Justin Day’s Journey From Freelancer to System-Built CEO
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Most people don't do that. It's like they feel like they've got this one strong off and they believe in it so good and it's worked maybe for a year or two, but it's

it's not scaling well what what can you bolt on how can you position it differently you know only one out of every 10 offers can really hit and instead of building an entire course an entire system on the back end if you have an idea but put it out there just test it and see if it's biting if you can get you know something to happen versus spending a year to build something that may or may not work what are you know five ways to use ai people are probably not using it right now so the number one thing i always tell people

My name is Rudy Moore, host of Living the Red Life podcast, and I'm here to change the way you see your life in your earpiece every single week. If you're ready to start living the red life, ditch the blue pill, take the red pill, join me in Wonderland and change your life. What's up, guys? Welcome back to another episode of Living the Red Life. Today, we're going to talk all about AI systems, automations, becoming more profitable, and a bunch more. Justin is joining me. He's been a friend and member for many years.

An epic journey, you know, as he really started to scale his agency, he's gone from, I think when he joined you were about half a million revenue, now multiple million, growing a big team, getting on stages, speaking, growing your personal brand. So really been epic to see that A to Z. And we're going to dive into some of the tactics, strategies,

during his growth period and also what he's doing with hundreds of entrepreneurs to automate their business, speed their business up and get more done. So welcome. Thanks for having me. So let's start with the journey. Yeah. Right. So you kind of started, you know, agency, more typical, maybe local agency and stuff, right? Yeah, local. Now you're worldwide. Yeah, I started out on the local agency, kind of a la carte instead of, you know,

where I am now with the system base. But yeah, it started about five, six years ago. And yeah, it's been a journey, man. And what would you say, like, what were some of the biggest lessons and also stepping stones or achievements where you're like,

Okay, I'm getting traction now. Yeah, I mean, it really started out as a freelancer, right, where I was just doing graphic design for friends. They'd pay me for this and then get word of mouth out. And then I started to get bigger and bigger deals. I was like, man, I might have something here. It's like, okay, I don't have Google. What was your biggest website build where you were like, damn, that's like a year on? Yeah, it was like 100K deals. Like, wow, okay, they just gave me this money. I mean, let's do this. But okay, money, let's go. Yeah, 100K.

And what about where did you, what was your first website, your smallest deal when you first started? Oh, I mean, one for myself and then two just for friends that, you know, trying to build a WordPress and it took, you know, forever and it just looked ridiculous. And you charged a few hundred dollars. Sure, yeah. For friends, yeah, people. That's funny. So, and what about some of the stepping stones through this where you were like really felt you were getting traction, you were proud? Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, where I felt I was getting traction was just honestly the organic word of mouth. Cause I, I mean, until, until I really started working with you, I was all word of mouth and I was able to grow my business to half a million just without any marketing on my own. So it's like it,

It just kept I just kept getting more and more leads from my people because I did such a good job It's like okay. Well, this just keep going and keep going and keep going So I was just like, all right, I got a business here. I'm committed So it's just organically grew but then what with it so well and then the big jumps go having a lot of people listening or at that half a million mark, right? I see so many people there and they get stuck there. Yeah, right So what were some of the big jumps to get to multiple millions? I

The big jumps were, one, outsourcing, not having to do it all yourself. And then, two, obviously the personal brand, big development there to get more traction out there to stand out in a saturated market. But also having different offers and then testing like crazy. Just because you have one thing doesn't mean that's going to last forever or can you scale all of it?

right so three big things that and you know we were working with you on so let's break each one down so number one was the team yeah so what who was some key hires where did you you know what are you paying them where do you find them where should people listening that are in your old shoes start yeah i mean the first place anywhere is like five or up yeah that's easy i mean we're

where I really needed help was finding my first W2, getting my ops manager in because I didn't want to learn how to do all the ops and develop and I didn't have time. And actually through networking through our group, right, I found somebody, it's about like 80,000 a year and, you know, he's completely changed my business over the last couple of years and now I have a team of 30. So it's just gone like,

from zero to 100 very fast. And what were some of the other key at work hires or like VAs, what would you recommend? Absolutely. I mean, virtual assistants are the key for sure in any business, especially in the agency world. You know, I think it's a lot of people have doubts if VAs can really handle the workload or do everything. It's not...

I'd say they are 80% of the way there. They're not necessarily 100% like in America, but done is better than perfect, and a lot of clients will take that. It's like the perfectionism can kill you. Yeah, and I think VAs too, we do hire some ourselves, but we use a couple of recruitment firms that get really like VAs overseas, but they have like PhDs or they were like accountants, so they're like more expensive, but...

Still cheap, but they are more expensive than a $400 VA. Right. But they actually, they're stronger than some of our U.S. staff. Like we've actually replaced U.S. staff and saved, you know, 80%. Yeah. And they're just dead on. Absolutely. I think a lot of people would be surprised how powerful they can be.

So the first one was the team. I think second one you said was personal branding. Absolutely. Talk us through that. What changed? Well, I mean, for my word of mouth, I was always just posting stuff and I'd get a lot of people making fun of me or whatever. But you get those people, the business was like, OK, this guy's putting himself out there. I can see he does websites. Oh, he does social. Oh, he does X, Y and Z. And that all that.

that's really started to accumulate to build a business and then standing out, putting your story out there, making it a personalized approach versus business first. Like no one wants to follow or look at a business. They want to follow a brand and a story. Yeah. So that really breaks through and creates that unique view for people to get inside. And was there a couple of posts that all says, you know, techniques or,

Times you posted where you're like, okay, this is good. I'm getting the hang of this now. Yeah, I mean, I would just bring GoPros. I started out with GoPros and I learned to actually use the cameras and all of that. All the vacations are just going throughout the day to day and filming and just posting and just getting my feet wet in the reps. And I think

The content perspective side, right, is getting the reps in. You don't just start by being good on camera or whatever. It's just like, feel free to just put stuff out there. Who cares if people don't like it? Who cares about the vanity metrics? Just go, go, go, and it'll eventually come back. You never know who's going to see those posts. Yeah, I love it. And the last one was testing. I know I always hammer that around. I really do. And most people don't do that. It's like they feel like,

they've got this one strong offer and they believe in it so good and it's worked maybe for a year or two, but it's not scaling. Well, what can you bolt on? How can you position it differently? Only one out of every 10 offers can really hit. And instead of building an entire course, an entire system on the back end, if you have an idea, go ahead and put it out there. Just test it and see if it's biting, if you can get something to happen versus spending a year to build something that may or may not work. That's where people really get stuck. It's like,

Like just because you think it works doesn't mean other people will. Yeah, love it. So, you know, I love asking you those questions during that journey. I think it's so valuable. Let's talk now about the AI side, right? So what are entrepreneurs, you know, listening? Most of them are probably playing with chat GPT. Where does AI go beyond that that they're probably missing?

Yeah, I mean definitely in the video side is coming more and more out like leveraging Sora to get kind of some very interesting videos out there to break through the mold if you're not comfortable on camera. You can use things like Hagen for AI avatars.

There's so many ways on a content perspective to leverage, whether it's for scripts, ideas, testing new offers, and just understanding your target audience. There's ways to use it to really break through the mold. Good. And what are five ways to use AI people are probably not using it right now?

So the number one thing I always tell people, the target audience is the king, right? So leveraging it for your source of truth, your foundation. Well, what if they already go, I already know my target audience? Okay, well then I would challenge you. Say, do you know 10 things that keep them up at night? Do you know where they shop? Do you know who their best friends are? Like,

if you're not at a very detailed level, then I really challenge you to understand how important that can be. Good. So that's one. Next one, number two, what would you say? From an AI perspective, I mean, just connecting the dots in your business. So most platforms now have integrations, whether it be for your billing or for your onboarding process, connecting the dots to create a personalized and streamlined experience will increase your LTV or reduce your CAC and really give that personalized approach when people are just coming on. So I think

connecting all the dots but not overdoing it because a lot of people get overwhelmed really quickly with AI and trying to just connect all the dots. Just start looking at where are the things that are like holding you back, maybe saving 10 minutes here, 30 minutes here. And I think really for the first space in AI is like get your billing connected with contracts and everything like that so that the onboarding process is super easy. Yeah, good. And number three?

