketing Crew. So, welcome to the show, Danny.

Danny Barrera: Thank you. Thank you for having me. It's, really an honor, an honor to be here.

Josh Nelson: Absolutely. So I guess before we dive in, just kind of tell us a little bit about, like, where you're at within your agency and kind of a high-level overview in the number of clients, that type of stuff. Are we cutting out? Okay. Excellent.

Danny Barrera: Yeah. So, as of this week, we are at, 16 clients, one six clients, 16 clients, and that put us over $33,000 in monthly recurring revenue. Nice. And this is pretty much our first 12 months as a niche agency, right? And, prior to having this name right here, Concrete Marketing Crew, I was, I had… I picked the niche, but then I was running over under the name Contractor SEO Agency. So, you know, later, probably after the summer, after August, I made the decision to just shift the name and the branding over the Contractor S- Concrete Marketing Crew and just run over under that one name, so that I could just bring that consistency and just connection with the marketplace. So, that's, that's where I'm at right now.

Josh Nelson: Fantastic. Well, from, you know, brand new niche to over $30,000 a month in recurring revenue, kudos to you. That's a big, that's a big feat in and of itself.

Danny Barrera: Yeah, yeah. It's exciting. I'm excited.

Josh Nelson: So tell us, tell us a little bit about your background. So you d- you… Just tell us how you got into digital marketing and kind of what your background is.

Danny Barrera: Yeah, absolutely. So, if we go back to 2007. 2007, I found myself working at a cubicle, as an IT analyst for Fox News channels. Hmm. You know, you guys are probably very familiar with the Fox News Network. So you know, working there, you know, you consistently hear all these success stories every single day, every single day. And a lot of them were, m-you know, more in the tech industry. So I'm listening to these guys, you know, a new startup here, another startup there, another guy. So one day there comes a guy out of nowhere. You know, he was, he was somewhere from… I don't, I don't even remember his name, but he talked about how he, created an e-commerce shop and, you know, in the first year, he made over half a million dollars or something like that. And that's– he sold the store for way more than that. And they were interviewing him. So after the interview, I go down to the, to the, green room, right? And then, and then the guy's still there, and I just introduced myself. I was so nervous. And I asked him, it's like, "Hey, you know, I, that sounded very interesting. I'm very interested in learning, like, how you got started or what tips can you give me if I wanna get started." so he told me, "Hey, look, you know, just find a product, get your license so that you can, you can, you know, make some connections, wi-within, the wholesaling and all that stuff. And then, and then, and then just put up a store and see if you can get traffic to it." Like, that was the whole conversation, basically. So that was my first, ignition, I would say, the first thing that just got me, thinking about the internet, you know? So months passed, years passed, spent over $10,000 building up a store that didn't make me one sale. And that was the first thing, right? So, so here I am, and, at that time, you know, I married very young. I married very young. I was probably, like, 20, 21 when I got married. Nice. Spouse wasn't too happy at that time. You know, my, my co-parent, she wasn't too happy about that. But I decided to keep going. So anyways, I, I made a connection with a local, fragrance store owner, which was a wholesaler, and this guy I knew he sold nationwide, meaning people came to him to buy the product. And then we put up a store. We start making money. I start finally figuring out what… How things really work on the internet. You get traffic, you have a product, people buy, period, in, you know, in essence. So, you know, months pass by, the guy, you know, pays me a few thousand dollars off of that, and then, you know, I'm out. So what am I doing right now? You know, I'm talking to my friends, to my brother. "Hey, look,"… And then, of course, during that time, you know, you get into one email list, and then you're all of a sudden getting a thousand emails about, you know, going offline and all this stuff. So, so that's the thing. That's the thing. It's, it's… From there, it was just, you know, a never-ending scene, rollercoaster of, making money here as an affiliate, not making money, you know, trying to do the offline stuff, WSOs. I mean, you name it, I probably, you know, wasted a lot of money, and I tried a lot of money, you know, tr- just tried to put money into things that I didn't really realize. And, and that led me into about 2010, you know, decided to finally go all in into my agency as far as, you know, go all in and then start building, a digital agency, which I realized is not easy at all. It's not easy at all. Like, you know, everyone paints this thing that you can become a digital marketer, laptop lifestyle. It doesn't work that way. So, you know, months passed by again, and, at that time, I quit my job, right, at the Fox News. It was very comfortable. They offer me a management company, amazing benefits, a great company to work for. I learned a ton from there. But, you know, it… I went from stability to complete unstability, and that was probably, the best personal development, training that I got because, you know, you're faced with uncertainty every single day. Yeah. And, and, you know, soon enough, I s- you know, I got my car repossessed a couple of times. Lights were off, more than three times, way more than three times. And then, and then, you know, I found myself going into a really, really nasty situation, and then that ended up in divorce. That ended up, you know, just everything fell apart for me, like right in front of me. And here I am, you know, best intentions at heart. During that time, I became very good at SEO. Like, that was the one thing that I could tell you. I could grab any site and just get it up there without, you know, any hes- hesitation. So found myself there, and then, you know, that was about, two years ago, something like that, somewhere around there, and then came across your information, Josh. And, you know, somewhere about a year ago or so, I made the commitment to go all in and just, you know, do this thing the right way. You know, this is not a game. This is not a game. This is not, you know, let me see if it works or not for me. It's, it's not like that for me 'cause, it hasn't been easy. It hasn't been easy, you know? And, yeah, I made the commitment to finally, it's either gonna be this thing is gonna work or that's it, you know? I could just build an offline business and, like, you know, just build a real business, brick-and-mortar, and do what I know how to do best. So I was at that crossroads at that time. A few times, I shared this with the group some- sometimes. It's, it's… I found myself at one point sleeping on my friend's couch. Mm. A couple of nights, like, me sleeping at, in my car. You know, really with uncertainty. You know, uncertainty. And I had a few clients here and there, but by the time you pay child support, by the time you gotta pay this, by the time you gotta do that, it's nothing left. Nothing left. So when you're in those situations, when you're in those situations, I mean, you're faced with either, you know, the willingness and just the desire to just push through and just make it happen or that's pretty much where you see a lot of people just, you know, settle in and say, "Call it a day." And I just, you know, I'm not gonna give up. I don't give up, you know? So, so that really, that's, that's a big motivator for me, you know, just to keep going and stuff like that. So, so that's why I'm excited, you know? I have a lot of, a lot of things that I discuss as far as disadvantages in the industry as a whole, but those things get me fired up. Like, that puts a lot of fire under my ass, you know? Mm-hmm. And, and yeah, so that is my background. That is Danny Barrera. That is Daniel Barrera as a whole. Tons of failures, more failures than any type of success. And, and believe it or not, that gives me the confidence when I talk to someone on the phone. Mm. Knowing how much I've been through, knowing, you know, what the dark times look like, knowing what the good times look like, knowing that I've invested in myself heavily, and I put all… You know, I've invested in myself more than anything, and I'm glad that I, you know, that things are moving the right direction. You know, and not everything is rainbows and stuff, but, you know, it's, it's way better than what it was for me a couple of years ago, not too long ago. Not too long ago.

