anyone actually creating backlinks successfully?

Two slow ones that do work. Search your brand name in quotes and find sites that mention you without linking - a polite note asking them to add the link lands far more often than a cold pitch, because they already like you. Then check your own old URLs that now 404 but still have links pointing at them. Redirect those to the closest live page and you get the links back without asking anyone for anything.

The step is usually earlier than the outreach. If the page you are pointing people at is a service page with nothing on it anyone would cite, no amount of emailing fixes that. The links that actually landed for me came from boring places: suppliers and partners who list who they work with, trade associations the business already pays for, local sponsorships, and the occasional guest piece on a site that genuinely covers the subject. A tool helps you find those faster, it does not make anyone say yes. Slow and small beats a list of five hundred sites.