My complete $10M journey (all 23 steps)

A few weeks ago, my business passed $10M in total revenue, five years and nine months after launching.

Of course, I never expected this success.

Like it was yesterday, I remember starting out with a big mortgage in Los Angeles and feeling scared to death. Then COVID started, and I thought that choosing to start my own business could have been a major mistake.

But I was determined to figure things out. So, I’ve spent the last six years studying people I admire, writing, tinkering, talking to customers, going through data, and taking wild stabs in the dark. I’ve gotten a lot of things wrong and a few things right.

My journey to this milestone unfolded like this:

• 29 months to my first $1M
• 9 months to hit $2M
• 6 months to hit $3M
• 5 months to hit $4M
• 4 months to hit $5M and $6M (same week)
• 3 months to hit $7M
• 3 months to hit $8M
• 5 months to hit $9M
• 6 months to hit $10M

This was achieved through 100% organic social posting on LinkedIn, X/Twitter, and Instagram, writing my newsletter, and with SEO. I never ran any paid ads.

My profit margin is roughly 89% today. It started closer to 99%. But as I've added software, outsourced some work (like website redesign and personalization/segmentation), and started traveling for work, my margins have dropped a bit.

90% margins aren’t attainable in nearly any other type of business. But they’re very realistic for a solopreneur, and that’s one thing that makes this line of work special.

I get so many questions about my journey, from people in all walks of life. So today I’m sharing how this all happened and the most important things I learned along the way to $10M in revenue.

I want you to keep in mind that guides like this aren’t meant to be followed to a tee. Every journey is different, and if you tried to recreate mine, you may not have the same luck or timing.

That said, this is what I did, in the order I did it.

Step 1: Created lots of noise

When I started, I looked at attention as my friend. I wrote content every day, before I even had a business, just to find my voice.

I started on LinkedIn, talking about building a SaaS unicorn as the CRO. No strategy or plan, just consistent posting about what I knew and learned.

The key here isn't perfection. It's volume. You need to create enough content to find your voice and see what resonates.

Step 2: Found the signal in the noise

Inside all that noise was signal. Sometimes I bombed, and sometimes I struck a chord.

I paid attention to what resonated, and I doubled down on that stuff. This allowed me to understand what people cared about. So I kept writing and talking about it.

Pay attention to your metrics. Not vanity metrics, but engagement metrics. What makes people comment, share, and reach out to you with questions?

Step 3: Built a service business

My experience building SaaS was resonating, so I created more content about that.

Founders sent me DMs asking questions, and I responded to every single one. Once I had some prospects in my funnel, I started offering consulting.

This step is really important, IMO. Your first business should be a high-touch, high-value service, because you’ll learn so much about your market from talking to customers. Plus, you generate immediate cash flow.

Step 4: Found my ideal customer

Inside your customer base are more signals. What’s the sweet spot between the customers you love and those who love you?

Mine was early-stage SMB SaaS founders in healthcare, a space I was experienced in and loved. So they became my ideal customer.

Don't skip this step. The riches are in the niches, and you can't niche down until you know who you serve best.

Step 5: Doubled my rates

With a well-defined niche, some happy customers, and testimonials, I doubled my rates.

I created content targeting my ideal customers, and that led to more conversations with prospects who were more likely to be a perfect fit. I started declining work opportunities with companies outside my niche.

Higher rates = better clients = better results = even higher rates.

Step 6: Reduced my time

With newly doubled rates, I could have worked the same hours and made twice as much. But, instead, I chose to work half the time and make the same. This was one of the better decisions I made during my journey, because I used the extra time to figure out how to scale income that was more automated. My goal had always been to stop trading time for money.

This is the mindset shift that changes everything: optimize for time, not just money.

Step 7: Kept my eyes and ears open

Here’s when something interesting happened. In an effort to discover common problems I could productize, I started rereading my LinkedIn DMs.

