Description
Lion Zeal – Agency Immersion
How I Went From Broke, Living With My Parents, To Building an SEO Agency That Pays Me to Travel to 7+ Countries Per Year
“Sorry, your name is no longer on the account”
I was devastated.
I ended the call in a mix of rage, sadness, and worry.
Not only was my GoDaddy account with all my business domains taken, but now I had zero access to the bank account with all our money.
See, I’d spent the last 10 months living the life of luxury.
I stayed in the Panorama Suite in Planet Hollywood, Vegas:
Flew BA’s first class, London to Orlando. Flew business class more times than I can count on one hand.
Visited Queenstown (NZ), Sydney, Orlando, New York, Vegas (4x), Amman (Jordan), Cairo (Egypt), Bali, South Spain, etc.
Even paid several months of my parents mortgage to help them through the recession.
And now…
I was back in my hometown, Corby, a town of around 60,000 people, so small it didn’t even have it’s own cinema.
Except now I was a high school drop out…
Down to my last £171.21
(About $212.78 USD today)
All after one big argument with my business partner, and obviously, reckless spending leading up to that.
And as much as I’d like to tell you of my “genius”. How I rebuilt it all overnight. It’s not so simple.
I worked 12-14 hours per day, 7 days per week, for 2 years straight. In the end reducing myself to…
Selling Websites to Local Businesses
For Only £300 a pop
But the hardest part was meeting up with old school friends again, and battling the loss of “my identity”.
“Are you a millionaire yet?”, they asked.
I told the truth technically, but I was so ashamed of myself, I couldn’t bear to tell them I wasn’t even close. That a job at McDonald’s would pay more.
I Was TERRIFIED Of Anyone Finding
Out I Was a Failure
Finally, on Friday, 10th May 2013 – I had a slight change in luck.
Credit to massively over-delivering on those £300 websites.
I got a call from a guy named Tim, a local business owner, referred from one of those clients.
We arranged a meeting at the reception of my parents’ office building – thankfully their local business was back to normal now.
Fast forward a few days, and I’m sitting awkwardly in the reception area waiting for him to arrive. Trying to not make it obvious I don’t actually have an office.
I recognised Tim from his LinkedIn picture within seconds, and quickly introduced myself before he had a chance to ask the reception which office I was in.
*cough* None
The meeting was about helping Tim with SEO
That means search engine optimisation, but that’s all I knew of it.
Tim was twice the size of me, around 34 years old, wearing a suit. Looked business-y.
And after a few minutes of explaining, he said the only thing I remember from that meeting today:
“We currently have around 30 people working for us”
Say no more. I’m your man.
I Google’d what I needed to know to put together a proposal. Ended up being 8 pages long. Got it to him that same day.
And despite the meeting starting with “Are you still in school?”…
I GOT THE CLIENT!
I was MINDBLOWN. Sure I’d made money in the past, but that was commissions from huge businesses.
I’d earlier charged someone £30/m to do some work for them. £30 per month… This deal was over 20x that!
I had no idea these businesses could pay so much.
And the only reason I quoted that much was a gamble, after Tim barely reacted to my comment of spending £20 per day on ads.
Within miliseconds of reading the confirmation, I FELT ALIVE.
My passion went into over-drive, and I couldn’t stop visualising what life would be like when I “get back”.
“10 of these clients and I’ll be able to
travel anywhere I want”
So I did the only thing I could…
I looked up who could teach me SEO.
And the very next day, I purchased a $67 course.
I took it a step further and “bribed” the course creator into privately consulting me.
And even with that…
There Were MASSIVE Struggles
In the next few months, I failed to make payments multiple times. My bank balance simply couldn’t cover it until the next payment came through.
My affiliate side-project was finally earning over $500 per month, only to crash and burn on October 4, 2013 when Google rolled out Penguin 2.1:
And worse than that were the “inner struggles”.
That little voice in my head poisoning me with negativity:
“You can’t do this while travelling, you need to meet your clients”
“Tim is an exception, nobody else will pay that”
“You’re not good enough at sales to close clients”
I’d Had Self-Esteem Issues My Entire Life
Maybe that was down to being born to a single mum for the first 3 years of my life, or being bullied in school as a young kid, I don’t know.
