How Hard It Is To Raise Offline Business Outside US?

15 replies
Hello dear worriors,

I have a serious issue and I'm looking for feedback and hopefully some sort of advice.

I've been marketing online for like 2 years so far with some affiliate here and some adsense there. Which got me some decent income to actually raise an offline marketing business.

But the thing is I live in egypt, ok lets not get political here lol I LOVE egypt.

but no matter what you might get tagged as a scam or something for some reason. ( Ok if you are a racist PM and we can get this done with some privacy )

Can you provide some feeback because I don't want to get the foundation all done and get stuck , I'd rather retreat before I get into some deep muddy water.
#business #hard #offline #raise
  • Profile picture of the author Colm Whelan
    Do you mean how hard is it to market TO the US from OUTSIDE the US?
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    • Profile picture of the author MarcoLoveLife
      Originally Posted by Colm Whelan View Post

      Do you mean how hard is it to market TO the US from OUTSIDE the US?

      Well thats part of the question you because lets face it ( and this is just my opinion) , First part is how hard it is to target US from outside and second ( which is hard enough) and second part is how hard it is to target such market from africa which will get you some bad reputation by itself which will make it double hard.


      Thanks for your reply , and sort of advice is highly appreciated.
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      • Profile picture of the author Colm Whelan
        Originally Posted by MarcoLoveLife View Post

        Well thats part of the question you because lets face it ( and this is just my opinion) , First part is how hard it is to target US from outside and second ( which is hard enough) and second part is how hard it is to target such market from africa which will get you some bad reputation by itself which will make it double hard.
        Hey look on the bright side - at least you're not in Nigeria! Can you imagine how hard that would be?

        Given the relatively high value of a dollar or euro in Cairo, the potential returns for you are excellent, so this is worth investigating. I think you're right though. Marketing from anywhere in Africa to anywhere in Europe or N. America would be very tough. African (and many Asian) countries do not yet have a reputation for being excellent places to do business. In fact, some of them have a reputation the exact opposite.

        If I were you, and I had the requisite skills, I would look at providing services to offline marketers in the US or EU. Not as lucrative for sure, but a more educated market who are willing to deal abroad and are easier to sell to.
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  • Profile picture of the author dancorkill
    What do you mean get the foundation all done?

    Get clients first then worry about everything else. If you can't get clients there is no need for anything else.

    If you want to deal with English speaking countries, improve your English. Location doesn't matter.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
    Originally Posted by MarcoLoveLife View Post

    Can you provide some feeback because I don't want to get the foundation all done and get stuck.
    Don't do anything until you know how to get clients.....

    It sounds like you're doing things backwards and trying to build a business before you know where the clients will come from. This is crazy.

    Don't do anything except put together an offer for your services and find clients for them.

    You don't need anything to get business except an offer.
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    nothing to see here.

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    • Profile picture of the author MarcoLoveLife
      Originally Posted by Andyhenry View Post

      Don't do anything until you know how to get clients.....

      It sounds like you're doing things backwards and trying to build a business before you know where the clients will come from. This is crazy.

      Don't do anything except put together an offer for your services and find clients for them.

      You don't need anything to get business except an offer.
      I beg to differ, You can't start a business without some basic foundation, I'm not saying DBA ,EIN or LLC here , but I mean build up at least a decent website and regester your company name.

      I know that niching it down is so important when it comes to offline marketing and "targeted" market worth gold if you know find your way into your clients minds with all their hopes and fears.

      I made that already. I targeted few offline markets ( didn't make some offer because before finishing the basic foundation) but yet sooner or later I will need to expand for some US local markets and thats when you might get the bad reputation of African business which is my main question.

      Sorry Andyhenry but I don't see how you can approch any kind of business offering any sort of web service without having at least registered company and a good looking website ( which is a social proof after all).

      If you can't provide that service to yourself on the first place then how can they ever trust you?..

      I have an MBA so sorry I might sound a little old fashioned when it comes to branding anyway lol
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      • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
        Originally Posted by MarcoLoveLife View Post

        Sorry Andyhenry but I don't see how you can approch any kind of business offering any sort of web service without having at least registered company and a good looking website ( which is a social proof after all).

        If you can't provide that service to yourself on the first place then how can they ever trust you?..

        I have an MBA so sorry I might sound a little old fashioned when it comes to branding anyway lol
        No need to apologise - you obviously just have a different perspective.

        I'm not saying what I say out of some hypothetical start on a budget mentality.

        I have successfully been helping offline businesses for over a decade with NO website and no tangable business structure.

        Therefore I obviously would disagree with you because I HAVE Done it....

        I don't have an MBA so sorry if my approach is a bit too new.
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        nothing to see here.

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  • Profile picture of the author lizacrew
    I will need to expand for some US local markets and thats when you might get the bad reputation of African business which is my main question
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  • Profile picture of the author RKCastillo
    I think that you're worrying too much about things that have not even surfaced. Many people do business based on the reputation of the Company and not the Continent but that is if the company is established.

