In 2017, I had less than $300 in my business bank account and was about to give – until I discovered one marketing strategy that changed everything for me.

This was 6 months into starting my first company, a digital marketing agency – and I was weeks away from having to move back home with my parents and beg for my old job back.

Before this, I had a great career in sales and marketing in the construction industry. I’d done well, so I thought starting a business would be easy, and man, was I wrong!

At my lowest point, I was living out of a Sprinter Van – and sneaking into the Marriott for free breakfast. I remember a Valentine’s Day, and I couldn’t even afford to take my girlfriend to Waffle House. I felt completely emasculated and embarrassed. She ended up leaving me a few months later (Can’t say I blame her!)

So there I was – alone, a failed agency, broke, and homeless. I felt like a complete failure. Until a glimmer of hope appeared… I landed my first client on a $1,250 per month retainer (Waffle House, here I come!). Then another for $2,000 a month. Only two days after that, another client for $3,000 a month.

Within a few weeks, everything changed. Soon, I was pulling in $10–15k per month and finally moved into a real apartment. I’d built a solid client base in a matter of weeks. From there, I was able to reinvest in the company, start hiring some help, and scale up from there to build a seven-figure business years later.

What made the difference?

I started sending targeted cold email pitches to potential clients. Not spray-and-pray generic messages, but carefully crafted outreach to businesses that actually needed what I was offering.

And it worked.

This blew my mind at the time because of how simple it was. Honestly, I discovered it by accident because I had no other options. I couldn’t wait months to build a social audience and I couldn’t run Facebook or Google ads because I was broke.

So I decided to send cold emails and LinkedIn messages to 100 CEO’s a day. That experience led me down the cold email rabbit hole, and it became the foundation for everything.

By now, I’ve built three successful companies, & each one uses the same method – targeted outbound prospecting. No matter what industry you’re in, you can do it too.

Most entrepreneurs tell me marketing feels complicated and overwhelming.

If that’s you, you’ll love cold outreach because of how simple it is.

You could do it with just your Gmail account or your LinkedIn profile. Or, splurge a bit and buy some software that can automate it for you – and even then, you can be up and running in an afternoon.