What I do know is it multiplied after being ripped off by my ex-business partner and mentor.
It was proof that I “wasn’t good enough for this”.
Maybe I’m not cut out for this.
I’m not “ruthless”, a massive risk taker, super intelligent… or anything you expect an “entrepreneur” to be.
I’m just a nerd that loves creating things, playing video games, and got C’s and D’s in school.
So at the end of 2013, 3 years after this story started. I had it out with myself:
“What If This Isn’t For You?”
“Grandma already thinks you’re a failure. That you need to get a real job. What if she’s right?”
I love my Dad, but what if that’s the life ahead of me?
My Dad loves his family, and works tirelessly to support it.
But he HATES his work.
He’s stressed out every day. Taking painkillers almost daily to fight off the recurring headaches.
Yet, he continues to work from 8am to 11pm, every single day. 7 days per week.
What if that was the future for me?
“Was I going to work a job I hate, to fund a lifestyle that makes me miserable? FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE?”
Tears were building up in my eyes.
Was Corby my final destination?
Was it? Did I just get lucky once?
The tears became anger.
“WHY AM I IN THIS SITUATION?”
I had all the information in front of me, 3 years to rebuild myself…
Why was it this difficult?
In a mix of anger, disappointment, and sadness. I made a decision.
I Was DONE With It
Done with not believing in myself.
Done with working 12-14 hours every day.
Done with living in a town with nothing to do but go to the pub.
And done with being broke.
So I set a goal:
“Before My 22nd Birthday, I WILL Finally Escape Corby and Continue Travelling The World”
And I did the opposite of what my fears told me to do.
I studied and practiced sales, getting rejected several times.
I cold called businesses, often being treated like a criminal.
I sent lumpy mail letters, and occasionally got angry emails back.
I sent hundreds of personalised emails, most of which never received a single response.
And I FAILED 99% Of The Time… But Occasionally, I’d Get A Client…
The more I did it, the more I figured out the simple parts of it that made it all work.
And in 2014, the year after I started, I comfortably cleared the 6 figure mark.
But more importantly, it finally happened, 12 days after my 22nd birthday.
After visiting a few months prior, I decided to pack up everything I cared to own, and…
I Moved To Chiang Mai, Thailand
The digital nomad “hub” of the world.
Since then I’ve moved again, to Saigon (Vietnam), for over a year now…
And In Both 2015 and 2016, I Travelled To Over 7 Different Countries
All while managing my clients on the go.
And along the way, I’ve helped others cut out the “excessiveness” of getting clients, and do the simple things that work.
That’s why I created:
AGENCY IMMERSION
An A-Z training of the simple, yet effective things you need to do to have clients asking you to take their money.
Not only that, it’ll show you how to turn it into a REAL business that will pay you to travel, spend time with your family/friends, and anything else you enjoy putting your time into.
There’s a reason I’ve managed to surround myself with some of the best SEOs in the world:
“Daryl bases his ranking techniques on actual data and collaboration with the best in the business.
Which is essentially why he gets the results that he does. Stand up guy and quality SEO”
Matt Diggity
My training works. So here’s what it’s going to help you with…
Module 1. The Foundation
The first module is about laying the groundwork for your agency. Client acquisition and growth is important, but without a solid plan and foundation, you won’t get anywhere.
