The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex - From Trader Joes To 220kmonth Luke Dobsons Insane Rise

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

In this episode of The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex, we sit down with Luke Dobson (@lukedobsonn), a 24-year-old entrepreneur who went from stocking shelves at Trader Joe’s to scaling his digital marketing business to $220K a month. 🚀 Luke opens up about overcoming depression, building unshakable habits, and how skill stacking completely changed the trajectory of his life. From door-to-door solar sales to videography, and finally teaching local businesses how to crush it with Instagram ads and DMs—Luke’s story is proof that resilience and relentless work ethic can create life-changing results. Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, stuck in a 9-5, or just need motivation to push through tough seasons, Luke’s journey will inspire you to bet on yourself and take the leap. ✨ Key Takeaways: Why daily habits are the foundation for long-term success How to pivot through industries and keep leveling up The exact strategies Luke used to scale to $220K/month Why investing in mentorship accelerates growth How mindset and resilience are everything in entrepreneurship 🎧 Don’t miss this powerful episode with Luke Dobson (@lukedobsonn) as he breaks down the mindset, strategies, and sacrifices that fueled his INSANE rise. Your Network is your NETWORTH! Make sure to add me on all SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS: Instagram: https://jo.my/paulalex2024 Facebook: https://jo.my/fbpaulalex2024 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGhDAD1JyGGzSQUPD9lc9HQ LinkedIn: https://jo.my/inpaulalex2024 Looking for a secondary source of income or want to become an entrepreneur? 🌐 www.CashSwipe.com 📘 FREE Copy of my book “Blue to Digital Gold — The New American Dream”www.officialPaulAlex.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I attempted suicide within my family with my brother and set me spiraling and our whole family spiraling. I didn't want to get out of bed and I just went through a lot and I just got tormented mentally. Waking up early in the like 5 a.m. Straight into reading from the Bible, straight into journaling, work out, eat right. And that's how I got out of my depression. The faster that you can invest and learn the skill set, the faster you can implement it and charge more. Nobody was teaching local service businesses how to run follow ads on Instagram. I implemented it and it worked.

making 20, 30K in February. And then in June, my mentor said, Luke doubled out on DM. I was like, okay, we hit like 84K that month. I was on top of the world. Once I built out the team and got rid of the videography aspect and went to teaching businesses, that's when we scaled to 220K month in December. Hey, guys, and welcome back to the Lovellup podcast. This is Paul Alex.

Guys, once again, thank you for being or allowing us to be on top four in all categories. Right now. It's currently August 30th. We're about to get into Z. remember it's been wild huh amelio he said yes sir yeah it's been crazy guys four million downloads this past month um and we're just growing we're just absolutely growing and that means that we're gonna have more special guests going on just like today's guest today's guest today's guest is he goes by the name of luke luke how you doing my man welcome to the show i'm doing amazing

couldn't be better dude so you're coming from scasel right yes sir how is the how's the flight it was four hours not bad at all i flew in last night and i'm flying out after this so i love that dude and for the for the people that don't know you, man. What do you currently do? So I, my name is Luke Dobson. I teach local service-based businesses how to run ads on Instagram and use Instagram as their main source elites. I love that. Yeah. I love that. And how old are you right now? I'm 24. You're 24. So 24, you're in the digital marketing game. What did you do before? I did videography before, but I got a good story from like videography and a ton of types of sales and then I worked at Trader Joe's four years ago.

Dude, I love that. No, no, that's great because most people, they're like, Like, dude, I'm at Trader Joe's right now, or they're working a job where they don't have passion in, dude, and they're trying to figure it out, right? So this is why I love bringing on guests like you that have phenomenal stories. Because you're young. You're a young guy. And you currently just got a supercar, right? What kind of supercar did you got? I have a 2018 Lamborghini Hurricane Hurricane Hurricane.

