[Progress] Sold my $4.2m revenue agency. Starting an Affiliate Media Company with a clear exit strategy targeting $900k 2026/2027.

[dakshkapoor1304@]

Hi,

About me
I recently sold my Social Media Agency. At its peak, I had 25 full-time employees. $4.2 million revenue. Armed with this experience, I am now embarking on a new journey—an affiliate media company with a clear intention and strategy to sell the company for $700k - $900k in 2026/2027.

Why do I share this journey with you?
I've worked on the company from my home office for a few weeks. I realized I needed someone to be accountable to - that's where you come in! I will post my journey, learnings, and strategy here. I hope you find it valuable.
Feel free to ask questions, give feedback or tell me if there is something you want to see. I welcome constructive discussions.

Strategy

This is only a piece of the pie. I'll write extensively and be 100% transparent about the strategy, learnings, tech stack, etc in my notes. I'll update these notes often and include guides (Read notion notes here). Once or twice a month I'll post updates on this forum.


Sneak-peek of strategies I'll employ:

• Re-invest all revenue until January 2025.
• Automate Social Media Marketing on platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest.
• Automate personal branding on LinkedIn.
• Establish relationships with Affiliate Advertisers and Managers and leverage their copywriters.
• Hire a photographer, rent a studio & add professional photos to posts.
• Understand Generative Search as a potential threat. Build a loyal audience, and capitalize with e-mail marketing.
• Collaborate with freelancers for article creation. Hire a Virtual project manager to manage freelancers.
• The main revenue driver in phase 1 will be affiliate links. Introduce display ads, link-selling, etc., at a later stage.
• Prioritize on-page SEO and content creation with a reader-first approach. Creating real value for readers is the main priority.
• .. And much more in my notes.

Simplified Goals

• Purchase affiliate sites with revenue & add 100 monthly articles from August 2023 - January 2024.
• $4,500 Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) by January 2024
• $15,000 MRR by July 2024. Start a dialog with potential buyers.
• $30,000 MRR by January 2025. Steady growth & optimization of profits - prove business to potential buyers.
• July 2025 - January 2026. Steady growth, focus on profit/growth. Sell company/assets for $700k-$900k
• .. Read the in-depth thought process on goals and strategy in my notes.

Current portfolio

• Site 1: $1500 YtD revenue. 212 articles. Jul-23 revenue $250.
• Site 2: $750 YtD revenue. 97 articles. Jul-23 revenue $435.
• Other (3) minor sites: $45 YtD revenue. July-23 revenue $10. I'll expand on these later.
• August-2023 Across all sites, the average is $30.25/day.
• Total E-mail sign-ups: +300. need to clean up lists.

Snapshots
I use nine different affiliate networks, I cannot post them all so I'll post monthly summed earnings. Here is a snapshot of July performance for Amazon and a GSC screenshot from the same page YtD.
View attachment 50791
View attachment 50792
P.S. I'm happy to provide proof of my previous agency ownership and exit, with ID and references to newspaper articles to a moderator in PM.

Hi,

About me
I recently sold my Social Media Agency. At its peak, I had 25 full-time employees. $4.2 million revenue. Armed with this experience, I am now embarking on a new journey—an affiliate media company with a clear intention and strategy to sell the company for $700k - $900k in 2026/2027.

Why do I share this journey with you?
I've worked on the company from my home office for a few weeks. I realized I needed someone to be accountable to - that's where you come in! I will post my journey, learnings, and strategy here. I hope you find it valuable.
Feel free to ask questions, give feedback or tell me if there is something you want to see. I welcome constructive discussions.

Strategy

This is only a piece of the pie. I'll write extensively and be 100% transparent about the strategy, learnings, tech stack, etc in my notes. I'll update these notes often and include guides (Read notion notes here). Once or twice a month I'll post updates on this forum.


Sneak-peek of strategies I'll employ:

• Re-invest all revenue until January 2025.
• Automate Social Media Marketing on platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest.
• Automate personal branding on LinkedIn.
• Establish relationships with Affiliate Advertisers and Managers and leverage their copywriters.
• Hire a photographer, rent a studio & add professional photos to posts.
• Understand Generative Search as a potential threat. Build a loyal audience, and capitalize with e-mail marketing.
• Collaborate with freelancers for article creation. Hire a Virtual project manager to manage freelancers.
• The main revenue driver in phase 1 will be affiliate links. Introduce display ads, link-selling, etc., at a later stage.
• Prioritize on-page SEO and content creation with a reader-first approach. Creating real value for readers is the main priority.
• .. And much more in my notes.

