How This 26 Year Old Makes $2.7M a Year Reviving Dead Email Lists

Fresh out of college, Troy Ericson took a course in Facebook ads and started looking for clients. He was actually doing quite well for himself when one of his clients revealed a major problem he was facing: his emails were going to his customers’ spam.

Not one to shy away from a challenge, Troy took it upon himself to experiment with that client’s email list until he pinpointed the problem and turned things around. He boosted that client’s email revenue from $13k per month to $51k per month.

If this client had email issues, others must also have the same problem. So, Troy began working his email list management magic with other clients, and recommendations spread fast. Soon he dubbed himself the Email Paramedic, created his own agency, started working for top people in the industry, and hired a team of employees. This year he’s on track to make $2.7 million.
And he’s just 26 years old.

Keep reading to find out:

• How he helped his first client boost email revenue
• What services he offers
• How he scaled his agency
• Where his earnings are coming from
• His main marketing strategy
• His thoughts on SEO
• The content creation process he uses
• Troy’s favorite resources and tools
• The biggest challenge he’s faced
• His most important accomplishment
• The main mistake he’s made
• His advice for other entrepreneurs

Meet Troy Ericson

I’m Troy Ericson, known as the Email Paramedic, for my ability to revive dead email lists and turn them into “gold mines” for my clients. It’s also the name of my company. 

We’re the number one list management company on the internet. Email list management means that we write daily emails for our clients, build out their sequences, and improve email deliverability… Which means maximum open rates, clicks, and sales for our clients.

I grew up in South Bend, Indiana, and went to Cedarville University in Ohio to play college baseball. Today I live in Saint Petersburg, Florida.

Why He Created Email Paramedic

In 2019, I was fresh out of college, running Facebook ads for clients based on a course I took. My clients were getting decent results, but one day, my best client wanted to fire me. I told them “no” because their ads were doing fine. That’s when they admitted that the ads weren’t the problem. The issue was that they couldn’t monetize their leads because their emails were going to spam.

So I told them that I would figure out the problem and work for free until it was solved. I took their email revenue from $13k/month to $51k/month that summer. My strategy included 4 steps:

• I cleaned and segmented their list
• I made sure the welcome email didn’t go to spam
• I made sure that each email had a “moral of the story” instead of a “hey, go buy this” message
• I sent more emails

Safe to say, they were thrilled. So I started doing the same for my other clients. And that was my official shift from the red ocean of Facebook ads to the blue ocean of email list management.

Growing His Business

In 2020, I maxed out all the clients I could handle, so I also started coaching and consulting. I also started taking on one-off email deliverability projects, which helped my clients escape the spam folder and the Gmail promo tab, in some cases doubling their email open rates and sales.

In 2021, I made my first hires and scaled my agency to a dozen email list management clients and hundreds of deliverability projects. I also connected with or closed some of the top people in the industry, like Traffic & Funnels, The Sales Mentor, V-Shred, Rich Schefren, Josh Snow, Joel Erway, Ezra Firestone, SmartMarketer, Perry Belcher, 10X Advisor Network, David Meltzer, Sam Ovens, Stefan Georgi, Justin Goff, Jason Capital, Ryan Stewman, Joel Marion, and Alex Cattoni.

In 2022, I dialed in my agency to scale to dozens of more clients. I also built out an entire email list management certification program while speaking on several stages.

How Much Money Troy Ericson is Making

In 2022, I’m on pace for about $2,700,000. My main income streams are B2B email list management clients and B2C certification students. Personally, I’m diversified across real estate, stocks, crypto, etc. And protecting it all with different LLCs.

It took between 2.5 and 3.5 years to reach this revenue level.

His Top Marketing Strategy

My strategy, first and foremost, is client results. I build relationships and close clients at events. Those clients are happy and refer me to other clients without asking. Our retention is incredible, so the recurring revenue adds up quickly. 

