Welcome back to Million Dollar Marketing—the show for marketers, founders, and CEOs who are done playing small.

In today’s episode, we’re breaking down AI in a way most people won’t. I sat down with Kevin Jacobson Jr. and Joshua Collier, the co-founders of Leverage AI and hosts of the no-fluff, straight-talking Entrepreneurship Sucks podcast. These two aren’t just building AI automations—they’re building revenue-generating machines backed by real sales experience, battle-tested strategy, and a deep respect for the human side of business.

We got into it all: sales systems, CRO mistakes, set-it-and-forget-it lies, and how to scale without becoming a robot (or hiring 30 of them).

🤖 Why AI Alone Doesn’t Sell

Kevin and Josh dropped the hammer on the biggest lie being sold in online business right now: that AI is a plug-and-play magic bullet.

Spoiler: it’s not.

AI is a leverage point, not a replacement for strategy, testing, or human connection. You can’t just “set it and forget it” and expect conversions to pour in. In fact, most people ghost their own pipelines while sitting on thousands of leads.

Here’s what sets their AI builds apart:

• They're not built by tech bros—they're built by sales pros.
  

• Every bot is trained, not just built.
  

• They focus on two-way engagement, not one-way billboards.
  

• Everything is tracked, tested, and optimized—because that’s where real conversion happens.
  

🔥 Cold Leads = Missed Revenue

One of the most valuable takeaways from this convo? Most businesses already have what they need—they’re just not using it.

Kevin and Josh specialize in reactivating old, cold, and ignored leads. They’ve helped everyone from solo coaches to a $150M company recover revenue sitting dormant in their CRMs. One AI system they built generated over $1M in just 70 days from leads the company had already paid for years ago.

You don’t need more leads. You need smarter systems that know how to qualify, engage, and convert.

🧠 Simple CRO Fixes Most Founders Miss

Here are a few conversion truths we uncovered:

• Most businesses assume interest = intent. It doesn’t.
  

• If your funnel isn’t pulling people forward at every stage, you’re leaving money on the table.
  

• There’s a sweet spot between too much friction and not enough qualification—find it, and you’ll 3x your pipeline.
  

• Your systems should adapt based on behavior. No response after two texts? Switch to voice AI.
  

• AI needs to be monitored by humans who understand sales psychology—delegation without understanding leads to chaos.
  

Their approach to CRO blends human insight with automation. Because AI can’t read the room if the room hasn’t been trained to sell.

💡 Behind the Brand: Leading with Faith, Not Ego

This episode didn’t just drop gems on marketing—it gave us a peek behind the scenes into what really fuels these two.

Josh shared how staying connected to the 20 people who rely on him daily gives him the fire to lead with integrity—even without a family of his own (yet).

Kevin got personal about growing up in a chaotic home, stepping into a caretaker role at age 9, and now using that same resilience and responsibility to lead his family and his business.

Both are grounded in faith, driven by impact, and unafraid to say the hard stuff.

“Stop optimizing for comfort. Your business is 75 Hard. Do the reps.”
— Kevin Jacobson Jr.

🚩 Most Overrated Business Advice?

Kevin: The 4-Hour Workweek.
Josh: "Who, Not How"—without understanding the how first.

Favorite underrated system?
Build and document your client delivery process before hiring your next team member. You can’t delegate chaos and expect clarity.

👊 Final Word for Founders in the Messy Middle

If you’re in the messy middle, feeling the weight of scaling, here’s what Josh and Kevin want you to know:

✅ Your business reflects who you are.
✅ The fastest ROI will always come from personal growth.
✅ You can’t skip the hard parts—lean in.
✅ You don’t need balance—you need to know what matters and make time for it.
✅ Don’t delegate what you’ve never learned. Master it first, then scale.

🎧 Want More?

Go binge their podcast at EntrepreneurshipSucksPodcast.com and follow them on Instagram @kevjacobsonjr and @itsjoshcollier.

Ready to stop ghosting your own pipeline? Learn more about Leverage AI and what’s possible when you combine human-first marketing with sales-trained automations: https://www.levrg.ai