Jake Abrams

I help 7-9 figure DTC brands with revenue & CAC | I write The Process, a newsletter about modern growth marketing | Sold 100K+ personal cooling devices

Consumer Marketing & Growth Leader.  

Brands I've worked with:

Caraway
Jones Road Beauty
Skylight
Canopy
Insurify
Naked Wines
Rugiet
Sundays For Dogs
Momofuku
Sunday Lawn Care

100+ others

Book a discovery call in the featured section below 👇

Founder

The lean DTC growth marketing partner that I wish existed when I was an in-house marketing lead. 

At Odyssey, we help 7 & 8-figure DTC brands increase revenue & ROAS by finding the right combination of:

- Messaging
- Audience targeting
- Media channel allocation
- Creative

https://www.growodyssey.com/

Comfrt Clothing, Frost Buddy, and Underbrush are all using the same strategy to consistently go viral on TikTok while building massive creative pipeline.

Some marketers call it "nichemaxxing." I've created a 19-page playbook to help you deploy the exact same strategy for your brand.

Here's what's inside the Brand Nichemaxxing playbook:

- 4-tier content matrix from AI to hero content
- PDA framework for building micropersonas
- Full tech stack: Higgsfield, Genviral, Octo, Snowball, Discord, etc...
- Creator outreach templates that actually get replies
- Cost structures for every creator tier
- Winner selection framework for scaling organic to paid

The idea is simple: own the interest graph first, then amplify with paid.

Most brands do it backwards. They spend on ads before they understand what resonates.

This playbook walks you through 6 phases: niche definition, account setup, content architecture, creator recruitment, production rhythm, and measurement.

Get the 19-page playbook for free. No email gate. Just take it and use it.

1. Follow me
2. Like this post
3. Comment "playbook" and I'll send you the link.

Nichemaxxing across paid & organic social for 8-9 figure consumer brands | Writing about AI & advertising | Sold 100k+ personal cooling devices

This AI agent analyzed 12,500+ customer reviews and support tickets for an 8-figure DTC brand, created its own documentation for overcoming objections across hundreds of SKUS, then just started doing it...directly on the PDP.

Using AI like this can mean the difference between a 2.8% CVR and a 1.7% CVR. 

Essentially an agent that lives on your site, is trained on your catalog and every meaningful customer touchpoint, that can answer every question in 20 seconds or less.

These agents can handle conversion killers like:

Product fit: "Will this luggage fit in Delta's overhead bin?"
Comparisons: "Hard shell vs soft-shell for business travel?"
Technical specs: "Does it have 360° spinning wheels?"

I'm giving away the an 8-minute Loom video showing use cases for this type of agent, plus a guide to setting this up on your Shopify site in 15 minutes.

To get the video and guide:

1. Connect with & follow me
2. Comment "agent" below
3. I'll DM you the link

#DialogPartner

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The smartest people at Meta will tell you to build ads around motivators, not just micropersonas. 

I like this shift to motivators, because it forces you to start the creative process from a better spot.

Personas make you think about demographics. You end up with a bulleted list about a fictional human named Sarah who likes yoga and shops at Whole Foods. Nothing about that tells you what makes Sarah pull our her credit card and spend $150. 

Motivators do, though. 

When I do creative strategy now, I start by mapping out the actual motivators behind someone would buy or be interested in a brand. 

So for Sarah, maybe it's "I need an outfit that works for the December holiday party."

Then for each motivator, you map one core benefit that delivers the solution. That way, you build the creative around that feeling, not around "Sarah."

Then I do it for another motivator. And another....

By the time you've worked through 4-5 of them, you've got a full portfolio of creative assets, each built around a different reason to buy. Different themes, different visuals, different emotional angles. All for the same product.

That's the part people miss, I think. You're not trying to reach different types of people. You're trying to speak to different reasons to take action. A single product can have five completely different ads that all make total sense.

I feel like that's how you scale creative without running out of ideas or making yourself crazy with format multiplication.