Josh Nelson: Yeah. That's awesome, man. Well, congratulations on the grit, you know what I mean? It's not easy when things aren't going well, and you can hardly pay the bills, and you don't know where your next, you know, your next payment's gonna come from. And, you stuck with it. You made the transition. You've got a great agency, which I believe is just on the brink of even bigger things, right? It's really just getting started. How did you make that transition from the, like you said, the Warrior Forum stuff and the affiliate stuff to really committing to an agency and getting consistent? 'Cause you're so focused on sales and business development, and you do the work, and you make the calls, like, unlike most of the people I interact with. Can you talk a little bit about, like, a little bit about that?

Danny Barrera: Absolutely, 100%. So, let's go back about three years ago, okay? That was the darkest time of my life, and at that point in time… Look, I love Grant Cardone. I mean, I have all his stuff everywhere, 10X book, you know, philosophy. You, you talk about it. Everything around me is about positivity, everything. -huh. Because, because everything else outside of this will most likely be a challenge, and if you don't keep yourself in a possible, positive, state of mind, positive, you know, you're gonna start to focus on the negative. And when that fo- focus is negative, everything else becomes negative. So going back to the transition, at that time, you know, I was taking sales training. I took, you know, the Ca- Cardone University and all this stuff. I went heavy, heavy, heavy, you know, making, 100 calls or so, a day, on average. So I, you know, at that, at that time, I was making calls, and I was not getting results. And here I am listening to all the success stories from Grant, and I'm saying to myself, "Man, how… What are these people doing that I'm not doing?" You know? It's, it's something is not there. Something is missing, you know? So, so here I am just trying to work things out and reverse engineer some of the biggest, companies out there, what they do. They have a sales team. They have a sales process, a pitch deck, and they just do that consistently, right? The thing that I wanna get to is I realized, man, you know, I don't have focus. I don't have that one thing that I will stay consistent with. Because those times where the WSO, and I'm just gonna… Do you mind if I just talk about my personal experience? This is my personal experience, like, you know. You know, I bought all the David Spragg, courses back in the day, you know. It's nothing wrong with this guy. It's legit. You know, I love his stuff. But all that stuff, I tried it. I tried doing the videos for free. I tried doing all this stuff, you know. You know, let me get you in for free and then, you know, upsell you s- at some other time. It did not work for me. It just wasn't my cup of tea. So I was doing all this stuff, Josh, to the point that I was just like, "What, what's going on? Like, seriously," you know? And, and it… The success that I got, you know, it was here. It was very short-lived. That's the key word, short-lived success. Where you get one client here paying you $200 a month, then 500. You still gotta pay all this stuff to make a living. Mm-hmm. By the time you deliver, it… That's not a business. Right. So, so I just, I was just sick and tired of like, you know, th- this is… It- to me, it all sounded like BS. So that's when I realized, hey, look, okay, at some point in time I'm just kind of about to give up. And, I saw your Facebook ad, and then I knew you. I knew you from the prior year of me building co- contractor SEO agency. That had been about my main focus prior to meeting you. That had been my, you know, focusing on doing SEO for contractors as a whole, which is not a niche. That, that is not a niche. That is, you know, segment of the market, right? Of, of the- Yeah… Market, but it's not a niche. And even at that, I was getting some clients here and there, you know, doing all this stuff, but it wasn't consistent. So, that led me to me seeing your Facebook ad. And I knew you because I had, you know, seen your websites and, you know, I could… I studied your stuff as far as, you know, the SEO stuff that you've done for your site. And, and I mean, it's amazing. It's well put together. I love your stuff. So I immediately connected. And that led me to me enrolling and then deciding to just, you know what? This is a legit dude. I mean, I've, I've actually spent a lot of time researching your stuff as far as, you know, more of the technical SEO side, like how you know, you structure your s- websites and stuff like that. And I knew you were legit. So, so after that, I made a commitment. Whatever I do moving forward, I do not consume any information from anyone that hasn't or isn't doing it themselves actively. Hmm. Actively. I do not consu- like, y- that was the thing. That, like, you're saying the switch about, you know, from WSOs to now, I do not consume information from anyone. I don't care what they're driving. I don't care how they look or anything like that. I don't consume information from anyone that is not doing it themselves proactively, and they're not showing it. They're not willing to show it and be transparent about what's, you know, you know, what's being taught. Because this industry is just, I mean, you know, you know how it is. It's, it can be very deceiving. Mm-hmm. And a lot of people getting burned. So, so that is when I made the decision to commit, and I said, "Man, I've tried so much," that I gave up, like, my old belief systems, you know, whatever else I had, empty my cup and, I just, you know, just like this, you know? Empty, empty. You pour it. You tell me what to do. I execute. So that's, that's it. You know, that's, that's… Does that make sense?

Josh Nelson: No, that's awesome. And, and I think it's awesome that you started with mindset, right? This whole, you know, studying Grant Cardone, studying people that were all mindset. Really the fact is your, your mindset is what's gonna drive your behavior. And if you don't get that piece right, nothing else is gonna, is gonna go the way that it should. And then it was, it was figuring out the right skill set and really making sure you were, you were learning from people actually implementing and actually doing, as opposed to just people that looked sexy or looked cool and were claiming big claims but weren't actually doing it, living it day to day. So, so, you know, some powerful insights there in terms of like how you made that mind shift from chasing the shiny object to actually getting down, dirty, doing the work and landing the clients. So let's, let's talk about the niche. So you mentioned you were, you were contractor SEO marketing, and, you know, that's a little bit broad. And kind of what you were experiencing was while you were in a niche, it didn't really resonate with,… Sorry. It didn't really resonate with anybody. How did you make this transition to Concrete Marketing Crew, which is like a, like a micro niche within the niche, right?

