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Jul 22, 2018 · 20m · top-founders

1093 If you're under 30, is agency/coaching a good way to make money?

Jeremy Adams · 12m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

Host Nathan Latka interviews entrepreneur Jeremy Adams to analyze the operational economics, paid advertising strategies, and subscription retention dynamics behind Unicorn IQ and digital coaching models.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 33.4% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.8 Guest teaching 2.3 Guest disagreement 3.0 Nathan pushing back 5.0
05100:0010:0020:001:21–4:03 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Transitioning from Prestige Food Trucks to Course Creation Nathan tees up the interview with foundational questions addressing skepticism around agency and course businesses. Jeremy walks through his background scaling Prestige Food Trucks and how encountering ineffective course creators led him to launch Unicorn IQ.4:03–7:06 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Enterprise Case Studies and Product-Market Fit Fundamentals Nathan presses Jeremy on the exact technical execution of his campaign for 3M and challenges him to name an example when Jeremy claims great products can succeed with bad ads. Jeremy illustrates his point with a concrete case study of a STEM toy company.7:06–12:46 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Economics, Ad Spend, and Growth of Unicorn IQ Nathan interrogates the unit economics of Unicorn IQ, calculating net margins after $400k in ad spend on $1M revenue and probing Jeremy's salary versus distribution strategy. He challenges Jeremy on whether coaching and info-products can build true enterprise wealth.12:47–18:16 · Nathan as informed peer 8/10 Debate Over Subscription Churn, Training Value, and Software A heated debate occurs over subscription retention models when Jeremy claims training members will stay for three years at $197 a month. Nathan vigorously disputes this using industry benchmarks like Kim Garst and Pat Flynn, arguing software is the only sustainable recurring model.1:21–4:03 · Guest teaching 2/10 Transitioning from Prestige Food Trucks to Course Creation Nathan tees up the interview with foundational questions addressing skepticism around agency and course businesses. Jeremy walks through his background scaling Prestige Food Trucks and how encountering ineffective course creators led him to launch Unicorn IQ.4:03–7:06 · Guest teaching 3/10 Enterprise Case Studies and Product-Market Fit Fundamentals Nathan presses Jeremy on the exact technical execution of his campaign for 3M and challenges him to name an example when Jeremy claims great products can succeed with bad ads. Jeremy illustrates his point with a concrete case study of a STEM toy company.7:06–12:46 · Guest teaching 2/10 Economics, Ad Spend, and Growth of Unicorn IQ Nathan interrogates the unit economics of Unicorn IQ, calculating net margins after $400k in ad spend on $1M revenue and probing Jeremy's salary versus distribution strategy. He challenges Jeremy on whether coaching and info-products can build true enterprise wealth.12:47–18:16 · Guest teaching 2/10 Debate Over Subscription Churn, Training Value, and Software A heated debate occurs over subscription retention models when Jeremy claims training members will stay for three years at $197 a month. Nathan vigorously disputes this using industry benchmarks like Kim Garst and Pat Flynn, arguing software is the only sustainable recurring model.1:21–4:03 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Transitioning from Prestige Food Trucks to Course Creation Nathan tees up the interview with foundational questions addressing skepticism around agency and course businesses. Jeremy walks through his background scaling Prestige Food Trucks and how encountering ineffective course creators led him to launch Unicorn IQ.4:03–7:06 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Enterprise Case Studies and Product-Market Fit Fundamentals Nathan presses Jeremy on the exact technical execution of his campaign for 3M and challenges him to name an example when Jeremy claims great products can succeed with bad ads. Jeremy illustrates his point with a concrete case study of a STEM toy company.7:06–12:46 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Economics, Ad Spend, and Growth of Unicorn IQ Nathan interrogates the unit economics of Unicorn IQ, calculating net margins after $400k in ad spend on $1M revenue and probing Jeremy's salary versus distribution strategy. He challenges Jeremy on whether coaching and info-products can build true enterprise wealth.12:47–18:16 · Guest disagreement 6/10 Debate Over Subscription Churn, Training Value, and Software A heated debate occurs over subscription retention models when Jeremy claims training members will stay for three years at $197 a month. Nathan vigorously disputes this using industry benchmarks like Kim Garst and Pat Flynn, arguing software is the only sustainable recurring model.1:21–4:03 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Transitioning from Prestige Food Trucks to Course Creation Nathan tees up the interview with foundational questions addressing skepticism around agency and course businesses. Jeremy walks through his background scaling Prestige Food Trucks and how encountering ineffective course creators led him to launch Unicorn IQ.4:03–7:06 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Enterprise Case Studies and Product-Market Fit Fundamentals Nathan presses Jeremy on the exact technical execution of his campaign for 3M and challenges him to name an example when Jeremy claims great products can succeed with bad ads. Jeremy illustrates his point with a concrete case study of a STEM toy company.7:06–12:46 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Economics, Ad Spend, and Growth of Unicorn IQ Nathan interrogates the unit economics of Unicorn IQ, calculating net margins after $400k in ad spend on $1M revenue and probing Jeremy's salary versus distribution strategy. He challenges Jeremy on whether coaching and info-products can build true enterprise wealth.12:47–18:16 · Nathan pushing back 8/10 Debate Over Subscription Churn, Training Value, and Software A heated debate occurs over subscription retention models when Jeremy claims training members will stay for three years at $197 a month. Nathan vigorously disputes this using industry benchmarks like Kim Garst and Pat Flynn, arguing software is the only sustainable recurring model.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 53.6% · guest 46.4%0:00 · Nathan 53.6% · guest 46.4%3:00 · Nathan 16.8% · guest 83.2%3:00 · Nathan 16.8% · guest 83.2%6:00 · Nathan 21.3% · guest 78.7%6:00 · Nathan 21.3% · guest 78.7%9:00 · Nathan 23.6% · guest 76.4%9:00 · Nathan 23.6% · guest 76.4%12:00 · Nathan 51.3% · guest 48.7%12:00 · Nathan 51.3% · guest 48.7%15:00 · Nathan 32.5% · guest 67.5%15:00 · Nathan 32.5% · guest 67.5%18:00 · Nathan 34.4% · guest 65.6%18:00 · Nathan 34.4% · guest 65.6%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 13:19 Jeremy defends multi-year subscription retention

