CrocoDeal is a lead generation business I’m building from zero. No investors. No co-founder. No inherited audience. Just 18 years of digital experience, an AI-powered workflow, and the same thinking I’ve applied to King Price Insurance, Discovery, OUTsurance, and Checkers. Except this time, the risk is mine.

This is the first post in a monthly series where I share what I built, what I spent, what worked, what flopped, and the real numbers behind all of it. No vanity metrics. No “exciting update” energy. Just the stuff that actually matters when you’re building something from nothing.

Why build in public?

Because I’m tired of the consultant’s paradox. We tell clients how to build, grow, and optimise their businesses every day. But most of us never show what happens when we apply that thinking to our own money and our own risk.

If the strategies I sell actually work, they should work for me too. CrocoDeal is my proof of concept. And this series is my accountability mechanism. If it works, you’ll see the numbers. If it doesn’t, you’ll see that too.

Month 1: What happened

Brand

CrocoDeal needed a name and a look that sticks in a market full of forgettable lead gen brands. I wanted something bold, slightly cheeky, and impossible to confuse with a generic SaaS startup. The identity was designed to feel confident without taking itself too seriously.

Website

The site was designed and built with one job: convert. Every page, every flow, every interaction. Conversion architecture was the design principle, not an afterthought. Built on a no-code platform so I can iterate fast without waiting for deployments.

SEO and GEO

I applied the same unified SEO, GEO, and AEO framework I use for client work. Content architecture, entity-rich copy, FAQ structures, technical foundations. All in from day one. Because if you’re going to build organic traffic, you don’t start that work in month three. You start it in month one.

What I spent

Month 1 was primarily time. Brand design, website build, content strategy, SEO setup. No paid ads yet. No external contractors. One person and an AI stack. I’ll share exact Rand figures as the months progress.

Next month

Content goes live. Tracking goes in. The first real data starts flowing. I’ll share traffic, rankings, and early conversion numbers. Whatever they are. Good, bad, or embarrassing.

If you’re a founder, a consultant, or anyone thinking about building something on the side, this series is for you. Follow along.

Want to chat about your project? Drop me a mail at hello@rademanstudios.co.za or call (+27) 082 783 1380. I reply personally. No bots.