Amanda Newman, who opened her first store in high school. She became a realtor, and went on to create Park Bench - a SaaS business that creates neighborhood-focused websites for realtors who want to connect to their community. She and her partner made $880k in revenue last year and this year they’re shooting for a million.

Famous 5:

Favorite Business Book? – Predictable Revenue
What CEO do you follow? — Grant Cardone
Favorite online tool? — Unbounce

Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —Take some computer programming and design courses

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:23 – Nathan’s introduction
02:22 – Park Bench creates neighborhood-focused websites
02:47 – Amanda wanted to create value for the communities that she worked in - so she built a neighborhood website
03:34 – Local businesses put deals and promotions on the website
04:15 – “After the first one, it was easier to create the second one”
04:40 – Amanda sells neighborhood sites to realtors so that they have the opportunity to build relationships
05:20 – Realtors pay between $3000 and $6000 per year
06:15 – “Realtors want to be known as the neighborhood realtor”
06:57 – Started in 2014 - first-year revenue was $450k
07:11 – Revenue in 2015 was $880k - they’re on track for over $1 million this year
07:30 – 215 unique customers
07:53 – Customer Acquisition Cost?
08:44 – Facebook marketing is paying fantastic dividends
09:20 – 80% of realtors who buy their product buy it on the first call
09:35 – MRR in May is around $70k per month
10:00 – Revenue per user per month is $350
10:25 – Customer Acquisition Cost is around $400
10:50 – Customers sign on for a year - many sign on for a 2nd year as well
11:15 – Around half of realtors dropped out last year - but they’re immediately replaced
12:22 – The average realtor stays around 1.5 years
13:04 – Team of 8 people based in Toronto
13:50 – Park Bench sells directly to real-estate agents
15:20 – “Being bootstrapped, we have to move fast”
15:40 – $70k monthly run rate
15:45 – Connect with Amanda on Linkedin

18:05 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Find the customers that fit with you
Understand your market and what they want
Everything starts with creating value for the people around you

Resources Mentioned:

Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 353: $880k '15 Real Estate Agents Paid Her - For What? With Amanda Newman at ParkBench

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders