AdsExpress: From hurricane wreckage to a 115-client recurring business
How Jose Graxirena rebuilt from zero, traded 80-hour weeks for daily webinars and helped local businesses (and aspiring entrepreneurs) win with HighLevel.
Summary
Jose Graxirena turned a HighLevel-powered training and services ecosystem into a 115-client recurring business that runs from anywhere, after losing everything to Hurricane María.
HighLevel Products used
SaaS Mode (white-label reselling)
AI-powered websites and funnels
Google Reviews automation
Workflow automation
Calendar and appointment booking
Email and SMS marketing
CRM and pipeline management
Conversation AI
Voice AI
Two-way SMS and unified inbox
Custom domains and snapshots
Total revenue in his first year with HighLevel
Active paying clients across recurring tiers ($107 to $397/mo)
Year-over-year revenue growth in 2025
The Challenge
Two hurricanes, 100-hour weeks and a family that barely saw him
Before HighLevel, Jose was a top-producing insurance agent in Florida, rebuilding a life he had lost to Hurricane María in Puerto Rico in 2017.
The agency model worked on paper. He hit Hall of Fame status with $400,000 in commissions. But every dollar came from his own time. Every week started at zero. Lead costs climbed. Mortgage rates spiked from 2% to 7%. Direct mail dried up.
He drove alone half the time. He worked 80 to 100 hours a week. His wife and two sons (one of them autistic) were stuck in a small Orlando apartment with no friends and no father who was actually home.
His family eventually sat him down and asked the question every entrepreneur dreads. "Why don't you just get a real job?"
Income that vanished every Monday morning
Insurance commissions are advances, not real income. Chargebacks, lead costs and a single bad week could erase the gains of the last three.
A business that owned him, not the other way around
Field appointments, cold calls, manual emails (300 a night) and constant driving. The model only paid when Jose personally showed up.
Present in the room, absent in life
$400,000 years felt empty when his wife was raising the kids alone and his vacations got interrupted by client emergencies.
"You can have success in business, but if your family isn't happy, it's nothing. Half my head was on the business. The other half was on my family." - Jose Graxirena
The Solution
A daily webinar, a Spanish-speaking audience and an AI ecosystem nobody else was selling
In 2024, Jose realized the lead platform he had been logging into was actually HighLevel running underneath. A YouTube deep-dive (plus an article about a founder using HighLevel for hurricane recovery in Puerto Rico) showed him what the platform could really do. He saw what his insurance career had never given him. Leverage.
He spotted two underserved audiences at once. Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs hungry for a digital business. And local business owners with broken Google profiles, no websites and zero automation. HighLevel could serve both groups from the same dashboard.
The acquisition engine became a daily live webinar at 6 p.m. (Monday through Friday) fed by daily YouTube uploads and 75 Shorts cut from each long-form video. Three subscription tiers from $107 to $397 monthly. Setup fees on the front end. AdsExpress as the brand.
Two remote VAs took over onboarding and support so Jose could focus on content and live training. Every Thursday he teaches clients how to deploy Voice AI for local businesses, turning a $2,000 employee into a $500 software product.
"My market used to be Orlando. Now my market is the planet. I have customers in England, France, Argentina." - Jose Graxirena
The Results
Predictable income, a global client base and weekday breakfasts with his wife
In year one on HighLevel, AdsExpress hit $116K in total revenue (a 100% jump over the year before) crossed 115 active recurring clients and earned Jose a Gold SaaSPRENEUR award. More importantly, he traded the 100-hour grind for a schedule that starts with the gym at 7 a.m. and breakfast with his family
First-year HighLevel revenue
Up 100% year over year. Built entirely through organic YouTube content and live daily webinars. Zero ad spend.
Active recurring clients
Spread across $107, $197 and $397 monthly tiers. No contracts. Customers in the U.S., Mexico, Spain, Argentina, England and France.
Time to hit 100 customers
Starting from one paying client. Driven entirely by daily YouTube uploads, Shorts and a live webinar at 6 p.m. every weekday.
Gold
First-year SaaSPRENEUR award
Jose's first full year on HighLevel earned recognition reserved for top operators on the platform.
"If you tell me I'll lose everything next Friday, I'll start a new business on Monday. When you lose everything, you lose fear." - Jose Graxirena
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Disclaimer: The results shared in this case study reflect the experience of one HighLevel user and are not typical or representative of what other users may achieve. AdsExpress' growth and revenue outcomes are specific to their unique business model, market and execution. Revenue figures represent gross revenue during the stated period and do not reflect expenses or net profit. HighLevel makes no representations, warranties or guarantees regarding potential earnings, client growth or business success. This content is for illustrative and informational purposes only and does not constitute a business opportunity, franchise offering or earnings guarantee. Past performance does not predict future results and individual results will vary significantly.
