Podcast: Embed
In this Seven Figure Agency Success story, I interview Emmanuel Owusu (Manny) from Restoration Marketing HQ. We talk about how he made the jump from running his business as a side hustle to bringing in enough work to consider quitting his full-time job. He shares the hard work and dedication it took to take his agency from startup to over $30K monthly—while working a full-time job. Don’t miss his powerful story.
Outline of This Episode
- [1:14] Manny shares his backstory and transition to digital marketing
- [7:13] How Manny chose his niche in restoration services
- [9:28] Coronavirus disinfection services was a game-changer
- [17:00] Keep your pipeline full until you have enough to choose a niche
- [21:48] Inbound strategies that Manny utilizes that keep his pipeline full
- [28:00] What’s included in Manny’s service model
- [29:00] How does Manny find the time for any of this work?
- [33:15] Four years ago he didn’t know what digital marketing was
- [37:23] The decision to leave the security of a full-time job
- [41:07] Advice and encouragement for something just starting out
Manny’s Backstory: Chemical engineer turned digital marketer
When Manny first came to the US, he was working two jobs while working on an MBA program online. After about a year of hustling a friend in North Dakota called him up. He said there was a lot of opportunity for someone with the background Manny had (chemical engineering) and that he should move up. His friend sold him on it when he showed him his paycheck. So Manny drove from North Carolina to North Dakota (ND) and sure enough—he landed a six-figure job almost instantaneously.
But then the oil boom went bust and he was back to square one. He lost his job and made his way back to North Carolina and went back to school. Seven months later the industry began to stabilize and started hiring again—so he made the trek back to ND. At this point he knew he needed something to fall back on in case he lost his job again, so he started his side hustle in digital marketing.
In the first year, he only made $900. The second year, he went from $900 to $22,000. Fast forward to year three and he made $85,000. Now, he’s six months in to year four and he’s already made over $120,000. Keep listening to hear how he grew his business and chose his niche in the restoration industry.
How Coronavirus disinfection services became his game-changer
Manny was doing around $25,000 in monthly recurring but didn’t have a lot of clients. He was able to charge $3,000-$5,000 a month per client without active prospecting. But when the Coronavirus pandemic hit, he dropped to $14,000 a month almost instantaneously. At this point, he felt like he had to cling to his full-time job. It had him feeling really down.
Then one day, his client came to him with a question: He wanted to offer coronavirus disinfection services, and could Manny make him a landing page and start driving traffic to it? Doing this blew up leads for his client. So Manny put in some work and built a funnel to his calendar. The first day he turned on ads to the funnel, he had 8 bookings on his calendar.
He sold the first call for $1,500. On day two, he sold another. So he upped his price to $2,000. He went on to sign up about 8 clients in the restoration niche, offering leads for that particular Coronavirus service, mainly using Facebook ads. To hear more about his service offerings and his inbound lead strategy—keep listening.
How do you build a full-time job while working full-time?
Manny is married with three kids and works a full-time job—how does he find time for another full-time job? Manny attributes it to his mentality and a whole lot of hard work. Manny shares that the difference between the promise and the promised land is the wilderness. It won’t last forever and you will get to your promised land, but there’s always something to overcome in-between. He believes that anything good in life comes with a price tag.
It doesn’t matter if he’s working 12–15 hours a day at his first job, he’ll come home and do whatever needs to be done. He will find the time. Sometimes that means only getting three hours of sleep. It’s NOT easy—it’s really hard. He believes it just depends on how motivated you are. Manny was raised in a third-world country where he didn’t have internet or air conditioning. That is a luxury that people in the US often take for granted.
Manny wants better for himself, his kids, and his kids' children. The wealth-building has to start from somewhere: “Even If I have to sacrifice my life to make sure that this is a legacy in my family, it has to start from me and I’m going to pay the price for it.” That’s the motivating factor behind Manny’s drive and determination.
Manny’s at the point where his hard work IS paying off and he’s close to being able to make his agency his full-time job. Listen to hear more about this journey and what his next steps look like!
The KEY piece of advice Manny recommends
The first thing that caught Manny’s eye about the Seven Figure Agency program was a statement about the rule of ones: If you look at your niche, you need to determine the ONE thing your client wants: profitable sales leads that will turn into jobs. So you need to ask them what kind of jobs they really want. What doesn’t take a lot of time but IS a high-ticket service? Do the research and ASK your client. What keeps them up at night? What do they want more leads for?
Then you demonstrate to them that you can get these leads every day and show them proof of concept. It’s not about the website, social media, SEO, and any other service you offer. It’s about driving qualified leads to their business. Focus on WHAT you can do for them, and then HOW you’re going to do it. You differentiate yourself from everyone else because now you have something that they want, not the other way around. Find what the niche wants.
Manny believes that if you feel like you’re struggling, doing everything right, and you’re still not making headway, think about compound interest: Everything that you’re learning and implementing may not bring you results right now. But those changes start small and compound over time and you begin to reach success—if you don’t quit.
Resources & People Mentioned
Connect with Emmanuel Owusu
Connect With Josh Nelson
- Josh’s Coaching Page on Facebook
- The Agency Success Facebook Group
- www.SevenFigureAgency.com
- Seven Figure Agency on YouTube
- Josh on Twitter: @joshnelsonimc
- Josh on LinkedIn
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