Agency Growth
Case Study: How Philip and Connor Built a $109K/Month Ecom Email Marketing Agency
I recently sat down with Philip and Connor — two guys inside Olympia who scaled their ecom email marketing agency from $5K to $109K a month in just over a year. I wanted to share their story because it's one of the clearest examples I've seen of what actually works when you commit to the process.
From Freelancers to $109K/Month
When Philip and Connor first joined, they were doing around $5K a month and barely qualified as a business. They were both trying to sign clients and do fulfillment with no clear roles. Total mess.
Here's how the growth progressed:
$5K → $10K in about 2 months
Peaked at $14K, then dropped back to $4K after losing clients
Ground back up to $28K through Dream 100 outreach
Joined Olympia at $28K
Then: $48K → $55K → $85K → $109K
The inflection point? Running paid ads.
The Offer: One-Time Flow Build + Retainer
When they came into Olympia, they didn't have a structured cold traffic offer. The first thing I told them was to lead with a one-time payment offer — something that converts on cold traffic.
They built two core offers:
Flow Build (one-time)
They come in, build all six core automations — welcome flow, abandoned cart, checkout, browse abandonment, and more — plus a new signup form. All copy, design, and implementation is done for you. Clean scope, one and done.
Done-For-You Retainer
Full service management of everything inside a Klaviyo account. Segmentation, deliverability, flows, campaigns, signup form optimization, ongoing testing. It's the flow build on steroids, put on a recurring basis.
The sales motion works like this: someone comes in through ads on the flow build offer, they get a great experience, and they roll into a retainer. Or Philip pitches the retainer directly on the call while he has them.
How Dream 100 Got Them to $28K
Before ads, they used Dream 100 outreach. The process was straightforward but brutally manual:
Build a list in Apollo — ecom brands, 10–50 employees, obviously bad email marketing
Sign up for their list, identify problems
Record an 8–10 minute Loom breaking down what's wrong and how to fix it
Pitch a free email design — but don't make it yet
Once they're interested, build the email, crush it, get them on a call
Here's the reality check on Dream 100 that most people miss: the volume required is way higher than you think. Philip was sending 5–7 Looms a day and sometimes went a full week without booking a single call. This is why people quit — they send 10 and think it's broken. Volume negates luck, but it's substantially more volume than you expect.
The Paid Ads Funnel
Once they shifted to ads, everything changed. Here's the funnel:
Creative — Facebook/Instagram ads driving initial interest
Opt-in page — captures name, email, and phone number
VSSL — a 10–12 minute video sales letter
Application/Typeform — qualifies revenue, brand type, and ability to invest
Calendar booking — qualified leads self-schedule
Last month their numbers were:
Cost per call: ~$350
Cost per acquisition: ~$800–$900
Those are strong numbers. And even at $500–$600 per call, they're still profitable. The goal on the front end is to liquidate ad spend, get people onto recurring retainers, and grow from there.
Manual Follow-Up Is Their Secret Weapon
Philip handles all sales himself — no setter, no closer. And his follow-up process is intentionally human.
For cold traffic leads, he treats them like they've never heard of him. Because they probably haven't. He texts personally, sends relevant case studies, shares email design examples — all from his iPhone. Not automation. A real message from the co-founder.
That personal touch is what gets cold opt-ins to come back and book. It's not scalable forever, but right now it's working and it's closing deals.
How They Differentiate in a Crowded Market
Ecom email marketing is saturated. Brands have been pitched by dozens of agencies. Philip and Connor's answer: unlimited scope and a partner mentality.
They don't cap emails per month with strict limits. If a client needs 11 emails instead of 10, they do 11. More importantly, their account executives are trained to act like internal partners — flagging site issues, offering proactive suggestions, not just executing tasks.
They work primarily with brands doing $50K/month or more in revenue on the retainer, but they'll sell flow builds to earlier-stage brands with real growth plans.
Team Structure at $109K
Connor runs all fulfillment with a team of 11:
6 designers
1 Klaviyo tech specialist
4 account executives
Each account executive runs their own pod — one designer, one tech, and 5–6 client brands. Connor manages the AEs, ensures quality, and keeps communication tight. Communication is the most important part of retention.
The Mindset Behind the Growth
When I asked what advice they'd give their $5K/month selves, the answer wasn't tactical. It was this:
Do so much output that it's unreasonable to think it won't work.
Philip and Connor were in college when they joined Olympia. Every moment outside of class, they were working. No balance. Just inputs.
At the early stages — zero to $25K — it's not about crunching numbers and optimizing LTV. It's about brute force. Are you putting in the inputs or not? That's the whole question.
They always believed they'd hit $100K. Their friends laughed. Now those same friends aren't laughing. And the funny thing about hitting $100K? It didn't feel like the finish line — it felt like the starting line. The next target is $150K this month, $200K by end of year.
