JAMES BONADIES — I Built My Business Off of Helping Small Businesses

I went from being a high-school teacher making a middle-class salary, to earning more in one month than I brought home in a year of teaching. Yeah, seriously.

I was about $50k in debt when I started looking for ways to make extra income online. I considered things like affiliate marketing and crypto, and then I saw a Facebook ad that literally changed my life. It said,

I’d finally found an online business that made sense to me, so I learned everything I could. I started putting my kids to bed and, instead of watching TV with my wife, I’d sit at my computer in my garage and learn.

I learned how to use pay-per-click ads to get a business’s listing to show up at the top of Google. Get them at the top within 48 hours — that’s the goal. And then I just kept focusing on the same simple process that would excel any type of business:

Learn. Test. Improve. Sell.

I learned that if I could just help a business get in front of more people who were looking for that service, I’d have a skill that any business would pay for.

My first “big” client was a mortgage broker who paid me $5,000 / month to get him showing up at the top of Google.

Step-by-Step Strategy

1. Pick a service that local businesses need help with (listed below). Watch at least 10 videos on it. Talk to others who do it. Become an expert on it.

2. Choose a way to get clients. Whether you want to call businesses, pop by in-person, or reach out digitally — choose a method you can hone in on and get confident in your messaging.

3. Deliver them results. A biz owner will only pay you if what you earn for him is greater than what you charge him.

4. Get them on a monthly retainer once you’ve proven that you bring value to their business. Set a monthly meeting with them to show them how the month went and make them feel heard.

5. Offer complimentary services once you’ve established a relationship and they’re happy with the value you’re providing. If you’re doing Google ads for them, you could also offer to do a message marketing campaign to increase recurring customers.

6. Get referrals. Ask your clients every month if they can refer you to other business owners they know. This eventually will eliminate Step 2.

7. Document your results and keep improving so you can charge more.

If someone had a business deal for you and said, “Give me $1,000 for my service, and within the next 30 days I’ll get you $4,000 back” — would you do it?

Sure, someone might be a little skeptical at first. But offering a short free trial handles that.

Small business owners are often very good at their craft. Electricians know how to do electrical work, plumbers can plumb, HVAC technicians know the ins and outs of heating and air conditioning.

They want to focus on doing THEIR best job possible for their clients — not on trying to figure out marketing.

So, if you provided a service that took care of that for them and you could send more customers to them every month — why would they not pay you?

It sounds ridiculously simple, and it is. The simplest businesses succeed.

Think about businesses like Uber, DoorDash, or Airbnb. These are all middleman businesses. They exist solely to connect customers to the thing they’re trying to get (a destination, a meal, or a place to stay).

All these middleman business models end up making more profit than the business they’re actually serving. See where I’m going with this?

I simply learned how to use the Internet to send small businesses more customers, and just kept learning how to improve the results I got for them.

Isn’t Everyone + Their Mom Doing Digital Marketing Today?

People assume so, but no. People don’t commit to their own success.

First of all, about 70% of people who invest in paid programs never even start!

If anyone tells you that a market is “too saturated” — it’s usually an indicator that they’re either NOT actually in that market, or they’re just not good at it.

No matter what kind of business you’re in, if you don’t provide value to your clients and improve their life in some way — then your business won’t succeed.

The reason I not only sustained my side hustle, but grew it into what’s now a multi-million dollar business-building program, was because I focused on actually getting my clients great results.

Learn. Test. Improve. Sell.

If Joe plumber typically shows up on the third page of Google when people in his area are searching for a plumber, he’s missing out on a lot of potential business.
I help him get in front of more people looking for his service, so he can land more clients every month with no extra work or stress on his end.

I put him in front of more customers, so he can earn more revenue, so he can pay me with someone else’s money.

But it’s not just about setting up Google Ads and landing pages. There are a few really simple marketing services that any business would benefit from:

1. Lead Generation: launching ads on Google or Facebook to reach more people with your business offer.

2. Reputation Management: helping businesses get more 5-star reviews on their Google listing, so that they can start ranking higher on Google over time and not have to depend on paid ads.

3. Message Marketing: sending out SMS and emails to a business’s list of previous clients, offering them an incentive to come back in again.

4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): helping business owners “clean up” their website so it’s more easily scanned by Google and can show up at the top of the listings when a customer searches for their service.

