Saddam Hasan

Early life and background

Hasan was born and raised in Peshawar. His father's job meant the family moved often while he was young, and he attended about five or six different schools. He first attended Army Public School. He then moved to Lahore, which he says was a game changer for him, compared with the reserved society of Peshawar. [1]

He says he was a top student in childhood with consistently good grades, and that high expectations from his family shaped his childhood. He says nobody in his family had run a business before him. He also says he wanted to run his own business from his school days. [2]

Education

Hasan completed his O levels and skipped grade eight, going straight to grade nine. He did one year of A levels. He was 17 when he went to Canada. He applied to universities in Canada and the United States, and he was accepted by the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia. [1]

He initially wanted to study law. He took the LSAT but decided his aptitude did not suit law. He chose accounting because he considers himself analytical, and he completed a double major in economics and accounting. [1]

He says he wasted his time at university and was removed in his final year, and that he later graduated after being given another chance. He did chartered accountancy, which is called CPA. He says he studied for his CA while working a 9-to-5 job and passed his CA exams in one attempt. He also did a three-month internship at Shaukat Khanum. [1][2]

Career

Hasan worked at DHL while completing his CPA. At DHL he managed a portfolio of about 200 million dollars, and he was one of the decision makers on labour and equipment allocation. After he qualified as a CPA, DHL moved him into corporate. He says he managed eight or nine sites, and that clients his team catered to included Walmart and Amazon. [1]

He says he began bookkeeping work for clients while studying for his CA, and that he needed money at that time. He says he approached a client in person, who referred two or three more clients. He describes himself as a content creator who was essentially a freelancer. [1][2]

Amazon selling

Hasan attended an Amazon meetup in 2016. He says he first tried retail arbitrage before building his own brand, and that he was in Edmonton when he started selling on Amazon. He found a product that cost $30 and sold for about $150 on Amazon. He bought 10 units first, and they sold out within a week. [1][2]

He says he started an Amazon e-commerce brand and later flipped it. He launched his own private label brand in late 2016 or early 2017, with products made in China, and it was his personal brand, separate from the agency. He decided to sell the brand in 2019, after two years of selling on Amazon, and he used brokers to get an exit. He invested the proceeds of the sale into the agency. [1][2]

He says he has always believed in networking. He says his networking group was at one point the largest group of Amazon sellers in Canada, across six cities. [2]

AMZ One Step

Hasan was still working at DHL while the agency was starting, and at one point he was working 80 to 100 hours a week. He has no background in graphic design or marketing. He says his agency came after his Amazon brand. [1][2]

He says people kept asking him to build services for them, and he began saying yes. He says the pipeline of work was not predictable. He says the team chose Fiverr because they did not know what an agency was, and that the agency chose product photography because nearly every Amazon seller ran PPC ads. He says he wanted the agency to be somewhat different from others. He says he has hired many people from a community. [2]

At one point the agency was ranked number 1 for product photography, and he says the product photography work scaled to 10,000 per month. He says hiring a sales team from Pakistan was a mistake, and that the agency acquired a competitor. He says the agency discovered a program covering appointment setting, closing and CRM, and took a 15,000 program. It paid 70,000 for a mastermind and attended its retreat in Mexico, which he says gave the agency a large return. [2]

AMZ One Step produces 3D renders for products. He says the agency focuses on three or four services. The agency's creative leads research Amazon data and shopper behaviour before designing concepts. He estimates about 70% of brands now choose a proper model or production team, and says economies of scale let the agency offer its full package at an affordable price. [1]

He says the agency once sold a package for $195 and now sells the same package for $3,000. He attributes the higher price to brand equity. [1]

He says the agency's first conference drew about 700 attendees, and that the agency's profit was about 4,000 when it decided to hold it. He says the agency reached 500,000 per month at its peak, with a 20 percent profit margin. He says one client gave the agency 150,000 of business over its lifetime value, and that he has hired and fired about 1,200 employees so far. He says the agency had staff in studios and offices across four countries. [2]

He says his company has about 150 people, and that its headquarters is in Canada. He says it also has studios in the US, China and the UK, run as third-party facilities. He says most of the back-end and technical team is based in Pakistan, and that the company has an office in Karachi. He says the company pays bonuses and commissions to encourage performance, and that its cost of service is about 40 to 45 percent because it pays incentives. [1]

He says revenue is between 1 and 10 million, without a precise figure. He says the next target is 10 million, which he hopes to reach this year, and his goal is to grow the agency to 100 million. He plans to exit the agency once it reaches that goal, then build something similar. He says he realised he had to empower his team and let go of some operational tasks to grow. He says he aims to build a 10 million dollar business with Pakistanis. [1][2]

Kenji ROI

The Kenji ROI acquisition happened in September. He says his company was four times bigger than Kenji ROI, and that he partly modelled his agency on Kenji ROI. After the acquisition he merged the two teams into one team with two heads. He says the team that came with the Kenji ROI acquisition is drawn from Indonesia and the Philippines. [1]

Reality Cheque

Hasan says a group of his had about 60,000 members, and that his earlier free Facebook community was a disaster. He says the community passed 10,000 members and is now at about 21,000, and that it will focus on agencies already earning considerable revenue. [1]

He says the community he plans will have a paid entry of $10 or $15. He says a course will come at some point in the community's future, and that he is personally leaning towards Discord for the community. He says he is planning a community for founders earning 3,000 per month or more. [1][2]

Views

Hasan says most freelancers in Pakistan are driven by skill, not by value proposition, and that running an agency is a proper business that needs more than technical skill. He advises freelancers who cannot earn $10,000 a month not to start an agency. He says that for someone aiming at 2,000 to 4,000 per month, an agency has the lowest failure rate in his opinion, and that moving from 3,000 to 10,000 per month requires hiring people. He says new freelancers aiming for 3,000 per month often ask why an international client would pay them. He says everyone should eventually run a coaching-type business, but needs credibility first. [1][2]

He says service development is the first stage of building an agency, and lists the stages as service development, marketing, sales and operations. He says marketing is the core of building a brand. He advises keeping cost of service at about one third of revenue and putting 20 to 25 percent of revenue into marketing. He estimates an agency's profit at roughly 300,000 when revenue is one million. He says agency owners go back and forth between client acquisition and talent acquisition. [1][2]

He says many people were unprepared, which badly damaged Pakistan's perception abroad, and that the Amazon bubble in Pakistan has collapsed. He says people without the skills jumped into Amazon and crypto, and he estimates that about one in ten students succeeds and nine in ten fail. He estimates that about 50,000 of the million people who came in are succeeding. He says Pakistan is becoming incredibly cheap as a service, that people in Pakistan do not control their own time, and that the Pakistani market is the toughest market. He says Pakistan needs to accept that it is behind the curve. [1][2]

He says 17 years of schooling can lead to a job paying less than 1 lakh, and that the schooling system works as a business model. He advises young people to observe groups before committing to a skill, and argues that working for free is the easiest way into the productivity market. He says Gen Z is serious about its passions. [1]

He says AI is closer to execution in these industries than people think, and that AI and rule-based bidding now make managing Amazon ads for brands with thousands of products far easier. He advises businesses not to fall behind by neglecting AI. He says AI is becoming good enough to replace businesses that sell ingredient services, and that clients are becoming pickier as AI and related tools spread. He says the market for Amazon creatives is huge, because essentially every brand needs it, and that clients pay for the experience, not the service itself. [1][2]

He says paid ads are his favourite method for reaching Amazon sellers. He says cold outreach emails have worked for him but are not consistent or scalable, and that YouTube is good at connecting a business with the right people. He says LTV to CAC is a golden ratio he always teaches. [2]

He defines mindset as a set of beliefs based on past experiences. He says pattern recognition changes a person's mindset, and that the story a person tells themselves becomes their reality. He says a strategy cannot be implemented before a mindset shift, and that mindset is the whole game, built on pattern recognition and the story a person tells themselves. He says a person's relationship with money is the biggest challenge in changing their mindset, and that if you do not quit, you will never fail by default. He says there is no such thing as motivation, only design. [2]

He says he never puts poor performers in the spotlight, and that he has never been interested in internal politics and stays out of it. He says he is fairly weak at managing people, and that doing the technical work is easier than managing people day to day. He says he believes his marketing and sales are strong, but he is not the best at fulfilment. [1][2]

He says top performers prefer working with other top performers, and that the fewer direct reports a leader has, the more productive they will be. He says the first two hires for an agency owner should be a recruiter and an appointment setter, and that he now delegates work from day one. He says founders should define a set of values for their team, that being a good client helps an agency attract better talent, and that communication is the number 1 priority for a founder. He advises people not to listen to anyone who has not done it themselves. [2]

Personal life

Hasan brought his family to Canada. He describes himself as very data-driven. He says Urdu is not his first language, and that he had to learn Urdu to operate in Pakistan. He says he designed his morning routine, starting with making his own breakfast, and that he views personal upgrades as part of treating himself as a business. He says he writes his own scripts for content, learned storytelling principles from a creator, and counts Ready Fire Aim among his favourite books. [1][2]

Timeline

2016

Attended an Amazon meetup.[1]

2018

AMZ One Step launched properly.[1]

2019

Decided to sell his private label brand and invested the proceeds into the agency.[1]

Appearances

Frequently asked questions

References

1. Why freelancing alone will never make you rich . Thought Behind Things , 2023-03-06.
2. Why Pakistan Is the Toughest Coaching Market in the World | Hustle Stories ft. Saddam Hasan . SynQ with Saad .