Mason Cosby

It began as a side hustle to replace his wife's income after they found out they were having kids. The name came from a LinkedIn post about building a 'scrappy ABM program' — he Googled the term, found only his own post, and decided to own that corner of the internet. Within 7 weeks the side hustle closed about $300,000.

The real story behind Scrappy ABM with Mason Cosby | People are People | Ep. 041:00

He never intended to quit — he planned to keep his day job and work nights and weekends. But right after closing $300K, his employer told him he'd be part of a layoff the next week. His wife's maternity leave (3 months half pay plus 3 months FMLA) gave the family a 6-month runway to test the business.

The real story behind Scrappy ABM with Mason Cosby | People are People | Ep. 042:00

After his biggest client backed out of $180K, he went to four CMOs offering $100/hour for 60 hours a month with a refund guarantee; one accepted, providing a consistent $6,000/month. From there he built a model: one client covers your family's baseline budget, two means real savings, three builds wealth in 10-15 hours per client per week, and client four is your own marketing.

The real story behind Scrappy ABM with Mason Cosby | People are People | Ep. 046:04

He didn't know if he was as good as people thought, so hiring was really brand reputation management — hiring for his weaknesses to make sure he delivered on promises. He was doing eight jobs at once, working 100-130 hours a week while his wife added 20-30 unpaid hours, which was unsustainable.

The real story behind Scrappy ABM with Mason Cosby | People are People | Ep. 049:08

For the first 6 months she edited podcasts during nap times and at night, unpaid. He eventually hired an editor for about $3K a month, which was better for the business and the marriage — it's hard to hold an unpaid employee accountable, especially when the alternative is caring for your child.

The real story behind Scrappy ABM with Mason Cosby | People are People | Ep. 0411:10