How I Made $4.53M+ With No Employees As a Marketer
(at 24y.o)

Learn more about the business model that generates me $250k+/m with no employees or contractors and less than 6 clients. Bootstrapped.

Written by Jakub Jablonsky (Entrepreneur & Investor)

Penthouse in Prague

Penthouse in Prague

Apartment in 5* hotel in Dubai

Apartment in 5* hotel in Dubai

Porsche Turbo

Porsche Turbo

Emirates First Class

Emirates First Class

*I would prefer not to share these pictures (I don't even have an Instagram), but I feel it's needed as proof that I have something that worked for me, allowing me to do the things I want and like.

Results Proof

$52.2k

avg monthly revenue per client 

18.5 months

average client retention

90,000+​

leads generated

Over the past 2-3 years I've generated over 90,000 leads.

Leadshook Dashboard
Heyflow Dashboard

I've sold each of these leads for $30-$250 (depending on vertical).

No products, software, or services, nothing...

If you do the math you will realize that's a couple of million :)

Here's a recent invoice to one of my clients. (for a single month's worth of leads)

Client Paid Invoice Proof - Source: Quickbooks

Client Paid Invoice Proof - Source: Quickbooks

I did this at 23-24y.o with 0 employees or contractors — until I was making more than $2.1M a year.

I started hiring after I was already at multi-7-figure revenue. No labor expense risk.

In this doc, I want to share what I did step by step.

Why am I sharing this?

My company received an acquisition offer, so I am thinking on what to do next if we move forward with that.

Secondly, this business literally changed my life from wanting to make $2k/m when I was at high school — to becoming a multi-millionaire before I turned 25.

​If sharing this can do the same for a dozen other people, it's worth sharing.

My background

▶︎ ​Started first business as 16-17y.o

▶︎ Sold app at 19y.o

​▶︎ Studied Alternative Investments at Harvard Business School online
(​Private Equity, Private Debt, Distress Investing, Secondaries, Hedge Funds, Real Estate, Portfolio Construction)

​▶︎ Joined a $100m VC fund → where I invested in a couple of startups (valued at $1.1 billion)

​▶︎ Started lead gen brands in financial services and legal at 20y.o - grew to multi-7 figures

▶︎ I run marketing newsletter just for fun: insider.marketing case studies

Jakub Avatar

1) Find a large, nationwide and well-capitalized market

This is one of the most important decisions you can make when starting a business.

The market is more important than the product or service you sell.

To be able to generate tens of thousands of leads every year, you have to be in the market with that scale & potential.

Best markets have products/services that are applicable to almost every human being (e.g. financial services, loans, home improvement, education, real estate, debt, health, and more)

If you just capture 0.1% of one of these markets you will likely have a $50M+ company.

Where most people fail with this, is they select local market, with clients that are not well capitalized & don't have operations for scale. (e.g. typical SMMA niches 🫠)

Example of bad & good market for generating leads at scale:

Market Examples

The great thing is that this works in almost any country. And most, don't have any real competition.

Global Footprint

What is a good market for this business model?

  • The product or service is applicable to a large segment of the population in a specific country
  • High volume of leads/purchases on a daily basis
  • ​There are existing companies that need leads
  • Not limited by geo - e.g. not operating only in a single state or city
  • ​The industry is compliant to run ads on Google or Meta​
  • ​The product sale price or LTV is above $500, ideally above $1,000
Gavin Thorne Recommendation

2) Get 2-3 Lead Buyers

Once we have the scalable market we find companies in this vertical that will buy the leads.


You can sell to 2 types of companies:

1. Direct lead buyers (the company that is buying leads and also selling the product)
Higher margin and you can sell the leads for more

2. Networks or lead aggregators (middlemen who buy leads, clicks, or calls from you → then resell it to their buyers)
Easier to get started to work with, but lower payouts

Lead Distribution Flow

I have a rolodex of contacts that I can share to speed up the process for you.

Alternatively, it's easy to get lead buyers with ads.

Every time I run ads for my company to get lead buyers, I get a calendar filled with appointments for a full week with just 1 day of ads. Typically it costs me about $20-$40 per call.

How much revenue do I typically generate per client?

Let's assume you will charge $30 per lead. Lead buyers come and tells you they want 3,000 leads per month (or 100 leads per day) — that's $90k in revenue from just a single client. Per month.

Example of Revenue per client per month

Example of Revenue per client per month

I have lead buyers who are buying 300-450 leads per day at that price :) It scales pretty fast.

+ me as an introvert who hates doing calls - is selling $100k+ monthly budgets.



And flying first class wherever I want...

First Class Flight Jakub
First Class Flight Jakub

3) Send them leads. Get the order again. Repeat.

Now you have lead buyers that want leads. You need to deliver.

As you're not selling any product or services, just leads or calls, it's relatively simple.

If you already have a brand (step 4), you just connect them to your existing lead distribution software. (setup takes 2-3hrs)

If you don't have a brand yet, you will create a simple lead generation funnel — can be done in ~1 day + I can show you what works best.

Example of lead generation quiz funnel

Note: LendingTree is a public company that is generating ~$670m a year — doing the exact same business model I'm showing you. (This is not your classic SMMA or appointment setting agency 🫠)

The key is the QUALITY of the lead.

If you send them qualified and high-quality leads — they will reorder over and over again.
(+ you can charge them more. Even +$5 per lead at 3,000 leads a month is an additional $15k in profits)

You can have the same 4-5 clients and be generating millions.

No need for constant prospecting and sales — that's basically how I got to $2.1M with 0 staff.

4) Build a lead generation brand - an asset you can later sell

You have a few buyers and generating revenue.

How do you build a business that is sellable and can be a multi 8-figure exit?

