Davis Lin is a Client Acquisition Strategist, and the founder of Client Acquisition Lab which specializes in helping coaches, consultants, and experts upgrade and systemize their client acquisition process, so they can get more highly targeted leads and clients without having to sacrifice more time.
Where did the idea for Client Acquisition Lab come from?
When I started my first consulting business over 4 years ago, I always found myself struggling with getting leads and clients on a consistent basis. My income was not stable, up one month and then down the next. So, it was really frustrating for me as my wife and I were also expecting our first child.
But, I was determined to change our situation. I read a lot of books, took a few courses and sought the help of other experts. Through months of testing and experimenting, I finally developed a simple client-getting process which allowed me to significantly increase my revenue while giving me more free time to spend time with my family.
I know that many coaches and consultants might be going through the same struggles just like I was a few years ago. Hence, I started this new business with the main purpose of helping coaches and consultants with their client acquisition process, and to help grow their business over the long term, so they can create a business they truly love and make a good income doing so.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
I wake up at 6 am every morning, and then I will do a 10-minute meditation exercise to get myself ready to start the day. During this meditation time, I will focus on what I’m grateful for and the goals I want to achieve. After that, I look at the things I’m planning to do today to keep me aware of the work I have to get done for the day.
Most of my day involves scheduled calls with my clients and creating content. By the evening, I will stop work around dinner time and spend time with my wife and son. And finally at night before I go to bed, I will always do this one thing to keep me productive – plan exactly what I will be doing for the next day.
How do you bring ideas to life?
Whenever I have an idea, I would first do thorough research to see if my idea is validated in the market. That means finding out whether this is an idea that has been proven to be receptive in the market before. To do so, I would go search on social media and forums to see if people are interested in the idea. Once I have done the research and validated my idea, I would then come up with a plan on exactly what I need to do and all the steps involved. Once the planning has been done, all that’s left to do is to execute it. After executing the plan, I see the response I get. If the response is good, it means my idea is successful. But if there is hardly any response, I will try and get feedback, and then iterate it based on the feedback. I will keep iterating until I get the response I want or entirely scratch the idea if the idea does not work out.
What’s one trend that excites you?
The one trend that really excites me the most is that more and more people are trying to start a business online. I always felt that in this day and age starting a business online is so easy to anyone, and the cost is relatively low, it would be a waste to just work a full-time job without at least trying to start an online business on the side.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
I always set specific short-term business goals and then map out the exact steps I have to take to achieve my goals. And with each step I would put a deadline on it. This way, I will know exactly what I have to be doing each and every day to achieve my end goal.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I would tell my younger self to start an online business earlier, and to not be afraid of making mistakes. When I was younger, I didn’t think of starting an online business but rather wanted to just get a full-time job. It’s only when I lost my job twice that I had no choice but to start my own business. Had I started my business on the side earlier on, I would have my business to lean back on when it happened.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
Starting an online business is safer than getting a 9 – 5 job because the startup cost can be very low and it’s also so much easier and quicker to get started than before.
Also, it has become so much easier to reach your target clients/customers for your business using various online platforms. So, as long as you have identified the right customer/client segment, create an offer that they truly need, and have the right systems in place to get them to buy, you will always have a profitable business.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Planning, executing and iterating. First, plan out the exact steps that you need to do to reach your end goal, then execute it according to plan. Once you’ve executed it, you get feedback from your audience. Then, you use their feedback to iterate and improve. It would be very hard to fail if this is done right.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
The one strategy that has helped my business grow leaps and bounds is by learning from others who had already achieved the results I wanted, and built a business that I would like to have, and then model after them.
There is no faster way to get your business growing more quickly than to find someone who has the experience and knowledge of what you want to do, and have that person look into your business and tell you exactly what you have to do to achieve the goals you want.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
When I was trying to sell my services via email marketing, I created email marketing materials based on what I assumed my target clients wanted.
That was a big mistake because I just assume that I fully understood all my target clients’ pains and problems without doing thorough market research. And that resulted in zero sales.
Then, I realised that all I had to do was simply “ask” people on my email list why they didn’t take up my offer. With their feedback and input, I was able to craft a much better email sequence that spoke directly to their pains and desires. That brought in a lot of sales.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
One business idea would be to offer consulting services to small business owners and solopreneurs. For example, doing social media marketing, SEO, or copywriting for small business owners. The one thing that all business owners need is marketing for their business. So providing marketing consulting to them would add value to their business.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
The best $100 I recently spent would be on books – Pre-Suasion by Robert Cialdini and The 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins.
Both books gave me ideas and insights on how I can improve my business, improve the experience I give my clients, and improve my productivity overall.
I highly encourage anyone to get these 2 books because just a single idea in these books can be worth a lot of money.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
Definitely Google drive and its web-based software office suit. It allows me to easily share files and documents with my clients and my team, and allow everyone to edit it at the same time.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
The Sticking Point Solution by Jay Abraham. He is truly a legend when it comes to business and marketing, and adopting the philosophy he distills in his book literally changed the way I do business and significantly increased my business revenue.
What is your favorite quote?
“Success is the sum of small efforts – repeated day in and day out” by Robert Collier. I love this quote because it reminds me that consistency is the key to achieving lasting success.
Key learnings:
- Always learn from people who have already achieved the results you want to get and model after them. That’s the surest, and fastest way to achieve the success you want.
- Never assume you know your clients/customers well, and always be getting feedback from them as you can get lots of valuable insights on how to improve and grow your business.
- Always plan in advance in detail and then execute on your plan diligently. This way, you will always know what you should be doing at any given day to achieve your goals without feeling lost.
Connect:
Davis Lin on Twitter: @DavisLinTweets
Davis Lin on Facebook:
Carlyn runs the day-to-day publishing operation here at ideamensch and interacts with our awesome customers and entrepreneurs. She is likely editing this with a cat on her lap.