Danny Barrera: Right. I jumped on a Wednesday call. I think it was my first call that I jumped on, and Jeff is there, and Jeff is going one by one. And by the way, anyone that's watching this, if you are having problems and you're not clear of where you're at or where you need to go, what needs to happen next, get yourself into Wednesday call, and that call should be packed. I mean, I mean, if you don't have at least five clients, five niche clients in your book of business right now, you're wasting your money and you're wasting your time, period. Because it's all… Like, I just don't get it. I've spent so much money getting the wrong information. And, you know, it drives me nuts to see a lot of people that they struggle because they let their ego be bigger than anything else. So for me, it was like, you know, I told you, empty cup. I showed up to the Wednesday call, and I asked my question. Hmm. I've been in business for so long. I've been doing this, you know, and I was frustrated. I'm like, "I just ne- need help picking a niche." This is about niching down. So, you know, he says, "Why don't you try,…" And he mentioned something about concrete, I think concrete decks, something like that. Concrete decks. That was what ignited, you know, my thing. And I had experience working with contractors, a couple of concrete guys that I've done business with, and I'm like, "Okay, that's an easy industry," you know? Never thought of that, you know? So that was it. That was it. I just went in and then committed to just- You know, focusing on that. Not knowing what else was gonna be in my path to really start, you know, gaining traction. And then, you know, that led me to niching down. I maintained or I kept my Contractor SEO Agency name. So every effort that I did as far as outreach, contacting people, you know, and just going out there, it was under that name, Contractor SEO Agency. And what I did immediately, that same day, you know, I told Jeff, "Okay, I'm just gonna rank the website for that." that same day. He, he told me, "Hey, look, you're probably gonna have a hard time." I'm like, "No, I can probably do it," you know? So I went, I went and did it. Within three weeks it was number one, number two, or whatever for con- concrete, for concrete marketing terms, and that's what I did, you know? And I just started telling people, "Hey, we're, we are the number one SEO company for concrete companies." You know? That's it. Like, that was one of the things that I utilized. And we all need to find those things. Those little things that can set us apart because, the market is saturated with marketing companies wherever you go. So, for me, it's, I find things that I've done or that I can, I can manipulate, if you wanna call it that, right, like rankings, so that I can leverage that, use that as leverage during my sales conversations, and I just started focusing on that. That website, you know, got me… I mean, those conversations were emails, phone calls, and those got me to my first five clients and beyond. At some point, I realized, you know what? If I wanna do these webinars, if I really wanna do the rest of the stuff that's really in the course, I need to brand. I need to build a brand and just, you know, and that's when I asked, I asked right in the group, you can go back and search, you know, search that. And the thing is this, guys. I was trying to make Contractor SEO Agency a concrete brand and, you know, I tried different logos. A lot of you guys didn't like the logo ideas I put there. So after that I'm like, okay, whatever, you know. F this. I'm just gonna go and build a new brand from scratch, and that's what happened. I took your feedback, and I just implement. Like, you know, that's… I just, I just like to implement stuff and see what it does for me.

Josh Nelson: Yeah, so- That's awesome… Implemented, yeah. So a co- I mean, a couple, like, salient points, right? I- if you're part of the Send Bigger Agency, we have these weekly coaching calls. Jeff is there. He's got great insights. He will help kinda answer your questions and move you in the right direction. If you're not on the Wednesday coaching calls, every Wednesday at 2:00, shame on you. Like, you should be there. A lot of people that are on those calls have gotten breakthroughs that help, helped to move them to the next level. So, so don't miss that. And then, you know, you just, you just committed, right? You didn't, you didn't fight it. You decided that contractors was too broad, and you focused on concrete. Can you just a li- elaborate a little bit what that actually means is, so that's decorative concrete installation. Right. Okay. Okay. Excellent. Perfect. So concrete…

Danny Barrera: Okay. This is the one thing you're gonna hear on this call that's nowhere else probably. Concrete as an industry, and Josh, if you've been in business and you try to reach out to concrete companies, they will say, "We don't need you. We don't depend on you. We don't need you guys. Like, we don't need internet marketing. We don't need SEO." And that's right, they don't. They don't. The big concrete companies, the big, ready-mix companies, they don't. They don't. They have a different type of relationship with their client base in the way that they flow their business, you know? So what I mean by that is these companies have a lot large government jobs. That's where they get the majority of their business. 90%, maybe more, of their business is by all these bidding systems that they have in the construction industry because, you know, all the legalities, permits, et cetera. And, and by default, I guess the way it works, cons- the big construction companies and concrete companies, they go and bid for these large jobs. And I tell you know, in Miami I was looking at the bidding for, it's $17 million for this, $25 million for that. So what type of company is gonna wanna go out there and look for SEO or internet marketing when they're landing all this multimillion dollar jobs all from, you know, before? So point I'm trying to make is my f- very first attempt, like, the first couple of weeks, the first one or two weeks, you know, that's when I discover, okay, I should stay away from those companies that are just, you know, dependent on those type of government jobs. And then shift over to the residential. Residential concrete contractors. They do flat work. They do, the curves. Stamp concrete. And that's the thing, is you're gonna find is that these guys do the… If they d- if they're residential concrete guys, they're gonna do that one application, plus they're gonna offer something about decorative concrete. Yeah. 'Cause some people like to, make things pretty, ma- make things look pretty, the concrete stuff. So, you see the, the driveways, right? The stamp concrete. They, some of these guys do pavers. The pool decks, right? All that stuff is concrete. So those are, those are my clients. So I call them the residential concrete guys, but it did take some time trying to figure out and perfect that one to the point that I could resonate with them and, like, be clear. I'm still learning, though. Right. But that's, that was my, how I arrived to that, if that, if that answer your question.

Josh Nelson: No. That, that's perfect, and I think it's really important. I'd like to unpack a little bit the kind of the mental shift between contractor or home services really. You know, you think home services is a niche or contractor SEO is a niche, and I fell into the same trap.

Danny Barrera: We wrote the, The Complete Guide to Internet Marketing for Contractors thinking we could serve plumbing, roofing, air conditioning, siding, anything that falls into that group. And I did content. I had a book. I was doing webinars for it. I have… If you look it up, I have, like, 20 videos. And I probably got a handful of clients ever from that approach, and that was kind of what you, what you, what you experienced.

Josh Nelson: And so I guess, how was it different when you went from being in a broad category like that to being in a very specific niche where you can speak the language and really be speaking to a very specific group that would self-identify, like c- contract- concrete contractors as, "Yeah, this guy is for me"?

Danny Barrera: Night and day. Night and day. Okay? And th- that leads into, you know, the connecting, building the connections with these people where now I can tell them, "Hey, do you do… Do you guys handle stamped concrete?" That's a yes or no question, right? "Do you guys handle stamped concrete?" That one thing versus, "Are you a concrete contractor?" Big difference. Night and day. Mm. People need to understand this. It's… And even with plumbing, you know? You can ask even more specific questions about plumbing or HVACs, right? You know, you could, "Are you an HVAC, contractor?" or versus, "Do you install XYZ type of piece of whatever," right? Does that make sense? So, so the language gets clear, and, and then you can start building value based on that because people realize, "Oh, oh, shit, this guy really understands what we do here." And most… I'll tell you this. The one thing that helps you differentiate is the assets that you have that you're building out for yourself in the industry. That will help you. And people are not gonna read it, but the fact that you have them there, it's gonna make you look like you know everything, right? Yep. So, so the webinars, the, the keywords lists, et cetera. And in leveraging that's gonna help you position yourself even bigger as a player. 'cause no other agency out there will most likely be doing the very same thing. And if they are, I mean, the mark- I mean, there's so many people that are out there that need our help seriously. So, so that was- Good… A big difference for me.

Josh Nelson: Good stuff. So we went from struggle to clarity on a niche to, all right, now let's go after it. Let's go get some clients within, in that niche. And now we've got about 30, $30,000 plus per month and growing on a consistent basis. L- let's talk a little bit about what you do for these guys. Like, what does the service mix look like? That's a question we all often get. Like, what is it that you actually provide to these contractors? Right.

Danny Barrera: So, so I mean, he… And this is something that I, with your help, with your help, I got clearer on because prior to this, I wanted to do everything under the sun for these guys, you know? And I… You can, you can really complicate things. And what I found that is the people that are succeeding in this business, they are simplifying it, but they're, they're simplifying it, yet that simplification allows them to maximize results. You see that? Any- anyone you talk to, right? Like that guy that does fitness marketing or like you saw the T&C Conference, Mike- Mm. Mike Ark… Mike Ark, right? Just focus on one thing and that's it. Now, for us here, for this business model, guys, this one business model right here, this is about their online presence, online marketing presence. It took me some time to wrap my head around that this is what we do. This is what we do, and now it's our job to really, to really work it with our, you know, understanding of the, of the, of the industry, et cetera, so that we can position ourselves so that they want that stuff. So what I mean by that is the services. Okay, pay per click, everyone understands what that is. It's very straightforward. Pay per click, right? For my specific industry, you will find that certain areas within the United States don't have search volumes. Mm. You go to the keyword planner, you can look up every decorative or epoxy flooring, which is a, a concrete, coating in, within the concrete, right? A lot of these guys, decorative concrete contractors, they do that and they want those type of jobs. So what we do is we offer the Facebook ads on that, right? That's, that's the only way I deviate from, like, the main web presence is the Facebook ads, and then that leads me into the next stage. R- so pay per click, standalone package, that's 750. And then the SEO, the SEO starts at 1,500. Starts at 1,500. Search engine optimization, and that includes their social media branding as well because that, nowadays, that goes hand in hand. So that's content with the website, ranking their online properties, ranking their Google My Business listing. I used to be… I used to do it where I sell the GMB by itself, the Google My Business by itself. You know, so- All a la carte little stuff, right? Right. And, and that doesn't work. When you wanna scale, you don't… You know, you just can't. No one's ma- You're not making money. You can't help them. You get upset. So, so, you know, simplifying the packages, PPC, SEO, and then the P- the SEO plus PPC, right? And, and something I just started implementing after the, the… What do you call it? The, the live event. The intensive a couple m- about a month ago… Intensive. The way Brian has it, Brian, what is it? Marketing Mechanic, the – Brian Stearman? Brian, yeah, Brian Stearman. Big shout out to him. Big man. Is get them to get a new website with you know? That, and that's something that I just started doing it. So the first month, because the o- the SEO really, the first month, the way it works, if you really think about it, the way it works, if you're getting a new website built out, the first month, not much is really gonna happen. Nothing magical. Like, you know, not much. So I'd rather get them the machine built out the right way, the way I know will be absolutely perfect for them, that's gonna get them the results- And then second months, you know, and so forth is the takeoff. So the first month is build out of new website, right? Implementing that. We do s- make a few minor changes. So whatever else we can do as far as citations, opt- optimizing Google My Business, they will see some traction there. And then obviously the pay-per-click campaign, which that launches, you know, within, I think we're doing it within two weeks. So the first week is onboarding, then the second week or so, you know, is the launch. And that's, that's basically it, you know?

Josh Nelson: Awesome. I think it's great, you know, that you made this transition, and you kind of made a point of it now twice, this transition from a la carte services where you were doing just the GMB, hoping that that would turn into something where they'd wanna pay you more. Experience was you'd sell a lot of those little guys, and it never really did snowball, and then just moving in with a package. Okay, here's what's actually gonna get you a result. Website, SEO, pay-per-click advertising. It's a larger monthly fee, which is more significant for you, but it also has the higher probability of having an impact for the client over a three to six-month time horizon, has really been a critical distinction. It sounds like you must be in the, at least the 20, $2,000, $2,500 a month average because you've got, you know, 16 clients and you're over 30,000 a month on recurring.

Danny Barrera: Somewhere around there, yes. 2,100 and plus, 22… I didn't do the math today, because the numbers just crossed 33,000, but it would be somewhere around that- Nice… If you average it, yes.

Josh Nelson: So Nick is asking, "So do you build and rebuild websites?" And it sounds like that's, you've already answered that as an affirmative.

Danny Barrera: Yes. Yes. It's, it's, you know, if they're your clients and they're local clients… Now, Nick, Nicholas, if it's Nicholas, I know it's, I don't know if it, if it, if it's for your industry. 'Cause, like, my industry, for example, it's, it's local concrete, residential concrete contractors that do decorative concrete work. It's, you know, that's, that's their, their machine. So if you're a niched down agency and you work for corporate and all this stuff, it's, you know, you're getting into different type of game. So I, you know… But for me, yes. That would be a yes.

Josh Nelson: Awesome. So that, I mean, that helps. Now, guys, you get an idea of what his niche is. You get an idea of how he's, he's packaged it and systematized it. So let's, let's transition to, how you're landing clients, and we'll talk a little bit about what you're doing now. But I wanna start with, like, when you were just getting landed on this niche and you're just getting things off the ground, what were the plays that worked well to help you get those first five or so clients?

