VIDEO_ID: 4yjKyOyT9X8
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yjKyOyT9X8
FETCHED: 2026-02-23
CHARS: 45881
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100% of the time you don't get off the first call without getting a credit card. >> That's huge. So like you're you're cold calling somebody. How long are these calls going? >> There's no reason you can't go from hey Bob to thanks for the credit [music] card in 15 minutes. Does it feel salesy to them? >> What's up everybody? Today we've got an awesome guest in Balin. He's all the way overseas over in Europe. And Balin has made millions of dollars um helping local business owners with citations, listings, SEO, all that sort of stuff. So, he's going to share some game with us today, but for anybody who doesn't know who you are, we were just talking. He's in our community. Every like one month or two months, he goes in and just like mic drops, his post gets like 50 likes, 50 comments, and then he leaves again for a month. [gasps and laughter] So, u if y'all don't know who Balin is, go ahead and and tell them about yourself. >> Yeah, so uh basically I I used to work for an inc 5000 company running their sales floor and decided to start on my own. uh eight years ago now and I started with Yex. This was back when we were just doing citations. So it was no high level I never I didn't know anything about like Clickfunnels was back then everyone was using that. It was just Yex. So we directly was selling Yex. Um >> the we did we did that for six years exclusively before I found high level. I did $3 million in revenue in just uh citations. So, >> no add-ons. I mean, websites, you know, we obviously got to do websites, but it was mainly citations. >> That's crazy. >> So, then found high level and I went through the process everyone else did, you know, ooh, shiny. Ooh, shiny. Oo, shiny. And then figured out what I wanted to do and just stuck with it. >> Yeah. Okay. I love it. And so, walk us through, you've made millions doing citations. How are you getting these customers? Uh, so honestly just pulling leads off Google is the is the biggest one. I I I've done a lot of cold calling. I've been on the phones for majority of my life, like more than 50% of my life now. Um, so it was just finding names and numbers. That's all I do. Uh, in fact, you know, uh, the Yex rep came down when this was when we were doing directly with Yex and they asked the same thing like, "What are you I was like, I just need a phone number and a person's name. I don't even care the business name. Because you know when you get on that phone and you know the business owner, you're like, "Hey, is is the owner of ABC Plumbing there?" They're like, "Uh, no." When you get on versus like, "Hey, Bob, how's it going? It's Balling." And they're like, "Wait, what? You you you're know me." >> Yeah. >> Right. And so [laughter] so then they they talk to you. So that that's really it. Just anywhere I can get a name and phone number. >> That's awesome. Oh, man. And and Okay. Well, how long did it take you to get over or do you still have it? How long did it take you to get over just the fear of picking up the phone and dialing every day? >> Uh, I mean, I still hate it. [laughter] >> I'm trying to do everything I can to get, In fact, I don't really do cold calling anymore. I mean, you know, at this point, a lot of it is referral. Um, you know, then you find little little tricks here and there to get a a couple extra deals to to fill in what referrals don't. But um no, I mean I I I enjoy talking on the phone, but that initial I don't I enjoy talking to somebody that's sold. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> That's true. That's so talking to a referral is uh we actually our ads are all messed up right now. And so uh we I paused them. I was like, "All right, we're spending we're wasting like a couple thousand dollars a week right now because something's messed up." And so I'm trying to figure it out. But this week has been like pure bliss because every single person we're talking to has like deliberately looked us up like watched our YouTube videos. It's like a referral from a friend >> and Karly's like Carly's like my wife who's doing all the sales calls and stuff right now or the onboarding calls. She's just like >> this is amazing. This is amazing. Let's not do anything else. We're not getting any money but we're obviously growing slower because we're not running ads but it's like it's pure bliss. Um >> anyways but okay. So cold calling. Um, what would you say to somebody like you you said it right there, have the name of the business owner and just like act like you know who they are and just talk to them. What would you say to somebody who's like they're in that stage where like you got now where it's referrals and stuff, but you know, you got to go everybody's got to put their grind phase in, their rocky cut scene, so to speak, of like getting the ball rolling. And so, what are some pointers you would have to somebody who's in that cold calling stage or outreach stage and they're just grinding to get their first 100 customers? >> Don't give up. Uh, I mean honestly it's one of those things where you you know I've noticed and I've talked to a couple people too that you you'll hit this wall and this wall comes when you start getting customers and you start getting good because now you've got customers, now you got fulfillment. Now you have to figure out both and then now you're exhausted and you know I I put in 16 20our days when I first started this, right? like it was working from home, didn't see my family even though I was a door down. Yeah. >> Uh and you just want to give up like and then it gets harder. Uh because now you're juggling two things and [snorts] uh so just don't give up. Just just keep pushing through. Uh it's a numbers game. >> Yeah. >> You know, and look at look at uh you know, when I first started, I was probably closing 10%. >> Okay. >> Now I get on the phone. If I don't count referrals, my close rate's about 70%. >> Geez. >> So, seven out of 10, I'm closing. Like, 20 years of selling, you're just getting a credit, you know, >> you're not getting off that that phone call without a credit card number. So >> uh and that that all that all I mean it stems from just learning and and going through the motions and then you figure out okay this guy is going to say this I already know or or or you know this is going to be the objection this is going to be you know whatever it is. Um, >> yeah. Yeah. No, that's that's so good. And like I think one of the most discouraging parts about cold calling for a lot of people in the community that are cold calling to sell reviews or websites or citations or SEO or whatever is going from cold call to like, yeah, let's book a call. Let's book a demo call later. Let's book a demo call tomorrow or next week or whatever. And then the show up rate is just miserable, right? And you do all the things and people don't show up. And so, how often are you booking another call and how often are you trying to get the card on the very first call? So, okay. So, here's the thing. This is uh contrary to popular belief. I do not zoom. >> I do not zoom on zoom only on after card. >> Okay. >> So, here's here's why. >> One, it it's friction, >> right? I got to be in front of a computer. >> Yeah. Um, and so this, so this is kind of different for me, you know, because I know getting on a Zoom call, you're going to have better close rates, uh, and things like that, but for me, I I don't care if a roofer's on a roof because you could talk to me on a phone. >> Yeah. >> Right. You can't you can't Zoom. And so my show r's pretty good. I usually don't I mean, before we were booking like, you know, you book three on an hour, you're like, "Okay, I hope one shows up." Yeah. >> You know, and even then it was it was, you know, >> maybe. But 100% of the time, you don't get off the first call without getting a credit card. If they got to look for the card, they got to ask somebody, they anything it's I mean, you're you're your rate on it's a few percentage, right? Because they don't look at it this way, you know, as a you know, everyone in here is a business owner. Do you really have to go ask your wife about 400 bucks or 300 bucks a month? Like, do you really as a business owner? You don't. >> So, they're just getting off the phone. They're not telling you I got to ask my wife or I have to think about it. They're saying I'm busy. I got to go. >> Yeah. >> You know, then you didn't build the value. So anyway, so I just get on the phone with them right away soon as it's I mean I send out texts and things like that as as we went over in the community, you know, also for outreach. But I just get on the phone and that's just give me the information right then and there. This is what it is. Do you want to do it? If yes, I want your card. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the and one big thing with credit cards, people panic. They're like, "Uh, can I get your credit?" As soon as you do that, it's gone. You have to You have to be like It's a very natural, normal every day. I ask a hundred people a day a credit card. So, people have a tendency to do uh what you ask them to do, right? You you're asking them to do something, they're going to oblige. That's just how we are as humans. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, he asking confidently can make all the difference, right? It's like, um, okay. So, uh, I think that now like I just need you to like, so we need some sort of payment. Like, so do you have a credit card? You give me real quick. How's that sound? I'm not going to scam you. I promise. You know, versus like, great. So, to get that booked in, we need to get a card on file. Is it going to be a credit or debit? And he's like, >> I actually switched mine uh based on some of the videos I that you had and how you were kind of doing it where, you know, because one of my one of my big things is I include reviews, right? That's like I'm giving you a $200 um deal that includes reviews for you. I'm not going to charge you if you buy this other product, right? >> Uh but the I switched the card to the rebuilling >> and so I found it's really easy and and so my like here's some sauce. Like literally it's uh at the end of the call I'm like okay thanks we got everything about to say bye. Like they're feeling like they're about to get off and I go oh wait I totally forgot. Um, you know, there are there's SMS fees that I can't do anything about. I can't cover those for you. It's like half a cent or.7 cents, right? We can go over the exact amount. We don't up charge for them. I just need to get a card for that on file. And you'd be surprised how many people are like, "Oh, yeah, hold on one sec." And they don't even And they're like, "Wait a minute. What just happened?" >> And so >> that's it's it's increased. I would say it increased, you know, I mean, I probably went from 50 to 70% just switching to that close rate. That's huge. And what how long are these calls? So like you're you're cold calling somebody. How long are these calls going on? >> I'm a talker, dude. [snorts] So I can close I mean I've closed a $2,500 setup $500 a month citations we only deal in 15 minutes. That's record, right? I would say citations used to be half an hour. These calls now. So, my main focus is my family and traveling. So, >> I'll just get on a call and I'll just talk to that person because I'm not here pushing 16 hour days