Please, introduce yourself and your business.
I’m Paul the founder of Coldexia, an ads management agency (PPC) where I help business owners set-up and manage their Facebook & Google ads campaigns in order to bring more leads for their service or increase their product sales.
How did you start your business?
The story starts in 2017 when I was stuck in a sales position for an insurance company.
At that time, the only positive aspect about my job was the salary + commissions revenue system, otherwise the entire environment felt really toxic for me, my principles and my overall career goals, but I must admit, money was good.
With a little bit of previous experience when it comes to web design, one day I've decided to quit my job and try making money online by selling my design services to other people, but that was a very steep and risky decision since all I had was a very basic plan in a highly competitive market.
Fast forward a few months, I was making roughly $2000 a month but my workflow was inconsistent, the demand was inconsistent, with many ups and downs when it comes to work amount, cash flow, revenue, profit, so I've decided a had to reposition myself, and find a recurring service that would offer me more stability.
Back then, Facebook Ads were delivering great results for businesses, no matter if it was a dropshipping store, a course, a local service, or anything in between, so I've decided to learn how other people do that, and upsell this service to my web-design clients for a monthly fee.
Since my leads were already as hot as they could be, basically my already-existing clients, having them sign up for this service wasn't that difficult, so I got my first 3 clients within the first month.
Later on, due to increasing demand for it I've added Google Ads management as a third service on my list, and to scale my business, all I needed was constantly to sign up new clients. I've then decided to outsource the entire web-design part, and only focus on Facebook & Google Ads management, because that's what I enjoy doing the most.
How much revenue was your best year? (include margin if possible)
Best year so far has been in terms of revenue of $322K USD, and I operate on a very high profit margin, since my costs are minimal, so profit was roughly $315K USD.
When did you notice traction when building your business? The “Oh S**t!” moment, what did that feel like?
The first oh s***t moment was 1 year after signing my first clients for the ads management service, when I was constantly getting new leads and clients using only previous clients recommendation, so $0 costs for me.
One of those new clients was an outdoor ecommerce shop that had a monthly budget of $10,000+ for their campaigns, which by that time was something really big for me.
What was your childhood like? Were you slinging candy on the playground?
I had a small group of friends and I had 0 interest in making money and entrepreneurship until the age of 11-12 when I first discovered the Internet.
My parents had regular jobs, my father was an engineer and my mother was a small store manager.
What has been your best marketing marketing channel?
Word of mouth via clients recommendation for this specific venture. Nothing else compares to a business owner sharing actual real-life conversion rates, sales and ad spend stats.
How many attempts at building something did you make before you found what you’re working on now?
Out of all, this was probably the first successful venture of mine, but prior to this I've tested dropshipping and affiliate marketing with little to no success, so probably as an individual project or venture, this was the 4th and the first successful one.
My entrepreneurial vision started to rise after I discovered the Internet, but I suffer from the shiny object syndrome and also I'm a huge procrastinator, so 90% of the ideas died in the research stage.
What is your biggest overhead expense?
My business is really basic, as long as I have a laptop and an Internet connection I can deliver the same quality service, day in, day out. This means my expenses are minimal, so other than a new iPhone, and a new MacBook every year, I get no other business-related expenses.
What’s the most important skill you’ve learned?
For me it has to be discipline. I think it's something that comes gradually, but routine and discipline are two of the main aspects that help me be consistent with my work, my life, my workout routine, and even my relationships with other people.
What do you spend the majority of your time doing, in a given week?
My actual work takes no more than 3-4 hours a day (emails, calls, managing the campaigns, reporting) so in addition to that, I read (not books but news, articles, newsletters), I travel at least 2 times per month for a few days, I take longer drives to relax and listen to music, and hang out with friends once a week.
What do you know now that you wish you knew when first starting your business?
That there are specific things related to growth and scaling that you can't control no matter how hard you try, and that every business has to naturally go through different stages including spikes and drops.
What’s a big problem you’ve faced as a business owner and what were the emotions behind it?
Dealing with stress, anxiety and the impostor syndrome. Especially while transitioning from a classic employment system to being a solo entrepreneur, clients & work anxiety will quickly increase until the point where you figure you'll have to live with these for the rest of your entrepreneurship career.
It's mostly a psychological aspect, but sometimes your mind and more specifically your perception could be a great barrier when it comes to personal development and peace of mind.
What is your best advice for someone who feels completely stuck?
My best advice would be "just start". Getting the worst seat on a plane is better than losing the flight, so at least in my experience, procrastination will always kill the momentum, so it's always better to start, follow a basic plan and always ask for help when feeling stuck.
Asking for help means literally reaching out to other people from your industry, or in some cases outsourcing some of the most difficult tasks.
After starting, regular audits are essential. If something's not working, reverse-engineer the entire process and see what's the issue, and if something is actually working reverse-engineer the entire process and see what's the twist that made the difference in order to be able to replicate that in the future.
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