Journey 16 · Running a businessbuildinggrindingexpanding
Get Found & Get Leads
“All my work comes from one guy who refers me. If he stops, I'm finished.”
You become: Someone with more than one way work arrives
The free listing that outperforms every ad, a website whose only job is to capture a phone number, proof you can point at, and a list you own. Built in the order that produces calls soonest.
Understand
Where your customers actually look, which is rarely where you'd guess.
Practice
Asking for reviews, filming what you do, following up.
Create
A profile, a site that captures leads, a portfolio and a list.
Evidence
An enquiry from someone who found you on their own.
Be findable
Free, high-intent, and most of your competition does it badly. Do this before you spend a dollar on ads.
- Create1h 30m
Claim and finish your Google Business Profile
For a local service business this outperforms a website, a Facebook page and paid ads combined, because 'plumber near me' shows the map before anything else. Claim it, verify it, set your service area, list your services, add real hours, and upload at least ten photos of actual work. Half-finished profiles are why the guy with worse work outranks you.
You’ll have:A verified profile with services, hours and ten photos.
- Practice1h
Get your first five reviews on purpose
Text your five happiest recent customers with the direct review link and a specific ask: 'Would you mind mentioning the [thing you fixed]? It genuinely helps.' Specific reviews convert far better than 'great service'. Ask on the day the job finishes, when they're still pleased — a week later the feeling has faded and so has the reply rate.
You’ll have:Five review requests sent, with the link.
- Practice45m
Fix the three details that decide the call
On every listing you have: is the phone number tappable on a phone, is the service area right, and does a photo of your actual work appear in the first three? People choose in about eight seconds from a phone in one hand. Check yours on a phone, not a laptop, and fix what's wrong today.
You’ll have:All three checked and corrected on a real phone.
8 more actions · 9h 50m of work
The rest of this journey is one decision away.
A claim is permanent — this journey stays yours through every future price change. Slots are only ever spent by this button, never by browsing.
All 67 journeys, unmetered, for $9/mo.
Not today? Email yourself this journey.
Give them somewhere to land
One page that captures a phone number beats five pages that impress nobody.
- Create3h
Build the one page that captures leads
- Practice30m
Make sure a lead actually reaches you
- Create2h
Publish the portfolio, with before and after
Build the list and the proof
A platform can change its algorithm overnight. A phone list is yours.
- Practice20m
Start photographing every job, from today
- Practice45m
Post one real job a week
- Create2h
Make a lead magnet worth an email address
- Practice45m
Email the list once a month
- Evidence30m
Count where the last ten leads came from
Tools this journey uses
Several actions above run straight through these. All free, no signup.
Need a finished document today instead?
A playbook is the short version — a handful of steps ending in an artifact, rather than a change in what you can do.