How a College Student Cracked the Code to Build a Million Dollar Business With Artificial Intelligence (AI)

In the world of online business, everyone is looking for that next big opportunity. For 20-year-old Joe Popelas, that opportunity turned out to be AI-generated books.

While working a part-time job and attending college, Joe quietly built a book publishing empire from his laptop that now generates over $1 million per year in revenue. He’s proof that anyone with creativity and drive can find a lucrative business idea off the beaten path.

In this post, we’ll explore Joe’s journey, the key strategies he used, and the lessons every entrepreneur can learn from his unconventional success story.

The Origin Story: How Joe Got Started With Exploring AI

Joe’s story begins in 2020 when he graduated high school and started getting into AI-text generation models like Jasper AI. As an aspiring computer science student, he was fascinated by the technology and its potential applications.

In an interview with Starter Story, Joe recounted:

“2020 was the year when I graduated high school. I started working on use cases for AI. I reached out to Greg Brockman. I started working on use cases for GPT-3 with a team of ten developers shortly after. I got a really good idea of how AI could be integrated into different business models.”

By exploring AI, Joe gained rare hands-on experience with commercial AI applications long before most people even knew these tools existed. This early exposure would prove invaluable.

Fast forward to 2022, AI text generation was starting to gain some traction. Joe realized he could capitalize on his knowledge before others caught on.

He explained:

“In 2022, I was like why don't I just utilize my pre-existing skill sets? AI and ChatGPT are now out, and few businesses know about it. Maybe I could help provide some value to small and mid-sized businesses who want to learn more about AI.”

At this point, Joe wasn’t fully committed to a business idea yet. He was still in the exploratory phase. He started sharing what he was learning on LinkedIn, but a series of events would soon lead him toward a life-changing opportunity.

The Pivotal Moment: Discovering The Power of AI Books

As Joe became known as an AI expert, people on LinkedIn started reaching out and asking him questions. He recalled:

“Around that time that I got that idea, people actually started reaching out to me asking about my experience at OpenAI and ChatGPT. I had a tab on my LinkedIn that showed I had worked on ChatGPT use cases. They started asking me certain things. It got to the point where I started charging for the advice I was giving.

I started consulting with Fintech firms about how to integrate GPT-3 into their business workflows. My automations started taking people’s jobs.”

Without fully realizing it yet, Joe had identified his first monetizable skill – AI consulting. He was already building authority and expertise before having a concrete direction for his business.

This hands-on learning period was crucial because it eventually led Joe to a pivotal discovery.

“In July of 2022, I got a client who owned a book publishing company and that’s where I got the idea. They showed me their stats and how much money they were making off selling casual books. That was a complete eye-opener for me.

I didn't realize how many people bought books per month. Their revenue was about $2 million which was absolutely insane to me.”

Seeing this company earn millions selling just regular books made Joe realize he could use AI text generation to create books rapidly at scale. This was his “aha moment” that would soon pave the way to a million-dollar business. 🤑🤔

How Joe Built His Million Dollar AI Book Business

In August 2022, Joe started putting his idea into action:

“I built my first few landing pages, wrote 40 books, and tried out Facebook Ads. I ended up switching to Pinterest due to the high CPC rates on Facebook Ads.”

“By the end of September, I was at 40 books. I generated 40 books with AI. Then on October 3rd, I hit my first profitable day and I was like $20. October 4th I was at $40 and then from there it almost grew exponentially.”

“On December 28th, I’ll never forget this day, that’s when I hit my first $1k day profit and that was crazy. That was just after Christmas and my whole family knew about it. I told all my friends. I built this business from money that I made from my minimum wage job.”

While Joe was optimistic, he never imagined his book business would take off so quickly. Within months, it snowballed from a small side hobby into a book company evaluated at over $1 million per year. This was all evaluated after a company wanted to buy 40% of Joe’s Book brand at $930,000. 🥶

Let’s explore the key strategies and tools Joe used to build his successful AI book business:

• Key #1: The Right AI Model - Leveraging ChatGPT

The foundation of Joe’s entire business was ChatGPT, OpenAI’s powerful text generation API. Without access to this advanced software, he wouldn’t have been able to create books at scale.

ChatGPT was the only AI model sophisticated enough to write long-form book content that read naturally. Joe recounted:

“Initially this wasn't the way I did it, but this is the best way to do it now. You get ChatGPT to create the book outline - let's say 5 chapters and per chapter 5 topics. Then you're going to go through each topic in each chapter and generate that topic.”

