I Make $5M/Year With 3 Businesses | Starter Story

July 23, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Tim Stoddard runs three main businesses that together will generate about $5.2 to $5.5 million in 2024. The core is Stadzi Internet Marketing, an SEO lead generation agency doing roughly $2.5 million this year. Around it he has built Recovery Local, a parent company owning several addiction-treatment lead generation sites including Sober Nation, and Copyblogger, the well-known content marketing education platform. His explicit strategy is to use the cash from the agency to acquire or invest in other cash-flowing assets until the portfolio runs itself.

The origin story and the one-keyword method

Stoddard got sober in his twenties and, six months into recovery, a mentor gave him a copy of Success Magazine with a CD featuring an interview with Seth Godin. Godin's advice was simple: start a blog, tell nobody, and write every day. Stoddard did exactly that on a free Blogspot account. People started finding his writing on addiction and recovery, which led him to discover SEO. He began reading Copyblogger daily to improve his online writing skills, and that Blogspot account eventually became Sober Nation.

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What you'll learn

1 (02:34) **Who Tim Stoddard Is and the $5M Portfolio** - Tim introduces himself, his SEO agency Stadzi Internet Marketing (~$2.5M this year), and his personal holdings company, projecting $5.2–5.5M total for 2024.
2 (04:17) **Origin Story: From Rehab to a Blog** - Tim describes his blue-collar upbringing, a past drug problem, and getting sober at 21.
3 (06:14) **Turning the Blog Into a Lead-Gen Business** - Treatment centers asked how he built the audience, so he turned Sober Nation into a lead-generation media outlet.
4 (07:10) **Specific SEO Advice: Google as a Problem-Solving Machine** - Tim rejects vague advice like "just make great stuff" and instead advocates for methodical keyword research.
5 (09:14) **Pros and Cons of Running an Agency** - Agencies are great because no upstart capital is needed — get one client and you're profitable.
6 (09:48) **Closing Deals: Three Tips** - First: ask questions so the person tells you their pain points, then write down the problem and offer a solution.
7 (10:53) **Buying and Investing in Multiple Businesses** - After the agency was profitable, Tim started acquiring and investing: Moving Local (moving leads), Stem Cell Authority (stem cell leads), KAPA (AI SEO tool), Spark Loop (email list building), Your Boulder (local newsletter), Digital Commerce (SEO agency), Hey Creator (creator studio), and Copyblogger.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Tim Stoddard

Show Notes

I Make $5M/Year With 3 Businesses

This is the breakdown of how Tim Stoddart makes over $5M/year with 3 businesses.

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-------- Keywords: passive income, entrepreneur stories, app marketing, make money online, mobile app success, digital products

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