AI Summary
5 min readThe 20-Year-Old Who Built a $930K Book Business Using ChatGPT
Joe Populus was a 20-year-old computer science student in Toronto, stocking shelves for $11 an hour, when he stumbled onto an idea that would change his life. In one year, he built a book brand valued at $930,000—using AI to generate e-books and Pinterest ads to sell them to middle-aged moms. The business now runs on 70-80% profit margins, and he did it all while attending college full time.
How the Idea Came Together
Joe's path started in 2020, when he got early access to GPT-3 and began experimenting with use cases for the model. By 2022, people were reaching out to him through LinkedIn after noticing his experience with OpenAI's beta program. He started charging for AI consulting, and during a meeting with a publishing company, he saw their numbers: roughly $2 million in revenue from selling books. The work they were doing was "insanely simple," Joe says, but they weren't using AI at all. He kept that observation to himself and started building.
In August 2022, he made $10-20. By the end of September, $40. On October 3rd, he hit his first profitable day—$20. The next day, $40. Then growth became exponential. On December 28th, he hit his first $1,000 profit day. "That was crazy," he says. "That was just after Christmas, and my whole family knew about it."
The Mechanics of AI Book Creation
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:30) **The Million-Dollar AI Book Business** - Introduction to Joe Populus, a 20-year-old who made over $1M selling AI-generated e-books to middle-aged moms on Pinterest.
- 2 (01:18) **Origin Story: From GPT-3 Beta to a Publishing Epiphany** - Joe explains how his early work with OpenAI's GPT-3 beta led to a consulting side-hustle and eventually the book idea.
- 3 (02:59) **The Exponential Growth Curve** - Joe details the early revenue trajectory, from $20 in August to a $1,000 profit day by December.
- 4 (04:10) **How to Get Started with AI Books** - The two-step framework: learn to control AI output, then find a high-emotion niche.
- 5 (04:44) **The Book Creation Process (The Right Way)** - Joe debunks the "just ask ChatGPT" myth and explains his structured method.
- 6 (06:33) **The Numbers: Profit, Valuation, and Margins** - The business is valued at $930k with 70-80% profit margins.
- 7 (07:29) **The Secret Sauce: Pinterest Ads Strategy** - The core of the business is a two-phase Pinterest ad funnel.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Meet The Kid Who Made $1M with ChatGPT
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In this video, I head out to Toronto to meet Joe Popelas - one of the only kids who ACTUALLY made $1M with ChatGPT. He shared everything about how he found the idea, how he started it, how he advertises it, and how anyone can take advantage of the goldmine that is AI automation and ChatGPT generated ebooks. This is one of the craziest business ideas I've seen in a minute, hope you guys enjoy this one!
Follow Joe 🎥 YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@joepopelas 📱 TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@joepopelas
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------------- Keywords: startup tips, startup journey, app flipping
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