Dude, that's such a great achievement. No, it really is. At your age, man, I remember I was driving like a freaking beat-up Lexus. You know, it is what it is. Different times, right? But with that being said, man, how did you go from working at Trader Joe's to, to, actually running your own agency now. So it started with personal, it started with personal development more than anything. So it, when I was working at Trader Joe's, I got a good store. Can I get into it?

Of course, let's go. So I went through, I was working at Trader Joe's, I worked there for four years or so, so from 16 to 20-ish. When I was at Trader Joe's, I went through one of the four seasons of my life with depression, anxiety, loneliness. I didn't want to get out of bed. All I wanted to do was sleep all day long. What year was this? This was 2020. Dude, right smack in the middle of COVID. Yeah, right. Yeah. Holy shit. Okay. So basically what happened within my family, like, crazy thing with,

attempted suicide within my family with my brother and set me spiraling and our whole family spiraling. I didn't want to get out of bed. And I just went through a lot and I just got tormented mentally. Didn't want to get out of bed. But then I started listening to his name is Wes Watson here. So four or five years ago and his whole thing was to stack the daily wind, stack the daily habits. in place and the habits create the man. Yeah. And so what did I have to start doing? I knew I was sick and tired of going to bed at 3, 4 a.m. and waking up at noon to go work 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. I was, I was, like, it was a living hell that I created for myself. So how do I get out of that? Start stacking

daily habits. Waking up early in the like 5 a.m., straight into reading from the Bible, straight into journaling, running to the gym because it was close by, workout, eat right, and stack your winds. And then that overflows the rest of the day. And that's how I got out of my depression. So day by day, How old were you at that time? It's like 19, 20-ish. So you were 19, man, working at Trader Joe's, and you had a critical incident happen in your life with a close family member that hit the family,

and you didn't want to get out of bed, dude. And did you feel like anyone was there for you? So as a man, as a guy, like you know you have people around you, but you always want to bottle it in. You don't want to share. You don't want to be expressive with your emotions. So I bottled it in. Yeah.

And all I want to do is sleep. Dude. No, the reason why I ask, okay? Because I can, uh, I can resonate with you, dude. Back in 2019, 2020, I was in deep depression. I was, dude. I was a cop. So, so at the end of day, dude, it's, it's, um, I wouldn't say shocking.

But I would just say like, I'm like, damn. Like, it wasn't that far ago, dude. Yeah. You know, 2020 was just around the corner. And for a lot of people, it changed a lot of lives. It really did for good and bad, right? Yeah. I would say for us, it was good because we had to find who we were.

And we had to dig deep. So we used the pain as fuel to get out of there, right? So that's good, dude. I love the fact that you stack your daily wins and you were sick or tired of being sick and tired. My man. Yeah. So you went ahead and you got yourself out of the depression. Now you have this winning abundance mindset.

Yes. Okay. What is the next move? What happens? So I knew I had to get into a job that wasn't paying me. I was paying me commission, not just 16, 17 bucks an hour, which was good at the time, but I knew I was meant for more and I felt stuck. I was sick and tired of stacking cans of beans.

I working at a grocery store. So I needed to take some type of leap to get to get uncomfortable. You've got to be uncomfortable. You have to take leaps of faith. And everyone always say that, but what does that actually look like? For me, I learned about door-to-door solar sales. And so I had a friend doing it. He's like, Luke, we went on a hike together.

And he was like, Luke, with your mindset alone, like, We're talking, we've talked for like two hours here. With your mindset alone, you would crush it with door to door solar. Just take a leap of faith. Trust me on this. And you would crush it. And I was like, fine, screw it. I'm sick of wearing a mask and everything right now too.

And at the time, I was like, fine, I'll do it. Took that leap of faith. And I went in with the mindset of I'm going to outwork every single person in this team. And these are a team of killers. Team of, they crushed it door to door. And I was like, I'm going to go in. I'm going to drop my ego. I'm going to become a beginner again, and I'm going to learn from what took them the last three years of them doing it.

