- The video features Taylor Hersam, the founder of Eden Data, discussing the growth of his company and the role of AppSumo in that growth
- Luke Francis and Katie Weeks are also introduced as part of the presentation team
- Taylor started Eden Data by accident after leaving a job at Deloitte and finding opportunities on Upwork
- He transitioned from hourly rates to a retainer model, which proved to be more efficient for both him and his clients
- Taylor found AppSumo's tools to be essential in organizing and growing his business, with Nifty PM being a particularly impactful tool for project management.

- The speaker used various tools and platforms to build and grow their business, including Nifty, Sticker Mule, Wave Video, Publr, and Crello
- They utilized these tools for tasks such as client management, social media scheduling, brand building, and creating unique proposals
- The speaker found these tools through AppSumo, where they would research and evaluate new tools, often trying them out even if they didn't think they needed them
- They also emphasized the importance of standing out and looking more put together than they actually were, especially as a one-person company
- By using these tools and platforms, the speaker was able to efficiently grow their business and build a strong brand presence.

- The speaker discusses the importance of curiosity in finding valuable tools on AppSumo
- They emphasize the significance of reading reviews and filtering tools by 1-star ratings
- They highlight the use of Scribe Mail and Warm Welcome as valuable tools for email communication and customer interaction
- The speaker shares their journey from being a solopreneur on Upwork to running a company, and the process of hiring and subcontracting through Upwork
- They also mention using AppSumo to find alternative tools when necessary

- The speaker started a company and hired contractors, but found them to be unreliable and part-time
- They transitioned to establishing the company as a legitimate business and started hiring employees
- They used Upwork to gain customers and also partnered with other firms to expand their reach
- The speaker focused on customer feedback to improve their pitch process and website
- They emphasized the importance of asking hard questions and building a rapport with potential clients before discussing their services or pricing

- The speaker discusses the importance of not committing to pricing on the website or pitches without proper information
- They emphasize the need to address real problems that customers have, not just perceived problems
- The speaker talks about the importance of delivering exemplary service and getting customers to rave about it
- They also discuss the transition to a subscription retainer model for their services
- The speaker gives advice on starting cybersecurity services and managing software tools
- They share their experience with payroll systems, mentioning Gusto and JustWorks
- Lastly, they address a question about leveraging storytelling and expertise in the marketplace for business growth.

- The speaker emphasizes the importance of identifying and satisfying true fans or customers
- They suggest asking satisfied customers for referrals and feedback on why they chose a competitor
- They advise against using tools that do not add value and changing the website too frequently
- The speaker also mentions an upcoming masterclass on growth hacking and encourages attendees to fill out a survey for feedback
- The presentation was well-received and appreciated by the audience

- Taylor Hersam, founder of Eden Data, discusses the company's growth and the role of AppSumo in that growth
- Luke Francis and Katie Weeks are also part of the presentation team
- Taylor unintentionally started Eden Data after leaving Deloitte and finding opportunities on Upwork
- Transitioned from hourly rates to a retainer model, which proved to be more efficient
- AppSumo's tools, particularly Nifty PM, were essential for organizing and growing the business
- Utilized various tools and platforms for client management, social media scheduling, and brand building
- Emphasized the importance of standing out and looking professional as a one-person company
- Used AppSumo to find valuable tools and emphasized the importance of curiosity in finding them
- Shared journey from solopreneur to running a company and hiring employees
- Focused on customer feedback to improve pitch process and website
- Transitioned to a subscription retainer model for services
- Gave advice on starting cybersecurity services and managing software tools
- Emphasized the importance of identifying and satisfying true fans or customers
- Advised against using tools that do not add value and changing the website too frequently
- Mentioned an upcoming masterclass on growth hacking and encouraged attendees to fill out a survey for feedback
- The presentation was well-received by the audience

A recording of a masterclass with Taylor Hersom where you learn how he used AppSumo tools to start and then rapidly grow Eden Data – a cyber security agency.

