Lead Generation Review: Smartest or Dumbest Business Model of 2020?

Real, Completely Biased Lead Generation Review from a Dummy
26 Comments

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Table of Contents

1. Been There, Done That
2. WTF is Lead Generation?
3. Pros: Why Lead Gen Is Smart
4. Cons: Why Lead Gen Is Dumb
5. Lead Generation: Quick Summary
6. Bottom Line: Is Lead Gen Legit?

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Been There, Done That

Be honest:

Ever feel like you’re walking down ol’ Turd Avenue every day just to scrape by?

If you’re anything like me, you know that feeling all too well.

And you’re not alone:

(The diaper stuck to the bottom of the trash can was the last straw lol.)

The sad truth is:

A recent Gallup survey found that roughly 85% of workers are dissatisfied with their 9-to-5.

American poet Henry David Thoreau said it best:

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.​

Yup, that about sums it up.

So it’s no wonder why so many people search online for a way outta the maze.

And then smack!

You jump right out of the frying pan and straight into the fire…

… of hardcore porn.

Kidding.

I’m actually talking about MLMs, affiliate marketing, dropshipping, Forex trading, the list goes on and on.

Sound familiar?

When it comes learning how to make money online, we’ve all been there.

And for me, they were pretty much all the same thing:

Different shades of crap.

Kinda like switching from getting kicked in the face with bare feet to kicked in the nuts with steel-toed boots.

Both f*cking suck.

One sucks worse.

(Unless your name is Karate Kat.)

What’s my point?

Lead generation offers a unique opportunity for those looking for a completely different way to create passive income.

One that doesn’t rely on recruiting, selling products, or feeling like an Ass.

So:

If you’re sick and tired of jumping from one company or program to the next, lead gen could be the bid’niz model you’ve been searching for.

“Bring it on ding-dong!”

Sure thing, ding-a-ling:

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WTF is Lead Generation?

First off, a big fat warning from my man Chris Farley:

Lead generation is not a get-rich-quick business.

So if you’re still hoping to make a milli with little to no effort… go buy another lottery ticket.

If you’re not familiar with the lead gen model, it’s simply about using free traffic from Google to help local businesses get more customers.

Here’s a breakdown of the whole process:

• Choose a niche and city to target

• Research your local competition

• Build and rank a simple lil’ website

• Send free leads to a local business

• Follow up and get a lead gen deal

And then once you know what you’re doing…

• Outsource the work and scale to the moon 🙂

Local lead generation is also referred to “rank and rent” since it basically comes down to ranking a website and renting the leads to a business owner.

Think of it this way:

It’s sorta like owning digital real estate on the internet.

For example, let’s say you owned a rental property in Dallas, TX.

As a landlord, you’d find a tenant to move in and they’d pay you rent every month, right?

This business is the same idea except you have online rental properties in the form of lead gen websites.

But instead of finding tenants, you just find local business owners to “move in” so-to-speak…

And they pay you rent every month for the privilege of using your lead gen site (i.e. in return for sending them leads).

It’s almost like you’re a digital landlord working from your laptop.

And as a laptop landlord, here’s the worst-case scenario:

If it doesn’t work out with one of your tenants (aka business owners), you can always evict them and find another one to move into your lead gen site.

So in essence, you own digital assets that can make you money around the clock — like having a virtual employee or downline that’s working for you 24/7.

‘Cept they never call in sick or need adult babysitting (if you know, you know).

The whole idea is based on creating a long-term passive income by helping small businesses.

But here’s the interesting thing:

Local lead generation is comparable to owning a hybrid car on steroids.

Meaning you can run a digital real estate empire for next to nothing and it can generate massive returns.

It’s a simple yet powerful business.

But simple doesn’t necessarily mean easy — building a real business never is.

So let’s take a look under the hood of this hybrid business model:

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Pros: Why Lead Gen Is Smart

For starters:

Lead generation offers several distinct advantages over the typical home-based business…

• Assets.
• Free traffic.
• Full control.
• Less competition.
• Show me the money.

✓ You’re building an asset.

Here’s the deal:

Leads are the lifeblood of any business.

Why do you think most business owners spend their hard-earned cash on advertising?

Hint: It’s not because they enjoy annoying the heck outta you on Facebook and YouTube.

Or love seeing themselves on a billboard.

(Except if your name’s Tony Davis.)

But in most cases, business owners need to have marketing budgets to generate leads.

No leads = no customers = no business.

So by creating a website that generates a consistent flow of leads, you’re really building an asset that can generate a consistent flow of cash.

And in case you didn’t know:

Cash flow is the name of the game.

In fact:

It’s THE most important financial concept you need to understand as an entrepreneur.

Here’s an excellent summary by Robert Kiyosaki, author of the mega-popular Rich Dad Poor Dad book:

Personally, I don’t agree with everything Kiyosaki teaches (I’m not a fan of MLMs).

But if you watch the 9-minute clip above and understand his point about owning assets such as real estate (hint, hint)…

You can skip his books and your financial IQ will still be higher than 99% of the population (#fact).

Here’s another reason why lead gen is a smart business model:

✓ You’re leveraging FREE traffic.

