“I’m wearing a $40 watch. I just sold an agency a year ago.” To Chris Tzitzis, money was always just a way to buy time. ⌚
At Link Building Mastery Chiang Mai 2025, I sat down with Chris Tzitzis, the SEO YouTuber who sold his link building agency, for a personal fireside chat. 🎙️
We talked about life after the exit, partnering with a friend, handling hate, his mom, and what peace really means. 💭
📊 In this episode, we unpacked:
- 🍎 From English teacher to SEO
- 🏷️ Selling the agency and losing a bit of identity
- 🤝 Choosing partners carefully
- 💬 Handling online hate
- 💰 Money buys time
- 🧘 Peace, regrets and his mom
🎥 Watch the full episode:
🍎 From English Teacher to SEO
Chris started learning SEO at 30. He was an English teacher earning about $45K a year, “got tired of being poor,” and hated teaching. A friend who did SEO, later his business partner, showed him the courses. 📚
He had no business role models: no podcasts or books. He looked up to the people behind the course OMG Machines (Mike Long and others). Its black hat and PBN side made him fall in love with SEO. 🕶️
He made his first million through SEO, specifically link building. “I just found this cool new thing… and wanted to push it as hard as I could.” 🚀
He’s from Texas and has traveled Southeast Asia for four or five years. He goes to two conferences a year, Chiang Mai and Mads Singers’s SEO Mastery Summit in Vietnam. Last year in Vietnam, he skipped every talk and only went to the parties to say hi. 🎉
🏷️ Selling the Agency and Losing a Bit of Identity
When he told his team about the sale, a couple of employees cried. They wanted to come with him, but he couldn’t take them because of the deal. “That made me feel good, but it was also really sad.” 😢
Each year has been the best of his life so far, but the year after selling felt different: “There’s a little insecurity… what do I want to do next?” 🤔
“When your identity becomes the company,” and people still introduce you by your old agency, Links a Lot, “you lose a bit of your identity.” Now he’s relearning and setting a new direction. 🧭
For another exit and agency story, read Alexander Ljubinkovic on building an SEO agency. 🔗
🤝 Choosing Partners Carefully
The agency was his biggest success, and his partner was a friend of about 25 years, since high school. 🎓
His lesson: “Working together with other people is very difficult. You need to choose your partners very carefully.” Once you work together, “you’re no longer just friends… it’s all about money.” 🤝
Niels Zee shared a similar lesson about co-founders. Read Niels Zee on trusting your gut. 🔗
💬 Handling Online Hate
After selling, he took six months off YouTube and “forgot how to deal with the hate.” Some people follow him from video to video just to leave hateful comments. 😤
What helps: “No real successful person is going around leaving hateful comments.” They don’t have time, and they see no benefit in putting others down. Often those people are going through a hard time. 🛡️
What he loves instead: someone telling him at a conference that their team keeps sending them his videos to implement. 🙌
His regret is a few times he didn’t treat people well, maybe when he was stressed. “I actually do regret that.” 🙏
💰 Money Buys Time
“No one says they wish they had earned more money… Money for me was always just a way to buy time. It’s a way to buy your freedom.” ⏳
He’s a minimalist who feels guilty buying expensive things. His biggest “purchases” are lump sums into the S&P 500. “Investing stresses me out.” He’s also holding some cash because markets feel odd. 📈
He doesn’t know his FIRE number (“maybe it would always just be double what I have”) and says anyone with over $50M should ask what they’re even doing. A Lambo would feel like a midlife crisis, and he wouldn’t marry someone focused on luxury brands. 🚗
He wants to provide for his family but would teach his kids the value of hard work. On prenups, he’s unsure: it feels like a lack of trust, but “the idea of losing half my money scares me.” 💍
🧘 Peace, Regrets and His Mom
The most important person in his life is his mom. He’s an only child, she’s his biggest fan, and she’s his go-to call. The main reason he returns to the US is to see his parents. “Sorry dad if you’re watching.” 💛
Peace to him is “being able to wake up and feeling like there’s nothing I need to do.” 🌅
The Steve Jobs biography, which he read in two days, taught him that very successful people can be tortured, always chasing double what they have. Success is different for everyone. He also likes Ryan Holiday and stoicism. 📖
Other answers:
- 🚀 A day with: Elon Musk, for reusable rockets and big ideas, politics aside
- 🧘 Stress: mindfulness meditation and staying sober most of the year
- 🔋 Personality: an introvert who needs lots of alone time
- 🏔️ Where to live: Hokkaido, Japan, for the mountains
- 🐕 Last time he cried: lying next to his old childhood dog before leaving for university
- 🧠 Best advice: don’t take advice from people who don’t have the life you want
Find Chris on YouTube. For more on handling fame and conferences, read Jabez Reuben on Link Building Mastery. 🔗
📝 Key Takeaways From the Chris Tzitzis Interview
- ⏳ Money is a tool to buy time and freedom
- 🤝 Choose business partners very carefully, even old friends
- 🧭 Expect an identity gap after selling your company
- 🛡️ Successful people don’t leave hateful comments
- 🧠 Only take advice from people living the life you want
- 🌅 Peace is waking up with nothing you need to do
❓ FAQs About Chris Tzitzis
Who is Chris Tzitzis?
Chris Tzitzis is an American SEO and YouTuber who started SEO at 30 after teaching English, built a link building agency with a longtime friend, and sold it around a year before this interview.
How did Chris Tzitzis make his first million?
Through SEO, specifically link building.
What did Chris learn from selling his agency?
That when your identity is tied to your company, you lose part of it after the sale, and that you must choose partners very carefully.
How does Chris Tzitzis invest?
Mostly lump sums into the S&P 500, while holding some cash. He’s a minimalist who rarely buys expensive things.
🎙️ More Inside A Hustler’s Brain Interviews You’ll Love
- Stewart “SEO Jesus” Talks AI, Rankings, and Smart SEO 🔥
- Alejandro’s SEO Success: From House Servant to Digital Entrepreneur 🔥
- David Johnson: (Regrets and Redemption) How He Built a $1M Affiliate Empire? 🤑
- Navneet Kaushal: Building a Million-Dollar SEO Agency and Life Lessons 🧐
What does peace look like for you? Share this with a founder who’s chasing the next number. 💬
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Jitendra Vaswani is a well-known expert in SEO and AI-driven digital marketing. He has spoken at international events and founded Digiexe, a digital marketing agency, and AffiliateBooster, WordPress plugin designed specifically for affiliate marketers. With over 10 years of experience, Jitendra has helped many businesses succeed online. His bestselling book, Inside A Hustler’s Brain: In Pursuit of Financial Freedom, with over 20,000 copies sold globally, underscores his influence and commitment to empowering digital marketers.