October 2014 was a rollercoaster ride for us at Empire Flippers.
We had a fantastic September but the following month brought a significant dip in revenue making it one of our worst months in a long time.
The added expense of travel and conferences didn’t help matters and we ended up in the red.
A Deep Dive into the Numbers
Let’s dive into the specifics of October 2014. We had 9 employees 1 apprentice and 2 contractors on our team.
We managed to grow our contact records to 21260 and our email subscriber list to 13148 which was a positive development.
However our site visits plummeted to 21073 a significant drop from the previous month.
Revenue Streams
We experienced a drastic decline in our brokered site sales dropping to $79468.06 a stark contrast to the robust sales of the previous month.
Our brokered site earnings also saw a significant reduction to $13566.21. The only bright spot was our listing fees which increased to $2558.00 due to the addition of six new listings and eight returning clients.
This decline in revenue was partly due to a lack of big sales which can be a common occurrence in the brokering business.
We’re aiming to finish the year strong by focusing on closing some of the deals currently in the pipeline.
The Brokered Site Market
Our brokered website sales have shown a clear trend over the past year with a noticeable upward trajectory.
We’ve successfully brokered over $400K worth of sites and we have another $200K in the pipeline.
Despite the setback in October we’re optimistic about finishing the year strong.
We noticed an increase in website submissions for sale in October contributing to a total revenue of $2558.00. Six first-time listings generated $1782.00 while eight repeat listings brought in $776.00.
The workshops and conferences we attended in October resulted in a few new site submissions.
It’s still early to assess the return on investment but we believe these events were beneficial for networking and brand awareness.
Additional Revenue Sources
Besides brokered site sales our revenue streams also included:
- AdSense: $106.94
- Other: $997.00
- Affiliate: $368.61
- Niche Guide: $52.88
We anticipate a slight increase in these revenue streams in November particularly from our affiliate earnings due to a promotional sale for Long Tail Pro.
Analyzing Our Traffic and Engagement
Our website traffic saw a significant drop in October falling to 21073 visits a decrease of over 33% from the previous month.
This decline can be attributed to a decrease in our podcast production and a single blog post for the entire month.
The majority of our traffic was directed to the Marketplace How It Works page and individual listing pages.
Our referral traffic also experienced a slight drop but our email conversion rate for referral traffic remained consistent at just under 1%. The most significant drop was in direct traffic likely a result of the inflated numbers we saw in September during our relaunch.
Our podcast downloads also decreased in October dropping to 14025 due to the reduced frequency of our podcast releases.
However we anticipate a bounce back in downloads in November and December.
Customer Experience: Building Trust and Relationships
We prioritize customer experience at Empire Flippers.
We believe that maintaining a strong relationship with our clients is crucial to our success.
We regularly assess our performance by tracking various metrics including our reply time and customer satisfaction rating.
In October we saw improvements in our reply time.
We were able to respond to 90% of our initial inquiries within 8 hours or less.
However we aim to reduce the number of tickets not answered within 24 hours to 2% or less.
Customer Feedback: A Mixed Bag
We received positive feedback from several customers.
One client Mike expressed his gratitude for our quick and efficient assistance in resolving a deposit issue resulting in a positive review.
Another customer Jack appreciated our support even though he didn’t end up purchasing a site during his initial interaction.
He mentioned that he plans to revisit our platform in the future.
We also encountered some less favorable interactions.
One client “Q” requested help with traffic strategies that didn’t involve free advertising.
We provided a brief response suggesting that they explore guest posting opportunities on relevant blogs.
This interaction felt like a waste of our time as it seemed more like a request for free consultation rather than a genuine business inquiry.
Another negative review came from a customer who was looking for ready-made advice for business owners in the Philippines a service we don’t offer.
We responded with a detailed explanation clarifying that we specialize in brokering online businesses and don’t provide general business advice.
Events and Conferences: Connecting with the Online Business Community
October was a busy month for us filled with conferences and workshops.
We participated in several events including:
- Empire Flippers Workshop in Chiang Mai: We had approximately 15 attendees at our workshop in Chiang Mai. We revised our workshop format based on feedback from our Ho Chi Minh workshop focusing more on balancing the content around buying and selling. This change was well received by attendees who actively engaged in discussions and asked personalized questions.
- Dropship Lifestyle Event in Chiang Mai: This event brought together a large group of entrepreneurs with 100-120 attendees and several presenters. We delivered a 2.5-hour presentation covering topics such as dropshipping scaling process automation and outsourcing.
- TropicalMBA Dynamite Circle in Bangkok: This annual event for location-independent entrepreneurs hosted over 200 attendees. We presented an 8-minute talk titled “To Hell with Diversification: Double Down on Your One Big Thing” emphasizing the importance of focusing on your biggest and best value to the market.
- Rhodium Weekend in Las Vegas: This event brought together a smaller group of 50-60 attendees and around a dozen presenters. We enjoyed the opportunity to reconnect with industry peers customers and friends.
These events provided valuable networking opportunities and helped us connect with potential buyers and sellers.
Looking Forward: A Focus on Growth and Innovation
Despite the challenges of October we remain optimistic about the future.
We’re focusing on our long-term strategy building relationships and expanding our reach in the online business community.
We’re confident that our efforts will lead to continued growth and success.
We appreciate you taking the time to read our monthly report.
We hope this detailed account of our experiences provides valuable insights into our business and helps you on your entrepreneurial journey.