About the Company

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Bobby Hoyt, a former band director, embarked on a new journey as a personal finance blogger and course creator, aiming to empower millennials to achieve financial freedom by boosting their income, savings, and debt repayment strategies. His venture, Millennial Money Man (M$M), originated while he was still teaching and tackling his own student loan debt.

While M$M remains his primary focus, Bobby also co-founded Laptop Empires alongside his high school friend, Mike Yanda. Together, they aspire to guide individuals in launching and expanding online businesses, inspired by the remarkable success of their flagship product, the Facebook Side Hustle Course (FBSH). This course equips learners with the skills to manage Facebook ads for local businesses, a field in which both Bobby and Mike boast expertise.

The transformative impact of FBSH propelled Bobby and Mike to fully commit to Laptop Empires, particularly after witnessing numerous students achieve significant milestones, such as reaching $5k in monthly revenue and bidding farewell to their traditional 9-5 jobs after establishing successful ad agencies. Motivated by these successes, they continuously explore new avenues, leveraging their experiences to discern promising opportunities and optimize their business strategies. Their dedication culminated in the creation of their second course, Facebook Ads for Bloggers, designed to empower fellow content creators to harness the potential of Facebook advertising to drive revenue growth for their platforms. This relentless pursuit of innovation and growth has propelled Laptop Empires to surpass the seven-figure revenue milestone, fueled by course sales, monthly subscriptions to their coaching group, and affiliate earnings.

Idea Behind Company

Bobby Hoyt's journey into personal finance began with a familiar burden: $40,000 in student loan debt accumulated through his conventional college education. Motivated by the desire to liberate himself from this financial burden, he embarked on an intense 18-month journey to eliminate his debt, making significant sacrifices along the way.

As a band director, Bobby found an unexpected platform to share his newfound passion for personal finance with his students, integrating lessons on credit scores, investing, and loans into his curriculum. This unique approach resonated with his students, who embraced the opportunity to learn about financial literacy from an unconventional source.

A pivotal moment in Bobby's journey occurred during a conversation with a mentor who challenged him to pursue a lifestyle beyond the constraints of his teacher's salary. This candid exchange fueled Bobby's determination to break free from financial limitations and inspired him to launch Millennial Money Man (M$M). Despite initial skepticism from colleagues, Bobby's leap of faith paid off, as he found success as a blogger and educator in the realm of personal finance, proving wrong those who doubted his unconventional path.

Creating the Company

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In response to the growing demand for effective financial solutions beyond traditional frugality, Bobby Hoyt embarked on a journey to empower individuals to increase their income through side hustles. Recognizing the limitations of conventional approaches to financial freedom, Bobby sought to offer a more impactful alternative that could expedite progress towards financial goals.

Teaming up with his friend and eventual business partner, Mike Yanda, Bobby explored the concept of leveraging digital marketing as a lucrative side hustle. Drawing from his own experience of supplementing his income by managing Facebook ads for local businesses, Bobby identified an opportunity to teach others the skills and strategies needed to succeed in the realm of digital marketing.

With Mike's expertise in digital advertising and Bobby's firsthand experience in running successful Facebook ad campaigns, the duo embarked on the journey of course creation. Their collaborative efforts culminated in the development of a comprehensive course designed to equip aspiring entrepreneurs with the knowledge and tools necessary to thrive in the digital marketing landscape. From conceptualization to launch, the process spanned a mere six weeks, reflecting Bobby and Mike's commitment to delivering timely and impactful solutions to their audience.

Launching the Business

In launching their business, Bobby and Mike adopted a strategic approach centered around email marketing, leveraging a structured sequence to engage their audience and drive sales. The launch plan consisted of pre-launch emails distributed over the course of several days leading up to the opening of the cart, followed by a series of emails during the sales period, and culminating in a final push on the closing day. To complement their email strategy, retargeting ads on Facebook were initiated to maintain visibility and reinforce messaging throughout the launch period.

With a substantial following cultivated through social media and email announcements, Bobby and Mike generated anticipation for their inaugural launch, amassing a waitlist of approximately 900 individuals. This built-up momentum translated into a revenue distribution strategy aimed at maximizing sales throughout the launch period, with a strategic allocation of sales targets across each day of the launch. By capitalizing on peak engagement periods and strategically timed email communications, they aimed to optimize revenue generation and capitalize on the heightened interest surrounding their offering.

In terms of financing, Bobby and Mike funded the entirety of the launch from their own resources, establishing an LLC prior to the course's launch to formalize their business structure. While investing in essential services such as copywriting, Teachable, and Zapier, they maintained a lean approach to expenditure, ensuring cost-effectiveness throughout the project. Despite the absence of an official website for Laptop Empires during the initial phase, they effectively leveraged existing platforms such as the Millennial Money Man website, email lists, and social media channels to establish a robust online presence and drive engagement with their audience. Reflecting on their journey, they recognized the importance of early content development for SEO purposes, highlighting the iterative nature of their approach and their commitment to continual improvement in their business strategies.

Since the inception of their business, Bobby and Mike embarked on a journey marked by experimentation and adaptation, particularly during the initial phase where they explored various strategies to drive sales and sustain revenue. This period was characterized by a dynamic approach, with a diverse array of products introduced and an ongoing pursuit of revenue streams. However, this approach also posed challenges, generating a sense of pressure to continually innovate and secure sales through various channels.

During the early stages, the absence of a substantial social media presence and a dedicated website for Laptop Empires necessitated a reliance on existing platforms, notably leveraging Bobby's established audience, traffic, and email list cultivated through Millennial Money Man. This interdependence underscored the interconnected nature of their ventures, with Laptop Empires benefiting from the foundation laid by their prior endeavors.

Earnings

The evolution of their business model in the second year witnessed a strategic shift towards diversification and optimization, marked by the introduction of writers for the blog, increased investment in advertising across platforms like Facebook and Google, and the implementation of advanced tracking and sales attribution systems. With a focus on audience expansion and content dissemination through multiple channels, including blogs, podcasts, YouTube, and newsletters, they aimed to cultivate a robust ecosystem conducive to audience engagement and conversion. Through the integration of comprehensive tracking mechanisms, they gained invaluable insights into customer behavior, empowering data-driven decision-making and enhancing the efficacy of their content and product offerings.

Currently, Bobby and Mike are in a favorable position with their business, buoyed by the steady revenue generated from their group subscription model, priced at $47 per month and seamlessly integrated with their course offerings. Despite skepticism prevalent in the personal finance niche regarding paid support groups, they have found this model to be indispensable for ensuring sustainable growth and fostering a vibrant community around their courses.

With a monthly recurring revenue of approximately $30,000 and on a trajectory of continuous expansion, they have established a solid financial foundation that covers operational costs, team salaries, ad expenditure, and potential investments in consultants or web development. This reliable revenue stream affords them the flexibility to pursue new avenues of growth and innovation within their business while also ensuring profitability from course sales.

Reflecting on their entrepreneurial journey, Bobby acknowledges the importance of early adoption of written content dissemination to bolster their search engine optimization (SEO) efforts and enhance their online visibility. In hindsight, he recognizes the value of a more focused approach during the initial phase, prioritizing the consolidation of traffic streams and maximizing revenue from existing customers. Moreover, the meticulous attention to detail in sales attribution, involving the structuring of links across all content channels, underscores the significance of precision in tracking customer interactions and optimizing marketing strategies for enhanced performance and scalability.