In this class, Taylor outlines how he found AppSumo and how he began to utilize the store as a one man army through to onboarding multiple employees. He talks about a few specific tools and their use-cases at Eden Data, such as Scribe Mail and WarmWelcome.

Taylor also takes us through his decision to migrate away from certain tools and how he used AppSumo to help with that process.

First of all, just want to introduce Taylor.

Taylor Hersam, who is the founder, owner, creator of Eden Data, CEO.

And 2 years ago, Eden Data did not exist.

And now it does in full swing, 300K and MRR in 2 years, an impressive growth streak.

And so we have a lot to learn from Taylor today about what, how that growth happened, what that looked like and how AppSumo played a part from the tools that he selected early on till today.

As he presents, I am Luke Francis, I manage the PLUS program here at AppSumo.

And if you are a PLUS member, we've likely engaged in some way.

So it's good to see you, you know, face to face or face to chat in this case here.

And then we also have Katie Weeks online and She is managing the tech side of this presentation here today.

And she helps me with the PLUS program, make sure that all things PLUS are running swimmingly.

And so with that, very quick introductions.

I'm gonna let Taylor take it from here and take it away, man.

And thank you, everybody, that's taking the time out of your day to join this masterclass.

I want to make sure that we just knock this out of the park in terms of the value it brings to you all.

So, as you can see, I'm not even formally presenting the screen because we're going to be diving in on a few tools.

We're going to be looking at a few things.

I'm going to try to give you the best strategies that I can in terms of exactly how Eden Data started, how I used AppSumo along that journey, how I thought about things like hiring, how I thought about things like using tools on AppSumo, and then when I needed to migrate away from tools on AppSumo, and then just things about, we also cover a little bit about how we pitch our services to customers.

We're going to carve out a good chunk of time at the end to make sure that everyone can ask the questions that they want and that I'm covering all of my bases to make sure you're getting the most value.

There is text on here, but we of course are going to make this as conversational as possible.

Keep those questions rolling and let's dive into it.

So the first question that I was asked to cover is just why I started Eden Data, how that became or how that came about.

And I love to tell this story because I try to give people the most honest truth, which is that Eden Data was started out of accident.

I didn't actually know what the heck I was doing.

And then I got an early opportunity to be a CISO, a Chief Information Security Officer at a local consulting firm.

And I started building out security programs.

We were trying to figure out a service model that worked and I was unfulfilled.

I felt like I didn't like the industry we were going into.

So I had this brilliant idea to quit my job the week before COVID started.

I had these interviews lined up, everything was looking good.

And then as you all probably remember, the world went to hell in a handbasket.

And a lot of the things, the opportunities I had dried up.

And so because of that, I had to scramble.

And I had really just 2 main critical components that happened that really changed my trajectory and gave me the inspiration to start the company, which was finding AppSumo and finding Upwork.

And I'll talk about that in a minute, but the AppSumo element we're gonna dive into in detail.

But what I want y'all to know is that when I started this company, it wasn't a company at all.

I was just trying to figure out how to put food on the table for my family.

I didn't think I was going to start a company.

I was convinced I was going to take a job somewhere else.

I paid the 15 bucks a month to see if I could find some jobs on there that I could do.

And for, I'm sorry, for those of you who are not familiar with Upwork, it is a freelancer platform where you can apply for different contractor gigs.

It's anything from small projects to multi-month engagements.

And then there's a fair amount of people that have even found jobs on there.

But what I noticed is that you could filter down by cybersecurity.

And so I was looking on there and there were these early opportunities of people saying, help, I need help with cybersecurity.

2 of them were they were looking to close a deal with a big customer.

Another 1 was just looking to build out security because they felt like their company wasn't secure enough.

I said, well, gosh, this is what I've been doing for a while.

And so I applied for those gigs and got the positions.

And what I realized is all these companies that I was applying for on Upwork, you don't really know what they are, who the company is.

You have to apply and you got to get an interview before you can get the brand name, but they were all startups.

