How I Left My Job to Build an Ad Agency Earning $80k a Month

Currently:

5 employees, averaging 15 clients per month, with over 120 total clients served over 5 years of operation.

2017: RMB 120,000

2020: RMB 730,000, 2 employees.

2021: Revenue just shy of RMB 1 million, at RMB 985,000, with 5 employees.

Background:

I spent nearly three years working at an advertising media agency, starting as an intern and eventually becoming a media lead. I learned how agencies operate—from how to talk to clients and manage expectations to how to work with and build teams, handle billing, develop strategies, and execute them. I learned what works and what doesn’t.

During that time, I started my own side business in content marketing: I curated genuinely useful, free content from major advertising platforms, rewrote and repackaged it, and published it across various community channels, including sections run by the platforms themselves. If anyone needed guidance, they could reach me quickly and for free via email. Most of this content was published in Shopify’s merchant community and Facebook merchant groups.

Core Content:

Case studies, ad campaign tips, new ad formats and strategies, and other expertise—all building my reputation as a seasoned ad professional.

I kept doing this consistently, and clients kept referring more clients my way.

I started working in 2015, and by February 2017, I was already acquiring clients through this approach. The side income from managing ads on behalf of clients had reached 80% of my salary, so I resigned and officially launched Adjust Media.

Total revenue in 2017 was around RMB 120,000, and I hired my first employee in 2018.

I maintain roughly 15 clients per month. If that number drops, I start producing free content—blog posts, YouTube videos, or podcast episodes for my Facebook community group—to attract new clients. I’ve never run paid ads myself.

More than half of my clients have worked with me for over two years. The bulk of the business is Facebook ads management:

1. I proactively keep clients updated, whether or not we’re hitting targets.

2. I push hard to achieve results, and if any account issues come up along the way, I reach out to the client immediately and communicate openly.

3. I never upsell clients on extra services unless they explicitly ask. I focus on helping them grow effectively, and only expand into other ad platforms when the client requests it.