He Sold Out a 9x12 AND a Community Card — While Working Full-Time

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I just had another amazing interview with somebody from our community who sold out both a 9 by 12 card and a community card. >> down, Mitch. Flip it around. >> Oh my always upside down. A 9 by 12 postcard and a community card.

He's done both and he showed us how he leverages his full-time job to actually go out and prospect at the same time. So, you're going to want to stick around for this one and take some notes. And if you don't know what the 9 by 12 method is, it's basically where you help local businesses split the cost of marketing. You put them all on one large postcard that you're going to mail to 5,000 doors in town. Community card is just a cheaper version where you charge less and you send it to less doors.

And all we're doing is charging $500 for a slot on the card and we keep the profit after we fulfill it. So, if you're just learning about the 9 by 12 method or you're a veteran, I'm sure you'll learn something from this. So, stick around. Joey, thanks for offering to donate your time today and tell us all about your recent success with the 9 by 12 postcard method and community cards. Obviously, you've been quite successful lately.

I've been seeing it in the group and I'm looking forward to hearing about what actually drove you to start this business yourself and what you did to make it such a success. So, first of all, bring me up to speed. What point exactly are you at in your journey? >> Yeah, so currently right now I'm working on the third card. Uh I've done one 9 by 12 and one 6 and 1/2 by 12 the community deals.

>> So, now since I got one of each, I'm kind of using them as what what do you call it? Um just proof. Proof of proof of proof of concept, there you go. >> I'm probably going to do what what my plan is right now is just kind of use the community deals as like the more consistent ones. At least like if I can get at least three or four out for the year.

I could do like, you know, I could do those every couple months while using the big ones as like a big spotlight. Probably twice a year. So, it's more of a little more special to jump on. >> Yeah. So, just so I understand So, did you start with the 9 by 12 postcard by yourself and you completed >> Okay.

And how much did you want to share how profit you made from the 9 by 12 card itself? >> So, for the 9 by 12, because it was the first one and it was I wanted to average 3 months to work on it and it was already getting into that fourth month. let me show you real quick. So, I was able to get the whole front part basically done. That was that that cover basically.

>> And then for the back, I sold two of Yeah, so two of them was a friend of mine who's a mobile mechanic. And then to the my martial arts school. So, really I I get my pretty discount just to get an extra spot on there. I think for profit-wise, I probably did just over two or 300. Cuz I had the one spot and then I gave the actual one the discount.

And then to to actually your first question of how I Originally, the power washing was something that something I came up with to try to do last summer just for [clears throat] extra cash. And I need an idea for advertisement. I found your interview with >> With Jack, yeah. So, I found your interview and I was like, "Okay, that's pretty interesting." I kind of kept that on the side burner for a while using Facebook as an And then I talked to a pizza restaurant that was not not too far by not too far from me.

And they like the idea for a lower advertisement to the mailboxes cuz they do their own printing. Like the 6 and 1/2 by 4 or by 5-in So, they used to send those to a couple hundred, they said. So, when I told them I'm doing a couple thousand, they said the same price. So, like, "All right, we'll work something out with you." And from there, I kind of started that this first round.

>> Nice. So, you're you're the first person I've had on here that runs their own business and originally did this so that they could, you know, get free advertising on top of the profit. So, you kind of win in both ways. You make a little bit of profit from each card, but you also get free advertising for your pressure washing business, which is pretty cool. >> even going to lie.

It's cuz because when we got to I started it around This this was July. I think I started like around March, March or April. So, [clears throat] I started getting So, by the time I got this card out, it was getting ready cold again, and I can't clean during the winter the wintertime, so I was just going to use I was going to keep doing the postcards as my winter thing, but I didn't get the community card out. I didn't get started till January. I didn't get it out until the last month.

>> Sure. Sure. Okay, so So, for your for your plan for the future, are you are you still planning on running the postcard on the pressure washing business, or is this kind of starting to take over that? What do What is your plan there? >> The postcard is more or less taking over.

My idea because I still got the pressure washer, and I have another friend who has his, so that's pretty much just a side idea if I need to fill up a spot. I know I have the logos done And if I get the call over the summer, I use I use some extra cash in my pocket. >> Totally. My idea was to now be doing the postcards more. >> I don't blame you.

Keep your Keep your wrists young. >> So, obviously, I'm sure your script is a little different from most people's because you are, you know, selling selling this out so that you have your own free advertising. So, what did your script look like? How was it different from like what I recommend to most of the community? >> It's obviously not different at all.

I took your script, and I think I probably Your script or like maybe one or two other people from the community, which is kind of what they tweaked it to their >> a little bit of AI, but pretty much the 90% of what you can get off the school. >> And then probably 3 to 5% and mixed with AI and just my head and other people's Just to make it more rich cuz I did start it. The first one I started was, "Hey, I just started a pressure washing business for the summer. Just trying to get low-cost advertisement looking for other businesses to want to join on." And then when I switched to the community deals, I kind of just dropped that part of it just saying, "Hey, I just run a small local advertisement company to help small businesses get on into the mailboxes directly."

