Me teaching how I 5x’d my ROAS in BeauCrest’s first year

I refreshed my browser. Hoping for a change. Heart beating faster than war drums…palms sweaty. Fingers crossed.

It was my CRM that was open on the page I refreshed. Suddenly it felt like the network was too slow. I waited patiently for the page to load fully — all these took just about seven seconds.

And then it was done…and it hit me badly; a fresh wave of disappointment.

ZERO orders!

I sighed sadly in defeat. My career came flashing through my mind.

From the corner of my eyes I could see cartons of soaps staring back at me… soaps I’d invested all my money in when I launched my beauty ecommerce brand a few weeks ago. Unfortunately I couldn’t get people to buy them.

You see, just about four hours earlier, before I went to bed after staying up all night, I’d relaunched a new campaign, for the umpteenth time in less than two months. And just as with the previous campaigns, my hopes of success were dashed yet again!

My foray into ecommerce

I had been offering digital marketing and copywriting services for four years. Then I decided it was time to increase my income and start earning something steadier and more predictable. Most importantly, something that would make me benefit even more, personally, from my marketing and sales skills.

I chose ecommerce.

Luckily, I met an expert that taught me how to source for “hot-selling” products online, so I could import them and resell them for profits.

Even luckier was when I met my friend, Yusuf, an ecommerce guru who wanted to focus on some particular products and then decided to give me one of the hot products he was already selling — the Horse Oil Soap.

Finally, I didn’t just launch an ecommerce business, I was doing so in a niche/industry I loved so much — beauty/skincare.

I wasn’t bothered about marketing; I focused more on learning ecommerce management from my friend — in my mind I had a better marketing strategy.

After all, I’d been doing marketing for years and I wasn’t just certified generally as a digital marketing professional (CDMP) by DigitalMarketer.com, I was certified in all the major disciplines of digital marketing, individually. Was also trained and verified as a copywriter by AWAI (American Writers & Artists Inc.).

So what could go wrong, yea?

Launch Time!

I launched my ecommerce business in November 2017 — after building the website, funnel, necessary social media pages and a “powerful” Facebook ad campaign. It was time for the dough to start rolling in!

Well, nothing rolled in.

Was to leave the ad campaign running for the recommended 5 days. I couldn’t even wait that long. 3 days into the campaign, and nobody was buying anything. In fact, only a few people had taken the free offer at the top of our funnel, that was supposed to bring the “buyers” into the sale. It was an epic failure!

But my training and experience made me know that launches don’t always succeed from the get-go; might take a few tweaking and relaunches.

So I didn’t give up.

Looked at the data I’d gotten from my campaign and tried other things.

And then I kept retrying and retrying new things. Because nothing worked. And I almost gave up!

Ouch! 🙁

I never envisaged this much trouble. All I wanted to do was increase my income and move farther on my way to financial freedom.

I already had a beautiful wife and an amazing daughter to fend for — people I can’t afford to fail. Didn’t want to rely solely on the income inconsistency that came with my service business then(only if I knew better!).

I had put on hold a promising law career, practicing with my dad, just to follow my ultimate passion, internet marketing. So the worst thing that could happen to me was to fail and go back to my parents for help to support my young family — or look up to anyone for that matter.

I just wanted us to be free. In every way. Financial freedom, time freedom, spiritual freedom, decision freedom, etc. You know that feeling when you’re able to do ANYTHING you want, WHENEVER you want, without needing anyone’s permission or approval — or financial assistance.

That was all I desired.

Okay, there’s more…

And beyond that, it was depressing enough that after years of practicing as a digital marketing professional, even with some amazing testimonials under my belt, I couldn’t even get sales for my own business, not to talk of growing it. And people I would’ve thought I was a better marketer than were effortlessly making ecommerce work!

I questioned my skills, for the first time ever. I felt like a sham.

I then realized, disappointed, that when it comes to building a successful business, having a good or “hot” product isn’t enough. Neither is having a well-structured funnel or great sales copy. In fact, a good knowledge of Facebook ads — or any other digital marketing tactics — wouldn’t save you when your business is bound to fail.

Lessons learned. But…

I wasn’t going to give up yet.

I already invested a ton of money buying off my friend’s remaining stock and ordering a fresh set from China. And there’s all the money I’d spent on creating the website and purchasing a suite of MarTech tools to get everything up and functional.

I’d also consistently spent money on Facebook ads for almost two months.

So…this just had to work.

Solution?

January 2018, I decided to put the entire business on hold and go back to the drawing board. I was determined to find a solution and do everything possible to sell those soaps off — even if just the set I had!

My over-reliance on funnels and Facebook ads failed me woefully…so it was time to find a real solution.

Yes, the gurus that teach these obviously mean well, but what they’re selling you would most likely work better for those who already have a good business model.

And their strategies have probably not been tested on a general scale — in several markets outside theirs.

If you’ve ever taken a digital marketing course intended to help you grow your business or make money, but you failed, then you’d be able to relate here.

