How Did I Start?

Before I started Affilicademy I had a core question I needed answered. I had a desire to do amazing work, but was limited on the path I could take. When I was an HVAC technician, I had the ability to provide a lot of value, but the work was killing my body. I wanted to provide value in a different way, so I looked into marketing.

I had been interested in business since I was a freshman in highschool, and had competed to national level competitions, so I began to work. I partnered with a marketing agency, and learned about Google Ads.

After that, I wanted to move to social media, which was closer to my interests. I ended up working in 5 different agencies, before creating my own. During the creation process I stopped working for 2 months, creating a plan.

What would I offer? Who would I offer it to? Where was my area of expertise?

Finally, once the plan was done, I worked for free. I started by simply providing as much value as humanly possible to as many people as possible. Once I was confident in the results I could drive using my own system, I went to my clients and asked for 10% of net profits at the end of each month.

Almost everyone instantly accepted that offer, and so I knew it was fair to ask for money for the work I was doing.

Now, I ask everyone that same thing. A free trial, where I show my ability, then, a profit split.

So, How is that Relevant?

Well, with any business instead of starting with pricing, you should start with why. Why are you creating this business? What do you want to accomplish? If the value statement is "I want to get rich" ironically, you probably will completely fail.

Then, move to who is it for? What ICP do you think you can best serve? If its a hair care product, who will be benefited most? If its a marketing agency, how can you provide the most results?

Finally, I recommend you work for free. This lets you know how good you are. If you suck, people will not ever pay. Then, slowly start to ask for more money. I probably could've switched to an up front pay model, but I chose not to, to make it easier for people to get the results they want.

What is one Sentence that Makes This Easy?

If you want to build a great business, provide great value.

That is the core idea of everything I do. If you don't know how to provide great value yet, learn. Don't ask for money if you don't know what you are doing, you will regret it later.

3-29-26

Elias Michael Davis, Founder of Affilicademy

A Personal Letter