>> Okay. So, do you think do you think the more direct script where you didn't even mention that you have a pressure washing business works better? I'll say it's probably 50/50 to be honest. Okay, I I think I think when I started the first with the first card and I was mentioning, "Hey, I just started this wash first washing it did I'll say probably get when I'm talking when I actually got to talk to the other owners it probably did give them more of a "Hey, he's just starting. Let me hear what he has to say."

type of thing. >> But even with the community deals that I didn't say I have a pressure washer, I just said I'm a small local business. I still said I just started cuz when they asked how long I've been doing it, I said, "Oh, I just started this last Depending on who I'm talking to, I'll mention that I started with the if I'm showing them the big card, I'll mention I started with the pressure washer and just through the winter I kind of picked this up keep it more of the main one and the main hustle side hustle and the pressure washer become more of a part-time if I need extra spot food. Cuz I have a I have the three and the three by four and I have the six by uh four spot. >> Cool.

So, how would you describe the differences between obviously you're one of the you're the only person that I've had on this YouTube channel that has done both cards so far. So, how would you describe the difference between the two and what would you recommend to somebody that's just starting out? Should they follow what you did and do the 9 by 12 first or any other strategy? >> Um well, because I'm working in the Chicago area, I'm doing the suburbs I think the deals is better at least for like suburb areas because it's in a lower price range uh easier price for them to enter into. >> So, you mean the By deals you mean the community card?

>> Yeah, the community deals card, yeah. So, I kind of uh on the website I used the 9 by 12 website too as my first website for now. And the way I kind of separated both of them is that I kind of just used the community spotlight to show the 9 by 12 card and I just called this was a community deals. >> Okay, cool. >> Just to kind of make it seem like it's more cuz that that one has coupons on it where you can cut them out where these is just big those mini billboard ads.

>> Yeah. So, is is entrepreneurship your full-time gig or are you doing anything else on the side? >> So, I got I got my daytime uh get my daytime job goes from like 8:00 to 3:00, 8:00 to 2:00. Um actually I started doing Amazon Flex in November. I was able to finally get to I I was on the waitlist for over a year.

So, I was kind of just waiting it out. I finally got the email. So, what I had started doing now, my I've always had the entrepreneur brain as a kid. Like when when you talk to my parents they ask you but they at least ask me like what am I doing my imagination cuz there's over empty warehouse by our house and whenever we drove past it I'll say that's my that's my business. Well, what do you do?

Whatever I want. Well, what is it you make money? Whatever it is. Fantasy Factory style. >> Yeah, I love it.

And so, obviously you're busy. You're you're working the Amazon Flex. You got your your pretty full-time gig. You have pressure washing on the side. You have the postcards.

What does your day-to-day look like? Particularly, how do you get these postcards filled up? >> Time-wise, so actually what I like to do though when I'm doing Flex when I'm doing Amazon I like to because it kind of sends you randomly you don't have you don't pick where you're going to go. I'm still within the areas that I'm working the postcards anyways. So, I kind of use that same time when I'm hitting like the other day I passed a big towing company.

It looks like they tow more more or less like probably other tow trucks or maybe semi-trucks. But I use that driving time when I'm delivering to different businesses or just driving past the the small main streets to kind of try to remember different street names, where am I at? There's a coffee shop there, pizza shop there. And then when I get home later if I either took a picture of it while I was driving or if I just remember the street signs later I try to get out Google Maps, jump back into that area and kind of one by one go around who would be a who looks like they might be advertising around the area or who might want to try to drop off. Sometimes I'll pick out the list, sometimes I'll go through the whole block on Google Maps and start picking them out and calling them or emailing them.

My main thing is Facebook message, uh message and sprinkle with more calls and then emails cuz I cuz I don't get too many replies on emails cuz I don't use Google Google my uh Gmail either. So I don't have the tracker to see if they opened it. So so you're doing Facebook a lot. How obviously a lot of people are having trouble like with sending too many messages and potentially going to like promotions and sometimes they just get blocked all together. Is there anything you're doing to like work around that?

>> Yeah, that happens to me, too. I'm just count I'm just counting it. I kind of uh So I realized it it could be different for everybody cuz I realized some days I can get up to like 10 to 13 messages before [clears throat] I start before I start slowly they'll block me here, I can get another one and they'll block me there and I can get another one and they'll block me again. But I realized once I get up to seven to eight, that's like a good range for the day and then once I start hitting nine, 10, 11, sometimes they'll go through, sometimes I'll get blocked because too many spams. >> Yeah, fair enough.

And I want to go back to the the driving for dollars thing. So I call it driving for dollars because you're you're basically you're driving around while on the clock, which is good, you're double tasking, um and you know, figuring out what businesses look like they could use some advertising. Are you looking at billboards, too, and looking at who's putting out those signs in the yard and everything like that? this one actually like the the from the the first card, the pizza restaurant, I didn't realize that they were on the No, no, actually they weren't they weren't on the bus stop right down the street from where their store is at. They signed up with me I think they had put their ad on that bus stop the week before I actually got the card out.

And I wasn't [clears throat] We weren't communicating at all cuz remember, they were like one of the first They were actually the first ones to drop off and it took me like 2 and 1/2 more months to finish it then. >> And just randomly I drove past that cuz I had called her up so I was like, "Yeah, I'm getting ready to put them together." She like, "That's cool." Uh she she gave me a dis- extra discount cuz they already had a coupon code. So she gave me a little extra discount just for helping them out.

