Co-Founder & M.D @ Louder.Online

As a businessman,  entrepreneur, and author, I've spent 16 years reshaping the landscape of our industry. 

Co-founding Louder.Online 16 years ago was the beginning of a journey that has led to global recognition, transformative partnerships, and multiple successful ventures.

Some of my journey's highlights include:

→ Co-authored the book "Faster, Smarter, Louder"
→ Consulted for Fortune 100 clients including Salesforce, Intel, IBM, Coca-Cola, and Target
→ Authored over 1,000 articles for major publications like Forbes, HubSpot, and Entrepreneur
→ Recognized as a thought leader by Content Marketing Institute and Search Engine Journal
→ Delivered speeches across the US, UK, Asia, and Australia

As a serial entrepreneur, I've:

→ Co-founded Louder.Online, recognized among the top 25 Martech Companies in Asia-Pacific
→ Started multiple businesses across various industries
→ Launched an M&A education business focused on small business acquisitions
→ Developed expertise in multi-channel marketing, SEO, PPC, CRO, and content marketing

My work has garnered attention from prestigious media outlets:

→ Featured in The Huffington Post, Forbes, and the Sydney Morning Herald
→ Regular contributor to HubSpot, Entrepreneur, and Fortune
→ Guest on popular podcasts like Mixergy and Entrepreneur on Fire

My approach goes beyond traditional marketing. I create actionable, thoughtful strategies that not only deliver new customers but build lasting brand relationships. 

If you're looking to revolutionize your digital presence, explore business acquisition opportunities, or drive your brand into the future, let's connect.

Aaron Agius

Ever notice how the louder a content team shouts about “strategy,” the faster they burn through budget and stall results?

If you think your content operation is bulletproof, you are probably wrong.

And that blind spot destroys ROI.

How most teams think they win:
➡️ Chase volume: Produce endlessly and hope engagement appears.
➡️ Add layers of approvals and meetings until creativity suffocates.
➡️ Recycle outdated playbooks and pretend their situation is different.

How I actually win with content:

➡️ Solve real, urgent pain points with precision.
If you are not addressing tangible problems, you are adding to the noise.

➡️ Publish genuinely useful resources, not empty thought leadership.
Practical insights that make the audience sharper every time they engage.

➡️ Track substance and proof relentlessly.
That’s customer journeys, conversions, revenue impact; not vanity metrics like reach alone.

Strong CTAs are not the answer.

The strongest brands do not force action.

They make action the logical next step.

Content failure is rarely accidental.

It comes from unclear objectives, weak measurement, and operational excuses.

Nearly half of marketers admit they do not set clear goals.

Most cannot track ROI.

Many lack scalable workflows.

These are not minor gaps.

They are structural flaws.

The companies that win take a different route.

They create fewer, sharper, high-value assets.

They automate where possible.

They measure everything.

They tie every initiative to outcomes, not abstract awareness.

You can waste another year defending empty metrics.

Or you can accept responsibility for every underperforming dollar.

The tools exist.

The data is accessible.

Execution is the difference.

Inaction is still a decision.

You are either building measurable value, or you’re wasting time.

There is no middle ground.

The Mistake 93% of Enterprise Content Teams Made Last Year

Every marketing “expert” clings to the same tired excuses: budget, competition, limited resources.

Meanwhile, their traffic goes nowhere.

If your content strategy is still human-driven guesswork and generic SEO blasts, you’re not innovative.

You’re irrelevant.

Transforming Stagnation into Domination

Challenge: Content and SEO produced nothing but substandard work.

Traffic stalled at 12,000 soulless visitors a month.

Engagement was weak.

Revenue barely moved.

Action: We gutted outdated tactics and killed content for content’s sake.

We embedded AI into every core strategic decision.

AI exposed blind spots, mapped real audience intent, personalized aggressively, and predicted demand before prospects articulated it.

Result: Monthly visitors surged past 137,000.

Attributed pipeline revenue crossed $1.2 million.

Competitors faded while my site became a primary revenue engine.

Insight? Manual, intuition-driven marketing is dead.

AI is not just an advantage.

It delivers precise targeting, efficiency, and scalable growth.

Rely on gut instinct alone and survival becomes uncertain.

Don’t kid yourself.

AI does not “help a little.”

It replaces outdated playbooks entirely.

If your traffic is stagnant, leads are weak, and your site feels like a digital graveyard, the choice is simple: evolve with AI or disappear.

You can cling to tactics that stopped working years ago and blame the market.

Or accept reality and execute an AI-powered overhaul.

That is not opinion. That is data.

Ever faced a similar situation?

Did you rip the band-aid off or let the wound fester?

How AI Content Strategies Affect Growth

The difference between surviving Google’s updates and dominating them is night and day.

Most marketers still treat every algorithm update like a disaster, scrambling and hoping they survive.

That fear is the real liability, because Google’s updates are not random.

