How I’m Going to Make $1 Million in 365 Days — Building in Public From Dubai

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How I’m Going to Make $1 Million in 365 Days — Building in Public From Dubai

By Colin Dijs | Web3 Growth, Performance Marketing & Digital Assets

After three company exits and 18 years in performance marketing, I’m starting over — and documenting every step publicly. Here’s why, and what I’m building next.

Why a Serial Entrepreneur With Three Exits Is Starting From Zero

My name is Colin Dijs. I’m 33, originally from Amsterdam, and I’ve lived in Dubai for the past four and a half years. I’ve built and sold companies in affiliate marketing, Web3 go-to-market, and performance marketing consulting. Three exits. Over 250 token and NFT launches. Consulting for some of the biggest crypto projects in the world.

And after all of that, I took six months off.

It was the right call at the time. But here’s the uncomfortable truth about being comfortable: comfort makes you lazy. I have everything I need. A great life in Dubai, a good track record, money in the bank. And I was doing absolutely nothing with it.

That stops now.

I’m rebuilding — and I’m doing it in public, on YouTube, on LinkedIn, and here on this blog. Every day. Starting from Day 1.

What I’m Building: Performance Marketing Meets Web3

Here’s the gap I’ve been thinking about for years, and the problem I’m going all-in to solve:

Performance marketing and Web3 don’t speak the same language — and nobody is bridging that gap properly.

In traditional media buying, you track everything. Click → landing page → conversion → revenue. Clean funnel. Tight attribution. You know exactly what’s working.

In Web3? It’s a mess. Smart contract conversions aren’t tracked the same way. The audience actively resists KYC. Behaviour patterns are completely different from Web2 consumers. The compliance layer is a nightmare. And the tools that exist were built for a different world.

I spent four years running a go-to-market agency for crypto projects launching tokens and NFT collections. We did it. It worked. But I was always fighting the tooling, the tracking, and the data infrastructure that just didn’t exist yet.

That’s the opportunity. And that’s what I’m building toward.

My Background: 18 Years of Building Things

I started early. As a teenager in Amsterdam, I was importing trading cards from the US using my mum’s Visa card and reselling them on eBay. It worked — until I ran into trouble with the tax authority over product classification. Classic first-business story.

From there:

  • A fishing business
  • E-commerce and dropshipping (before AliExpress existed — we’re talking WooCommerce and Alibaba with manual translations)
  • Nutrition coaching
  • Affiliate marketing and media buying (my main claim to fame — five years, my own agency, thousands of clients)
  • Web3 go-to-market (four-plus years, 250+ launches, exited two agencies in 2025)
  • Now: the next chapter

Half of those were what I call “hobby companies” — me exploring, learning, figuring out what I wanted. The other half were serious businesses with real exits.

The affiliate marketing era is where most of you will know me. 26,000 subscribers on my original YouTube channel, 600+ videos, years of content about media buying and CPA marketing. That content is coming back — I’m reactivating all of it.

The $1 Million Goal — And Why I’m Saying It Out Loud

I’m setting a public goal: $1 million in profit in the next 365 days.

I know how that sounds. But here’s the context:

This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve built profitable businesses multiple times. The path isn’t new to me — the consistency of showing up every day, building slowly, compounding results over time. I’ve done it. I know what it looks like.

What I also know is that the curve never goes straight up. It looks like this:

Flat. Flat. Flat. Small dip. Flat. Then — if you’ve been consistent — it breaks.

That could take 30 days. Could take 90. Could take 365. I’m committed to showing up either way.

The reason I’m saying this publicly is accountability. When I’m not working toward something visible, I drift. YouTube keeps me honest. This blog keeps me honest. You reading this keeps me honest.

What the Business Model Looks Like

Here’s what I’m building across a few interconnected revenue streams:

1. Web3 Growth Consulting Still active. Clients pay anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000 per month depending on scope. This is my primary income right now and it funds the build. Focus areas: go-to-market strategy, community growth, KOL campaigns, token launch planning.

2. Performance Marketing for Web3 Projects The core thesis. Bringing media buying discipline — proper attribution, audience segmentation, funnel tracking — to crypto and digital asset projects. Particularly interested in stablecoins, payment infrastructure, and real-world assets (RWA).

3. Education and Community I’ve always shared knowledge publicly. Courses, masterminds, community — these will be part of the model as the audience grows.

4. Content (YouTube + LinkedIn + This Blog) The distribution engine. Daily updates, strategy breakdowns, behind-the-scenes looks at what’s actually working. Not a polished media operation — just me, a camera, screen shares, and real numbers.

Why Stablecoins and Real-World Assets?

Most people hear “crypto” and think trading. Bitcoin price. Speculation.

I don’t care about that.

What interests me is the infrastructure layer — specifically:

Stablecoins and payment rails. Send a wire transfer from the US to Europe: five business days, fees, friction. Send USDC or USDT: ten seconds, near-zero cost. That delta is enormous, and it’s only going to get more relevant as global commerce becomes more digital-asset-native.

Real-world assets (RWA). Tokenised real estate. Tokenised gold. Fractionalised ownership of assets that used to require millions to access. This is where institutional money is quietly moving, and it’s where I want to build consulting and go-to-market expertise.

These aren’t moonshot narratives. They’re solving real problems for real businesses. That’s where I want to spend my time.

What “Building in Public” Actually Means

Every day, I’m going to show up and document what I’m doing:

  • How many LinkedIn connection requests sent, and what response rate
  • What content is performing and what isn’t
  • Which consulting conversations are progressing
  • What I’m learning about Web3 growth attribution
  • The actual numbers — revenue, pipeline, results

I’ve documented businesses on YouTube since I was a teenager. Trading cards. Fishing. Affiliate marketing. Powerlifting. This is the latest chapter.

If you found this post through my old affiliate marketing content, welcome back. The media buying DNA is still here — it’s just being applied to a completely different and more interesting problem.

If you’re new here: I’m Colin. I build things. I document it. Stick around.

How to Follow Along

  • YouTube: Daily updates, long-form strategy content on Web3 growth and performance marketing
  • LinkedIn: Daily posts, connection requests welcome — I actually reply
  • This blog: Weekly written breakdowns, SEO-friendly deep dives into what I’m learning
  • Twitter/X: Real-time thoughts and commentary

Day 1 is done. Day 2 starts tomorrow.

If you’re building in Web3, running performance marketing campaigns, or just interested in what 18 years of entrepreneurship looks like in practice — follow along. It’s going to be an interesting year.

Colin Dijs is a serial entrepreneur and Web3 growth consultant based in Dubai. He has built and exited multiple companies across affiliate marketing and crypto go-to-market, worked on 250+ token and NFT launches, and is now building his next venture in public. Connect with him on LinkedIn or subscribe to his YouTube channel.

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