Not an online service business that just runs, but is growing
I’ve spent the last few years building Adstra into a machine.
But not just any machine — one that operates with or without me.
In the early days, I was doing everything.
Running ads.
Closing deals.
Handling fulfillment.
Managing clients.
I was deep in the trenches, grinding 16-hour days, thinking that’s what it took to build something great.
And it worked — at first.
We launched 500+ campaigns, generated 50,000+ leads, and booked thousands of sales calls.
But then reality hit.
The business depended on me for everything.
If I stopped? The momentum stopped. If I took a break? Revenue slowed down.
That’s when I realized: this wasn’t real success.
A business that collapses when the founder steps away isn’t a business — it’s a high-paying job with no benefits.
So I made a decision.
I wasn’t going to build something that only worked when I did.
I was going to build a system — one that scaled, generated revenue, and grew with or without me.
That’s what led to Adstra’s transformation.
And today?
Right now, I’m in Munich.
Not checking emails.
Not grinding through meetings.
Not worrying if sales are happening.
Because while I’m here…
My sales team is running calls.
My CS team is fulfilling projects.
My inbound system is still generating leads.
The business is running without me.
And that’s not an accident — it’s by design.
Let’s start with how you too can have a service business run for you.
As An Online Service Business, You Need A Full Calendar First
181 calls generated, data from Hyros
If you don’t have sales calls booked every day, your business isn’t growing — it’s dying.
Everything in business comes down to pipeline volume. If you’re not consistently talking to new prospects, your revenue will always be unpredictable.
This is where most businesses fail.
- They rely on referrals, which are completely out of their control.
- They try cold outreach, which takes time and burns out quickly.
- They wait for inbound leads, but have no system to bring them in consistently.
At Adstra, we solved this problem with the AI Growth Funnel.
It’s a hands-off system that keeps calendars full and revenue predictable — whether I’m working or not.
Here’s how it works:
1️⃣ The Right Ad — We don’t just run ads. We test dozens of creatives every week to find the winners that attract qualified leads, not just clicks.
2️⃣ A Free Resource — Instead of asking for a sale upfront, we give away something valuable:
- A training video
- A free report, like this here
- A breakdown of a winning strategy
This positions us as the expert and gets leads into our system.
3️⃣ A Video That Sells — After the opt-in, we don’t just say “thanks” and leave it at that. We immediately show them a video breaking down our process and why they need it. This pre-sells them before they even book a call.
4️⃣ A Clear Path to Booking — Every touchpoint guides them toward the next step: scheduling a call.
But here’s where most businesses get it wrong — they stop after a lead opts in.
That’s why we have backend systems that do the real work:
- Automated emails & texts — Keeping us in front of them daily.
- Retargeting ads — Reminding them of the value we provide.
- A real person calling every lead — Because a single follow-up call can double your booked meetings.
The result? A calendar full of pre-qualified sales calls every single day.
And because this system runs on automation + human follow-up, it works whether I’m in the office or traveling across the world.
This is the difference between business owners who are always scrambling for leads and those who have a system that delivers leads to them.
If you don’t know where your next sales call is coming from, your business isn’t built for scale.
Scaling & Optimizing
Once you have an inbound funnel that books calls every day, your next challenge is making it more efficient, more profitable, and ultimately, scalable.
This is where most businesses either explode in growth or stay stuck.
Because it’s not enough to have leads coming in — you need to ensure every dollar spent is bringing in maximum return.
Scaling isn’t just about spending more money on ads — it’s about refining the system so it converts better, closes faster, and runs smoother.
Here’s how we do it:
Track the Right Metrics (Not Vanity Metrics)
Most businesses look at the wrong numbers.
They obsess over click-through rates, ad impressions, and total leads generated.
But none of that matters if those leads don’t show up to calls and convert into customers.
