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#240 · the 4-letter acronym i use to find ai clients

youtube ↗Agency Operations

Jordan Michael Jordan asks if I’ve considered recording a series that shows the journey of starting an AI agency from zero, similar to a Maker School methodology.

Sure, I get the idea of creating a series that shows the journey from zero. I’ve already built a lot of proof for my AI agency. Over the years I’ve recorded sales calls, kept bank statements, and documented everything. I’ve even done a project on Upwork that started with just a dozen cold‑email calls. After about 12 calls I closed a few clients who didn’t even know who I was, and that gave me real case studies. I’ve also tried cold‑email and community‑post outreach, but hiding your reputation there is hard, so I haven’t pursued it further.

starting from zeroupworkcold email

Related answers

youtube ↗Lead Generation

How can I get back into my AI agency journey and start making money after pausing for exams, given I only tried cold calling a few days and built some basic automations?

If you've only tried cold outreach a few times, you need to do it 100–1,000 times more to see results. When I started, I knocked on about 3,000 doors over three months with a friend and made only $7—roughly the same outcome as 5–15 cold calls that got zero replies. At the beginning, lacking experience means you need many reps to win. I wouldn’t recommend cold calling for selling automations today; instead, send custom Loom videos. They avoid synchronous timing issues and gatekeepers, letting your message sit in the prospect’s inbox, which is far more effective—likely three to four times better use of your time.

cold callingloom videooutreachreps
youtube ↗Lead Generation

If you had no money and no audience starting from scratch, what would you do differently?

With no money and no audience, I’d go straight into cold outbound because I’m good at it—I’ve done door‑to‑door and learned what gets people to talk or kick you out. I’d start with Loom videos or manually written cold emails (not scalable but effective) to pitch people directly. Then I’d bootstrap: 10× the number of mailboxes, sell a simple AI service, and have clients cover costs to keep things simple and low‑cost. That’s the core approach. (After answering, I note I wasn’t going to record today but we’re doing it now, then I share my brand stats: YouTube 93,779, Instagram 127,175, daily updates channel 4,716.)

cold outboundloombootstrappingconsistency
youtube ↗Lead Generation

If you had to start your AI agency from scratch, what channel would you focus on first? Cold email, LinkedIn DMs, Instagram, Facebook groups, or something else? Why and what would your first 30 days look like?

Don’t limit yourself to one channel; test several and match each to your existing skill set. For example, if you’re strong at aesthetics, branding, and the first five minutes of conversation, you’ll do well on Upwork but might struggle with cold email. Run both in parallel, track results, and after a month double down on the winner. Set a consistent goal (e.g., 10 LinkedIn DMs a day, 100 cold emails a day, 20 Facebook‑group messages a day) and treat the experiment like a scientific test.

ai agencyoutreach channelsskill matchtesting
youtube ↗Cold Email

What cold outreach offer would you use to start an AI automation agency from scratch without an existing audit?

The typical influencer pitch—selling AI operating systems or audits—only works because they already have trust. As a total stranger you need to find a single problem the prospect likely has with a big financial pain point, like wasted spend on lead generation or PPC. Then guarantee you can solve that problem with a monetary reward. If you don't deliver, you either refund them, don't ask for payment, or keep working for free until you achieve the result. The formula I use is: I guarantee 20 booked appointments in 60 days or you don't pay. I repeat that over and over. I never say I'll run an AI audit with vague outcomes; that offers no clear ROI.

cold outreachai agencyguarantee