anymore. >> So, I'll talk to them for an hour or whatever. But, I mean, >> you can get this done in 15 minutes. There's no there's no reason you can't go from >> hey Bob to thanks for the credit card in 15 minutes. >> Wow. That's not >> That's freaking huge. That's crazy. Um, well, walk us through. So, you talk about, you know, you get to the end of the sale like, I didn't think about it. You you ask for the card. I didn't think about it. I need to ask my dog. I need to, you know, go do my homework. Whatever. Whatever they say, you know. Um, but you talk about, oh, you didn't build the value. So, walk us through kind of your process of building the value of like, hey, opener, hey Bob, what's up? You know, hey, Bob's balling, you know, being super comfortable, um, like you're their friend. Walk us from there all the way to building the value and then asking for the card. >> Yeah. So, so the big thing I I like to do is I like to create the problem, right? The pain points >> uh that I have the solution for. And so instead of asking them what their pain points are, you kind of >> again it's not not the normal way of doing things in sales, but you're kind of telling them what their pain points are and they'll agree with you, right? And because every business owner has the same pain point. They're not ranking. >> Yep. >> They're not getting phone calls, right? and everybody calls them and swears that they're going to give them a thousand leads a month and that's that's every business owner has it so why ask like that's that's obviously a pain point and so I I literally create the problem for them and and it goes for you know like like ranking for example ranking on Google what needs to happen well you need to get reviews you need to make sure that they're being responded to you and these are just some of the things uh I use merchant as well to help facilitate the rankings and and I go over everything the merchant does and at the end it's like oh wait uh and you know they'll just be like well well how do I do all that? It's like oh well believe it or not I actually have a solution for you know surprise surprise and it doesn't feel salesy to them because you're not selling them the product. So >> you're just telling what the issues are and then they're going to ask you hey fix this for help me how do I fix it and you're like hey I actually have a solution and then you go over the solution >> right you just built value. Yeah. >> You just said they literally just said, "I need this." >> Yeah. >> Right. And and so you build value. >> Yeah. So are you basically saying like, "Hey Bob, you know, Saul, none of you don't have any reviews in the last two years." Um and like can I just asking like what are you all doing to get reviews or like are you just saying pointing out all the problems? You don't have any reviews. They're not responded to. Your website sucks and I can't find you anywhere on Google when I look at plumbers in Dallas, Texas. Right. Are you just kind of presenting those problems like how you do that? Yeah. [clears throat] So, okay. So, that initial is is obviously, you know, Bob, you know, introducing myself and kind of going over, hey, I did some research. Look, looks like you're on page three. You're not getting reviews. Uh oh, actually, let me go back. Let me step back. So, I have started uh with, hey, this is a sales call. If you don't, you know, if you want to get off the phone, go ahead, but if you give me 30 seconds to make the decision, >> right? And and so that's worked really good. like just give me 30 seconds and you're upfront about it and then I just tell them like, "Hey, this is what's going on uh with your stuff. This is what I noticed." >> Yeah. >> Do you agree? Basically, do you agree? Right? Like, "Hey, you know, oh yeah, I'm not ranking. I've this and that. I've tried." And and they literally tell you everything. >> Yeah. [snorts] >> You know, once you get that initial I'm telling you that the the thing that people if you can get a name, it changes the dynamic of the conversation so much. Um because you know when you're like a business owner, they're not giving they're not open with you like they are with me, you know. And again, the tone it's I do this every day. I talk to a million people. That's how you act. It's normal. It's nothing crazy. But >> um yeah. So then I'll go over well, you know, why why do you think you're not ranking? Do you know how it works? >> And well, not really. Or someone's told me this or someone's told me that. And then I just break it down for him. Reviews, citations, the whole nine. >> Yeah. And uh a big one also again building value is you break it down like you're you're breaking this down to someone who has no idea what the internet is. >> Okay, cool. So you've emphasized multiple times getting that name is a big big deal in terms of just building that rapport quickly. Um and so how do you scrape lists or get lists um with the business owner's name? >> Okay, so what if if I I actually have a huge database of lists. I I the fell in my lap a little bit ago, so kind of cheat code, but um when we didn't Manta Manta is great. >> Um manta.com or I mean literally you just type in >> ABC roofing city, state owner and it tells you who the owner is. >> Wow. >> Right. It's going to come up on BBB Manta. Uh Manta is really really good. Um, there's a bunch of websites, you know, it's it's gonna and it's some a lot of the times it's on their website. It's just people don't look for it. You don't take the time to look for it. >> Yeah, for sure. And also like you can tell too, the owner operator ones, you can like just look through their reviews and you'll normally see their business, the owner's name in the review. Um, okay. So, that's great. So, now walk