Could you make a video about how to start from zero? I'm confused about terms like onboarding and lead generation, and I want to organize myself with all the information available.
To make a long story short, onboarding is just the process of getting somebody that just paid you acquainted and up and running with your business as quickly as possible so you can maximize the quality of the project you deliver. Lead generation is turning people from strangers who have never heard about you or your product into people interested in working with you—these are prospects. Whether or not you turn prospects into clients is a separate matter (that's sales). But lead generation is simply moving people from not knowing you to knowing you.
I have to be careful about what I share for free, because the more I give away, the lower the perceived value of my paid products becomes. I try to conceptually divide it: the AI/automation systems and builds, I give away 100% for free. But things like actual sales calls and the onboarding/deliverable process — that's what you get in the paid communities, since that side is strictly about monetization, a B2B problem, which lets me justify the investment you make and return it to you directly. It also lets me make more money, and honestly it's a more fun problem to solve — how to make other people money, versus something like debugging a node.
You’ll have to land your first client just like any professional—by proving you can deliver results. Even without a traditional résumé, you can show proof of generated outcomes. A quick way to bootstrap is to market yourself through free channels such as LinkedIn DMs, Instagram DMs, X (Twitter) communities, schools, etc. Build a system that consistently gets interested prospects, then sell that system to others. For instance, run a LinkedIn outreach funnel that generates about five qualified leads a week (a booked meeting). You may not close those leads yourself, but you can guarantee lead generation for clients.
Building an agency from zero is doable but very hard. Starting with no money makes the job about 50× harder than if you had even $50. If you want to try the challenge, you can scrape leads manually using tools like Appify and Apollo, pulling 100 leads at a time (you’ll need to repeat this to reach around 10,000 leads for the first month). Alternatively you can spend about $26 using a discount code (Nick30) to get 10,000 leads instantly. A small investment in lead‑generation tools (Appify, Upwork apps, cold‑email services) can give massive returns. Focus on getting a few paying clients first—maybe $100 from a client—to fund the tools. Use cheap or free channels like cold DMs, LinkedIn DMs, community posts, and the occasional paid cold‑email blast. The key is to secure paying clients early and reinvest that money into lead generation.
I’ve actually recorded a video that answers that exact question, and I’ve been publishing a new video on the topic every day for the past six days. Right now I’m focused on funnel‑building and trying to reach as many people as possible, so you’ll see a lot of repeated content. Think of it as me consolidating the most important points you need to know to be successful in this niche, rather than just shouting at you. Check out the recent videos for a step‑by‑step guide on launching an automation business as a solo agency owner.