If you focus on mastering even one of these services, you will find businesses all over the country who need what you provide.

How to Price Yourself

A good place to start when considering what to charge for your services is research. Literally set a timer for 15 minutes, and type into Google…

• “What to charge for lead generation”

• “How much should I charge a [plumber] for lead generation”

• “How much to charge per lead in 2023”

Simpler route: you can check out my video on pricing your services here.

That will give you a starting point, as a beginner. But do not think for ONE second that you are forever stuck at a beginner rate. Two reasons:

1. As you improve your skills and get better results for your clients, you’ll be able to charge more for your services. If your realtor client were to ever ask you why you charge more than Joe Blow over there, your answer is “Because I get better results than Joe Blow, and I earn you more money.”
   Use your results as proof. It’s all about showing people your value.

2. Not all leads are created equal. A tow truck driver might make $50-200 on a job, whereas a cosmetic surgeon could make $20,000 from one client.
   Therefore, the cost per customer is different.
   Therefore, if you focus on industries where the cost per job is higher, you’ll earn more money for your client.
   Therefore, you can charge more.

   
   

Tools + Costs to Run the Biz

My business looks very different now that I have a coaching program that teaches people this stuff. But as a beginner, you could literally do this entire business with one tool…

This is an all-in-one software that any beginner could use to manage every single part of this business.

• Email, text, or call your clients.

• Set up simple landing pages.

• Track clicks, calls, and appointments from your ads.

• Listen to the call recordings.

Sure, you could do things like Zoom for meetings and Calendly for people to book calls with you — but remember this about tools, above everything else:

The most important thing is taking care of your clients — and I promise you that will suffer if you focus on bells and whistles.

How to Get Clients

1. Search for blue-collar businesses in my local area on Google. Let’s use plumbers, for example. I’d find a plumber who was showing up on the third page of Google.

2. Create a simple ad, and would plug that plumber’s business info into the ad to get him showing up first when people searched for plumbers in that area.

3. Use $30-50 of my own money to send him a couple leads. I’d monitor the ad to make sure it was getting clicked, and I’d wait until a few people called the plumber to book with him.

4. Turn the ad off & call the plumber. I’d introduce myself and let him know that I sent him those leads. I’d offer to do it for him on a monthly basis. This method has about an 85% success rate, BTW.

5. Charge $997 / month to send him leads every month. He’s now getting customers that he wouldn’t have gotten otherwise, and I’ve landed a client who will keep working with me because I’m bringing him more revenue than what I’m charging.

   
   

Daily Hack For Productivity

I write my “practice schedule” for the next day. I never leave without doing it.
My father coaches football, and I’ve always remembered him planning the next day’s practice. So, I write out tomorrow’s to-do list today.

That way, I never show up to work and waste time deciding what to focus on.

One Weird Wealth Habit

I look at my money every single day.

No, I’m not sitting on a pile of cash just staring at it, looking like Gollum.

I mean I open my bank app every single day to see what my balance is. If it’s under a specific amount, I will spend time figuring out where I went wrong.

For instance, if we have a slightly lower month than usual, I’ll tighten my spending.

For Aspiring Entrepreneurs

1. Simple will scale. If I haven’t already driven this home, remember that improving your skill is what will grow your business. Choose a few types of businesses, focus on getting them great results, and use an one software to manage it.

2. Tell people what you can do FOR THEM. Business owners want to know how you are going to improve their lives. Focus on this, and you will get more clients.

3. You’ll never feel like you’re “selling” if you truly believe in the value you provide. If you think someone is a good fit to work with you, and you know you could improve their business, you should let them know!

High-Ticket VS. Low-Ticket

Let’s just do a little bit of basic math here.

If you sell something for $4,000 and your goal is $40,000 per month — you’ll need to sell 10 of them per month.
If you’re selling something at $400 per month, that’s now 100 sales you have to make this month.

And I know some of you are going to say,
“But James, it’s harder to sell someone on a $4,000 price than it is to sell a $400 price!”

No. It’s not. Quite the opposite, actually.


The effort required to make 100 sales is more than required to make 10. 

This is why it’s important to just focus on improving your skills and getting great value for your clients — so you can charge high-ticket.

When getting to a $40,000 / month, I’d rather make 10 sales than 100 sales.

Envision the number of sales you need.