Happy Thursday!

I'm building a private community called TKOwners for people who want to turn all these insights into real businesses. We have a slack channel where we drop insane AI tools and possibilities everyday. If you're serious about staying ahead of this AI revolution, check it out at tkowners.com. It's where the hundreds of action-takers hang out.

Let’s get into it.

I came across a 25-year-old on Instagram doing something really cool and old school- getting leads without any cold calls or ads. He closes 95% of his deals over Facebook Messenger. One plumber paid him $1,100 after just five texts.

He started the whole thing for less than $100 and he pockets about half of everything he brings in. In one year, he turned a $90 investment into $50,000 in revenue- working from home, just on the side.

The business is “shared direct mail postcards”. And it has great unit economics and both side-hustle and full time-career potential. Go check it out on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify where you can get more into on this goldmine.

What the Business is:

It’s really simple. You put together a large postcard, (usually sized at 9x12 inches on thick card stock), and fill it with ads from local businesses. A landscaper, a plumber, a home cleaner, a roofer. One business per category, so nobody's competing against each other on the same card. Then you use the USPS Every Door Direct Mail tool (EDDM) to send that card to thousands of targeted homeowners in a specific zip code.

The beauty of EDDM is that you don't need to have a mailing list. No names or addresses. You just pick the zip codes you want to target, filter by income and neighborhood type, and the post office handles delivery. 25 cents per home.

The math on a 10,000-home mailing:
-Postage runs $2,500.
-Printing a quality two-sided card on thick UV gloss stock costs about $2,300.
Total out of pocket: roughly $4,800.
Fill the front of the card with ad spaces at $600 each, and that covers your break-even. Everything on the back is pure profit. A fully loaded card generates $9,000 to $10,000 in revenue on a $4,800 spend. That's $4,000 to $5,000 in profit per mailing, no employees, nothing to ship yourself.

Start This Week

Step 1: Pick Your Area and Card Size
Go to usps.com/eddm and type in the zip codes you want to target. Sort by income. You want single-family homes because home service businesses, your best advertisers, have no use advertising to apartment dwellers. Start with a 6x11 community card going to 2,500 homes. Lower cost, faster to fill, less risk. Once you've run one, you scale to 5,000 or 10,000.

Step 2: Find Your Advertisers on Facebook
Josh found almost every client this way. He posts in local business networking Facebook groups, not neighborhood groups, business networking groups, because the members are already in marketing mode. His post is short, direct, and ends with "first come, first serve" to create urgency.

The moment he posts, he likes his own post and drops a comment from his business page. That bumps his post above everyone else's and signals to Facebook that the content is worth showing. He posts Tuesday through Thursday between 6:45 and 7:15 p.m. Dinner's over, people are scrolling, and his post is right there at the top.

Also look for yard signs when you're driving around. If you see a power washing company advertising on a lawn, they're already open to physical marketing. Text them. That's how Josh sold his very first spot.

Step 3: Make the Pitch Irresistible
Tell business owners you're offering exposure to thousands of local homeowners at 6 to 10 cents per home. You design the ad for free. (You can do this on Canva or Adobe Express easily. They’ve got tons of built in templates already. Offer to include a free dynamic QR code so they can track scans. (also available on Canva and A.E.)

And you only feature one business per category, so they own their lane on the card. The also helps to put a fire under them because only the first to respond in that niche can be featured. For home service businesses, this sells itself. A landscaper only needs one new client to recoup a $600 ad spend. A plumber needs one call. (The good ones know it immediately).

Whether or not you dive into the direct mail hustle, you need to start newsletter ASAP. I know a founder who built a newsletter for local real estate investors. At around 12,000 subscribers, he was already making real money because he was not relying on one revenue stream. He sold sponsorships to lenders, inspectors, and property managers, launched a paid tier with off market deal breakdowns and notes.

beehiiv gives you the tools to actually know your audience and monetize properly. Their survey feature helps you understand exactly who is reading so you can sell smarter. Their recommendation network helps you grow through other publishers automatically. You can run paid subscriptions, sell products, and keep 100% of that revenue.

You don’t need a giant audience to build a serious newsletter business. You need the right niche, the right offer, and the right platform. Go to beehiiv.com/chris and use code CHRIS30 for 30% off your first three months.

Step 4: Design, Print, Ship
Lay out your ad spaces, drop in each business's logo and offer, add the QR codes.

Go with 14-point UV gloss card stock- it stands out in a mailbox. Get a sample before you commit to a full run.

Once the design is locked, you can have the printer ship directly to the USPS distribution hub. You never have to touch the cards. The post office does the rest.

Step 5: Build the Repeat Business
After every mailing, go back to every advertiser before you start recruiting new ones. Offer them their spot on the next card going to a neighboring area before it opens up. That warm relationship fills your next card dramatically faster than cold outreach.

Follow up on results obsessively. Ask your advertisers how it went. Did the QR code get scans? Did the phone ring? Those answers become your case studies, and these testimonials close your next ten deals faster than any pitch you'll write. Offer a discount if they let you use their testimonials.

The Numbers at Scale

Josh did $40,000 in revenue in his first year running this- purely as a side hustle. He didn't even have an LLC for his first two cards. No website either. He just started and figured it out as he went. You can too.

If you run two 10,000-home mailings per month, profit $4,500 on each, and you're at $9,000 a month working for yourself. You can post on faceook groups while you binge Netflix. Once you get the system down, you add a second territory to double it. The ceiling isn't the market. It's how fast you can fill cards, and with the Facebook group strategy, that constraint disappears quickly.

Major Upside/ Upsell

Upside: Have your own local business? Put your own biz on every card you send out, no matter where in the city its going. Don’t give yourself any competition. If you’re a bakery. Don’t place any other bakeries. HVAC business? Don’t offer your cards to other AC or Heat companies. That way you can get paid to strategically market yourself… AND can use your own business for market research and testimonials to get other people on board.

Upsell: Every business owner you get on a postcard is a warm lead for something bigger. You've already proven you can put their name in front of thousands of local homeowners. So now you upsell them. Website builds for businesses that don't have one. Facebook ad management. Google SEO. Learn how to do these with AI , and bundle it all into a package.

The postcard becomes your foot in the door to other hustles. You're getting paid to generate your own client base for a local marketing operation. I've rarely seen a lead generation strategy this clean.

Start This Week

Go to usps.com/eddm. Pick a zip code. Join three local business Facebook groups today. Write a short post, under 100 words, and schedule it for Thursday at 7 p.m. when business owners are online.

Josh's first sale was five text messages and $1,100. Yours is sitting in a Facebook group right now, waiting for someone to show up with a good offer.

Don't overthink it. Just start. You can just do things.

And again- if you were inspired and want more of this convo, get more info on Go check it out on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And when you start this, come back and let me know how quickly you made 10K net profit!

Have a great week!

Chris

P.S. I share deep dives on business ideas and complete playbooks three times a week on YouTube and every podcast platform.