I want to learn in the next three months. And I took all that information and then started with the same habits, daily habits, to do well and just knock more doors than anybody else. And then what completely changed my life with it was I made the same amount I would make in a month working at Trader Joe's in one day. Because I had like two deals close with door-to-door solar. And I was like, there's no way I don't do something with commas. mission for my job for the rest of my life. So, and then I got into all different types of sales. So I was going to school for cybersecurity. I was going to do IT, cybersecurity stuff. And then at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona. And then so I took a leap, went into cybersecurity

sales because I was more for my, like obviously my profession. I was going for. It was like an internship, then software sales. And then from there, moved to San Diego with my ex. I was married for a year too. So we'll get into all that. But I was in IT sales and then from IT sales, I went all in with videography. So let's let's rewind a little bit. Yeah. You go into door to door's solar sales. Would you agree that door to door solar sales is one of the hardest industries to get into? 100%. It is, dude. Yeah. It's terrifying. Let me paint the picture. Gentlemen, gentlemen and ladies. door-door sales in itself is already hard because you are knocking on random people's houses

what was the strategy like the company will go ahead and they would drop you guys off or group of you guys in a neighborhood and they say okay go knock on the doors and then you guys would go one by one just knock on the doors or how does it work? We did it with one other person and then you it was your turf. It was your area. So it was your little patch of neighborhood that you would go and knock doors with.

And so when I first did it, I was with a buddy. And I heard him knock for the first, like, two days. And then my first ever door I was going to knock on. His name was Gabe. Gabe Rogers. Shout out Gabe Rogers. And he taught me door to door. When I knocked on that first door, it's like, oh, my first ever door.

I'm scared here. Okay. I knock on the door. And I heard him all the time say, hey, my name is Gabe. And then here's Luke. So I knocked on the door. I said, hey, my name's Gabe. And then this is.

And then I said my wrong name on the first door. So I was like, okay, I was. embarrassed after that. It can't get worse than this. Any other door is going to be better if I don't, if I just get my name right. Correct. So that's how it started. So it started. And then from the time that you started door to door solar sales, from the time that you actually made in two days, would you would make a month at Trader Joe's? How long was that duration? It was like three weeks. So within three weeks, you were able to go ahead and break your limiting beliefs that you were able to accomplish more than what you were currently doing. A brand new industry, a brand new job. Okay. And how long did

you do the door-to-door solar sale? Or three, four months, but then I always wanted to do something else and next and keep leveling up. So, so you kept ahead, you kept growing and you were like, do you know what? I believe I could do more. So what was the next approach that you did? Did you do various different sales jobs? And then you got married. Spoiler alert.

On top of all that, dude. So let's dive into that. While you're going ahead in your ventures and the sales. realm, okay, in the sales industry. Mindy, I was a sales guy for six years. You're also in a relationship. Oh, yeah. Yeah. How long were you in the relationship before you are married? So, eight months before engagement. Wow, that's really quicky, dude. So I know. So I knew her from high school. And so it was like high school sweetheart, put her on a pedestal my whole life. And we dated for like a month when we were young. Yeah. And then split and then rekindled things in college. And then,

yeah, I dated for eight months. And then the only reason she would get, she would come out to Arizona where I was living is if she in shoes back home in Huntington, Newport Beach, is if we were on the path to marriage. Got it. So, yeah, I proposed. I was like, I did everything perfect in a perfect Christian way. Proposed. She moved out here, got her own apartment, or back in Phoenix, got her own apartment.

And then, yeah, we had our horse blinders on for marriage, never intentionally dated. And then we never went through seasons together either. And so, yeah. But then we got married and then moved in together and shit at the fan, let's just say. So I can dive. I'm an open book, so happy to talk with anything. No, absolutely, man. So you get married, and how old were you at this time?

21. So you're 21. You guys didn't do any serial dating at that time. You guys fully intent of getting married. You guys end up getting married. And then you guys end up moving to San Diego. Mm-hmm. I love San Diego.

