How to sell online business
How to Sell an Online Business (My experience and lessons learned)
January 2020 big month for a number of
reasons but here's another one that you
might not know about I sold two
businesses last month and it made me
think and maybe think about well what
helped me get there I can't disclose how
much money but I can disclose the number
one tip that helped me start both of
those businesses and also execute all
the way through to a sale stick around
because this tip might make or break you
alright so you might alright so you
might be wondering what these two
businesses are many of you who've been
following me for a while know that I've
developed some nice sights a long time
ago one in the security guard training
space and another one in the food-truck
space these two websites are websites
that I created as an example to share
with my audience how you can start a
business
even though you're not an expert in each
of those websites after a certain amount
of time we're able to generate thousands
of dollars per month on autopilot
passive income at its core and over time
each of those websites have generated
hundreds of thousands of dollars with
doing very little work which which was
amazing so it might surprise a lot of
you that I've sold these two things
because because well they were making
money without any work but were they now
I say they were hands off and 98 percent
of the time they were however for both
those websites they needed updates every
once in a while you know systems and
software changes every once in a while
industries change and you need to keep
your content updated and for both I had
teams of writers who were there to
support as well to keep things updated
but it still was something that every
once in a while
I would get an email about I would get
pinged about I get a message about and
sometimes a text message about so
although I didn't have to do anything to
generate income it still took some of my
time some of my bandwidth away from the
other things that I have going on and so
although I could have held on to these
for much longer
I wanted to wipe the slate clean clean
slate and clear those things out of my
brain because I know that I have a lot
to focus on and we often don't realize
how those little tiny things get in the
way of us focusing on those bigger
things there's a joke in there somewhere
but I'm not even gonna try to find it
that's what she said ha so again with
these deals I can't disclose how much
money I've sold them for nor can I
disclose who I sold them to however we
are still in the middle of this sort of
and that in that process has been really
interesting these are the first two
businesses I've ever sold so it's really
interesting that they both happen within
the same month of each other there's
also you know tax implications here you
know I don't get the full sum of money
that come in you know some of that I
have to pay taxes for but more than
anything I now have a lot of weight
lifted off my shoulder that I didn't
even know was there feels really really
good and I think for those of you who've
been following me for a while this is a
beautiful conclusion to these
experiments that were run a long time
ago because they were both websites that
helped launch my career as somebody
helping people fill businesses online I
mean these were purely experimental I
opened up the entire process I'll even
link to some spots below to show you
sort of the steps that I took that build
each of those websites and within each
of those websites and through the sale
of those businesses there was one tip
that I learned that mattered more than
anything in terms of how I got here and
how those businesses became successful
let me get a little bit closer because
it's kind of important the fortune is in
the follow the fortunes in the fall with
people so here is a micro example and
then I'll share a macro example of that
a bigger one so a micro example micro
what I launched food trucker
by the way look like Pat you don't even
have a food truck I was proving to
people that you don't have to be the
expert to create something that could
generate money I became the curator of
information I interviewed food truck
owners I brought them on to the blog to
share their experience and I was just
the one who stepped up to create that
hub so to launch food trekker calm very
interesting I did what's called a
roundup post if you publish content of
any kind I highly recommend you do this
so I reached out to 250 food truck
owners asking them one simple question
what's one thing you wish you knew
before you started a food truck 250 food
trucks where did I get their emails well
obviously they many of them have
websites and social channels and I just
found them and I reached out then they
were from all over the United States and
I had this big plan I was gonna feature
you know as many as I could on this blog
post and you know after a week how many
responses I got I got four four
responses out of 250 and I was like
well that didn't work but what was that
tip I shared with you the fortune is in
the follow-up so after a week I reached
back out to everybody who did not reply
that's 246 new people and I I did send
them all emails individually I
personalized them each I was really
working hard to see if I could get their
answer cuz I knew this would be a very
very valuable blog post I mean if you're
getting into food trucks who wouldn't
want to know what's the one thing food
truck owners wish they need before they
got started so I followed up and I
didn't send them a very long message all
I said was hey I just wanted to follow
up with you
I would love to feature your food truck
in my upcoming article and guess what I
got 46 more replies within two days
I got a lot of excuses like oh sorry I
totally missed that email or oh yeah I
meant to go back and answer you but I
just didn't have the opportunity to do
it who knows if they were lying or not
the big lesson the fortune is in the
follow-up so I compiled all their
answers I put them on a blog post I
launched the website with that blog post
as the main feature had a few other blog
posts there as well but that was the
main feature and it went viral
it has over twenty-seven hundred
comments now and it even got picked up
on reddit and it still continues to this
day to rank really well for how to start
a food truck the fortune is in the
follow up so that's a micro-level
example there's very many examples and
all of my businesses I've just sort of
micro successes through following up but
let me tell you about a macro example
two years ago I actually had a person
who was interested in buying security
guard training HQ calm interesting story
when I was building that website to get
the information I literally called
