[Journey] From $0 to… Hopefully Something – My OFM + AI Experiment

[shijin]

Day 19: Surprise Boost — Ads Click + First Big Spender!

Woke up today expecting another slow grind, but instead got hit with one of those “ok… this is why I keep pushing” days.

Ads

Upped spend to $30 on Meta, same targeting.

Somehow, CTR nearly doubled overnight — 6 leads in just a few hours.

2 of those leads were already solid enough to move into real convos. No idea if algorithm shift or just better timing, but I’ll take it.

Revenue

Model #2 landed her first big spender — guy dropped $120 on custom content.

Total daily revenue: $214, which makes this the best day of the journey so far.

First time it really feels like momentum is kicking in.

Models

Model #1 steady with tips/sub renewals.

Model #2 obviously crushed it today, confidence boost for her.

Model #3 warming up, still early days but she’s starting to get more engagement.

AI Assist

Tested a new “upsell flow” prompt in chats — basically guides convos toward tips/customs more smoothly.

First time running it and it already helped land that $120 custom, so yeah… AI is officially paying for itself.

Takeaway
After the IG chaos earlier this week, today felt like a reward. Ads can be volatile, but when they hit, they hit. And one good spender can make the whole day.

Tomorrow: going to re-test ad targeting with a slightly broader audience, see if the higher CTR sticks or was just a fluke. Also pushing Model #3 harder with daily content to get her off the ground.

 

[i_n00b24]

Hey! I have read through all the posts on this thread and it's a interesting journey definitely following this one, I have few questions tho, how does the GPT automates the chats for you, I would like to know more about it and when you say you are running ads on Meta is it for the model outreach or to get customers through those ads? I am assuming insta reels is your traffic source that's getting you the subs on OF

 

[Mister M]

Super nice thread!

If I was you, I'd have at least 2 KPI's that helps you decide when it's time to scale further and bring in another model. You're already in the boat with 3 models now but I'd pause the recruiting for a bit until these 3 models have a steady amount of subscribers coming in and sales stay consistent.

I only scale to the next model if I can see a consistent $100/day (or more) and 20 subs/day (which is needed to bring that $100/day with a $5 LTV). Rather see it as a long term business with revenue growing slowly & steady versus revenue growing fast & crashing fast. Then with model #2 sales need to stay at $200/day and 40 subs/day across model #1 and model #2 and then you go to model #3, model #4 etc....

Good luck on your journey my friend, I have my own thread as well if you want to take a peek, maybe you get some useful information there as well when it comes to the actual structure of the business

 

[shijin]

Hey! I have read through all the posts on this thread and it's a interesting journey definitely following this one, I have few questions tho, how does the GPT automates the chats for you, I would like to know more about it and when you say you are running ads on Meta is it for the model outreach or to get customers through those ads? I am assuming insta reels is your traffic source that's getting you the subs on OF

Really glad you’re following along! For the GPT setup, I’ve been using it to draft replies that match each model’s personality, flirty, casual, playful, etc. I still read and tweak most messages before sending, but it handles a huge chunk of the repetitive follow-ups, so I can juggle multiple chats at once without losing quality.
The Meta ads right now are mainly for model outreach, trying to get more potential models curious to join, but I’m slowly experimenting with fan acquisition too. Instagram reels have been the main traffic source for OF subscriptions so far. I post daily, focus on trending audio, and try to keep each model’s content a bit unique so the feed feels lively. The AI helps me plan captions and even reply to fans who comment, so engagement stays high without me burning out.

Super nice thread!

If I was you, I'd have at least 2 KPI's that helps you decide when it's time to scale further and bring in another model. You're already in the boat with 3 models now but I'd pause the recruiting for a bit until these 3 models have a steady amount of subscribers coming in and sales stay consistent.

I only scale to the next model if I can see a consistent $100/day (or more) and 20 subs/day (which is needed to bring that $100/day with a $5 LTV). Rather see it as a long term business with revenue growing slowly & steady versus revenue growing fast & crashing fast. Then with model #2 sales need to stay at $200/day and 40 subs/day across model #1 and model #2 and then you go to model #3, model #4 etc....

Good luck on your journey my friend, I have my own thread as well if you want to take a peek, maybe you get some useful information there as well when it comes to the actual structure of the business

Thanks a lot! I really like your KPI approach, it makes total sense to stabilize revenue first before scaling. I’ve been moving fast with three models, but you’re right, pausing recruitment until these accounts are consistently hitting steady subs and revenue would save a lot of headaches later.


I’m starting to track daily revenue, tips, and subscriber growth per model now, which helps me know exactly when it makes sense to onboard the next model. Your numbers, $100/day and 20 subs per model before scaling, are super practical benchmarks. I’ll definitely take a closer look at your thread for more insights, especially around building a solid structure rather than chasing fast growth.

 

[shijin]

Day 20: Hitting My First Mini-Milestone

Two weeks in and things are starting to feel a little more “real.” Not huge money yet, but I’m seeing patterns, some stability, and even a few surprises that gave me a good confidence boost.

The Wins

Revenue crossed $150 in a single day for the first time

One fan on Model #2 went crazy with tips — dropped $75 in one evening. Totally unexpected but a reminder that whales are out there.

Ads are finally stable. $30 spend yesterday brought 7 leads, 2 solid convos, and 1 new model in early talks. Best ROAS so far.

The Challenges

Juggling chats across 3 models is starting to stretch me thin, even with AI. Sometimes I still miss follow-ups or forget who’s who.

Instagram is hit-or-miss — one reel gets 15k views, the next gets 300. Feels like I’m throwing darts at the algorithm.

Sleep schedule is wrecked… I wake up checking DMs like it’s oxygen.

AI Helping Hand

I added a “fan profile” system — AI now remembers who likes what (e.g., casual banter vs. spicy talk) so replies feel personal. That alone has boosted repeat chats.

Testing auto-DM funnels from IG to OF with AI pre-written replies. Early results look promising.

Takeaway
Day 20 feels like the first small step toward building something sustainable. The money is nice, but what’s even better is realizing I can actually systematize this — ads + outreach + AI + content pipeline. Now it’s about tightening the screws and scaling slowly.

Tomorrow’s goal: keep revenue above $100/day consistently and push Model #2 into her first “big spender” tier.

Some days this feels like chaos, but today feels like progress.

 

[i_n00b24]

Really glad you’re following along! For the GPT setup, I’ve been using it to draft replies that match each model’s personality, flirty, casual, playful, etc. I still read and tweak most messages before sending, but it handles a huge chunk of the repetitive follow-ups, so I can juggle multiple chats at once without losing quality.
The Meta ads right now are mainly for model outreach, trying to get more potential models curious to join, but I’m slowly experimenting with fan acquisition too. Instagram reels have been the main traffic source for OF subscriptions so far. I post daily, focus on trending audio, and try to keep each model’s content a bit unique so the feed feels lively. The AI helps me plan captions and even reply to fans who comment, so engagement stays high without me burning out.

That sounds amazing, i have been thinking about automating the chats on insta, reddit, snapchat so that I can funnel the traffic to the OF, is there any tool that I would need specifically to automate the chat in each social media site or how can I do it, I would like to know more about it if you can shed some light, I'll really appreciate it and good luck with your journey, it looks promising and I got bunch of ideas reading your journey like the chat automation, I always wanted to do it but never knew how can I do it so looking forward to your response

 

[shijin]

That sounds amazing, i have been thinking about automating the chats on insta, reddit, snapchat so that I can funnel the traffic to the OF, is there any tool that I would need specifically to automate the chat in each social media site or how can I do it, I would like to know more about it if you can shed some light, I'll really appreciate it and good luck with your journey, it looks promising and I got bunch of ideas reading your journey like the chat automation, I always wanted to do it but never knew how can I do it so looking forward to your response

Appreciate it man! Honestly, there isn’t one magic tool that automates chats across everything. I kind of mix and match depending on the platform.

On IG, I stay away from heavy automation because it’s super strict, instead I use AI to draft replies and I send/tweak them myself so it still looks human. Reddit is easier, you can semi-automate with scripts + GPT prompts for follow-ups without getting flagged too fast. Snapchat is mostly manual for me, but I prep reply banks with AI so I never run out of things to say.


So it’s less “press a button and it runs itself” and more AI + light tools + me steering the wheel. Keeps it safe and still saves a ton of time.


If you ever test a good all-in-one, I’d love to hear about it too, I’m experimenting like crazy.

 

[shijin]

Day 21: Small Wins, Big Lessons

Today felt like a mix of calm and progress — not a viral explosion, but steady signs that the systems I’ve built are actually starting to hold up.

Revenue & Engagement
- $160 in total revenue — a slight increase from yesterday.
- Model #2 had another big tip, $60 this time, which is starting to feel like consistent high-value fans are emerging.
- Model #3 is slowly gaining traction; her engagement is up 15% from last week.

Ads & Outreach
- Meta ads kept running at $30/day. CTR stayed strong, and two more leads are looking promising for onboarding new models in the next few days.
- Started testing a slightly broader audience with Model #1 — got 3 new warm leads in under a few hours.

AI Highlights
- Fine-tuned chat prompts for repeat fans — AI is learning better when to upsell content or tease new material.
- Spent less time manually replying, which meant I could focus on ad creatives and content scheduling.

