Latest / The Founder's Journey with Fexingo: First-Time Entrepreneurs, Failures, and Lessons Learned / How a Founder Used a 5-Dollar Notebook to Build a 10-Million-Dollar Business
Transcript
- Lucas: So I was catching up on some customer retention data last night, and there's this stat that keeps rattling around in my head: a five percent increase in customer retention can lift profits by anywhere from twenty-five to ninety-five percent according to Bain & Company. It's one of those numbers that sounds almost too round to be real, but the research backs it up. Luna: Right, and yet most founders I talk to are obsessed with acquisition. They'll spend five thousand dollars on Facebook ads before they think about keeping the customers they already have. Lucas: Exactly. And that's what drew me to today's story. It's about a founder who took the opposite approach. Her name is Jenna Kutcher — you might know her as a photographer turned online educator — but early in her career, when she was just starting a wedding photography business in Minnesota, she had almost no budget for marketing. So she did something that cost her five dollars. Luna: I'm guessing it wasn't a Facebook ad. Lucas: No. It was a notebook. A simple spiral-bound notebook from Target that cost about five bucks. And she used it to write handwritten thank-you notes to every single client after a shoot. We're not talking about a form letter — she'd write a personal message, something specific about the wedding or the couple, maybe a funny moment she captured. Then she'd mail it with a small print. Luna: That's sweet, but how does a notebook scale into a ten million dollar business? That feels like a stretch. Lucas: I had the same thought. But here's the thing — she didn't just write one note. She wrote hundreds. And she tracked every single one. She had a system: after each shoot, within twenty-four hours, the note went in the mail. That consistency turned into a habit, and that habit turned into referrals. Her clients started telling their friends, 'You have to hire Jenna — she sends the most amazing thank-you notes.' It became her brand. Luna: So the notebook wasn't really the product. It was a delivery mechanism for a feeling. Lucas: Exactly. The note itself is cheap. But the feeling of being remembered, of someone taking time for you — that's priceless. And in an industry where couples are spending tens of thousands of dollars on a wedding, a handwritten note stands out. It's not about the five dollars. It's about the signal that sends. Luna: Did she ever calculate the return on that notebook? Like, how many clients came directly from those notes? Lucas: She did, actually. In interviews, she's said that roughly seventy percent of her early business came from word of mouth. And she attributes a huge chunk of that to the notes. She'd ask every new client, 'How did you hear about me?' And the answer was almost always, 'My friend used you and showed me your note.' That's a referral engine that you can't buy with ads. Luna: I love that because it's so simple. But I also wonder — at what point does that stop scaling? If you have a thousand clients, you can't write a thousand handwritten notes. Lucas: That's the right question. And she hit that wall. When she transitioned from photography to online courses — teaching other photographers how to build their businesses — she had thousands of students. So she adapted the system. She started recording short, personalized video messages instead. But the principle stayed the same: one-to-one outreach, at scale, with a personal touch. She even hired a small team to help, but she'd still personally record a batch every week. Luna: So the lesson isn't 'write handwritten notes forever.' It's 'find a way to make every customer feel seen.' Lucas: Exactly. And the medium can change. What matters is the intentionality. There's a concept I first heard from a venture capitalist named David Skok — he calls it 'the customer delight loop.' You do something unexpected that delights the customer, they tell someone, that person becomes a customer, and you delight them too. The notebook is just the entry point to that loop. Luna: It's also a reminder that you don't need a big budget to start building a brand. You need a system and consistency. Lucas: Right. And that's why I wanted to tell this story today. Because so many founders think they need a thousand-dollar marketing budget to get traction. But Jenna built a seven-figure photography business — and eventually a multi million dollar education platform — starting with a five-dollar notebook and a commitment to write one note per client. Luna: Was there ever a moment where she almost gave up on the notes? Like, when she was tired or busy? Lucas: She's admitted that there were late nights where she'd be writing notes at eleven PM and thinking, 'Is this really worth it?' But she had a rule: never skip a note. She called it the 'ten-minute rule.' If she was exhausted, she'd set a timer for ten minutes and just write one sentence. Usually, once she started, she'd finish the whole note. But even a single sentence was better than nothing. Luna: That's a great tactic. Lower the barrier so you can't say no. Lucas: Exactly. And that's a lesson that applies beyond notes. It's about consistency over intensity. A small action repeated over time compounds. That's the same principle behind dollar-cost averaging in investing, or daily exercise. The notebook was her minimum viable habit. Luna: I want to try this with my own clients. But I'm curious — did she ever run into a situation where a client didn't care about the note? Like, it fell flat? Lucas: She said maybe one in fifty clients never mentioned it. But even then, she figured it couldn't hurt. And the ones who loved it became evangelists. She had one bride who framed the note and hung it in her hallway. That's free advertising every time someone visits. Luna: That's a visual testimonial. You can't buy that. Lucas: No, you can't. And it's a reminder that the most powerful marketing isn't always the most expensive. It's the most human. Which is actually a good segue into something I wanted to mention. Luna: Go ahead. Lucas: This show operates on a similar principle. We don't run ads. We don't have sponsors. And the reason we can keep doing this — over sixty episodes and counting — is because a small group of listeners chips in monthly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's not a big ask. It's just a way for people who find value in these conversations to help cover the costs. Luna: Yeah, and I think that's part of why the show feels different. There's no pressure to sell you something in the middle of a story. It's just two people talking about business. Lucas: Exactly. And if these conversations have moved your work forward in some small way, that's the whole point. The notebook story is a perfect example — a tiny investment in a relationship can yield outsized returns. That's the same ethos behind listener support. It's not about a big ask. It's about a small, consistent action that compounds. Luna: Alright, back to Jenna. So she scaled from photography to online courses. Did the notebook principle survive that transition? Lucas: It evolved. She replaced the handwritten note with a welcome video for every new student — personalized, mentioning something they'd shared in their application. She'd also send handwritten postcards to students who completed certain milestones. So the spirit was the same, just delivered digitally. Luna: That makes sense. The medium changes, the principle stays. Lucas: Right. And she's talked about how that personal touch reduced churn significantly. Her course completion rates were higher than industry averages, and her Net Promoter Score was through the roof. All because she treated every customer like a human being, not a transaction. Luna: I think there's also a deeper lesson here about founder psychology. When you're starting out, it's easy to feel like you need to do everything perfectly. But a five-dollar notebook is permission to start small. Lucas: Absolutely. It's a low-risk experiment. If it doesn't work, you're out five bucks. But if it does, you've built a habit that can define your brand. And that's the kind of leverage most founders overlook because they're looking for the silver bullet. Luna: So what's the one thing you want listeners to take away from this episode? Lucas: That the smallest gestures often have the biggest impact. Before you spend another dollar on ads, ask yourself: 'What's the five-dollar notebook version of customer delight in my business?' And then just do it, consistently, for a month. See what happens. Luna: I'm going to try that with my consulting clients. A handwritten note after a big milestone. Lucas: Do it. And let us know how it goes. We love hearing from listeners who put these ideas into practice.