Watch This Before You Start The 9x12 Postcard Business

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The 9x12 postcard method is probably the simplest business model out there for anybody to start with $0 and end up with $5,000 in profit in their pocket at the end of the month. I can't think of any other business that can produce those results pretty reliably based on just a few simple actions. However, every time I post a video on this channel, my DMs, my emails, the community, and comments are all full of questions about the 9x12 method. And honestly, after doing this for over a year now, I've realized that there are some pretty solid questions that I should really pin and answer down on. So, today I'm just going to sit down and rip through 15 of the most commonly asked 9x12 method questions in one video.

Some of these are pretty beginner questions, and some are more advanced operator-level questions, like talking about first hires, handling category exclusivity disputes, alternate revenue streams, etc. So, whether you're brand new to this channel and you're just trying to figure out if it's even real, or you're already running cards and you want to level up, there's something in here for you. So, stick with me, but before I dive in, real quick, in case you're new here, let me break down the 9x12 postcard method business model concisely for you. So, the 9x12 business is pretty simple. You take a huge 9x12 in postcard, the biggest thing anyone receives in their mail, and you sell ad slots on it to local businesses for $500 each.

So, there's about 16 slots total, eight on each side. So, 16 * $500 is $8,000 in revenue per card. And then printing and mailing usually costs you around $3,000, and you collect all of the money up front from the advertisers before you have to pay for anything. So, you have zero upfront capital required. So, then you mail it to about 5,000 homes in your target area, and you're left with around $5,000 in profit every time you fill one of these cards.

And to be clear, you're not a salesperson in this business, you're a community connector. You're just helping local businesses split the cost of marketing in their town. That's it, simple. It's not easy, I'll repeat, it's simple, but not easy. But if you can do that consistently, you're looking at $5,000 to $15,000 every single month.

And now, let's just jump right into the questions. And again, some are beginner, but some are a lot more advanced. Question number one, how do you know if your market is big enough or too saturated to support this? My answer to that is, my rule of thumb is stick to a town of 15,000 to 50,000 residents. I like that because it's not the big city vibe where they don't really need advertising as much, but it's also not a small rural town where it's going to be hard to even reach 5,000 doors.

I think 15,000 to 50,000 has shown to be that sweet spot and that's what I like to target. And saturation is almost never a real problem. Even in markets where another operator might be running a card, you guys are probably targeting different zip codes and have your own set of value to bring. And you can look at our local spotlight.com/partners to see where people are actually working.

That way you don't conflict with somebody else. But even if you guys are nearby, you can actually collaborate and I'll explain more on that later. Question number two, and this is very specific. What's the actual follow-up sequence when an advertiser goes quiet in specific order? Okay, so this is something I'd call the channel pivot sequence.

And it's what separates operators who fill cards from operators who don't. Your first touch should most likely be email cuz it's the lowest barrier of entry. And if they go quiet, wait a day and then move on to Facebook DMs. DM them to their business page or DM the business owner if you can find them. And Lead Scout makes this super simple because it finds the business owner's full name for you.

The link is in the description to check out that tool. Then after one more day, go to text or even give them a phone call if you're willing to. And then if they're local, you can walk in. Each time you hit them from a different angle, it resets their attention and makes you seem more legitimate. Most operators send just one email, get ghosted, and then quit.

Meanwhile, Robert closed a $450 HVAC deal off of the third touch on just email alone. The fortune is in the second through the fourth touch, not the first touch. And it's important to change channels. Email is more informational, text is casual, in person says, "I was already in the area and I actually really think this would be a good fit for your business specifically." That's how you want to come across.

Question number three, how do you actually convert a one-time slot buyer into a six- to 12-month commitment? The mistake operators make here is treating multi-month contracts like an upsell after the first mailer without even mentioning it to begin with. Now, that's backwards and be by the time you're asking them to renew, you're already negotiating against whatever results they did or didn't see from One Card. And One Card is never enough data to make a real decision. The proper move is to set the expectation up front before they ever pay for the first slot.

The conversation sounds a little bit like this, and you can customize this however you wish. The first mailer is brand awareness, the second is recognition, the third is when the phone actually starts ringing consistently because it takes time for consumers to actually need a new roof or their furnace repaired. looking for results from one drop, this might not be the right channel for you unless you're willing to provide a solid offer to get the people in the door. The advertisers who win with this commit to at least three to six mailers, at least mentally, and I price it that way because I want you to win. You tell them that, and then you present the pricing as a multi-month by default.

For a standard slot, I recommend $500 for 1 month, $1,350 for 3 months, [snorts] $2,400 for 6 months. The 1-month price is the anchor that makes three and six months look like a better decision. And now, to be clear, realistically, most advertisers will stick to a one slot to start. Let's just be real. It's hard to gain enough trust early on to sell a huge package.