Turn 35 today. Sheesh.

Here are 35 takeaways I have from the last 6 years as a "non-business" person building a business with 30+ people:

1. Expect daily disappointment
2. It's ok to be demanding if that's the clear standard
3. The ideas in your head are smart
4. Respect the audience's attention
5. Show undeniable proof
6. Work with challengers
7. Build systems for 50x output
8. Stay on the forefront of technology
9. Extreme bias for action
10. Creative generalists win now
11. Get over fear of speaking to your phone
12. AI + bad taste = epic fail
13. Rip structures, use original thoughts
14. Incentives drive everything
15. Pretty much everyone is winging it
16. Overcome initial content creation friction
17. Grow your own accounts first
18. Authenticity on Zoom is a superpower
19. Daily follow-ups with blockers, Mr Beast style
20. Work should feel like video game
21. Non-business people build differently
22. Ideas die without proper execution
23. Attention is the most sacred currency
24. Charge more than feels comfortable
25. Comfortable teams ship mediocre work
26. Systems unlock exponential output
27. Tech resistors always lose
28. Speed + direction = unfair advantage
29. Generalists are more important than specialists
30. Loom videos beat meetings
31. Tools don't fix shitty taste
32. You can only get so far ripping other's ideas
33. It's ok to start ugly
34. Practice what you preach, or else you're a fraud
35. Build leverage before you need it

---

Feel free to follow along as I document the path to building a $10M+ agency in 2026 by helping 50+ brands manifest the next era of paid social.

https://lnkd.in/epcpxd4V

I built a 250-video visual script library application in a day with Replit, Airtable, and Gemini. 

So I recorded an 8-minute Loom video outlining the entire process. 

I'm not an engineer. I did run marketing for a coding bootcamp, and maybe that experience helped me overcome the fear of "being technical."

Here's what I cover in the Loom video:

- Why my Airtable database was useless until I made this
- How I used Replit to put a visual frontend over raw data
- The hover-to-play feature that made this actually usable 
- How it auto-analyzes any TikTok or Dropbox link in ~60 seconds
- The prompt I use to extract hooks, transcripts, and full scripts
- How we use it to rewrite winning ads for new brands
- The N8N nightmare I replaced with this

I've been in marketing since 2013 and run a creative agency working with 50+ brands. This is the internal tool I wish I had years ago. 

Want the full 8-minute Loom walkthrough?

Follow or connect with me
Like this post
Comment "Build" 

And I'll send it over.

---

Repost for priority access.

I know an AI agent that sat on a DTC brand's PDP for 2 weeks, captured every question from shoppers, then showed the brand exactly why visitors weren't converting.

Using AI like this can mean the difference between a 2.8% CVR and a 1.7% CVR.

Essentially, this is an agent that lives on your product pages, answers questions in real time, and logs every conversation as a data point. After 2 weeks, you have a clear picture of what's blocking purchases within an easy-to-understand dashboard. 

These agents can handle conversion killers like:

- Compatibility: "Is this compatible with my device?"
- Confusion: "What's the difference between X and Y?"
- Fit: "Will this actually work for me?"

85% of this feedback normally dies in chat logs. But agents like this can turn that data into an actionable CRO roadmap.

I'm giving away a step-by-step Notion document that explains exactly how to set up this system on your PDP’s… 

So you have AI handling conversations, running an analysis on why people didn't buy, and delivering that to you in a dashboard with visualizations.

Works for any Shopify brand doing $1M+. Free to install, takes ~15 minutes.

To get the Notion doc:

1. Connect with and follow me
2. Comment "insights" below
3. I'll DM you the link

#DialogPartner

One of our creators just hit 50k views on a single TikTok.

She has 6,500 followers. She's paid ~$500/month for ~25 posted TikToks plus bonuses based on views her content drives.

This creator is an actual customer. She had a real transformation with this product. The proof is undeniable in the video she posted, and that's why it worked.