So when I went to go pick up the pizza uh the the week that I'm going to drop off the cards, that's how I went past the bus stop and seen that they had a ad there already. But I did use um other places in the same block they had the bus stop seats or had the little billboards on the side of the buildings. >> So I I'll just include those as other prospects too cuz they paid for it >> Absolutely. Th- Those are the ones with the with the budget they already believe in advertising and getting themselves in front of people. Um not necessarily just Facebook ads.

So those are those are hot prospects. Um are you using like newspapers, magazines, any other ways that you're figuring out who you should be reaching out to other than driving >> Uh so we have a or I guess every community over here the different neighborhoods they have their own either neighborhood magazines, neighborhood newspapers. So I just kind of follow those their pages on social media. And then from the pages on either who they're promoting already or who they're following cuz that's actually a good uh what I've been doing lately was go on to their followers. Who are they following already cuz they're all going to be businesses anyways.

>> So for like the card I'm working now, I'm doing the Berwyn area. And they all have their own different What are What are they called? The the chambers. >> Oh, yeah. >> So this one doesn't have its actual chamber, but they have a business development group where it's the same concept.

They just go through all through all the businesses in the area. So I followed their page and I'm going through everybody they either follow or they're promoting for different events. >> That's very smart cuz th- there's a lot of trust in those groups. We've had other people in the community that have joined those groups and if you really like make a good connection with them, everybody flocks towards the card because there's so much trust there. And a lot of them are already paying to be part of that group, so they have a budget and they're actively trying to grow their groups.

So, that's very So, you're doing everything that it sounds like pretty much on Facebook. >> I think you're frozen. Did you >> Well, well, well, one idea I wanted to give out too because um So, be right before I finished the the the community deals card, the 6 by 12, I had went to my first uh busi- um networking event. And it was actually So, what I like to do too is try to find businesses not only in the area. I used to Google Maps to do a radius of like 15-minute drive.

And then I just add like an extra couple miles to that, so it just gives me uh 5-6 mile radius. Something that's not like 30-40 minutes away, but you can drive there in 20 minutes real quick. >> And how are you How are you collecting their info? Are you just going one by one to collect their info or >> Well, what I've been doing now, I started using leads. >> Just to give me like a rough a rough draft of of uh businesses of that same But, what I do too, I can show you this after this.

I print it out my little I like physical things too. Mind you, I'm only 30, but I I I probably work like I'm 60. So, I print it out my little map of the area and it gives me like a good 15-minute drive. >> So, what I've been doing was I just pick, "Okay, I know La Grange is in the 15-minute area. Let me go zoom in on there.

What businesses they have? Any deals like lawn mowing, lawn care, uh H vacs?" And then I do the same thing for all the other area all the other neighborhoods within that 20-minute >> The one thing that Lead Scout does that's really going to help you like streamline what you're talking about is obviously it scrapes for leads for you, but all those leads that you saved show up on a map and you can select which ones you want to go to and then you can press generate route and it'll create a Google Maps route that you can put right on your phone that will bring you in the most efficient way to each of those businesses that you wanted to visit because obviously I mean you go you're driving through city streets there's a lot of different ways you can go to get there. So if it's if it's building the most efficient route it's going to save you some time. So I think that'll help you and just make your decision making a little bit quicker cuz you don't even have to think about, you know, which direction to go.

So Facebook you said you can sometimes send up to like 13 messages. That's not a whole lot. You must have some kind of magical script or something that that's getting these slots sold if you're not sending all that much volume there. >> Oh no, because it's taking me forever to fill them. Where where did I put the deals card at?

I just had it in my hand. So like I said for for the first one I just wanted to mine on there just because I didn't think this would be the hustle I decided to take on. I thought I would use it for ad for free ad for myself. But um also what I did to fill the spots is I just gave the like I called the card business the local loop because of the we have the L train in Chicago. >> I gave the local loop their own little spot just to be like cuz they have the name in the front, you know, this is the same business logo.

And then I gave my dad he's a realtor I just threw him on there first spot and I filled up the what you add your spot just to cover it up. So I made a small profit on this one because it's proof of concept for me basically and then I gave my spot to him. >> The deals card I was I wanted to finish it within two to three months. I was on the three-month mark. And I actually had the front most of the front filled.

These last two spots cuz this is the if you like it put your ad spot here. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> I was thinking about putting that anyways cuz this whole thing would have been covered up profit covered in But what happened here was I had a furniture store that actually went to the same same day I messaged them.

They messaged me back not even 20 minutes later, which is rare. >> Very very rare. But they messaged me back that they were interested and if I had time to stop by they could see a sample. This this is my concept to show them when I was there. And um he was interested, he liked it.

I got his information. I sent him the actually emailed him the payment link while I was there. But you know they're they're busy. They have people in the back too. So he's like at the end of the day I send the payment.

Next day I I like I I I give a break he's busy. Second day I message him nothing back. Third day I messaged him on Instagram nothing back. Fourth day I emailed him the email he gave me to send the link to which he had said he had that he got the link. And after I called him on that fourth day cuz the fourth fifth day that was my deadline day to send to the printers.

>> So that fifth day he wasn't messaging me, he wasn't calling, he wasn't picking up. So I just dropped the the spot. And it was simple. He just had to come pass by anyway. So he sent me the logo the day I sent him the link.

But so you know he ain't going to be honest if he don't pay for it. >> So he didn't pay for all five fifth days there. So instead of just having two of the coupons I decided to look up interesting facts of what trains because the whole thing is a train theme >> for [clears throat] for the area I was mailing to. And since they had the it's like those old school train stops because Brookfield they had the Brookfield Zoo over there and everything so you know it's an older area. >> So so all I got from there was I could actually read it.

Chicago I put Chicago facts cuz I finished Originally I was going to do just random Chicago train And right before I sent the card out I said well I'm mailing it to areas. This is going to be Brookfield. The next one I'm working on is Berwyn. >> It's a big card I sent to two neighborhoods. Uh I split the 5,000 between two neighborhoods.

So I had Melrose Park, Elmwood Park, and Oak Park. They just went through the last two communities. >> Yeah. So, one recommendation I'd have about the Obviously, chasing money is never fun, and sometimes people are just going to ghost you. But, one thing that can increase their urgency a little bit is First of all, I typically And you might already say this, but I typically say to them, "In order to I do ask for payment up front in order to officially claim your slot."

I just sent I just sent you the invoice. And so, I usually send them an invoice rather than a payment link because they they function the same, but an invoice has a deadline. So, it just gives them a little bit more urgency. You can set the deadline to, you know, a couple days before you actually need the money. And you can also automatically remind them.

Like, it'll send off reminder emails if you use Stripe. So, that's another way to add a little bit of urgency. And it seems less like they're, you know, shopping for the slot cuz when you send them a link, it feels like, "Okay, I can just, you know, join this link and pay anytime." Whereas, if you send them an invoice, it's got their name on it. It's like, "Okay, you owe me money."

So, it feels a little different when they receive it. So, that might help a little >> Yeah, I I have I have Stripe set up. So, I have the invoices there, but Well, since I was there on the phone, I had payment links saved on a file, so that's why I sent them that one. There. Um what I actually just did, too, I already had the Deals card done.

I get back to this one, too, real quick. So, like I said, I was on a deadline. I just wanted to get this one out. So, the first one I made profit, this one This is the first card I was doing still. I wanted my proof of concept that I can get these cards out.

So, I still just gave myself the whole the whole back So, if any HVACs or any roads or roofing companies want to see like how does the whole back would look, well, this is how the back would look. You can take this whole spot. Yeah, I think I had this one one and 1999. >> Cool. And how much are you charging How much are you charging for the little slots?

And I assume you're sending it to 2,500 doors? >> Well, that's close as I can get with on the EDDM. Yeah, and I actually actually I have a still one box left of the Deals. So, that's just my extra samples to give away now when I go see businesses. Yeah, I can leave that This is for you, so you can keep it in your files if you ever want to sign up.

>> And an interesting way too on the Spotlight card right before I you had these ready the QR code I used for here is a whole separate QR code that I have for like the websites or anything else to message me through. So, when you scan this one or if you scan this one compared to the website I'm going to have it's going to go to a website called Tally. Tally does different forms you can set up. So, I just set up a quick questionnaire form. Interested in this, here's my business, I'm this kind of business.

I set up the different tags they could just pick I'm interested, send me information, or I want the spot before it's gone. >> Joe, are you using Scan Lab for these QR >> No, not yet. >> You should. It's great. Yeah, free >> And then I'm So, since that just came out, they the pizza place when I did the first one, they asked me if I had a QR code tracker.

I said, yes, I'm I was using Canva's QR code maker. So, I said I could just make it, but I'm trying to work on getting that set up. Now you guys just Now that you just released that, I was thinking for the next one that I have this one uh business had their QR code on the on the custom ad. um so, now that you released it, my idea for the next one is you can either just put a static QR code on there just let them scan, or if you want to know how many people will scan it I offered them the service pretty cheap for uh probably something like 5 10 bucks for a month just to get a couple weeks and enough to cover it if I was to pay for it because part of the school thing. But use that as a extra they can see how many people actually scan their >> Mhm.

I would be honest with you. I wouldn't upcharge them for it. I would use it to help you close more deals and help you retain customers because I mean what's what's $10 when you could instead not charge them anything after and offer so much more value cuz now you can tell them, "Hey, I can actually track how much attention your ad is getting, and I can send you reports, and I'll keep in touch with you about these reports." That's going to be way more likely for them to now pay you $250 every single month. It's a retention strategy.

So, I would recommend, you know, not adding that extra friction of upselling them on the $10 thing, but um I think it could be helpful for just increasing the value so you can close sales a little bit quicker. Does that make sense? >> Yeah, show them you can you can show them they they people will get them and track them. >> Yeah, and it's a great What's up? >> No, no, I'm going to say funnily enough, uh when I did these cards that I sent to the post office on a and then that Monday they went out.