Every update over the past two years reveals a clear blueprint for stronger enterprise SEO results, if you pay attention to the pattern.

If your rankings dropped after a Core Update, it is rarely because Google suddenly changed the rules.

Google is cleaning house.

Strategies built on link spam, AI-generated filler, and irrelevant keywords are being pushed out of relevance.

My enterprise SEO strategy:
➔ Human-first, expert-driven content
➔ Ruthless elimination of low-value assets
➔ Core Web Vitals and UX as non-negotiable priorities

Too complicated? Here is what that looks like in practice.

Weekly we identify and remove thin pages that add no value.

We produce comprehensive, educational content backed by real expertise.

We track user behavior signals like session duration and bounce rate closely because Google does the same.

In addition:
➔ Every page must offer something original: a unique insight, real answers, or resources competitors lack
➔ Backlink profiles are aggressively audited and anything resembling spam is removed
➔ We rely on tools like SEMRush, Clearscope, and Ahrefs to eliminate guesswork

What worked? Relentless focus on real human value and content pruning.

What did not work? Chasing update “hacks” or relying on keyword stuffing and shortcuts.

Google is systematically removing mediocrity.

I stopped reacting to updates and started aligning with Google’s long-term direction: genuine expertise and real user value.

The era of gaming the algorithm is over.

Adapt or disappear.

How Google's Algorithm Updates Affects SEO

The fastest way to slow down growth is to hire your way into complexity.

Join the top 1 percent of marketing leaders by doing this:

Stop obsessing over the “perfectly sized” marketing team.

It is one of the most expensive delusions in this industry.

I have seen leaders waste months debating headcount, building bloated teams based on outdated dogma that size equals strength.

It does not.

By the time inefficiency shows up in performance, it is already too late.

I have watched compact teams of five outperform departments of twenty.

Small, cohesive teams win because they are forced to execute, not posture.

If you are:
➡️ Constantly onboarding another specialist
➡️ Sitting in meetings that produce no action
➡️ Hiding behind collective decisions

Then you have a speed problem, not a staffing problem.

Iteration beats headcount. Every time.

Lean teams move faster, adapt quicker, and optimize in real time.

Large teams talk about agility.

Small teams operate with it.

Most marketing organizations stagnate because they cannot move.

The highest-performing growth companies iterate relentlessly, often with only a handful of decision-makers driving execution.

Inside oversized departments, a small core usually does the real work anyway.

Authority is diluted.

Accountability disappears.

Momentum dies.

While others chase the mythical “right size,” disciplined teams refine what works and double down each quarter.

They prioritize precision over scale.

We do not invest in headcount for optics.

We invest in cohesion, urgency, and iteration.

That is how we stay competitive.

I watched another “SEO specialist” interview fall apart over one tired question:
“How many years of SEO experience do you have?”

That question belongs in a different era.

The future of digital marketing will bury anyone clinging to tenure as a proxy for skill.

Years do not equal impact.

Time spent does not equal value created.

Too many interviews still default to experience.

The market now rewards disruptive thinking, adaptability, and proof of execution.

Asking for “years of SEO” is often a signal you are hiring for comfort, not capability.

Today’s environment does not reward safe bets.

It rewards calculated risk-takers.

Better questions look like this:
➡️ How did you turn a disruptive trend into measurable growth?
➡️ Where did you reduce acquisition costs through data leverage?
➡️ How did you integrate AI without sacrificing organic performance?
➡️ How did you recover and outperform after a failed campaign?

The best marketers I hire do not hide behind tenure.

They demonstrate adaptable, relentless problem-solving.

They do not just understand SEO.

They deploy it alongside AI, social, video, email, and analytics to drive outcomes.

The data reflects the disconnect.

67 percent of digital leaders rank innovation as a top hiring priority, yet 81 percent admit their interviews still center on experience.

It is no surprise that many brands are stagnating.

Experience alone is not a strategy.

Innovation is the advantage.

The market will not wait.

The leaders who prioritize adaptability and measurable impact will stay ahead.

The rest will struggle to remain relevant.

Stop Asking About SEO Experience: What to Ask Instead

Most enterprise content strategies fail before they even launch.

What looks like a plan is often a time bomb of vanity metrics, spreadsheet theater, and absent leadership.

This is the current reality.

Disconnected ideas labeled as “strategy.”

High-volume production with no commercial purpose.

Teams trapped in approvals and endless meetings.

That is not a system.

It is chaos with branding.

The alternative is disciplined execution.

Ruthless clarity.

Real accountability.

Leadership that actually leads.

Each week I focus on:
➡️ Aligning content directly with business objectives
➡️ Eliminating low-impact content before it goes live
➡️ Holding leadership accountable for measurable outcomes

In addition:
➡️ When priorities shift, we pivot immediately without bureaucracy
➡️ Scalability is engineered from day one
➡️ Metrics are tied to conversions, revenue, and market position, not surface engagement

What works is simple.

Treat content strategy as core infrastructure, not a side project.

