How Pure Water Factory Used AI to Level-Up Its Marketing & Land a 6 Figure Deal

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Elliot Durant Went From "Tech Tentative" to a

Confident, Self-Sufficient Digital Marketer,

Positioning His Water-Delivery Startup for

Faster, Lower-Cost Growth.

By Dan Grech, BizHack CEO and Founder

September 5,2025

Summary: From Tech Fear to AI Marketing Mastery

Pure Water Factory’s Elliot Durant III, like so many small-business owners, was intimidated by marketing and technology. He relied on costly freelancers to create marketing content and produce the professionally designed sales proposals and branded pitch decks he needed to pitch larger accounts. Elliot feared his tech aversion would make it impossible to turn his alkaline water startup into a million-dollar company.

Elliot’s turning point came when he joined BizHack’s AI Marketing Accelerator, an eight-week program designed to help small-business owners master strategic marketing using AI tools. The hands-on, earn-while-you-learn course empowered him to create high-impact marketing campaigns and sales proposals. While in the course, he landed a $100,000 annual contract – all while saving time and money and growing in confidence.

He entered the course with no AI knowledge, no digital assets and no marketing team … and left with a lead-generating campaign, a six-figure deal and the confidence to scale his company.

“I’ve developed the ability to integrate AI into various aspects of work and problem-solving, turning what was once unfamiliar into an invaluable skill set.” – Elliot Durant

The Challenge: Conquering Tech Fear

Director of Marketing & Communications, Girl Scouts of Tropical Florida | BizHack Certified Instructor

Elliot Durant III had a problem. The co-founder of water-delivery startup Pure Water Factory wanted to scale up his three-year-old company by landing big accounts and growing his customer base. But with $350,000 in revenue in 2024, he couldn’t afford to hire a marketing agency or an employee trained in marketing.

“I wanted to create a brand, but as one person and not a huge team in a corporation, it’s very difficult,” – Elliot said.

Elliot was the company’s only salesperson. He knew he needed a strategic marketing plan and compelling content in order to attract larger clients. And he needed professionally produced, high-quality sales support materials to close those bigger deals. However, the 63-year-old had no idea how to create marketing content for social media or email, and he felt unprepared to use digital tools to create sales assets. He had never used an AI tool and had no idea how to identify which tools to try, let alone how to integrate AI into his workflow. In fact, Elliot found the internet, social media and the idea of artificial intelligence intimidating and didn’t consider himself a “tech person.”

“I had a lot of fear of the unknown,” Elliot said. “I didn’t know the internet, I didn’t know AI. I just didn’t feel like I could learn fast enough.”

Elliot knew that when pitching larger companies, they’d respond best to proposal decks that were beautiful, informative and professionally designed and branded. That meant whenever Elliot wanted to pitch a larger account, he had to hire freelancers to create slide decks, proposals and graphics at a cost of nearly $1,000 per prospect.

Fears around technology and marketing were preventing Elliot from fulfilling his bigger vision.

A Big Dream, But No Digital Road Map

After a long career in Hollywood, Elliot saw a market gap for alkaline water during a trip to Miami. He asked at his hotel where he could get the kind of clean, pure, mineralized alkaline drinking water that was part of his routine at home in California. But nobody in Miami knew what he was talking about. Six months later, he packed his car and drove cross-country to open Pure Water Factory.

On March 7, 2022, Pure Water Factory officially opened its doors with a retail store, distribution center and headquarters in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood. The factory eliminates contaminants and infuses minerals, creating clean 9.5 pH alkaline water.

Elliot set out to bring ultra-pure and reasonably priced alkaline water into every household, gym, school and office in Greater Miami. He believed that the mineral-infused water created with the company’s custom-built, multistage filtration system could change lives.

“Clean drinking water isn’t a privilege; it’s a right,” Elliot said. “Our mission statement is: We do water better.”

Elliot had the drive and determination to scale Pure Water Factory – but no clear digital road map to get there.

The Solution: BizHack's AI Marketing Accelerator

Elliot knew he needed help. He attended a small-business summit hosted by Miami-Dade County at the local library, and he heard Dan Grech, founder and CEO of BizHack Academy, speak about the marketing challenges that so many small businesses face. BizHack offered an eight-week course called the AI Marketing Accelerator to jump-start marketing efforts.

