Turning Passion into Profit: How Saleh Ahmed Scaled Rank Wizards from Upwork to Agency Success

Adaptability and resilience are key to entrepreneurial success. Few embody these traits better than Saleh Ahmed, the founder of Rank Wizards, an SEO agency that has grown from humble beginnings into a $200,000 business.

Starting his journey as a freelancer on Upwork, Saleh navigated the challenges of entrepreneurship, industry shifts, and the uncertainties of building a business from the ground up. Through strategic pivots and a focus on delivering measurable results, he not only weathered storms but also built a thriving agency in a competitive space.

In this interview, Saleh shares his journey from freelancer to founder, the pivotal moments that shaped Rank Wizards, and the lessons he’s learned about growth, leadership, and the ever-changing landscape of SEO. Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, an agency owner, or simply someone passionate about digital marketing, Saleh’s insights offer a wealth of inspiration and practical advice.

How much revenue and profit does the business generate?

We make roughly $180-220k/yr as of now.

Tell us about yourself and your business.

I began my journey in the digital marketing space in 2015 as an SEO writer on Upwork (formerly oDesk). What started as a solo endeavor quickly grew into a small team of writers, serving a diverse range of clients, including content sites, SMBs, e-commerce businesses, and agencies. By 2021, this initial venture had evolved into a thriving operation with over 150 talented individuals, including writers, editors, and content managers.

However, the landscape shifted dramatically in the following years. Two major industry disruptions occurred: Google’s stricter algorithms penalized many content-heavy sites, and AI-powered content tools emerged, reshaping the way content was created and consumed. These changes significantly impacted our operations, forcing us to downsize and reevaluate our approach.

With the core skill around SEO and Content Marketing, we then pivoted to an organic marketing agency for software startups, with a knack for SEO. With years of content experience, we put together content strategies for our clients, create content calendars and SOPs, and help them execute it with Subject Matter Expert content team and authority backlinks. 

How does your business make money?

We get paid for our services of SEO, Authority Links, Subject Matter Expert content team management. With some one-time contracts, we mostly have monthly retainer clients. 

What was your inspiration for starting the business?

At first it was the craft of copywriting that held my passion up. But later it became about how SEO can be at the same time an inbound, organic and recurring marketing channel for any business. I think it’s such a win-win way of marketing a business which provides value to your audience and in exchange earns visibility for your business, which later turns into buying potential. 

How and when did you launch the business?

We launched the business initially at 2016, and then formalized it under a business license etc at 2019. 

How is the business funded? 

Since it’s a service business, it’s bootstrapped all the way. We needed to seek loans in some moments of crisis, but this still makes us bootstrapped i guess. 

How did you find your first few clients or customers?

The first few clients were through upwork. More precisely, through my own profile at UpWork. Back in 2014-2016, i was one of the top rated freelancers on UpWork, this came up with way more work opportunities than a single freelancer can handle. Therefore, I built a team real quick, and turned those opportunities into clients. 

What was your first year in business like?

At 22 years old, while still an undergraduate student, I hired my first batch of teammates. It felt more like an exciting collaborative project—a group of young dreamers working together, driven by the thrill of building something entirely our own. None of us had prior work experience or much knowledge about running an actual company.

I personally trained the first batch of writers, guiding them through the foundational skills needed for SEO content creation. Over time, I identified a few standout individuals who not only excelled in writing but also demonstrated natural leadership qualities. These teammates eventually took over training responsibilities, and some were promoted to team leaders.

For the next five years, this model became the backbone of our growth. We hired writers, nurtured their skills, and promoted them into key roles like editors, managers, trainers, and even HR. This approach created a culture of organic growth and empowerment, where every member had the opportunity to rise through the ranks.

Reflecting on our first year, we ended with a team of about 12–15 writers, supported by three team leaders. We managed projects using Trello and implemented a bi-weekly payment system based on individual output. It was a simple but effective structure that set the foundation for what would eventually grow into a much larger operation.

What strategies did you use to grow the business?

Before our pivot to a content marketing agency for SaaS, we operated as a content creation agency. The cornerstone of our growth was the exceptional quality of content we delivered and the personalized support we provided to our clients.

In the early years, from 2016 to 2020, our primary clientele consisted of bloggers and content website owners, mostly from the local market. At that time, the competition for producing high-quality content was minimal. This gap allowed us to stand out, and our reputation for delivering top-tier content spread quickly through word of mouth. Referrals became our primary growth driver, and soon we found ourselves consistently booked a month or two in advance.

This organic growth meant we rarely had to focus on traditional marketing or sales efforts. Our operations were 95% fulfillment and only 5% client acquisition. This simplicity enabled us to scale rapidly, eventually building a team of 150+ talented individuals.

While this sounds impressive, growing so quickly through word of mouth presented unique challenges. I’ll delve into those issues and how we addressed them in the next section.

What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome?

The biggest challenge we faced was transitioning from a business driven entirely by referrals to one that required a robust sales and marketing strategy.

In our first iteration, client acquisition was effortless—100% of our business came from word-of-mouth referrals. However, after our pivot in 2021, we entered the competitive international market, where building and maintaining a presence demanded a completely different skill set. As a first-time founder with no prior job experience, I had to navigate the complexities of sales, marketing, and business development from the ground up. This learning curve was steep, but it was also one of the most transformative experiences for both me and the company.

The second major challenge was adapting to the rise of generative AI in the content industry. Tools like ChatGPT and other AI technologies reshaped the content creation landscape, threatening agencies like ours that relied on generalist writers. At the same time, Google’s algorithm updates and stricter affiliate program policies (e.g., Amazon, ClickBank) led to the decline of content-heavy sites, which had been our primary market.

To overcome these challenges, we repurposed our content marketing and SEO expertise to focus on a new industry: SaaS. By specializing in creating high-quality, strategic content for software startups, we not only survived these disruptions but also positioned ourselves for long-term growth in a rapidly evolving digital ecosystem.

What have been the most significant keys to your business’ success?

Not sure if we’re at the epitome of success yet, but wherever we are right now, are because of three key factors- 

1. Sticking to Our Core Expertise and Adapting:
   Despite significant challenges in the content and SEO industry, we remained steadfast in our core expertise. Rather than abandoning it, we focused on reimagining and repackaging our skills to serve an entirely different industry.
   For instance, instead of simply producing content, we transitioned into content strategists for SaaS brands. We now craft comprehensive content calendars, provide competitive insights, and execute product-led SEO strategies. When content creation is required, we employ subject-matter experts through our sub-brand, Expertys.co, ensuring high-quality and industry-relevant outputs.
2. Bootstrapped Growth:
   Being a fully bootstrapped business has been both a challenge and a blessing. Without the cushion of investor funding, we had to adopt a highly disciplined approach to marketing, hiring, and operations. Every decision was measured against its potential ROI, forcing us to focus on sustainable and effective strategies. This resourcefulness became a cornerstone of our growth.
3. Hands-On Leadership:
   As a founder, I’ve always prioritized learning by doing. For every key process—whether it was creating content, managing teams, or strategizing SEO—I made it a point to spearhead the initiative myself before delegating it. This approach not only kept me educated about the nuances of each task but also ensured I could set clear expectations and refine processes for better outcomes.

Tell us about your team.

Right now, there are 12 full-timers, with 15-20 contractual employees. Also, under the sub-brand expertys.co, we have 25-30 freelance subject matter expert writers who work on client projects on demand. 

How did you make the transition from side hustle to full-time?

In the early years when I was studying Mechanical Engineering, I kind of slid into the content industry just out of plain interest. But once I was done with studies, it was already a big enough business to bet my following years into. Therefore, it was never replaced by a job for me. I actually don’t have any job experience myself at all. 

What was the turning point when you knew your business was successful?

I mean, we’re far from the goal that we’ve actually set for ourselves. But so far the confidence that we have as content marketers to pivot to a completely different industry and still be able to add value for clients in terms of SEO and content marketing solution- was the turning point for our business. 

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned growing the business?

The one most important lesson was- whether it’s service or agency we got to act in the client’s best interests. If we need to hone up or adapt to new skillsets for the sake of client’s success, we should do that all the time. But while doing so, we also need to make conscious choices to stickl to one particular line of expertise and not spread our capacity all over the place. 

What separates your business from your competitors?

First, we have a 7-years long experience in content marketing and that’s one thing that we think sets us apart from the rest. And second is- our extensive capacity for research. We really can dive into a handful of competitor/industry data to find out that one sweet spot to hit with contents which will translate into revenue for our clients.

What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs?

For people who’re trying to bootstrap an agency like us, I’d really encourage you to practice thought leadership in and of the company for each team member. Most of the time, there’s just a partial expertise that develops within different team members which might hamper the spread of ownership within the employees. 

While someone from the team might have a core expertise, that person also needs to have a hold on what else is going on across the rest of the company, and how it all makes the overall business functional. 

What is your favorite quote?

“It’s a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself. Makes you wonder what else you can do that you’ve forgotten about.”

― Alan Ball, American Beauty

What are your future plans for the business?

Initially we wanted to be a trusted name as an agency in the industry of product marketing. Later, we want to scale up this in form a platform where product owners meet their marketing partners, and roll out the marketing plan together. 

If you had to start from scratch, where would you begin?

I would definitely gather hands-on experience on team management, finance, recruitment, employee recruitment, marketing, etc first, and then would start building my own team. 

Also, I would have developed a personal brand around my core expertises on content marketing in parallel to developing the agency, so that at some point i could utilize my personal brand to leverage the company’s visibility. 

What are some of your favorite books, blogs, podcasts, or YouTube channels?

My favorite book would be “Radical Candor: How to Get What You Want by Saying What You Mean” by Kim Scott. I’m a big fan of Naval Ravikant and Ali Abdal, and listen to their podcasts whenever I can. I’m a history and startup buff, hence I follow Johnny Harris’s contents alongside resources from Y Combinator.