    I do think that you should at least register your business (if that is what you meant by foundations). Still, it would be a very bad idea to invest hundreds of man hours on a product that nobody wants. Do you know if anyone wants what you're offering?
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  • Profile picture of the author LasseKohau
    Hi MML, get started by offering one simple solution to business owners.

    Here are three ideas to get you started.

    1) Go to phone.com and create a account. You will get one phonenumber for a 10 D sub each month. Lease that phone number to a client, who needs a answering machine or a second line. Direct your phone.com number to his number in the US. Charge him 40 D a month - and you have a 30 d profit.

    2) Offer to set them up with an autoresponder service. Go to aweber and sign up. Its 20 D a month. Find 1 to 3 businessowners, who doesnt have a email capture n their homepage, and sell them the service of email catching an distribution. Charge 300 D a month to each client, and include one message a month. Extra messages each month, charge 100 D. Get 3 clients, and your profit is 880 D month.

    3) pick a popular niche on the internet and pick the largets search after keyword. Go down the lines. Search the results from 30 to 100 at Goggle, and see, if their sites is updated. If not, call them and offer them an article pack or two articles of fresh content for their blogs. Charge 20 D for two top articles. Go to fiverr, and have a star writer fo the articles for you for 5 D each. You make 10 D. for ech update. Put the customer on a article retention program, which means - you will provide fresh content every month.

    Three easy methods to get started and to gin clients. Most importnatly in offline consulting, be friendly, offer a service, deliver on time, help business owner !

    Start small with easy clients, and then expand. Get your name out and prove that you deliver, in spite of your location.

    LASSE
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    • Profile picture of the author MarcoLoveLife
      Originally Posted by LasseKohau View Post

      Hi MML, get started by offering one simple solution to business owners.

      Here are three ideas to get you started.

      1) Go to phone.com and create a account. You will get one phonenumber for a 10 D sub each month. Lease that phone number to a client, who needs a answering machine or a second line. Direct your phone.com number to his number in the US. Charge him 40 D a month - and you have a 30 d profit.

      2) Offer to set them up with an autoresponder service. Go to aweber and sign up. Its 20 D a month. Find 1 to 3 businessowners, who doesnt have a email capture n their homepage, and sell them the service of email catching an distribution. Charge 300 D a month to each client, and include one message a month. Extra messages each month, charge 100 D. Get 3 clients, and your profit is 880 D month.

      3) pick a popular niche on the internet and pick the largets search after keyword. Go down the lines. Search the results from 30 to 100 at Goggle, and see, if their sites is updated. If not, call them and offer them an article pack or two articles of fresh content for their blogs. Charge 20 D for two top articles. Go to fiverr, and have a star writer fo the articles for you for 5 D each. You make 10 D. for ech update. Put the customer on a article retention program, which means - you will provide fresh content every month.

      Three easy methods to get started and to gin clients. Most importnatly in offline consulting, be friendly, offer a service, deliver on time, help business owner !

      Start small with easy clients, and then expand. Get your name out and prove that you deliver, in spite of your location.

      LASSE
      Thanks LasseKohau for the tip, First time to hear about phone.com service.
      I was going to try regus.com for virtual office but it's little more advanced than phone.com I guess. They offer physical address wherever in the world which is pretty good in my case ( which what I thought ) because you can have office in any country which can disguise a little and keep me away from the bad african business reputation.

      Maybe I'm just worring to much but I like to make every thing planned first. This might sound a little cheesy butif you fail to plan you plan to fail. I've made a list of local businesses I can contact. But It would be better if oneday I can get deals out of local services because this adds more possibilities.
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      • Profile picture of the author LasseKohau
        As mjb stated, if you are unsecure on the US market, go local.

        I can give you a list of at least 200 great egp. companies, who needs your service.

        1. Get list
        2. Prepare service and pitch
        3. Call company, and get a descision maker
        4. Dont ask for a sale, ask for an advice of he/she knows of anyone - who could benefit from a Google page 1 ranking or whagtever service you sell !
        5. Take a yes or no, say thanks for helping. Next.

        Drum up business, its cold calling JD style !

        Fastest way to get known

        LASSE
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  • Profile picture of the author mjbmedia
    Hi MML, Dont Egypt business owners need your services too, maybe even more than US ones?
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    Mike

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  • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
    Egypt has a huge Travel/Tourism market, right?

    Why don't you start there (dominate some relevant keywords) and go from there? Offline business owners love to see results before they commit to something online - if you prove you can bring them more money, they'll listen to you more easily.

    Oh and please KIS: keep it simple.

    If you start doing each and every technique people will advice you, you'll end up doing too much... and doing nothing properly.

    Dominate your LOCAL keywords (travel,hotels,boat cruises, etc etc etc etc) and go from there.
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    People make good money selling to the rich. But the rich got rich selling to the masses.
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