How was living in San Diego? I loved it. I loved it. I was even, I was to be. I was debating between going back to, so I was living in St. Georgia, Utah, where I moved from. I was debating going back to San Diego or Scottsdale and his side on Scottsdale. And that's how we met. No, absolutely, man.

Loved it. You like it? Oh, yeah. I loved it, dude. I, you know, when I left the police department, that was actually the first city I moved to from the Bay Area. You know, I sold my house. Dude, I was already, what a lot of people say was already living the dream. Had the million-dollar house, had the Porsche.

Dude, it was had the career. but I just was not fulfilled and I needed to get out of there. So sold everything and then moved to San Diego, dude. So San Diego, it was really my environment for growth. It really was, right? You want to be around a good environment.

You want to see good things. You want to hear good things. And you want to be around motivated individuals, right? Because that's how you level up in life. So you go over there. And then while you're in San Diego, are you still getting into other sales opportunities or is that when your digital marketing

mentor started? Yeah. So a little bit of bu. So when I moved to San Diego, I started to venture into online fitness coaching with Wes. And so I invested into that to get a part of that community. And then when I did that, I'm moving to San Diego, she wanted a change. So she was like, Luke, I either want to move into a nicer place here. Like, I don't feel safe with in your condo.

The condo was paying 800 bucks a month for that I owned in Phoenix. Or I want to move to a nicer spot or I want to go back to San Diego closer to family. because our family was from Orange County. And so we decided on San Diego. And once we moved there, I was doing online fitness coaching, but I was 21 at the time and trying to charge what you should be charging for online fitness coaching that West was telling me, I couldn't like find, I was only building rapport and resonating with people my same age with online fitness coaching.

So this is my first ever like entrepreneurial endeavor. First dollar I made online was with online fitness coaching when I was 21, 22. So 21, 22, you were charging people to. show them how to become healthy, or what were you doing? It was macros. It was just macros with train rise. And just like, I had group calls. Like, I didn't know what I was doing.

Yeah, you didn't figure it out. Yeah, but I knew like, okay, yeah, you're eating like crap right now. I will show you how to like the macros. But also, I'm not in crazy good shape either. I don't have that bodybuilder physique at all. Like, I'm in the gym every single day, but I didn't have a crazy physique that made me stand out in any way. You were trying to figure it out. I was trying to figure it.

I was throwing the things out of all to see what stuck. How much were you charging at that time? It was anywhere from 50. bucks a month to 150 to 200 bucks a month. Oh, okay. So you have the different ranges. You were just throwing it out there to see what works. Yeah.

Okay. So then from there, what happens? So I got up to like nine clients at a time doing that. It was awesome, great group of guys, but it wasn't sustainable to quit a nine to five and go all in. So in San Diego, I started to do IT sales. And so that's how I was able to afford it. And then I picked up a camera. So I started going to the gym every single morning that Wes would go to.

it's called The Gym in San Diego. And every morning at 4 a.m., I started getting around other people that also invested with him around that right community. And I knew how to use a camera. So I knew a buddy at the time that he also invested.

He's like, hey, you know how to use a camera, I know how to use a camera, let's film each other and let's have high quality content every single day to stand out in the online fitness coaching space. It's like, okay, sweet. So we started having high quality content for everything on our stories.

everything looked amazing. But then what Switch was like, hey, we're doing this for ourselves. We can teach other people in this community and give them this amazing style content. We'll do the videography for them. So because like anybody that invested into a group like that, it's like they trust each other immediately. So it's like, hey, our pitch was when we, this was our first ever entrepreneurial with videography pitch with me and a buddy. It was, hey, we'll fly to you. We'll stay with you for two to three days. We'll get enough content for you for the next 30 days, free of charge. Wow.

