Joe Apfelbaum of Ajax Union. Joe has had several successful six-figure businesses, and Ajax Union is no exception. The company did $4 million last year, and they have plans to hit $6 million for revenue this year. Take a few notes from Joe’s playbook and take your own business to six-figure success.
Famous Five:
- Favorite Book? - Think and Grow Rich, Traction, and The Miracle Morning. Getting Things Done
- What CEO do you follow? — Tony Robbins
- Favorite online tool? — Google Docs, Trello and MailChimp
- Do you get 8 hours of sleep? — I sleep when I’m comfortable. Last night I got 9 hours of sleep
- If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – The importance of reading and studying books. Relationships matter.
Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 01:40 – Nathan introduces Joe
- 02:35 – Joe just had his fifth kid
- 02:55 – Ajax Union was not his first six-figure business
- 03:30 – It started as a side gig
- 04:05 – They did $500000 in revenue in 2009
- 04:25 – 2015 revenue was $4 million
- 04:45 – They shifted to focusing on their bottom line
- 05:00 – Revenue per client is $10000
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- 05:15 – A focus on giving better service, not bringing in more clients
- 05:25 – 20 employees
- 05:55 – Their goal for 2016 is 6 million
- 06:10 – Bottom-line margins were small in 2015
- 06:35 – He wanted to run a smaller business and lose less money
- 07:15 – The underlying cause of a lifestyle business
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- 07:35 – Paying himself well and living a good life
- 08:00 – Take-home income was over $200k
- 08:50 – First year revenue was $500000
- 09:15 – Paid on a retainer basis
- 10:25 – Unparalleled marketing support
- 10:45 – Churn is irrelevant for this stage of the company
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- 11:20 – They turn down clients.
- 11:35 – A focus on bottom-line growth this year
- 11:55 – Working with Jacobtime
- 12:30 – Joe is a killer marketer!
- 13:00 – Taking stable businesses and helping them take off
- 13:30 – An investor put in $1 million
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- 14:05 – They wanted the partnership
- 14:45 – Valuation for his company was very good
- 15:30 – An angel investment
- 15:45 – Profit sharing
- 16:15 – His podcast, CEO Mojo
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- 16:30 – Doing weekly interviews and figuring out the obstacles of getting to having six-figure businesses
- 17:10 – A goal to grow a database of content
- 17:25 – In the process of writing a book based on that content and creating courses
- 18:30 – The true value of documenting the stories of entrepreneurs
- 19:00 – He wants people to see that success in your business, life, and family is possible.
- 20:00 – People can follow Joe at Facebook.com/joeapfelbaum and on LinkedIn
- 20:20 – Snapchat and Instagram
- 22:30 – The Famous Five
3 Key Points:
- Start your business as a side gig, and make the transition to owning your own business easier.
- Create a lifestyle business that gives you more freedom to live a happy life.
- Focus on the quality of the service you are providing before you start drawing in more customers.
Resources Mentioned:
- Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
- Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
- Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
- Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
- Toptal – Great for business people to start building their app
- Think and Grow Rich, Traction, The Miracle Morning and Getting Things Done – Wherever you’re at with your life or your business, one of these books will be right for you!
- Google Docs, Trello, and MailChimp – Joe’s favorite online tools
- CEO Mojo – Follow Joe’s podcast to hear the stories of successful six-figure entrepreneurs
- Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives