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#202 · 60min open Q&A on how I make $400k/mo

youtube ↗Cold Email

I'm struggling to know which direction to focus in. I niched into construction as a web design company, got a $1,000/month retainer from a hand-read cold email (not using Instantly), but I'm also running £10/day ads that got zero conversions after 3 months despite optimizing the offer and landing page repeatedly. What should I focus on for outbound?

Look at what you're actually seeing here: you got a client from cold email, and now you're not doing cold email anymore — keep doing cold email. Take that £10/day ad budget (about £300/month) and put all of it into cold email instead — at max volume that's roughly 3,000 emails a day. Automate the process that already worked for you rather than continuing to sink time into ads that aren't converting. And don't sweat where things stand right now — zoom out: the moves you're making are directionally correct, and if you stack enough directionally correct moves, you eventually win.

reallocating budgetdouble down on what worksconstruction niche

Related answers

youtube ↗Cold Email

What is the best strategy for sending cold emails, when did you start your first campaign, how many days did you send them, and after how long did you get your first client?

I started cold emailing around 2018‑2019 with my business partner Gurinder; those early attempts didn’t work well. I kept sending emails for about three to four years before I made any money, and it was probably closer to two years before I saw real revenue. The breakthrough came in roughly 2021 with what I called 'one second copy': I ran many cold email campaigns and offered free sample articles that were produced cheaply using AI, which hardly anyone else was doing at the time. That got me attention from big companies like Kixie. The best cold‑email strategy is to front‑load value—give the recipient more work or benefit than you’re asking for. Instead of asking for free labor, identify a problem they’re suffering from, solve it, and attach the results to your email. For example, I once rewrote 40 YouTube titles for a follower, provided a one‑click doc, and they saw immediate CTR improvements. That’s how successful, ‘rich‑people’ cold emails work: you save them time or make them money, not the other way around.

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youtube ↗Cold Email

I have an automated cold‑email stack targeting small US businesses from Seoul; what advice do you have for getting my first client and how should I price my service?

I praised the stack and said the key is to treat outreach as a lever. Early months will have a low input‑to‑output ratio, but as you refine your process you’ll see massive leverage gains. I advised starting with Upwork to build credibility and earnings, then add cold‑email outreach in parallel. Don’t abandon the core lever (Upwork) while you experiment with outbound. Focus on improving average revenue per user—if you can tie your emails to an upsell or higher‑value service, you can justify higher pricing. Start with a modest package to get the first client, then increase rates as you accumulate case studies and results.

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youtube ↗Client Acquisition

Should I focus on cold email or Upwork to reach $5‑10 k per month, and if cold email, what tips would you give to start?

You have three main approaches: cold email, Upwork, or both—and you can also upsell existing clients on follow‑up work. There’s no need to pick just one; you can do both and see which works better. If a client is already getting great value from your automation, pitch them on additional scope or an incentive‑based arrangement. To start with cold email, consider the offer size, niche, and daily email volume per mailbox, and test different tactics to see what yields results.

cold emailupworkclient acquisitionoutreach
youtube ↗Cold Email

What's the difference between your cold email system and a paid ads campaign with a full funnel in terms of ROI? Do you get better outcomes with cold email, and is that why you recommend it? What are the best outbound strategies to get clients based on your experience? Could you give an example with a $100/month budget?

I bootstrap the vast majority of my business using cold email, which is why I encourage everyone I know to use it. The cost per acquisition (CPA) with cold email is significantly lower than with paid ads—in 99% of cases it's not even funny how much lower it is. With cold email, you trade the inherent scalability and automation of ad platforms (like Google and Facebook's automated tweaking and tripwire offers) for the time you or a salesperson spend communicating one‑on‑one with prospects. Because you're investing that time, the CPA drops dramatically—for example, you might spend around $5 to acquire a $5,000 product, whereas with ads you could spend $350 or more for the same lifetime value. Even with a $100‑per‑month budget, you can't realistically run an ad campaign; the time, energy, and money required to set up and optimize the ads would be prohibitive. Cold email lets you use that budget effectively by focusing on direct outreach.

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