How Charlie Morgan Made His First $10,000 With SMMA

This video is about Charlie Morgan, a successful social media marketer, sharing his story of how he started his agency and scaled it up to making his first $10,000 per month.

This video by Jordan Platten Extra was published on Feb 25, 2023.
Video length: 27:05.

This video is an interview with Charlie Morgan, a successful entrepreneur in the social media marketing space.

The interviewer, Jordan, introduces Charlie as someone who has built a successful agency and shares valuable insights. Charlie shares his backstory, explaining how he started his agency and scaled it up to his first $10,000 month. He talks about his drive to create something bigger than himself and his fear of a traditional nine-to-five job. Charlie discusses his experiences in university, dropping out, and doing an apprenticeship, all while building his agency on the side.

He shares that he went from zero to $10,000 a month in just six months.

• Charlie runs Imperium Acquisition, a company that helps people with client acquisition.
• He dropped out of university and started approaching local businesses for social media marketing clients.
• Charlie did an apprenticeship in sales and marketing and built agency clients in the gym niche.
• He went from zero to $10,000 per month in six months.
• Charlie learned how not to teach business in university and gained a competitive advantage with a strong work ethic.
• He felt isolated in university and had a sense of grandeur and narcissism.
• Charlie started his agency with no experience and learned through trial and error and watching YouTube videos.
• He scaled the agency by charging for services, investing in courses and mentors, and outsourcing tasks.
• Charlie believes that grandiosity and narcissism can be potential in disguise, but warns against letting them go to your head.

How Charlie Morgan Made His First $10,000 With SMMA - YouTube

Charlie's Backstory and Agency Creation

• Charlie runs a company called Imperium Acquisition that helps people systemize client acquisition.
• He had a desire to create something bigger than himself and didn't want a traditional nine-to-five job.
• Charlie initially studied psychology in university but switched to entrepreneurship and enterprise.
• He realized the importance of sales after reading Alan Sugar's autobiography and decided to learn sales.
• When he asked his tutor about learning sales, he was told that it wasn't taught because the lecturers didn't have their own businesses.
• Charlie dropped out of university and started approaching local businesses to sign them up as social media marketing clients.

Scaling Up to the First $10,000 Month

• Charlie did an apprenticeship in sales and marketing, where he learned a lot.
• During the apprenticeship, he also built agency clients in the gym niche.
• At the time, it was relatively easy to get clients in the gym niche, and Charlie went from zero to $10,000 per month in six months.
• He had a period of working in customer care for Clark shoes, which motivated him to pursue his agency even more.
• Charlie's journey involved dropping out of university, doing an apprenticeship, and working various retail jobs.

Lessons from University

• Learned how not to teach business.
• Realized it's not difficult to gain a competitive advantage with a work ethic.
• People around him in university were lazy.
• Learned more from books than lectures.
• Always had a sense of narcissism and grandiosity.

How Charlie Morgan Made His First $10,000 With SMMA - YouTube

Feeling Isolated in University

• Recorded and transcribed lectures to learn more.
• Partied during freshers week but then isolated himself and read.
• Had a sense of grandeur and felt isolated from others.
• Asked questions for selfish reasons to learn more.
• Had a sense of inherent narcissism and grandiosity.

Starting an Agency

• Started agency after realizing he didn't want a traditional job.
• Started with no experience or knowledge of social media marketing.
• Learned through trial and error and watching YouTube videos.
• Started by offering free services to gain experience and testimonials.
• Used Facebook groups and LinkedIn to find clients.

Scaling the Agency

• Started charging for services and increased prices as he gained more experience.
• Invested in courses and mentors to improve his skills.
• Focused on building relationships with clients and providing value.
• Used referrals and word-of-mouth to get new clients.
• Started outsourcing tasks to freelancers to handle the workload.

Charlie's Grandiosity and Potential

• Charlie believes that grandiosity and narcissism can be potential in disguise.
• He thinks that these traits are a deep part of him that pushes him to do more and be better.
• However, he warns that it's important to not let these traits go to your head and start thinking you're better than others.
• Charlie acknowledges that his grandiosity may come from a deep-rooted place of insecurity.
• He recognizes that these traits can manifest negativity and prevent some people from even getting started.

The Initial Stages of Making $10,000

• Charlie believes that grandiosity, when balanced with humility, can be a driving force for success.
• He describes going into a "darkness" or "monk mode" where he would inflict pain on himself through work to achieve his goals.
• Charlie spent 6 to 18 months doing what was most painful every single day, knowing that it would pay off in the end.
• During the initial stages, he would approach businesses with a piece of paper and offer his social media marketing services.
• Charlie also had a nine-to-five job at a local marketing agency where he would make cold calls to businesses.

Charlie's Daily Routine

• Charlie's routine involved waking up at 5:30 am and going to the gym before starting work.
• He would arrive at the office around 8:30 am and make cold calls to gyms in the UK and Australia.
• Charlie would spend the morning making cold calls and then continue cold calling for his job at the marketing agency until 1 pm.
• He would try to make around 30 cold calls in the morning and focus on frequency rather than efficiency.
• Charlie found cold calling for his own business more challenging because rejection felt personal, so he created an alias to separate himself from the rejection.

Charlie's Persistence and Growth

• Charlie admits that he wasn't initially good at cold calling, but he became better with practice.
• He emphasizes the importance of persistence and discipline in achieving success.
• Charlie's hard work and dedication eventually paid off, allowing him to scale his agency and make his first $10,000 per month.
• He credits his boss at the marketing agency for mentoring him and changing his life.
• Charlie's journey from the initial stages to reaching his financial goal involved a combination of hard work, learning from mistakes, and staying focused on his goals.

Charlie's Daily Routine

• Charlie would make cold calls from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
• During lunch break from 1 to 2 p.m., he would eat quickly and make more cold calls.
• From 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., he would continue making calls or take sales calls.
• He used his on-the-job training hour to do consulting accelerated by Sam Evans.
• After work, he would make more cold calls from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The Importance of Cold Calling

• Cold calling builds resilience, grit, and personal growth.
• It helps develop foundational skills and mindset.
• It prepares you for human interaction and builds confidence.
• It is essential for overcoming fear and hiding behind emails and DMs.
• Charlie made around 400 cold calls a day and became numb to rejection.

Charlie's Journey and Mindset

• Charlie initially struggled with cold calling and stumbled with his words.
• He had no script and would simply ask if they wanted to do Facebook ads.
• He eventually signed his first client named Ian.
• Charlie's mindset shifted after doing Consulting Accelerator.
• Meetings and service delivery became easier over time.

Scaling the Business

• Charlie no longer runs the gym agency and now focuses on coaching agency owners.
• He has transitioned into being an agency that goes to him.
• There is a significant gap between making his first $10,000 and his current success.
• Charlie has grown and evolved his business over time.
• He has expanded his services and shifted his focus.

Attention to Detail and Systemization

• Charlie Morgan has a high level of attention to detail and focuses on systemization and processes.
• He developed this skill through Consulting Accelerator and it is a key factor in his success.
• Charlie admits that his obsession with perfectionism can be a weakness, as he struggles to release imperfect products.
• He is more detail-oriented in his product development, but less so in his YouTube videos.
• His business partner, Beau, balances him out by providing a broader perspective and creative vision.

Building and Optimizing Products

• Charlie spent nine months building his new product, striving for perfection.
• He acknowledges that this level of detail is a luxury and not practical for everyone.
• There is a difference between systemization and optimization.
• The first version of a product is rarely optimal because it lacks the benefit of hindsight and testing.
• Charlie's current product is the second or third iteration, based on feedback and testing.

The Trap of Hiring Great People

• Charlie initially fell into the trap of believing that hiring great people was the key to building a great company.
• He realized that to attract great people, he needed to first build a great company.
• It is important to focus on personal growth and improvement before expecting others to join and contribute.
• Many people lose sight of this and struggle to differentiate between actions that make sense at their level and actions that make sense at a higher level.
• Starting off, it is important to not obsess over details and to seek advice from those who are already successful.

Charlie Morgan's Advice for Starting an Agency

• When starting an agency, it's important to follow the footsteps of people who are just a few steps ahead of you.
• Don't just seek advice from millionaires, as they may be detached from the early stages of starting an agency.
• Charlie Morgan's channel provides useful information for new agency owners.
• In the beginning, focus on volume of outreach, particularly through cold calling, to build communication and persuasive skills.
• Don't rush to systemize your agency before you have a proven process that works.
• Be cautious about hiring a sales representative before you have a consistent number of meetings booked.

Watch the video on YouTube:
How Charlie Morgan Made His First $10,000 With SMMA - YouTube