Building/growing a business is deeper than those fancy tactics online gurus peddle; it’s deeply rooted into some foundational, classic concepts of business, sales, persuasion, marketing, etc. — not the shiny objects that are a natural consequence of ‘digital’.

Anyway, on my journey to finding a permanent solution, I took new courses, visited old ones and consulted with a few experts. I focused on business growth this time, however. Not how to retarget with Facebook ads or how to sequence autoresponder emails.

Final attempt!

I’d done everything I could possibly think of till this point, and whatever I launched next would either be the final straw that breaks the camel’s back, or the breakthrough I’d been looking for.

If I failed again at that point, I’d probably just give up digital marketing entirely and stick to something else. Maybe freelance writing.

Unfortunately, that meant I’d have a ton of soaps sharing my workspace with me forever…reminding me daily of how much money I’d wasted and how I actually sucked at what I thought was my passion/calling and had practiced for years.

My ego would shatter and I’d probably go into hiding from the internet…feeling like a fraud for all the clients and students I’d had in the past.

I remained hopeful and kept looking for solution.

And then…

…someday — some life-altering day — I was watching a training by Ryan Deiss, co-founder of DigitalMarketer, when I heard his concept of the “Perfect Offer”.

And then I saw it; what had been denying me of the success I so much desired; I learnt that sales isn’t about going online and slapping pages and ads together…it should be a conversation with your prospect, full of irresistible offers, from the beginning of your campaign to the end.

I realized from that experience that the secret to successfully building a business online (or offline) isn’t about mastering the many tactics or platforms out there; but about tying the timeless elements of persuasion into the very foundation of your business, from the beginning to the end.

Don’t worry, it will make more sense to you in a moment.

Back to work…

I got so excited that I quickly went back to my business to make some changes. I didn’t have to touch those fancy things like funnels and automations…they were apparently not my problem.

I instead focused on my audience and allowed her to guide me into serving her; what she wants and how to communicate it to her. I changed my offers and my messages, basically.

But I still used same Facebook ad strategies and tactics; in fact, same audience I’d failed with weeks before was what I relaunched with.

Relaunch time (and results)!

I relaunched the campaign to sell my soaps on January 21, 2018. By January 27, I’d spent $140 advertising on Facebook and gotten orders worth over $3,000.

By the second week in February, we ran out of stock.

Soaps we couldn’t sell for almost 3 months, we sold off in 3 weeks, and had several orders we couldn’t fulfill. We had to rush-order a new stock from China.

Not just that, in the first year, even though I’d spent less than $4,400 in ads, we were able to get over 19,300 women to subscribe to our list and grow our social media following to 11,000+. We sold about 1,500 soaps during this period.

A framework was born!

I sat down to write out the exact steps I took to take my skincare business from failing consistently to now consistently getting five times return on my investment in ads. And then I used it to develop my own framework for growing a business.

Then I applied this framework/strategy to a digital product I’d failed to sell about a year earlier (I previously used the Product Launch Formula and while engagement was great, sales weren’t).

I created a new campaign from scratch using this framework, and after a few tests, I got a campaign that was profitable even at the low-priced frontend (without any upsells — now I wish I created great upsells though)!

Since then, the framework has grown into seven steps, as I keep using it to sell several products and services, from wristwatches to makeup, photography services, private school enrolments, dental services, cars, bar and lounge attendance, restaurants, and almost anything imaginable, both for myself and for clients.

Even though the I offer my services strictly to those who want to grow their business (not those who just want to start up — creating a good product is another ballgame), it can be used to build any business from scratch.

Transformation!

Ever since I created this system/framework and been using it to generate sales for my skincare business and other businesses, I’ve been able to grow my income and not just have enough to take care of my family and live in a better neighborhood, but also enough to save, invest, give and indulge in expensive passions like travel.

But that’s not the best part;

What is even cooler is that I was able to get my confidence back, even bigger, as a digital marketer and entrepreneur. I no longer feel like a sham, or even a scam. In fact, I have the confidence that I can enter practically any niche and succeed in it.

More so, while tactics are great and helpful, my success isn’t dependent on any platform or specific tactics. The way the system is created, even if you promote your business through traditional media (as long as your dream customers are there), you’ll succeed.

Life mission!

And now I’ve made it my mission to help as many entrepreneurs as possible to grow their business, using my framework, which I’ve now named the Septuplar Sales System.

This is because I know how it feels to have a great product or message that can transform lives but be unable to reach the right people or unable to serve them at the level you’d love to, all because of the complexities involved in navigating the marketing waters of this age.

What next?

Now you know my story, and the reason behind why I’m doing what I do (growing businesses). Going forward, I’ll be discussing this powerful framework/system, and the many ways I use this system to help other entrepreneurs.

You’ll also get case studies and success stories of other entrepreneurs using this system to grow their businesses.

So make sure you stay tuned to this blog. Don’t forget, it’s a daily blog (subsequent posts won’t be this long, I promise ????)

Talk soon,

Oludami Yomi-Alliyu

PS: What do you think about my story? And what do you look forward to learning from me? Please share in the comments and let’s continue this discussion there. Don’t forget to share this post too, to encourage other entrepreneurs.

Thank you!

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