This process allowed Joe to automate the hardest parts of writing a book – coming up with an outline and writing the actual content.

The ability to instantly produce book-worthy material gave Joe a huge competitive advantage in the publishing market. But ChatGPT was just one piece of the puzzle.

• Key #2: Validating the Market First

Another crucial factor was the market research Joe did before ever launching his business. He explained:

“When I met with that book publishing company in July, they showed me their stats and revenue. That opened my eyes to the potential.”

Seeing their multi-million dollar earnings directly validated that there was a massive demand for books online. This proof gave Joe the confidence to pursue his own AI publishing efforts.

It also helped him identify the right target audience and niche to focus on initially. We’ll discuss more on that next.

• Key #3: Laser Targeting a Starving Crowd

Joe revealed that he specifically targeted middle-aged moms with his Pinterest ads:

“The majority of my money has been made off Pinterest ads. I target middle-aged moms because that is the most starving crowd. I can tug on their emotions more and present the outcome they want to achieve.”

This hungry demographic of readers enabled him to sell a high volume of books with minimal competition. Joe was an early mover in creating AI books, so he wisely exploited this blue ocean strategy before others flooded the space.

Once his book sales took off, he was able to reinvest profits into expanding his reach and capturing more market share through paid ads. We’ll explore Joe’s marketing tactics next.

• Key #4: Using Pinterest Ads to Drive Scalable Traffic

According to Joe, the rocket fuel that propelled his business into the stratosphere was Pinterest advertising. He revealed:

“The majority of my money has been made off of Pinterest ads. When you start with Pinterest ads, you’re going to start off with consideration campaigns and then move into conversion campaigns.”

Joe’s two-phase approach allowed him to first identify winning niches and audiences at scale with consideration campaigns focused on traffic and awareness. Once the data revealed where the opportunity was, he would switch to conversion campaigns optimizing for sales and ROI.

He also emphasized the importance of tightly integrating his website with Pinterest using their tracking tools. This unlocked greater visibility into his sales funnel so ads could be meticulously optimized.

The result was a predictable, scalable traffic engine that continues driving consistent sales. Joe is now at the point where he can practically print money through paid advertising.

• Key #5: High-Converting Landing Pages

One aspect of Joe’s marketing strategy that he improved over time was his landing page design. He shared:

“The landing page is going to give you room to show the lead value stacks, what's provided, chapter previews, everything. It gives you so much more real estate to sell them on the product.”

Joe realized that optimizing his landing pages was crucial to convert that incoming traffic into paying customers. Without an effective sales page, too many people would slip through the cracks.

Joe says:

“A landing page is also the first touch point where the lead is going to get a really good idea of your overall brand image. If your landing page is really really bad, doesn't look professional, they're gonna bounce.”

Over time, Joe perfected his landing page templates to match his brand image and maximize conversions. This high-converting sales infrastructure ensured profitability.

• Key #6: Achieving Extremely High-Profit Margins

According to Joe, his profit margins on book sales range from 70-80%. He can operate so efficiently because his books cost almost nothing to produce.

Joe explained:

“My profit margin is about 70-80%. The only real expense that takes away from my profit is the ads. I have my subscription, which is about $200 a month. And creating books with ChatGPT is almost free.”

With online books, there are no printing, shipping, or inventory costs. And by using AI instead of human writers, his content costs are extremely low. This enabled massive profit on each sale, even after ad spend.

These economics are what allowed Joe’s company to scale from zero to $1 million in revenue within months. The profit margins were just too attractive.

With more experience, Joe is confident he can further optimize operations and achieve 85-90% profit margins. That is the power of leveraging AI.

Joe Popelas' Keys to Success Summarized:

• Expertise in AI text generation

• Validating demand by analyzing competitors

• Targeting starving crowds competing advertisers ignore

• Mastering scalable paid advertising channels like Pinterest

• Building high-converting landing pages

• Maintaining sky-high profit margins through AI

Lessons All Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Joe’s AI Pursuit

Now that we’ve explored Joe Popelas’ fascinating success story, what crucial lessons can every business owner take away? Here are the top takeaways:

1. Look for emerging technologies before the masses catch on

Joe capitalized early on AI just as the AI gold rush was beginning. Find your industry’s next big innovation before it goes mainstream. Pounce on emerging tools that improve efficiency.

