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From First Taste of Money to 20+ Hustles — Sunburn Included

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My Story — Episode 2

After Sweet Present, I didn't slow down. Between 2017 and 2019, I launched over 20 business experiments in rapid fire. Some lasted weeks. Some lasted months. Each one taught me something the classroom never could.

The Experiments

Private-party event planning — a crash course in logistics and managing chaos.

Auto detailing — my partners pocketed the cut. Closed it. Lesson: choose partners carefully, or don't have them at all.

Model agency — strange niche, not for me. Moved on fast.

3D real-estate renders — rode the first 3D/VR wave. Good timing, but the market was too small.

Pedigree-kitten breeding — emotionally the toughest business I've ever run. You get attached. Not recommended for the soft-hearted.

Consulting — marketing, finance, business plans. Good hourly rate, terrible scalability.

Networking events — the best ROI wasn't money. It was the people I met. This planted the seed for what later became Club 23.

Offline marketing classes — I taught fellow lone soldiers what I'd learned. Giving back to the community that helped me survive.

Warehouse and factory staffing — peaked at 150 workers. Real P&L lessons. Real management headaches. Real money.

Marketers: The Big Win

The biggest win of this era was "Marketers" — a digital marketing agency launched in 2017 with zero budget.

How I got my first clients: I biked to over 100 real-estate brokers in two days. I walked in, pitched, and left my card. Signed 6 clients. Also earned a monster sunburn.

The team grew to 25 people at peak. We ran campaigns for brands across Israel.

Key projects:

  • MoneySend — took them from launch to market leader in their category
  • Amir — achieved category dominance through targeted digital campaigns
  • "Rishonim" city campaign — helped our client win the election. He became Vice-Mayor of Rishon LeZion

My co-founder Roman Gertsvolf voluntarily changed our 50/50 split because he recognized that I was doing 90% of the work. His honesty still drives me to this day. That's the kind of partner worth having.

The End

COVID killed the agency model. Clients froze budgets overnight. We closed Marketers and moved on. But I took the skills, the network, and the battle scars forward.

Lessons from 20+ Hustles

  • Doors over decks. Walking into 100 offices beats sending 1,000 emails.
  • Honest partners over funded ones. Roman proved that integrity is the most valuable currency in business.
  • Recurring revenue over one-offs. Every project-based business hits a ceiling. Build something that compounds.
  • Health is capital. I learned this with Sweet Present. I re-learned it with Marketers. Your body and mind are your most important assets.

This era was pure hustle. Tel Aviv at its rawest. No venture capital, no advisors, no playbook. Just a kid from nowhere trying everything until something stuck.

P.S. The sunburn from that two-day biking sprint? Totally worth it. Those 6 clients built the foundation for everything that came after.