From quitting his job to $48K business in 6 months

Hey,

This is Pat, founder of Starter Story - every week I write this email to share the lessons we learned after talking to successful founders around the world. If you're not interested, you can unsubscribe here.

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Here are this week's stories, enjoy!

R.I.P. Facebook ads?

Facebook’s stock recently plummeted 26% after it revealed that Apple’s privacy changes hurt them deeply, losing more than $230 billion in value. And it expects a $10 billion decrease in the company’s 2022 revenue.

So where’s the money going? Businesses are taking their dollars to other platforms like Amazon or Snap.

However, at Starter Story we’ve noticed some businesses are quitting Facebook ads entirely. This founder had spent $10K per month on Facebook ads for years. Suspicious that the ads weren’t delivering the results that Facebook was showing, he decided to completely kill his FB strategy. 

The result? Nothing changed.

In fact, they’ve managed to get 700K new users in the last two years.

So, what platforms are founders using to grow their business??

• These founders make $3.3M/year selling watches on YouTube
• This Chrome plugin generated 150K+ thanks to TikTok
• This blogger used Pinterest to 10x web traffic in 6 months

Want more examples? Check out our growth database with 200+ ways to grow your business.

By the numbers:

• 2.9B -> Facebook monthly active users in Jan 2022
• $114B -> Facebook’s total advertising revenue in 2021
• $100B -> in revenue will Facebook lose due to Apple’s privacy changes

Our take:

Facebook is still huge, that’s undeniable. But it’s showing signs of exhaustion. 

We don’t recommend having all your marketing eggs in one basket. If you're solely relying on Facebook for your customer acquisition, it may be a good idea to start exploring other channels. 

And if you’re not doing it already, focus on growing channels that you own (e.g. email list, content). Algorithms change and trends come and go. A healthy email database will make you money day in and day out.

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Quick hitters

(1) This guy quit his job, learned a new skill, and started a $4K/month business. All in 6 months. At his job he was very well paid... but he still felt that something was missing. With his new gig, he couldn’t be more excited.

There are countless examples of people that left a good job to start their own business, like this $24K/year SaaS tool, this $120K/year aquarium e-commerce store, or this $960K/year stencil shop.

(2) This app made in Romania generates $35K/month. The issue of mental health finally has the attention that it deserves. And the success of apps like this is just evidence that we were ignoring something we should be very concerned about, along with a massive industry that will grow for years.

Mental health products & services are going to be huge, some examples: a community to overcome failure, a snuggle service.

(3) This guy turned his side hustle into a $1M/year business. What started as a side project to cover the cost of living in an expensive city has become a full agency that has worked with over 120 DTC e-commerce brands.

Serving ecommerce companies is very lucrative, there are many services that they need and they’re willing to pay: $4M/year PPC agency, $90K/year email marketing service, etc.

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This industry generates the 10% of the global economy

Travel’s contribution to the global economy could reach $8.6 trillion in 2022. That is just 6.4% lower than pre-pandemic levels.

And in this survey, 81% of people said they plan to take at least one vacation in the next six months.

Everything points towards a bright future in the travel sector.

One business that’s already experiencing that rebound effect is this service that makes $450K/year sending people to unknown destinations.

But the travel industry is so huge - there are countless opportunities to make money in travel right now:

• Earbuds to sleep better (while traveling) -> $6M/year
• Discounts for hotels -> $3M/year
• Trips for people under 30 -> $5M/year
• Food tours -> $600K/year
• Luggage storage network -> $1.2M/year
• Golf trips -> $1.98M/year
• Frequent flyer programs tracking app -> $1.8M

By the numbers:

• 10% -> share of the total GDP generated by the travel industry worldwide
• 54% -> of people will spend more on travel than they did before the pandemic
• 300+ -> case studies of successful travel-related businesses

Our take:

People have had a rough past couple of years. Spending on leisure and travel activities is going to grow tremendously.

The pandemic has had a “carpe diem” effect on people, enhancing the importance of the experiences you live. That’s probably why over 50% of people say that they’re going to spend even more than before COVID-19.

All this makes it a great time to get involved in this industry, now that it’s recovering at full speed.

One last thing...