What fails is equally predictable.

Volume for reporting optics.

Delegating strategy downward and hoping for alignment.

Without candor, accountability, and agility, enterprise content collapses under its own weight.

Strategy is not a creative exercise.

It is operational survival.

I refuse to tolerate mediocrity.

We build systems that reward ownership, speed, and adaptability.

The difference between relevance and decline is what leadership is willing to confront and correct.

If alignment and accountability are missing, failure is not surprising.

It is inevitable.

Why Most Enterprise Content Strategies Fail

One year ago, I stopped groveling for high-value clients just because the zeros looked pretty.

The myth that more money always equals more success is the fantasy that quietly pushes businesses into chaos.

Behind every oversized check is a cost nobody talks about.

And no:
➔ I didn’t walk away because I feared growth or pressure
➔ I wasn’t overwhelmed by scope
➔ I didn’t need mindset exercises to cope with a “missed opportunity”

The truth is simple.

Accepting a $500,000 client who reeked of entitlement, chaos, and misaligned values would have detonated everything I built.

My team saw it.

Since I stopped pandering to anyone flashing a big wallet:
➔ Headaches and team churn dropped to near zero
➔ Revenue climbed 33 percent with aligned clients
➔ Our reputation strengthened, driving consistent referrals from businesses that respect boundaries

Stop gasping every time a big number lands in your inbox.

Half a million means nothing if you compromise your standards.

The ones chasing every dollar become trapped by toxic clients, burned-out teams, and unstable revenue.

I would rather walk away from $500,000 than damage my brand, morale, and sanity.

A year later, the lesson is clear.

Choose alignment over ego, long-term stability over flashy wins, and ownership over regret.

Why Rejecting Some Clients is a Power Move

Make no mistake: Every time you say “yes” to an energy-draining, brand-destroying client, you’re saying “no” to the right ones. The ones who respect you, who pay what you’re worth, who become partners for the long haul. You can’t build an empire working for clients who make you hate your business.

Let’s rip the bandage off: I turned down half a million dollars. You read that right. A client walked in, contracts ready, eager to dump a fat $500,00

Open article: Why I Rejected $500,000: The Raw Truth Business “Leaders” Refuse To Admit by Aaron Agius • 7 min read

Why I Rejected $500,000: The Raw Truth Business “Leaders” Refuse To Admit

Your content team’s fate isn’t dictated by budget, competition, or industry quirks. It’s dictated by your willingness—or cowardice—to demand better. Every tool, system, and piece of data you need is already here. Most of you still won’t use them.

Let me save you from the polite, watered-down nonsense filling your feed. I’m here to tear through the delusions and expose why 93% of enterprise cont

Open article: What’s Destroying 93% of Enterprise Content Teams? The Million-Dollar Errors You’re Still Making by Aaron Agius • 7 min read

What’s Destroying 93% of Enterprise Content Teams? The Million-Dollar Errors You’re Still Making

If all you want are box-tickers awash in the past, keep asking those canned questions. If you want to dominate, start judging marketers the way true innovators are made: by pushing them to the edge, then seeing if their ideas can fly or if they crash and burn. Because in a market that tears up the rulebook every quarter, only those who thrive on reinvention dare to lead.

If you're still asking, “How many years have you been doing SEO?” during interviews, you're publicly announcing that your business is stuck in the dig

Open article: Stop Asking About SEO Experience: The Only Interview Question That Matters in Marketing by Aaron Agius • 11 min read

Stop Asking About SEO Experience: The Only Interview Question That Matters in Marketing

Old methods are a death sentence. The leap from 12,000 to 137,000 monthly visitors is not a fairy tale. It’s what happens when you weaponize AI against mediocrity. When revenue explodes, when your brand becomes the gravitational force in your market, you stop debating and start leading.

You want the truth about AI-driven content strategy? Here it is, raw and unfiltered. Welcome to the future—where mediocrity is dead, excuses have no p

Open article: AI-Driven Content Strategy: The End of Guesswork and the Start of Predictable Revenue by Aaron Agius • 10 min read

AI-Driven Content Strategy: The End of Guesswork and the Start of Predictable Revenue

Is your organization still flinching with every core update? Or have you finally realized that Google’s public roadmap is your playbook—and your execution, not your excuses, is what keeps you on top?

The pattern behind Google’s updates isn’t random; it’s a calculated demolition of mediocrity. If you’re clinging to tired SEO tricks, you’re already d

Open article: The Brutal Pattern Behind Google Updates: Why Enterprise SEO Winners Think Differently by Aaron Agius • 7 min read

The Brutal Pattern Behind Google Updates: Why Enterprise SEO Winners Think Differently

Compact, cohesive digital marketing teams will outpace their competition in every meaningful category—speed, creativity, ROI, and long-term brand growth. Not because they’re lucky or scrappy, but because their constraints force them to be smarter, leaner, and infinitely more accountable.

Here’s a truth that will annihilate your precious assumptions: headcount means nothing. Effectiveness isn’t some pointless numbers game. Efficiency, f

Open article: Why Small, Cohesive Marketing Teams Obliterate the Myth of “Bigger is Better” by Aaron Agius • 8 min read

Why Small, Cohesive Marketing Teams Obliterate the Myth of “Bigger is Better”

Most enterprise content strategies implode not because of market volatility, lack of resources, or demonic algorithms, but because they are fundamentally broken at conception. Misconceptions, denial, and institutionalized mediocrity are their bedrock. The evidence is everywhere, yet most so-called “leaders” are too spineless or too arrogant to confront it.

I’m here to incinerate illusions. Call this an exposé, call it an assault—regardless, you’ll walk away bruised if you have a shred of honesty left in 

Open article: Why Most Enterprise Content Strategies Fail: The Inconvenient Truths No “Expert” Will Admit by Aaron Agius • 8 min read

Why Most Enterprise Content Strategies Fail: The Inconvenient Truths No “Expert” Will Admit

For 17 years, I've danced between dimensions of consciousness and commerce, launching 25+ businesses, scaling Qure® Skincare to $50M+ in revenue, and mentoring founders who refuse to settle for mediocrity..

Years ago, I was the poster child for hollow achievement: bank account full, spirit empty. 
Despite crushing revenue targets, I felt like a ghost haunting my own life. 

That awakening became my greatest teacher. I invested $500,000 in rewiring my consciousness, replacing the addiction to hustle with alignment to purpose.

Now I help visionary entrepreneurs do the same: build empires that fuel their souls, not drain them.

🧠 WHAT I DO
🔥 Co-Founder, Qure Skincare
 Disrupting beauty tech with clinically-backed, app-powered treatments. From a single idea to $5M+ monthly revenue, Qure has become a cult-favorite brand driven by education, trust, and transformative outcomes.
📈 Creator, Ecomm Architects Coaching Program
 Helping early-stage eComm founders scale to 7-8 figures using my 9 Leverage Points: product, positioning, pricing, team design, systems, creative strategy, retention, margin mastery, and leadership.
⚡ Creator, The Success Vortex
 A proprietary system that fuses high performance, energy alignment, and subconscious rewiring to help you become your 10.0 self - the version of you that effortlessly manifests wealth, love, impact, and joy.

🎤 Speaker & Mentor

 Sharing stages, podcasts, and content on:
• Conscious entrepreneurship
• Scaling eComm brands
• Identity-based success
• Founder psychology
• Building businesses without losing yourself

The market rewards energy, alignment, and execution.

⚡ CURRENTLY BUILDING
• Qure towards $100M valuation with global retail expansion
• Ecomm Architects into a category-defining coaching brand
• My personal brand into a movement: helping millions manifest their dream lives by mastering thought, energy, and action

If you like what you see, send me a DM 👋🏻
📅 Book a strategy call: https://www.ecommarchitect.com/apply
🌐 Learn more: https://www.ecommarchitect.com/

Matt Orlić

At 26, I lost $5M overnight when Dick Smith went bankrupt. I had built my entire distribution around one retail partner. When they collapsed, so did I.

Building on a foundation you don't control is a risk most founders don't think about until it's too late.

For anyone panicking about the TikTok logistics change, I'll tell you what I told our EA students... use this as an opportunity.

We faced a similar forced transition recently and used it as an excuse to run a full RFP on new warehouses. We ended up saving seven figures a year by switching.

The practical options are:

- Your current warehouse adapts to TikTok's new rules
- You find a new warehouse that already complies
- You ship directly through TikTok's fulfillment center
- You stop shipping on TikTok entirely

If your warehouse can't support the new seller shipping rules, you find a new one. If you don't want to find a new one, you either use TikTok's fulfillment center or you accept that TikTok isn't a channel for you anymore.

Platform changes will keep happening. Carriers will change their terms. Warehouses will change their capabilities. The founders who survive long-term are the ones who treat every forced transition as a chance to renegotiate and optimise.

Concentration risk is as real as the sky is blue. If one platform change can blow up your entire operation, you've already built on shaky ground.

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Diploma Business Administration

Inspire Brands Group

Smart Wallet

$50M CEO/Founder Qure Skincare | I help E-Comm brands scale to 8 figures and become super profitable at Ecomm Architects | Apply To Scale To 8-fig below ↓

I’m not just building businesses—I’m architecting a new paradigm for success.

Over the past 17 years, I’ve launched 25+ businesses across 8 categories and 4 verticals, scaled my skincare brand Qure® to $50M+ in revenue, and coached founders from startup to scale-up using my frameworks rooted in mindset mastery, business mechanics, and reality creation.

But the real story isn’t just about numbers—it’s about alignment.

Years ago, I was the classic high-achiever: externally successful, internally burnt out. Despite the wins, I felt disconnected, drained, and out of alignment. That pain became my greatest teacher. I stepped back, invested over $500,000 in my personal evolution, and created a life where focus, freedom, and fulfillment replaced hustle, chaos, and constant striving.

