Welcome

Whats up! Welcome to Wouters blog. It’s Friday! That means i’m going to be covering:

• A Person / Topic Breakdown

Now todays newsletter is an interesting one. We're going to have a look at just one person. One person, who alone is making 250k/month.

3 Million Per Year.

I'm talking about Pieter Levels. The man who is using twitter and a personal brand to make millions. We're going to cover how he got his rise, and what we can learn from it by looking at his projects.

P.s, I’m building this newsletter in public! If you want to see the behind the scenes, follow me on twitter..

Follow me booty here lad.

INTRO
The Rise (ooOoo sounds epic)

Pieter didn't have a specifically booming early career. What's most interesting is the frequency with which he tries things out.

Early on Pieter learned the value of social media. In 2006 he started his first business, Panda Mix Show. A music website and YouTube show with exclusive music and mixes from major artists. At one point it reached >4M listeners monthly and a following of >350K subscribers

At 26 Pieter makes a crazzy change though (imagine you doing this!). After graduating he sold 99% of his possessions and moved out of Amsterdam and flew to Bangkok. With ~$1K in savings.

This is where Pieter starts to really focus. What's most interesting is that he challenges himself in 2024. Build 12 startups in 12 months. This lead to him creating two of his most succesful companies so far.

Pieter relentlessly ditched shitty ideas and kept improving the ones that worked. But he was focused. 1 month on only one thing -- not 12 startups at the same time.

During this time he wrote MAKE a book that sold 19,897 copies for $524K.

(p.s. Other side projects: Hoodmaps, Inflation Chart, How Much Is My Side Project Worth? )

Recently he jumped into the AI revolution and launched PhotoAI and InteriorAI. In total his 4 companies generate him $240K/month.

We're going to cover these 4 businesses. Why they work. How his brand has helped and what's most interesting.

Photo AI (85k MRR)

Launched on Feb 10, ‘23, after 2 months of building it. Levels had been ‘procrastinating for weeks’, so he made a high-stakes bet with himself. If he didn't ship the project by Feb 10th, he would owe his friend $10K.

On Mar 16, ‘23 he bought the domain Photo AI for $40K

It's a pretty simple business (like most of his). The user uploads selfies and can create realistic photoshoots of a character that resembles those selfies. It gets 550k visits per month and generates 1M/year.

What's interesting to me here is that Levels created a deadline -- a stake with himself and put real commitment on the line. $40k isn't nothing even for a millionaire lol. I think this is a simple forcing function heuristic we can copy. Go all in for the project, if it doesn't work pivot. Similar to his 12 startups in 12 months idea.

Interior AI (42k MRR)

Another simple business where the user uploads photos of their interior, and then uses Interior AI to transform it into a new style. Users get inspiration and new ideas for their home.

He built the first version (Interior AI 1.0) in Oct ‘22 and the 2nd version (Interior AI 2.0) in Aug ‘23.

Pieter launched a really simple version of this and built in public. Because he had an audience he got immediate traffic, and thus immediate feedback. Levels now uses this audience to build the product continuously OFF user feedback. Instead of just guessing what people want. That's the power of brand and reach.

Remote OK (51k MRR)

Going to speed run these last two because i've got a big thing i want to get into..

• Launched in ‘15, RemoteOK is a remote job board with a strong tech focus.

• Used by companies like Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, Stripe, among others.

• It's free to use but you have to pay to post (smart. Free growth)

• Starts at $299 and can go up to $1,340 (premium options) for a duration of 30 days.

• Your job post is emailed to 860K job seekers and can reach up to 2.3M remote workers.

Nomad List (40k MRR)

Created in ‘14, Nomad List is a community for digital nomads to share their experiences living in different cities. (A need his following on twitter would instantly buy into)

• The platform keeps track of indicators like cost, internet and safety in different cities.

• Has 32.4K members having joined 320 people this month.

Now i think a key learning from all of this. Is having focus and turning side projects into profitable startups. That's a muscle Levels has. And i think it's replicable..

CASHING IN
Turning side projects into profitable startups

Levels is immensely a fan of bootstrapping. This is possible because technology is cheaper now. Levels has an interesting philosophy about leveraging social media when creating a startup

Listen to these quotes:

The fact is that these accidental viral and organic marketing kept people coming back to engage with Levels. Even early in his business building, for all his projects he generates buzz. That buzz leads to early adoption.

That's the key. The user interaction and getting people using your product and working towards your 1,000 fanatic customers.

Need Help?
Time to help. Need Sales Advice? I got you..

Are you running a newsletter right now and are looking for an external sales-experts opinion on wtf is going on?

I’ve helped sell millions of dollars worth of newsletter advertisements. IF you want consulting advice i’m available for calls.

Reply to this email if you’re interested with your problem(s) + budget.

wait…
BEFORE YOU GO!

Don’t forget

Don’t forget to come back next week for Mondays newsletter where I will cover:

• An insane newsletter sales secret.

• The deals of this week, and

• Everything trending right now!

Talk soon have a great weekend 🙂