Takeaways
- Systems are slowly paying off. Ads, outreach, and AI are working together now instead of feeling like a juggling act.
- Still juggling multiple models and platforms, but the workload feels more manageable.
- Consistency is proving more valuable than chasing viral moments — small, steady wins are building the foundation.

Tomorrow: focus on scaling Model #3’s content, push Model #2 for repeat subscribers, and try one slightly higher ad spend test to see if CTR holds.

 

[i_n00b24]

Appreciate it man! Honestly, there isn’t one magic tool that automates chats across everything. I kind of mix and match depending on the platform.

On IG, I stay away from heavy automation because it’s super strict, instead I use AI to draft replies and I send/tweak them myself so it still looks human. Reddit is easier, you can semi-automate with scripts + GPT prompts for follow-ups without getting flagged too fast. Snapchat is mostly manual for me, but I prep reply banks with AI so I never run out of things to say.


So it’s less “press a button and it runs itself” and more AI + light tools + me steering the wheel. Keeps it safe and still saves a ton of time.


If you ever test a good all-in-one, I’d love to hear about it too, I’m experimenting like crazy.

Definitely makes sense and yes I understand that there's nothing like plug and play kind of tool an if there is then it's either probably too robotic with the responses or will get you banned fast on the platform, that's what I was interested in like how do you manage to save the time when you have to manually check the messages you send, do you look at each message that you send or just few where the sale is closing in or there's a chance of up selling something? Also do you copy paste the messages of the customers to GPT promot and then it generates the response according to the message? I am confused about the work flow of this chat automation, Also if you can let me know what scripts or tools I can use I would really appreciate it, if it's like private thing you can dm me and if it's a secret then i understand if you don't wanna share the exact setup, sorry for alot of questions but I hope you do well and you inspire alot of users on here who are on the similar journey

 

[Bronz]

Wow, definitely interested in your journey, as I'm also interested in starting this soon. When you reached out to models, did you do it from your personal Instagram page, or do you have an agency page set up? What was your message like when reaching out to them? Also, do you think you'd ever switch to real chatters, or do you plan to stick with AI the whole time?

 

[shijin]

Definitely makes sense and yes I understand that there's nothing like plug and play kind of tool an if there is then it's either probably too robotic with the responses or will get you banned fast on the platform, that's what I was interested in like how do you manage to save the time when you have to manually check the messages you send, do you look at each message that you send or just few where the sale is closing in or there's a chance of up selling something? Also do you copy paste the messages of the customers to GPT promot and then it generates the response according to the message? I am confused about the work flow of this chat automation, Also if you can let me know what scripts or tools I can use I would really appreciate it, if it's like private thing you can dm me and if it's a secret then i understand if you don't wanna share the exact setup, sorry for alot of questions but I hope you do well and you inspire alot of users on here who are on the similar journey

No worries at all, I don’t mind the questions. You’re right, any “plug and play” system ends up either robotic or gets you banned pretty fast.


My workflow looks like this: AI drafts the reply based on the last message, I skim it in a couple seconds, and either send it as-is or tweak if it’s an upsell/high-value fan. For casual chats I barely touch anything. I basically copy the fan’s message into a GPT prompt that’s tuned for each model’s personality, and it spits out something flirty/playful/casual depending on who they’re talking to.


For tools, nothing fancy, mostly Google Sheets to track convos, some browser extensions that speed up copy/paste, and a couple lightweight Reddit DM helpers. It’s more about stacking small time-savers than using one secret system. If I do land on a clean all-in-one, I’ll share it.

Wow, definitely interested in your journey, as I'm also interested in starting this soon. When you reached out to models, did you do it from your personal Instagram page, or do you have an agency page set up? What was your message like when reaching out to them? Also, do you think you'd ever switch to real chatters, or do you plan to stick with AI the whole time?

Appreciate it! I didn’t use my personal IG, I set up a basic agency page from day one, makes it look more professional and leaves room to grow. My first messages to models were super short and not salesy, just something like “Hey, I work with creators to grow their subs, if you’re interested let’s chat.” That worked better than spamming long pitches.


For chatters, my plan is to stick with AI for the bulk since it saves me so much time. But I could definitely see adding real chatters later, especially for VIP fans who spend big. That mix of AI + humans would probably be the most effective long term.

 

[i_n00b24]

No worries at all, I don’t mind the questions. You’re right, any “plug and play” system ends up either robotic or gets you banned pretty fast.


My workflow looks like this: AI drafts the reply based on the last message, I skim it in a couple seconds, and either send it as-is or tweak if it’s an upsell/high-value fan. For casual chats I barely touch anything. I basically copy the fan’s message into a GPT prompt that’s tuned for each model’s personality, and it spits out something flirty/playful/casual depending on who they’re talking to.