Free of charge. So we'll give, give until they ask. It was our method. And when we did that was we would fly to Napa Valley, California. We'd fly to Arizona, Florida, wherever else, Vegas. And when we do that, we would give all this content to them. And then they were like, okay, how much do we owe you? And then we would say like 2K or whatever.

And that's how we hit our first 10K month was doing this two years ago. Yeah. Two years ago, first ever 10K month. So this was June of 2023 and we're in August. Okay, so a little bit over two years ago. First ever 10K month doing IT sales and this. And then we're like, yo, once we both hit 10K,

we're quitting our jobs. He was a barber. I was in IT sales. We both quit. We made really nothing after traveling and all that. And then the next two months were terrible. 600 bucks and then 400 bucks the next two months. So my ex or my wife at the time freaking out.

We were already budding heads a ton. But stressing. stressing she but it was are you are you stressing i had a delusional level of optimism i i love this dude because mind you dude what when i hit you know uh my first few dollars in the online space and i started in april 2020 i didn't really hit it you could say decent until maybe january of 2021 um i had the exact same enthusiasm that you're talking about about that feeling of making $10,000. It is a great feeling of the world.

You're like, dude, I created fire. Like, dude, this is amazing, right? So I get it, like that delusion. And it's good delusion. You need that delusion, right? Yeah. So what happens next, dude? Yeah.

So we're in San Diego. We just hit 10K a month. I quit that 9 to 5 IT sales job. We, relationship-wise, which is a huge part of this, which is why I'm where I'm at today. Okay. And then the relationship, We're still budding heads, arguing all the time.

I have a lack of empathy on my side within the relationship, within the marriage. She has mental health issues, like bipolar, all that kind of stuff or multiple personalities or one of those, okay? And so we butted heads. I had a lack of empathy just off of other things that went on in my childhood with, like, dad passing away and stuff like that that made me have tough skin. And she grew up in a very safe environment, let's just say that. So we butted heads a ton there.

but then once we quit the or once I quit the night of five in June 2023 she would say Luke I wish you would just come home at 5 p.m. and chill with me on the couch. I wish you would just chill with me. And I was like my brain was going

a million miles a minute at this and I was like I physically couldn't. I couldn't just stop and like my brain was going I gotta do this, gotta do this. And it's like I'm grateful for that mindset but it ruined the relationship side. So now we're budding heads.

She doesn't like me traveling for work and everything, trying to do all these filming shoots, but it's like, I need to, I need to. So we kept budding heads. We did three months of Christian marriage counseling. Faith is a big part of me too. And like I got advice from everybody underneath the sun. I got advice from people that were married forever.

We'll say, Luke, divorce is not an option. You know this. I got advice from people in the church that were married forever, but stayed together because the kids will tell me, Luke, divorce is not an option. You know this. Even though I knew they were miserable. Then I got advice from people that were married forever or married.

Divorce, remarried, had kids and lived a good life. And they're like, Luke, like, I've seen your emotions go down the drain over the last year. Like, you don't have to live in misery. You guys are both young. You guys are both going to get over this and grow from this. Like, you don't have to live in misery. At Medcan, we know that life's greatest moments are built on a foundation of good health. From the big milestones to the quiet winds.

That's why our annual health assessment offers a physician-led, full-body checkup that provides a clear picture of your health today and may uncover early signs of conditions like heart disease and cancer. The healthier you means more moments to cherish. Take control of your well-being and book an assessment today. Medcan. Live well for life. Visit medcan.com slash moments to get started. And so I took everybody's advice and I stored that all.

And then it came down to one day in December. So like a year and a half, or year and a half ago, is. So this is December of 2023. December, 2023. I was checked out of the relationship just like arguing. And then without getting too much into the crazy detail with it, I was checked. I said, okay, if this happens again, if she freaks out like this again, I'm done. And it was like, it was a pretty bad freak out, like, explosive with the mental health issue.

