How I built a $387K solo agency from zero (the full story)

Hey team, hope you're having a good week.

That screenshot below, that's $387K NZD ($225K USD) gross volume since early 2024. No in-person employees, just me and a few part-time contractors who've been a huge help along the way.

Here's how it happened.

Two years ago I'd never done marketing in my life. I was working part-time doing technical stuff for a friend's business and watching way too many YouTube videos of 21 year olds making bank running marketing agencies from the US. The thought wouldn't leave me alone. If they could do it, why couldn't I do it from New Zealand?

So I started chasing it. Commented on videos. Asked questions. Eventually I got on a call with the guy who was, at the time, Alex Hormozi's CMO. I asked him two things: what would you do if you were starting again, and who would you learn from?

He gave me names. I picked one. Signed up to a coaching program that cost more than I could afford and dropped $5,000 of my own money on Facebook ads trying to make it work.

The first three months I had nothing. Just a slowly emptying bank account and a lot of doubt.

Every day I'd ask the same question. How much longer do I keep draining my bank account before I quit?

Never. That was always the answer.

Because it only had to work once. One client. One result. After that, the skill was mine forever.

And then it happened. I got my first client. $500 USD a month. I treated that one client like my entire business depended on it, because it did. Eight months later I quit my job.

Here's the thing most agencies get wrong. They chase sales. They sign clients fast and lose them faster, churning every 1 to 3 months because they're great at selling and average at delivering.

I went the other way. Every client got my full attention until they were winning. Only then would I go find the next one. It's slower, but the clients stick around and you learn whatever you're delivering to a very deep level. If someone's been with me 4+ months and getting results, why would they ever leave?

That's how the chart below got built. One client at a time, results first, sales last.

A few honest bits worth sharing:

- I tried scaling with full-time hires. Hit my best month ever at $40K NZD. Hated managing people that way. Went back to working solo with contractors at $15-20K USD a month and I'm a much happier person for it.

- Marketing doesn't always work, even when you do everything right. Algorithms shift, markets change, clients run out of money. You can't control any of that.

- I got into SEO and websites because I noticed the ads worked twice as well when those were done properly. Turns out 99% of SEO agencies have no idea what they're doing, which is why this niche has so much room for people who actually care.

I also want to give real credit to the part-time contractors who've worked with me along the way. I couldn't have hit these numbers alone, and I'm grateful for the work they've put in.

So why am I sharing all this?

I'm not scaling the agency by hiring full-time. Tried it, not for me. But I do want to help more business owners get marketing done properly, which is why Found by Friday exists. AI is finally good enough that owners can do most of this work themselves with the right framework, and that's what we're building here.

The boring truth: get good at delivery, do right by your clients, the rest handles itself.

Ask me anything.

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