They went out early, too, because as soon as they went out in the morning, the pizza restaurant on the deals card, she messaged me right away saying that her mother-in-law got it in the mail at like 8:00 in the morning. >> That's awesome. Yeah, I love when they reach out about that. They get so excited sometimes. They're like, "Ah, my my friend texted me said they saw my my business on the card, it's working."

um what was I going to say? Oh, yeah, about the QR codes, it's also a good relationship builder. If you can Now you have an excuse to reach out to them in a way that you're not just asking for money. Now you can reach out to them mid-month with their report. Just pure value.

Hey, here's how many scans you got, and then you could give them a little insight on maybe why it didn't get that many scans, maybe their offer wasn't very good, or maybe it got a ton of scans, but they didn't get any results, maybe their landing page is bad, or how they're converting customers is bad. So, but it gives you a reason to reach out to them when you're not just asking for money, cuz if you're just asking for money every single month, "Hey, you want to you want to join again? Hey, you want to join again?" They might get a little sick of it. So, A- another thing I I actually haven't done it yet, it's just an idea I have, b- because I'm doing the Amazon while I'm driving around, it it's just really a small add-on, but I end up buying one of the LED lights.

they could like they have like this the adhesive side on it so you can stick it inside your car window. >> And I wish I would have brought it in with me. I have actually have it in the But one of the ideas I had as a extra when I sent out the postcards, I showed this to Who was it? The wallpaper company. So they had a custom ad.

My idea was if you get custom ads on the postcard, I'll just add the LED for free. So I So I put the name Let me see if I can turn it sideways. So I was able to build the name out of the LED lights. And then they If you get the cool It's just something I have in my head as an idea. If you get the custom, I make this automatically cuz I was going to sell these as like a mobile ad thing for like 35, 40 bucks for the month.

Cuz I'm driving around all those areas anyway, so it's kind of like half the taxis have the ad stuff on top of the >> Yeah, that's smart. So you're So they would have like a certain time limit that their their ad would be up there basically. >> That's cool. >> Same thing like the like the digital billboards, how they just have you you pay for seconds basically. >> Yeah.

Yeah, that's that's awesome. That's wicked smart. That's a good way to add a little bit of value and you know, make it more likely that they stick around. That's awesome. >> Yeah, so I did it with the cuz I cuz I had it for the front.

When I'm doing Amazon, I actually set it up with the Amazon logo just so people know that that car is sitting there for a >> Um but when I get the second one to put on the back, I did it for like a day or two just kind of see how I like it if I could still see out the back window. But I set it up with the wallpaper and the dentist since they're both the custom ones. It's just a free test in my head anyways. I sent them the picture and like hey, this is how it looks. It's something I'm testing out.

I'm going to do it for you guys cuz you got the only two that have the custom spots on the >> And this is It's just the one image that has the name and then a rotating thing of either the deal the dentist had the deal for $35 off a cleaning, and the wallpaper was just the >> Yeah, and >> What was their What was their reaction when you told them that you do this for >> Uh, I didn't really hear back from the dentist office, but the wallpaper thing she liked it. She like, "Okay, that's cool." Like she was actually like, "Well, where am I going to drive it around? What areas would they see if you're sitting in traffic?" So, I told her like, "Well, could I drive in the broad areas you could they could either see it 30 minutes away, 40 minutes away, 50 minutes away."

It's just like a It's just like a taxi It's just like a taxi that have them on top of the car. And it's it's a thing I'm testing now. So, if anybody who's who has custom spots, I'll probably put them on there for free just to you get extra extra views not only in the mailbox for now, but you're sitting at a red light. >> Yeah, so describe what exactly a custom spot is because my understanding of community card that the way I talked about it is just like it's a very simple logo, offer, contact info, industry usually. So, I take it you're doing a little different.

>> Yeah, I might have been one of Jake's videos that he was talking about the these cars they thought about the custom or not. But, originally I was just doing the $199 Is it $199 for the coupon? You get your like you said the logo, name, address, offer. Actually I like the way they they sent me this one. They sent me their coupon their QR code with the logo in it.

>> That's perfect. >> So, I actually like the way they did that. But, the custom spot I do $265 to build it, and I think like 15 or 20 bucks off if they send it themselves. I built this one, and they sent me the wallpaper one. >> Cool.

And do you design those ads yourself, or do you outsource that? >> Yeah, I do them myself. >> Cool. How long does that take you? >> With the With the power of AI?

Uh, well, for these small ones he the dentist office they sent me a image from their website, so I have something to work with. >> If I'm building the off hand, like I did for probably most of most of the 9 by 12 I think I'll say one ad took me two to three hours in total. And then I send it to them see see like if they want to change anything on it, edit it back again, probably three to four hours max. >> Cool. Well, you'll see I think this coming card that you have, once you start designing the ads for this, you might already know this, but GPT image 2 just came out.

It's a lot better at creating ads. It's way more precise with the words, doesn't mess up the words as much, much better at following instructions. It It almost looks like it something you can design yourself. Then you can pull it into Canva, and I think there's like a magic layers. You might already know about this.

Do you do this? >> was about to say yeah. The trick The trick I started doing cuz I found a video of just scrolling one day. >> Nice talk about that. >> Yeah, the So basically the way the way I started doing it, too, cuz I didn't I didn't have the I didn't know about the layers when I did the 9 by 12.