I was like, and it like almost looked like abusive type of. thing and I was like I'm done I'm done when yeah it was crazy so it's like self-harm stuff on her end but it looked terrible and the only thing that would calm her down was calling her parents yeah and like getting that down so checked out from the relationship

from the marriage I'm taking all these people's advice she sits me down and she says Luke I'm you Luke you making a decision is you not making it Luke what is it she sat me down and she said Luke you not making a decision is you worse than actually

making a decision. I need you to, I'm giving the ultimatum. Are you in or out of this? And I sat down and I looked at her and I thought to myself, I would be happy seeing you in the future with a husband and kids and I wouldn't have any regret seeing that. Wow. And then boom, once I had that thought, it was like, I felt free. I was like, she's going to move on. I'm going to move on. And this is going to be a building process. I knew to the day I died where I was going to go with this girl. Like, to the day I died and I had no idea on this other end what what life would have in store. right and so i i took that leap i said like yeah this is it like we're done she called her grandparents her parents they came down and i like i have videos of this too i documented everything

walking into the apartment as soon as she left like i'm crying i was like this is a time to rebuild like this is a rebuilding season i have all that content um now she's had like a relationship for like the last year like she's happy she's moved on and then i kind of i i i hit the ground running because she never really in she never truly believed in me i believe never truly believed in me with investing in people investing in coaching investing with west like investing in other people she never saw the payoff of it she just saw the front end like investment trying to make it work and then what happened was as soon as we split so granted i'm doing like nine 10 k a month right now this is like november then december nine 10k a month of 2023 we split in december

and then I invested to learn paid ads on Instagram. I was doing videography, organic, short-form content, and then I invested heavily. It was like 500 bucks a week on a credit card for like four months. It's like $8,000 in total. Okay? She found out that I invested. This was a day after we split.

And she called me, she's like, Luke, I heard, like, right after we split. Luke, I heard that you invested with another mentor. I want to make sure I'm off all your financials. And then, boom, that was the fire lid underneath me. I was like, okay, don't you work? worry, you're off everything. You're off everything, don't you worry? I was like, this is on me. Fire litter and I need me to do well. I have to make this work. I have to prove it. So that's how I hit the ground running and I was still living in San Diego. And then I found out about St. George, Utah. So

Southern Utah, I had a plumbing client out there. And then went out there to film them, realize I love it out there. I can move out there. My mentor said, Luke, like, if you love St. George that much, move there as fast as possible, run local ads and teach local service businesses. there how to run ads on Instagram. And then I moved two weeks later and hit the ground running and built the business. Wow. So, man, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's a roller coaster, dude. Mm-hmm.

Because a lot of people don't have that level mindset to continue to work the business when they've gone through some, something so traumatic, especially getting a divorce and separating from their wife or their husband, right? So you, you were at a point in your life where you're like, dude, this is like greatly affecting who I am as a person. Yeah. And, you know, even though she wanted to make it work out, you, you, you, you, you, you were a man and you told her the truth, which, dude, I applaud you.

You know, it's, it's, it's very difficult to, to tell somebody the truth, especially when you care about them, right? So at the end of the day, dude, you went ahead, you invested in another mentor. What told you or what made you believe that you needed to pay for an additional mentorship? Because most people, okay, and the reason why I asked that, most people would not be willing to reinvest before they actually make all their money back from the first mentor. Yeah. Right. With me, I had a very similar situation where I had invested $10,000 when I first started in digital marketing and I had made $6,000.

and I was still short 4,000 But I invested another 15,000 Into learning something else And then that's when my business boomed Right, when I started You know, obtaining more and more information So I'm a big believer in self-education So what made you

Tell yourself at that time I'm going to reinvest And get another program or another mentor Because I knew if I can learn the information That took them three years to learn I will learn in the next three months I will pay to learn and put down the ignorance debt of like, I don't know it all.

I know I want to learn paid ads on Instagram. You do paid ads on Instagram. Teach me how to do it. I will happily pay for that because the faster that you can invest and learn the skill set, the faster you can implement it and charge more. Yeah. And learn something else. You're paying for the skill sets.

