The OPA Method: How to Grow Using Other People's Audiences

Today I'm going to show you one of the secret strategies I used to grow a multi-million-dollar company out of my college apartment.

I call it the OPA Method — Other People's Audiences. And of all the so-called "growth hacks" out there, this is the only one I think is actually legitimate. Most of them are either bells and whistles or they're not replicable — they worked once, for one person, in one situation. OPA isn't that. I've used it across moving, podcasting, courses, and now our marketing business, and it works no matter what you sell. Let me show you how it works and how you can start using it this week. Let's get into it.

What Is the OPA Method?

The OPA Method (Other People's Audiences) means finding and partnering with people who already have access to the audience you want to reach — instead of relying only on the audience you currently own.

Think of it as multiplication through connection. You go from "me to whatever small audience I have right now" to "me to the much larger audiences that three, five, ten well-chosen partners already have." It works digitally or in the analog world, and it runs in conjunction with your own content strategy — not instead of it. Building your own list, subscribers, and followers matters because you own those. OPA is the accelerator that gets you in front of people you don't yet have any way to reach.

How I Used OPA to Grow From a College Apartment to Seven Figures

I started a residential moving company for college kids out of my apartment with my brother. The first 60 days, we made $10,000. By the first real year as a business, we were around $424,000, then about $861,000, then roughly $1.2 million by 2014 — the year I actually had to turn away close to $2 million in business because we were drowning. (I'll be honest: the receivables made it a cash-flow nightmare, and I nearly sold the company to death with too much volume.) Almost all of that growth came from layering OPA relationships on top of our own content. Here's how it stacked, one borrowed audience at a time:

1. The leasing office manager. Our building was a pain to move out of, and everyone knew it. I asked the manager if we could leave flyers and cards — and she started recommending us to every resident who came in to move. That one relationship made us $10k in 60 days, and by year two she estimated we moved about 30% of the building.
2. The apartment association. That same manager invited us to the monthly apartment association meetings, where she introduced us to other leasing managers. One building became many buildings — that lane alone could have been a comfortable quarter-million-dollar business.
3. 30 student promoters. I hired University of Georgia students and gave them commissions: if someone said " sent me," that student earned a commission plus worked the job plus kept the tip. The key? Students could promote on campus where outside companies legally couldn't. They were the access to an audience I couldn't touch.
4. Realtors. I dropped off a few boxes of donuts at the biggest realtor office in town (110+ agents), got into their networking group, and those agents started referring high-ticket, out-of-state moves worth $10k–$22k.
5. U-Haul. We became an authorized U-Haul dealer, which inserted us into their customer flow at checkout.
6. The big one — furniture manufacturers. A student-housing furniture manufacturer found us online (that's the content strategy working alongside OPA), which led to a $60k and then a $145k install contract — which led to the national student-housing conference, which led to us working with five of the seven major turnkey furniture manufacturers in that space. One relationship, leveraged into many.

How Do You Find Your OPA Partners?

You find them by asking one simple question, over and over: Who already has trusted access to the exact people I want to serve?

Here's the process I'd run:

1. Define your ideal customer precisely — who they are and where they already gather.
2. List the gatekeepers who already have that audience's trust and attention (the leasing manager, the realtor, the established YouTuber, the complementary business).
3. Make it mutually beneficial. Give them a real reason to connect you — a referral commission, a genuine value-add, or simply being the reliable partner that makes them look good.
4. Turn one into many. Every happy partner is a doorway to their network. Ask for the introduction.

Does OPA Work for Online Businesses and Products Too?

Absolutely — it's not just an analog tactic. I've used OPA in podcasting (I leveraged one warm introduction to Daymond John into landing Grant Cardone and Barbara Corcoran as guests when my show was just getting started). And it works for products.

A great example: someone I know named Pat had a simple $35 product — a counterweight mount that keeps a camera tripod from tipping over. Pat had zero interest in making content. So instead, he got the product featured in a gear reviewer's YouTube video. That one video pulled around 7,000 views, and in the first week it went live, Pat made about $2,200 off a $35 product. One person's audience. That's OPA for physical products, and the same principle applies to digital products, coaching, and services.

The One Rule That Makes OPA Work: You Have to Deliver

OPA compounds entirely through referrals and introductions — and those evaporate instantly if you don't do great work.

This isn't a ninja hack that lets you skip the actual delivery. The leasing manager only kept recommending us because we showed up and did the job well. Mess up one big opportunity and you don't get introduced to the next leasing manager, the next realtor, or the next manufacturer. So bust your butt and deliver — and when you do, OPA becomes the fastest way I know to get over the hump to your first six figures and out of the "no man's land" where you're working harder than a job for less money. Once you're over that hump, you finally have the capital to reinvest in your growth.

Key Takeaways

• The OPA Method (Other People's Audiences) means partnering with people who already have access to your ideal audience.
• It's multiplication through connection — and it runs alongside your own content, not instead of it.
• One relationship becomes many: my moving company scaled from a college apartment to seven figures this way.
• Find the gatekeepers who already have trusted access, then make the partnership mutually beneficial.
• OPA works for any model — services, podcasts, and products (a $35 product made ~$2,200 in a week off one video).
• You must deliver — referrals and intros dry up fast if you don't do great work.
• Use OPA to escape the revenue "no man's land," then reinvest your capital into growth.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the OPA Method?

The OPA Method stands for Other People's Audiences. It's a growth strategy where you partner with people or businesses that already have access to the audience you want to reach, instead of relying solely on the audience you currently own. By building genuine, mutually beneficial relationships, you turn a single connection into access to many new potential customers — multiplication through connection.

How do you find people whose audiences you can leverage?

Start by defining your ideal customer precisely, then list the "gatekeepers" who already have that audience's trust — complementary businesses, established creators, local connectors, or partners who serve the same people you do. Reach out with a mutually beneficial offer (a referral commission, a genuine value-add, or simply being a reliable partner), and ask each happy partner to introduce you to others in their network.

Does the OPA Method work for online businesses and products?

Yes. OPA works for services, coaching, digital products, podcasts, and physical products alike. For example, a simple $35 physical product earned around $2,200 in its first week just by being featured in one reviewer's YouTube video. The same principle powers podcast guesting, affiliate and collaboration deals, and partnerships — any situation where someone else already has the audience you want.

Is OPA a replacement for building my own audience?

No — it works best alongside your own content and owned channels. The audiences you reach through partners are borrowed, while your email list, subscribers, and followers are assets you actually own. Use OPA to accelerate growth and reach people you can't access yet, while you simultaneously build the owned audience that gives you long-term stability.

What's the catch with the OPA Method?

You have to deliver. OPA compounds through referrals and introductions, and those disappear the moment you do poor work. There's no shortcut around doing a genuinely great job — but when you consistently deliver, partners keep recommending you and introducing you to their networks, which is what makes the strategy so powerful.

Want Help Building This Into Your Business?

OPA is how you get over the hump. Pairing it with a real system is how you scale past it.

If you want to apply this in your business — and build it alongside our Content to Customers method, so you're creating content, sales, and ad funnels that actually drive new revenue rather than just collecting free followers — you can apply to work with us for one-on-one or group coaching, or learn more inside The Business Lounge. No pressure — if it's a fit, it's a fit.

I was a broke college kid with no audience and no money when I started using this. It was just hustle and relationships. It'll work for you too.

— Chris