Today, I help ambitious entrepreneurs do the same—build premium eCommerce brands, unlock inner clarity, and lead teams consciously.

🧠 WHAT I DO

🔥 Co-Founder, Qure® Skincare
Disrupting the beauty tech space with clinically-backed, app-powered treatments. From a single idea to $5M+ months, Qure has become a cult-favorite brand driven by education, trust, and transformative results.

📈 Creator, Ecomm Architects™ Coaching Program
Helping early-stage eCom founders scale to 7–8 figures using my 9 Leverage Points: product, positioning, pricing, team design, systems, creative strategy, retention, margin mastery, and leadership.

🌀 Creator, The Success Vortex™
A proprietary system that fuses high performance, energy alignment, and subconscious rewiring to help you become your 10.0 self—the version of you that effortlessly manifests wealth, love, impact, and joy.

🎤 Speaker & Mentor
Sharing stages, podcasts, and content on:

Conscious entrepreneurship

Scaling Ecomm Brands

Identity-based success

Founder psychology

Building businesses without losing yourself

The market rewards energy, alignment, and execution.

⚡ CURRENTLY BUILDING
Qure® towards $100M valuation with global retail expansion
Ecomm Architects into a category-defining coaching brand
My personal brand into a movement: helping millions manifest their dream lives by mastering thought, energy, and action

$90M CEO/Founder Qure Skincare | I help E-Comm brands scale to 8 figures and become super profitable at Ecomm Architects | Apply To Scale To 8-fig below ↓

Me at 26:

> Lost $5M overnight when my biggest retailer went bankrupt
> Had been grinding for 9 years with nothing to show
> Thought I'd never figure it out

Me at 35:

> Built a $90M+ brand with my sister
> Work 2-3 hours a day
> Live in Croatia
> Helping founders avoid the mistakes I made

"Don't build with family. It'll end in disaster."

My sister and I took Qure to $90M. 

We still block each other on WhatsApp when things get heated. 

And yet the numbers go up every year.

This is how it works out...

Ana handles defense. I handle offense.

She protected every customer relationship from day one. Every email, every conversation, every retention sequence. 

She did all of that herself until we hit eight figures.

I, on the other hand, pushed growth, acquisition, and scaling. The part of the business that breaks things if nobody's protecting the foundation.

She built what I couldn't build. I built what she couldn't build.

That's the part people miss. They think family businesses fail because of the family. 

But in reality, they fail because two people try to do the same thing and step on each other.

We never had that problem. Our skills don't overlap... they complement.

Sure, the fights happen. The highs with family are higher than any partnership, and the lows are lower too. That's just the reality of it.

When things get heated, we block each other on WhatsApp, wait a day, let it settle, and come back to figure it out.

We don't keep score, and we don't hold onto who was right. Just back to work.

And when it comes to trust, it runs deeper than anyone I could hire. Neither of us is walking away over an argument.

Family businesses, unlike what many think, don't fail because of family.

They fail because roles aren't clear and egos aren't checked.

Get those two things right, and there's nobody you can build with who will match that level of trust.

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Worst mindset for building a business:

> I need to work more hours
> I need another hack
> I'll figure it out myself
> My market is too small
> I need more money to start

Best mindset for building a business:

> I need to work on the right things
> I need better systems
> I need to learn from people ahead of me
> My ability is the limit, not the market
> I need more resourcefulness than resources

Your beliefs become your ceiling.

7 things I learned studying how belief systems form (and why you didn't choose most of the ones running your life)

1. You are the architect of your own reality. Everything in your life right now is a reflection of the beliefs you hold. The moment you blame anything else, you lose power to change it.

2. Your beliefs come from experiences, not facts. One teacher told me I was bad at English because I learned two languages growing up. That single experience made me hate reading and writing for years. One moment can reshape an entire identity.

3. Experiences can be real, remembered, or imagined. Your brain processes all three the same way. This is why people who constantly replay negative memories keep reinforcing negative beliefs. And why visualisation actually works.

4. Your beliefs operate like scales. Every experience adds weight to one side. Positive experiences tip you toward confidence. Negative experiences tip you toward limitation. You are the sum of how your scales have been tipped over time.

5. You inherited belief systems you never chose. Your money beliefs probably came from your parents. If they said "money doesn't grow on trees" enough times, your brain started filtering reality to prove them right.

6. "Just be yourself" is terrible advice if your current self can't achieve your goals. If who you are today could hit your targets, you would have already done it. Growth requires letting go of the identity keeping you stuck.

7. You can tip the scales deliberately. You can't erase past experiences, but you can create new ones. Imagination and visualisation count. Every time you consciously feed your mind positive information, you're adding weight to the other side.

Your external reality is an effect. Your internal beliefs are the cause.

Change the beliefs, change the life.