us talk us through you get the card on file uh on that call and now we're going to a Zoom. What offer are you selling? How are you packaging it? How are you delivering it? Uh walk us through that process. >> Yeah, so I so the the offer, so this is basically I kind of do the I go over what they need and then start with the smaller stuff like if they if they need a new website or if they need uh you know the reviews, right? [snorts] >> Uh and then I'll kind of go over their price points on that. And then the big the big upsell, right? the the $5.99, $8.99 is is really merchant. Um, and so I will just say, "Okay, look, you know, website, we could build your website. It's this much. If you want us to host it, it's $97 a month. You know, reviews, you got to get the reviews going. We'll automate that for you. It's $1.99 a month for that. Uh, but listen, your ranking is really where it's at." So then I go into the the merchant pitch um just going over what it does for them and say, "Look, it's x amount of money, right?" And and so my thing is I don't have set prices. If you looked at my pricing, it's all over the place, right? I just kind of get a feel for what kind of money maybe I can get out of, you know, out of somebody or or what they have, right? Like if they're an owner operator that they're like, "Well, I have 20 clients a month." They're not going to pay $8.99, but they'll pay $4.99 and we can help them their business. But >> yeah, >> so the thing is it's like, hey, look, it's $8.99, right? I'm going to give it to you for $6.99. I'm going to help you out for whatever reason. Um, and then I'm going to give you the $200 reviews and I'm just going to go ahead and throw in the website for you as well. >> And so now they're not looking at $6.99. Now they're looking at, oh, I just saved a bunch of money. Uh, and it's like BOGO. >> Yeah, BOGO. You don't need two shoes. You just want the discount on the second sho the second pair of shoes. So, >> yeah, just package it like that. You you you build a ton of value in this. Uh, and you're giving them a bunch of free stuff, which >> I don't mind doing your reviews for free when you're paying $6.99 a month. You know what I mean? I mean, it's really not. It's packaged in there. But >> yeah, >> it's all about it's all about the wording sales sales skills, I guess. I don't know. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, for sure. I mean, I think packaging >> packaging is can be nine10 the law, you know? It's like all about how you wrap it and and how how they perceive it. And I feel it's something I definitely need to improve. Like we're just like ours is Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we need we probably have a lot of things we could optimize there. But um yeah, I mean I've got eight packs of cookie dough in my fridge right now because they were BOGO at the grocery store. So it's like >> Exactly. See, [clears throat] >> I have packs of cookies, but I got them. [laughter] >> Yeah. No, exactly. It's same thing. It's funny. Uh so this is kind of where I came up with this idea of like packaging it the way I do was a couple years ago, uh our local store every like three weeks has a BOGO sale on meat, right? Yeah. >> And so they chicken breast is $3.99 a pound. >> That weekend when it's buy 1 get one free, it's $6.99 a pound and they're always on gone. They're the shelves are empty, right? And I'm like, and even my wife's like, "We got to buy more." I'm like, "It's the same price. You guys just don't pay attention to it." >> You're not looking at it was $3.99, I was $6.99, you're getting double. It's basically the same thing. >> Yeah. Uh, so anyway, so that's kind of where I came up with the concept of, well, let's just start here and come down and throw all this into a package and get it for the same amount of money that I want. Yeah. >> And and it works out it works out just fine. >> But the other So I >> I've had a few other agency owners that kind of laugh about this or uh it's a really weird one and so I use scholarship. Scholarship is a word that like doesn't exist in our industry, right? it's a discount or whatever. >> And so I go look right now there's this >> and I just base it off the person. So I ask questions like how many employees do you have >> or you know I in the be in the in between selling the product I'm getting this information. I want to know how much money you make without asking you how much money you make. >> How many crews do you have? How many trucks do you have? How many employees? Like these are telling me you're making a h 100red grand or you're making a million. >> Yeah. And you know if they're like five employees like look right now we have a scholarship for five you know businesses that are five employees or below or or if they say seven 10 employees or below if they say three it's five and below if they're oh it's just me it's owner operators it's a scholarship and I don't know why that word works eight years I've I've used this word and so I tested this and we switched to it. In fact, all of our when we before COVID, we had we had an office with salespeople, our setters, every single one of them was required to say like, "Hey, there's a scholarship right now and it's 4x amount and you're going to get $200 off a month." And they're like, "Scolarship?" Like, I don't know why it works. It's for school, right? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> But, uh, I have, in fact, there's somebody in the community I who reached out. And I talked to him and we got on a three-hour Zoom call >> and told him the same thing and like I the next day he sends me a text and he goes, "Dude, I sold 3.99 setup $5.99 a month >> and he's like and I would have never done that." And so I I actually should have asked him before this call if he used the scholarship thing, but everyone I tell they're like that's that's like really weird. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Right. It's a discount. >> It really makes sense, you know? It's like it's like we've been uh it's been beaten to our brains from growing up and going to school or whatever that hey a scholarship is good. Scholarship is good. You know I did something I got to save some money. Like there's a lot of good things that come associations we have with scholarships like status like oh I got a great scholarship right um you save money you know you're you're going to school whatever it is. And so I think I mean makes sense psychologically to me. Um one thing to go to to go dive into the fulfillment side with merchants. So what all is merchant doing? Um, what all are you kind of setting up in there? And, uh, what is kind of the delivery? Is merchant pretty automated? I really haven't delved too deep into merchant. Um, but yeah, I'd love to hear kind of what all you're selling through merchant and what the delivery is. >> Yeah. So, yeah, merchant is uh I mean, it's fairly fairly auto I mean, well, it's fully automated if you want to trust the AI, right? I don't. Um, so I do have a VA who basically pre-approves everything that Merchant does, but basically Merchant will reply to reviews. Um, it will put post out with geo tagging images. >> Uh, and so you just plug in the information and it does everything. Uh, and then you know my VA gets an email when it's time for a post and it it'll say this is the post. Do you want to change it? and it'll let you know you can go in and change it, edit if it said some weird stuff because it does AI. I mean, it's a >> it does say some weird stuff, but it gives >> it basically took her job from being able to handle like 20 people, right, to being able to handle a 100 clients because it's it's >> given you most of the information. >> Yeah. >> Um, it got rid just got rid of post, which was really >> uh question not post question and answers. Google got rid of question answers, which was an awesome selling point, by the way. I'm really upset about that >> because nobody does Q&A. I'm like, well, that's why you're not ranking cuz but people don't ask me questions. I know, but I have a system that will ask itself questions and answer it. >> And so, I still haven't uh figured out how I'm going to get around that one because that was a huge selling point, weirdly, because it's it's a very weird thing. Nobody uses that. >> Yeah. >> But it really big selling point. But um yeah, so so merchant will do the post. It'll it'll uh basically audit their entire uh business listing. Make sure that the descriptions are have SEO or have the keywords have SEO descriptions. Yeah. >> Their description has SEO keywords in it and audit it and then it does heat maps and everything. But yeah, I mean it's literally >> the emails that merchants sends out my clients will reply to thinking I sent them. So they're that good. And all the time I get, "Wow, you guys are doing so much work because it sends updates." Like, "We did this, this, and this. We did three posts this this week. We did >> uh this update." And >> yeah, >> it's crazy. >> Sitting in Paris, >> dude, it's crazy how much how much I just This keeps getting reaffirmed to me because I suck. I suck at selling stuff that I'm not like that I'm not like, "Oh yeah, this is going to change your business, right?" Like the reason why I sell reviews is like you can see the numbers. It's easy. It obviously helps you rank better. You know, they can see them coming in. It's, you know, easy for me to wrap my head around whatever. But like it's so crazy how many business owners like love paying three.99 a month just to know that something's happening like activity is happening right because they hear on ads and they hear on from their friends all the time or whatever like hey you need to >> manage your Google business profile and mentally a lot of them want to pay 3.99 a month to check that box and say yes you know I'm doing that or somebody's doing that and like my first client ever actually my they paid me the probably the biggest retainer I ever I've ever had. Yeah, they definitely did. And it wasn't until like nine months in that I was like I think they just like want to not have to worry about marketing. Like they're they're not worried about results. They're not worried about whatever. They just like want to see activity. They want to know what like they just want me to tell them what I'm doing and like they don't care. And it's like >> I was I mean I took their business from uh 23 reviews to over a thousand reviews, ranking number one on Google everywhere in the area. They're still crushing to this day. Um but I was like I don't really think they care that much. you know. >> Um, and so it's it's wild and and it's crazy. So merchant will do all the reporting and tell them all the, you know, tell them all the activity that's going on and stuff. >> Yeah. Send the weekly update. So it sends weekly updates month in a monthly update with a heat map so they can actually see their rankings changing. Um, and then it'll also so the client has to upload images. So it makes it very they make it very easy. They have a link. They click the link and they upload images from their phone. Mhm. >> And so you can put in like, you know, 50 images and it'll just start using them as it as a system's like, "Okay, we need to make a post now." When it gets low, it starts messaging, emailing, "Hey, we're getting low on images. Send me some more." They don't even realize that that's a >> Yeah. Yeah. >> You know, like like literally they'll they'll they'll respond to the email because I can