How I Started A $70K/Month Business Selling Software For MLMs

Sajin Rajan

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Published: December 26th, 2019

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Sajin Rajan

Founder, Epixel Solutions

$150K

revenue/mo

Founders

150

Employees

Epixel Solutions

epixelmlmsoftware.com

from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

started August 2015

$150,000

revenue/mo

Founders

150

Employees

Discover what tools recommends to grow your business!

platform

Node.js

Django

productivity tool-icon

MongoDB Cloud

other

GoLang

PostgreSQL tool-icon

Python

Redis

Discover what books Sajin recommends to grow your business!

Want more updates on Epixel Solutions? Check out these stories:

1. Epixel Solutions Update: How We Went From 5 Employees To A Team Of 100 (2021) ➜

2. How We Adapted To Customer Needs And Grew Our Team To 150+ Employees (2023) ➜

Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?

Hi, this is Sajin Rajan, co-founder of Epixel Solutions, LLC. With at most satisfaction, I’m happy to share my story with you. When I launched our flagship product, Epixel MLM Software in the global market back in 2015, our motto was to create a revolution.

God’s grace and our team’s effort made that dream come true. Friends, you must be familiar with Amway products! They sell their products using the MLM business model. Well, as their products were accepted worldwide, they do have a large customer base. It's not an easy task to manage them and their different range of products. Similarly, many companies that are popular globally as well as the startups who just got entered into business.

The main pulp of MLM business are customers or to be more precise - 'distributors'. The source of income for the distributors is commissions or bonuses and for companies, it's sales.

To manage, organize, and control the entire business, they need some technical help. That's what we do, an MLM Software as a complete solution. With our package, MLM or direct selling business can maintain their business with great ease.

We celebrated our products’ success a few months after the launch and now we’re at the edge of launching our system with new services. Our customer base is diversified to different groups like direct selling, MLM, blockchain, cryptocurrency exchanges, etc.

Epixel managed to build a strong business relationship with our clients around the globe and it reflects on our revenue growth of past years. It’s compelling and invokes a drive to reach the highest paradigm, self-actualization!

After a year of Epixel’s establishment, we managed to make an annual income of $10,000. At present, we’re making a monthly revenue of about $70,000, this value remarks our growth. Our effort never went vein and we’re proud to excel in our business.

how-i-started-a-70k-month-business-selling-software-for-mlms

What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?

It wasn’t easy at all, the road to success comes with many obstacles. ‘Unity is strength’, yes, the proverb is true and our team is our strength. We stood strong holding hand in hand, together through thick and thin.

The idea of providing our flagship product came in my mind once I got invited to a trade show. I’m familiar with the direct selling industry but wasn’t aware of the clutter faced by product selling companies. I saw a person standing before empty seats and when I went there, I was amused!

It was a workshop and a guy in his suit was explaining the difficulties faced in the industry but no one was interested to hear it. I thought the workshop was just a waste of time. Yet I thought I’ll give a try for ten minutes and then, off I go!

“Who will address these issues”, that was the final words from the man. When I checked my watch, I was surprised. Instead of giving the presentation roughly ten minutes, I spend about an hour! His words were powerful and that made me sit there unaware of the time. Those issues he spoke out from his mouth created a million-dollar idea in my mind.

Automation with advanced and stable software, that was the idea. Even though there exist software providers in the industry, none was providing that extra thing the direct selling companies need. So, I took myself in with my two other partners and developed a world-class system.

Dhanesh and Noufal liked my idea and their 7+ years of expertise in the software industry was crucial. Their expert opinion helped me to validate the idea of developing an MLM Software. Our financial status wasn’t stable but as I mentioned before, together we’re unbreakable!

Take us through the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing your first product.

Converting the ideas into reality, that's the next stage! In this stage, we have to take care of something that has got great importance - 'delivering a stable system'. We want to help direct selling companies and let them build an active network. We had to go through initial studies about the industry and deep research to finally launch the product in the market.

We used high-end technologies & platforms to develop the package. Initially, we were providing basic features with customization. Later on, we understood the customer pattern from their general inquiries and added advanced features based on what lack in their business.

Direct selling companies were losing a good amount of money as compensation for distributors and a balance needs to be maintained between profit & payout. So we researched more and found the issues, yes, that was a challenge. Companies were giving out more than 50% of revenue to their distributors, which is more than what they could afford.

There won’t be much left for future plans. A solution was much needed in this stage so we developed a useful feature - ‘payout compression’. Companies can restrict the flow of revenue by fixing an amount for compensation.

If they set this value like 35%, then the system won’t exceed this limit in terms of payout.

The startup cost was manageable and we could afford it with our savings and business loans. We’ve taken all the rights and follows every law, as a complement to our efforts, we are entitled to rewards. We’ve won Rising Star and Great User Experience awards from FinacesOnline in 2017. Two years later, Epixel has entitled to another award - “SUPREME SOFTWARE” from SoftwareSuggest.

The below snap clearly tells our growth.

Describe the process of launching the business.

The launching strategy was clear - launch the product that no one else provides. A stable system to enhance our customers and spread the word through the internet, that was our motto. Digital marketing was the strategy for customer acquisition alongside our client reference support.

We launched our product and received a good response from the industry. We aired our product showcasing through a normal website and then by time-to-time analysis, we’ve designed a website that answered a simple question - what people need?. In times, we change our strategy according to our customer’s needs, after all, we’re providing a solution to their problems!