I had repetitive questions about SaaS sales, but my inbox was also jammed with questions about LinkedIn itself.

Your customers will tell you what to build next. You just have to listen.

Step 8: Tested a hypothesis

By this time I’d grown to 21K followers on LinkedIn, and people wanted to know how I did that.

I had an idea that showing people how I used LinkedIn might be an easy info product I could create and sell. So I made a short course called The LinkedIn Playbook and put it up for sale $50 and wrote posts about it.

This first product was casual in every sense. No high production value, just sharing what I’d learned as if I were chatting with a friend over a beer.

Don't overthink your first product. Test quickly and cheaply.

Step 9: Made my first product money

I put The LinkedIn Playbook for sale on Gumroad on April 16th, 2020, and in the first month, I made $10,482. I was completely shocked.

I now had my first digital product, but it was in a totally different niche than my service business. Honestly, this confused me. And I know this happens to so many people.

Confusion is normal when you're building. Follow what customers are willing to pay for!

Step 10: Ran with what was working

Over the next 15 months, The LinkedIn Playbook brought in $75K. I wrote about audience building on LinkedIn and found other ways to land consulting clients, like networking with VCs, attending events like SaaStr, and writing guest posts on other consultant blogs.

Even though it felt confusing, I continued to run with it.

When something works, don't question it too much. Run in two different directions if you have to. Sometimes your experiments will show you the correct path.

Step 11: Tripled down

The LinkedIn Playbook was a fast and casual production, and I was itching to improve the product. So I rebuilt the course, called it The LinkedIn Operating System, and experimented with a 3x to 4x price increase.

The earlier $50 price was my "trust tripwire." I charged $50, delivered 100x the value, and built trust with a loyal customer base.

Price low to build trust, then raise prices as you deliver results.

Step 12: Marketed aggressively

With 100% of my LinkedIn content focused on audience growth and a product directly related to that content, sales took off.

My previous course grossed $75k in 15 months. The second version grossed $186k in 3 months.

When your content and product align perfectly, marketing gets a lot easier. And when you go “all in” in one direction, revenue explodes.

Step 13: Built an army of affiliates

At the halfway point of the course, people are encouraged to leave a testimonial and sign up for my affiliate program. I built the same automation at the conclusion of the course.

I now have 3,247 affiliates that have generated $600K in revenue.

Your best customers can be your best marketers. So make it easy for them to promote your work.

Step 14: Built a community

As sales picked up, my interest in consulting faded. I was selling $2k per day in info products and wanted to run with that.

I opened a private community for creators and charged $199 for an annual membership. Those who completed my course were prompted to join the community.

Communities are powerful, but they require constant attention. If you’re considering creating a community, be sure you're ready for the commitment.

Step 15: Made a difficult decision

I loved my community, but realized that it wasn’t working well with my schedule. It was a $15k MRR business, but I felt like I had to be on Slack 24/7.

That wasn't the life I wanted to build. So, 15 months after starting it, I closed it down. I know for sure that was the right thing to do.

Sometimes the right business decision can feel wrong. Trust your instincts about what kind of life you want.

Step 16: Reinvested my time

With way more free time, I decided to start writing on Twitter. Using what I knew about growing on LinkedIn, I was able to hit 480k followers in less than 2.5 years.

This provided a new channel to build more stuff.

Skills transfer across platforms. Use what you've learned in new contexts.

Step 17: Created a second digital course

After growing fast on Twitter, I was doing a podcast with Dickie Bush and Nicolas Cole, showing their audience my system for creating content. The people on the call seemed amazed by the simple process I’d created for myself.

That led to the creation of my second course, The Content Operating System.

Your existing audience will tell you what they want to learn next. Pay attention!

Step 18: Added monthly recurring revenue (MRR)

I noticed that each week, I was spending time creating content templates for myself. What if my audience wanted those, too?

I tested this idea as a $9 upsell on each of my courses, and I named it The Monthly Templates.