The three most important metrics to track are:
✅ Cost Per Qualified Lead (CPQL) — Not just any lead, but leads who actually show up and are ready to buy. If CPQL is too high, you’re either attracting the wrong audience or pricing yourself out of the market.
✅ Show Rate — What percentage of booked calls actually show up? If it’s low, your funnel may be attracting tire-kickers, or your follow-up process isn’t strong enough.
✅ Call Close Rate — Once they get on a call, how many convert into paying customers? If this is low, the issue isn’t the funnel — it’s the sales process.
Tracking these numbers tells you exactly where the weak points are so you can fix them.
Identify and Fix Bottlenecks
If your funnel isn’t scaling profitably, there’s a break in the system.
Here’s how to diagnose where leads are dropping off:
❌ Lots of clicks, but low opt-ins? Your landing page isn’t converting. Your messaging isn’t clear enough or your offer isn’t compelling enough.
❌ Lots of opt-ins, but no booked calls? The follow-up isn’t strong enough. You’re missing key engagement points (email, SMS, retargeting ads, or a personal call).
❌ Booked calls, but low show rates? You’re attracting the wrong audience, or your leads don’t see the urgency in showing up.
❌ Good show rate, but low close rate? Your sales process needs work. The best funnels pre-sell prospects before the call even happens.
Once you find the bottleneck, you don’t have to guess what to fix — you know what to optimize.
Scale the Winners (Double Down on What Works)
Once the funnel is optimized, then and only then do we scale up.
Here’s how we do it:
🔥 Increase ad spend on winning campaigns — But only on the highest-converting ads (not just the ones with the lowest cost per lead).
🔥 Duplicate top-performing funnels — Take what’s working and apply it to new audiences (different industries, cold vs. warm traffic, lookalike audiences).
🔥 Refine messaging to maximize conversions — Even a small tweak in ad copy, landing page text, or sales script can double conversions without increasing ad spend.
🔥 Invest in retargeting — The best leads are the ones already in your pipeline. Following up properly turns more leads into booked calls, and more calls into closed deals.
Scaling isn’t about getting more leads.
It’s about getting better leads, improving conversions, and maximizing efficiency — so when you do scale, every dollar works harder for you.
Most businesses keep spending on ads without fixing their broken funnel.
That’s why they stay stuck.
The ones that track, optimize, and scale properly? They build machines that print money.
The Real Money Is in the Data
Scaling isn’t just about getting more leads — it’s about understanding the numbers that drive revenue and making faster, better decisions based on real data, not guesswork.
This is why centralizing your data is critical. If you don’t have a clear view of what’s happening in your funnel and post-sale process, you’re flying blind.
On the front end, track Click-to-Close metrics:
- Lead to booked call rate — Are your ads attracting the right leads?
- Show rate — Are your leads actually showing up to calls?
- Close rate — Are your sales calls converting at a high enough percentage?
But the real money is made after the sale — so you need to track Close-to-Ascendance metrics:
- Time to onboarding — How fast are clients getting set up and moving forward?
- Time to value — When do they start seeing real results?
- Milestone tracking — Are they progressing through key steps successfully?
- Ascendance rate — How many clients upgrade, renew, or expand their services with you?
- Revenue retention — How long do clients stay, and what’s their lifetime value?
If your CS team isn’t documenting milestones via automation in your CRM, you have zero visibility on what’s working and where clients are getting stuck.
The biggest leverage points for increasing revenue aren’t just in getting more clients — they’re in:
- Speeding up onboarding.
- Helping clients reach value faster.
- Increasing ascension and retention rates.
When you have this data presented to you in real-time, you’re not just running a business — you’re running a scalable, high-profit machine.
This is where the real money is made.
Want a Funnel That Grows With You?
If your inbound system isn’t booking enough calls — or if you’re spending money without seeing a return — it’s time to fix it.
We’ve built hundreds of inbound funnels that generate leads, book calls, and close sales without manual effort.
Want to see how it works?
As always, thanks for reading.
