TERRI SASSONE — I Wanted Full Control Over My Income

I walked away from a multi-six-figure job to start my own online business.

I worked in IT for years before opening my doggy daycare, which wasn’t really a “small” business — we did $1.4 million in 2008. But a lot was happening in the economy during this time, and I went down in a blaze of glory in 2010.

I lost my business, my income, we lost our house — it was bad.

I went back to my IT roots and became an RFP (Request for Proposal) consultant. I can explain what that is, but let’s save the extra words here.

I worked with big companies like Apple, Ford Motors, and Cisco.
I was very good at my job.
But I’d commit to these companies that would sometimes change their mind, and then I’d be out of work.

After a $200,000, six-month contract canceled on me, I decided I was done with other companies controlling my income.

Around this time, I'd seen an ad for a coaching program that taught people how to build a real online business by helping local businesses get more customers. Having lost my small business, this really spoke to me. So, I gave it a shot and joined.

I never thought I’d find something I loved as much as my doggy daycare — but now, I believe I was meant to go through that so I could do this today.

Now, I make over $20k per month helping businesses skyrocket their revenue by sending better emails and texts to their customers.

Step-by-Step Strategy

I specialize in message marketing — which basically means I send text and email messages on behalf of a business to their list of previous and potential customers.

1. I’ll browse websites for businesses I’m interested in, looking for who doesn’t have any email opt-ins.

2. If they have an opt-in, I put my email in and see if it automatically get a message. If I do, I look for how I can improve it. If I don’t…game on!

3. I’ll reach out to that business with a quick blurb on what I noticed in their emails, and the results I’ve gotten for similar businesses.

4. After agreeing to work together, I set them up with a series of emails that will help them get more revenue…

   1. Welcome email for people who opt-in on the website.

   2. Monthly promotions or sales.

   3. Customer win-back

   4. Review gathering

   5. Customer satisfaction surveys
      
      

Why do I do message marketing instead of just launching ads for a small business?

I used to do that, and I got tired of losing clients because they weren’t getting results. They weren’t getting results because they weren’t following up with the leads. And I wanted full control over those results.

So, I made it mandatory for my clients to include automated follow-up. Meaning when a person contacts that business, he/she gets an automatic message, pointing them in the right direction.
I would not sell without it, and I charged extra for it.

There is HUGE value in learning how to effectively follow-up with your customers. It builds an instant relationship with them, which then affects how well your ads perform.

After implementing message marketing, our top performing campaigns convert at 71% to cold traffic.
That means out of 100 strangers that see us, 71 will buy.

This became especially true during the pandemic — that’s when I had my best-performing campaign ever.
I earned a restaurant $19,000 with one email. Here’s how:

I sent an email to the restaurant’s customer list — offering a roll of toilet paper with every $10+ to-go order.
They had a ton of toilet paper from their office supplier, and no diners to use it.

That email kept that business open, and changed the way I do marketing.

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

A lot of people call themselves marketers, but the successful ones are those who are problem-solvers.

I take the time to really understand how a business is doing and where they’re not doing great. Then I craft a path forward for them, based on what I’ve seen work.

I was helping a bunch of wellness businesses when COVID happened. They all shut down.
“Oh my god! I’m going to lose my second business.”
I went into a panic for like six weeks, and then I got my head out of my butt.

“Okay, how do we fix this?” That’s where message marketing came in.

We focused on keeping people informed with newsletter updates and email offers. In June 2020, I earned $58,000 for a cryotherapy clinic — which kept it from closing down.

I went to all my other customers and was like, “We’ve got something!”

Once I realized the potential in sending messages, I took another course on e-commerce email marketing. Then, I took those strategies, and applied them to how I work with local businesses.

That same year, I had a farm-to-table restaurant client earn $272,000 from my service. They were launching a food truck — and my five-email product-launch sequence paid for that food truck.

My business transformed in a way I could never have imagined.

