A Lead Generation Success Story
What's up, ya'll. Ippei Kanehara here!
First name pronounced "Epay."
This is a story of how an average guy went from being broke to pro-athlete money.
After four years of college at Michigan State University, I found myself stuck at an insufferable office job making about $2500 a month.
After all the hard work and money of college... I just couldn't accept a life behind the bars of office purgatory.
But I found a way out. I got my big break - and it came to me upon being introduced to the Lead Generation business model.
In a nutshell, I build, rank, and then license out websites to local businesses, but what has made me stand out is the way I've been able to diversify my revenue streams.
I'm passionate about harnessing the power of technology and the internet to make money online. But my success can be replicated by anyone with a strong work ethic and the tenacity to not only get started, by see things through to completion.
I've created this site to share the means by which I have achieved success - and I genuinely hope that you learn a few things while you're here.
Over the last seven years, I've been involved in various forms of digital marketing. I've listed my peak gross income for each below.
I was fortunate to have found success in many forms of digital marketing. There were many ups and downs. It was anything but easy.
But after years of hard work, Lead Generation was the clear stand out, bar none. To be honest, no other form of digital marketing has even come close to the efficiency, consistency, and scalability of the LG business model.
The best part about Lead Generation? It offers long-term passive income.
With Lead Gen, you rank your sites to the top slots of Google. This increases their value to a point where you can rent them out to local businesses for a monthly fee.
I have hundreds of sites like the ones above, each earning me anywhere from $700 to $2500 a month.
There is little to no maintenance once a site is ranked, meaning I have been able to enjoy a lifestyle that only
passive income can afford.
Up next, I'll tell you a bit more about my life - and we'll go over some of my accomplishments.
I got used to saying "no" to things when I was working in cubicle world. Got to the office at 8am and left at 5:30pm, which provided me with roughly $2200 a month and 5 days of vacation each year. Partaking in activities outside of work was next to impossible. I was literally selling my time for cash.
Lead Gen changed everything. It gave me total freedom in the way I spend my time and the way that I live my life. The best part? If I decide to go to a music festival, or travel, or go camping, or do anything I enjoy, for that matter, I am still making money in my off time because the income is entirely passive.
What I do in my free time is a direct reflection of the successes brought to me by Lead Gen. I am, simply put, living my best life, as seen below.
I've been documenting my life and my experiences with Lead Generation for the last few years on Instagram.
If you're at all interested in what we're doing here at LG, then click the button below to follow me.
Music Festivals
I've been to Coachella, Bonnaroo, Electric Forest, Jam Cruise and many others.
Jam Cruise 2019
Jam Cruise 2019
Jam Cruise 2019
Jam Cruise 2019
Electric Forest 2019
Travel
Been to over 25 different countries, Japan being my favorite (it also happens to be where I was born).
Dublin, Ireland
San Francisco, CA
Winter Kayaking on the Pine River, MI
Cliffs of Dover, Ireland
Ireland
Dublin, Ireland
Park City, Utah
Manistee National Forest, MI
El Dorado Hills, California
In 2018, I got to enjoy a slight upgrade to my car...
Went from a 96' Acura to a Tesla P100D (the fastest model available).
I also moved into a new pad in California, which was a massive step-up from the apartment I was living in while staying in Detroit.
1996 Acura
2018 Tesla Model P100D
I joined Lead Generation in 2016. It changed my life in ways I could never have imagined.
Purpose
My former career had me confined to 9-5 office purgatory where I sold my time for cash. I wake every morning with a reinvigorated purpose, knowing that, ultimately, I am working for myself, the LG community, and working towards empowering local businesses.
Community
The Lead Gen business model has changed many lives, but our community is what defines us.
Lead gen live
Spoke about my experience in Lead Generation to an enthusiastic crowd of over 500 people in 2019 at the Lead Gen live event in Vegas.
san francisco apartment
In March of 2020, I moved into an incredible downtown apartment in San Fran.
dan
Dan, the brain behind Lead Generation, is my friend, mentor, (and since 2018) my business partner. We are the summation of all those who inhabit our lives - and few people have had more of an impact of my own life than Dan. It's hard to imagine what my life would be like without this dude.
My journey of getting into multiple businesses over the years!
We've all taken personality tests before - and love them or hate them, they can definitely provide some insight into one's strengths and weaknesses. Being aware of one's self is quite valuable in the business world.
Anyhow, two years ago I was introduced to the Enneagram Institute by one of my mentors. They offer a comprehensive personality test, which I would eventually take.
The test results revealed that I am a "Type 7" as seen below.
The results, dare I say, were spot on.
I've always been adventurous.
I've spent much of my life in pursuit of variety; in pursuit of the many experiences our wonderful world has to offer.
This was one of many "ah-ha" moments that ultimately led to me realizing that I should leverage my innate curiosity and passion to diversify myself in the business world.
Below, I'll show you a quick timeline of how and when I got into various online businesses.
~ Timeline of Success ~
2007 - 2012
My college years at Michigan State University (go Green)! I worked hard, drank a lot of cheap beer, and got extremely good at Halo and Smash Bros.
Oh, and I also managed to get a mostly useless advertising degree.
