You get no startup capital but you do have access to an empty PayPal account. How do you do it?

Lol, I’ve actually had to do this 4 times throughout my life…
And each time was way less than 30 days (longest was 11), so I’ll just tell you exactly what I did.
We’ll go with the last time I did this when I was the most experienced…
And it happened a couple years ago when I was finally getting my bank account back to a good place.
I was fired from my job about a year before that, and after not being able to find another job right away…
I immediately went into a financial downfall and let’s just say, things sucked for a few months…
But I didn’t know what else to do, so I finally decided I was going to become a freelancer and earn money that way.
As with every new venture, it seemed a lot easier in the beginning…
But after I got into the thick of it, I learned that was far from the case.
This led to me “hustling” for the next few months, then after hitting absolute burnout…
I finally swallowed my pride and purchased 2 online courses, one that was going to teach me a new skill and one that was going to teach me how to get jobs on Upwork.
Hustled through those courses over the next couple weeks, then 3.5 weeks after starting them…
I’d landed a long-term client at $45/hr, and well - life turned around pretty quick after that.
Not saying I was rich or anything, but it was nice to have a constant stream of income coming in again and gave me some breathing room to figure things out…
So after a little bit of thought, I decided to find more clients and pad my bank account until I was in a place to where I could try out other ventures.

Fast forward 12 months…

And I was sitting in a decent place financially, so I decided to put freelancing on the back burner and pursue other options.
I’ve tried so many got damn business ideas in my day that I can’t even remember which one I was chasing at this time, but if I remember correctly - I think this was around the time I was creating an e-commerce store with a friend of mine…
And I had enough cash to live for awhile, so there wasn’t really any urgency…
Until one day when I checked my bank account and noticed all my money was gone.
Confused, I called my bank right away…
And that’s when I was notified that a large back debt had come back to bite me in the ass, leaving me with pennies to survive…
Oh, and top of this?
I had 4 days until rent was due.
Frantic was an understatement, so I spent the first 6 hours running around, not getting anything accomplished…
But then I finally calmed down and realized I had to figure out something, ASAP.
This is when I started writing down different ways I could make money right away, and even though I came up with a bunch of ideas - I finally realized there was only one method I knew for sure…
Freelancing, but here was the problem - I’d always landed off Upwork.
Now this wouldn’t have been a problem from getting clients right away standpoint, but it was a problem with getting paid on time - as they didn’t release the funds until 6 days AFTER the job was completed…
So I knew that wasn’t an option.
This led to me doing a little more research, and after finding some information/getting very creative…
I finally put together a plan that helped me land $1,500 in 4 days - and here’s exactly how I did it.

Step #1 - Created a package that people will pay for

It always makes me laugh when people say making money is “so hard”, because when you really think about it - making money is actually extremely simple.
In the simplest terms, it’s really just an exchange in value…
Where you’re doing something for somebody who would consider the exchange worth $1,500 on their end...
So with that thought in mind, I started combining my skills in a way that would offer a perceived value of $1,500.
Now I’m a sales copywriter, so this did give me a lot of options…
But after writing down everything I could do, I finally decided I was going to create a Facebook funnel that’d generate leads for CPA (accounting) firms.
Did this because I also have my Master’s in Tax, so I knew CPA firms would love me…
And on top of this, creating a Facebook funnel (which was really just a landing page and Facebook Ad) wouldn’t take that long…
But if I could generate leads for them, I also knew they wouldn’t care how long it took me.
Anyway, after I decided on this package, I started Googling around for “virtual accounting firms” and after doing this for a solid 30 minutes…
I’d created a list of people who might pay for these services.
As for how I created this list, I simply followed the criteria of:
  • Must be in business for the last 3 years (did this by checking the age of their domain)
  • Must be young, like under 35 (as they’re the ones who are more likely to try Facebook Ads)
  • And had to offer packages of $2K or up…

Which funny enough, I think it’s a bad idea to actually state your prices on a website…
But I also knew people did this, so I looked through their websites and weeded them out that way.
I actually found 4 prospects that fit my criteria in these 30 minutes, so after that I moved onto:

Step #2 - Creating a training video

Remember, time was of the essence…
So I really couldn't afford to do the the traditional method of:
  • Cold email
  • Get them on the phone
  • Explain everything
  • Wait 2 weeks for them to make a decision
  • Etc...