You can't script something like this. You can't hire a generic UGC creator to fake it. You can't recreate it in Higgsfield.

She's in our Discord community, where we're sharing tips for going viral and building a community around helping people earn by sharing their authentic stories.

It's all real. No generic content or fake testimonials.

This is the nichemaxxing strategy for 2026.

Massive communities of real people within a specific niche who you coach to go viral on TikTok. Everybody wins.

You have to be doing this as a brand in 2026.

The creative bottleneck doesn’t exist in 2026.

Learn:

Claude
Octo
Wispr Flow
Snowball

Combine with:

Exceptional creative taste
Operational psycho-ness
Next-level communication skills

Might sound harsh, but you gotta figure it out or you'll get left behind.

It takes you way too long to write scripts, and it's not your fault. 

It's because you keep having to re-feed the context to your creative strategy copilot every single time, and that's extremely annoying to do. 

Instead, run use this 3-part architecture that I custom built out for my agency:

First, work backwards from a format you already know worked. Have Gemini analyze the entire video. 

Second, you pull that context into Claude, which already has project files about everything you need to know about the brand you're writing for.

Third, your Claude needs a set of overarching skills that sit within your Claude organization that tell it how to write like your agency or you. 

When you do this, the output is actually good. It's not a shitty first draft. 

Because Claude already has the direction...what made the original format work, how to write like the brand, and how to be good at creative strategy. 

That's the architecture.

I recorded a quick video walking through exactly how I set this up. Watch it if you're tired of re-explaining your Claude how to write like your brand or write like a real creative strategist.

Here's the embarrassing truth that a lot of "AI is replacing everything" bros haven't talked about honestly...

Making good AI video content at scale is actually kinda hard.

Getting prompts right is a skill. It takes time to develop. You have 8-12 seconds per scene. Iteration is slow. A lot of the output you get early on is going to be unusable and you're going to waste a lot of time. 

Compare that to certain types of content that are just genuinely faster to shoot on your phone.

For example: I've been making 7 talking head "yap" videos per week for my own TikTok that I've grown to 27k+ followers. I just pick up my phone and speak for 60-90 seconds. And then it's done.

Why would I spend the time to clone myself and try to recreate something with AI tools that will always feel slightly off, when it doesn't save me any time or cost? Plus people will hate me for AI-ing myself. 

How about if you're Comfrt Clothing, and your top performing TikTok affiliate videos are just Gen Z-ers in their bedrooms taking selfie videos? They just show off their hoodie, show off a few features, and add a caption. That's a 15-minute shoot on an iPhone.

There is no AI workflow that beats that for speed, cost, and authenticity.

So before you burn 20 hours crafting an AI workflow for videos that are easier to just shoot with your phone... ask yourself if it's actually worth it.

A Matthew McConaughey & Timothée Chalamet interview recently went viral, in which McConaughey said that the moral plea against AI is not strong enough and will lose out to the economic incentives.

No lies told there. 

But here's what might actually slow it down:

Everybody hates "AI passed off as real" content.

No major brand I know would unleash an army of AI influencers right now who are pretending to be real. That nuance is everything. The brand risk is enormous.

Maybe that changes in 10-15 years when Gen Z and Gen Alpha are the primary consumers and the cultural relationship with AI-generated content has shifted.

Impossible to actually know.

But in the next year? 

AI takes over certain categories, but humans retain control of most categories.

Because authenticity and emotional connection is still what builds brands. 

Faking it has massive consequences.

DTC brands, I would STOP making $300 UGC videos and immediately firing them into your ad account.

This used to be a logical strategy. But in 2026, you're missing the bigger opportunity.

I've worked with 100+ consumer brands, and so many are spending 100% of their time "creating content for paid", and 0% of their time deploying it organically first.