security guard companies all around the
United States one in each state actually
just to get the information from them
straight from the source
how to become a security guard in that
state because every state has a
different set of requirements and
licenses that you need to get and all
that sort of stuff so again me not being
a security guard not even knowing
anything about this space I just stepped
forward and did the research and call
people yeah like actually called with
you know a phone certainly that's that's
not the example the example here is with
the fortune is in the follow up this
person we
chatted for a long time I shared with
them a lot of the analytics and the
statistics and the revenue that was
happening with the website and after
four or five months of back-and-forth
and this person was about to close on
the deal for a very very good amount he
sort of backed out and it was kind of
deflating because we worked a long time
to try and get there and it just didn't
work out this person had come across
some unforeseen events in his life and
just was unable to follow through and
and I felt bad about that because I got
excited about the notion of just handing
this off to somebody who was gonna take
care of it and and and and kind of move
on from it which is ultimately what I
wanted to happen now it would have been
very easy to give up there and just
realize that yeah hey you know this is
probably not the right time or I could
take that as a sign but I persisted I
kept going I didn't I didn't bother that
person because I wasn't supposed to
you've been going through some stuff but
I just put feelers out there and I told
my team I told a number of other people
like hey I'm looking to potentially find
a buyer for the site I want somebody
who's gonna take care of it and I just
continually kept plugging that and
eventually after a year somebody on my
team said hey I mentioned this website
to somebody who I know and they want to
follow up with you so let's get on a
call together and we did and this is now
the buyer and I'm really excited because
if I didn't keep plugging that in and
having that thought that I wanted to
make this happen it wouldn't have
happened if you know you want something
to happen you have to push forth and
follow through the fortune is in the
follow up so how does this relate to you
maybe you're in the middle of creating
something and you're getting a lot of
those feelings and those devils and
you're in those voices that are just
telling you to stop well you got to
follow through have you ever golfed
when you golf and I've taken lessons
before because I desperately needed them
you realize that the follow up is where
a lot of the straightness and the power
comes from if you stop your Club right
at the ball well you don't give it
enough swing you need to swing and you
need to follow through I gotta get back
on the golf course it's been a while
have a golf since I had kids it's one of
those things I can't ask my wife for
like six hours of time I'd rather use
that six hours to do something better
with her maybe you have started putting
feelers out there for potentially an
online course that you might create or a
product or you want to register people
into a webinar and you ask people once
and nobody's replied you got zero you
got crickets are you gonna let that one
time stop you the fortune is in the
follow up and maybe you don't follow up
the same way this is what these failures
can teach you I once heard from Michael
Hyatt failure is inevitable failure is
inevitable failing is an option you have
the choice to walk away from that
situation and not even give it another
chance or try again learn from your
mistakes and follow through the fortune
is in the follow-up so if you do a
promotion one day and you have no takers
or maybe just one customer like great
you got one customer that's that's
fantastic but follow up with those
people who didn't buy and ask him
questions like why didn't you purchase
or hey you said you were interested in
this what is holding you back by the way
small tip if you ever get anybody
telling you that well your thing is too
expensive whatever it is that's
basically code for well I just don't
understand the value that you were
providing here it's not worth my money
for what it is that you're promising
here on the other end but I promise you
that if you can clearly define what's on
the other end of that course that
coaching program that product if you can
clearly define that it's gonna be so
much easier for a person to understand
that it is worth their time and money if
you've nailed that problem and have
created the right solution so what do
you think team Flynn do you believe in
the fortune is in the follow up let me
know in the comments below where you
know you need to follow up also if you
agree hit me up with a thumbs up that
helps with the algorithms and I
have been wanting to see what I can do
to crack the admiral then he can help
out I like not on another level of
fortunes in the follow parade this last
video that I published earlier in the
week I went to a farmers market and I
asked everybody you know what their
number one tip was and I gave a hundred
bucks to my favorite tip and I worked
really hard on the thumbnail I worked
really hard on that video putting it
together making it interesting making it
different and then it just it just
pooped it was it just did not like I was
getting notifications from YouTube
saying this is being watched 58 percent
less than normal for your videos and
people aren't actually sticking around
after they start playing it like oh man
that sucks but you know what here's a
new video I'm gonna keep going because
the fortune is in the follow up and
there's a lot of lessons I learned even
just in this past week about that video
and this week we're doing a little bit
more raw I'm ranting if you will but
also pleading with you that you
understand what this means the fortune
is in the follow up so tell me down
below in the comments where do you know
you need to follow up hit me up with the
thumbs up like I said if you haven't
already and finally just subscribe to
the channel because this is the kind of
stuff that I want to bring to you and
inspire you I want to educate you I want
to inform you and entertain you at the
same time and make fun of myself too
because that's what I do best if you
could do me one favor right now just
click on that video right there just hit
up that video it's one of the most
important videos I don't even know what
video it is right now but it's probably
there because YouTube wants you to see
it and I want you to see it too thanks
so much for clicking around I appreciate
you and as always team Flynn for the win
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