Troy Ericson used to think he was a normal entrepreneur. Less than a year ago, he was running Facebook ads, designing funnels, and writing emails as a freelancer for a remote digital marketing agency… Typically normal ‘digital marketing’ activities.
“I had no idea that one of my skills was about to change the game for the businesses I worked with,” says Troy.
He was freshly out of college but had been working in digital marketing for about 3 years on sites like UpWork to make extra money & hone his skills before graduation.
One of his clients during college was an eComm startup called Hustle Island. Ericson ran the Facebook ads and sales funnels for the brand new company until they ran into a problem… A good problem.
“A year into Hustle Island, we had sold 21,905 t-shirts and acquired over 147,000 email subscribers. We didn’t really have an email plan in place at the time and knew we were leaving a lot of money on the table, so we decided that I should probably handle the emails, too.”
Little did he know, but Troy had just changed the trajectory of his career forever. Through trial and error, Troy was able to use email to gradually boost the company’s bottom-line by selling more shirts, hats, online memberships, coaching, and done-for-you marketing services – all via email.
The funny thing was that Troy thought his newfound talent in email was just an average skill… Until he got another unlikely opportunity.
“One of my other clients that I was running Facebook ads for told me they were going to have to quit. I was a bit confused since the ads were going well, and they admitted that their emails were going to spam and getting next to no return. They’re a pretty large corporation and I didn’t want to lose them. So I finally convinced them to let me give it a shot managing their email list.”
So Ericson went to work solving the company’s spam issues and writing their emails. Within a couple months, not only was the company out of the spam folder… But they started running ads again – And Troy managed to take their email revenue from $13,000 a month to over $50,000 a month.
But at first, Troy didn’t think much of it.
“I was just doing my job. They were pretty shocked to see how well it worked – that was the first time I realized that my skillset was not normal. I always thought that everyone knew how to make good money from email.”
Now there was only one problem left for Troy. He needed to be able to get his name out there – which was not easy since he had previously branded himself as a Facebook marketer… And because businesses typically don’t realize that their emails can be doing a LOT better.
Around the same time, the owner of Hustle Island, Greg Berry, gifted Troy a ticket to an event called Copy Accelerator, one of the world’s premier sales copywriting events.
“I was on vacation in California and Greg called me to tell me that his wife was due with their third child any day now, and asked if I wanted his ticket to this event in Texas that weekend. I was so shocked that I didn’t feel that I deserved it. But he convinced me that I’d learn a lot.”
Berry was right. Troy abandoned his vacation to go to the event, headed by legendary copywriters Stefan Georgi and Justin Goff, who have combined to sell a total of $1.5 Billion through their writing.
At the event, not only did Troy learn a lot of new things about email, but he discovered that there was actually HUGE demand for email deliverability (solving spam issues) and email copywriting…
And he was able to connect with dozens of 7 and 8 figure business owners – many of which have gone on to hire Troy to solve deliverability issues & write their emails for them.
Troy says he doesn’t know if Berry giving him the ticket was just blind luck, or a reward for the good work he did, but now he’s gone on to start his own email marketing agency, called Lead Paramedic.
“My agency is called Lead Paramedic, because I revive dead leads on email lists. A year ago I had no idea that I’d be exclusively focusing on email. And I never would’ve thought that 7 and 8 figure companies would want to hire me. But I can’t think of many people who do what I do, so I guess they have to.”
Troy says that any company who’s not getting at least a 20% open rate & relying on email as a top source of revenue should certainly seek help.
“My goal is to help companies & entrepreneurs realize that your business can go from ‘ehh’ to ‘booming’ if you tune up your emails. A lot of people give up on email because they hear it’s old and doesn’t work anymore. Or they try a couple emails then rule it as a failure. It doesn’t have to be that way. I’m living proof that you can do it, too.”
Troy also thanks Greg Berry, Stefan Georgi, Justin Goff, and Ian Stanley for all their help so far in his career. He also cited the importance of having a mentor, investing in yourself, and being able to map out your entire business to achieve maximum success. You can reach Troy via email at troy@leadparamedic.com or on Instagram @yosoytroy.
