How 1 DM turned into $500K/year

In 2022, I “met” my best friend from a 1/1,000,000 chance.

While scrolling Twitter, Taylin Simmonds’ tiny account popped up on my timeline.

I paused.

I recognized my local cafe in the background of his photo.

So I reached out to him.

Little did I know this 1 DM would lead to the craziest stories of our lives…

The Start Of It All…

In March of 2022, Taylin was a college professor making $42K a year.

(That’s Canadian dollars and before tax too, so basically $5/year).

But Taylin wanted to build a life of freedom.

He wanted a life…

• That allowed him to take a random trip on a Tuesday “Just because.”

• Where he didn’t have to care about the price of groceries.

• Where he could provide and take care of his girlfriend.

But the hardest part?

Seeing people 3x dumber than him make 5x more and live his dream life.

So when Taylin saw my post about how I was hiring writers for my ghostwriting business, he jumped at the chance…

I already filled the spot by the time he was ready to work.

So I did something I hadn’t really done before:

“I can’t hire you as a ghostwriter right now…but I can just teach you how to ghostwrite if you want?” I told him.

And just like that…

One 15-minute call and $1,000 later, my “coaching program” was born.

$10K/Month In 2 Weeks

I’ll be honest:

I had 0 f*cking clue what I was doing when coaching Taylin lol.

But I did 1 thing right:

I actually cared about getting him results.

So I did everything I could to help him.

And within 2 weeks, Taylin hit his first $10K/month with ghostwriting.

3 Changes That Built a $500K/Year Ghostwriting Business

When I started working with Taylin, we made some big changes to his account fast…

Change 1: Skill-Based Positioning

Before working together, Taylin was a broad self-improvement account.

So the first thing we did was change his positioning by changing his content from…

• Broad → Niched down to writing.

• Fluffy → Actionable advice.

• Generic → Storytelling.

Change 2: The Self-Case Study Method

Most ghostwriters never land clients because they're "fat personal trainers."

If you don't have results for yourself, nobody will hire you.

So I got Taylin to:

• Create more "how I" content and less "how to."

• Share his wins and losses.

• Document his journey.

His social media became his most powerful sales tool because he was showing, not telling.

Step 3: The Ghostwriting Offer

Once Taylin was growing consistently, we crafted his offer with 4 key pieces in mind:

• Target avatar (founders).

• Quantifiable result (1K followers).

• Specific time frame (in 1 month).

• A risk reversal (pay once results are hit).

The whole time, I believed in Taylin more than he believed in himself.

• He cringed at his own content.

• He was terrified of sales calls.

• He had 0 clue if he could make it work.

But his fear of regret was stronger than his fear of failure.

The result?

Within 2 weeks of ghostwriting, Taylin hit $10K/month.

Within 2 months, Taylin hit $25K/month.

Within 1 year, Taylin made $500,000.

But better yet?

Taylin and I became best friends and traveled the world together.

We partied in Miami, took exotic psychedelics in Costa Rica, and got into classified adventures in Panama…

The teacher who once struggled to pay bills was now turning down job offers from respected companies who knew him through his content.

But the moment I knew he'd truly transformed wasn't measured in dollars or followers.

It was when he told me:

"For the first time in my life, I'm not worried about money. I'm worried about impact."

Today, Taylin and I partnered on my ghostwriting program and his ghostwriting agency.

Now we’re not only building a business we love…

We’re helping the past versions of ourselves live a life of freedom.

And it all started with a random DM.

Your Canadian friend,

Dakota “Take a Chance” Robertson

P.S.

If you want to build a business you can work anywhere in the world from…

Click here to see how Taylin and I can help build your ghostwriting business.

Super Duper Kewl Links To Check Out

• [Video Case Study] How I helped Taylin go from a $42K/year teacher to $500K/year ghostwriter.

• [Form] My free ghostwriting course.