72 - How to Start a Negative COGS Business with Chris Koerner
Oct 18, 2024
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Chris Koerner, Nik's business partner and a savvy entrepreneur, joins the discussion on innovative business strategies. They dive into starting a YouTube channel for home services with engaging time-lapse videos. The duo also unpacks the Instagram Close Friends feature as a tool for influencers to boost engagement. Plus, they explore the intriguing concept of Negative COGS—getting products for free or even paid to acquire them. Listen for inspiring stories like college students transforming lake weed removal into a thriving business!
Utilizing Instagram's Close Friends feature can significantly enhance engagement, providing a strategic tool for marketers to connect with audiences.
The concept of Negative COGS enables entrepreneurs to acquire products at no cost or for profit, paving the way for innovative business models.
Deep dives
Leveraging Instagram's Close Friends Feature
The Close Friends feature on Instagram allows users to share stories exclusively with selected followers, enhancing engagement significantly. When a user posts to their Close Friends list, their story is prioritized, resulting in a potential increase of views by three to six times compared to normal posts. This feature can be harnessed effectively for marketing purposes; for example, a story promoting a free resource garnered significant engagement and subscribers. By reaching out to influencers with large followings, a service can be offered to manage this feature, maximizing their audience engagement for a flat fee, providing a lucrative opportunity for entrepreneurs.
Valuable Insights from Social Media Followers
Understanding who follows a social media account can unlock new marketing opportunities for business owners. By scraping follower data, including contact information, businesses can create targeted outreach campaigns or collaborations with influential accounts. Utilizing tools available on freelancing platforms, users can gain access to a comprehensive list of their followers, facilitating cold outreach for potential partnerships and newsletter sign-ups. This approach highlights the importance of being aware of your audience, as it can lead to significant growth and engagement in a competitive marketplace.
Harnessing the Creator Economy
The creator economy has opened new avenues for monetization that did not exist with traditional advertising mediums. With the rise of social media, anyone can build a micro-business and reach consumers directly, leveraging their platforms to sell products and services. New features and changes in social media dynamics create continuous opportunities for innovative business ideas. Businesses that adapt to these changes and find new ways to engage their audiences can thrive in this evolving landscape, emphasizing the need for marketers to stay agile and proactive.
Innovative Home Services Business Ideas
Starting a home services business can be significantly enhanced through the use of social media platforms by showcasing before-and-after transformations via time-lapse videos. Industries such as pressure washing, pool cleaning, and landscaping can effectively engage audiences with visually satisfying content, leading to increased visibility and client acquisition. Examples of successful ventures demonstrate the potential for growth through visual marketing strategies and the viral nature of these videos. Entrepreneurs are encouraged to consider these types of businesses that not only fulfill a need in their communities but also capitalize on the power of social media for marketing.
Join me, Nik (https://x.com/CoFoundersNik), and my business partner, Chris Koerner (http://tkopod.co/p-x), as we talk about some exciting business ideas and what's happening in our companies. In this episode, we explore how to start a YouTube channel for your home services business by creating time-lapse videos to use as a marketing funnel. We also discuss how to leverage Instagram's Close Friends feature as a marketing channel for influencers to boost engagement.
We talk about the concept of Negative COGS (Cost of Goods Sold), which is all about getting products for free or even being paid to acquire them and then turning around to sell those products. We share examples like EcoScraps, turning surplus food waste into a profitable business. We also discuss the story of a lake weed removal business started by two college students, who scaled up from manual labor to using machinery with smart social media marketing. Chris's YouTube: http://tkopod.co/p-yt
Questions this Episode Answers:
How can you use time-lapse videos to promote your home services business?
What is the Instagram Close Friends feature and how can it be used for marketing?
How does the concept of Negative COGS work, and how can you apply it?
What are the steps to starting a lake weed removal business and scaling it?
How can you leverage follower data to create unique collaboration opportunities and boost engagement?
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Love it or hate it, I'd love your feedback. Please fill out this brief survey with your opinion or send me an email at Nik@cofounders.com with your thoughts. __________________________
00:00 Highlights and Introduction 01:05 Introduction to the Close Friends Feature on Instagram 01:54 Leveraging Close Friends for Increased Engagement 03:10 Monetizing the Close Friends Feature 06:21 Scraping Instagram Followers for Business Opportunities 11:32 Exploring Negative COGS Business Ideas 15:37 The Lake Weed Removal Business 17:36 Chemical-Free Pond and Lake Cleaning 17:59 Going Viral on Social Media 18:45 A Generous Offer 19:00 Business Boom and Social Media Success 20:22 Franchising and Licensing Opportunities 20:43 Top 10 Media-Accelerated Home Services Businesses 21:50 Pressure Washing and Pool Cleaning 23:33 Home Cleaning and Tree Trimming 25:46 Painting and Landscaping 31:13 Window Washing and Gutter Cleaning 31:37 Carpet Cleaning and Business Strategy 32:16 Leveraging Social Media for Business Growth 34:23 Partnering with Nationwide Franchisors
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