Building a $100K/Mo Business in Under a Year: Laura Roeder's Story

Laura Roeder, a young entrepreneur with a passion for building websites and businesses, achieved impressive success with her social media scheduling software, Edgar. In just 11 months after launching, Edgar reached a remarkable milestone of $100,000 in monthly recurring revenue.

• Laura’s journey began with her social media marketing education company, LKR Social Media, where she identified a pain point: manually scheduling social media posts.
• This led to the development of Edgar, an automated solution for scheduling social media content.
• Edgar’s rapid growth was fueled by Laura’s strong marketing strategy and a pre-existing audience from LKR Social Media.

The Power of Email Marketing: Leveraging a Pre-Existing Audience

Laura emphasizes the importance of email marketing, especially in the early stages of a business. She built a substantial email list of 75,000 subscribers through valuable content marketing, including blog posts, emails, and webinars.

• This pre-existing audience proved invaluable in promoting Edgar and driving early adoption.
• Laura advocates for consistently publishing valuable content that addresses the pain points of your target audience.
• She encourages entrepreneurs to view their email lists as real humans rather than just email addresses, fostering a genuine connection with their audience.

Facebook Ads for Business Growth: Targeting & Simplicity

Edgar utilizes Facebook ads as a key acquisition channel alongside SEO, content marketing, and social media marketing. Laura emphasizes the effectiveness of keeping ad messaging simple and targeted.

• She recommends focusing on clear messaging that resonates with the target audience, such as highlighting Edgar as a new and useful social media tool.
• Targeting users of similar social media and small business tools has proven successful in reaching individuals who are interested in new solutions.
• Laura advises against overthinking messaging and instead focusing on clearly communicating the value proposition of your business.

Finding Success in a Competitive Marketplace: Solving a Problem

The social media tool market is crowded with established players like Buffer, Sprout Social, and HootSuite. However, Laura highlights the opportunity to carve out a niche by addressing a specific problem.

• She emphasizes that as long as you are solving a real problem for your target audience, there will always be a market for your business.
• Laura cites MailChimp as an example of a company with significant competition but still attracts thousands of new users daily.
• Instead of focusing on competing directly with established players, Laura advocates for focusing on building your own unique vision and solving a problem for your target audience.

The Invitation Angle: Increasing Conversions

Laura and her team conducted a successful test on their signup call-to-action, replacing the traditional “sign up” or “try it free” with “get your invitation”. This subtle change had a significant impact on conversions.

• The invitation approach creates a lower barrier to entry, making it easier for potential customers to engage with Edgar without committing to a full signup process.
• This strategy highlights the perceived exclusivity of the product, creating a sense of intrigue and encouraging signups.
• Laura recommends exploring similar call-to-action variations to optimize conversions and encourage initial engagement.

Leveraging Time: Prioritizing & Avoiding Time Wasters

Laura emphasizes the importance of prioritizing and avoiding time-wasting activities to maximize leverage as an entrepreneur. She identifies press and public speaking as activities that can be less effective than other marketing strategies.

• While she enjoys public speaking, Laura believes that the return on investment for public speaking can be limited compared to other growth strategies.
• She advocates for focusing on activities that directly contribute to customer acquisition and business growth, such as targeted advertising and content marketing.
• Laura encourages entrepreneurs to be mindful of their time and prioritize activities that yield the highest return on investment.

Effective Delegation for Business Growth: Empowering Your Team

Laura stresses the importance of effective delegation and empowering team members to maximize productivity and growth. She cautions against micromanaging and encourages founders to trust their team's expertise.

• Delegating tasks effectively allows founders to focus on strategic initiatives while enabling their team to contribute their skills and expertise.
• Laura believes that by empowering team members and giving them ownership over their work, businesses can unlock significant growth potential.
• She encourages entrepreneurs to move beyond traditional delegation and create an environment where team members feel empowered to contribute and make decisions.

Hiring for Growth: Scaling Your Business

Laura emphasizes the crucial role of hiring in scaling a SaaS business. She advocates for hiring individuals who can contribute to the growth of the business and solve specific pain points.

• She recommends identifying key areas where the business is bottlenecked and hiring individuals to fill those roles.
• Hiring strategic individuals allows the business to scale efficiently and effectively, exceeding the limitations of a smaller team.
• Laura emphasizes the importance of accountability for hired individuals, ensuring that they are delivering results that justify their positions.

The Importance of Benefits for Small Businesses: Competing with Larger Companies

While small businesses may not be able to compete with larger companies on salary alone, Laura highlights the benefits of working for a smaller startup.

• She emphasizes the opportunity for team members to have a greater impact on the product and the direction of the business.
• Laura highlights the flexibility and autonomy offered by small startups, which can be highly appealing to certain individuals.
• She encourages entrepreneurs to focus on the unique benefits they can offer to attract talented individuals who value growth and impact over simply a high salary.

Laura Roeder's Recommended Resources: Blogs & Books

Laura recommends various blogs and books for entrepreneurs and individuals seeking to grow their knowledge and skills.

• Blogs:
  • GrooveHQ
  • AsmArtBear
  • Copyblogger
  • MarketingProfs
• Books:
  • The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
  • Start with Why by Simon Sinek
  • The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
  • The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen