What Mike Is Up To Now – June 28 – July 4, 2020
Quick bullet points:
* Select consulting clients – last couple weeks was talking to quiet a few people on consulting projects, have a couple great clients and not actively seeking new projects now.
* Investing in our own website portfolio- our team is experts on content and online marketing, need to focus on what we are good at.
* GFA affiliate – focusing on affiliate for Global From Asia, with the traffic and reach, this may be a better angle.
The long letter I send to the Shadstone team each week (if you want to read more) – Removed sensitive information
Week Plan June 28 – July 4, 2020 Shadstone Limited
Typing up July 4 – made me realize it is the day America was set independent. And lots of fireworks. Will try to enjoy next Saturday then!
We are making good progress and thanks team for being flexible as the company kind of finds itself (again!) It is all about the people and we have great people that is for sure.
Last week
*** Confidential info removed**
A consulting project I am doing mostly on my own – interviewing event organizers (Helium Rises project code name) is going well. The client is happy
(new client name) is happy with our work. Although it is morphing a bit as it was supposed to be podcasts – it seems to be more on social media – and I have to figure out how to re-price the project as it was supposed to be social media marketing for the podcasts – not his events. But also we got (sales info removed) and he is happy on that.
Edwin will be back w/ us helping on paid FB ads for (client name removeD) now. (name removed), Edwin, and I had a call and will get some more projects – Howard likes him a lot.
And Loadpipe – just seems stuck to me. But the masks / PPE seems dead – Cindy for example – in the community – she bought a lot of masks to sell in USA – and is now stuck with them and pushing me on wechat all the time hoping I can help her get a customer. And trying to go to other product lines has been challenging. So the idea is we put it on hold a bit and see how the import/export industry develops over the next few months. Also need to do proper team building – as our current Shadstone team is not built for B2B trading and ecommerce. We are content and community people.
What has been really scary is – it was “crazy” March – May, but in June things got quiet. Others I have talked to feel the same – things are just quiet now. I’d much prefer the crazy over quiet.
The thing that seems to be booming is ecommerce itself – Amazon (via Alpha Rock reports and others in the space) the sales are going insane. And people are buying websites/ domains – online businesses.
So the idea is – we have invested a ton in the past building up sites – and we need to go back and finish building those. In the next couple months plan to :
* Focus on “select” consulting clients – I honestly got so annoyed the last 1-2 weeks sending out all these proposals and doing phone calls / sales to educate people. I don’t have patience for this . we are boutique / selectively working with clients that are the right fit.
* Building up our own sites – we have powerful sites and just need some TLC (tender love and care) and with our great team we can take it up to the next level.
* Affiliate on GFA – I will promote more events/ courses on GFA. It worked in the past when I did I clearly say I am an affiliate and people want me to get the commission. So in upcoming shows we will have more affiliate deals and hope that can be an income stream to support GFA.
I even will mention on the GFA show we are investing in our own sites. If people are interested to join, we can hear what they have to say. They would have to be in the GFAVIP community first to get access to the sites we are working on – as I am not going to be as open online as I was with the Sisitano – now only people in our private community will be able to see the sites that we are investing in. It is too dangerous to be public about investing in businesses.
Another spin off from GFA (as always) – wechat groups – we get so many request – the idea is to make a dedicated site for apps and wechat groups – it is under development now and we at GFA can send those requesting wechat groups there and it will be monetized through ads and affiliate.
Hope this is clear – but it is always MOSTLY around:
* Content / Media
* Consulting for content and marketing
* Community – GFA / cross-border trade
When we got into Loadpipe, it was a bigger risk as the current team didn’t know how to help me do it. And then I realized, it is not what the skills are in this team.
So this is our strength now. Let’s do this.