Q1 is flying by.

Qure is up 80% year over year right now.

A few things we've learned so far this quarter:

TikTok Shop isn't moving the needle the way we expected. We ran an incrementality study and found that the more samples we send out, it doesn't actually attribute to more revenue for us. The sales we're getting there aren't incremental to other channels.

So we've been spending less on TikTok Shop and reallocating that budget elsewhere.

The big bet for 2026 is that we just filmed our first TV commercial. It's launching in March.

The move when platforms keep tightening control is to diversify into channels where you own more of the relationship. For us right now, that means going broader with brand awareness instead of deeper into platform-specific tactics that might change next quarter.

If you're running an ecom brand right now, pay attention to your incrementality numbers. Revenue on a platform means nothing if it's cannibalising sales you would've gotten anyway.

I've built over 20 businesses in the last 17 years.

The biggest resource mistake I see is outsourcing the wrong functions.

Before deciding what to outsource or keep in-house, you need to answer one question. 
What business am I really in?

I'll give you an example.

I have a business that holds the license for Umbro in Australia and New Zealand. We design, manufacture, and distribute teamwear for sporting clubs.

What I thought I was selling:
- Quality apparel
- Great design
- Premium fabrics
- Thoughtful colour ranges

What customers actually cared about:
- Products arriving on time
- High accuracy on orders
- No operational issues with parents and community members

I was in the service game the whole time.

What I did once I realised this:
- Reinvested all resources into operations
- Opened a new warehouse
- Built in-house embellishment services for quick turnaround

The business grew 37% the following year.

How to apply this to your business:

If you're selling a commodity product (same products as a thousand other stores):
- You are a sales and marketing company
- Your survival depends on outmarketing competitors
- Outsourcing marketing means no moat
- You need an in-house team building equity

If you're selling unique, patented products:
- Product development is your moat
- Sales and marketing should come easier
- You can afford to outsource marketing
- Focus resources on what makes you irreplaceable

Same applies to SaaS:
- Product development creates all the value
- The product saves people time and money
- It sells itself when built right
- Never outsource the thing that creates the value

Questions to ask before making this decision:
- What business am I really in?
- What do my customers actually care about?
- What skills are mission critical for us?
- What gives us the biggest leverage over competitors?
- Where does our moat come from?
- What would happen if we outsourced this function?

Get this wrong and you're outsourcing the one thing that keeps you alive.

I'm Matt. 

At 17, I was cold calling strangers from a list I bought for $50. 

By 26, I'd built 13 brands across retail stores in Australia, the UK, and the US. 

Then, in one day, I lost it all... $5M gone. 

Here's everything that happened in between:

I grew up with no business background and no connections.

Just a phone, a cheap list, and a lot of rejections.

Cold calling taught me one thing early on.

If you wait for opportunity, you'll wait forever.

So I kept dialling.

By my early 20s, I'd moved into importing wholesale brands from around the world and selling into major retailers.

Then I realised I didn't need to sell other people's brands.

I could literally build my own.

So I did... 13 of them.

At 26, my biggest client was a billion-dollar retailer.

Sounds good, but that was the source of my downfall.

They suddenly went bankrupt.

$5M in invoices I was owed disappeared overnight.

I had built everything on someone else's foundation and paid the price for it.

That loss forced me online.

I launched Skywalkers, an electric bike brand, with everything I had left.

4 months later, we'd done $2M in revenue.

That was the moment I knew retail was behind me for good.

Word spread fast.

A friend running Elite Supplements was doing $500K a month and couldn't figure out why he couldn't scale.

We worked together for 20 months.

He went from $500K to $18M.

Same brand with a different foundation.

Around that time, my sister Kristina visited me in Croatia.

She'd been sending me skincare products for months that I never used.

When she saw how clear my skin was, she thought her creams had worked.

But it was actually a $4,000 LED panel I'd bought.

That's when Qure started.

We spent 2 years developing the first product.

The idea was simple… make clinical skincare devices affordable enough for people to use at home.

4 years later, Qure had crossed $90M.

But the business wasn't the hardest thing I built that decade.

In 2024, I decided to strip everything back.

Removed anything low-frequency from my life. Alcohol, late nights, toxic relationships.

Swapped them with a daily non-negotiable.

That one year produced more than the previous five combined.

I hit $1M in a single day and met my wife.

From a $50 list at 17 to $90M at 35.

Now I spend my time helping ecom founders build the same way I did.

With systems, with the right people, and without burning out to get there.

The kid cold-calling from a $50 list would never believe it.

How to stay average your entire life:

> Stay in rooms where you're the smartest
> Let one setback define you
> Fill your day with low-frequency distractions
> Keep people around who think small
> Wait until you're ‘ready’

You're often not the problem.

Maybe check your environment?

I've built a $90M+ brand over the course of 18 years.