You pick your market. Get lead buyers. You have your vertical. Then you build a lead generation brand around it.

You can do it in a few ways:

1. Vertical specific and generic brand

2. Vertical + demographic specific brand

3. Comparison site

*revenue sources are from Google

LendingTree

LendingTree

Tom.co.uk

Tom.co.uk

BestMoney

BestMoney

This is where I am right now.

I picked a scalable vertical → got 9-figure and billion-dollar companies to buy leads from me → built a lead generation brand. Now I have offers to sell the business.

I can either keep the company to keep generating the cash flow or sell it for multiple of earnings.

5) Monetize the clients and leads in more ways

If you haven't sold the business yet, or want to increase the exit value, here's what can be done further...

You can grow the business by either:

  • Selling to more lead buyers (increasing # of customers)
  • Making them worth more (increasing LTV) - both your clients and leads​

The former is pretty clear - we repeat Step 2 over and over again, while growing the team to handle it for us.

To increase the LTV of our clients we're doing the following:

  • Upselling software with pre-built nurturing, leads management, and AI - this helps them convert more leads and therefore buy more leads from you + you can charge software subscription
Software
  • Selling the whole lead generation infrastructure for a high ticket fee​
  • Upselling the sales training (high ticket fee or monthly recurring fee) - you can partner with someone who is an expert in sales OR can build a call center
  • Doing profit or revenue split deals → this works if you know your numbers and have the transparency with other party
  • ​We built a custom leads exchange (not really necessary) which streamlines the lead purchasing process (cost us around $110k to build)
Leads Exchange

This way you can keep growing as much as you can handle.

If you really want to grow to 9-figures and more, you can become the end product seller. (not just selling leads)

​E.g. - you generate leads through your own brand → build a call center or recommendation engine → sell the product yourself or collect more in commissions

​ This is what AssuranceIQ did before they were acquired for $2.35 billion by Prudential

Assurance IQ Acquisition

Does this really work?

I'm the case study. This is how what made me a multi-millionaire before 25. Not selling some courses.

Here are some companies that follow the same business model

Consumer facing brand → generate leads → sell leads to partners

Brands with the same business model

Here are the revenue or acquisition data I could find:

NerdWallet ($539m/year)

LendingTree ($673m/year)

GoCompare $793m acquisition

EverQuote ($269M/year)

MoneySuperMarket Revenue (£432m/year)

CreditKarma ($1.6 billion/year)

eLocal sold for $140m

SelectQuote (~$1.25 billion/year)

+ there are many more that I haven't included

Ok but what if you don't have that much experience in marketing...

I've helped my old friend who never generated leads before → Got $34.5k in his first month (from 1 client)

​Selling 150 leads at $230 each.

Peter L. WhatsApp Proof

Peter L. WhatsApp Proof

Q: “Is this a good fit for me?”

This is NOT for you if…

  • Have ZERO technical skills and do not understand what a funnel is
  • You're not all-in. Each business requires your full-time attention or focus.
  • ​You don't hold yourself to high standards. I want to surround myself with top performers.

This is for you if…

  • ​If you're trying to build wealth and increase your liquid net worth
  • If you want to build a sellable company that is producing cash flow
  • ​​If you're a marketer with skills who is tired of growing your client's brands instead of your own
  • If you're trying to get to your first million in profit and have marketing skills
Stefano Privitera Recommendation

Stefano Privitera Recommendation

What to do if you want to learn more?

The steps outlined here are very “high-level” and there are many nuances to them. I've learned a lot in the past 4 years.

What sucks is that I had to do most of it on my own.

I just wish I had someone when I was starting, who can shorten my time to success from 4 years to 6 months.

If you have high standards (*requirement - as I want to surround myself with top performers) and want to get $3M+ in liquid net worth - then let's chat.

Book a call with my right hand man here:

Or ping me on WhatsApp (+421 950 708 604)
(no spam please, only if you're serious)

Jakub Avatar

— Jakub Jablonsky (Entrepreneur & Investor)

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get high quality and qualified leads?

Lead quality is influenced by a few factors:

  • The source of the lead (e.g. Ads, Google, Direct Mail...)
  • Speed to contact (you help lead buyers to solve this by backend software)
  • Funnel qualification (quiz)
  • Brand and ads messaging (have a brand to a specific demographic that resonates and you can 3x CR% overnight - this what happened to us)
  • Contact details verification and enrichment (using 3rd party software to verify phone and enrich data points)

How much initial investment is required to get started?

​ You will collect the client budget upfront.
So essentially it can be started from $0. That's what I did.
Your time investment will be required.
Also, access to my private group is paid.

How long does it take to land the first client?

If you run ads to get booked calls, it should take less than a week.
If you do outbound or other methods, it can take up to 2-3 weeks.
I'll show you what works best.

How much revenue can I generate per client?

Our biggest partner is paying us between $120k-$200k per month for 2 years in a row. It initially started at around $17k/m so it grew over time.

It all depends in which vertical are you in and what type of lead buyers you work with.
You can work with 20 lead buyers that will pay you $3k each per month or 1 that will pay you $60k a month.

How do I find lead buyers?

Ads, LinkedIn, Google, Events

What if I have no experience with generating leads?

Media buying is just clicking the buttons. That's not that complex. If you're a slow learner you can always hire for this position.

I have a friend of mine Peter who never generated leads before and did $35k his first month with 1 client.

Disclaimer: The information provided on this page is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, legal or professional advice. Results mentioned are not typical and may vary significantly. Any investment or business opportunity carries inherent risks. It is important to conduct thorough research and due diligence before making any decisions. The creator of this content is not liable for any losses or damages resulting from reliance on the information presented. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Consult with qualified professionals before taking action based on this content.