Danny Barrera: Yeah. So there is this one thing called, Gmail. Gmail. And then there is another thing that everyone has pretty much, is a smartphone. So I'm just joking there. So that's the other thing is I think people just complicate it, complicate the heck out of things and try to get too fancy before you even start, you know, walking. So for me personally, I just went back to what I know, what I know I can just turn on right now, right at this moment. If I have to start from zero, just get a clean list. Like, get a clean list of s- people you want to work with, and then reach out to them. And don't reach out to them with a 20-paragraph email. I found your competitor, XYZ. No, no. It's, it's all about them. It's all about them. And do your research. Every tool out there is pretty much… I mean, ev- everything you need could be for free. You could do it for free on a free platform. But that's it. Like, my messaging was somewhere around there. And, and the way I reach out to them, "Hey, can you handle an extra, you know, whatever amount to whatever amount of, stamped concrete jobs or epoxy flooring jobs?" Or, "Do you handle epoxy flooring in, you know, in whatever, Mineola or, you know, Linden, New Jersey?" Or, "Do you handle anything outside of Linden, New Jersey?" Right? Those type of messaging, messages get you right through. They get you right through, and they get a response. Now, when people respond, it's, it's game time. It's game time. It's not about contemplating how fancy am I gonna get with the reply and, you know, tell them all, you know. No, it's about picking up the phone. And usually what happens if you email the business, when they reply, you see the actual name of the person. So people say, "How do I find the decision-maker's name?" Well, email allows you to do that in an easy way. Now, if you wanna get fancy now, just gotta Google the company name and put owner right there and go to LinkedIn, right? And you can probably find, maybe about 70% of the time we can find someone's, real name as far as the owner, vice president, or whatever by re- ref- referring to LinkedIn. So back then it was that email. When they reply, I see their name. "Hey, John, this is Danny. I just sent you an email about blah, blah." "Okay, excellent." "Yeah, I just wanted to make sure." When they were interested… So, like, when we're on a call, first thing is the AIDA formula, right? Tension, interest. I got your attention. Yes. If I don't have their attention, "Okay, you know what? I'll call you right back." Bye. That's it. If you don't have their attention, you're not gonna get their interest. First is get their attention, right? Get their interest, number two, right? And the desire, and then the action, right? Did I miss anything? I think that's it. The desire. "Yeah, so what I do is I specialize in doing XYZ. By the way, I did this for XYZ company, and I just wanna show you exactly what we did for them that's getting them XYZ result." Okay? And then right after that, right after that, yeah, take action. All we need to do is jump on a, on a 15-minute call, and then you can see exactly how our plan works. So simple. Simple. Get them on a call. If they hear y- from you know, the first time called, I think only about 10 to 30%, somewhere around there, will actually show up to the call. So that's the follow-up game. You know, that's when it's just… Like I said, it's game time. You gotta stay in the game. You gotta stay in the game to win. So that was the very first focus. You know, when I launched, I mean, I just started executing, executing. You know, got the InfoUSA list, and things just started building from there, and that was outreach. And, you know, yeah. So I mean, I think that…

Josh Nelson: I think it's, it sounds fair to say your first five clients came from cold outreach and proactive follow-up, proactive making phone calls, sending PMs, sending direct messages, sending emails, following up aggressively. And, you know, you guys all know in the members area, in the how to land clients with cold outreach, Danny has shared his whole swipe and deploy, like what he sends, how he sends it, what his call script was. And so know that that's there for you, and it's a, it's a great resource. I thought it was funny you said the first thing is get a list and then start reaching out. But you made an emphasis on clean list. Get a clean list. Can you talk a little bit about that? Like what you mean by getting a clean list?

Danny Barrera: Cl- clean list, I mean, it's, it's the people you feel like you wanna work with. For me, you know, that's… It could be revenue-wise. Right off the get-go, I did not get InfoUSA the first week. The first two weeks, I think I didn't have that. But InfoUSA is probably gonna give you a good 70%, you know, as far as, you know, what you're looking for. And even with that, you still gotta clean that up. You still gotta clean that up to the point that you have the right information, it's the right type of business you wanna be working with because it's not their fault. Like I see a lot of people, you know, bashing InfoUSA and all this stuff. Look, I got, I've gotten, I don't know, you know, six figures from deals that came from InfoUSA, so I'm talking from experience. I'm not talking from what I feel or what I heard or what… No. So the thing is you gotta refine the, the results, and that takes time. In the beginning, you gotta do it yourself, and then once you, once you're able to hire a VA or someone that can, you know, clean up the data, then that's what they do. That's what they do. So now, right now, as of, as of now, whenever we get a list, we need to include their Instagram, their, LinkedIn, the decision-makers right there, and then what else? And their Facebook, if we can find their personal Facebook, and then the business Facebook page. Those are four additional fields that need to be included on top of, you know, the revenue figures, you know, locations, et cetera, and all this stuff. Does that make sense?

Josh Nelson: No, that's… I think that's a powerful insight that nobody talks about. The list is… What you used to need was a name, address, phone number, and maybe an email, and that was it. Now, you just ne- you know, listed the other four fields you wanna make sure you capture. How do you get that?

Danny Barrera: Is it you need a VA to scrape that information and look and find or- Well, yeah, if you don't, you know, if you're just getting started and you don't have clients, you do it yourself. You do it yourself. And, and if you don't have money to buy a list, you go to the second page of Google and the third page of Google and you know those guys have tried to do something with SEO either themselves or they hired someone. That, that's for a fact. Second page or even bottom of first page, 'cause my niche is low search volume, very low search volume. So these guys at the bottom of first, they kind of know it works, but they haven't gotten anything back from it really to justify. So that's what I would do is the first, like the first day, the first day after, you know, I just went, did a few searches, you know, just looked stuff up and then compiled that by hand right there. Google Sheets. Google Sheets, and that's it. So now, you know, now it's a different process, you know. Get the list and do all this other stuff. So that's important because at any point in time, if you have targets, the Dream 100, the Dream 10, they will reach out to you or you will reach out to them, and that's already happened, and that's already happening. So this stuff works, guys. This stuff really works.

Josh Nelson: Awesome. Yeah, I think a lot of, a lot of great insights here. Thank you. Thank you for sharing this stuff. This, this is great. And yeah, that…

Danny Barrera: Like the actual emails he sends, PMs he sends, the messages he sends on LinkedIn, he was nice enough to share that for members in the, in the members- I just wanna also make it clear, I've also paid people to like help me with this stuff. I don't, you know, I don't… I didn't make it up out of the blue. Right. So I'm saving you thousand- literally thousands of dollars when you look at that stuff up. You know, and you don't owe me anything. I'm really doing it, you know, because I'm, I'm very grateful for this group and what Josh has done for me. Jeff, unbelievable community, and you guys too. It's a way… You guys helped me out, you know? So this is my way of giving back, you know, to you guys.

Josh Nelson: Good stuff. I… The only point I wanna make on this is that the thing that you do different than most people when it comes to cold outreach that makes it work for you and not probably make it work for others, is that a lot of people think they scrape the list or they get the clean list, however they get it, through Lead Kahuna or whatever platform they use, and then they set up the emails and they… Even they get it so the emails are going out, and they think that's the end of their job, right? They think that magically these leads are just gonna start to trickle in, and they're gonna literally kind of fall down on a plate and say, "Oh, take my money." But what you do is much different. It's not just send an email. It's the send the email and aggressively follow up on the phone and try and have business conversations and use the idea, the method to really capture their attention and get them to do something next. I wanna just make sure that we hammered home the concept. It's not just send cold emails. It's send cold emails and aggressively follow up with the opens, with the replies, and keep at it day after day, week after week, month after month.

