u/nictcg

Hi, all.

Looking for honest feedback for a project I've been plugging away on. Here's the basic concept:

A digital management org that offers a monthly package for drivers looking to advance their racing career. Essentially, we'd handle the digital side of a drivers career—social media, driver landing page, always-ready sponsorship deck, print assets, and so forth. Similar to how a traditional agency operates for businesses, just for drivers. The goal would be to take all things digital off the drivers plate and manage it professionally in a way that builds a high-level personal brand, engages with fans, and positions for sponsorship.

Driver feedback so far:

• Great idea, but price dependent.
• Grassroots drivers need this, but are usually cash-poor.
• If it helps get sponsors, I'd be interested.
• Depends how much work is required on the drivers end to make it work.

Curious to hear any and all feedback—don't be shy!

This is not self-promotion. No ads, no links, and no sign-ups. No one will be contacted from this thread from my end.

Hi!

I launched a fully remote SMM agency in January 2024. We offer monthly social media management for small & mid-sized businesses across major platforms. We've also done a few one-off projects such as Mailchimp newsletters and web updates, but SMM is our only advertised service.

We offer one service package for a flat monthly price—no tiers, add-ons, retainers, etc. The price and service details are front & center on the website and do not change. This model has been well-received due to the ease of signup and no-haggle conversations, so we are not looking to change anything from an offer standpoint.

We're 2.5 years in and have maintained 100% CRR since launch, operate at 96% profit, $0.00 business debt, and have extremely low overhead due to being fully remote. I have bootstrapped everything at this point and currently handle all aspects of the business myself from prospecting to delivery. My current issue is with prospecting/outreach/qualifying leads. To be frank, I absolutely hate doing it and my frustrations with it are slowing starting to affect my mood toward the other parts of the business.

In talking with another agency owner that's had skin in the game for quite some time, he suggested bringing on a freelance or fractional SDR on a commission contract with a defined cap. (Example: $XXX per signed client with a cap of 5. if the cap is met, explore your options then.) Something flexible, remote, and work-as-you-want, so long as the results are there. The person would be equipped with all of the materials, scripts, and assets that we currently use and have had success with.

In theory, this would allow the person to treat it as more of a side hustle than a full time role. He claimed this approach worked for him a handful of years back and resulted in bringing the person on as a FTE some time later thanks to their successes.

The only real downside that was mentioned was that the hire's income was directly tied to his closing ability, so finding someone of quality was difficult since most SDRs worth their salt don't want to take that gamble. Paying per qualified meeting is a potential option, but not my favorite. I'm 100% fine with closing conversations, presentations, demos, and whatever else—it's the cold outreach that drives me up the wall.

Off the cuff, I'm curious to hear thoughts, feedback, and hands-on experience with a "freelance SDR" approach?

So, here is a weird situation that I never expected. Mostly ranting, but feel free to give your $0.02 if you'd like. I run an agency that launched in January 2024 after 10+ years in corpo marketing leadership. We work with smaller businesses offering a fixed-price monthly social media package paired with optional a la carte add-ons.

A quick bit of context—a couple of months ago, my biggest and longest-running client reached out and communicated that a few students from the local university had inquired about creating content for them as part of a quick school project. The client informed me they would be giving them temporary login access to Instagram for the project rather than burden me with the back and forth. I didn't think much of it and continued business as usual.

Over the next week or so, they posted four Reels. No brand standards in sight—colors were off, logos missing, weird filters, basic fonts. Stuck out like a sore thumb in the middle of the aligned content, but I let it slide because the client was aware and approved it. They finished up, logged out, and that was that. Average views, average engagement, nothing special.

A few days later, I reached out to inquire about coming in to film new content because I was getting to the end of my content bank from the last go-round. Typically, we'd film content every 90-days or so because it was always kind of a hassle for them to get the place film-ready due to the often-chaotic nature of the business. I was given the runaround and was never able to confirm a shoot date despite numerous attempts.

Fast forward to yesterday, the same client randomly texts me and wants out of their contract after 2.5 years. Why? The local university has a "student social media expert group" that was tasked to find a local business and take over their social channels as a long-term class project. THE SAME STUDENTS THAT DID THE REELS. They targeted my client and had been in communication for quite some time ironing out the details. The client had apparently long-accepted the offer and had already given them full access to everything by the time I was looped in. The innocent "quick school project" was, in fact, not an innocent quick school project.

They instructed me to stop all content two months before our current contract ends. They communicated that they would honor the contract and pay me through the end of it, but that I would no longer be contributing beyond the date given. The parting message was this:

"I'm giving them until July 31st. If they go off the rails during that time, I'll circle back."

I'm unsure what to do here because I have enjoyed them as a client, and their line of work is something I'm personally well-versed and interested in, so it comes easy and enjoyable. I also feel rather sour at the situation. Maybe I'm taking it too personally, but all of it feels gross. My team does not want to move forward with them even if the option IS there, however, losing them would be a sizeable hit financially and clients are only getting harder to come by.

For what it's worth, they have had GREAT results under us. Nothing negative has ever been communicated to me throughout the duration of our partnership and they frequently commented how much they appreciated the results they were getting.

Hi, all!

I run a digital marketing agency focused on fully remote social media management services for small businesses in the U.S. Since I frequently see questions pop up about social media, marketing, advertising, and the like, I want to answer your questions with no strings attached. I will not cold message anyone in this thread—this is purely informational.

If you're a small business owner, partner, or leader that's considered outsourcing social media or other digital marketing tasks, this is your chance to ask questions. Here's why I'm qualified to answer:

• My agency launched in January 2024 and currently has a 100% CRR. That means every single client we've ever signed, is still with us today.
• Prior to launching the agency, I spent 12 years in digital marketing leadership roles leading brand, social, and communications for big brands like Amazon, Whole Foods Market, and Coca-Cola.
• Our current client list spans automotive, specialty coffee, healthcare, professional services, CPG, and gaming, which has us creating content for Facebook, Instagram, Threads, LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok.
• We're transparent about every part of our business. Operating costs, service pricing, tech stack, margins, the good, the bad, the ugly—you name it. We have absolutely nothing to hide, because why would we?

Questions?