Growing up art and machines always had my attention, whether drawing or building something. I started drawing when I was only 4 years old. By 8 years old I was gluing together model Apache helicopters and sports cars. In middle school I gained my first entrepreneurial experience, selling my art work to students. Ever since, my dream was to become a fulltime entrepreneur. I am proud to finally be on the break of achieving this lifelong goal. My skills and passions coming full circle have been key to my business success.
My father retired as an IT manager for Baltimore City School System. So it’s no surprise that I’ve had a computer since I was very young. Since I had some basic computer skills, I was able to get a temp job as a computer technician. I was employed with the school system for almost 5 years before the end of my contract. Now I can handle my own tech support; from reimaging computers to even building a desktops from scratch. Over the months these skills have been essential to my business.
Before I gained my IT skills I was already involved in online marketing. When I first started I was doing affiliate campaigns through Google AdWords. Down the line I started drop shipping goods on eBay. I was having success with converging sales, but my profit margins where very slim. I stopped actively marketing as a computer tech, but kept learning about web marketing, knowing I would be returning to this industry. Soon I started taking interest in web design because its ties into online marketing and the familiar artistic out let. These skills have allowed me to start Colossus Marketing Solutions and provide online marketing for businesses.
**What Is Colossus**
Colossus Marketing Solutions is an emerging internet marketing and web design company founded September 2015. I provide advance online marketing for small businesses at affordable prices. This allows growing and established smalls businesses alike, even new business owners, to have an expanding and relevant online presence. Each client is given a 1-on-1 consultation to develop an individual marketing strategy to fit their needs. Customers can start small with simple lead generation websites made for customer acquisition or go advance with custom CRM websites. No matter if your budget is limited Colossus can still provide online essentials like social media marketing, PPC (pay-per-click), content marketing, SEO with analytics, even e-commerce with portal support, and more. Colossus Marketing Solutions stands true to its slogan, Big Marketing for Small Businesses.
**Small Businesses- The Under Served**
The standard SEO (Search Engine Optimization) agency charges $2,500-$5000+ upfront for publishing just one website! Plus $2000+/mo for continued lead generation services and web support. Small businesses need advance online marketing no less then large businesses do. But with such exorbitant prices many small businesses are falling between the cracks, with a whopping 46% of small businesses having no website! Millions of business owners think they can’t afford to invest into these essential marketing tools needed to grow.
Computer services are one of the fastest growing small business sectors in the US, yet small businesses everywhere are under served. Small business everywhere are missing the boat with 91% of their websites not being mobile friendly, even though roughly 50% of all searches are done on mobile devices. Less than 20% of small businesses do any kind of acquisition marketing, leaving an unbelievable 80% of businesses missing the boat.
**Colossus’s Colossal Opportunity**
While my business is a startup, Colossus Marketing Solutions is positioned to start generating cash flow immediately. I have acquired one client that his already made a payment. He’s so impressed with my work he’s been spreading the word around about my services to other entrepreneurs located in California. So far he has 6 guaranteed referral clients for me as soon as I launch his first 1 of 3 websites. This is huge for my business because I am located in Baltimore, Maryland. New businesses rarely are able to start acquiring customers on a national level so quickly. I am currently to say I’m only a couple weeks away from his first site being ready to launch.
I will soon have another client once the weather turns around a little more. He will need lead generation websites for his new painting company and his existing real estate business. I also have several more well-established business owners interested in my services. They understand I am a young entrepreneur with a new business in need of funds, I have recently followed up with these prospects and they are still very much looking forward to my first live projects.
Referrals are great, but every business must be able to generate its new customers to gain stability. I use a proven prospecting system that allows me to proactively introduce my services to potential clients. This is a very challenging task to conquer in my industry. This will allow Colossus to grow progressively for years to come. With the help of the Kiva I will soon be about to start prospecting new clients daily. My prospecting system is completely sustainable, even as a startup. This is greatly because SEO and lead generation services generate residual revenue with contracts renegotiations every 6 months to a 1 year.
**Giving Back To My Communities & Small Businesses**
I want to give back to the same people that gives my business and dreams life, the small business community. Without the small business community Colossus could not exist. I would like to help out other small business owners who are in of need of assistance just like me. Colossus Marketing Solutions will be a known supporter of foundations supporting young entrepreneurs and at risk communities. I will be starting out with two charity campaigns:
1.) Colossus Marketing Solutions will donate $50 to a small business owner on Kiva Zip for every one of the six referral customers my first client has for me. Donating a total of $300.
2.) Colossus Marketing Solutions will be teaming up with the GBLA (Greater Baltimore Leadership Association) to organize a community fundraiser. Due to the challenge of organizing a successful community fund raiser will be planning to hold the event sometime in July or August. Colossus Marketing Solutions will be giving a $500 donation and continue to help them main support for young entrepreneurs and my community.
Office/Workspace Materials-It would be nice to have a real work space.
*Business Cards-$30
*Office Supplies-$40
Protection & Solidification of Business: Colossus Marketing Solutions needs to protect its unique brand and be registered as a business officially
*Formal Registration of LLC-$75
*Copyright-$70 ($35 per logo)
*Trademark-$325
Computer Up-Grades: My laptop is just barely making the cut. My work is very demanding, requiring my laptop need more RAM and storage space. I also need to back up my projects.
*8GB RAM Memory upgrade-$50
*960GB SSD Hard Disk Drive-$270
*2TB External Hard Disk Drive-$100
Web Marketing Support: I gained most of my online marketing skills from experience and studying over the years. In July of 2015 I discover an online marketing program/community that showed me a whole new way to monetize my talents. It was because of this program I was able to gain my first client next to no capital! Prospecting is hard for web designers/marketers and being able to do so is priceless. We also work together as a community to greatly increase our page rankings and more. Financial hiccups put me behind on my dues.
*Two Months-$800
Publishing & Maintenance of Websites: I have to be publish multiple websites for me, my clients, and my prospecting system. It cost me $360 to build each website and cover 2 months of maintenance.
*First client’s 3 websites-$1,080
*Prospecting System (Starting with 4 Websites)-$1,440
*Put Colossus’s flagship website and lead generation website online-$720