see, you know, what the if they respond back because it comes from like an email that that we can see >> and they'll be like, "Oh, okay. Hey, I I'll upload those as soon as I can." And I'm like, "This was totally AI." Like, "This is really cool." But >> the the other thing that I love about it, and you're right, first of all, your roofer that's doing four million, five million revenue, right, is not looking at three, four, $500 coming out of his account. He doesn't notice it. >> Um, but my favorite thing in this industry, and this this was the big reason why I started on my own, actually, is I I really didn't like how the big companies treat their clients, their credit card numbers, right? Hi, Boo. These guys, they don't care. They're going to replace you. uh fulfillment was just terrible. Um and so I didn't want that to happen. So so my favorite thing is getting text messages or or somebody just being like holy, you know, crap like my business is doing amazing. It just happened [snorts] August. I had somebody was my second person on because I just switched to merchant, second person on merchant. I was still nervous about merchant >> and he he he uh messaged me four weeks later. He's like, "I'm so busy. I could barely keep up." and I was sitting around before I talked to you and I was like, "Okay, cool. Merchant's good." And and I just went full in on merchant, right? Because >> that's all I needed to hear. Like it it actually works. And >> uh just like you, like I know I wrap my head around it works. I you know, I was like, "Oh, can I get $2.99 a month? Can I get three?" And I was like, "Okay, cool. This works. I want $6.99 a month. That's it." Like >> because it works, you know. And >> is it doing as well? Is it doing citations and stuff? You can you can add citations as well to it. And so what I do so I actually don't do citations right off the bat to see what happens and then if for whatever reason they need that extra push, right? [snorts] I don't know. I I don't know why I have this like theory that if you just do 100% of everything that needs to be done, you you like if it doesn't work, you have nothing. What do you do? >> Yeah. Nothing to push, >> right? You have nowhere. Yeah. You have no you have no way to save the client either. And if it's like four months, 5 months, they're like, "Hey, I'm not super happy with the results." Cool. Let me throw on citations for you. Or, hey, we're not doing citations. That's an extra x amount of month, and it's an upsell. And for clients that's working really well, it's like, "Hey, do you want to do better?" >> Yeah. >> For an extra 200 bucks a month, or when whatever you're you're you're selling. Merchant charges like 20, I think, for their citations. Yeah. 20 because high level's 30. >> Okay. >> Um, for the X. So, it's a great upsell. >> Yeah. Um, so no, I don't I don't include it and it gives me somewhere to go if for whatever reason again I have yet to have merchant fail me at this point. So reviews and merchant has not failed me. Uh, your I use I've tweaked your system over the you know because I've been it's been a year actually. Yeah, >> I think it's Yeah, it's a year this month or maybe October, >> but I've tweaked your system since then. But it's the the nifty images. Greatest thing. Greatest thing ever. Like that's so awesome that you, you know, you showed me that cuz that's that is actually how I sell people to, hey, I'm already paying for this with House Call Pro. I get it. But I go, well, you don't get this. >> Yeah. Wow, that's really cool, you know. >> Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. >> Yeah. I know. And it's just like I mean, it's just like that Q&A thing. It's like, it's crazy how sometimes I just want to uh, you know, figuratively hit business owners up against the head and say, "Hey, like here's the things that actually matter. I'm going to help you with that." Whatever. And then you mention, oh yeah, you know, we can do some Q&A on your pro Google business profile. I'm like, that's great. I love it. You know, you're like, it's just it's just like sexy sells better than like the truth sometimes, which sucks, but uh it is what it is, you And at the end of the day, as long as you're as long as you are, you know, wrapping the pill, what they actually need in turkey or whatever it is to get the dog to eat that the pill they actually need, then it doesn't really matter as long as you're being ethical about it, you know. But um yeah, no, that's that's awesome. Well, walk us through where where are you at right now? So, uh you're traveling uh you're traveling the world and enjoying life that way. So, that's awesome. But from a business perspective, like what does your business look like now? How many clients are do you have? Are you kind of scaling it back because you're traveling so much or what are the plans? >> Yeah. So, so yeah. So, me and my wife had that hard of discussion of look, I worked a lot of hours. Uh, got this up to where it is. Do we kind of step back and enjoy? We have a 2-year-old before she starts school. This is our chance to go travel the world and kind of just just not grow the business and let it organically grow or do I just hit it hard and and double, triple, quadruple? and she was like, "Look, let's just travel and we're going to be she turns five, we're stuck, right? We want the school and everything." >> Yeah. >> So, I kind of >> surprisingly I was like, "Okay, let's not grow." And then the second I said, "Let's not grow." Exact opposite happened. So, I grew I grew quite a bit. But yeah, I mean I, you know, I'm around 30k a month. >> That's kind of where that's that's a a good, >> you know, number to be at. I I I mean, yeah, great. Sure, I I want to double or triple eventually, but >> yeah, >> I'm really enjoying my life right now. Like, it's really that's the hard thing is like, you know, we you know, people want to ask about revenue and things like that. I said, I don't think you understand. Like, I work from 400 p.m. because I'm in Europe and I work US hours till about midnight. I get up at 7 a.m. From 7 am to 4, I'm with my wife and kid every seven days a week. >> We're in a different country all the time, >> right? uh we just go, "Hey, you want to run over to this country?" Yeah, let's just go. Right. Uh and so I don't have to worry about, hey, I've got all these appointments and and I don't know, it's really awesome life. Like I know a lot of people are going to be like, well, why stop there? But I mean, it's still I mean, I hit 30K, so like >> Yeah. No, it's the it's the story of the like investment banker and the fisherman. Have you heard that story before? >> It's an amazing story. It's um it's I know it's in the book uh five levels or five types of wealth by Sah Sahil Bloom, but it's like so this investment banker or whatever is on vacation, right? He's down at some island and he sees a fisherman like chilling in his hammock uh who's been fishing all day, but now he's just chilling and he's just hanging out, having a good time on the beach, whatever. And uh the investment maker is like, "Hey, I see your little small boat here. Like you should work longer hours today so that you can go buy a bigger boat, right?" And then and then when you have a bigger boat, you can you can, you know, work more hours and get more fisherman on. You can get a fleet of boats. And then and then from there, you can, you know, you can go go public and sell your company or whatever. And then when you do all that, you'll be able to hang out and chill and do as much as you want to. Or wait, I'm butchering this story so bad. But it's like, [laughter] but it's like the the the fisherman's like, "Okay, then what? Then what? Then what?" And he keeps going and the investment maker keeps telling how he can level up his business in the future, which isn't even promised. That's the craziest thing about it, too. It's like Mhm. Like cuz like I said, we cut the ads last week cuz something's going going going wrong. Just transparently. I was I was like frustrated. I was like, "This is frustrating." We had just hired a sales guy. Just hired a sales guy. So got a sales guy on like, "Oh, we don't have any sales calls anymore. Great. This is awesome." You know, and I can't figure out that. And um and I just cut the ads off and we've just been kind of growing from referrals and stuff. And uh we've had more time. My wife and I have been happier. you know, we've gone gone on more walks and it's like we could work really really hard so that one day in 10 years we can go out to lunch and we can go on more walks whenever or we can just do that now, you [laughter] know. Um, and I think there is like a there is a spot where where everybody has a different line, you know, where it's like where is that for you in your business? And it's funny how much [sighs] less mental capacity and um money and how much more profitable you are when you're not constantly pushing and striving and chipping and chiseling away like next one, one more, one more, one more. Because like I looked at our expenses this year and it's like I've spent over 30k this year just like trying to learn things to do from people like coaching programs, going to game communities, uh one-on-one coaching, uh events, all this sort of stuff. And it's like that'd be 30k like pretty much in my pocket if I was just like a little more content, you know? >> Nice trip to Rome in 2027. >> That's right. That's right. I I that's I mean and yeah, well, you know, obviously you're younger. I'm I'm 40, right? I have a two-year-old. I you know, so I'm trying to enjoy these years and then I'm like, look, she's going to go to school and she's going to be gone all day. I'll go back to hustling then. >> Yeah. >> But I don't know a lot of people that would complain about 30k if 10 hours a week [laughter] traveling the world. So, >> it's it's definitely doable, you know. It's it's not I mean, it's not easy. Don't don't get me wrong. like it's not easy to get here as you know >> um anyone else in the community like it's >> there's no cheat codes that stop asking for the cheat codes just get in get in the ditch and and just like the rest of us you know >> [snorts] >> um but the the ones that do >> they're the ones that make it and and you know then life's great on the other side >> dude. Yeah. No, I think I think we uh we underestimate what is required to grow the business and build the business and we underestimate what is required to maintain the business. Like that's it's the same thing with like losing weight or building muscle or like developing any skill. It's like it's really really hard to do it, but once you kind of like have something, it's pretty easy to keep it at homeostasis, right? You know, it's like you kind of know what's going on. And so the grow the growth is always going to be hard, but then um >> maintenance can be fun and a little bit easier. I still I still have clients from eight years ago. So that's uh you know and I mean back then we were selling it for you know like I think he's 199 a month right which is like not a lot of money now but at eight years >> Yeah. >> That's like 20omek. >> Yeah. So you know you get a hundred of those that's not that bad. >> Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Yeah, >> I think that's another another privilege of or another benefit of going through the rocky cut scene where you're just chipping chipping chipping chipping chipping away. And you will get, you know, out of kind of when you're sifting through