In this interview Bryce talks about his journey from quitting his job as an accountant to starting his own CPA exam website, how he went from bringing in $1K per month to $2M per year, the importance of hiring the right team that allowed Crush Empire to grow their revenue over 100% in the last 6 months, and how they acquire 95% of their customers.
Download podcast transcript [PDF] here: How Bryce Welker Brings In $2M Annual Revenues & Over 200k Visits/Mo Through SEO TRANSCRIPT
Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 01:03 – Eric introduces Bryce to the podcast
- 01:20 – Bryce’s background is in accounting
- 01:31 – He got his CPA license and he realized it wasn’t the path for him
- 01:47 – Bryce quit his job and went to Thailand
- 01:51 – He focused on building websites and made CrushtheCPAexam.com
- 02:37 – Bryce used his knowledge of digital marketing to scale 20 other websites
- 03:08 – Crush Empire is the parent company
- 03:27 – This year, Crush Empire is hitting the $2M revenue mark
- 04:45 – Last year was Bryce’s first million dollars in revenue
- 05:12 – Bryce wanted to build a business he wanted to actually work for
- 05:31 – Crush Empire uses Trello and Slack where they have an “experiment board”
- 07:19 – The knowledge of the entire team as a whole has been the multiplier of the business
- 07:45 – 50% of the revenue this year came from CrushTheCPAExam.com
- 08:35 – 95% of Crush Empire comes from SEO
- 09:22 – Bryce’s core competency is to do tests and case studies
- 10:10 – Bryce’s traffic is highly targeted
- 10:54 – The team is currently focusing on the buyer cycle
- 12:00 – How the funnel works:
- 12:02 – Commission based revenue
- 12:35 – The best for one person is not the best for the other
- 12:59 – Commissions range from 3% to 50% depending on the niche
- 13:48 – Bryce started Crush Offers, an affiliate network
- 15:24 – How Bryce stays focused
- 17:02 – Hire people with broad skill sets
- 17:28 – They are starting to hire interns
- 18:19 – Bryce wants his employees to be happy
- 19:09 – The biggest struggle this year was streamlining the hiring process
- 19:29 – Workable and Spark Hire are tools that have helped him with hiring
- 20:39 – After 150 resumes, they start sending video interviews thru Spark Hire
- 21:24 – Not wasting time with in-person interviews
- 21:41 – Bryce looks for lifelong learners
- 22:17 – They ask, “What’s your favorite animal?”, to see the interviewee’s personality
- 23:01 – Top 3 candidates are invited for personal interviews
- 23:42 – What’s one piece of advice you’d give to your 22-year old self? Start learning how to code and build websites
- 24:16 – What’s one must-read book you recommend? Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
- 25:34 – Connect with Bryce by email
3 Key Points:
- Your degree in college does NOT determine what you should be in the future.
- Different people have different learning styles.
- Tap into the diverse knowledge and skillset of your team to build your business.
Resources From This Interview:
- Crush Empire
- Crush the CPA Exam
- Crush Offers
- Workable
- Spark Hire
- Must-read book: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
- Bryce’s LinkedIn
- Bryce’s email
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