Quick refresher…

Webster defines the word “leverage” as something:

… to enhance or use for gain.​

Enter Google.

As a lead generator, your primary goal is to get your lead gen website ranked on page one of the Big G.

And the reason is obvious:

Think about it:

How often do you go to page 2 or 3 of Google?

Exactly.

Very few folks ever make it beyond page one when they’re searching for anything online, never mind a local business.

So just like in traditional real estate, the three most important rules in digital real estate are: Location, Location, Location.

And the prime location on the internet is page numero uno of Google.

It all boils down to this:

If you know how to leverage the power of free traffic from Google, you can generate hundreds or even thousands of leads per month for local businesses.

Which can easily add up to a staggering amount of profit for you since you’re not spending a dime on advertising.

(More about that later.)

✓ Lead gen provides you with full control.

This is the prob’ly the biggest key to the whole lead generation business:

You own and control everything.

Let’s do a quick recap:

• You own and control the lead gen websites (i.e. you can target any city and state — not just your local area)

• You own and control the leads they’re generating (i.e. they’re YOUR leads — you’re just renting them out)

• You decide how to get clients (i.e. no cold-calling, no face-to-face meetings, let the leads do the selling for you)

• You decide which business owners to work with (i.e. you can pick and choose the best niches and tenants)

• You decide how much to charge for your leads (i.e. a typical lead gen deal is worth around $500-$1k per month)

• You’re the Landlord, CEO, and Business Owner all rolled into one (i.e. you call the shots and have the final say)

Compare that to something like MLM or affiliate marketing where the company owns and controls everything.

From the products and pricing to how much you get paid and how you’re allowed to promote.

The company changes the comp plan or reduces your commission? Too bad.

They force you to buy a minimum amount of products? Suck it up.

They encourage you to recruit your friends and family? Start calling.

But here’s the biggest difference:

Compared to most types of home-based businesses, lead generation allows you to control the most valuable product on the market:

Customers.

Which explains why there’s never a shortage of small business owners who are screaming for more of ‘em.

It gets better though:

✓ Less competition.

Ever join a company or start a business only to discover there’s a LOT more competition than you thought?

For example, take both affiliate marketing and MLM:

• Amazon and Shopify have millions of affiliates selling products online

• Avon has more than 6 million representatives worldwide

• Amway, Young Living, and doTERRA each have approx. 3 to 4 million reps

• Herbalife and Mary Kay clock in at around 2 million distributors

Cue local lead generation:

Compared to the business models above, lead gen has you competing against maybe a few dozen local businesses at most.

Look at it this way:

If you’re in an industry with millions of competitors who are ALL trying to promote their own business online, it’s like having a grain of sand on a beach.

Unless you can direct people to your lil’ grain of sand, I’m not saying you don’t stand a chance but I’m definitely saying you don’t stand a chance.

Kidding but hopefully you get my point.

On the flip side with local lead generation, it might only be a few grains of sand you’re going up against.

Which game do you think is easier to win?

✓ Show me the money.

Check this out:

In 2020, it’s estimated that U.S. businesses will spend a record $46 billion dollars just to get leads from search engines like Google.

By 2023, it’s predicted they’ll spend upwards of $55 billion (!) just to get search engine leads.

Question:

Other than Google’s own pockets, where is this stunning amount of money going?

Here’s a few examples:

Lead Generation Revenue

Company	Annual Revenue
AngiesList.com	$1.13 B
Yelp.com	$943 M
HomeAdvisor.com	$300 M
Yext.com	$230 M
Thumbtack.com	$100 M

Recognize any of those companies?

Chances are you’ve used one or two of them already.

And guess what business they’re all in?

But here’s the best part:

Online marketing is about to claim HALF of the world’s entire $600 billion-dollar ad spend for the first time in history.

Speaking of which:

In 2020, Google became only the 4th company in US history to reach the trillion-dollar milestone.

Moral of the story?

If you’re ready to snag a piece of that trillion-dollar pie, you’re in the right place at the right time.

But before you soil the sheets out of sheer excitement…

Some words of caution:

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Cons: Why Lead Gen Is Dumb

Lead generation isn’t all tailgate parties and weekends at the beach…

• Patience.
• Turnover.
• Adapt or die.
• Skills pay the bills.

✗ Got patience?

Spoiler alert:

Overnight success stories are about as real as a leprechaun smokin’ a joint at the end of a double rainbow.

So it’s no surprise that lead gen’s biggest downside is the patience factor.

And if you’re anything like me, you really need to work on your patience…

RIGHT NOW, DAMMIT!!

Make no bones about it:

Even if you know what you’re doing, it can still take quite a while to rank and rent enough lead gen sites to go full-time.

For example:

On average, it can take anywhere from 2 to 6 months to rank your newly created lead gen site on the first page of Google.

But wait, there’s more:

Once your lead gen site is ranked and generating leads, you still gotta go out there and find a renter or tenant (aka business owner).

No renter = no passive income.

So you better be willing to do whatever it takes to get a tenant ASAP.

It’s no different than having beautiful rental home in a prime location.

If it’s sitting vacant, it’s costing you money.

Time for a reality check:

Unless you’re willing to spend 6-12 months to build up enough lead gen sites and get this business off the ground, don’t even waste your time.

In other words…

Lead generation is definitely more of a marathon than a sprint.

But that’s not the only crappy part of this business:

✗ Turnover.

Okay, so you’ve landed your very first tenant aka lead gen deal.

Awesome.

Sometimes, just like in real estate, it doesn’t work out with a certain tenant or they decide to move out.

Which obviously sucks and can be frustrating.

Now you have to find another tenant to move into your lead gen site.

The good news?

You still own the digital property and still have something most business owners are dying for:
More customers.

Truth be told:

Compared to a friend or family member who’s reluctantly supporting your MLM business…

Or someone buying a product from your affiliate site who’s just looking for the lowest price (no loyalty whatsoever)…

Lead gen clients are unique and tend to stick around long-term since you’re the one bill that’s helping to pay all their other bills.

But just like in real estate, there’s gonna be some turnover every now and then.

(Not that kind of turnover, silly.)

Point is, you WILL have to find new tenants for some of your properties from time to time.

It’s just a normal part of the digital real estate game.

Here’s another:

✗ Adapt or die.

When you generate leads using free traffic from Google, you’re obviously dealing with technology.

And as we all know, technology evolves and you can’t stop progress.

Here’s the thing:

It’s no secret that Google is constantly trying to improve their search engine.

Fact: Google makes an average of 9 updates per day or more than 3000 updates per year.

However:

The vast majority of these changes are so small, you wouldn’t even notice them.

Only a handful of “major algorithm updates” actually impact search engine rankings.

What does this mean to a lead generator?

Just like any professional, you need to keep on top of what’s happening in your business.

For example:

If you owned a brick-and-mortar rental property, eventually you’ll have to spend some money on normal wear and tear.

Things like:

• Installing a new roof

• Fixing any plumbing issues or faulty appliances

• Repairing holes from epic drunken sledgehammer parties, etc.

Similarly:

So it goes with digital real estate, except they’re much smaller “digital” repairs.

Sometimes a lead gen website will need a minor tweak or update to keep it competitive and on page one of Google.

To be fair, most of these updates can be easily outsourced to someone else for pennies on the dollar.

But you WILL have a little maintenance to do with your lead gen business.

And last but not least:

✗ Skills pay the bills.

Listen:

High income-generating assets require high income-producing skill sets.

And make no mistake:

Lead generation IS a high income skill that can be learned by anyone.

But here’s the bad news:

Before you rank ‘n bank, you’ll need to spend some time learning those digital skills.

• Website building (i.e. using simple drag and drop website builders)

• Search engine optimization aka SEO (i.e. just a fancy way of saying how to rank websites in Google)

• Building local citations (i.e. getting listed in local business directories)

• Creating backlinks (i.e. getting other websites to link back to your lead gen site which can help it rank)

• Prospecting and closing (i.e. getting lead gen deals with local business owners)

Now, I know what you might be thinking:

But I’m not tech savvy or good at sales!​

Don’t worry though:

Lead gen is not about who’s the most technical or best at sales — it’s all about who’s the most helpful to local business owners.

And the best lead generators understand that talk is cheap.

That’s why they use a method called “results in advance” which allows your leads to sell themselves.

The goal is not to become a website expert or learn computer code, either.

How do I know all this?

Cuz I’ve been doing lead gen for more than 5 years now and this ex-truck driver was about as non-techie and non-salesy as you can get.

All the tools you need to run a successful lead gen business are click and drag kinda stuff.

But despite being simple:

You still need to put the hours in.

As someone smarter than me once said:

Rome wasn’t built in a day… but they were laying bricks every hour.​

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Lead Generation: Quick Summary

Bottom Line: Is Lead Gen Legit?

Look:

I fully admit that I’m biased towards lead generation.

It’s a scalable, evergreen business model that’s not going away.

It’s also one that continues to work for me and I’ve basically tried ‘em all.

Including MLM:

Kidding.

But as cliché as it sounds, learning how to build online real estate and owning digital assets has literally changed my life.

It’s definitely not a magical pot of gold though.

Meaning it’s a lotta hard work and ain’t gonna happen overnight.

So what’s the secret?

Watch these short clips from a recent lead gen conference to find out:

Disclaimer: Both these guys have been doing lead gen for years. They’re not typical and busted their ass to get where they are. It’s just to show you what’s possible.

The bottom line is this:

If MLMs, affiliate marketing, dropshipping, Forex, etc. haven’t worked out for you —
Becoming a laptop landlord might be a better fit.

Or not.

Decide for yourself.

But if you’re finally done with recruiting, selling products, rah-rah meetings, and bullsh*t six-figure promises…

Yes (gasp!) there’s a paid coaching program if you want some help setting up your own lead gen business.

In fact:

It’s the exact same program that taught JR and Cory (from the videos above) and ME everything I know about how to rank and rent all my lead gen sites — including this blog.

Watch my mentor quickly explain a more realistic way to make passive income from home (6-min video):