How to Scale Your Coaching Business with Ads and Setters: Jeremy Pogue's Success Story

In this exclusive interview, Jeremy Pogue shares his journey from living in his parents' basement to building a thriving coaching business and reveals his strategies for marketing, sales, and scaling.

Introduction

What does it take to scale a coaching business from zero to $200,000 per month in just eight months? In this episode of The Nathan Newberry Show, I sat down with JeremyPogue, a successful entrepreneur who helps coaches scale their businesses using ads and appointment setters. Jeremy shares his remarkable journey from struggling entrepreneur to seven-figure business owner, and breaks down his unique approach to marketing, sales, and team building. His story offers valuable insights for coaches and service-based entrepreneurs looking to grow their businesses.

Jeremy's Journey: From Rock Bottom to Thriving Entrepreneur

Jeremy's entrepreneurial journey began in early 2020, during a particularly challenging time in his life. Living in his parents' basement in Kelowna, BC with "no money, no income, no idea what to do," Jeremy found himself at a crossroads.

"Within the span of a month, the COVID lockdowns hit, my dog died, and my girlfriend dumped me," Jeremy recalls. "I was in my parents' basement with no job, no money coming in, maybe a couple grand to my name, and no idea what I wanted to do with my life."

This rock-bottom moment became the catalyst for Jeremy's transformation. He committed fully to personal development, turning off his phone for six months, deactivating social media, and reading a book each week. His first breakthrough came when he invested money he didn't have on a course from Sam Ovens and followed the program religiously.

Jeremy's first client came from a cold call to a mortgage broker - a call he made despite listing "cold calling" as one of the things he hated most. That first call resulted in a $1,500 monthly retainer, launching what would become his first agency, Summit Lead Gen.

After building his initial agency and working with another coaching program, Jeremy launched Summit Scale in 2022, focused on helping coaches grow through ads and appointment setters. The results were immediate:

• $50,000 in revenue within the first five weeks
• $100,000 monthly revenue within seven months
• Over $200,000 monthly revenue in eight months

The Marketing Strategy Most People Miss

According to Jeremy, most entrepreneurs make a critical mistake with their marketing: they focus on creating content without real intention.

"A lot of people have split focus on their marketing. They're making content without real intention," Jeremy explains. "If you look at your business as a funnel, you have the top, middle, and bottom. The top is to get new eyeballs, the middle is to warm people up, and the bottom is to engage in sales conversations."

Jeremy recommends a different approach:

1. Use ads for the top of the funnel: Instead of trying to go viral organically, use targeted ads to attract your ideal clients. "I like to use ads where we get very specific and call out exactly who we want."
2. Create content for the middle of the funnel: Focus your organic content on nurturing leads and building trust. Jeremy uses what he calls the "Double Diamond framework" to help prospects overcome limiting beliefs and develop empowering ones.
3. Quality over quantity: "I prefer quality over quantity. I just try to get really specific with who I want and who I don't want. When I get good people coming through the top, I get good people coming out through the bottom too."

Jeremy focuses his marketing efforts primarily on Instagram and YouTube, using each platform for a specific purpose:

• Instagram: "Wide but shallow" - great for getting new leads and staying top of mind
• YouTube: "Narrow and deep" - perfect for nurturing relationships and building authority

The Art of Closing at 70%

One of Jeremy's most impressive achievements was maintaining a 70% close rate on sales calls. While that number has decreased as he's scaled and brought on a sales team, his approach to sales is worth noting.

Jeremy's high close rate came from:

1. Being selective: Adding filters to ensure only qualified prospects got on sales calls
2. Setting clear expectations: "In my YouTube videos I'd say, 'If you want my help, book a call down below. Please don't waste my time, bring your credit card, get ready to rock and roll.'"
3. Speaking their language: Since his clients were coaches who did sales calls themselves, this direct approach resonated with them.

Jeremy believes that "garbage in, garbage out" applies to sales funnels. "If you have garbage coming through the top of your funnel, you're only going to talk to garbage people on the sales calls."

Transitioning from Technician to Leader

As his business grew, Jeremy faced a common challenge for entrepreneurs: transitioning from doing everything himself to leading a team.

A pivotal moment came during a conversation with fellow entrepreneur Dan Martell at the gym. When Jeremy mentioned he was struggling to balance service delivery and marketing/sales, Martell advised:

1. Learn to lead through other people: Empower your team to step up and take ownership
2. Separate your roles: Learn to put on one hat and take it off to put on another
3. Align incentives: Ensure everyone's goals are in alignment

Jeremy shares a powerful example from a friend who tripled his business from $300,000 to $1 million per month by aligning the incentives of his team:

"He eliminated base pay for everybody but opened up the opportunity for everyone to make two to three times more based on performance. He also opened up a pool for profit sharing."

This approach created a situation where everyone on the team, from front-end to back-end, was invested in increasing sales and profitability.

The Drive for Success

What drives Jeremy's remarkable success? He attributes it to several factors:

1. Entrepreneurial parents who supported his journey
2. Visualization: "I'd play that mental movie in my head over and over"
3. A no-retreat mindset: "I made a promise to myself after I finished school. I will never get a 9-to-5. I kind of forced myself in that corner, burned my boats, and didn't give myself any other option."

Jeremy also emphasizes the importance of high performance, which he defines differently than most: "To me, high performance is doing more of the things that give me energy and doing less of the things that drain me of energy."

He conducts regular time and energy audits, tracking his activities and categorizing them by how they make him feel:

• Green: Things he likes doing
• Yellow: Things he doesn't mind doing
• Red: Things that drain his energy

Conclusion and Future Goals

Jeremy's journey from rock bottom to successful entrepreneur demonstrates what's possible with the right mindset, strategies, and execution. His approach to marketing, sales, and team building offers valuable insights for coaches and service-based entrepreneurs looking to scale.

Looking to the future, Jeremy aims to reach $1 million per month, not just for the money but "about forcing myself to become better because to do that, I'm going to have to change a lot of the things I'm doing right now, learn a lot of new skills, and become somebody that makes my current self very uncomfortable."

His goals include hosting larger live events and creating a Summit HQ—a physical space combining offices, a gym, and room for his growing team.