the muck of all like bad clients and people that are going to churn or people that have crazy expectations or whatever it is, like you will get a solid base of people who don't really text you, their card goes through, you know, they stay forever, they're happy, they refer their friends, and that'll be like your solid base to grow from. And and that's that's been so true with us like you know still see all every single day pretty much get a stripe notification for somebody that I haven't talked to them in a year and a half. That's awesome, you know. >> Yeah. Oh yeah. I that's my So that I do uh I think Alex Hermosi said it uh I can't remember. I think it was Alex. He's he always said like if you if you take care of the money or he said it in one of his podcasts, if you take care of the money, the money will grow. It something like that. See, now I'm butchering things that people said, >> but or like paying attention to the money. So, I have like every morning because the time zone is different, right? Obviously, um, and so the bank batches out in the middle of the night and then I see I don't see it cuz I'm sleeping. >> First thing I do every morning is check that >> settlement, you know, and it's like >> I didn't do that before I heard that. Like he said like I can't remember what it was. >> Yeah, I remember what you're talking about. It's like what you pay attention to or something. I know you're talking about. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, I started paying attention to it and then like I don't know what it is about like paying it. But it's like all of a sudden you have like a you know like your first I don't know $500 day and you're like wow that feels really good. I want another one of those. >> Yeah. >> And then then you go $1,000 day. You're like, "Well, that feels really good. I want another one of those." You know, and I don't know what it is for me. Something with the 13th. 13th's my biggest day. It's like a $4,500 day. [laughter] >> Yeah. I don't know why, but I every quiet basically on the four on the 13th it's like so 14th is a great day, right? [laughter] >> Yeah. >> But but every morning that's it's like routine. I I wake up, you know, I I check it check grab my phone, check the email, there it is. Okay, cool. We can go on our day. I have one day it's really I have one day maybe it's the 13th that I have so many and one day that it's a zero and I I don't I hate that day. >> Yeah. Yeah. I'm just starting >> it's actually it's actually the seventh which isn't that like everyone's lucky number and 13's not that's kind of weird. >> Yeah. No. >> Um but I ignore that day and I for the longest time I haven't sold a client on the seventh and I'm like maybe maybe he's right. Maybe because I'm ignoring that day and you know but anyway um >> yeah so I don't know where I was going with that but yeah. >> No I it's good stuff. I think um I do notice that like I think a great practice for every business owner is to like weekly or at some point just like go through the bank and go through the bank statement and go through their credit card statement because like when I was starting I was like who the heck is a business owner and not looking at their bank statement every day or who like not looking at their their their credit card statement every you know day but then you get in the business and you get busy and you just like start paying for stuff and then you just forget you know and then I go I go to the into the MX statement every single week and I can't I probably cut one or two subscriptions every single week and I'm like what are we even what are we even doing? Why am I signing up for this stuff? >> Oh yeah. >> But um no that's that's great. Well this has been amazing. Um I'm I hope people taking a lot away from this. I mean cold calling um citations merchant all that you're doing is is awesome. You obviously have the proof to back it up and I think you shared some some absolute bombs. So um I'll have all of Balin's stuff linked down below. I think that I have gotten pretty good at the lead generation side. I have gotten pretty good at uh for review harvest and for I think the high level affiliate channel and my YouTube channel stuff, but I'm pretty good at the lead generation side, generating awareness, generating attention, generating people to like raise their hand. I think my probably biggest weakness, although like I have closed probably uh we've at this point we've closed over 900 businesses on Review Harvest, but we do free trials like our prices are pretty cheap. like it's not necessarily a an impressive sale. And so I think probably my biggest weakness um is is that sales piece. And so that's something that I've been working on right now. I've been working on scripting and and going through my sales script and trying to get better about it. But um yeah, no, I would love to see some content from you about sales. >> Yeah, I'm thinking about doing it. Scholarship, dude. Just switch to it right now. We're doing a scholarship. >> We're doing a scholarship. >> $200 off for exactly your niche little scenario for your client. like, oh, you're you're 40 and you own a roofing company and you're you have five employees that there's a there's a scholarship for that >> and you have a yellow shirt on. Actually, the yellow shirt scholarship ends tomorrow. >> Yeah, there you go. >> So, yeah. Cool. Yeah, that'll be good. >> Well, thanks for hopping on. We'll have stuff linked down below. Leave some questions down below in the chat if you want to have want have them back on. Maybe we could hop on again. We could go through some role playing or we could do some live cold calling or whatever. But um yeah, thanks for on balling. >> Yeah, for sure. Appreciate it. >> See you.