Elliot wanted to generate more leads and sales for his business to expand the company’s reach. He was attracted to the BizHack program because he would work closely with a dedicated BizHack marketing coach to build a personalized Real-Life Campaign.

Turning Strategy Into Action With a Real-Life Campaign

A Real-Life Campaign is a strategic, results-driven marketing initiative built using BizHack’s Lead Building System™. It’s not theory; it’s practical, hands-on application. Each participant in the AI Marketing Accelerator creates a lead generation campaign, guided by expert coaches and a step-by-step framework to attract prospects, close sales and build digital fluency.

This structured approach would guide Elliot step by step, ensuring his efforts were aligned with a clear campaign objective, targeted audience and measurable outcomes. Elliot had always considered time his most valuable asset, and he thought the BizHack course could save him a lot of time in his solo marketing and sales efforts.

BizHack’s course on AI-powered lead generation, in which business owners run Real-Life Campaigns that harness generative AI tools to cost-effectively drive leads and sales, aligned with those goals. It had a results-oriented focus on business growth and offered hands-on, foundational instruction for using AI in his small business. With its eight-week, part-time structure and its personalized live coaching from experts, Elliot felt he would expand his skills and knowledge quickly and be able to create marketing materials without having to hire outside assistance.

At nearly 64 years old, Elliot wasn’t convinced he could learn AI, social media, email marketing and the other tools he needed to grow his business. But three years after founding Pure Water Factory, he felt stuck. He decided to give the accelerator a shot.

Shaking Off the Shackles of Digital Doubt

During the first week of the eight-week AI Marketing Accelerator program, BizHack CEO Dan Grech got a text message from Elliot. “I’m sorry, I’m going to have to drop out,” Elliot’s message began. His mother’s heart had stopped beating, she’d been resuscitated, and he had to fly out to California to be with her.

Dan replied to Elliot that if he needed to drop the course, he would receive a full refund. “But,” Dan texted back, “just give it a couple days. Let things settle down. This course and the community around it might actually be the best thing for you during this difficult time. It will give you something to focus on while working in fellowship with others.”

Pushing Through the Dip: When Life and Learning Collide

Dan reflected later that Elliot’s situation, while extreme, reflects a pattern. “I often get requests from course participants to drop out because of what I call ‘life happening.’ Business challenges arise, family demands get in the way, work starts piling up,” he said. “People often start to feel overwhelmed when learning new things.”

Researchers call this feeling “the dip,” and it’s an unavoidable part of the learning journey. “One of the things that we don’t talk about enough is how many emotions are tied up in being a learner, in risking acquiring new information,” said sociologist Tressie McMillan Cottom in a New York Times podcast on AI and learning. “We tend to remember the satisfaction of having learned something, but we forget how difficult and challenging it can be to your identity to learn something new – to risk, to fail, to take pride, to want it to turn out great. All of those emotions are actually part of the process.”

BizHack’s 89% course completion rate, far above average for courses taught online, reflects how its instructors help participants push through. “Those participants who persevere often have the best outcomes,” Dan said. “The course can end up being a life-changing experience.”

Learning Amid Tumult: How Instructor Support Made the Difference

Elliot took a risk and stayed in the course. The support from Lead Instructor Jordan Sherman and Elliot’s dedicated Marketing Coach Otis Kopp, along with the accountability built into the twice-a-week campaign-development sessions, gave Elliot the confidence to stay the course. These weren’t random assignments; each step of his Real-Life Campaign was mapped to one of the Six Pillars of the Lead Building System, a framework designed to move prospects systematically from awareness to conversion.

In the beginning, the work felt daunting. Elliot was traveling back and forth between Miami and California, sometimes working in his mom’s hospital room. He had always said that time was his most valuable asset, and he believed he would get more out of the course the more he put into it. Elliot told himself, “You’re not going to be the best in the class. You’re not going to win anything. But you’ll get through, you’ll graduate and you’ll get your certificate, and you’ll learn, and you’re going to be able to help your company.”

Elliot was joined on this learning journey by dozens of like-minded entrepreneurs. “This course opened my eyes to the immense potential of AI,” said Sarah Khatri, founding partner of Sailfish Equity Advisors. “I optimized processes, created impactful strategies and increased organic traffic through SEO-optimized content.”

