One year ago, I launched a fractional content agency after years of freelancing. I had no investors, no formal team—just my savings, experience, and the belief that remote talent in the Philippines could power the next wave of startups. This is how our first year went and how we’re helping founders build dream teams that stay.
The Failure That Moved Things Forward
Before I discuss how I started my company, I want to share something that I believe is a pivotal failure.
Plus, here’s the funny thing: ChatGPT suggested the title of this post to be, “How I Grew from a Solo Marketer to a Team of 23 in 12 Months.” I didn’t want to use that title because that is a lie. While I did technically just start the company one year ago, there are so many things that contributed to it.
And it did not happen in 12 months…
So, here’s the real story. I had tried to build a different business before starting a talent and content agency. I knew that once I became confident in my freelancing career, I would want to build a way to generate passive income. I wanted to have income even when I was sick or couldn’t work. I also wanted to create a buffer to take longer time-offs.
The best way I thought to do that was to build and sell courses. I planned the course I was going to sell. I even set up my site on Kajabi. I had the course outline ready, but I never recorded it. That task kept getting postponed.
Growing from Solo Freelancer to a Team
At the end of 2023 (after 2 years of freelancing solo), the startup I was growing with wanted to scale my SEO writing for their blog. They said they needed more blog posts, but didn’t necessarily need me to write them. I could hire other writers!
That was my first official capacity as an agency. It grew organically. And everything fell into place. I loved hiring writers. I loved building team processes.
Looking back, that’s what I always loved most as a full-time marketing manager: building teams and empowering them with tools and systems.
The course business didn’t work because it felt passive. And I was doing everything alone. Additionally, I was trying to create a solopreneur path that would allow me to increase revenue independently. But somehow, it just didn’t feel right.
I loved growing with people. If I could grow my revenue and other people’s revenue, that is the best possible outcome I could dream of!
Eventually, I closed my Kajabi site. I spoke with Daniel. I’ve worked with Daniel for four years as BeLive’s marketing manager. Then, he helped me transition to freelancing. He has supported me in all of the phases of my marketing career.
I shared with him my growth as a freelancer and what I could do next. We both agreed it was time to build a team officially.
Launching IreneChan.co
We launched on April 4, 2024. Here’s how we approached the launch.
Pre-Launch
- Built the initial branding: logo and company name. We combined AI and freelancers to bring my vision to life.
- Creating the best package for early-stage startups. We decided to focus on hiring and managing writers.
- Created a launch plan that included dates, scope, and what success could look like.
During the Launch
- Created a LinkedIn post tagging all the founders who inspired me.
- Emailed all the founders I had worked with, sharing how their support helped me become a founder, too.
Timeline and Team
- December 2023: I approached Daniel, who became my company advisor.
- January 2024: All my existing freelance clients became my first agency clients.
- January to March 2024: We built and prepared everything to become an official content agency.
- April 2024: Official public launch on LinkedIn.
We started with:
- Rhen: SEO specialist who helped me scale our link exchange process in Paperbell.
- Celia: Our content manager helped me manage the blog process at Tactiq.
- Aica: Our HR Manager helped me hire the best talents.
- Lala: Worked with various freelance content projects.
- Stephanie: Our main and prolific writer for Tactiq.
Check out the rest of our talents. Get to know writers, social media managers, and editors.
Where We Are Now
Today, we have 8 long-time clients from 4 countries (US, UK, Israel, and Australia) and have 23 talents from 3 countries (Philippines, Ukraine, and Spain).
- 97 NPS rating from our talents.
- 99 NPS rating from our clients.
- 88% Retention rate for our talents.
As a team, we’ve:
- Published 800+ articles across different SaaS industries–from AI tools to coaching software to crypto projects.
- Built 300+ links for our clients with our website exchange partners.
- Brought it a collective of 200K+ organic traffic each month for our clients.
Some of our clients include:
- Tactiq – AI meeting note taker, which I personally use for every single meeting.
- Paperbell – Founded by Laura Roeder after her successful MeetEdgar exit, Paperbell is a coaching software that allows anyone to build a beautiful website in minutes.
- Arcee AI – Provides full AI and automation solutions for enterprises using small language models and AI agents.
- Polli – AI-powered platform that automates the entire staking operation.
- Lastcheck.ai – AI tool designed to review contracts for executives.
Where We Want to Be
My original mission is still the same: to help more talents in the Philippines build a remote career, and to help startups find the right people to build their dream teams.We started with 20 people on Slack. Today, we have almost 300 remote professionals from all over the world.
We’re investing in:
- Equipping our talents with AI resources, training, and insights.
- Helping our Slack community learn how AI tools are shaping the future of work.
- Testing new technologies with our talents so we can prepare for what’s ahead.
- Building stronger foundations in industries like Web3 and crypto.
Final Thoughts
Being a founder and growing a team isn’t easy. But I’m glad I took this path. I feel like this is what I’m meant to do.
What makes it worth it is knowing I’m not only building my own dream, but helping others build theirs too.
One time, I got a message from one of our writers. We worked on two freelance projects together while she was still working full time in an office. She said the extra income from those side gigs helped her build and finish her house.
That’s the kind of impact I want to keep making—for our team and our clients. To turn ideas into reality and have people who help you build them.
