Ryan Mengelkoch's Journey From Zero to Hero as an Agency Owner

What's going on, guys? Andre Haeckel Jr. Here from client Ascension back with yet another student spotlight interview. And today I'm here with Ryan Mangelko. Really excited to dive into more of Ryan's story and share that with you all here today. What's going on, man?

Busy, like I said, man. Just, just trying to keep my head above water, you know.

Yeah, yeah, I love it. You got like the headset on and everything. You can just tell you mean business.

Yeah, I have to, man. Yeah, I got to keep things, you know, professional. Right.

Love it. Did love it. So just to get us started, if you can tell the audience who you are and really what you're working on.

Yeah. So of course my name is Ryan. I run a done for you lead generation service. My company name is Lake Center Consulting, based up here in Minneapolis, Minnesota. So we essentially book appointments directly on our clients calendar, mostly through cold email. But we've actually just recently added LinkedIn to the lead generation process as well.

Nice.

Yep. Awesome.

Dude, that's really cool. So I guess how do you hear about both like the lead generation business model? Because I feel like that's something that's newer, right? Like cold email lead generation as a business. And then also maybe it's related to this. But also how do you hear about Client ascension?

Yeah, yeah. So the client section came by way of Daniel. Right. So I was one of, I bought his cold Email mastery program probably I don't even know, two years ago now. And so I got started doing that. I used it for my own business. And at that time a couple of years ago, I was only doing SEO and paid ads and stuff, stuff like that. But I used it to get customers for myself. And then I kept seeing emails, you know, from, from him saying that you guys are starting this client ascension and it's going to be a really awesome group, bunch of people, like minded people, all kind of doing similar things. We can help each other out. So back in March, I think it was of last year, I decided to just take the plunge and go in because I learned so much from his cold Email Mastery. I mean it was just a PDF at that point. And so I decided, you know what, I'm just gonna jump in. I think it was pretty early on in your guys's days for Client Ascension. I think I was like member 30, maybe 35. So it's crazy to see where you guys are at now. But so yeah, that's, that's how I, I heard about it because I've always been on his list he knows his stuff on email. And I wanted to get better at email and I always, I actually wanted to offer, you know, a lead generation service to my clients as opposed to SEO and paid ads and social media. And so that's why I decided to jump in.

Super cool, man. Yeah, Daniel knows his stuff. He's also a good marker. But the cool thing too is once you get in, there's a lot of guys that know their stuff as well. And it's not just Daniel. So I know we worked a lot together, especially in the beginning, just to kind of help you get that full understanding of the proper systems put in place and just how to run effective cold email strategies. So I guess since joining, kind of walk us through the journey that you've gone through yourself as like an agency owner and even as like an expert in lead generation.

Sure. Yeah. So like I said, I made the jump from offering SEO, paid ads, Facebook, all that stuff right into the done for you lead generation. So it. I basically went through the entire course in the beginning. Right. You guys have your videos and PDFs. I went through all of that stuff just to get a grab, you know, just get a grasp on it. Before, I really kind of, I was engaging in the group, but like, I really wanted to take all that stuff that you guys had in the back office first before I started like asking questions. So, so I did that and basically, you know, I used a lot of your stuff, obviously, andre, for, for SOPs and, and operations, and I got my entire system set up for myself and I just basically hit the, hit the play button and started sending out emails for myself to get clients to offer my new service to. And I got to be honest, you know, it's a little nerve wracking because I never, I had never done that for other clients. I was doing it for myself for, for, for, yeah, two or three years. But it's totally different. Right. Because I, I wasn't sure, let's be honest, I wasn't sure if it was gonna work. Like, can I actually like book appointments for these guys who are actually gonna pay me to do this? So, yeah, I, I was able to sign on my first client. I'm not sure how long it took after I actually got in, but it was somebody in the permanent placement space. So like staffing. But they, they essentially targeted dental labs. You've probably seen me talk about it in the group, but they were looking to, they wanted me to set up appointments with HR professionals, owners of dental labs, so they can use their placement services. So it was B2B. And I don't know if I just got lucky or just happened to be their offer or what, but we. We were able to. I think we did 20 calls. We booked them 20 calls, but the list was only the size. I think it was 500 or 600.

Jeez.

Yeah. So it was like, it was a blessing and a curse because I'm like, oh, man, is this. Is this what's going to happen every single time? Right? So, yeah, Christian helped me with the copy. I was able to book them appointments. We did 20 word kind of spread in their organization. They gave me referrals. And then it kind of just. It kind of just took off after that.

Super cool, man. When you say, like, you were scared to hit the send button, I feel like that's like anyone right before they're about to take that leap of faith. It almost reminds me of when you're about to, like, send crypto from one wallet to the other. You're like, I hope this is gonna end up where I want it to, but got a headset anyways.

That's what I'll say 100%. Like, you can sit there and just overanalyze, is my Twitter profile good? Is my, you know, website up to date? But it's just a lot of just thinking, and it doesn't, you know, you're not actually taking action. So it. I just said, screw all that. I got everything that I need, as far as I'm concerned, in place, and I hit the. Hit the send button. And then as things start to come in, you get better and better at it. And the only way to get better at it is actually, you know. Yeah, Is to do it. But it's amazing how hard that is to do. A lot of people, I think, get a little scared because they're afraid of failure, whatever the case may be. But you have to jump in with both feet, in my opinion.

Yep, 100%, man. There's no other way. It's not always easy, like you said. And I think if you can accept the fact in the beginning that you are going to experience difficulties and failures and bumps in the road, it makes it easier because you're. You're seeing those coming. And you start to build the confidence, too after a while that you. You are the person capable of dealing and getting over those hurdles, which is.

Pretty cool because you evolve as a business owner. Oh, yeah.

Last question I'll ask you is, I guess, what's next for you? Right? You've gotten your first client, you've gotten A lot better with cold email. You've gotten results for the clients that you're working with. You're getting referrals. Like everything seems to be building momentum. So what are some of your goals for this year would you say?

So recently and you'll appreciate this, Andre, I just switched over to a retainer based. Let's go. Yeah. For my lead gen. So I'm no longer doing setup fees with pay per appointment basis doing strictly monthly retainer because we've kind of dialed in our process. So I do. I actually just partnered with somebody to do the fulfillment or at least to help with the fulfillment side of things so I can spend more time on sales calls and growing the business so I don't have to necessarily worry about the back end stuff. Even though I've done it, I know how to do it in terms of scalability. I feel like it's the way to go. And then of course it's much easier to scale with the retainer based model versus pay for performance. So that is, that is what I'm working on. We just launched a new campaign actually this week to offer the retainer based model versus the performance and I still have clients that are paying me on a performance basis. Just anybody moving forward we're going to offer the perform or the retainer with it comes with a guarantee too. So we're pretty excited about it.

I'm excited for you, dude. It's like a certain maturity level you reach within the agency space of being able to confidently offer and sell retainers. So.

Yes, thank you.

And for anyone interested in working with you or just learning more about your journey or connecting with you, whatever it might be. Where can our audience find you, follow you and learn more?

Yeah, so I, I actually just built a new website based solely around the done for your lead generation. It's Lake Center AP PTS. You know, short for appointments dot com. And then I also still have lakecenterconsulting.com is my other website. So that's. That's where you can find me. Email address ryanakecenter consulting.com awesome dude.

Thank you so much Ryan. Keep crushing it, Brown. I look forward to seeing more of your success in the.

Thank you man. I appreciate all you know you've helped me out so I. Anytime. I appreciate it. Absolute pleasure.