How the AI Marketing Accelerator Unlocked
Enterprise-Level Proposals and Social Media Success

Week by week, Elliot learned by doing, participating in live online class sessions, small-group workshops and personalized coaching. Experts in AI marketing guided him as he completed assignments to build and execute a real-world lead-generation campaign for Pure Water Factory.

Elliot:

Learned how to use ChatGPT, Canva, Invideo and other AI-powered tools to build marketing assets
Used AI to uncover Pure Water Factory’s brand voice and unique marketing story
Mapped out an AI-driven marketing strategy and customer journey
Used AI to write copy, make images and create videos for marketing, social media and proposals
Used AI to create a vibrant, fun superhero character to show the power of alkaline water, emphasizing its health benefits
Created a full video commercial for Pure Water Factory to use on social media
Built marketing campaigns using BizHack’s Lead Building System, a proven methodology for small businesses to cost-effectively generate leads and boost sales

By the end of the course, Elliot had executed each of the Six Pillars of the Lead Building System – from defining his Campaign Objective, to identifying a Target Audience, creating an Irresistible Offer, developing Thumb-Stopping Visuals, crafting a Compelling Message and mapping the full Customer Journey. Each element – from brand-voice development to video creation – was intentionally crafted to align with his campaign objective and to appeal to his ideal customer persona. It all involved using AI tools and tactics introduced during the course.

Turning Lessons Into Leads With AI Tools

The accelerator turns participants into AI pioneers. Before joining the accelerator, 18% of Elliot’s fellow business owners had used AI to drive revenue. By the end, 77% said they now use AI for revenue generation.

“AI revolutionized my workflow by automating tasks and producing high-quality content at scale,” said Maria Jose Urbano, a marketer at Miami Dade College. “Tools like ChatGPT and Canva freed up time for strategic planning and allowed my team to meet demands without sacrificing quality.”

“I never knew how to make slides or commercials. Through this program, I created a character, a commercial and other content that boosted my business visibility.” – Elliot Durant

Using AI to Snag a New $100,000+ Contract

While in the accelerator, Elliot landed an opportunity to pitch a fast-growing South Florida gym chain. With guidance from his BizHack coach, he used AI tools to craft a tailored, high-impact proposal – earning Pure Water Factory a contract to supply water to all five locations. The deal is expected to generate $100,000 in 2025, with additional growth as the chain expands.

The timing was perfect: Elliot was in the middle of building his Real-Life Campaign, and this became his real-world test. He adapted the campaign to target enterprise clients like the South Florida fitness chain, using AI-generated visuals and messaging designed specifically for that persona.

In just two months, Elliot not only had created a proposal that earned him a six-figure multigym contract, he also produced a video that significantly boosted lead generation and a series of social media posts. He did this while juggling the running of his business and cross-country trips to care for his mom.

The AI Marketing Accelerator was a game-changer
for Pure Water Factory, leading to growth and saving:

Revenue Growth: 42.8% annual revenue growth – from $350,000 in 2024 to $500,000 projected for 2025
Increase in New Customers: Went from an average of 10 new customers per month to 13–15 new customers
Greater Efficiency: 3 hours and $1,000 saved per proposal

“My goal is half a million dollars in sales next year, and this is going to make it happen. It’s going to double, triple, probably quadruple my growth over this next year.” – Elliot Durant

What Other Business Owners Are Saying

Elliot’s peer business owners had similar results: 77% of graduates say they’re using AI tools to grow sales.

“My biggest aha was realizing the power of data-driven decision-making,” said Erik Janner, a marketer at Froztech. “Analyzing key metrics drastically improved my targeting strategies, and segmenting my audience more precisely has already boosted engagement and conversions.”

Graduates report that their new skills, confidence and marketing strategies will lead to a 185x increase in AI-generated revenue.

“The course gave me the confidence to integrate tools like ChatGPT and Canva Magic Studio into my daily work,” said Angela Tillman, founder of She Balloons. “Creating marketing visuals and responding to leads has never been easier or more effective.”

In addition to revenue, nearly 90% of Elliot’s classmates reported gained time and confidence. The average participant gained back more than 10 hours weekly – time they are reinvesting in improving other areas of their business, pursuing new opportunities, generating more leads, spending more time in their personal life and more.

“This course gave me a glimpse into the future of work and reignited my creativity,” said Miriam Carlota Arthur-Sullivan, founder of NieCat Blessings Academy. “After the course, I now see AI as a true creative partner that clarifies my thoughts and relieves the overwhelm of too much work. That is life-changing.”