Well, things weren’t easy after the launch and we were aware of the situation. Even my partner Noufal, who is an expert in marketing predicted this situation. The main challenge we faced was during our launch period was from the competitors.

The existing MLM software providers have already created a positive influence. It was tough to spot us from them, we had to provide something unique. Noufal had plans for that and we launched with some uniqueness.

Technology and performance - these two factors made Epixel unique from others. The growth was slowly gearing up and we maintained to achieve our goals since our beginning. From 5-10 customers to 240+ projects, we’ve achieved many milestones!

I personally believe one thing, whatever the product is, the aim must be - how to address the issue and the product must be the solution for that issue. Our research team is constantly researching and studying business patterns. Neuroscience, it helps a lot in finding the issues and providing the best solution.

From our business, I’ve learned something, something that has got great value - ‘learn what customers really need from us and provide it’.

Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?

My advice to aspiring entrepreneurs and startups is what I just said earlier, about what I learned - learn what customers need and provide them that!

However, doing this alone won’t do it, people have to know that you’re doing something. We offered them something that they can’t refuse, spread those words globally through social media channels. Creating interest is a challenge and it was our job to make it happen.

In marketing, what worked well for us was the digital marketing strategy. We were able to effectively use direct marketing as a source. Well, there was another source that provided an equal contribution - word of mouth.

Word of mouth works well and not everyone understands the value of this method. It's the communication that matters the most and marketing is the medium. We analyzed the persuasion part and found word of mouth like a good marketing source. We're still following this method and our growth backs our choice of marketing.

In direct marketing, we were getting good responses. Social Media Marketing (SMM) and content marketing did the job. We analyzed our customers from google analytics. The insights from this tool were helpful and we implemented them on our website.

Thus we could provide our website visitors what they actually needed. Improving the user experience was the only motto of this data analysis. We don't use or collect our customer's data for any other purposes. Our customers or website visitors privacy matters and we obey all the major data protection laws.

We were thus able to improve the customer retention rate. We even ask for their feedback and act accordingly. We achieved our goal using such simple techniques yet a skillful task.

Customers come back to you if you offer the solution with good quality. In my case, providing software with proper support and premium features let people contact me again. I’m always happy to hear back from our customers and have a long-time business relationship.

How are you doing today and what does the future look like?

We’re doing really well, in fact, more than that. We started off in India, then expanded our success to Utah, USA. Now, in 2019, we’ve managed to open our customer connecting points in other parts of the USA, Hong Kong, and Switzerland.

We’ve completed more than 200+ projects in different sectors and industries like direct selling, Multi-Level Marketing (MLM), home party business, blockchain, exchange & trading platforms, cryptocurrency development, crowdfunding platforms, etc.

We’ve advanced plans for the future. At present, we offer a wider range of services like,

We’re looking forward to opening new branches and expand our team strength in 2020. Our team is learning new skills and is open to challenges. Let’s hope for the best!

Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?

I’ve learned many things from the past and present, I use these insights to plan the future.

Every insight I learned is an input, and the output always depends on the inputs.

I’m a great fan of motivational theory, I like to keep an optimum level of interest. If I’m down, I’ll go out and perform something that elevates my stimulation, in simple words, if I’m down due to pressure then I go to an isolated space and do meditation. This keeps my nerves calm and gets relaxed.

If I’m bored, I go out and play football, I’m a great fan and I love playing. I’m not a great player but still, I can dribble and get past the defenders (with a wink).

There are bad days, good days, most importantly I don’t like to keep pressuring our team. I like to keep the stress levels controlled and relax our amigos with stress relief sessions like a fun time, meditations, and much more. We’re dealing in financial-based business so it's important that they stay calm and follow a stable level.

Making good decisions requires that and so we offer flexible work time for our team.

What platform/tools do you use for your business?

We use various platforms to make our customer’s business better, we are also open to any integration as per our customer’s requirements.

Technology:

Front-end Scripting: HTML5, CSS, Jquery, React Native
Back-end Scripting: Django, Node.js
Background Engine: Python, Golang
Database: PostgreSQL, MongoDB or Cassandra
Caching: Redis / Kafka

What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?

Indeed a tough question, yes, I read books but more a film-person. The most inspirational thing I’ve ever come across is neither a film or a book, it’s the lives of our team itself!

Everyone in our team comes from different backgrounds, not everyone comes here intrinsically. The reasons for being a part of the IT industry might be different from person to person but when they are in the working space, we’re a family.

They don’t show any personal issues once they get inside their workspace. Whatever issues they face in their life, everything melts down and become relaxed. It's an inspiration for us, a smile on their face keeps us going!

Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?

If you’ve got an idea with you, then share it with your colleagues or your friends. Try to learn more about your idea, the challenges, and how to implement it. It’s not just about giving up, you have to at least try before disposing of your ideas.

If I hadn’t proceeded further in sharing my ideas with my colleagues, there wouldn’t be Epixel, and I wouldn’t be answering these questions.

“Don’t stop until you find the solution. The urge to narrate your product in the industry won’t bring harm, actually, it inspires others to try their best.”

If you got passed that stage, think about the financial sides. If you can’t find any ways to raise funds through loans, go for crowdfunding ideas, maybe that will help.

I hope my story inspires at least a reader if so, that’ll be an awesome moment in my life! You can always contact me - LinkedIn and I’ll be offering you my assistance. I’ll try my best to help you. Helping each other helps people to survive and it’s our duty to help others, at least, that’s what I believe in. Be a good human being before becoming a business tycoon!