If your ad account is full of unspent creatives, do this instead:

- Scrape your customer reviews for content ideas using Motion (Creative Analytics) or Claude
- Scrape organic TikTok for winning angles using Snowball
- Talk to your ad account data using Octo
- Identify good creators with Meta creator marketplace
- Set up a Discord to manage and motivate them

Then:
- Get creators on performance deals where they post to their own accounts
- Build your own network of slideshow & faceless accounts
- Deploy every creative test organically first
- Prioritize putting paid spend behind content that earned organic views

Test this for 30-60 days.

You'll see massive improvements in creative volume & winning creatives while reducing wasted ad testing spend. Plus you'll build a massive halo that lifts your entire business. 

Let that drive which content deserves your paid budget.

You're stuck at $250k/month in Meta spend because you don't understand exactly what's happening inside the system you're feeding money into. 

Let me break down the 4-model architecture running your ads:

ANDROMEDA
This is the retrieval engine that scans tens of millions of ads to find candidates for each impression.

GEM
This is the ranking superbrain that takes Andromeda's pool and decides which ad wins the impression.

LATTICE
This is the consolidation layer that connects multiple ranking models and shares learnings across Feed, Reels, and objectives.

SEQUENCE LEARNING
This helps model user behavior over time. Not just one impression, the full sequence of actions before and after.

How they work together:
→ Andromeda retrieves 
→ GEM + Lattice rank 
→ Sequence learning personalizes.

What this means if you spend $250k+ / month as an 8-9 figure brands:

- Creative diversity is how you deliver ad candidates
- More variants = more signals = better matching
- The AI handles distribution, you handle inputs

You need operational willingness to hit quality + quantity + differentiation b/c that's what the entire system runs on.

I built my first real vibe coding app with Airtable, Replit, and Gemini. 

Process was:
- I built out this big Airtable databse
- Gemini analyzes any video and put the analysis in Airtable
- I created a front end for this using Replit

You can hover over the videos, and they auto play. You can open them up, and get the script. .You can even copy a prompt that you can preload into Claude
to do a rewrite of that video for your specific brand.

The prompt auto checks the project files in Claude that tell it how to write like that brand, and then it does a rewrite and gives you all this extra helpful context.

This was a massive game changer for my process of:

- Working backwards from a format
- Adapting it for the brands that I'm working with
- Applying my creative taste to edit the content in a human way afterward

"Content creators are toast, AI is going to replace all of you."

Here's why I believe this take is fundamentally wrong...

I run an AI-native creative agency. I use AI every single day. And I genuinely believe AI is one of the most important shifts happening in our industry.

AI will infiltrate certain categories and never touch others.

Any animation that is not Pixar-level, top 5%...is probably gone. Why pay $5,000 when you can prompt and tweak something that is relatively comparable?

Same with word walls, cinematic story ads, static creative, memes, and product renders.

But then there's content where the entire f*****g point is that it's real.

Pull up Comfrt Clothing on Kalodata. They're doing $10M+ per month on TikTok Shop. Look at their top 10 revenue-driving videos. None of them are AI. Almost all are real micro and mid-level influencers.

Because the content that works on TikTok is "I am a real person who bought this thing and here's what I think."

The second that's AI, the whole thing falls apart. 

At the end of the day, authenticity has always been the driver of building the best brands.

That didn't change just because it got cheaper to fake it.

Brands that have hired ex-Odyssey team members:

Gruns
Hexclad
AG1
Trip

I don't believe there is a better place to learn modern creative strategy, as long as you're hellbent on joining the top 1% of humans at this skill. 

We're hiring again for a critical position to help us deliver on our goal to elevate 8 & 9-figure consumer brands into the top 1% of their category for creative diversification & distribution. 

Apply here: https://lnkd.in/eYex6PPW

To apply: send a Loom video showing proof of two things:

1. A TikTok Shop you've managed...walk us through the results & what you did personally to grow it.

2. A Discord creator community you've managed...show us the server, your activity, and how you kept it engaged and growing.

"Do you get brands from posting on TikTok?"

I don't even know what to say back, cause I don't think of things that way. 