I found it out for this one. >> What I did for the 9 by 12 was I had the AI kind of make me more or less just a hard background image, and then I use that, and go to Canva, and then start layering on top of it myself whatever I was going to put with titles. Cuz I'll tell it, "Do me this, but leave the business name spot vacant, or leave the address spot vacant." So I'll leave just a blank spot, and then I'll go ahead and move it put it together. Now with the layers thing, for the for the deals card I did, I had [snorts] the dentist office send me their image.

I put the image through Canva. It changed it up to keep the same details, but just make a new a new image. Then I used the layers. It broke everything apart, and I was able to take out It had just like a big tooth as the as the image. I took out the tooth, put the family in.

I was able with the layering I was able to change how things fit because when the AI changed all this, some of the like squares were or some of the letterings were over the lines of the squares. Yeah, but as soon as you use the magic layer, it separates everything perfectly for you, so you can go ahead and play with it and you could knock stuff out, put another shape in. >> It's awesome. Yeah, so for the people listening, if anybody's designing with AI, they know like one of the issues is once you design an image, it's really bad at making edits afterwards. If like it messed one thing up, it's very hard to say, "Hey, change this."

and it actually do it precisely. So instead now, you can go to Canva. Do you need Canva Pro for for the magic layers? I have it, so I'm not sure if I actually need it. >> Okay, so Canva Pro.

So like $20 a month for Canva Pro, you could pull that AI generated image into Canva. >> Oh, it's 15? Oh, even better. >> Let's save Let's save them five Let's save them five bucks. I pay 15.

>> Come on, I was trying to upcharge him. >> But um you can bring it into Canva, press the magic layers button, and now all of the layers, like the phone number, the image it put in, everything is separated, so you can actually, you know, shrink it and edit it fully, which was an issue before. So that's magic. >> Yeah, cuz they just cuz it the the AI considers it just a flat image when you bring it in. Yeah, but at least now you can even for a regular image, I played around I was playing around with it just to see how it looks.

I put a regular photo in there and I was able to separate the photo from the person, the little bricks in the like little landing photo the where they were standing on. So it's cool to mess around with. >> Yeah. So I want to get to retention a little bit because so you said you had you had one you did the 9 by 12 card, you did the second the community card in a different neighborhood, right? And then this this next community card is in a different neighborhood from those other two, right?

>> It is like just neighborhood-wise, but this third card is within the vicinity of the first one cuz I actually have a business from the area on this one. >> Perfect. I was going to ask, so how are you going about Are you reaching out to those old advertisers or have you kept in touch with them over time? What has been your strategy to like keep them in your ecosystem? If there's been any.

>> So, I keep up with them just to like see if the interest is still when when I when they when when are their times that they like to advertise? Just like the no one had to hit them back up in those >> While I was working on the the 6x8 the 6 and 1/2 that sandwich shop in the area that I'm working now, they had me shout to me. But when I told I told they said they were interested. They didn't know I was working on this card. I told them where the area was.

It's like 30 minutes away from the where that was. So, they were like, "Nah, we'll we'll pass it up for this one, but when you're back in the area either where we are in Berwyn or where you did the first ones, let us know." So, as soon as I started now prospecting for this one, I reached back out. I just haven't heard back from them yet, but my plan is to go probably down there this weekend. And I walk in, talk to them, and just hit the area around there >> Totally.

And once once as I'm sure you've seen now that you have done a few cards, you have a lot of advertisers you've spoken to, a lot that you've sold to. How are you keeping track of everything? Do you have any setup there? >> Um the I still use the 9x12 CRM. my brain forgets to update it sometimes.

So, really the Facebook Messenger just the messages are more or less keeps me on track of how how long it was that I messaged I talked to these people. >> Like my my whole messenger my whole messenger now is basically businesses. >> Yeah, fair enough. >> You'll see scrolling >> Actually actually had to pin my fiance's me and my fiance's conversation. I had to put a pin in it just so it don't get >> You're just saying that not to get in >> No, I told her too cuz cuz I kept telling her she'll message me while I'm messaging other people and then it gets lost in the five messages.

I got to keep telling her to pass it. I was like, "You know what? Let me save it." So, that way I don't get in trouble I'm taking too long to reply. >> Yeah, fair.

So, um one thing I wanted to touch on is obviously this isn't your full-time gig, so it's taking a little bit longer for you to fill up these cards. And one thing that people are extremely scared of, it's one of the reasons a lot of people don't start, is they think they need a very strict deadline that they're going to tell advertisers, and they they have this huge fear that if they I don't sell out this card within 1 month, everybody's going to be running back to me asking for refunds and ruin my life. How are you navigating that because obviously the card took about three three months for your first card. Hang on like a roller coaster? >> Yeah, no, but So, I try to be up front with them when I wait when I when the ones that are jumping on all right when they pay for it, or even before when they're just asking how long it's going to take.

I'll try to tell them, well, I'm this far in, or I want it out between so and so many weeks. So, like now now well, the what I did for the videos and what I'm doing for the next one, I'm telling them between 6 to 8 weeks. >> So, so it gives me a nice buffer. Um I did have one business I think they were the second ones to sign on, maybe the second or third ones to sign on. That he felt it was already when I told him the first the first possible deadline, and I and I was already at it, he felt like, "Oh, well, you you said it's supposed to be out like a week or two ago."