Eight months later, The Monthly Templates had 2,584 subscribers. $23.2K in MRR from something I was already doing for myself. I simply shared it with other people for a small monthly cost.

The best products solve problems you're already solving for yourself.

Step 19: Started a newsletter

With 10,000+ students and Monthly Templates subscribers, I had a bunch of email addresses I wasn’t really sending anything to. So, in January of 2022, I launched this newsletter, The Saturday Solopreneur. I wanted to deliver one piece of actionable advice every Saturday that could be read in 4 minutes or less. (Sorry, this one is a little longer)

In 40 months, I've grown The Saturday Solopreneur readership to 185K subscribers while pruning the list regularly. Thank you for reading!

Newsletters are relationship-building machines. Consistency matters more than perfection.

Step 20: Added sponsorships

With over 185K TSS readers, I can charge for each issue to be sponsored. I sell two slots per issue for $2,500 each. So each weekly newsletter earns me $5,000, and sponsors get their brand in front of hundreds of thousands of engaged readers.

Build the audience first, monetize second. The sponsorship money follows the attention.

Step 21: Built a new flagship product

In 2023, I started working on The Creator MBA. It’s 111 lessons and 19 hours of instructional video to help creators build online businesses.

But when it came to promoting and marketing this new product, I wanted to do something different than I had done before. So I reached out to a friend who’s an expert in personalized online product launches. This delayed the release of my new product by about six months, but I knew it would be worth it.

Your flagship product should be your best work. Don't rush it.

Step 22: Created a personalized launch plan

With help from Brennan Dunn, I put together an 18-week, personalized launch plan.

When The Creator MBA launched on January 16th, 2024, it sold $1.6M in six days. All the work and personalization paid off.

Big launches require big preparation. The work happens before the launch, not during.

Step 23: Rebuilt what I love

As I neared $10M in revenue, I was itching to focus on creative writing. So I recently started writing a Substack called Unsubscribe. Along with my itch to write creatively, I was also missing the person-to-person connection that I used to get working with smart, interesting, motivated people. So I decided to simultaneously launch a membership with the Substack.

The Unsubscribe Membership includes real-time chat, live weekly Q&A, monthly workshops, and in-person networking events. Since launching, it's quietly become a $19K MRR business in about one month.

Never stop experimenting. The best businesses evolve with your interests.

The Bottom Line

Here's what my business revenue looks like today:

• Products: $6.75M
• Consulting: $1.17M
• Sponsorships: $795k
• Subscriptions: $695k
• Community: $630k

A few important notes:

• I no longer do anything SaaS-related
• I don't run any paid ads
• I don't have any employees.
• My wife helps me a lot, an outsourced VA answers customer service tickets, and I partner with people when needed (like Brennan).

This newsletter issue might make the path look easy, but it wasn’t. It took six years, 5K+ pieces of content, and many worried days and sleepless nights.

And I think it’s important to remember that I'm an outlier. The creator game is one of the toughest ways to make a living. But if you're going to try, you have to maintain a long-game mentality:

1. Start a side project
2. Build it to 60% or 70% of your salary
3. Then go all in

These 23 steps aren't a guarantee, and your path will surely be different. But many of these principles translate to any creator situation. So take what you find useful, and discard the rest. Pay attention to signals, follow the paid customers, build what people need, and stay consistent.

Thank you for being a part of this incredible journey with me. I never imagined so many people would care what I have to say, and I’m thankful every day that I get to write for a job. I love doing this, and I appreciate you reading.

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

If you’re interested in any of the products or services I offer, here’s a quick recap:

• The LinkedIn OS for growing a valuable audience on LinkedIn.
• The Content OS for systematizing the production of a high volume of quality content.
• The Creator MBA for a complete behind-the-scenes look at building an online business.
• The Unsubscribe Membership for joining nearly 900 other solopreneurs building a business.