Newfound AI Expertise Leads to Unexpected Wins

“What stands out most about Elliot is his resilience and creative drive,” Otis said. “From day one, he was deeply engaged with the material. He was able to transform an initial apprehension of technology into his greatest asset by creating visual content that wasn’t just effective, but truly memorable. His journey is a powerful testament to how perseverance and creativity can lead to incredible results.”

It was those qualities that led Elliot’s peer business owners to select him during graduation for the BizHacker Award, BizHack’s highest honor, similar to being valedictorian of his cohort. It recognized his high level of engagement with the coursework, the new ideas and perspective he brought to the cohort, his impressive bottom-line results with the closed sales, and his perseverance in the face of daunting personal challenges.

When Elliot was announced as the BizHacker Award winner, he didn’t even respond. “I was like, ‘Oh, I’m dreaming,” he said. “I’m just hearing things; that’s just impossible.’” He was stunned speechless for a few moments.

“I went from barely knowing anything about this except how to spell AI, to actively working with it and transforming my understanding and skills along the way,” he said to his classmates. “What once seemed like a mysterious buzzword quickly became a powerful tool.”

Elliot’s story might sound familiar – especially if you’ve felt daunted by digital tools or overwhelmed by where to begin. The good news? His success wasn’t a fluke. It was the result of a proven process you can follow, too.

“I was intimidated by the internet, but this course took those shackles off. Now, there’s no end to what I can learn.” – Elliot Durant

“Elliot’s journey is the definition of what it means to be a BizHacker,” said Jordan. “In just eight weeks, facing personal and professional hurdles, he not only stayed the course but also built a winning Real-Life Campaign that transformed his business. Elliot dared to try new things and kicked butt while doing it.”

Accelerated Marketing Capabilities

Just weeks after completing the course, Elliot used his new AI skills and Real-Life Campaign framework to create two high-impact proposals, a postcard for event marketing and a pitch deck that secured a meeting with a potential investor. Unlike the previous year, his 2025 sponsorship at the Junior Orange Bowl generated real interest – because this time, he had the marketing materials to back it up.

“These were things I couldn’t generate on my own before. I now have the tools to be self-sufficient. Now, I have a marketing team, and it’s called AI.” – Elliot Durant

The cost of preparing proposals and slide decks no longer holds back Pure Water Factory’s growth. Instead of budgeting upwards of $1,000 and hours of work per proposal, Elliot can now create his own proposals in under an hour.

Like Elliot, most AI Marketing Accelerator participants learn to use AI to expand their team’s capabilities. Four in 10 reported that AI was performing work equivalent to one full-time staffer, and many reported that team productivity had doubled.

“Now I can pitch Fortune 500 companies with proposals I never could before.” – Elliot Durant

Gaining the Skills and Confidence to Scale Up

After graduating from the AI Marketing Accelerator, Elliot has the strategic framework and AI fluency to further expand his use of AI-powered tools to help grow the company. He is more open to learning and exploring a wide range of digital tools, and he knows he’s ready to keep expanding his digital-marketing skills.

The confidence and skills that Elliot gained in the accelerator changed his outlook on his business. He now knows he can develop strong sales emails, social media content and business proposals. “It’s made me feel like I can carry the responsibility, and I’m not going to falter,” he said.

Elliot’s transformation was fueled by a campaign-building process that emphasized clarity, consistency and strategy. He followed the Six Pillars of the Lead Building System, which guided him on everything from defining a campaign objective through crafting irresistible offers, thumb-stopping visuals and a mapped-out customer journey.

This transformation isn’t unusual. Two-thirds of business owners rate themselves as beginners in AI marketing when they start the AI Marketing Accelerator course. At the end, more than 90% of participants rank their skills as intermediate or advanced. They go from clueless to confident in two short months.

“Elliot’s grit, his determination and his embrace of the underdog mentality turned obstacles into opportunities,” Jordan said. “Watching him rise to the challenge was nothing short of inspiring, and his story will light the path for future BizHackers to follow.”

🎯 Ready to transform your own marketing?

Elliot’s journey began with uncertainty – and led to a six-figure contract, digital mastery and renewed confidence. Yours can, too. Join our next AI Marketing Accelerator and build your own real–life campaign.

Secure your spot and download our free AI Prompt Guide here. Learn more at bizhack.com/ai-marketing-accelerator.