Like, "Well, yeah, it's when it was we were just coming out of um the winter into the spring. So, a lot of businesses were telling me that, "Yeah, we're not advertising yet. It's still cold, foot traffic." In my head, it's like, "Well, don't it because you have no foot traffic, don't you want to advertise to get people to come in?" I mean, you're the one you're the one that needs people in there.

I'm just thinking in my head. But, I had that one business kind of ready to jump off. I was able to get keep him in mind by just telling them being honest with them. Yeah, it's taking a little longer than expected. Some people are just not ready to advertise yet because of the season.

Um I kept telling him if you do want the refund, I'll offer you a refund. I'm not going to hold your money hostage. this. >> But he was still cool with it. I think he gave I think he finally gave me like another ultimatum threat that he wanted to get the refund for the second line, but that was that same week that I was finishing up anyways.

So I told him everything's good now, we're done. I'm just getting ready to send this to the printer and then have to get it back to the printer cuz I I like sending it to myself myself to the post office. Cuz I like to get a picture on there with them. >> Yeah, well that sounds pretty chillaxed compared to what some people think it's going to be like because they think if it's not going to go out if they don't put it out within 1 month, they're going to lose all of their work and everybody's going to ask for refunds. But like you kind of experienced >> if you're up front with them.

They They are collecting businesses. It's not just like hey, I have all these automatic jump on and exactly see who wants to advertise, make it affordable for >> It's all about setting expectations up front. Usually my scripting is I'm I'm looking to fill up the card and put in the print order by mid to late, let's say, June. Mid to late June. >> Yeah, that's the same thing I use.

>> Exactly. Cuz you you use you two week And your your subtle language is implying I'm looking to do this. It's not a set deadline. And they understand that it takes a little bit of work to fill up this card naturally. And then if I am getting close to the deadline, I'll usually be proactive and reach out to them and say, "Hey, it is it's taking a little longer than expected to to to fill up this card.

Is there anybody that you know that that might be interested in hopping on as well?" Rather than going and apologizing to them and like taking the the lower ground. I I'd rather not be too apologetic and ask for their help cuz then it feels more like teamwork rather than me like, you know, curling up in a corner like, "Sorry. Sorry, I'm taking too long." Because they won't be so angry at you if you're not angry at yourself, honestly.

>> So I I do take on the same the same idea of keeping it industry exclusive. That way no one's competing with each other. >> So for the first card, I had daycare and online tutor. I had the daycare first. Well, no, I had the online tutor first and then I messaged her and asked her, "Hey, there's a daycare who's actually interested.

Are you okay with them? Because of the different age groups, you're online, they're in person." She said, "Yeah, it's fine. I don't care." So, she was she was happy with it.

The same thing happened with um these two. One's a dog uh everything, dog walker, pet cleaner, poop scoop. And then the other one's just a dog a mobile groomer. Which was the one who was uh who was uh telling me that it was taking a little long, but I told him, "You know, if you're interested, I'll give it back I'll give you a refund, but it takes a bit. We're almost done."

Uh he was the one I mentioned who said, "Hey, there's another dog business that's interested a pet business But they do everything. Can we just put a I mean, fine with the other fine." Cuz one got a percentage off any service. The other one got $15 off of the pet grooming. >> Yeah.

And this is exactly what I'm talking about. Businesses are so much more chillax on average than like that than people who are new to this business expect them to be. People kind of expect businesses to work like consumers. Consumers have wicked high expectations. Business owners understand that you're trying to run a business yourself and you know you have a lot of things going on, but you're working hard for them.

They understand that cuz they're also a business owner that has, you know, crazy expectations coming from consumers. So, it's usually um a lot more calm than people expect up front. Everybody kind of makes it a little dramatic in their head. So. >> I I think it depends also on the kind of people you just work with they get on the card.

Yeah. Cuz like the the good the one who wanted the refund, he was reasonable because his pet is getting long. He's not used to seeing me up he just wants to get his stuff out. But he understood a little bit where I was coming from. And honestly, one out of 13 14 businesses that I that actually got to sign up so far, that's not a bad he was the first and only one out of the two cards that talked about a refund.

>> Exactly. Yeah. So, how do you see this business growing into the future? Like, where do you see yourself in 1 year? Are you still working Amazon Flex?

What are you >> I I do like Flex. I just like I like side gigs. I like Flex because I could just use it quick quick money, but I'm also using it as a prospecting tool. >> Because I just actually had I got a problem. Actually just had a uh business cards made.

>> Nice. Is it a card? >> Same same same thing as the flyer I have in the school. Put a small version of the flyer. >> Oh, yeah.

>> Same same as the wording. >> Just basically describing it. It doesn't have the price on it, does it? >> No, no, no. >> They they they could scan the QR to send them right to the website.

And then the website has everything broke down for But now the idea cuz I just had these printed, now the idea is when I'm going into businesses doing Amazon, just have it under the package, leave it on the table with the package, and let let them do whatever they do if they're interested. >> Kill two birds with one stone. You're making money that you're getting paid to make money. It's nice. >> It's a good prospecting tool cuz it sends you to a lot of businesses or you're passing a lot of them.