But, the important part is that you just naturally set proper expectations for them. They're at least now mentally more prepared to commit to this for the long term rather than expecting ridiculous results on month one. You're already transparent with them about that. And then, the renewal conversation later still happens, but it's a renewal of three or six-month package rather than just one more month. So, this one shift, setting expectations up front, is the single biggest lever for going from side gig income to real recurring income in this business.

Operators who do this right are running cards where 60 to 70% of their advertisers at one time are on multi-month commitments, at least verbally. I interviewed Michael a while back who had 75% of his advertisers renew because he set proper expectations. Now, question number four, how do you handle two businesses in the same category both wanting in? Okay, so, category exclusivity is one of your strongest selling tools, so you need to protect it. First come, first serve, that's it.

And you tell the second business very directly, "Hey, I'd love to have you, but we already had HVAC company join for this mailer. Would you like to commit now for next month's card? That way you don't miss your chance again. That's typically my script. Or sometimes they want it bad enough that they'll pay a premium to bump the other business, but I personally don't allow this because it kills trust.

So, hold the line on the first come, first serve is the urgency rule that makes the whole model work. But definitely use that script to sell them for next month. Question number five, when and how do you raise prices from 500 to 600 or $700 a slot? You raise prices only when demand is outpacing supply, not beforehand. Sign number one is your last two cards filled in under three weeks.

That's wicked fast, you have a lot of demand there. Sign number two is you have a waiting list of businesses asking when the next mailer is going out. At that point you can either split off and do multiple mailers or just raise your prices. But at that point you have leverage to make a decision. You don't raise prices on existing renewing advertisers, in my opinion at least.

You raise for new advertisers only. So, the new rate is $600 for new advertisers, but $500 for anybody who stays. This encourages them to stay rather than bouncing on and off. But above $600 you have to be careful because small businesses are budget sensitive and every $100 increase massively decreases their likelihood of renewing with you. So, the market does well with $600 at scale if you have a lot of social proof.

$700 you need a pretty strong track record and a high-income area. And then 750 usually starts requiring you to position yourself a bit differently, like a more premium product and maybe some other services on top. Question number six, how do you design the postcard so advertisers actually get response, not just impressions? So, this is where most operators undersell their value because they let advertisers submit a logo and a phone number and just call it an ad. That's not an ad, that's a waste of space.

In my opinion, just about every slot should have an offer and not necessarily a discount or a coupon, just an offer. Free oil change with any service over $200 or $50 off your first roof inspection. Or it could be buy one entree, get one half off, expires in 30 days. It could even just be something like free no obligation estimate. The offer and the call to action create a measurable response.

And you can also add a QR code that tracks scans by using our scan lab tool that all of our school community members already have free access to. And when the next mailer comes around and the advertisers ask, "Did this work?" you have the data to prove that there was an interest in their ad. The reframe that you should share with your advertisers who are iffy about, you know, doing an offer, you got to say something like, this is not a coupon, this is an offer. An offer is a reason for your customers to take action, it's not just a discount.

So, we should come up with an offer that helps your bottom line, doesn't hurt it. And there's ways to design an offer without hurting your client's profit margins dramatically, just to be clear. Question number seven, what's the anchor client pitch that gets one business to buy an entire side of the card? Okay, so this is an eight-slot, $3,000 deal, and it's pitched differently than a single slot. The anchor client pitch goes to bigger local businesses like the dominant HVAC company in town, the biggest roofer, the regional auto dealer.

The pitch is exclusivity at scale. You get the entire back of the card, no competing categories, eight ad positions, 5,000 doors. You're effectively running a half-page direct mail campaign for $3,000 all in. To be clear to you, you can charge whatever you want, I just used $3,000 as an example because it would automatically cover the costs that you have to pay for fulfillment. So, then the other half of the card is just pure profit.

For a business that's already spending 10K a month on advertising already, that's a tiny commitment with massive visibility. And if you don't believe that people would spend this much money, well, one of our community members named Fernando got a roofer to buy a full side exactly this way. And to be clear, you shouldn't lead with the anchor pitch, you lead with the standard pitch, and then identify the businesses with a larger budget and the ones who feel like the ad's a little bit lacking, and then upsell them. Question number eight, why do you actively recommend 5,000 piece mailers over 10,000 or 25,000? I love this one, this one's the most common.

So, the answer is that small businesses don't necessarily have a thousand dollars a month advertising budget. They have $500 a month if you're lucky, and at $500 per slot for a 5,000 piece mailer, the math is easy for them, and their chances of renewing month after month is much higher. At 700 to $900 a slot for 10,000 pieces, sure, it's technically more valuable for them, but now you're asking a business to commit a much larger chunk of their monthly budget. And because you're doing that, your rate of renewals will drop hard. The bigger mailer looks more impressive on paper, but the data from our operators in our community is unambiguous.