And so I realized, my goodness, this is a unique opportunity.

And this is really what stemmed the culmination of Eden Data.

So 1 of the things that I noticed is that none of these startups are ever going to go higher where I came from, from Deloitte.

They would never hire a Deloitte or a KPMG or a PwC or any of the other big brands, both out of principle because they're huge corporations and startups are not, and then also out of cost.

Like these companies were just charging out the wazoo.

And so I started diving in on that and realizing more and more on Upwork that there were all these opportunities with startups specifically.

I noticed that trend And that's really what started to drive me from being the solopreneur to starting the company, which I'll dive into more in detail in a moment.

The text on here, I don't expect you all to read this.

This is actually on our About page on our website, but we were getting creative with some of the AppSumo tools that we use, including these graphics and designs.

And it allowed us to kind of break down why we started the company.

But the biggest thing that I noticed when I was serving these customers is that on Upwork, if you have a profile on there, it is broken down by charging by the hour, typically.

So you can either put a project rate, where it's just a lump sum of cash that you're offering or that you're presenting as your requirement, or you can be putting an hourly rate.

And what I was finding is that a lot of times the hourly model, what I had learned from Deloitte is a bit broken because you're motivated to take as long as humanly possible in order to get that hourly payment and, or I'm sorry, that hourly rate.

And there was no incentivization to be efficient at your job in any sort of way.

And that's how these huge firms have been able to grow is that they are they're charging by the hour.

They've got these these very popular brands that allows them to be able to let their customers know how expensive they are.

And unfortunately, it stifled innovation in terms of how the service was presented.

And so 1 of the things I learned from Upwork very early on was, hey, if I could switch this from an hourly rate to more of a retainer model, kind of like the lawyers do, you just basically you just charge a flat fee every month to have for me to be on staff.

And what that allowed me to do is it created efficiencies for me.

And it incentivized me to be great at my job because of the less hours I put towards it, the more profitable the engagement was.

And then it also gave these startups a very predictable line of revenue, or I'm sorry, of costs.

And so it was actually advantageous for them as well.

And so this was something that it took trial and error of doing a lot of random hourly rates and projects.

And and then I shortly after that transitioned into more of a retainer style model.

If you want to know more about that too, and what the heck I'm talking about, if you go to our website, right on the front page, we actually put our pricing model on there for the different customers we serve, and we broke it down into packages.

And that took at least a year to come up with.

It was this transitional period from 2020 and 2021 to really test out that model.

Like I got 1 of the advertisements pretty early on and I had no idea who the company was.

I'm actually based out of Austin, forgot to share that in the beginning, but so is AppSumo.

And So, it automatically Texans have this loyalty to each other.

And I saw that AppSumo was out of Texas, subscribed to their channel, started following them.

And then very early on, just figured out, oh, my gosh, this is going to be my saving grace as I'm growing this on Upwork.

And what I mean by that is, as you all probably already know, there are so many tools on AppSumo.

And so, as I was building out my service model, just with the expectation that it was just me and only me on Upwork, I was very disorganized.

I didn't really know any tools outside of what I had used at the big corporations, which didn't really help me when I'm working with startups.

And so I started playing around on AppSumo and adopting all sorts of tools.

And we're gonna dive into a couple of them, but I wanted to give just a quick overview of what some of them were and why the heck I use them.

So Nifty PM played a big part in our growth in the beginning, because Project management, I don't care if you are a consulting firm like us or a flower shop or a software company, whatever.

This kept me so much more organized, saved me so much time.

I was able to build out different clients in Nifty and then be able to have my tasks associated with each.

And just by doing that, it created a ton of efficiencies.

And then when I was still trying to figure out this whole retainer model, I was still charging by the hour.

And so I used that ploy to be able, I think that's how you pronounce it.

I was using that as a way to track my time.

And then eventually I'll talk about this more in a bit, but when I added staff, I was using that to track their time as well.

Like, as I started adopting these tools, I was trying to think of ways to stand out.