Danny Barrera: Yeah. Yeah. You, you will get to a point where you're Josh or Brian Steerman or any of the big players, you know, in the seven-figure agency. You will get to that point. I will get to that point, to the point where they're coming to me already predisposed. They've seen me everywhere. They heard all the results. But I'm, I am not at that point And I, you know, I don't… I think I see a lot of stuff where people think that y- you get the e-book going, the, the sh- the cheat sheet going, and all of the sudden you're gonna be, you know, good to go, and that's it. People are gonna come to you. They're gonna… And even with the webinars, even with the webinars, I tell you, it's a real struggle, you know, because you gotta build your brand name. You gotta build your presence. And if people don't know you, I mean, how many ads do you see on Facebook right now going for your attention? Like, we have to understand that as agency owners. As consumers, those guys are seeing hundreds of different ads. And if they're seeing you so that, you know, you can take their money, they don't see any value, it's a process. We, and we have to respect that. We have to respect that. So I always like to add value in whatever way I can and, you know, going with the way we're doing the outreach now, it's, it's more strategic where when I first started, first got clients, it was let's go, let's go all in to war right there and just brute force, right? And that works. That works, but that takes a l- an immense amount of energy. Now, I'm all about work. Like, I don't think anyone, in here, I can say that confidently, cannot work me. That's the way I feel about myself. That's the way I am, you know? And, and I respect everyone here, though, but that's the way I am, right? So I don't expect everyone to be like that. But what I'm trying to make, too, is, like, now working strategically, we're looking at their Instagram business profiles. We're commenting. We're liking. We're, we're engaging with them. And by the time, you know, they receive an email from me or they've seen some form of co- you know, confirmation information from me, I'm connected with them on LinkedIn. I'm connected with them on Instagram. They know my brand name. They know who I am. The, the way the call goes, it's way different. Mm-hmm. It's, it's way warmer. They know who I am. It's a big difference, and that takes a lot of work. That's that Gary V stuff right there. It takes a lot of work, too. It takes a lot of work, guys. But, you know, that's what I'm saying. And that, i- imagine the impact I will have, you know, in the next 12 months when I build my brand, build my connections. I have all these assets deployed. I, you know, that's why I'm excited about this because, you know, the way things are going now… So, so the big difference between the beginning, it was just, you know, straight up brute force. Now, it's more strategic. I want them to realize. And then it gets to a point where they s- they will see my ads, and they will be warmer to that, to that name, you know, more perceptive. And now with the trade shows, Jesus, man, I mean, the sky is the limit really, the way things are going, seriously.

Josh Nelson: Yeah. That, that's exciting 'cause now y- like you said, you do have some great assets. You've got the niche website all built out. You've got, you've got the lead magnet, like, with a little bit of a funnel built out, correct? Or are you still working on that?

Danny Barrera: The, the what? Repeat that again.

Josh Nelson: The lead, the lead magnet with, like an opt-in funnel.

Danny Barrera: Yeah. That's, that's working. So the way I do it… Okay. LinkedIn, it's an amazing tool for that. So you have your prospects, and you ask them, you know, you have those conversations where you like their stuff. You comment on their stuff. And then eventually say, "Hey, I realize you're in this space. By the way, I put together…" And then I, you know, I don't do lead capture. I do more of, a send out that way. You let them- That's how I do-… Ask for it. You let them ask for it.

Josh Nelson: Right. Right. Got it.

Danny Barrera: And the same thing goes with Instagram. People ask me for information. "Hey, by the way, I put together…" So I do have those assets, but I'm not marketing them like other people are, which is, it's also a great thing, you know? I'm not saying it's not bad. It's just the way I'm doing it. So- Sure. Yeah. Yeah.

Josh Nelson: And then, so let's talk about this event 'cause I think this is gonna be a big game changer for you in terms of the amount of clients that you land in 2019. Like, just talk a little bit about this trade show you were at, how you found it, why you decided to go afford. Like, let's just unpack that a little bit.

Danny Barrera: Okay. So there are two events. One that happened in January. This is the World of Concrete. It's the biggest concrete conference in the United States. Over 65,000 people attend that event. It's massive. So for that event, I ran a Facebook ad campaign to that event targeting, you know, owners, et cetera. That one, I had success getting leads, okay? Mm-hmm. I got one client… I spent, over $500, but I got one client out of that w-$500 ad spend. Nice. Plus, I have that pocket of leads. I think, I think it was, 112 leads that I got all together. Nice. Like real leads. They gave me their name, a email, phone number, and website.

Josh Nelson: In your niche of your ideal clients?

Danny Barrera: The majority. The majority. Okay. Yeah. And then you have those hybrid construction company that do that stuff, so, but yes, just to be frank here. Okay. So that works. So I know that that works. Then mo- fast-forward, I mean, one of these Facebook groups that I'm part of, because you guys recommend to go and find your niche, Facebook groups. And if you're in any ty- type of trade, business, you will find that there are, there are quite a few, quite a few. In my industry, at least about 10, and I can't even keep up. Like, I just don't… I just pop in there here and there. Anyways, I see, I see this guy posted this Northeastern Expo. It's for free to attend, et cetera. And then I just went in there, and then I noticed, okay, this is a good date for me, and then that's it. I signed up right away. And, you know, that's it. I just got things started right from the get-go. And, what happened, you know, I got your guys' feedback on it, right? You can go back to the Facebook group. I'm pretty much engaging there all the time, and you notice I don't know everything. So here I am. I sign up. I'm like, "Jesus, where should I pick my spot?" Right? Remember that? Yeah. 'Cause I was saying- I don't know where to pick my spot. You know, I don't know what to do, what should I have, this and that. So you guys are very great- graceful with your information, so you all helped me out. But the, from the marketing materials, getting feedback on what should be presented to people, I appreciate you all for that. And, you know, ordered that, got it, got it through the door. Antonio was a big help for me, putting the, the backdrop and stuff.

Josh Nelson: And that was very last minute 'cause my graphic designer- And it looks great, Antonio. Kudos. Nicely done.