Simplified Goals

• Purchase affiliate sites with revenue & add 100 monthly articles from August 2023 - January 2024.
• $4,500 Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) by January 2024
• $15,000 MRR by July 2024. Start a dialog with potential buyers.
• $30,000 MRR by January 2025. Steady growth & optimization of profits - prove business to potential buyers.
• July 2025 - January 2026. Steady growth, focus on profit/growth. Sell company/assets for $700k-$900k
• .. Read the in-depth thought process on goals and strategy in my notes.

Current portfolio

• Site 1: $1500 YtD revenue. 212 articles. Jul-23 revenue $250.
• Site 2: $750 YtD revenue. 97 articles. Jul-23 revenue $435.
• Other (3) minor sites: $45 YtD revenue. July-23 revenue $10. I'll expand on these later.
• August-2023 Across all sites, the average is $30.25/day.
• Total E-mail sign-ups: +300. need to clean up lists.

Snapshots
I use nine different affiliate networks, I cannot post them all so I'll post monthly summed earnings. Here is a snapshot of July performance for Amazon and a GSC screenshot from the same page YtD.
View attachment 50791
View attachment 50792
P.S. I'm happy to provide proof of my previous agency ownership and exit, with ID and references to newspaper articles to a moderator in PM.

hi. i am really interested in starting an SMMA. Can you please give me some tips. Thanks!

 

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[xklit]

I'm back, had to put the project on pause for a few months.

• October: $2,452
• November: $4,284
• December $2,533.79
• For January, we're looking good and might hit around $4,500.

I only Added 56 articles during those three months and updated 45. The whole of december i didnet do anything.

In November, I created 104 TikTok videos in collaboration Opus.

My personal brand on LinkedIn saw considerable growth, thanks to Lempod and Dux-Soup. I'm applying the same approach in January, and it's showing positive results.

Currently, I'm developing a guide on LinkedIn Affiliate Marketing, which primarily involves promoting B2B tools that offer recurring commissions.

For more information on Lempod, Opus and Dux-Sup, please check my notes:

The Affiliate Media Company | Notion

Table of contents

abounding-fern-fea.notion.site

 

[xklit]

In January, we reached a total of $4,344, just $156 short of the $4,500 target, so I'm content, especially since I didn't do much work in the last couple of months.

I added 38 articles and created 90 TikTok videos with Opus. I growth-hacked my personal brand on LinkedIn using Lempod and utilized Dux-Soup for outreach to gain subscribers to my B2B newsletter, which I use to promote B2B tools.

See my notes for more information. The Affiliate Media Company | Notion

In February, I'll be looking to purchase a new website. It won't be an expensive site with any significant revenue, as I'm viewing this as a trial run before buying bigger sites the coming month.

With the 'trial purchase,' I'll document my learnings and create SOPs for VAs who will assist me in onboarding and operating future purchases.

 

[datagod]

In January, we reached a total of $4,344, just $156 short of the $4,500 target, so I'm content, especially since I didn't do much work in the last couple of months.

I added 38 articles and created 90 TikTok videos with Opus. I growth-hacked my personal brand on LinkedIn using Lempod and utilized Dux-Soup for outreach to gain subscribers to my B2B newsletter, which I use to promote B2B tools.

See my notes for more information. The Affiliate Media Company | Notion

In February, I'll be looking to purchase a new website. It won't be an expensive site with any significant revenue, as I'm viewing this as a trial run before buying bigger sites the coming month.

With the 'trial purchase,' I'll document my learnings and create SOPs for VAs who will assist me in onboarding and operating future purchases.

Seems like you are just trying to do affiliate from thefastlaneforum? big no,no

 

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[xklit]

Seems like you are just trying to do affiliate from thefastlaneforum? big no,no

As an affiliate marketer, I naturally employ affiliate links wherever possible. It's disclaimed in the notes. The notes have accumulated a total of 870 views, resulting in one sale with a commission of $2. Financial gain is not my motive for using this forum - that would be a waste of time.

 

[datagod]

As an affiliate marketer, I naturally employ affiliate links wherever possible. It's disclaimed in the notes. The notes have accumulated a total of 870 views, resulting in one sale with a commission of $2. Financial gain is not my motive for using this forum - that would be a waste of time.

Perfect! What's interesting is you moved from agency to seo/articles and I did opossite. I had 2 sites with more than 300k/mo traffic.

It worked great! But update HCU crashed a lot of sites. So it's just a matter of time that (most likely yours will be too) Was in private group with people doing like 1-2 mil traffic a month or some even more. I would say 80% lost traffic, up to like 70% traffic some even more.

That's why I am wouldnt recommend it but hey those 4 years were really great. But now it's over. At least for me. Good luck with the project too!