How do I start an exclusive business owners group and fill it with Meta ads?
Short answer
Put the bar in the ad. I ran Meta ads for a client's club that said you must own a business doing $1 million a year or more, and leads came in around $2 each, including owners of $10 to $30 million companies. Screen every applicant with a form, don't invite the ones who miss the bar, and make your money on the back end.
A client in a bigger city wanted their own version of an exclusive business-owner club, because nothing like it existed there. I started running Meta ads for them. It's crushing.
"She's getting business owners with $25 million businesses, legit. Yeah, some are small with a million, 2 million, whatever. But she's like some with 10, 20, got one with 30. And it's costing like $2 a lead."
How do you write the ad?
Put the bar right in the ad: this is for business owners whose companies make a million dollars a year or more. The exclusivity is the hook. A teammate of mine started running the same ad and quickly got three legit business owners, one of whom had been on Shark Tank.
How do you screen applicants?
Everyone goes through a form. The main question is basically: are you a million-dollar business? If the answer is no, they go on a different list and don't get invited.
That can feel like leaving money on the table. Getting the right people in is so valuable that taking the easy money can kill the business. The chamber can take anybody. That's the difference.
What do members get?
The version I've sketched for my own county, which I haven't built yet: one fee, something like $200 to $400 a month, for networking happy hours, fancy dinners, learning sessions, office hours and AI trainings for their teams. Real businesses only, not MLM people or ladies who bake cakes in their spare time. You have to apply.
The client I ran ads for wasn't charging for membership yet. They were still figuring it out. They charged $200 for a dinner and 16 people came.
What revenue bar should you set?
Match it to the market. A million-dollar minimum works in a big city. Where I am, I'd probably go a little smaller.
Location matters as much as the bar. I'd pick Williamson County over Austin proper, because Austin already has a lot of these groups. The value is in Williamson County.
A niche version works too. Imagine you've spent a year building a big local audience, then you launch a vetted community for home service owners making over half a million a year. That's a home run. I want to do exactly that where I live. I just don't have the capacity yet.
Where's the money?
Mostly on the back end. Business owners in that client's group started asking about advertising, because the group's sponsor also has a local newsletter. You're building a possible membership business, and at the same time you're finding coaching clients and advertisers for brands that already exist.
For the broader, less exclusive version, see how I'd build a modern alternative to BNI and the chamber.
Answered by TJ Larkin. From Local Media HQ podcast conversations, client and partner calls, and my own notes, 2025-2026. Last updated .