bulktext

Okay folks, I have to remember that I am a newbie here so will try not to break any rules. Roll back time to mid 2007 and I was an immigrant to Ireland (who immigrates to Ireland?) and being totally broke, I had to find a job fast. Being one of the luckiest people alive, I was employed as general manager of a household waste recycling company. I have to be lucky because this was at the start of the global recession, and most employers were laying people off.

Wait! I am getting there: After a year on the job, the owner of the business told me that he would like to start using SMS text messaging to communicate with his customers. He had already sourced a supplier, but it was my job to implement. When he told me the price per SMS credit I was mortified, but sensibly kept my mouth shut. I knew that I could source bulk web-based SMS at less than half the price, but I instantly had a plan up my sleeve, so kept my big mouth shut. Yeah, sometimes I do talk too much!

Within a week I had registered a killer domain name and set myself up as a white label bulk SMS reseller. As soon as I had done this, I raised the subject with the owner of the business, but told him that I had found a cheaper supplier - I didn't tell him that it was myself. It took a lot of persuasion to get him to try an unknown business, but a "C'mon Dave, throw €100 at it, if it doesn't work then you haven't lost a bundle, but if it does work then I've saved you a heap of cash." That did the trick...

I resigned a month later and hit the phone and the streets. I walked in to every retailer, school, club, church, hospital and community organisation that I came across. It only took two weeks to achieve my tenth customer. I spent €100 on PPC Adwords in the second month, and by the end of the third month I had accumulated 80 regular paying customers.

I stopped paying for Adwords (I was only spending €200 per month) after six months and rely on SEO and social media for my marketing. Now, 8 years after starting on a budget of €5,000, I turn over more than €1million per year from over 6,000 customers.

What made me so successful? I guess it was courage. Courage to spot an opportunity and to back myself and convince myself that I could do it. Oh, and a whole lot of luck. Luck that increases with the amount of hard work put in.

I hope this inspires at least one person to make that move. If you're working for the man, you're never going to get rich! Go for it

fallonpp

Its a great success story David. I met you a few years back I cant remember where exactly It could have been a show of some sort. Do you mind me asking , who did you work for before this, what was the company or the owner?
Anyway all the best in the future.

seodeveloping

Sounds to me like your formula is simple... hard work + good idea x more hard work = success

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gingerninjas

That's such a great story, thanks so much for sharing! Can you tell us what marketing strategies you currently have in place to ensure that you remain at the top of the game? There's so much competition out there, I always believed that you have to be one step ahead, so to rely purely on social media seems even more risky than making the jump in the first place, do you agree? Congratulations again, having the confidence to back yourself in this day and age is crucial to becoming and remaining a success so I highly applaud you!

bulktext

Thanks for the kind words. The employer was Country Clean Recycling in Co Cork.

bulktext

I rely entirely on blog posts, SEO and social media for my marketing. I suppose I am fortunate in that I understand a wee bit about SEO, so get good page ranks with my posts.

I am very lucky to have #1 unpaid position on Google when you search "bulk text".

Luck or a brilliant domain choice? In some countries it is the generic term for wholesale SMS.