One Person Business: Digital Inspiration

$10 million in revenue per year with zero employees

Meet Amit Agarwal, the founder of Digital Inspiration, who has achieved the incredible feat of generating $10 million in revenue per year with zero employees.

That's right – Amit runs a one-person business and manages to generate a considerable amount of revenue with his unique business model.

Amit Agarwal is known for his expertise in tech stories and how-to guides. In 2004, Amit quit his tech job and started blogging to promote his skills. He started writing about various topics related to technology, and his blog became a popular destination for people looking for tech-related content.

To attract the initial audience, Amit persuaded one of the most-read blogs in India at the time, and other publications to share his content. He also promoted his blog at various tech events. His blog started to attract thousands of visitors, and he decided to pursue it full-time.

Over time, Amit's blog grew its audience, and he started building plugins for Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and more. He sourced ideas for his plugins from various sources, including his blog comments, friends, Reddit, and other platforms.

Today, Amit has a bunch of plugins, both free and paid, that are being used by millions of people worldwide. Here are the top four most popular ones, along with some rough calculations of their revenue:

1. Mail Merge: This plugin allows users to send bulk personalized emails and track email opens and clicks. With over 8.5 million downloads and a 0.5% conversion rate to the paid plan ($39 per year), Mail Merge generates approximately $1.6 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR);

2. Notifications for Google Forms: This plugin allows users to send customized notifications and automatically email every time a user submits a Google Form. With over 10 million downloads and a 0.5% conversion rate to the paid plan ($49 per year), Notifications for Google Forms generates approximately $2.5 million in ARR;

3. YouTube Uploader: This plugin allows team members to upload videos to a channel with a simple form and get email notifications when someone uploads to the channel. With over 8 million downloads and a 0.5% conversion rate, the YouTube Uploader generates approximately $3.1 million in ARR;

4. Document Studio: This plugin allows users to create documents from data in Google Sheets and Forms and integrate with other apps like Slack and Trello. With over 6.8 million downloads and a 0.5% conversion rate to the paid plan ($79 per year), Document Studio generates approximately $2.6 million in ARR;

You can find the full list of plugins here.

These revenue calculations might not be accurate, but they do provide an idea of the potential revenue Amit's plugins generate. He is undoubtedly a top-performing solopreneur.

However, Amit's business model also comes with its challenges. His only problem is the risk of platform dependency, which can quickly drive his business to zero. We have seen this happen to many companies built on top of big tech. Here’s a nice breakdown of this specific risk by

Platform Papers

.

Platform Dependent Entrepreneurship: Navigating Precarity

If you're interested in building a business like Amit Agarwal's, here are the steps you should take:

1. Start by identifying a super-niche market where there is little competition;

2. Focus on building an audience through content marketing and social media outreach;

3. Create valuable content and promote it to the right audience to attract a loyal following that you can leverage;

4. Source ideas for your products from your audience and online communities;

5. With the right strategy and persistence, it's possible to build a successful one-person business with a global customer base.

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In conclusion, Amit Agarwal's success story is an inspiration to anyone looking to start a solopreneur business. His ability to generate $10 million in revenue per year with no employees is remarkable.

Amit’s story highlights the power of identifying a unique niche and developing products that solve real-world problems. His success also shows that it is possible to build a successful business by leveraging free platforms like Google and attracting customers through content marketing.

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How To Build a Google Add-On (by Amit himself)

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And a Good Tweet, Because

Alex Hormozi @AlexHormozi

1) Value: is what they get 2) Price: is what they pay 3) Cost: is what it costs you Great business: 1 > 2 > 3 Most businesses: 2 > 1 > 3 Bad software startups: 3 > 2 > 1 😂

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Until next time - Guilherme

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