Some businesses are born out of grand visions, others are born out of a teenager writing articles for pocket change and stumbling into Google’s black box. For Benas Leonavicius, the founder of TalkThrive Agency, it was the latter. One of his earliest clients casually mentioned that the articles he was writing needed to “rank” and while most people would have nodded politely and moved on, Benas took it as a personal challenge diving headfirst into keywords, backlinks, and the strange thrill of watching traffic charts rise. That little win was enough to spark an obsession, the kind of obsession that has you refreshing Google Search Console at midnight and treating every site like a puzzle to be solved.
The first time I saw something I’d written hit page one, I realised I wasn’t just writing, I was moving a business forward
Benas Leonavicius
The Experiments Before the Breakthrough
Like many solopreneurs, Benas didn’t immediately land on the thing that worked. He tested e-commerce, tried self-publishing, ran email marketing campaigns, and even managed over $900,000 in Facebook ad spend. These ventures were less about empire building and more about collecting mini-MBAs in what not to do. What none of them offered, however, was the perfect blend of technical problem-solving, storytelling, and measurable long-term results that SEO gave him.
“Unlike ads, which switch off the second you stop paying, SEO keeps working. It compounds. You do the work once, and the results keep stacking,” he explains. That realisation set the stage for TalkThrive.
The Happy Accident of a Niche
Benas didn’t sit down one day and decide that keynote speakers were his destiny. Instead, one wandered into his pipeline through a course community, and after a successful project the results spread quickly through the speaker circuit. It turns out speakers love talking to each other (shocking, I know), and soon referrals became his primary growth channel.
“I didn’t choose speakers as a niche, they chose me,” Benas says. “Once I saw how quickly word spread, it was obvious this was the perfect fit.”
Building Small on Purpose
Most agencies measure their success by headcount, office space, or how many jargon filled case studies they can cram into a PDF. TalkThrive does the opposite and Benas caps his client load, avoids hiring unless absolutely necessary, and chooses to stay intentionally small. This lean model means he brings in about $11,500 per month, around $130,000 per year, with profit margins upwards of 90 percent.
“I’d rather have five clients I love working with than twenty I can barely remember. Staying lean keeps me sharp,” he says. It also keeps him sleeping well, since there’s no payroll to manage or endless meetings to endure.
Growth Without the Noise
The “launch” of TalkThrive wasn’t a grand unveiling with countdowns and Twitter hype threads. It was a handful of mini audits sent directly to prospects, one well polished Upwork profile, and a steady stream of case studies. Those short Loom video audits five minutes showing exactly what needed fixing and why it mattered, became his best sales tool.
Over time, joining paid communities like YouTube courses and mastermind groups created opportunities without cold pitching. Simply showing up, being useful, and delivering results turned into multi-year retainers. “Clients don’t want hype, they want proof,” Benas says, and proof is exactly what his case studies delivered.
Lessons from the Solopreneur Trenches
Running a one-man agency comes with its own set of hard lessons. Early on, Benas let a single client creep over 50 percent of revenue, a move that gave him more anxiety than he’d care to repeat. He also admits he waited too long to formalise a referral system, relying too heavily on chance, but each mistake shaped the way he works now.
“No single client should ever be more than 40 percent of revenue. That one rule keeps me sane,” he explains. He also now insists on six-month retainers, documents everything religiously, and treats every client like a potential five-year partner rather than a short-term win.
You don’t need a huge team or a viral launch. You just need a handful of happy clients and the discipline to stay useful.
Benas Leonavicius
Advice for Would-Be Solopreneurs
Benas’ philosophy is refreshingly simple: prove it once, package it, and repeat. Keep entry points low with audits or pilots, double down on channels that already work, and resist the urge to chase every shiny new platform. Above all, protect your margins because growth without profit is just a more expensive way to burn out.
TalkThrive shows that business doesn’t need to be big to be successful. With $11K in monthly recurring revenue, 90 percent margins, and the ability to choose clients he enjoys working with, Benas proves that staying intentionally small can sometimes be the most powerful growth strategy of all. Or as he puts it best: “Keep the business small enough to love, profitable enough to breathe, and human enough that people want to stick around.”