How to Price Yourself

I charge monthly retainers for my service:

Working as a consultant for multiple businesses means that you get to charge what you’re worth. I knew I didn’t want to work FOR anyone else again after spending most of my career in an industry where I made $0.60 on the dollar compared to my male counterparts.

Tools + Costs to Run the Biz

Message marketing is by far my most profitable service, because…

YOU do not have any costs.

If a business already has an email platform that’s working for them, I don’t move them. If they don’t, I’ll set them up on something like Go High Level, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, or ActiveCampaign — whichever one they’re comfortable paying for.

How to Get Clients

Be willing to do free calls to make your clients feel understood.

I always do two calls with a new potential client, and I’ll be a two-call closer until my last breath. Why? Because if I can’t give that business owner 40 minutes of my time to truly understand their struggles — I don’t deserve to work with them.

It’s not about what I can sell them — it’s about what problem I can solve for them. Usually, the problem that needs solving isn’t actually the one they want solved — and it’s my job to tell them that.

So, I’ll do an interview call with them, then say, “Okay so, I’ll take about 48 hours to come up with your custom plan. Can we get on a call Thursday at 4pm?”

What’s really interesting is the minute that business owner realizes I'm not gonna sell to them on that call, the walls come down.

They start telling me everything about their business, which then gives me more clarity on what they really need.
Is it all going to revolve around the services I offer? Absolutely.
But it’ll be positioned differently according to where they’re at.

We can’t do message marketing if they don’t have a customer list. Okay, let’s build a list.
We won’t do ads if you have terrible reviews. Let’s clean that up first — and also probably address why you got those poor reviews.

We figure out what gets them closest to their end goal the quickest.

Daily Hack For Productivity

I can do anything for 20 minutes. Absolutely anything.

People greatly underestimate what they’re capable of when they can actually JUST FOCUS.

So, use the Pomodoro technique. There are free apps for it.
You put on that timer, and focus on one task for 20 minutes. Then when that timer pings, take your five-minute break.

Here’s the kicker though: actually take that timed five-minute break!

As soon as that timer goes off, I step away from what I’m doing — even if I feel like I’m in the middle of it and right on the verge of something. When I step away for that five minutes and come back to it — it’ll end up being even better.

Whatever your situation is — full-time job, busy mama — commit to making this work within your time constraints. Get a family member to help look after your kids for a couple hours. You can move mountains with a few 20-minute blocks of dedicated, focused work.

This technique has catapulted me in my business and enabled me to write over 2,000 emails last November for Black Friday promotions.

One Weird Wealth Habit

Here’s a big thing that will shortcut your growth: if you are trying to level up — in business, financially, personally — put yourself in rooms where you are not the smartest person. This is why joining business programs or paid communities is SO valuable.

My business makes over $20k per month and, to some people, that is HUGE. But I’m in this community where I have access to talk to multi-seven-figure business owners who will give me their advice and guidance when I ask for it.

Surround yourself with people who BLOW YOU AWAY with their success, and I promise you — you will become more successful, too.

If you are the smartest person in the room — find another room.

For Aspiring Entrepreneurs

1. The best feeling is getting paid to solve a problem you’ve conquered. I am good at helping local businesses thrive, because I know what it’s like to have and lose one. You could get paid to help people avoid what you went through.

2. Never be afraid to tell someone you CAN’T help them. When people feel like you’re chasing them, they’re more likely to say no. But if you don’t feel like someone is a perfect fit for you — tell them that. Not only will they respect it — they might even chase you.

3. Just commit to sucking less every day. Don’t scare yourself before you start by looking at everything you’re gonna need to learn. One baby step at a time, and just embrace doing things wrong at first.
   

After one month of publishing these newsletters, we’ve found that the people we interview often have overlapping advice.

Find Terri’s BONUS advice in our end-of-month issue, where we’ll compare it to two others to give YOU the top takeaways!