2. Let your target customers guide your niche 

Don’t just guess at opportunities. Talk to real people, study competitors, and let actual market data direct your focus. Joe only zoned in on books after seeing publishers rake in millions.

3. Start small even if targeting a large market

Joe specifically targeted middle-aged moms upon launch. He didn’t try to please everyone at once. Dominate a hungry niche first. Then expand.

4. Master scalable marketing channels 

Pinterest ads were the rocket fuel for Joe’s business. Find repeatable marketing tactics you can pour gas on to the scale. Don’t rely on one-off tactics.

5. Obsess over conversion optimization

Optimize each step of your sales funnel, especially landing pages. Don’t leak potential customers. Make it easy for people to convert.

6. Maintain leanness for maximum profit

Joe achieved 70-80% profit margins using AI. Keep costs low but quality high. Don’t overspend early on. Protect profits.

7. Reinvest to compound growth

Joe diligently reinvested his profits into more ads and content. Maintain this flywheel effect for exponential growth.

8. Build skills first, monetize second 

Had Joe not learned about ChatGPT first, he would’ve lacked execution ability later. Develop diverse skills you can eventually monetize.

9. Find unconventional solutions to common problems

Joe approached earning online income differently than most. Don’t directly compete. Find creative workarounds instead.

10. Combine existing approaches in new ways 

Nothing Joe did was completely revolutionary alone. He cleverly connected dots others didn’t. Blend concepts from diverse sources.

Joe’s story demonstrates that opportunity is everywhere if you flip problems upside down. Don’t take the well-worn path. Combine skills and technologies in unconventional ways.

Execute quickly based on real data. Start niche and scale. And know that a million-dollar business may be closer than you think.

The Future and Next Steps for Joe’s Business

At just 20 years old, Joe is nowhere near done growing his automated book publishing empire. When asked about the future, he shared:

“I'm sure there's going to be many, many, like hundreds of book brands popping up. But the market is so huge that by the point I expect it to get saturated, I'll be well on my way...I think that'll be years down the line though.”

Joe is focused on cashing in on his momentum now and diversifying into related business ventures. He revealed:

“I'm actually working with an investor who is purchasing 40% of my book brands. And I'm able to continue building up another book brand, to then maybe sell another 40%. So it's a completely repeatable process.”

By strategically selling stakes in his business, Joe gains cash to fund new projects while maintaining ongoing income streams.

He also plans to expand his book promotion efforts using a wider array of advertising channels like Google and Facebook. This will open up massive new customer bases for him to target.

And Joe has already tested the waters of creating AI-generated music as well. The opportunities are endless for ambitious entrepreneurs who continue pushing boundaries and leveraging technology.

Joe Popelas’ Parting Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs 

The conversation was wrapped up by asking Joe what advice he would give himself starting out, knowing what he knows now. Here are the key lessons he emphasized:

“I would tell him to prioritize learning over earning. Be more focused on learning the skills, and building up a huge skillset instead of focusing on how much I'm earning...It was almost impossible for me to fail with the book brand because I had built up so many skills beforehand.”

Our verdict

This hunger for self-improvement over quick riches allowed Joe to build a sturdy foundation over years of learning. That foundation empowered him to execute effectively once the opportunity arose.

For any entrepreneurs starting out today, Joe reiterates the importance of building diverse skills, studying competitors, focusing on craft over profit, and executing based on real data vs. guesses.

Success leaves clues. The only way to uncover those clues is through voracious learning and consistent execution. Joe Popelas embodies these principles perhaps better than anyone.

His pursuit proves how quickly an ambitious person can transform an idea into a million-dollar business once they put in the hard work on the front end.

Joe squeezed every drop of value from combining emerging technology with creative marketing tactics targeted at hungry crowds. The result was $1 million in revenue at just 20 years old.

Now Joe is cashing in even bigger on this momentum by strategically selling partial ownership in his brands to fund new projects. He built a scalable system for turning niche books into an automated money-making machine.

For anyone looking for business inspiration, Joe’s story is a much-needed spark. When you commit to lifelong learning and serving people with unconventional solutions, income tends to follow.

The world needs more entrepreneurs who make practical use of AI to build products, serve customers, and defy expectations. By mastering both cutting-edge technologies alongside timeless business fundamentals, there is no limit to what you can accomplish next.

So that’s it with Joe Popelas’ story. If you are interested in learning the step-by-step process he took to create and sell the books. Here is his free tutorial on Youtube.

Thanks for reading till the end, I’ll see you soon with another AI Pursuits Post.