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#102 · How to Send 100,000 Emails Per Month (Cheapest Setup)

youtube ↗Client Acquisition

When I joined Maker School, I saw I might need to spend around $600 for tools on top of the subscription. Is that true? I'm from India, so even $50 is a lot for me — what should I save up before joining?

That $600 figure depends on how you actually implement it — my recommended approach (e.g. sending 10 Upwork applications a day, roughly 270 by the end of the first month at about $25 in Connects each) is genuinely a lot of money, but in practice very few people actually do that much volume; most people send 2-4 a day, landing around 60-90 for the month. Doing more is still better — Upwork applications don't just help your closing rate, the practice of writing proposals and recording videos also builds real skill, so it's not purely about landing that first client, it's skill-stacking too. But at minimum, if you're doing Upwork, expect to spend something like $150 just on Connects — you will need to budget some money for the platform itself.

maker schoolupwork connectsbudgettool costs

Related answers

youtube ↗Pricing

How much should I expect to spend before getting my first client after joining Maker School?

Industry averages suggest you’d spend around $200 to $300 before landing your first client. The Maker School fee is about $184, but you typically receive $2,000 to $3,000 in discounts and credits upon joining, which offsets the cost. You can use those credits on platforms like Upwork, cold email, LinkedIn DMs, or community outreach to acquire your first client. Upwork is often the simplest route because clients already have budget and are ready to hire. Cold email is high leverage but takes longer to master, especially for beginners who lack sales process understanding. Other methods include cold DMs on platforms, LinkedIn outreach, and engaging in communities like Reddit or LinkedIn groups to solve problems and get on calls. Overall, you should expect to spend at least a couple hundred dollars; if you’re not willing to invest that amount, joining paid products may not be worthwhile since you’ll need to recoup the investment after landing a client.

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youtube ↗Lead Generation

Hey Nick, after I joined Maker School, what would be the rough monthly budget that I should have considering all the tools and upper connects can add up quite a bit? Sorry, I didn't mean to down thumb you. If you give a specific number range, thanks a lot.

Your monthly budget varies mainly with outreach volume. Many people find sending 10 Loom videos daily overwhelming, but I never considered it hard when starting out. Think of it like coal miners who just accept mining as their job—your baseline for effort. Not everyone does 10 Upwork applications daily (my month‑one recommendation); we usually taper to 3‑2 per day later. Upwork connects average about $3 each; after boosting and view‑rate adjustments, assume roughly $4 per day if you send four applications daily, totaling ~$240 monthly if done 20 days a month. The idea is that by the time you’ve spent that amount, you’ll likely have landed a client who covers at least that cost, ideally 5‑10×. Add fixed beginner costs of $100‑$250 for Upwork. You’ll need a cold‑email system: I recommend services costing $55‑$60 for mailboxes/domains in month one, then $35/month thereafter (e.g., Instantly, Smartlead). Lead‑scraping services run about $1‑$1.50 per thousand leads; targeting 3,000 leads adds ~$5/month. Putting it together: ~$40 for cold‑email, $50‑$60 for mailboxes/domains, and $100‑$250 for Upwork connects, giving a realistic monthly range of $350‑$400 for a total beginner doing moderate outreach. The biggest variable is how much outreach you actually do.

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youtube ↗Agency Operations

How much software do I need for Maker School and do you use Go High Level?

I no longer use Go High Level (GHL). For software costs, the cheapest option is about $37 per month for an instant‑inbox style service. A low‑cost stack looks like this: $3 per mailbox (so five mailboxes cost $15/month) plus two domains at roughly $30 per year ($2.50/month when amortized), bringing mailbox‑related expenses to $17.50/month. Adding the $37/month inbox service brings the base to around $54.50/month. If you also purchase leads—say 4,000 leads per month at $120 per 1,000 leads—that adds $480/month, for a total of roughly $534.50/month for email outreach. For Upwork, expect to spend about $1.50 per application plus a refundable boost, averaging roughly $3 per app; sending 10 apps a day would cost about $30/day. Upwork is simple to start with because you can invest for just a few days, get paid quickly, and buy credits for the whole month rather than one‑off purchases.

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youtube ↗Lead Generation

Nick, cold emails versus Upwork. Which one helps move the needle faster to get your first win? Say you got 1K. extremely good skills, unlimited time, 18, a little social proof, and you're starting from scratch. Which of the two would be your go-to method to make a little bit more capital and get the ball rolling?

With $1,000 to bootstrap, go with Upwork. You can submit roughly 200‑300 applications (maybe more thanks to the connects refund policy). In the Maker School community, the average number of proposals needed to land a client is about 40‑60, so you could realistically secure around six clients. If the average revenue per client is around $200, that puts you at $1,200, and you can rinse and repeat. In practice, the average revenue per client is often higher—many close $1,500‑$3,000 deals—so within the first 50 proposals you could reach roughly $6,800 (or about $1,600 after the correction). Consistently scaling up from there will grow your business.

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