Danny Barrera: Yeah, yeah. He helped me out. Big shout out to him. Josh Wheeler also helped me out big time, offered his advice and stuff like that. And the thing is, I didn't get approved for the, wholesale account. One of those fra- whatever they asked me for, some stuff, and I just, you know, I never got it. So, you know, Antonio helped me out with that. So, ordered that, showed up at the, at the, at the event. I watched a couple of YouTube videos about, you know, how to get people engaged and all this stuff. I asked for your advice. And I tried to see what would best fit my own industry 'cause everyone's industry is different. You know what I'm saying? So, so you know, from what I said, okay, you know, the first day it's gonna be a cold audience. It's not gonna be, you know, it's not gonna be repeat. So the first day we just wanna engage them as much as possible, get them to come in, get them to shake hands, et cetera, get them to get stuff from us. And then the second day, we're just, you know, warming up. So first day we had the roulette giving stuff away. Mm. We gave… Some people got this stuff. Other people got the, Grant Cardone bands. And the thing is, I had put in there Facebook ads, Google My Business optimization. No one liked that. Whenever people got that, they were all like, "Oh." So anyways, point I'm trying to make is, you know, if you're gonna use that type of stuff, you know, just I… You know, if… The next event, I will not give away, any of the stuff that we do 'cause a lot of times that doesn't interest them. So that is same thing. AIDA formula. Attention, get them interested. They gave you their attention. You gotta ask them questions. And you know, I mentioned about, you know, me, people weren't engaging with me, so I sent my partner Maddy out to the trenches, to the front. I'm like, "Okay, greet them right there. Step out, say hi, spin the wheel." As soon as they spin the wheel, "Excellent. Hey, are you the business owner?" Right? Ask them questions. You, you got their attention. Now get their interest. "Okay, awesome. Do you have a website? Is your website showing up on Google?" Well, if they said yes, "Okay, excellent. Perfect." And then, you know, just get the conversation started, and then people see the big thing on the back. "Oh, we get you leads. Are you guys HomeAdvisor?" "No, we're not." You know? "We're the anti-HomeAdvisor company. We actually wanna help you build your business and your brand online so that you don't have to rely on those sources." Right? So that was our angle. The next thing is we tried to make it look like we're a family, the modern m- mom-and-pop shop for- Mm… For these guys because that's my niche, my industry. So those are little things that we adapted to the thing. That led us to have,… I tell you know, look at this. You know, this is my warm leads list. Nice. People that want stuff. By the way, I got two clients off of that already, and these are the other people that,… Jesus, this is the hot leads list. You know? Congratulations, man. So that one was- That's two out of the gates and a lot on the deck. That's amazing. A lot on the deck, guys. A lot on the deck. So it's, it's about same formula. Attention, interest, desire, and get them to take action. And the action is like, "Hey, would you like to have a free… Would you, would you mind if we get in touch with you, at some point in the future regarding, you know, building your online presence?" And they're gonna say yes. A lot of people are gonna say, "No, we're good." That's cool. It's… Whether we do business or not, I'm here to help you anyway, so, you know. I have no attachment if they say n-no to me in my face. Mm. So, that's it. So that's it. That was the outcome of this event. From what I've gathered is definitely, you know… I got a lot of feedback. I wrote down a lot of, a lot of notes of what I've noticed. And yeah, we just wanna get people's attention at the end of the day, you know? We can move forward to that next phase.

Josh Nelson: Yeah, that's awesome. And, and what's interesting is that going to an event like that, in the absence of a niche, is kind of a waste of time, right? Y- I mean, until you're clear on concrete, you know, we're focused on concrete contractors. Now we can set up a concrete-specific website. We can start doing cold outreach that's interesting to these guys and get them to raise their hands. And all of the other marketing avenues really open up to you, like joining, trade shows and events, publishing a book for that trade, speaking at those events in the future, which is why I believe, Danny, like, you're, like, yes, you're doing great. I'm super excited for you where you're at today, but… And I can't wait to see where you're gonna be at 12 months, 24 months from now 'cause I just believe it's, it's really gonna snowball for you, going forward.

Danny Barrera: Absolutely. It's, it's… I, you know, I've gotten some people reach out to me, you know, about what I do from, even from, like, competitors, that they're trying to get the audience attention, like, that specific niche. And, and the same question I got i- I keep getting is, "Why concrete? Why concrete?" Now, I'm gonna share this with you, and this is completely legit. So my father, is a hybrid of a, of a builder and an architect. And I'm from El Salvador. I came to the United States when I… In, back in '98, back in '98. So I'm, I am an immigrant. But my father built, in my country, anywhere from the airport, the national airport, to different shopping centers, malls, constructions. I mean, you know, I… The mo- the times that I got to spend with my father, the very few times that I get, I get to spend with him, was seeing him in action Now, my father's a doer. My father is a builder, you know? And, and watching my dad lead these projects from the beginning, I could talk to these guys, and they always ask me, "Hey, what got you interested in concrete?" And I bring that story up. You know, that gives me that connection where I'm like, as a little kid, I always wa- watched my father, and that's legit, you know? Like, my father polished the concrete floors of the national airport in El Salvador. That's a true story. Mm. My brother was there with him, right? So that gives me that connection. So that affinity that you start building with people leads into conversations. And the more that you do it, the more that you get involved, you're gonna see that there's stuff that you've done in the past or that you kind of have done, maybe your spouse has done, or something that you can grab to that you can utilize into this thing. Because, I was in a call with Lynn, and this is a product manufacturer of our industry in concrete. And, you know, you know, maybe in a ma- mastermind call, I'll bring Lynn to explain. The guy's like, "What got you interested into concrete?" Say, I brought that story up. It's the main thing that, you know. I said, "And now I bring my background in i- you know, in the digital and help you guys out, you know?" and really that's, that's the thing. So the more that you expose yourself to this, you're gonna understand your industry better, and the more that you can start building those, how you relate to them and those relationships also.

Josh Nelson: Yeah. Super important. Right. Super important. Yeah. Great, great connection to the, to the, to the backstory and the why you're in the space. Yeah. So now we can transition a little bit to… And, and we're, we're kind of getting short on time, but we want to hear questions. Okay. Got a great group with us live. In terms of fulfillment, right? In terms of actually getting the work done for the clients, Nicholas is asking, do you do it all yourself? Are you outsourcing it? Have you built a team? Can you talk a little bit about that? And then we'll open up for some questions. So start- Yes, yes… Putting them in the, in the question box, guys.

Danny Barrera: That, that has been where the mastermind has been instrumental. Mm. 1,000%. The mastermind has been instrumental to me because you will hit a certain point where landing clients is not an issue. Landing clients will not be an issue at some point, and it will happen when you start applying yourselves. The problem will be, how do I handle more of the clients? Like even right now, I'm maxed out. I am maxed out. You know, I'm like, my cup is overflowing right now, which is a good thing. It's a good problem to have. But how do you keep the quality and all this stuff and, you know, I am at that phase. I am at that phase. That's what I'm gonna share with you. I am at that phase. And, and thankfully, I have the best in the industry helping me, put together those systems and processes. So, so I'm working with Josh right now. They've made recommendations to me. You know, I will have more data about outsourcing and all this stuff, in the future, but right now I don't have much data to give you on that. So it's, it's in-house, in-house. You know, I went through a hiccup on the road where I lost my right-hand man that used to handle the m-majority of the SEO, and I had to jump in, and that's part of the business world, right? So trying to get him replaced and that whole thing, just, you know, it's, it's, it's a real struggle because that makes you realize that you're the bottleneck. And, having people like Josh guide you, it's, it's a time saver. That, that is the shortcut. So does that, does that answer the question, Josh?

Josh Nelson: Yeah. That's, that's, that's the reality of the situation. That's- You're figuring it out, right? You're trying to build the systems and put the team and figure out what the best direction is.

Danny Barrera: Yeah. So I think that's, that's great.