These are a few things that changed my life the most:

> Cut out alcohol completely
> Stopped chasing fast dopamine
> Daily non-negotiables for training, reading, and giving back
> Removed relationships that drained my energy
> Said no to anything that didn't align with where I was going
> Treated business like a spiritual game
> Focused on becoming someone capable of holding success long-term

One year of this and I hit a $1M day, started my personal brand, and met my wife.

Built Qure to $90M in 4 years with my sister.

This is how the first 6 months actually looked:

> Kristina kept sending me skincare creams
> I never used them
> She visited me in Croatia
> Saw my skin had improved
> Thought I was using her creams
> I was using a $4K LED panel in my room
> She wanted one
> Her heart sank at the price
> That was the moment
> We decided to make clinical devices affordable
> Spent 2 years developing the first LED mask
> One product and audience. Nothing else
> Talked to customers every week
> Ignored everything that didn't make money
> Cut alcohol, bad food, draining people
> Checked our cash daily
> Made every decision like we'd be here in 10 years

$90M later, same rules still apply.

For anyone wasting cash on tools nobody uses, team members with no ROI, and subscriptions you forgot existed...my OPEX sits at 8-9% of revenue. 

I run this 5-step ladder once a quarter to drop what we don't need:

1. Pull your numbers (every fixed and variable cost)
2. Categorize into buckets (team, tools, fixed commitments, low leverage tasks)
3. Identify waste (ask: "If I remove this tomorrow, would revenue drop?")
4. Apply the four fixes (eliminate, automate, delegate, or redesign)
5. Reinvest the savings into growth

I've seen teams of 6-10 people generate $20-30M/year by running lean.

I've tested 50 creatives, changed the hook 10 times, swapped offers, and still nothing moves.

If that sounds familiar, the problem isn't your ads.

In fact, it's something far more basic that the majority of founders overlook.

See, your market is in one of 5 stages right now. And each stage needs a different message. 

Use the wrong one, and nothing converts, no matter how good your creative is.

Stage 1: First to market

> Simple claims work.
> "This watch counts your steps" was enough for Fitbit in 2009.
> There's no competition. Just say what it does.

Stage 2: Early competition

> Competitors show up. Claims get louder.
> "Ours are safer and last longer, number one brand."
> I was in Hoverboards during this stage. Whoever shouted loudest won.

Stage 3: Market saturation

> Customers are skeptical. They've heard every promise.
> Education wins here. Explain HOW it works.
> This is where brands start bringing in experts and doctors to build trust.

Stage 4: Mechanism competition

> Everyone claims the same benefits.
> You need a unique mechanism to stand out.
> Purple mattress created the "gel flex grid." New mechanism, so they owned a new conversation.

Stage 5: Complete sophistication

> Consumers resist all claims.
> Identity and community are the only differentiators left.
> Liquid Death sold water with "murder your thirst." It wasn't a special product, but the identity differentiated it.

Several founders define their avatar, create ads and launch while skipping this part entirely.

Then they wonder why nothing lands.

Figure out which stage you're in first. Then build everything else around that.

An Italian founder told me the US market was IMPOSSIBLE for his brand

4 months later, he did $2M there.

The ERROR he made was so obvious, yet many still mess it up

Running A Local Strategy In A Global Game

"My sales are growing, but I'm not making any money."

Grace was paying $8K/month to a media buyer pulling 1.8 ROAS. 

And her coach kept adding tactics that moved nothing. 

Then she joined Ecomm Architects and got on a call with me. 

Here's how that one call turned a 2% margin into 20%:

Turning a 2 Margin Into 20

I've built 25+ brands across 18 years. 

These are the 7 rules I use when building and managing a brand.

Repost this for someone who needs it. 👇

RULE 1: Plan first, create later.

Founders get excited and jump straight to naming the company and designing logos. That's not where things start. Strategy comes first. Once you have strategy, you have criteria for what the right name, identity, and tone should be.

RULE 2: You are not your audience.

Your upbringing, environment, and experiences shape how you see reality. You have a filter you're not even aware of. Your audience might see the world completely differently. Figure out where they overlap with you and where they don't.

RULE 3: People are all the same at the fundamental level.

There are two layers to human behaviour: WHY people do things (universal) and HOW they do things (different by audience and culture).

Humans everywhere want the same things: safety, entertainment, self-improvement, pride, companionship, feeling good about themselves. Every successful brand bases itself on one of these fundamental needs.

RULE 4: Your brand will stay the same AND change at the same time.

The WHY (the fundamental human need you serve) never changes. The HOW (your marketing, messaging, products) will evolve constantly. Test, adapt, update. But keep the core.

RULE 5: All experiments need direction.

Random ideas from the shower are expensive. Every test should be in line with your brand and audience. If it's not aligned with the WHY, don't run it.

RULE 6: Keep it as simple as you can, but as complicated as necessary.

Build one narrative structure that lets you explain your brand in 30 seconds to a customer or in a 2-hour keynote to investors. Same structure. Different depth.

RULE 7: Everything is audience first.