I think it was like 19 bucks, and you got a whole bunch of stickers.

And so I went and used an AI generation tool, a logo generation tool that I found online and generated the Eden Data logo, got some stickers made.

And then I was handing those out to people.

I was sending little care packages and my wife played a big part in that, actually.

So we were sending these these little swag care packages.

And of course, not a lot of money in the beginning of starting a company, as a lot of people know.

And then, Wave Video was a cool way for us to be able to start.

I was able to share a lot of content with my customers without actually having to actively do it live because what I was finding is that I could take on more Upwork clients that were all looking for the same things and be able to use a resource many times.

And so, that's something I would very much encourage you to do is start to figure out where does your overlap lie in the customers that you're serving.

We used Wave.Video to be able to create security awareness training.

So, it was just a video of me talking to the camera like this.

And I was talking about, hey, don't click bad links and make sure that you are always using multi-factor and that sort of thing.

And then we were able to push that to multiple customers.

And that was a great way to add value without having to put in a whole lot of extra effort.

I believe Publr is still in the AppSumo portfolio, but there's a couple others as well.

But being able to schedule your social media posts, I think that 1 of the things I figured out the hard way was that putting out content, I was always so self-conscious and I just wanted to be freaking Edgar Allen Poe over here trying to write just a beautiful piece all the time and then write something for LinkedIn and then uniquely write something for Twitter and then do something on Facebook.

Publr 1 allows you to to write a post and post it to many places but 2 it allows you to schedule things and really get your house in order on social media.

And that was an absolute game changer that really played a part in our growth early on.

And So it really, it just took the dedication to say, OK, I'm going to keep putting stuff out.

The brand building on the back end that you don't see, the people that are following you that don't say anything, like there are plenty of people with their eyes on you, whether you think so or not.

And Publr allowed me to get more eyeballs on the brand.

And then Crello, the last thing I'll say, this 1 played a big part as well, just because we use this to build proposals.

And 1 of the things I identified early on was that proposals themselves, when I say proposal, I'm saying, hey, Mr.

Customer, take this PDF file that talks about our services and what we're proposing to you as an SOW, a scope of work or statement of work.

And I wanted to make those stand out a lot.

They're just like Word documents or PDF documents with no real unique fonts or anything.

So we used Crello to be able to make very unique, beautiful proposals.

And I would just, I did it all myself and was, I certainly don't have a marketing background.

I played around with a bunch of different themes.

And 1 of the early feedback items that we were getting from customers was that the proposals that we had were beautiful.

A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into that.

But I was able to do it so affordably and so efficiently because of Crello.

So The next thing I wanted to cover was just how I used AppSumo to find tools.

And I'm actually going to do, I'm already screen sharing, but I'll do a quick dive on how I clicked around AppSumo and leveraged AppSumo directly to be able to select these tools.

And I'm hoping I can plant some seeds and some ideas with y'all as we're going through this.

But 1 of the things that you got to remember is that I have this analogy that we are very much like peacocks.

We got to look prettier than we actually are.

1 of the big things I was always self-conscious about was, well, I'm just by myself.

I have a profile, but I'm very much just a one-man army.

And I wanted to be able to look more put together than I actually felt.

And so when I was going through AppSumo, I had that in mind in terms of the tools that I used.

And I was very much picking tools based on how unique they were to me.

If I had never seen something before and I felt like it had a wow factor, I would just adopt it and try it out and then get feedback.

So 1 of the things that I did was on AppSumo with the tools that I was selecting, I would go research competitor brands.

At this time when I was just a one-person show.

I was just trying to identify these consulting firms that I knew about and was going and looking at their marketing.

And then I would start to get a breakdown and a feel for how their theme was and how their verbiage was and how they were put together.

And so, again, this was before we were a firm at all.

And I was trying to make it look like I was an actual company.

And so, I was pushing this stuff to the folks on Upwork, and I was pushing stuff out on social media.

So again, I researched those competitor brands, went and found tools that would allow me to make things that looked prettier than what my competitors were putting out.