Smaller mailers with happy renewing advertisers beat larger mailers with churning advertisers every single time. So, 5,000 cards is the sweet spot. Although, of course, I support the 2,500 6 by 11-in community card model as well. In fact, community cards prove the principle that I just mentioned. The cheaper your printing costs, the less you need to charge, which results in faster sales and more businesses staying every single month rather than churning.

Question number nine. What does the ad design and approval process actually look like? So, this used to be the messiest part of running a card, and honestly, it's where most operators waste the most time and get a little aggravated. The way I've always done it, you collect the advertiser's logo, contact info, offer, and any photos simply over email right after they pay. Then you build their slot in Canva using one of our templates most likely.

And once it's done, you export it as a PNG and you send it over for They reply with more changes, you make those changes, you send it again. By round three or four, you're losing your mind because half of the feedbacks coming through [music] text, half through email, half through Facebook DMs at 11:00 p.m. You have absolutely no clean record of what was actually approved versus what they're still asking for. And this is also where disputes can happen.

An advertiser can say, "I never approved that typo. Why'd you print it?" And you have to dig through six weeks of messages to prove that they did. So, now a new tool just came out that I'm genuinely excited to start using in my own business, and it's called 9by12ads.net, and it's free to join.

And to be clear, I didn't create it. I don't benefit from showing this to you, but I think it's a pretty cool tool. All you do is upload your design file, then generate a shareable link for that file. You send that link to your advertiser, and they can either drop comments right on the design with notes about what they want changed, or they can approve it right there with one click. So, not only does this collapse a week-long email chain into basically a single afternoon, it also locks everything in writing in one place.

When they approve it, that approval is is right there. So, if there's ever a future dispute about what they signed off on, you have a paper trail. So, I'm putting the link in the description so you can check it out and use the code Mitch at sign up so they know who sent you. Question number 10, when do you start planning card number two and how is the playbook different? You plan card number two before card number one even mails.

I'd plan it as soon as card number one is about 75% full. You should already have your card two route picked out and you should be teasing it to your card one advertisers as next month's mailer. That can help you convert renewals before card one even hits the mailboxes. And card two's playbook is a little different because now you have proof. You have a physical card to show.

You have testimonials. You may even have some scan data from the Scan Lab. So, your close rate on card two outreach could be even double what card one was now that you have social proof and relationships. So, therefore, you're working less to fill it. The other shift for card two is obviously if you're scaling geographically, it's going to be a different route, but you should still keep it nearby so that existing advertisers in your ecosystem are still close enough to hop onto the new card.

Most operators get this wrong. They sell card one, they mail it and then they start card two from scratch somewhere else. And then they lose all their renewal momentum. Question number 11, 10 + 1. How do you have the ROI conversation when an advertiser asks, "How do I know this worked?"

Okay, so there's three layers to this. Layer number one, the offer on their ad should have a unique code so any redemption is directly measurable. Layer number two, the QR code tracking through Scan Lab shows scan counts. So, even if those people didn't redeem immediately, you still have data. And then layer number three, which is most important, you set expectations correctly up front.

Direct mail isn't a one-shot. It's brand awareness plus offer-driven response. The first mailer might generate five calls. The third or fourth mailer is where the compounding starts to kick in because their name is now familiar to that 5,000 home audience. Again, people aren't necessarily in the market for a roof immediately.

You should tell them this on day one before they ever ask. Having that conversation up front eliminates 80 to 90% of ROI complaints down the road. Now, question number 12, what's the right way to handle an unhappy advertiser, especially one demanding a refund? First, hear them out fully before defending yourself. Next, ask questions before defending yourself.

When you ask questions before defending yourself, not only does it allow you to get the actual root of their frustration out, but it also helps you build up your own defense. It's always helpful to have everything in writing, so ideally do it over email or something. At the root of it, most complaints aren't really about results, they're about expectations. If they say, "I got no responses." ask, "What did you expect?"

Often, they expected 50 calls and they got eight calls, which is actually a really good first mailer. You can then reiterate the exact conversation you had with them at first. The conversation I just mentioned in the previous question about having a conversation up front about ROI. If they're still unhappy, offer to comp them half a slot on the next mailer rather than refunding. That keeps them in the ecosystem and shows your commitment to the principle that the power of direct mail comes over time and you want to prove that to them.

At the end of the day, it's your business though, so if you want to refund even though you did what was promised, go ahead. But either keep the money and over-deliver or refund them fully and part ways. Don't do half and half. But to be honest, don't worry. Refund threats are few and far between, especially if you're having these conversations.