All I think about is:

- The thoughts in your head about marketing are actually smart
- If you pair them with the right hook, people will pay attention
- Just keep putting that out there, into the world
- They will find the right people
- When they're ready, they will just reach out
- I have a better chance than someone they never saw in their feed

That's literally it.

Let's say you need to build 10+ affiliate programs from scratch.

The goal: onboard 30+ micro-influencers per brand within 15 days.

Here's the setup:

Target: creators with 5k-50k followers already posting in each brand's niche (not random people)

Half the brands sell on TikTok Shop. Half don't due to business model constraints.

Compensation structures vary by creator:
• Commission-only + free product
• Retainers for high volume (30 posts/month) + view bonuses
• Retainers + sales commissions

Requirements:
• Full content buyout for ad rights across all platforms
• Dead simple process for sparking and partnership ads
• Ability to manage multiple programs simultaneously

Nice to haves:
• Payment management
• Dynamic creator payments based on CPM model

What's the 10/10 tech stack for this for < $2,500 / month?

Is it:
• Just Upfluence
• Just Aspire
• Just SARAL - The Influencer OS
• Refunnel + a CRM like Streak 
• Social Snowball ☃️ + a CRM like Streak 
• Superfiliate + a CRM like Streak 
• Some other combination
• Something else entirely

You need operational efficiency here. 

What have you used at true scale that actually works?

Upfluence

Aspire

SARAL - The Influencer OS

Refunnel

Streak

Social Snowball ☃️

Superfiliate

Jack Dorsey fired 40% of Block staff "because of AI."

Here's exactly what to do next if you're afraid of being next...

18 random thoughts from growing my TikTok from zero to 26k+ followers in a few months.  

- I kinda think you're a fraud if you make content for a living but are unable to grow your own social accounts
- Every thought-out LinkedIn post is a script for TikTok
- Unscripted TikToks become more LinkedIn Content
- Just fire off that "hot take"

- Audio quality matters more than camera quality
- Just buy the RØDE mic, it's awesome
- Making your own videos is best way to become a better CS
- Every CS should try to grow a TikTok, even it's a faceless account

- The hook is everything
- The hook should be oddly specific: use keywords and numbers
- TikTok "categorizes" you, and it becomes easiest to get views in that category
- The random thought in your head is good enough for TikTok, as long as you have a specific hook

- It's easier to get views on TikTok than LI w/o resorting to "lead magnets"
- It's possible to work out and make 3 TikToks during my kid's naptime
- People will watch and comment even if it's just a talking head video
- Your audience is on TikTok b/c everybody is on TikTok

- TikTok drives real business opportunities
- I had 3 leads comes through last week who discovered us on TikTok

Anyway, those are my thoughts.

Co-founder at Meetadbox.com | Analysing over 9500 fast-growing brands every week at Adbox | Performance Advertising Expert | Elevating eCommerce Ad Creatives 🚀

Most people think productivity is about doing more.

For years, I thought the same. I worked in digital projects, built tools, and helped brands grow. My days were filled with deadlines, notifications, and “just one more task.”

But here’s the truth I learned the hard way:

Productivity without balance leads to burnout.

Now, I share a different approach.

✅ Practical frameworks to get more done in less time
✅ Lessons on balance and building habits that actually last
✅ Personal stories on how to design a life that feels good, not just busy

I still love creating digital projects and exploring new ideas. 

But my focus here is simpler: helping professionals live with more clarity, energy, and happiness.

If you’ve ever…

👉 Ended a week exhausted but unsure what you achieved

👉 Felt guilty about resting

👉 Wondered if this pace is sustainable

Then you’ll find something useful here.

Follow along if you want productivity tips that respect your time, and your life outside of work.

Alex Faini

Taking a day off as a founder can feel like a guilt trip for the next two days.

You go out…

And your brain instantly starts negotiating:

“I could've finish that feature for Pixfocal.”

“I could’ve fixed that thing.”

“I could’ve gotten ahead for next week.”

I’ve had that feeling for a long time.

This weekend I went hiking and camping.