And When I say competitors, that's a loose term because it was a David and Goliath kind of scenario when it was just me.

And then the other big thing, this is pretty self-explanatory, reading the reviews, I'm sure you all do that, but I actually started with the one-star reviews because there are plenty of reviews on there that will say something that actually wouldn't have been a 1 taco review for me.

So they would say something like, oh, the tool was confusing.

Well, they probably didn't put the time in to be able to learn that tool.

And so I didn't necessarily just go off of 5 taco reviews.

I would make sure that I evaluated tools based on what the bad reviewers were saying.

And then the last thing I would say is this, AppSumo makes it so darn easy with All of the flash sales and the highlighted tools on the homepage, a lot of things were super affordable to just try out.

And so I didn't evaluate, I didn't have to have the burden of this is so expensive and I have to be very selective.

I was very much able to adopt a bunch of different tools.

90% of the tools that I adopted never saw the light of day.

So most of the time I would play around with it.

I didn't like the experience and then I would trash it but it was so cool to see that AppSumo gave me that option.

And it wasn't that the tools were bad in and of themselves, but I was trying to build a very specific brand.

And so, because of that, a lot of things didn't fit with the workflow or the brand or similar.

Okay, so we are going to dive in on a couple of things that I covered.

So the first thing is using AppSumo, how I use this in order to be able to track down my first tools.

And we'll cover this quickly and then I'll dive into a couple of specifics where I actually have our live environment going and I can show you how I use these tools to stand out.

But in AppSumo, everyone on this call is likely very familiar with it in terms of the flow.

So I won't burden you with the minute details.

But 1 thing that I did do was I would always, always check this.

Every single day I would check the spotlight and I would check out who the heck they were promoting.

I would quickly look and see how many reviews they had.

I didn't adopt them simply because I didn't want to be the early adopter when I was like very much spending a lot of time on this.

But like something like Reach Out right here, where it's got 47 reviews and 5 tacos, I was all over that.

And from there, when I go in and I evaluate these tools if I can click them fast enough.

The first thing I did was watch the YouTube video.

So, of course, checking out the YouTube video and then I would go to YouTube and see if they had any demo videos.

So, that was another big part of this is just figuring out if they had any kind of product demos that I could evaluate the tool and check to see if it would work with what I was looking for.

But I want to iterate with these, like AppSumo has such a great brand in how they build up the clout with these tools.

I kid you not, I was clicking on these tools sometimes when I didn't even think I needed them.

And I was just learning about all these new technologies because I had never seen any of this when I was working for a huge corporation.

And so that is 1 of the coolest elements of this is that you have to have that curiosity to be able to click around and check these things out because you're going to be able to find some some Diamonds in the rough, very much so.

And so I was starting to get into this and I would very much not even be looking for a specific tool sometimes.

I would just be exploring AppSumo and accidentally find a tool.

Everyone, read the reviews and then filter it down by 1 stars.

But I think that the biggest thing that I wanted to point out as part of my AppSumo journey is that when you click into software and you're filtering down here, I've spent a lot of time in development and IT, and then I spent a lot of time in marketing and sales specifically.

But when you click into these, you've got all, of course, the recommended by nature of AppSumo's filtering.

But I would scroll, I would change the filters and really just try to find things that were even buried.

And then when I was in the actual tools, I was also leveraging this information right here, which is the, this was a poor example because they only have

No, so some of them do have the ability to look at things, like they'll have alternatives, they'll have what integrations they have.

They have a lot of great information in this at-a-glance section, which really helped me make my decisions as well, because I started seeing overlap in tools that played well with each other.

And I use that in my in my evaluation as well.

So 1 of the first things, 1 of the first tools that we adopted that I still use to this day is Scribe.

So, Scribe Mail is a fantastic tool that allows you to change your email signature to something unique.

And so, I have our environment pulled open right now, but essentially it was so affordable and it was so cool.

It allowed us to build a email signature.

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