I've been following Nick Saraev since he won the Skool games this year and makes $300k/month with his Skool group teaching automations.
He threw up a YouTube video that was about an hour long called, "Watch me start an AI agency from 0 to prove it's NOT luck" and there are a couple of things that really stuck out to me. The dude provides massive value in the sense that most have no idea where to begin any online business, let alone an AI agency. The most common reason for why someone "can't" is because they have no idea where to start - and fair enough, how would you know? As a friend of mine says, "You don't know what you don't know". The secone thing that stood out to me was he didn't try to fake it and say hey I made a million dollars through this. No - he got severa potential replies that showed interest but it was a ower than preferred open rate which, as he mentioned, could be tweaked with some A/B testing. The point is he shows you the whole damn thing and proves, regardless of rates, he WAS successful. Given the first thing you need to do when you are at zero is start - proving it can be done is hell of a lot better than some clickbait make millions BS or you just have to "hustle" tough talk which is not proof, not a strategy, not a plan. Those few successful, interested replies he got could be like bread to a starving entrepreur just looking to have some success, something that is positive to keep the hustle going and know its worth it. Just wanted to share for anyone who might be dealing with doubt (been there) and you can check it out for yourself on YT.
It is an hour long and everyone has lives, so here's a summary of what he did:
• Defined the Goal: His primary objective was to generate a high volume of leads, initially for a vague "growth" opportunity, believing that other questions about specific services would resolve themselves later. He aimed to book actual sales calls from these leads.
• Chosen Service (Initially): While starting vague, he identified selling growth as the easiest service due to its immediate return on investment and his expertise in generating demand. He also considered other offerings like lead generation services, CRM systems, lead reactivation, and niche-specific fulfillment systems, leveraging his large social media following as a form of social proof.
• Selected Outreach Method: He chose cold email as the most scalable and cost-effective method for beginners, citing its blend of scale, cost, and targeting.
• Built Infrastructure:
◦ He used a platform called Instantly for email sending. Or you can use something like Conversion Blitz if you are on a tight budget.
◦ Initially, he had 53 active email accounts, capable of sending 1,590 outbound emails per day. With a two-step email sequence (first email + follow-up), this translated to 795 new leads daily, aiming for 5,000 leads uploaded weekly.
◦ To increase volume and speed up iteration, he later purchased 50 additional pre-warmed mailboxes for $650, significantly boosting his daily sending capacity to 1,950 emails across 65 accounts.
• Sourced Leads:
◦ He used Apollo for lead scraping, filtering for decision-makers (e.g., founder, partner, CEO) in "agency" roles across high-income English-speaking countries (e.g., US, UK, Canada, Germany, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland).
◦ He aimed to avoid re-running the exact same list he used in previous campaigns.
◦ He obtained thousands of leads (e.g., 4,669 initially, then 3,691 after cleaning for valid emails).
• Enriched Leads with Personalization:
◦ He set up an automation flow using Make.com and GPT-4.1 to generate a customized one-line icebreaker for each prospect's email. This process involved populating a Google Sheet with lead data and then updating it with the generated icebreakers.
• Created and Launched Campaigns:
◦ He duplicated a previously successful "website agencies" campaign as a starting point, iterating on existing templates rather than starting from scratch.
◦ He crafted two variants of email copy, each including an icebreaker, introduction, social proof, and an offer. One key strategic pivot was to offer prospects existing leads/opportunities rather than pitching to build a new system for them.
◦ He ensured emails were sent as text-only to improve deliverability and scheduled sending from Monday to Saturday.
• Monitored and Debugged:
◦ After sending 1,123 emails, he observed a low open rate (12%) and a .6% positive reply rate, yielding seven positive replies but also some "remove me" and "stop" responses.
◦ He recognized this was underperforming compared to his usual results and began debugging. He identified potential issues with the messaging (copy), the audience (possible saturation from previous campaigns), or deliverability.
◦ He decided to increase email volume to gather more data faster.
◦ He iterated on his email sequences, turning off a poorly performing variant and creating new ones with altered subject lines.
◦ He set up mobile notifications for replies, understanding that quick responses are crucial for conversion rates.
In essence, he demonstrated a rapid, action-oriented approach to launching and optimizing an AI service, focusing on quick lead generation and continuous iteration rather than perfection from the outset.
Just showed proof that it is possible and can give hope to someone who needs it.
Worth some thought. If you're freezing on something you've been wanting to do, just do it and perfection is the enemy of progress. Got to start somewhere so go out and do it. Have some kind of system, be consistent and optimize throughout.
Hope this helps someone, I know it would be helped a younger me who was struggling with doubt and confusion. Cheers to Nick, appreciate the time he put into this.