Nobody understood it when I was first doing it on why skill stacking was so important to me. Nobody understood it. Yeah. But now they see it. So now they. So now that you started that business, okay? What was the journey from the time that you reinvested on the second? Ended up making the move and then built a business until now.

Where did it go? Yeah. So this was February of 2024. So like a year and a half ago, I moved to St. George, Utah. Okay. Move to St. George, Utah, hit the ground running with videography as my service boots on the ground for my business. Okay. Boots on the ground.

this is my local service business. I want to help you with your content in person, and I'll teach you how to run ads. That was it. So it's like the deliverables was high quality content for Instagram, short form, 10 to 30 video packages, between 1,400 to 3K per the package. And then for free, I'll teach you.

I needed to get case studies of like, this actually works for service businesses. Nobody was teaching local service businesses how to run follow ads on Instagram. Nobody was doing it. It's what the gurus were doing at a nationwide level. We were bringing to the local level. Yeah. Nobody was doing it. So I implemented it and it worked. And so then it was like making 20, 30K in February, then 40K in March, 40-ish K in April. And then May, same thing. Like around 40-ish-K. And then in June, my mentor said like, Luke, double down on ads, or double down on DMs. I said, Luke, double down on DMs. I was like, okay, sounds good. Do it. Doubled up our, like how many DMs we were sending and like up the ads. And like up the ads.

spend with it and then we hit like 84k that month like I was on top of the world like I thought this was crazy now it's a fulfillment thing yeah now it's like okay now we have to go fulfill all these videos and so long story short like did that and then went back down to like 60-ish k 50 60th and then once I built out the team and got rid of the videography aspect and went to teaching businesses just how to do the content how to do the ads how to do the DMs that's when we scale to 220k month in December I love that dude so 220k a month month. Where are your margins at? It was like 56% margins.

No, that's great margins, dude. Because the standard in digital marketing for all my marketers out there, they're like, you ever see those guys that are like, I made a million dollars, bro, that ain't all freaking net profit. Let's be real. 600K ads, man. I've seen it even worse. I've talked to some bigwigs, man. I was part of, you know, Russell Brenz's inner circle paid, you know, 150K to be in that.

And I talked to some big guys. And they're like, Paul, it don't matter if you hit that comic club when you spend a million dollars on ads. And I'm like, you write. It's not about how much you make. It's about how much you keep. So the fact that you're at 50, 60, dude, that's phenomenal. It was good. Yeah, it was off a 17k of ad spend.

That's fire. It's fire, dude. So with that being said, now with all the new knowledge that you have. And I still consider you like a new marketer. Because you are, dude. And you're a young guy. You're successful. You got the sports car.

you're in Scottsdale, you're in Miami, you're making moves. What is the vision for you now, bro? Honestly, like, you have to get the Lambo. You have to get the place. You have to get the penthouse to say it's not about the penthouse. Yeah, you're right. No, absolutely right. Yeah, I've done it all.

Yeah, you know, you know. So I've now realized, like, I don't know who I'm trying to. I love cars. I genuinely love cars. Like, they're fun. But, like, I realize it's all fleeting. You're all trying to do it for looks or for whatever. So now,

honestly, I want to build a business that I've been teaching businesses how to do this. This is brand new, okay? Okay. So for over the last year and a half, basically my old mentor Switch is offered to helping videographers learn content plus ads and everything.

