From $200/Month Rent to $10K/Month: How I Built an AI Agency in 6 Weeks

My Life Before the Agency

I've been living in Indonesia for 24 years. I'm 53 now, and I've done just about everything — run a surf resort on a remote island, started a farm, played professional guitar, owned a hotel, run a restaurant, sold tea bag paper. I've always been an entrepreneur. The problem with being an entrepreneur is you get bored. Living on a remote island surfing every day sounds like the dream until you realize you need a reason to get out of bed.

So I kept moving and kept building. My biggest project was a government Wi-Fi advertising contract here in Indonesia. We're talking tens of millions in projected revenue. Devices installed. Ready to go. Then COVID hit and it just evaporated. Overnight.

I lost the hotel. I got divorced. I lost multiple projects at once. I ended up in a place costing $200 a month in rent — and I couldn't even afford that. I was late every single month. I had to pull my daughter out of her international school. I was borrowing money for food. It genuinely got that bad.

How I Found My Way Back

After a couple of rough years, I started a food safety labeling company — a digital solution for chefs doing container labeling. That one took off and is still going strong. But I knew I needed to get back into marketing. I needed something that excited me again.

So I did what most people do: I started watching YouTube. I came across Daniel Fazio's videos and something clicked. He speaks the way I speak when I get passionate — direct, unfiltered, no bullshit. I used to feel embarrassed about ranting. After watching his content, I leaned straight into it. Game changer.

I jumped on a call with Logan from the team and by the end of it I knew — this is what I'm doing. The financial commitment was real. Things were tight. But I thought, fuck it, I'm in. And I didn't look back.

My First Six Weeks

The program has a Trello board that literally tells you: day one, do this. Day two, do this. You just follow it. There's a success coach — shout out to Jimmy — who is on your ass making sure you actually do the work. It's not a passive course where you watch videos and hope something happens. You get held accountable.

My first clients didn't come from cold outreach or ads. They came from my phone. I sat on the sofa, opened my contacts, started at A, and scrolled through. I'd hit some name and think, oh yeah, I remember that guy — he was starting a software company ten years ago. That's how it started. At 53, you've got a history. Use it.

What I Actually Sell

I sell ads and funnels — specifically VSSL funnels. In Indonesia, most businesses are running terrible ads. Go on Instagram here and you'll see a beauty clinic cramming every single treatment onto one blurry image with a "click to WhatsApp" button at the bottom. They're getting 500 messages a day and drowning in them. No system, no funnel, no sales process — just chaos.

That's the opportunity. I screenshot those ads, document exactly what's broken, and build a case for fixing the entire funnel. The market here is wide open.

Why AI Changed Everything

I'm a writer. I've been a good writer my whole life — won awards for creative writing from the time I started school until I left. So when I heard AI could handle copy, I figured it'd give me a decent structure I could edit around.

I was wrong. It's extraordinary.

The quality is genuinely impressive. I still edit, but the heavy lifting is done. What used to take days takes hours. And the key thing most people misunderstand: this isn't "just using ChatGPT." It's purpose-built systems that handle the fulfillment work — copy, ads, emails — at a fraction of the time. That's what makes the model scalable.

You don't lead with the AI angle when talking to clients, by the way. Not because it's dishonest — the output speaks for itself — but because they'll picture you typing one prompt and handing them garbage. Let the results do the talking.

The One Thing I'd Tell Anyone on the Fence

Stop making excuses. I've heard them all and I've used most of them. Too old? I'm 53. No time? Start with one hour a day and build from there. Scared it won't work? Everyone has that fear. Get inside the community and you'll realize every single person feels exactly the same way.

The move is simple: find something that actually works, go 100% in, and don't stop. Turn off every other YouTube channel. Commit to one thing and do the volume. Cold email didn't work? How many did you send? A hundred? You got one sale from a hundred and quit? Send a hundred a day.

You cannot fail if you just keep going.

Six Weeks In

I'm sitting just under $10K a month right now. I've got a coffee brand client, a SaaS project, and more in the pipeline. Six weeks ago I was figuring out my next move. Today I'm reinspired and building something real.

The community alone has been worth it. It's like everyone's highlight reel on Instagram makes you think they're crushing it — but when you actually talk to people inside, they share the same struggles and doubts you have. That's the thing. You're not alone in this.