Born in NY, but mostly raised in South Florida I got my start in online marketing in 2002 just out of college. Luckily for me I was unmotivated, living at home, and looking for an “easy job” before starting my “real career” in health care.
Needing something to get off my parents couch I took a customer service job working for a small online start up. How hard could it be answering a few emails and phone calls each day? Even though I went to college, this is where my real education began.
We were a true ground floor start up. In fact, I was employee #3. If you’re at all familiar with extremely early stage startups, you know that there are no such thing as narrowly defined roles. Everyone needs to be involved in all aspects.
This was a super small team, but we were led by a direct marketing an entrepreneurial veteran and super star Mark Ford. At the time he was involved in several 8 and 9 figure annual revenue, businesses and us. I know later at least one of his businesses surpassed over one billion dollars in annual sales. The business I was in was more of a pet project, and not his primary source of revenue.
I loved this… We had direct access to a truly incredible business mind, but were also given the freedom to figure things out, make mistakes, and learn from testing and doing.
It was a wonderful apprenticeship a Wharton grad would be lucky to have. Over my years there I became heavily involved in online marketing with a specialty in email marketing, lead generation, and media buying.
This job also allowed me to develop a diverse skill set from copywriting, product creation, production, P&L management, networking, directing teams of employees, event marketing, contract negotiation, and public speaking.
One of the things our company specialized was creating courses and events to help entrepreneurs improve their marketing and start new businesses. Speaking at these events was fun and exciting for me in my mid-twenties. I felt like a rock star being chased down by groups after a presentation just so they can speak with me and get my advice.
While I certainly had the knowledge and the experience, part of me felt like a fraud. Here I am speaking to a packed room of hundreds of attendees who had each paid thousands of dollars to hear me and others speak about business, when I had never started one of my own.
In the spring of 2008 after our companies biggest and most profitable year ever, I made the difficult decision to quit and start a business of my own. It was scary, but my confidence was unshakable.
I immediately got to work starting my very first company LOP Solutions. With my partner we quickly got to work and started building our first of many email lists. We also started quickly creating products and new pieces of sales copy.
To help make ends meet I also signed a deal with one of the most well-known infomercial marketers at the time, Jeff Paul. I was helping him to build up his online brand and create email revenue streams from his massive file of TV buyers.
It was an exciting time even though challenges were all around. My girlfriend (now my wife) had lost her job, the stock market crashed, and we entered one of the worst recessions of our lifetime.
I’d talk to other entrepreneurs I’d hear moping around talking about how bad it was. While I was happier than ever. Blissfully ignorant about the supposed good times that had vanished and working hard to create even better times.
For the next 7 years we focused on list building, copywriting, product creation, and direct marketing. As anybody in this space knows, it’s a grind.
We had home run campaigns and bombs… Peaks and valleys… We were always profitable, but failed to establish the consistency my partner and I craved.
Then in 2015 I stumbled on something (thanks to my friend Brian Litman) that allowed us to create stability and predictable growth. It allowed me to focus on my greatest skill sets, list building and lead generation. This was a very capital-intensive venture that required a longer-term view. Luckily my business partner and I had always been prudent, so we were able to go all in.
We started building targeted niche email audiences that appealed to high value advertisers. Every penny we made went into more and more leads for these audiences. Today we are a highly valued partner with several top players in the online direct marketing space.
This business today continues to grow and thrive with a loving family-oriented team of A-Players.
Along the way, in addition to LOP Solutions, I have investment and ownership stakes in a variety of other online businesses. I’m also a fan of finding other cool and interesting ways to invest. Whether that be stocks, gold, crypto, notes, real estate, and any other investment that piques my curiosity.
Outside of business I love hanging out with my wife and son, travelling, going to concerts, sporting events, and enjoying great meals with friends.
If you think we should connect, hit me up below. I’m always open to getting to know cool people who are doing (or working on) big things.
Make the best of this life.
Your #1 Fan,
Patrick Coffey