Josh Nelson: Let me go here. I'm gonna see what questions we have. And guys, put them in. Scott just wants to know if you, if you have a term on your packages with your clients. Like, term commitment, like how long they have to stay.

Danny Barrera: Minimum of six months. Minimum of six months. Okay. And that's what I tell them. But it's a non- non-binding, agreement. They can, they can exit out at any point in time. But I'm looking to build that out as time move along. Yeah. Yep.

Josh Nelson: Let's see here. Chris mentioned, spheres. That sounds like you're spending, sending some sphere emails. Simple, personal, expecting a response. Super. Howard says, "Lead Kahuna's good for scraping the list?" Absolutely. There's- Kahuna is very good. It's very good. That one's gonna… That one is probably gonna be about 60% accurate. You know, that's from my experience. It's… When you start doing this at scale, and definitely, you know, I see someone mention getting assist- Yes. One of my VAs does that. Like, you know, I just send her the whole thing, and she's gotta clean up and do all the stuff and help me manage all the other stuff. Yeah. Yeah. 'Cause Ray's saying, like right now in this place where you're at, he's suggesting get an assistant, like account manager to help with the account management piece and the- That is… Yeah. That, that will be one of the next phases.

Danny Barrera: Although, you know what, Josh? I wanna get a sales army, you know? 'Cause I know sales is the cure. But, you know, we'll… Those are the things that I personally work with Josh on. Like, he gives me his personal time, and that is invaluable. Like I just don't, don't get it how people don't, you know, don't take advantage. Like, you guys should be taking advantage of this. When in the world did someone give you their personal time and attention so you can improve your personal business, right? This is not, this is not a program where they get you in, and yeah, you're gonna get into a mastermind. When it's a webinar with a thousand people, you never get your question answered. This is, this is like nothing else I've been in. So I just… I'm sorry. I just wanted to say my- But- Yeah.

Josh Nelson: I appreciate that. Yeah.

Danny Barrera: Ab- It's my experience.

Josh Nelson: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Danny Barrera: So there's another one is, Scott says, "How much of your personal time does the initial preparation take for fulfillment of a new full service client when they come on board?" well, right now, personal time in launch, – Between two to four hours of my personal time just to check in and make sure that the, the launch, like, "Okay, we got all the right information. Okay, let me double-check on the keywords and how you're gonna structure the site. Okay, this is, you know, everything is put together," and stuff like that. Now, I spend more time than that, but that's what's required of me at max, two to four, depending on the client.

Josh Nelson: Good deal. So, so we're coming to the full hour. I think there's been great questions. Danny, this has been awesome. Thank you so much for your generosity, your willingness to share. You know, it's not every day someone that's had some success like this is willing to say, "Okay, here's exactly what I did. Here's exactly how I did it. These are the struggles that I came up against. And this is where I'm at today." What, like, in closing, what final words would you have for that digital marketing agency owner that's trying to get to the next level and, you know, just kind of stuck? What, like, what would you share with those guys and gals?

Danny Barrera: Right. You have to discover yourself and where you're at in your journey. Because, you know, I can't compare myself to where Josh began or can't compare myself to where anyone here began and vice versa. Because you're in your own path. However, there are things that need to happen in order for you to find success, and thankfully, we're in the best place on the planet to be able to do that. And that's it. Get clear. Like, that's the number one step. You're not clear, you're not getting any results, any traction, get clear. Now, once you're clear, get focused. Now, once you're focused, execute. Execute like a madman. You know, execute, like, seriously. I take those th- those things, like, to heart. Like, you know, like, this is it. You know, if I don't make it happen, that's it. I'm done, you know? And even at right now, like, the way I woke up today, I'm, like, fired up. But anyways, yeah, get clear, get focused, execute. And then right now I'm at the point where I need to build a real team and then, you know, build that machine that's gonna help me go from a V4 to a V8. That's the transition I'm going towards. And, you know, that's, that would be my best recommendation. Know where you're at. Like, know where you're starting. Get, get some realistic, goals for yourself. And if you've never done sales, you're in the best group in the planet. I've shared all my sales scripts. Mm-hmm. Which by the way, guys, just to clarify, the sales scripts aren't verbatim, like exactly like, "If you don't say this word, it's not gonna close the sale." You have to understand that it's like Grant Cardone said on the video I posted. It's like 70% of people are not gonna be closers. You're gonna present to 100 people, and I think you would agree, Josh, you've been doing this for some time. You will get on 100 calls, and for as much as you want to weed these people out, some of them are not gonna be a good fit for you. Absolutely. Others, others are gonna be able to wanna work with you, but you don't feel right and you just turn them away. So that sounds about right to me, you know? So it's like get some realistic expectations about what you're gonna be getting into, and then be willing to pay the price. Mm. The price that you gotta pay in comparison, I've cleaned floors, I've cut bagels, I've done, deliveries. You know, I worked in McDonald's. And I remember watching the guy driving in with a Corvette every Thursday to sign the checks. And, and I said, "You know what? One day I'm gonna make it." Now I'm finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. You know, that's it. Awesome. Get clear about what you want. Get clear about the price you're gonna have to make in order to get there, and then get to work paying the price. Yes.

Josh Nelson: I think that's a great way to close.

Danny Barrera: And- Don't complicate it. I would say one thing, Josh. I'm sorry to cut you off. No, no, absolutely. Don't complicate it. Do not complicate it. If you, if you're asking questions before you implement, you're building problems before they come. You know, that's… And Ray Dalio, a good book. Watch out, guys. Right here. Principles, Ray Dalio, billionaire, one of the best investors, in the world. Says right here, you guys gotta learn by making mistakes and then learning how to best, you know, work within your mistakes. You're, that's just gonna happen. But get to implementation first before you start building problems and asking questions that are just theories, and you're building out this whole thing in your head when in reality, when you face the world and you're out there doing it's a different thing than you know, it's, it's 360, right? Mm-hmm. For a client. I know from experience because I tried it, I've done it, and I tell you that. And learn, you know, it's better to learn from doing it.

Josh Nelson: Yeah, that's it. No doubt. A, a great, another nugget to end on, right? Just, the enemy of execution is perfection. So don't try and be perfect. Don't overcomplicate it. Get clear on your niche. Start getting the cold emails and stuff out there. Start building your authority and getting some clients. And, just keep pressing forward. Keep pressing forward. So we'll wrap up there. Danny, thank you so much for sharing. I'm so excited for you. Congratulations on your success. I- Thank you… Definitely will be doing another interview like this with you 12 months from now or less, and can't wait to see where you're at. – Yes… Guys, as you're watching this, if you're watching this in the group or are you watching it on Facebook after the fact, be sure to tag Danny and say thank you and congratulate him. You know, sometimes you put yourself out in these interviews and you expect to get more response than you do, and this has been awesome. Make sure that he feels the love. Thank you so much and, we'll talk to you guys soon. Have a, have a great weekend.