Jeremy rejects Nathan's assertion that training subscribers churn in three months, insisting that fast-moving platform changes and high-value live audits will keep customers paying $197 monthly for years.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 13:14 Nathan rejects training subscription viability

Nathan immediately shuts down Jeremy's recurring revenue plan by pointing out that content-only subscriptions suffer massive churn after three months compared to software.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 5:58 Jeremy proves product-market fit trumps ad optimization

Jeremy backs up his premise by describing how a client generated $3 million in three months from a single boosted post of a STEM toy, demonstrating that great products outperform complex ad setups.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 14:35 Nathan cites Kim Garst and SaaS LTV metrics

Nathan uses data from top industry educators like Kim Garst to prove that pure teaching memberships average five months of retention, demonstrating why software models create far higher enterprise value.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Transitioning from Prestige Food Trucks to Course Creation 3212 Nathan tees up the interview with foundational questions addressing skepticism around agency and course businesses. Jeremy walks through his background scaling Prestige Food Trucks and how encountering ineffective course creators led him to launch Unicorn IQ.
Enterprise Case Studies and Product-Market Fit Fundamentals 5335 Nathan presses Jeremy on the exact technical execution of his campaign for 3M and challenges him to name an example when Jeremy claims great products can succeed with bad ads. Jeremy illustrates his point with a concrete case study of a STEM toy company.
Economics, Ad Spend, and Growth of Unicorn IQ 7225 Nathan interrogates the unit economics of Unicorn IQ, calculating net margins after $400k in ad spend on $1M revenue and probing Jeremy's salary versus distribution strategy. He challenges Jeremy on whether coaching and info-products can build true enterprise wealth.
Debate Over Subscription Churn, Training Value, and Software 8268 A heated debate occurs over subscription retention models when Jeremy claims training members will stay for three years at $197 a month. Nathan vigorously disputes this using industry benchmarks like Kim Garst and Pat Flynn, arguing software is the only sustainable recurring model.

Statements from this episode (11)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Adams: Food Truck Manufacturing Business Reaching $10M Revenue in 2018
“I grew my food truck manufacturing company. We'll do just under ten million in revenue this year with online marketing primarily with organic and paid SEO.”
Jeremy Adams Jul 22, 2018 ▶ 2:36
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Adams: Client Made $3M in Three Months From One Boosted Post
“He did like three million in revenue in three months, just launching a Shopify store from that.”
Jeremy Adams Jul 22, 2018 ▶ 6:14
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Adams: Unicorn Innovations Managed Over $10M in Ad Spend Last Year
“We get involved in a lot of JVs, so that's kind of a, that we manage some stuff together, but ten million plus.”
Jeremy Adams Jul 22, 2018 ▶ 7:12
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Adams: Unicorn IQ Generated Over $1M From Summer Facebook Course
“But yeah, we did a little over a million in revenue on that course since the summer.”
Jeremy Adams Jul 22, 2018 ▶ 8:27
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Adams: Unicorn IQ Spent Over $400K on Facebook Course Paid Traffic
“Over 400 grand. So we didn't profit a million, but we spent a lot on paid traffic.”
Jeremy Adams Jul 22, 2018 ▶ 8:50
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Adams: Unicorn IQ Acquired 1,500 Customers For Digital Training Courses
“We have probably about 1500 customers. I mean, we sold sources at four or 500 bucks and stuff to get people in the ecosystem.”
Jeremy Adams Jul 22, 2018 ▶ 9:53
Opinion
Latka: Founders Cannot Sell Media Agencies for $5M to $10M Payouts
“I mean, you're not going to sell a media agency for a multiple that's going to make you five, ten million bucks.”
Nathan Latka Jul 22, 2018 ▶ 12:37
Disclosure
Adams: Unicorn IQ Charging $197 Per Month For Weekly Training
“We've given away our weekly trainings for free. We're about to start charging one 97 a month for that weekly training and people are going to pay for it.”
Jeremy Adams Jul 22, 2018 ▶ 13:07
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Latka: Info-Product Coaching Subscribers Churn After Three Months on Average
“And churn rates in that are through the roof. They'll stay for three months on average and then churn. You might as well charge one time for three months.”
Nathan Latka Jul 22, 2018 ▶ 13:15
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Adams: Constant Facebook Algorithm Changes Will Drive Three-Year Course Retention
“I, I'm confident our customers are going to stay for three years on end, especially in the digital marketing world. Facebook, like Mark Zuckerberg, all the algorithms changing, everyone's heads are exploding. Like Facebook is changing constantly to invest one …”
Jeremy Adams Jul 22, 2018 ▶ 13:35
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Latka: Kim Garst's Digital Training Customers Retain For Five Months
“Her sticky rate, her turn rate, they stay on average for five months, right?”
Nathan Latka Jul 22, 2018 ▶ 14:41
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