Sean Si Motivational Speaker in Philippines How To Make Money at 22 Yrs

“Starting up is nothing glorious.” 🇵🇭

In Manila, I visited Sean Si, CEO and founder of SEO Hacker and author of CEO at 22. Years earlier, I’d approached him online asking for a job. His advice to learn SEO and digital marketing changed my path. 🎙️

📊 In this episode, we unpacked:

• ✝️ A faith blog that led to SEO
• 📝 The first client on a crude contract
• 🔁 An inbound funnel that sells itself
• 🏚️ Starting in his parents’ attic
• 💍 Choosing a life partner

🎥 Watch the full episode:

✝️ A Faith Blog That Led to SEO

Sean, a born-again Christian, started a faith blog with a couple of thousand pesos after his brother taught him how. Nobody read it, which was depressing for someone writing his heart out. ✝️

So he googled how to get more readers and applied the advice. Some worked, some didn’t, but he got the blog to PageRank 4, rare for a Christian blog. He realized other people needed SEO too, and started pitching it as a service. For another SEO founder story, read Pranav Jha’s interview. 🔗

📝 The First Client on a Crude Contract

On a trip, he met a girl from Hong Kong whose uncle owned a big scuba diving company and needed SEO. He assumed she’d forget him, but she referred him. 📝

He had no company and no logo. His contract was a crude printout, with pricing and proposal content researched online that day. The uncle signed anyway. “It was a miracle.” Those first payments funded the business, which grew to an in-house team of over 35 serving some of the biggest companies in the Philippines. For more on agency growth, read Navneet Kaushal’s interview. 🔗

🔁 An Inbound Funnel That Sells Itself

About 90% of clients come from SEO Hacker ranking for terms like “SEO Philippines” and “SEO company Philippines”, bringing three to seven leads a day. Each gets an automated PDF audit, then a proposal about five minutes later asking for a meeting. 🔁

Because leads are warm or hot, Sean closed well as the only salesperson for seven years before hiring his first. Speaking is his only real outbound. He also earns from software affiliate partnerships and runs a micro-survey SaaS called Qeryz, because he’d rather own the product than take an affiliate cut. The blog got over 40,000 sessions a month, mostly from the US, UK and India. For my own speaking trip there, read my Philippines panel. 🔗

🏚️ Starting in His Parents’ Attic

CEO at 22 tells his story. Addicted to computer games, he failed so many units that his university almost kicked him out. He finally deleted his games and finished college, to his father’s relief. 🏚️

Straight out of college, he worked at HP for five months, then quit to give SEO Hacker his full attention, eventually with his dad’s blessing. He started in his parents’ dusty attic, too hot to work in a shirt, on an eight-year-old laptop and an old college table, since air conditioning was too expensive. Passion kept him going. For another young founder, read Rohan Chaubey’s interview. 🔗

💍 Choosing a Life Partner

Sean met his wife at a singles retreat. The first time he courted her, she turned him down: he was younger and too aggressive. The second time, it worked. His goal was for his first girlfriend to become his wife, and she did. 💍

Be picky: your partner is a crucial business decision, especially if, like him, you’re the kind of entrepreneur whose home life affects work. He follows Neil Patel, Bill Slawski for patent breakdowns, Jono Alderson and Talia Wolf. For one of them, read Bill Slawski’s interview. 🔗

📝 Key Takeaways From the Sean Si Interview

• ✍️ Your own blog can teach you a business
• 🤝 Say yes to your first client, even if you’re not ready
• 🔁 Automate your inbound funnel
• 🏚️ Start with what you have
• 💍 Choose your life partner carefully

❓ FAQs About Sean Si

Who is Sean Si?

CEO and founder of SEO Hacker in the Philippines, a speaker, and author of CEO at 22.

How does SEO Hacker get clients?

About 90% come from ranking for SEO keywords in the Philippines, with automated audits and proposals.

How did Sean Si start in SEO?

By trying to grow readership for his faith blog, which he got to PageRank 4.

🎙️ More Inside A Hustler’s Brain Interviews You’ll Love

• Iftekhar Ahmed & Karan Wyas Interview: How SEO changed their Life
• How Alexander Ljubinkovic Built a Profitable SEO Agency from Scratch? 😮
• Matthew Woodward Live Interview At AWA Asia Bangkok About SEO
• Jabez Reuben’s Inspiring Entrepreneurial Journey: Life Lessons and Insights 🤩

Who helped you when you were starting from zero? Tell me in the comments. 💬

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