Came back, checked my phone.

And yeah…

The world didn’t end.

The team handled things.

That “urgent” thing I was stressing about?

Still there.

But not on fire.

It reminded me of something I keep forgetting:

Sometimes the best way to move faster…

Is to stop for a second.

Not because you’re lazy.

Because your brain needs oxygen.

I’m still learning this.

I’m not naturally good at switching off.

But I’m trying to get better at it.

If you feel guilty every time you step away, even for a few hours…

I get it.

What’s the last thing you did that actually made you come back sharper?

Exploring productivity, happiness & the art of building things online ⚡ Building Pixfocal.com

How I learned productivity from fashion creatives.

The biggest difference I’ve noticed in fashion?

They protect creative energy like it’s part of the job.

Not something you earn after you “finish everything.”

Because creative founders know this:

If your brain is fried, your brand suffers.

So instead of chasing more hours…

They reduce decisions.

They create rules.

They build systems.

And honestly, it’s a productivity cheat code.

I’ve started doing the same with content production:

One photo standard

One repeatable process

One consistent output

Less decision fatigue.

More momentum.

That’s what PixFocal.com is trying to support, too.

Ghost mannequin isn’t just a style.

It’s a way to stop reinventing content every time you launch.

What’s one decision you make every week that you should turn into a rule?

#founderlife #fashionbusiness #contentworkflow

I’ve been doing weightlifting/Crossfit for years.

Here’s the biggest lesson it keeps teaching me:

Play the long game.

In training.

In business.

In building a product.

In becoming better at anything.

🏋️ Play the long game 🏋️

In weightlifting, progress is rarely dramatic.

You don’t just show up one day

and add 10kg to your snatch

Most of the time,

you show up again and again

just to earn 1kg.

And building Pixfocal has felt a lot like that.

Slow progress.

Small wins.

Tiny improvements most people would never notice.

But they count.

Because the big changes usually don’t happen in a day.

Or a week.

Or even a month.

They happen because you stayed with it long enough.

It’s not always about intensity.

It’s about repetition.

Consistency.

Patience when things feel slower than you want.

For real progress:

>> Show up when it feels boring
>> Keep improving the basics
>> Trust small wins
>> Let consistency do the heavy lifting

That’s usually how the big transformation happens.

Not all at once.

How I’m juggling 6 things this week (without melting).

This week has been… a lot.

PixFocal (new features shipping)

Calls with fashion brands (learning the fashion world in real time)

Taxes (💀)

Training for a competition

Starting a new course

And trying to stay human in between

A few years ago, this kind of week would’ve cooked me.

Because I’d keep everything in my head…

…and then wonder why I felt overwhelmed.

Now I know the only reason I can handle weeks like this is simple:

I stay organised.

And I stay clear on the goal.

And I’m not doing anything fancy.

I stick to 2 things:

Pomodoro

25 minutes = one job.

No multitasking.

No “just checking something quick.”

Just focus.

To-do lists (but with one rule)

If it’s not written down, it doesn’t exist.

And if it’s written down, it becomes a next step, not a vague stress cloud.

That’s it.

It’s not motivational.

It’s survival 😅

Because when the week is chaotic, the system keeps me calm.

Tech could learn a lot from fashion founders.

The last couple months working with fashion designers and small boutique teams has been a quiet reality check.

Their brand matters a lot.

But it never beats… living.

And coming from the tech world, that hit me.

Because in tech, we love the “all-in” story.

Work becomes the main character.

And life gets whatever energy is left.

But with a lot of fashion founders I’ve met, it’s the opposite.

It’s more like:

Build your life first.

Build your business second.

Most people mess up and do it in reverse.

And you can literally see what that mistake looks like:

>> Forgetting about family life

>> Hobbies neglected

>> Exercise replaced by 8 hours in front of the computer.

>> Too tired to enjoy your accomplishments.

>> Stress 24/7

I was there 3 years ago.... And it sucked. 