I also make sure to share client results and personal stories on social media. Most people only share business content on social media. But people love personal stories, they don’t want to hear just about business. They want to hear about your life because that’s 10x more relatable. 

Think about your favorite celebrities, musicians, or athletes. You feel more connected with them when you learn about their personal lives. So I tell personal stories 75% of the time and only talk about business 25% of the time. If you’re nervous to click “post,” you’re on the right track.

His Views on SEO

I’m not an SEO expert, but my strategy is to own the term “email list management.” It’s new. Not many others are talking about it, but it’s catching on quickly. And I also add a few keywords like “email marketing” and “copywriting,” so I can also touch on broader terms.

Troy Ericson’s Email List

Email is my jam. My favorite way to grow my list is to have similar people in my industry promote my email list to their email list. Then I give them a commission for each sale or lead they bring in. It can grow your list quickly.

At the moment, I have over 10,000 subscribers on my list.

The Content Creation Process

I have a list of all the weird things and unique stories that happen in my life. I turn all those things into content, whether in email or making a video on my YouTube channel or Instagram account. 

Remember, the weirder it is, the fewer people are doing it, and the more shocking it will be to viewers. Doing the same thing as everyone else doesn’t stand out.

His Favorite Resources

Given that I teach what I do, I would recommend my own YouTube channel, my “Secrets of Scale” podcast, and Alex Hormozi’s $100M Offers because it contains fundamental lessons of business that most people don’t get right.

Troy Ericson’s Top 3 Tools

My top tools are as follows:

• Loom allows me to send short video screen-shares to prospective clients or team members.
• ActiveCampaign is my favorite ESP because, in my opinion, it has the best email automation, functionality, and deliverability.
• Masterminds, of which there are plenty out there in the internet marketing industry. You’ll meet lifelong friends and close awesome clients who will help you excel 10x faster than going alone.

His Biggest Challenge

The hardest part is finding a hook or angle that works. Especially when it comes to ads. A great campaign will last you 6 to 12 months, so it always feels like you have to think of new ideas constantly. It really takes a lot of mental reprogramming. But it comes down to getting weird, as I mentioned earlier.

You have to constantly be talking to your ideal customers and see what they’re struggling with. See what comes up during conversations and what actually excites them.

For example, the things that always come up for my clients are:

1. How do I grow my email list?
2. How do I come up with more ideas to write about? How do you write every day without annoying people?
3. How do you increase open rates?

Troy Ericson’s Most Important Accomplishment

I never believed in building a team until 2021,  but I couldn’t do any of this without my team. And they’re here in person with me in Saint Petersburg, Florida. 

I’m just proud of the team that I’ve built and how they’ve grown not just as workers but as people. I’ve watched them hit personal goals, income goals, and completely change their lives in a matter of months. And that’s what keeps me going, keeps our business going, and keeps our clients thriving.

Currently, we have 9 people on the team who meet in person and a few remote people who do various tasks.

What He Wishes He Knew When He Started

You absolutely need to talk to other people. Start connecting with other people right away. Don’t be afraid to reach out. 

You might think that other people will be annoyed or that someone else already reached out to them. But everyone else thinks that, too. The sooner you connect with others, the sooner your life will start to transform.

His Main Mistake

I was convinced that there was only 1 way to do things. I remember a specific time that I made a “Free + Shipping” funnel for a client and thought that was the only way to acquire customers. That’s so untrue. 

Everything works. Literally, everything works to some extent. Find the top 1 to 3 things that work for you, and stick with them until you master them and can delegate to your team. Only then should you move on to a shiny new object.

His Advice for Other Entrepreneurs

Think of all the problems you go through. Think of all the problems other people go through. Write them all down. Your next big business idea is there somewhere because a business offers solutions to peoples’ problems. 

When I started out, I realized that the spam folder was a major problem for businesses, so I started solving it for them. And it’s made me millions of dollars. Don’t bounce around to too many new things. Think of creative ways to solve existing problems.