He threw up a YouTube video that was about an hour long called, "Watch me start an AI agency from 0 to prove it's NOT luck" and there are a couple of things that really stuck out to me. The dude provides massive value in the sense that most have no idea where to begin any online business, let alone an AI agency. The most common reason for why someone "can't" is because they have no idea where to start - and fair enough, how would you know? As a friend of mine says, "You don't know what you don't know". The secone thing that stood out to me was he didn't try to fake it and say hey I made a million dollars through this. No - he got severa potential replies that showed interest but it was a ower than preferred open rate which, as he mentioned, could be tweaked with some A/B testing. The point is he shows you the whole damn thing and proves, regardless of rates, he WAS successful. Given the first thing you need to do when you are at zero is start - proving it can be done is hell of a lot better than some clickbait make millions BS or you just have to "hustle" tough talk which is not proof, not a strategy, not a plan. Those few successful, interested replies he got could be like bread to a starving entrepreur just looking to have some success, something that is positive to keep the hustle going and know its worth it. Just wanted to share for anyone who might be dealing with doubt (been there) and you can check it out for yourself on YT.
It is an hour long and everyone has lives, so here's a summary of what he did:
• Defined the Goal: His primary objective was to generate a high volume of leads, initially for a vague "growth" opportunity, believing that other questions about specific services would resolve themselves later. He aimed to book actual sales calls from these leads.
• Chosen Service (Initially): While starting vague, he identified selling growth as the easiest service due to its immediate return on investment and his expertise in generating demand. He also considered other offerings like lead generation services, CRM systems, lead reactivation, and niche-specific fulfillment systems, leveraging his large social media following as a form of social proof.
• Selected Outreach Method: He chose cold email as the most scalable and cost-effective method for beginners, citing its blend of scale, cost, and targeting.
• Built Infrastructure:
◦ He used a platform called Instantly for email sending. Or you can use something like Conversion Blitz if you are on a tight budget.
◦ Initially, he had 53 active email accounts, capable of sending 1,590 outbound emails per day. With a two-step email sequence (first email + follow-up), this translated to 795 new leads daily, aiming for 5,000 leads uploaded weekly.
◦ To increase volume and speed up iteration, he later purchased 50 additional pre-warmed mailboxes for $650, significantly boosting his daily sending capacity to 1,950 emails across 65 accounts.
• Sourced Leads:
◦ He used Apollo for lead scraping, filtering for decision-makers (e.g., founder, partner, CEO) in "agency" roles across high-income English-speaking countries (e.g., US, UK, Canada, Germany, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland).
◦ He aimed to avoid re-running the exact same list he used in previous campaigns.
◦ He obtained thousands of leads (e.g., 4,669 initially, then 3,691 after cleaning for valid emails).
• Enriched Leads with Personalization:
◦ He set up an automation flow using Make.com and GPT-4.1 to generate a customized one-line icebreaker for each prospect's email. This process involved populating a Google Sheet with lead data and then updating it with the generated icebreakers.
• Created and Launched Campaigns:
◦ He duplicated a previously successful "website agencies" campaign as a starting point, iterating on existing templates rather than starting from scratch.
◦ He crafted two variants of email copy, each including an icebreaker, introduction, social proof, and an offer. One key strategic pivot was to offer prospects existing leads/opportunities rather than pitching to build a new system for them.
◦ He ensured emails were sent as text-only to improve deliverability and scheduled sending from Monday to Saturday.
• Monitored and Debugged:
◦ After sending 1,123 emails, he observed a low open rate (12%) and a .6% positive reply rate, yielding seven positive replies but also some "remove me" and "stop" responses.
◦ He recognized this was underperforming compared to his usual results and began debugging. He identified potential issues with the messaging (copy), the audience (possible saturation from previous campaigns), or deliverability.
◦ He decided to increase email volume to gather more data faster.
◦ He iterated on his email sequences, turning off a poorly performing variant and creating new ones with altered subject lines.
◦ He set up mobile notifications for replies, understanding that quick responses are crucial for conversion rates.
In essence, he demonstrated a rapid, action-oriented approach to launching and optimizing an AI service, focusing on quick lead generation and continuous iteration rather than perfection from the outset.
Just showed proof that it is possible and can give hope to someone who needs it.
Worth some thought. If you're freezing on something you've been wanting to do, just do it and perfection is the enemy of progress. Got to start somewhere so go out and do it. Have some kind of system, be consistent and optimize throughout.
Hope this helps someone, I know it would be helped a younger me who was struggling with doubt and confusion. Cheers to Nick, appreciate the time he put into this.
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