Number three, I would say leveraging it as an AI assistant, right? You can connect it to your email so you're not just buried in it. You can set filters in there to notify you when an important client comes through or just crap comes through, right? So that you're not spending your day in your email because people get distracted. Shifting in and out of work is super hard, but you have to be there in front of your clients or being aware of what's going on. So have

having that as an AI assistant to kind of safeguard you. Good. And last two. Yeah. So the last would be just generating content on an ongoing basis, whether it's for SEO, for social, you know, being top minded is so key. And to do that, you've got to be posting every day, whether it be on social, whether it be SEO. But to do that yourself is so cumbersome. Leveraging AI to be able to get through that and actually do it is really the way to execute not having a team

a team to do that for you. Good. And then let's talk now a little about the future of AI. How do you see it changing in one year, three years, five years? Yeah, the future of AI is kind of here. I said this about a year ago, and I think it's going to stay in this position to keep moving forward as a conversational AI. Instead of typing things out, now you can have conversations with it in a more organic way. And I think there's going to be more and more embodiment of AI, maybe in a more

or avatar way where you can have a conversation with it and get things that wouldn't take you hours to type out and really it's gonna be developing a brain that can remember who you are, what you're talking about and all that kind of stuff. - What about further down the line, like three, five years? Is it gonna be creating entire videos and taking full sales calls? Do you mean-- - Oh absolutely, yeah. So we're actually working with a company

right now that's doing all of our qualifying and everything like that so that we don't have to spend time doing that. And I think later on down the road, we're going to have AI agents so that you can have an AI at the top managing different AI bots to do all these different things. So if you're getting in now and understanding how to use it,

it you'll be you'll be enabling yourself for the future really scale like at the speed of light good and i would love to just ask you now on the agency side a lot of people listening uh maybe like you they're making 10 20 30 40 50 grand a month like you were doing gigs right yes websites or whatever how what are some lessons with the agency side going to multiple millions 30 staff

Yeah, so a la carte will kill you. Stop doing that. There's no reason that like, if you want to be an expert, I'd say niche down and creating systems, repeatable things that you can offload to your team and scale, like having just

So many different divisions that don't talk to each other or departments that don't work together in a system where it was really the biggest thing that hold held me back for so long and that's when I developed my swarm system where all cohesively works together so that you can scale and then again having other people come in so that you're not in the day to day. So the systems is the number one thing and definitely niching down to whether it be your target audience or an offer.

not trying to boil the ocean. Yeah, good. So that's one great one. What about getting clients? Like, not obviously referrals, but like from a marketing side. From a marketing side, I mean, I definitely...

You're just putting yourself out there nonstop, just getting content. If you're not posting every day, you need to be posting every day, two or three times a day, just getting your brand out there. Again, being top of mind, tip of tongue and leveraging your network and going to networking events, connecting with like-minded entrepreneurs. I mean, this is, that's the thing that really caught my business on fire, especially from an agency perspective, because there's so many

many agencies out there. I think going to events like if you're masterminds and stuff like that, connecting with people, you actually open up another world and doors that you would have never known. Good. Last couple of questions I always like to ask as we come towards the end. More personal, more about your journey. Biggest failure? Biggest failure would be

- Filing for my business right before COVID hit. - Yeah, and what happened? - Well, right when COVID hit, I mean, before that I was a freelancer and a solopreneur. I was already in a little bit of debt and then I filed and then all my business went away.

And then I ended up in about a hundred grand of debt. So that was, you know, that was a big lesson for sure. And how long did it take you to get out of the debt? Well, when COVID kind of started coming up and, you know, they lifted it up, it took me about eight months to get out of it. Wow. I mean, I really hit it hard because, you know, after the, those restrictions came up, people came back flooding in and then I just raised my prices too, just to get out of that hole. And I mean, it was a big lesson in understanding where, how to,

put your eggs in specific baskets, not all in one basket. Good. And I always ask, you know, if you could go on a time machine and tell your younger self one thing, what would it be? That's a great question. I would tell myself to not try and be everywhere all at once and like doing everything as an expert. I think being focusing on one thing and then bolting things on. And obviously, like we talked about testing like crazy. I think the model of

Um, just trying to be an expert and everything is just too much. Just focusing on one thing. Cause I was starting to do websites and social and all this by myself. And also even, even further than that, I would say if I could have gone back five years ago, I say, go get a VA, go outsource because being doing this by yourself, I wish, I mean, it took me years to get through it and I could have scaled so much faster if I would have started doing that earlier on.

Good. Love it. And last question, where if they want to learn AI or hire you, where do they find you? Yeah, it's swarmsystem.ai or aimarketingtools.com on Instagram, justindaydigital.

Love it. Guys, that's a wrap. If you want to learn AI, go see this guy. If you want to keep apprised of all the latest and greatest developments, which is basically a daily thing in the AI world, you need to follow AI experts. And also if you've grown an agency service business, then obviously, you know, Justin's been through it. And, you know, I've watched him grow and implement while he's been in our community. And it's been so fun to see. But that's a wrap. Keep living the red life. And I'll see you guys soon.