And since this is like a main street concept to help main street help main street business advertise, whenever I'm going into these hair salons or I'm going into these uh restaurants to drop something off, I'm kind of trying to remember where I walked into. Take a I usually picture as I'm walking out. Just so when I get home, I can go back through the photos. These are the ones that crossed my mind who look like they might advertise. >> And try to either message them on Facebook.

If they don't have a Facebook or Instagram, then I go to the email. And if they don't reply for the first two emails after a couple of days, then I'll try the calls. >> Yeah. I like how casual you keep things. So, what what advice would you give to somebody who was in your position when you first started out?

Pretty pretty full-time job, pretty busy, might even have a little side gig of their own that they might want to advertise, but they haven't pulled the trigger yet because, you know, there's all kinds of reasons to hesitate. What should their first step be? >> Make the first call. I think Since Same I heard you and Jake say just start. I think I probably watched both of you guys' videos a good maybe 2 months to almost 3 months before I actually made the first call.

And then that was when I started slowly getting calls, emails, pick up slowly. And then I think right after I did the first card I had the idea cuz I was originally my thought was if I'm going to do the pressure washing, use the postcards as add-on of advertising. You're not advertising on a advertising agency, you're advertising with another business. It's just getting stuff But my brain works too fast and it doesn't like to stay on one topic a lot of the times. I like I like Don't do what I do.

I multitask way too I'll I'll throw out another project when I just started the project yesterday. >> Yeah, sounds like you You do have You do have a little bit of everything everywhere, but I mean, if it if it works for you >> It's worth It depends on the people because I like chaos, so I'm able to start it and keep it smoothly going and keeping track with everything cuz I use the CRM and I use just my head to kind of remember where things are. >> The CRM is my Once they're signed up, I put them there and I keep that in track how much how much is the card is so far. >> Yeah, like the card card manager? >> Yeah, basically.

I use it more as a manager, yeah. >> Perfect. So, let's say I delete this entire conversation right now. Actually, I forgot to record. Okay.

I made that joke last interview. I delete this entire conversation. You only have 30 seconds to speak to our audience. 30 seconds of pure value. What do you have to tell them?

>> Trust your gut. I think if you feel like you can actually do this, it is pretty easy. It just takes time. You need to keep pushing cuz there are times you're going to feel like, yeah, it's not working. You can probably get one or two in and be like, yeah, it's taking too long.

Maybe I should just send them a refund and tell them I dropped the ball. Or you can just keep going through it and get out something to show them, hey, it worked. Took some time, but we found >> Another idea I wanted to show real quick. I saw this from somebody in the in the school. >> Was the little stands on the way.

>> So, I just made this one last night actually because later on there's a another pizza business that's doing their grand opening. I found them off of the the chamber's website. So, they did the soft opening like a week or two ago, but today's the grand opening. So, I made it last night like if I slide through there, they got the Facebook for them, their Instagram, their little name and on the very small corner I put my little stamp of the local logo. >> So, that way I can just, hey, you just opened up.

Welcome to the business >> Yeah, are you going to do that more often? How much does one of those cost you to do? >> Um I bought a set of those for I think $7 on Amazon, $6 or $7. It was a set of So, the idea is if anybody likes it and wants it to as a thing in their probably just charge them for $6 or $7 and then use that to re-up on more of But, that's the This will be the second one I'm giving away and they're more as a giveaway for free. You just open type of thing.

The first one I did was a catering business that they do like They they do also cooking classes there. So, I went for their grand opening and gave them one. Awesome. Well, it's a smart way to add a little bit of good faith so that hopefully they reciprocate when it comes time to advertise with you. >> Yeah, something easy.

I thought I found the the logo. They would just take off the the social media and in Canva and have it fixed it up. It's a small thing on there. If they want something custom, yeah, I was saying that if they wanted like a custom version of it, that's when I would charge for it. >> Gotcha.

Yeah, that makes sense. Cool. Well, any other any other little secret tips that you have planned for the >> No, that's it for now. I The ideas I got, people go ahead and try. If anybody does other side things, I think those are your times to prospect.

If you know you're going to be doing a political card in that area, that's your time to prospect. See who's already advertising like you said, see who's doing the billboards. >> Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you're doing a great job, you know, stacking stacking things on top of each other, killing two birds with one stone, and showing that anybody in basically any situation can do this, whether they work a full-time job, they can they can make it work, you know, Facebook Messenger, in person, just while you're driving, collecting numbers, you're making it >> It's a good learning game. You you you figure out where your numbers are and what you're what you're capable of, that way you can put yourself in order.

>> Absolutely. Well, it's been a pleasure. I appreciate your time, and I look forward to seeing how your business continues to grow. >> All right, Mitchell, it's good talking to you. >> Now guys, I hope you enjoyed that interview.

If you want to be part of a community of 2,900 other 9-by-12ers all doing this around the country, we post as a group, we talk about what's winning together, and Joey, who you just listened to, is also in that group, so you can ask him questions. Then the link to join that group is in the community. It also will give you the full step-by-step course on how to get this business done from start to finish. As always, I love you. Peace.