So he's creating a ton of people doing basically what I was doing. So now there's hundreds of these people running around the same ad script. I need to, how do you stay 10 steps ahead? This is our new offer already. So we're still doing done with you. teaching businesses how to do it. This is what's next. And this is what I am excited about. I can't sleep because of this. It's building this out. And we're ready to rip. As soon as this is up,

if there's any businesses, like, we're ready to rip this. Done for you. So our offer is, after helping 160 plus local service-based businesses nationwide, dominate using Instagram as their main source of leads with ads, content, and teaching them how to run DMs, over 100 different niches. We know what works. Everything's plug and play now. We know the ad scripts that have gotten businesses a six extra return on ad spend we know the DM process we know what content you need to create we know everything let us come into your business and do it all for you and we take a rev share model wow so two to five k set up fee and then we come in and then we do everything you don't we're opening up a brand new funnel four leads for this business and we'll take 10% of it

whatever that comes out to you know i think that's number one i think it's very smart I think number two, it's very fair on your end because you're not charging an arm in a leg, dude. You know, most service-based businesses, they're not hitting a million dollars. Well, not every single one of them, right? So you're able to cater to almost every service-based business out there, dude. So the 2 to 5K is a really, really good hook. And then 10%, dude, of the leads that they actually close, yeah, that's more than fair, dude. So I think you have a really good business model right there, man.

I think it's a great offer. With that being said, okay? How big is your team now? We have a team of eight right now. A team of eight. We've done with you. Two setters, two phone call setters, closer, and two people full time for client success.

Yeah. And then me and then a finance guy. So what would you say to, let's say the old Luke. The old Luke that was struggling, dude. And he's looking into getting into digital marketing. Based on your knowledge, especially you being, such a fresh marketer in the game, where do you see the biggest opportunities right now in 2025,

going into 2026 for digital marketing? For digital marketing? Yeah, just in general, dude. Like, what do you see? In general, it's branding. It's the branding itself. It's you being a complete authority and authentic figure online.

I see it. I see attention as a new currency. It doesn't matter what you're posting. If you're posting you, you're going to have people gravitate towards you for being you. So it is just showing up with your phone, talking on camera just like this, and you're going to find people that resonate with you on that. And then even for a business, if you have a service-based business, it's not just posting about the before and afters for your landscaping job. It's posting, hey, this is what we just did.

Come check it out. And building that genuine connection in the world of AI, in the world of how much fakeness there is with AI, what's going to stand out is authenticity, is just showing up real on camera. That's the biggest thing in 2025. Dude, I love it. Nobody's doing it. Being real, personal branding, and then you're able to go ahead and switch the vehicles. I'm a big believer you can switch the vehicles if you like, but your personal brain is everything. Yeah, it's not leaving you.

It's not leaving you, dude. So, now that's good, brother. So a couple words of encouragement for other young entrepreneurs right now, think about back when you were a traitor Joe's, dude. Think about, like, you know, right there getting to depression. like what are some words of encouragement that you would tell them as a friend bro. As a friend, this is exactly what I would say. If I was stuck in my depression still, if I was still working at Trader Joe's, this is exactly what I would tell myself.

Get up tomorrow morning and create the man you admire and always and gift them to the world. So what does that look like? It is stacking daily good habits that make you feel good that you can then overflow with positive emotions to everybody else around you. And the quote that kept me going throughout the day was go make somebody smile. Make somebody smile today. And when you do that, when you think that to yourself, God will find ways to put that into your life into your day to day.

And you can go have the opportunity to make somebody smile. So I would say go do things for others. Screw how you feel. Go make somebody else's day and your day will be made in the process. It starts there. I love that, dude. Servant-based leadership, solution-driven. Man, that's Luke, guys.

That's the level up. All right, guys. So there you have it. That's the interview. And Luke, where can they find you, brother? So best place is Instagram. So at Luke Dobson, L-U-K-E, D-O-B-S-O-N-N.

So two ends at the end on Instagram. There you guys have it. If you guys want to go ahead and talk to Luke, you guys want to go ahead and need services for a done-with-you, done-for-you concept for your service-based business. Luke is the man with a plan. With that being said, guys,

leave a five-star review on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcast. guys, we're currently ranked top four in all categories, number one in business. Because of you, four million downloads this month, guys. Let's make it five for next month going into September. With that being said, my name is Paul Alex. It's the level up. Catch you on the next one.