Hello nerds. I just ranked the three AI agencies I'd start in 2027, and lead gen didn't win. Yeah, I know. Here's why it lost points. You get judged on meetings booked every single month. New cold email infrastructure takes weeks to warm up, then you're in an optimization phase before the meetings show up. And deliverability, a stale list or a client's sales team that doesn't follow up all land on you. It still scored 12 out of 20, and it's the easiest to tie to revenue. If you're good at sales and you like numbers, pick it today. In the video I also cover how I price it (about $10,000 for the build when my team does it, then a smaller monthly retainer), why you shouldn't start on pay-per-meeting, and how to land your first three clients by running the system on yourself first. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/v87vVaYF16U What are you charging your first clients right now?

Over the past month, I’ve been running cold outreach on Upwork, sending about 5 hyper-personalized messages every single day. I’ve hit over 100 prospects so far, and whenever someone replies, I send over relevant work samples. People are engaging and replying, which tells me the core issue isn't the quality of my initial message—it’s purely a numbers game. Looking at others in my space who are landing clients, the main difference is their volume; they are firing out way more messages daily. To fix this, my plan is to scale up to at least 50 outreaches a day by expanding across multiple channels—Upwork, LinkedIn, and cold email. Because doing that alone while learning new channels is unsustainable, I want to hire commission-based outreach reps using structured SOPs I'm creating. This would free me up to master LinkedIn and email outreach myself. However, someone I consulted advised me to pause hiring and close a client entirely on my own first. My concern is that waiting to close a client solo before bringing in help will slow everything down and cost too much time. I need genuine advice on whether to stick to closing one myself first or execute this delegated high-volume strategy right away.

For 8 or 9 months he had the skills, the product, and nobody buying. He was selling custom AI tools and bots to local businesses. Before he came to us he'd run a couple of cold email campaigns himself. Some LinkedIn prospecting. A bit of cold calling. Same story every time. Bad lists. An offer that wasn't quite right. Crickets. When my team got into it, they rebuilt the offer first. New product: AI content services. New market: coaches, authors and speakers, because content for that crowd is hot right now. Then we built the sending system around it. He did not see that coming. Completely switched gears. Day one: 8 interested leads. Day two: 13. He said he was this close to telling us to stop. 3 weeks in he's somewhere between 125 and 130 interested leads, at a 6.42% reply rate. He was hoping for "tens of leads if we were lucky" in month one. His new problem is not having enough time to serve everyone who raised their hand. He'll take that over crickets all day. The lesson: most people blame the copy, the domains or the tool. Fix who you're selling to first. Watch him tell it: https://youtu.be/cqJpUCAvBxY If you want my team to build yours, comment "CUSTOM" and I will reach out to see if you qualify. (You also get lifetime access to The Insiders when we do it for you). What's your offer right now, and who are you sending it to? Drop it below and I'll tell you what I'd change.

🚫 Stop Sending DMs That Reek of Desperation (Steal This Cold Message That Actually Got a Reply) 95% of DMs being sent right now? 💩 They read like a Fiverr VA copy-pasted it from a 2021 YouTube tutorial. You know the ones… ❌ "Hey [First Name], I help busy founders scale to 6-figures using my proven 3-step system…" ❌ "Quick question for you... 👀" ❌ "I saw your profile and thought we might be a great fit!" If you've ever sent one of those, this is your intervention. Because you're not just being ignored—you're being categorized. 🧠 As forgettable. 🗑️ As background noise. 📉 As someone not worth replying to. 🧠 How I Flipped It, just like @Jay Feldman teaches. Instead of ignoring a guy who'd been DM'ing me like an amnesiac AI… And this guy is a fairly well established influencer with a sizable IG, YT & Skool Community. I sent this: Not gonna lie --> you've hit me with more "Hey Ian"s & "How's Biz?" than an MLM recruiter w/ amnesia 😂 Figured I'd wait to reply until I had something worth showing. In the last 12 months: 222 new customers. $572K in revenue. {SCREENSHOT PROOF} All from a similar offer and audience size to yours. Not saying you're leaving money on the table... But if you are, your weak ass DM game is probably why. ✌️☮️ Guess what happens next? 👀 He replied instantly. Then booked a call. 🧨 Why It Worked ✅ Pattern interrupt – Casual. Funny. Not trying to sell. ✅ Leads with proof – No bait. Just data. ✅ Curiosity over pitch – Hints at the gap without bragging. ✅ Reverses the dynamic – He chased me. 💥 Want to Write DMs Like This? Here's the formula: Open with a jab – playful, honest, bold Drop results – numbers > adjectives Create curiosity – no neediness, just a window Position yourself as the shortcut – without pitching Shut up and let them ask 👉 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 "𝘿𝙈𝙎𝙇𝘼𝙋" 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙅𝙖𝙮 𝘿𝙈 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝘿𝙈'𝙨 It using the exact method above. Stop Getting Ignored. No more spam. No more guessing.

My first client meeting lasted around 3 minutes, the second one around 7 minutes, and today's meeting lasted almost 29 minutes, but unfortunately, I still couldn't close the client. (I've already shared the stories of my first two meetings in previous discussions.) Here's what happened today: I started the meeting by asking the client about the problems he is currently facing with his business. I also told him to feel free to ask me any questions. Before the meeting, I had done proper research on his business and prepared some advertising ideas and strategies. When I presented those ideas, he said he already knew about them. Then he asked me two questions that I struggled to answer. 1. "Show me the ads you've created for your previous clients. Open your Ads Manager and show me their campaigns." The problem is that this is my first client, so I don't have any previous client work to show. Instead of telling him that, I said that showing other clients' work isn't allowed because of privacy. He replied, "You can hide their names. Just show me the ads you've created and how you ran them." At that point, I didn't know what to say. 2. "You're showing me these ad ideas, but how exactly are you going to create them? Show me." I tried explaining that I would create the ads using editing software, but he wasn't satisfied with that answer. He wanted me to actually demonstrate how I would turn those ideas into real ads. And once again, I got stuck because I wasn't prepared to show him the actual creative process. How the meeting ended After discussing everything, the client said, "I need some time to think about it." And that's how the meeting ended without closing the deal. My questions for the community and mentors are: 1. As a beginner with no previous clients, how should I handle it when someone asks to see past results or Ads Manager campaigns? 2. If a client asks me to demonstrate how I'll create an ad during the meeting, how should I handle that? 3. What could I have done differently in this meeting to build trust and increase my chances of closing?