2012 - 2014
Got a job working for an auto parts company. Was working 45 hours a week, making $35k a year, which was approximately $2200 a month after taxes (a mostly unlivable wage had I not been living in Detroit at the time).
My time spent there was dreadful. The clock moved excruciatingly slow as I waited for it to hit 5:30pm when I could go home.
I remember thinking... 5 years in college all for this? To be a slave in a cubicle just to scrape by? There had to be more to life than office purgatory.
September 2014
In a move of quiet desperation (while sitting in my cubicle), I signed up for the Lead Generation coaching program and started working towards those first few dollars made online.
April 2015
After just 7 months of the Lead Gen program, I had built up enough digital properties (and online income) to surpass what I was making at my job. Putting in my two weeks (in an effort to focus on LG) was one of the most exciting moments of my life.
2015 - 2017
I saw the potential in Lead Generation and made it my sole focus. Build. Rank. Rent. Repeat. I grinded the process to the fullest extent that I was capable. By the end of 2017 I had surpassed $25,000 a month in residual income.
To celebrate, I took a 3 week vacation to Europe. Went from London > Amsterdam > Prague > Germany > Barcelona > and then finished out with an epic few days of partying in Ibiza.
In 2016, I made my first moves to diversify my income steams by getting into Amazon FBA. Since the income I was making with Lead Gen was passive, it allowed me ample time to focus on testing the FBA waters.
2017 - 2019
Continued to build out my business portfolio. Grinded hard with Amazon FBA, but also ventured into Shopify Dropshipping. I would even launch several affiliate marketing sites and spent major ad spends (nearly $100k) through my FB marketing agency.
2019-2021
Coming back full circle - and having experienced the full offerings of digital marketing, I decided to double down on my Lead Generation businesses & stick to building sites using free traffic (something I had full control over).
While I enjoyed my time with Amazon FBA, Dropshipping, and FB Marketing, the income was not passive and at the end of the day, did not make nearly the amount of money that Lead Generation was bringing in.
Like many people, I have been devouring personal and business development material for years.
But for a long time, I was stuck making $35k a year at a job I despised.
What was I doing wrong and why were other people around me finding success?
The most critical lesson I learned in my transition from hourly wage worker to entrepreneur was this:
Before starting your business, you need to develop high-income skills.
When I learned the skill of lead generation with free traffic, I was finally able to begin seeing tangible results (my ability to make money).
"Skills pay the bills..." as it is often said.
"Mindset alone is not enough, you need the mindset and the skillset." -Dan Lok (another mentor of mine).
Dan Lok's Wealth Triangle reiterates the importance of developing high-income skills beautifully.
Dan Lok doesn't even recommend starting a business until you're at least making $10,000 a month with a high income skill you have developed.
For example, you can't always count on real estate for consistent income. What happens when the tenant leaves abruptly & you can't find someone new?
Or what if the economy tanks? Or the value of your property plummets due to factors out of your control?
High income skills, however, are something no one can take away from you. Your skillset is something that you can control.
You can always count on yourself to have the skills to make money.
High income skills give you stability, a platform that you can use to create a successful business.
They also give you the confidence that no matter what happens to your assets or finances, if everything is taken away from you, you will always have the skills to bounce back.
"Seek to be financially confident, not financially free," as Dan likes to often say.
The first thing any hopeful business owner must do is invest in developing their skills.
Go buy a seminar, buy a course, or better yet, get a mentor to guide you along the way.
The vast majority of successful people have a mentor.
For me, that mentor was Dan, the man behind Lead Generation.
At the time, I was unaware of how impactful the decision to follow Dan was going to be for me.
In hindsight, it was the most important decision of my entire life.
Local Lead Generation provided me with a high income skill. I learned how to leverage the power of the internet to bring local businesses fresh revenue.
The business model is also limitlessly scalable.
I made a small investment upfront (an investment in myself), that has made me millions of dollars on the years.
High Income Skills
Lead Generation combined with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most valuable skills you can have when it comes to making money on the internet.
Unlimited Scalability
The income you make through Lead Gen is passive, meaning you can scale your business to the moon simply by repeating the process over and over.
High Return on Investment
Starting up a website costs as low as $30 a month. A licensed website can bring in anywhere from $500 to $2500 a month, depending on the business. The return on your investment can be ridiculously high.
Lead Generation is the definition of what Dan Lok preaches.
These are the reasons why I was able to rise so quickly with this coaching program.
I already had the mindset: Driven, motivated, and tenacious.
I was simply lacking the high-income skills and a scalable business model.
Our mentor, Dan, says it all the time...
"Just follow the process."
The formula works - and with time, you'll learn why it works.
But at this very moment, what matters is that you take action.
I hadn't the slightest clue about how to start a business when I first enrolled. I just did it, followed the process that was laid out for me, and produced results.
From there it was a matter of "rinse and repeat."
The Lead Generation coaching program took me by the hand and forced me to follow the principles of the wealth triangle.
It changed my life forever - and for that, I am eternally grateful.
Meet my mentor
About Dan
He's been coaching local lead gen since 2014, he's responsible for changing my life and the lives of countless other students over the years. I started working with him 3 years ago and have been fortunate to spend a lot of time working along side him. I made a brief about page about Dan which you can check out by clicking below.