Here you’ll learn:
- How to instantly make your agency stand out from every other apparent SEO expert so you aren’t competing with $150 per month SEO’s
- How to determine your most ideal clients, so your marketing is laser focused to stand out to great potential clients
- What services you should be selling (Hint: it’s not just a monthly retainer), so you can make the most money without scaring away clients with expensive retainers
- How to price your services so you’re not pricing yourself out of the market, or under-valuing yourself
Module 2. Agency Setup
In module 2, you’ll learn how to get your agency setup and ready to begin taking on clients. Including:
- How to setup your agency site so it doesn’t just “look pretty”, but actually converts your visitors into leads
- How to write the copy on your site so you don’t look like every other agency that needs to compete on price
- A simple approach to find your first paying client in the next 2-3 weeks, so you can immediately start generating cashflow to invest into growing your agency
- How to setup your company before getting clients, so you look more professional and don’t put off companies from working with you (extremely important for people targeting Europe)
Module 3. Prospecting
In module 3, you’ll learn how to find your ideal clients to reach out to and convert into clients. This deserves an entire training on it’s own and is the most underrated part of building an agency. Here you’ll learn:
- Where to find hot lists of your ideal prospects which gives you an unlimited supply of leads to advertise to so you can consistently complete outreach
- The biggest mistake most people make when building prospecting lists, understanding this will bring you better quality leads that are easier to sell high-end services to
- Which elements to look at in a business to qualify them as an ideal clients, doing this will save you hundreds of hours and potentials thousands of dollars of wasted advertising
- A list of recommended go-to sites that you can immediately go on and begin prospecting so there’s no need to guess, just go on the recommended sites and get started
- Hidden sources you can tap into that most people completely miss out, this takes extra research but gives you better quality leads, and guarantees you aren’t promoting to the exact same businesses as everyone else
Module 4. Outreach
In module 4, you’ll learn how to reach out to your ideal clients to get them interested in your services, and how to later follow up. Here you’ll learn:
- The single most effective “style” of marketing for selling SEO services, so you can turn cold leads into 4 figure per month clients, without being stuck competing over price
- How to create “video audits” that hook cold leads and turn them into hot ready-to-buy leads so you can get real responses from cold outreach without lowering your prices
- How to use the “fake video audit” method to half the number of videos you need to create (or less) so you can reach 3-5x more businesses with your daily outreach
- How to create automated webinars for selling SEO services so you can sell to more prospects with less work
- How to write cold emails that demand attention, hook prospects, and generate responses without breaking any laws or sounding like every other agency in the world
- The biggest misunderstanding about lumpy mail and how to do it properly so you can position yourself as an expert and turn the tables so clients actually want to hire you
- How to bypass gatekeepers on the phone for cold calling or follow up, so you can speak to the decision maker directly (and actually have a chance of closing the deal)
- The 2 different cold calling approaches for selling high-end services over the phone (1 of these is completely different to what most people do), so you can develop a skill to generate clients on demand, without having to do hundreds of calls just to figure out how to approach it
- The only 5 outreach methods you should use to attract your first clients, including exact templates and scripts to use, so you can shortcut your testing and copy/paste my proven processes
- How to follow up with your prospects 5-10x until they’re ready to buy, including templates and scripts, so you don’t miss easy client opportunities (since most clients will only sign after follow up)
Module 5. Closing
In module 5, you’ll learn how to convert your leads into paying clients, using just a phone. Here you’ll learn:
- A proven 5 step sales funnel to run your prospects through that works in every country or language, and has been used by students to close 6-7 figures worth of deals, so you have a simple process to follow without guess-work
- How to sell entirely over the phone so you can do it from anywhere in the world without ever having to meet prospects
- How to create a proposal that closes 70-80% of prospects, including my personal proposal template, so you can stop losing out on thousands of dollars worth of deals you could have easily closed
- What to say on the phone, including my copy and paste scripts so you can immediately start sounding like an expert and remove all the “umm’s” and “uhhs” from your calls
- What to say if they ask you for testimonials or example sites, and how you can avoid this question even coming up 90% of the time, so you don’t have to spend 6 months building example sites to get clients
- How to ask for the sale repeatedly and overcome objections without sounding like a used car salesman so you can confidently push for the sale without feeling weird and not freak out about what to say when they give any type of objection
Module 6. Delivering Your Services
In module 6, you’ll learn how to deliver the services you’ve sold to your client. Here you’ll learn:
- A week-by-week plan to rank any clients website so you have a simple, repeatable process for ranking clients that you can easily outsource without having to hire expensive experts
- How I build PBN links including a breakdown of safely using anchor texts in 2016 so you don’t get your clients penalised or sandboxed but get the best out of your PBNs
- How to create an SEO audit that you can sell for $1,000+ so you can attract more clients with an “entry level offer”, and even sell to people that can’t afford your monthly retainer and would prefer to do it themselves
- How to outsource your link building and PBN links if you don’t want to do it yourself, so you can focus 100% on client acquisition and management (which is very smart)
Module 7. Managing Clients
In module 7, you’ll learn how to manage your clients without frustrating them so they leave, or frustrating yourself so you feel like you’re in a high-paying
10 reviews for Lion Zeal – Agency Immersion
There are no reviews yet.