You exist to solve your audience's problem. Whatever you change in your organisation should never affect them negatively. Your audience matters more than you.

Save this for your next brand build.

I scaled Qure from zero to $90M in 4 years.

If I had to start a new brand tomorrow that people actually remember and buy from repeatedly...

This is the exact system I'd follow:

Step 1: Pick one association

One thing you want people to think when they see your brand. That's it.

- Qure: "clinical treatments at home"
- Apple under Jobs: one association per quarter, even at their scale
- MacBook Air launch: "thinnest MacBook ever" - one line, everywhere

0-10M: stick to one association.
10M-90M: maybe add a second.
Beyond that: layer in a third.

Some brands ruin their progress by trying to stand for five things. They end up standing for nothing.

Step 2: Pair your brand with people who already own that association

You don't build associations from scratch. You transfer them.

- Find influencers, creators, KOLs who already represent what you want your brand to represent

- Pair them with your brand consistently

- Their association transfers to you over time

At Qure, we worked with dermatologists and doctors over and over again. 

We wanted people to think "clinical" when they thought of us. Doctors already owned that association.

Step 3: Repeat it until it becomes mental real estate

This is where the majority falls off. They say something once and expect it to stick.

- Use the same association across every ad, every format, and every piece of content

- Over and over until you could remove all the proof, and people would still think of it

That's when you know it's working.

Step 4: Make sure your product actually delivers on its promise 

Marketing installs the association. Fulfillment turns it into belief.

If your product doesn't match your marketing, you're building a churn machine.

Prime had world-class associations.

Logan Paul, KSI, Barcelona, Arsenal, UFC. The positioning was performance and hydration. 

Then people bought it, got sick, and the brand collapsed. Associations meant nothing because fulfillment failed.

A friend of mine had a watch brand doing $20M. The website looked like Rolex. But the product felt cheap in hand. He couldn't figure out why growth stalled. 

The problem was also the same. The association didn't match the fulfillment.

At Qure, we have a strict compliance doc on what we can and can't say. 

We don't overpromise. The moment someone buys, and the product doesn't deliver, we lose them forever.

If you can't deliver on the association, pick a different one. 

Don't market something your product can't back up.

That's why most brands pour money into ads and wonder why nothing sticks. 

They think they're doing it right, but they're simply just running campaigns.

All you need is ONE association... the right people, consistent repetition, and a product that delivers.

That's the whole system.

LOW vibration habits (that kills you slowly):

- Alcohol
- Late nights
- Junk food
- Scrolling for hours

HIGH vibration habits (that changed my life):

- Daily training
- Daily reading
- Daily meditation
- Daily discipline

What you do daily determines what you become.

A friend DM’d me saying he was “drowning from too much advice”

He and his co-founder had a huge launch and immediately lost control. They were talking to partners, specialists, and consultants. Everyone had opinions. By the time the team processed all the conflicting information, nobody knew which way to go.

So they joined Ecomm Architects, looking for one voice they could trust.

THEN...

- They started moving in small pieces instead of trying to fix everything at once
- They had someone in their corner to check decisions before executing
- They delivered faster because they stopped second-guessing
- Their profit margins improved because they stopped wasting time on things that didn't move the needle

The big mountain move was team alignment. Before, everyone had their own playbook. Now they're all working from the same one.

My friend told me the team is happier now. Less stress because decisions get checked before they cause problems. Everyone feels like they have control instead of being dragged along by chaos.

His advice for founders struggling with too many voices was to find one source of truth. Make things simple and digestible. 

Then, actually grow the business instead of drowning in information.

I've spent over $500,000 on coaching across 18 years.

Without it, I wouldn't have built a 9-figure brand. That's how much I believe in it.

So I built the program I wish existed when I started. Check it out below

The philosophy behind everything: I scaled Qure to $50M+ working 2-3 hours a day. The goal isn't grinding 12-hour days. The goal is building a team that builds the business so you can focus on what actually matters.

How it works:

First, the Clarity Engine. I don't want you consuming hundreds of hours of content. That just creates anxiety. The Clarity Engine identifies your specific constraint, the one limiting factor blocking you from the next level. Once you know what it is, you can actually fix it.

Then you get the playbooks. SOPs for everything from product development to media buying to operations to leadership and hiring to AI systems. Everything you need to unlock your constraint and execute.

After that, live calls with specialists. We run 8-10 calls a week with people who are the best in the world at what they do. I'm not teaching creative strategy when a dedicated creative strategist can do it better.

The focus is value per minute. I don't want to throw a thousand different things at you and tell you to figure it out. We personalise it based on your specific situation and tell you the best next steps for where you are right now.

This program is built by real operators. Real people with real brands working in the trenches every day, learning new things and passing them on.

I'm doing this for impact, not profit. I don't need the money. I love this work.

If you want to build a brand you'd actually love to own, one that's profitable and doesn't require you to burn out, this is where to start.

→ ecommarchitect.com

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