Our marketing is almost exclusively word of mouth. We loose $50 to $100 per
sub just to show up at the door. The last thing in the world I need right
now is faster growth!
I've heard of people having great luck with door hangers or agreements with
computer repair folks.
marlon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Smith, Rick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2007 12:58 PM
Subject: RE: [WISPA] Wireless ISP's
OK Marlon, how're you getting those customers to know about the choice
you offer ?
As a guy who's promising investors around 500 customers / year, I'm
starting to look seriously into how to get those customers on board.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Marlon K. Schafer
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2007 12:54 PM
To: WISPA General List
Subject: Re: [WISPA] Wireless ISP's
Yeah.
We're teeny tiny yet. I put in about 80 radios last year. Some were
new some were repairs or upgrades etc. We ended up with a net of 52 new
subs when it all shook out.
I've put in over 50 new subs so far this year!
I'd been hoping to hit 375 wireless subs by the end of this year. Now
I'll be amazed if we end up with less than 425.
Sell out? Now? Why? I'm still able to do this with two people. Me
and one part timer in the office. The wife spends a few hours per week
on bills too. Sure I'm working more than 8 hours per day most days, but
2 to 4 of that is on the lists and/or WISPA (you guys are gonna be
amazed at what's likely to come out of wispa in the next 12 months!) and
push comes to shove I could drop those activities.
Looking back over the last three years we're growing our annual revenue
by about 15 to 16% per year. Even though we've cut our dialup base by
more than 50%. Probably closer to 60 or 70% now. We're running about a
20% margin overall. And that margin will now start to go up as many of
our fixed costs will not change due to new customers. We won't need
more fiber run in, we won't need more servers, we won't need more office
computers etc.
At least not till we put on another 200 to 400 subs.
For the first time in my 12 years in business, I'm having to pay income
tax.
(remember we closed the copier side and went pure internet around 2001
so the current business is still debt ridden and only a few years old)
We just sat down with the accountant and I'll spend more in income tax
last year than I did to buy the car I'm driving! In fact, my next tax
bill will be HALF of what I budgeted for network expansion and
improvement over the next TWO years!
deep sigh
The sad part is, I still drive a car with 260k on it. Any money we make
goes to feed 5 hungry mouths in this house and paying off all of the
debt from the copier biz. 2 more years and I'm gonna buy that vette one
way or another! grin
But sell out? Now? Sure. For 4x annual revenue I'll think about it.
Other than that, where can I possibly find a job that'll drop down to a
part time commitment in 36 or so months? Be almost completely debt free
and new tools will be measured in the hundreds not thousands? Oh yeah,
I whine about my hours, but I can always schedule time off if I
want/need. I rarely miss any of the kid's games/plays etc. Somedays we
play hooky at the office and head to the river instead of work. And I
can write off at least part of almost every trip I take.
laters,
marlon
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Scrivner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org>
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2007 9:57 PM
Subject: Re: [WISPA] Wireless ISP's
I don't know who told you that. We had our best growth and highest
earning
year last year and this year looks to break that record. Most WISPs I
talk
to say the same.
Scriv
Matt wrote:
I was just wandering. I have heard that wireless ISP's are on the
decline and most of the ones that remain are selling out or just
holding there own. Is that true? I heard there were not as many at
the last wispcon due to that.
Matt
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