We only have a few documented incidences of this happening over the past year and a half in our community of 2,900 members. Only a few posts about this. And most of these refund threats resolve with an adult conversation. And I will reiterate, if people are freaking out at you, just a rule of thumb and generally in life, just forget about defending yourself for as long as you can. They're literally not listening to you anyway.

Instead, listen to them speak and ask them deeper questions until they settle down. Just keep asking them questions. Now you're going to have a lot to work with if you do choose to defend yourself. Okay, question number 13. I wish I had 13 fingers cuz I keep trying to throw my hands up.

When do you make your first hire and what role is it? In my opinion, you make your first hire when you can't keep up with outreach anymore. Not when you can't keep up with operations. Operations like print files, mailing coordination, advertiser onboarding, you can systematize and batch that. But outreach basically scales with humans and some AI if you can figure it out.

So your first hire is a setter, which is someone who runs outreach in the Facebook groups, sends follow-up emails, and books calls for you to close. You should still be closing the sale because you know your product best. And you pay them per appointment booked, not per slot closed, not hourly. The reason is you're the one closing the sale and you want them to be incentivized to actually perform. So, I'd say roughly pay them 50 to $100 per closed slot.

And Enacio in our group actually runs his business with a team of three doing exactly this. The second hire you should have is the operations manager who handles the print and shipping and the customer service. And customer service will be a big one once you scale to four cards or more. So, you'll want an operations manager pretty soon after that. And definitely don't hire generalists.

That's a waste of time. Hire specialists for the specific bottleneck. You don't need a 50/50 partner for this. And to be clear, this shouldn't be a hire, so it's not really part of this question, but absolutely the first thing you should outsource is ad design. It is time-consuming and we can handle it for you for cheap.

You should be spending your time making $500 sales, not working on $25 ad designs. Okay, now question number 14. How do operators in the same metro coexist without cannibalizing each other? Great question. I have three rules.

One, you pick non-overlapping zip codes and you can see what zip codes the others are targeting by going to their landing page at www.ourlocalspotlight.com. That is if they have a landing page. This is all the more reason to have one so that nobody jumps in and tries competing in your zone.

Very important. And if you are working in different zip codes, you're not competing for the same homeowners anyway. Secondly, you don't poach each others advertisers. If you see another operator already has a roofer on their card, you go find a different roofer for yours. There's literally 30 roofers in any decent size metro.

And third, you should create some sort of affiliate partnership with the other 9 by 12er. Don't look at them as some opponent. Look at them as somebody working next door who you can send advertisers to and they can send some back to you. Advertisers like to move around anyway. When you work as a team and kind of shuffle them around, you make your whole ecosystem stickier.

The lone wolf operator in a metro with no community ties almost always burns out faster than the operator who has a peer network in the same city. And we do have people in our community sharing leads with each other all the time. Again, this is all the more reason to grab an exclusive location and landing page at ourlocalspotlight.com. Link in the description.

And question number 15, how do you build a second revenue stream off of the same database of local businesses that you've already sold to. Now, this is where card two, card three, and card four operators usually go. You don't necessarily need to scale horizontally. You can scale vertically by adding more services to your repertoire. So, after four cards, you have, say, 60 to 100 local advertisers in your database.

That's an ecosystem. And here are three plays, but there's really hundreds of things you can do, especially in the AI era. So, one idea is a partner directory, where you charge a monthly fee for ongoing listings and lead routing in addition to the print mailer. This can give you some recurring income. And I do plan on building this into Our Local Spotlight, so that you won't have to set this up for yourself.

So, keep an eye out for that. Your second option, you could build a local consumer newsletter. So, you can collect local homeowner emails through QR codes on your postcards that you're sending out. Then sell those subscribers attention back to the same advertisers as digital placements. That way they can hit them from multiple angles.

And of course, I have a feature coming in June, very soon, in June, to Our Local Spotlight, which will help you collect these consumers' email addresses flawlessly. So, make sure you sign up for that, link in the description. But you're not required. Number three, a lot of people don't realize, but you can do lead generation as a stand-alone service. So, once you know who responds to direct mail and who needs more leads, you can sell pay-per-lead services on top of the card.

The card is the front door. The recurring revenue lives in the room behind the door. And that's how this business becomes a real business, and not just a side hustle. Okay, now that's the top 15 questions I get, but here's the thing. I know there's more questions out there, so here's what I want to do.

Comment your question down below, whatever you're stuck on or curious about, and I'm going to do my best to answer them right there in the comments. I respond to everything. But if we get enough questions, I'll come back and do a full follow-up video answering every single one, like FAQ part two. So, if you want that, comment your question below. In full transparency, if you're somebody who'd rather have all this stuff organized in one place with a course and a community of 2,900 other people doing this, the link