For tools, nothing fancy, mostly Google Sheets to track convos, some browser extensions that speed up copy/paste, and a couple lightweight Reddit DM helpers. It’s more about stacking small time-savers than using one secret system. If I do land on a clean all-in-one, I’ll share it.

Sounds good and thanks for clearing my doubt appreciate it with so many tools to juggle between I am sure it gets confusing at times but as long as it saves time then why not, Also do you start a brand new page for each model on Instagram? And just start posting reels or do you use their account to post (I think you did mentioned this earlier on this thread) but if you can update us with this traffic generation method that'd be great, Still rooting for you to go big in this journey I am very positive that you can achieve your goal sooner than you expect

 

[shijin]

Sounds good and thanks for clearing my doubt appreciate it with so many tools to juggle between I am sure it gets confusing at times but as long as it saves time then why not, Also do you start a brand new page for each model on Instagram? And just start posting reels or do you use their account to post (I think you did mentioned this earlier on this thread) but if you can update us with this traffic generation method that'd be great, Still rooting for you to go big in this journey I am very positive that you can achieve your goal sooner than you expect

Thanks a ton for the encouragement! Yeah, juggling tools definitely takes a little mental gymnastics at first, but once the workflow is set up it actually feels smooth and saves hours.


For Instagram, I create a brand new page for each model rather than using their personal accounts. It keeps everything clean, branded, and lets me test different styles/tones without risking their main profile. From day one I start posting reels using trending audio and light teasers (not explicit) to build up reach. I also mix in story polls, Q&As, and comments to warm up the account before sending any traffic to OF.


This approach has been working best so far because each model’s page builds its own audience, if one account gets throttled or flagged, the others stay safe. It’s slower at first but much more stable long term.
Appreciate you rooting for me! The goal feels closer every day.

 

[Jivika Agrawal]

Great start, I love your ambition and approach, Here’s to stubbornness + AI turning into something real

 

[shijin]

Great start, I love your ambition and approach, Here’s to stubbornness + AI turning into something real

Thanks! stubbornness and AI is honestly the perfect way to describe this whole grind. Some days it feels like I’m dragging it uphill, but AI smooths out so many of the rough edges that it keeps the momentum alive. Excited to see where it can go if I just keep stacking little wins.

 

[Bronz]

Appreciate your last reply. I’m trying to learn what the process looks like once someone replies with interest. Do you set up a call to go over details, and how do you usually approach that? Do you bring up contracts at that stage, or do you handle agreements later once trust is built?

 

[longden]

Keep me updated on how things are going. Wishing you the best of luck

 

[shijin]

Appreciate your last reply. I’m trying to learn what the process looks like once someone replies with interest. Do you set up a call to go over details, and how do you usually approach that? Do you bring up contracts at that stage, or do you handle agreements later once trust is built?

Once someone replies with interest, I usually move the convo toward a quick call (Zoom/Google Meet). The goal is to build trust, let them see I’m a real person, and explain how I work. I don’t push contracts right away, instead, I walk them through the process, answer their concerns, and show examples of results. Once they’re comfortable, then I bring up the agreement. Trust first, paperwork second, that flow has worked best for me so far.

Keep me updated on how things are going. Wishing you the best of luck

Appreciate that I’ll definitely keep sharing the ups and downs. Thanks for the support, it helps keep me pushing forward.

 

[shijin]

Day 22: Testing New Traffic + Another Small Win

Today was one of those “steady grind” days, but with a nice little twist at the end.

Traffic Experiments
Since IG is still a bit shaky (reach not fully back to normal yet), I decided to test some alternative traffic sources:

Dabbled with TikTok clips (super safe edits, lifestyle style) → early signs are promising, a couple hundred views already.

Ran a small $20 Reddit promo → surprisingly pulled in 3 warm leads.

Feels good to not have all eggs in one basket.

Revenue
$198 total. Not a record, but super solid compared to where I was just a week ago. One of Model #2’s subs bought a custom tip bundle, which boosted the day nicely.

Workflow Update
Streamlined the AI chat workflow a bit more — now I have “tiered prompts” based on fan value:

[Casual Fans] → quick replies, light touch.

[Tippers/Sub Whales] → more customized, I step in and tweak almost every line.

It’s saving me time and also making sure I don’t leave money on the table.

Takeaway
Consistency + small experiments keep things moving forward. Not every day is fireworks, but these “200-dollar days” are stacking up, and the system is getting smoother.

Tomorrow I’ll be pushing TikTok harder to see if it can become a serious channel.

Onward

 

[noobiereact]

I added a “fan profile” system — AI now remembers who likes what (e.g., casual banter vs. spicy talk) so replies feel personal. That alone has boosted repeat chats.

Testing auto-DM funnels from IG to OF with AI pre-written replies. Early results look promising.

How do you make these AI tweaks? Do you just tweak the prompt and how are you making these "profiles" persist?