Which is why I decided to chop off 90% of the process by creating a training video that not only explained what I did (because they always want to have a decent understanding of what I do)...
But at the end of the video, I made sure to mention how much it could help them as well.
Did this in a few different ways, but my main bread and butter were showing them previous results I’d gotten…
Then asking how amazing it would be to land a $2K client for $100 in ad spend (which is something I’ve done a time or two)...
And after I got through all that, I mentioned how I could do the same for them, but I don’t take on any client…
So if they were interested in working with me, they’d have to click on the button below and set up a time for a free consultation (if it makes any difference, I used Scheduling appointments and meetings is super easy with Calendly. for the scheduling software).
Did this because it’s very important to get clients on the phone, as they hardly take action right away if you don’t…
So after that was ready, I subscribed to a free trial of Landing Page Builder & Conversion Platform for Marketers | Landing Page Software (landing page software), uploaded my video/consultation link…
Then moved onto:

Step #3 - Emailing my shortlist

I just searched through my old emails for a good 20 minutes trying to find the email I sent, but they’re nowhere to be found and I can’t remember the exact templates…
But I do know it was something along the lines of:
Hey Josh,
I know you’re busy and I respect your time, so I’ll cut straight to the chase…
Over the last year or so I’ve specialized in helping online CPA firms grow their business with a simple 2-step funnel.
This is a process I actually created for my own bookkeeping business, but after seeing how amazing it worked I decided to venture out and help others with it…
Which provided me with a lot of steady clients along the way, but I actually had a spot open up recently, so I’ve been searching around for somebody who might be a great fit…
And after reading through your website, it looks like something that could help you- the reason why I’m reaching out.
If you’re interested, I created a training video that explains my entire process - and you can find that at the link below:
But if not, no worries at all…
Just wanted to reach out in case you might be interested.
-Sean
This works well as it’s short and straight to the point, while also avoiding all “sales” (as the video does that)...
So I sent this email out to all 4 of them and patiently watched my email after that, hoping for a consultation to come in soon.
I remember sending out the email later on in the evening (like 8:30 p.m. CST), so I didn’t expect a response that night…
And didn’t get one, but the next morning when I was at the gym - the greatest message came through on my phone…
Somebody (ok, it was actually Josh) had signed-up for a free consultation in 2 hours.
This led to me cutting my workout a little short, mainly so I could go home and prepare for our call (but also because I was too excited to pump iron after that)…
Then 2 hours later it was time for our call, so I rang him up and started:

Step #4 - Closing the deal

Now one thing most people don’t realize is that in order for people to buy right away, they have to have a reason to do so.
If not, they’ll “just think about it” forever…
So after we got through the small talk, we immediately jumped into the important part…
And since I’d already given him that training video, he didn’t have many questions…
Except for the big one, “how much would this cost me?”
This is when I went into my spiel, telling him about the “other costs” he’d have to consider, such as ad spend and landing page software…
Then after that, I mentioned how my normal price for this was $2K, and that could be paid half upfront, with the other half due on completion…
But if he was interested, I also offered a 25% discount for anybody who paid in full.
I could tell he got to thinking about it after hearing this, so after that, I mentioned how I only had one spot open right now, and I also had 3 consultations later on that day…
So if possible, I asked if he could give me an answer soon - that way I could let the others know before our call.
He thanked me for my time, told me he’d think about it, and a few hours later I’d received this email:
Which meant I’d made enough money to pay rent and be able to eat again, with an entire day to spare.

Long story short…

Now obviously this exact method isn’t going to work for everybody, as you might not have the exact skill I had…
But the same principles can apply to any situation:
  • Offer something people would be willing to pay for
  • Create some sort of “training manual” that not only explains how you do it, but also how much it can benefit them (which essentially serves as digital salesman)
  • Identify your target market (somebody who can afford your services and would want your offer)
  • Create a list of prospects
  • Email them in a way that gets them to watch the video
  • Do this until you get a free consultation to come in
  • Get them on the phone
  • Offer a special package that gets them to pay enough upfront to cover whatever you need
  • And if needed, create some sort of urgency so they decide soon...

Oh, and here’s the bonus hint - make sure you actually do the work…
Because if you don’t, they can easily dispute the charges and I’ve never had problems with this…
But I’ve read stories about other freelancers who couldn’t perform the work, so the client complained to PayPal…
And they lost every single time, which put them back to square one.
Hope this helps, and if you want to learn about setting up a side hustle that can prepare you for situations like this down the road…