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Intro Dan
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before we get started, where can someone learn more about you and what you can offer?
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Integration: Email Auto Responder + FB messenger + Web Push notifications + SMS
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Currently…
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Puerto Rico
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month long vacations
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Dan’s story from the beginning
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looking critical turning points
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95-96 in high school, ~sophomore
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AOL
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buy video games & sell for $5 more
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New Jersey
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message people who had video games on the profile
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~$200/m
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college ~y2k
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comp sci major –> biz
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eBay
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building computers
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concert tix
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World of Warcraft guide buy rights –> eBay sales page + unlimited quantity
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never thought online was going to be career…
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9/11 –> army
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loved army
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10 years in army
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infantry…injured
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didn’t want desk job
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lost identity…
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scary…
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~3 months to ETS (getting out)
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what to I want to be/do?
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brother was working at an SEO agency
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…Warrior forum
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started ranking…
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~2009-2011
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saw a needs/questions –> Software make
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hired a developer on freelancer.com
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1st hire burned him…out $5k
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considered stopping
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2nd guy…vetted a bit more
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still ranks
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The Best Spinner guy…
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emails him
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Google’s “how to setup affiliate program”
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strike while the iron is hot
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$1k/m –> $18k/m in recurring rebills overnight
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uhh, shit!
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pressure to stay
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Dan knew his market research…
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questions being asked…
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usually starts as a problem for him…
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is there a good solution that exists already?
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improve upon it?
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no, no worries
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yes, potentially build it
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can it be automated/systemitized?
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no ==> not start it
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As an entrepreneur…If not growing, falling behind
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More affiliates…
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Colin Klinkert affiliate
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reinvesting $$ in other ideas
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some didn’t work…some did
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His SW Dev team
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A, B, C teams
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A team for big, complicated projects
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team leader
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lots of options now to find good people
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need to have some technical writing…
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specs, docs
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If had to start over…
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look for upcoming talent on upwork/etc
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interview thoroughly
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do right by them
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finding undiscovered talent
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Vietnam…genius
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SAAS…no…
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Free Chrome Extension –> Build list –> paid version
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do market research
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~$2k-$5k –> MVP
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1 programmer — 2-3 months
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or buy an old extension that they let die (haven’t been updated in a long time)
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come in with email list
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avoid scope creep…3 months –> 6 months
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only revise original plan if it is critical
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how market it
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reviews are very important for extensions — stimulate reviews
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email list it comes to
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downloads/traffic
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FB Ads –> extensions
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2013
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Bachelor fan site purchase…
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50k email list…
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built to 300k emails
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knew nothing about marketing
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easy to market to non-marketers
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need –> solution –> buy
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vs need –> solution –> lotsa stuff –> buy
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2013/2014
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JV Zoo event
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run into people who know his stuff
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people said he should do affiliate
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he was doing and still does SEO
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crowd search
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started putting his face to the products
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Smart Engage
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2-2.5 years old
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why create?
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built out of necessity
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email lists…msgr’s list…sms lists…push notifications
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couldn’t identify what was getting them the most results
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now trying to streamline
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understand where the market is going
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onboarding process
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learning curve…
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1-1 conference call
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improve domain reputation…making sure they hit the inbox
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Ads/Organic –> FB Msgr (best way to start) –> Email
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Grew up in a household to do the best he could
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Felt embarrassed to not do his best
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False motivation is better than no motivation
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Didn’t want to take a step back
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…didn’t want his ex wife to think he’s fallin’ on bad times
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Attitude change for being wholly responsible
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Big plans in the future?
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Long term goals? ~2030
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Agency
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Micro niche agencies
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register domain –> new client within 30 days
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exit strategy
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Structure business around life
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Puerto Rico + 1 month traveling
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2017 hurricane…no work for 2.5 weeks…infrastructure has gotten better
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traveling with laptop…do a little bit each day
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took about 3 years to really reach this point
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Typical Dan Day
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get up at 6 am ish…
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work from 7am – 1pm…go to gym…
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try not to work @ night
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his personal calendar from Asana
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check in on slack
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jira project management tool
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looks at ads — FB, Google
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optimizes ads himself
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yearly/quarterly/monthly/weekly
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hitting objectives on conversions
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churn…onboard…
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features
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Outro Dan
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THANK YOU SO MUCH DAN
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plug again — smartengage.com — grab a free trial
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if found through podcast in support and get an extra month to the free trial!!
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