Building a Successful Service Business with Very Little Money Down

We have all heard this expression “Luck is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity”. In the case of Chamber.Media its entrepreneur’s journey – success and not luck followed it after the founder and CEO spent hours of preparation before launching it.

We spoke to Travis Chambers, the founder and Chief Media Hacker at Chamber.Media – an agency that makes scalable social videos – on The Daily Grind Podcast. He shared with us his story on how he built his successful business with very little start-up capital.

• Travis’s company, Chamber. Media. has generated $40 million in sales with over 250 million views, 3 million social shares and 15k press features and all in only a 3 ½ year period.
• He was responsible for creating “YouTube’s #1 Ad of the decade” viral video featuring Kobe Bryant and Lionel Messi. It is brilliant and to date the video has received 146 million views on YouTube.

Now, let me explain why I know luck had nothing to do with his huge success in such a short period of time.

Before he started his own agency making social videos 3 ½ years ago, he worked in the industry for a period of 10 years. His desire to succeed led him to learn about his industry in an aggressive way while he was working for other companies. He was curious about where social video was headed; and so he invested hundreds of hours reading articles, listening to podcasts, attending webinars and going to conferences. He studied companies who were successful and those who weren’t. As well, he always had side projects on the go.

When he started his agency he applied these learned principles and fundamentals that he believes propelled his business to success:

• Intentionally try not to grow too fast.
• Start with a service and don’t try to raise funding to build a product. He wanted to only monetize his knowledge and ability.
• Utilize contractors to offer other services that could provide his business with more margins and increase his sales revenue.
• Do not get an office too early and do not hire employees too early.
• Grow steadily and always focus on profitability and cash flow. Do not try to run before you walk.
• Network, “like mad”, to get as much reach and publicity as you can. Be active on LinkedIn and active at scaling personal relationships by attending conferences and online groups.

Travis built his business organically. He wasn’t worried about how other people would perceive him. He was only interested in working slowly. He didn’t like the way the traditional ad agency model worked or the way the tech startup model worked so he developed his own business model.

He didn’t feel the need to be immediately validated with funding or an office.

He understood that brands take a lot of time to build and to get down to his reality; he didn’t have the money to do both.

As a result of the way he opened his business in this way, he learned how to provide solutions for his clients.

There is no doubt why he succeeded.

• He had a plan.
• He had knowledge and experience in the industry.
• He provided extensive personal customer service to each of his clients.
• He understood the importance of knowing his profit margins and only took on clients that delivered those margins to his business.
• He offered a service that was in demand.

Bottom line…..

You can start a business with very little money down and you can be successful if you have a service that is in demand and if you grow the business carefully.