2 builders who never spoke to each other

Start at the bottom of the market and climb

Serving the smallest operators first teaches you the workflow the larger ones also have, and the unglamorous entry tier is where reputation gets built. One early client big enough to pay the bills is a trap if it hides the fact that you have no repeatable way of finding the next.

The method

1. 01

   An anchor client that arrives before any pipeline is a trap: the revenue hides the fact that you have no repeatable way of finding the next one.

2. 02

   Do not skip the unglamorous entry tier of your market. The route in is low margin work for small buyers until you have a reputation, then you drop them.

3. 03

   Start with the smallest operators in a trade and move up. Serving home based businesses first is what teaches you the workflow the larger ones also have.

What it returned

• £2,500

  The former employer became first and largest client. Peak earnings reached £2,500 a month, and when that client entered administration there were nowhere near enough others to survive on.

• 100

  RepairDesk aimed at small home based repair shops first, then consulted SaaS specialists on moving upmarket, and had more than 100 repair stores on the platform within two months.

• Small IT consultancies typically serve individuals and tiny firms cheaply for a couple of years first. Trying to jump straight to business only contracts is named as the broken part of the model.

Sources

• Shutting Down my “IT-Manager-for-Hire” BusinessJames Cort · failory.com · Which were the causes of Bediwin Information Services failure? · undated
• Turning a Personal Problem into a $100k/mo SaaSUsman Butt · failory.com · Which were your marketing strategies to grow your business? · undated