What I’ve noticed with these founders is they protect a few things like it’s non-negotiable:

>> Sacred meal times, away from computers

>> Family time, scheduled/non negotiable

>> Being fully present when it matters

>> Going to museums, or art expos, just for the sake of it.

>> Willing to trade a bit of money for a real life

Is it easy? No.

Do they sometimes move slower? Probably.

But they seem… lighter.

And honestly, it makes me wonder if the tech world has been romanticising burnout as “ambition.”

Because what’s the point of building something big…

If you’re never around to enjoy it?

#founderlife #fashionbusiness #worklifebalance

How sports taught me discipline… and rest.

Sports are the reason I’m disciplined.

But not in the “grind harder” way.

In the smart way.

Because in sports, you learn this fast:

Training is only half the work.

Recovery is the other half.

If you ignore rest, you don’t get tougher.

You just get slower.

Injured.

Burnt out.

And I’ve started treating work the same way.

Discipline isn’t just showing up every day.

It’s also knowing when to stop.

So now I try to train my work like training blocks:

Push hard when it’s time to push

Schedule rest like it’s part of the plan

Come back fresh, not fried

The funny part?

When I rest properly, I get more done.

Better decisions.

Cleaner work.

Less “busy.”

Burnout isn’t a badge.

It’s just bad recovery.

#founderlife #productivity #discipline

How I built flexibility… with discipline.

I love flexibility.

Today, someone really important to me is leaving for a 10-day trip
.
So I wanted to spend the whole afternoon with her.

And this morning, I’m working out with a good friend.

In my head, this is what work should allow:

If I want to step away… I can.

Not “after I finish everything.”

Just… now.

But here’s the part people don’t see:

Flexibility doesn’t happen by accident.

It takes a system.

Because if you don’t have your work organised, “flexibility” just becomes anxiety.

You’re out with people you love…

…but your brain is still in your inbox.

So I try to do the boring stuff that makes freedom possible:

>> Clear weekly goals

>>A short daily to-do list

>> Focused work blocks (no multitasking)

>> A clean place to “park” tasks so they don’t follow me

And then when I step away, I actually step away.

Some people think flexibility means lack of discipline.

I’ve found the opposite.

Flexibility is a result of discipline.

It only works when, during work time, you’re fully there.

No distractions.

Strict goals.

And a system you trust.

That’s the whole game.

I learned rest isn’t lazy.... it’s part of the damn job.

Last week I was flying, pushing new stuff out for PixFocal left and right.

Friday I was literally one click from shipping a feature.

Then I did something old-me would’ve judged hard:

I killed the launch.

Not because the code was broken.

It was simply because it was time to rest...

A couple years back my weekends went like this:

“I should rest.”

…then I’d open the laptop anyway.

I called it discipline.

Told myself grinding now = winning later.

Reality check?

Monday rolls around and I’m already fried.

Focus is trash.

Even tiny tasks feel like climbing a mountain.

Then burnout sneaks in... not with fireworks, just quietly.

Shorter fuse.

Ideas dry up.

Sloppy calls I’d never make when I’m fresh.

So now I guard weekends like they pay my bills.

Not some Instagram-perfect routine... just real protection for the work.

When I actually rest:

Monday hits different.

Energy stays steady.

I think clearer.

I ship faster over time, not just in one sprint.

That Friday “no” didn’t feel weak.

It felt like control.

Because the real goal isn’t one hot launch week.

It’s building PixFocal solid for years…

and staying sharp for the people who actually use it.

#productivity #buildinpublic #fashionindustry

Old way: Polished corporate posts flop.

New way: Real stories from your camera roll win.

LinkedIn's shifting fast in 2026.

Algorithm rewards raw, human content now.

Gone are the days of stiff suits and scripted lines.

People crave connection, not perfection.

I posted 358 days straight this year.

Only missed a handful... surprised myself.

The key? My phone's camera roll as goldmine.

Forgotten moments turn into viral gems.

That awkward team meeting photo?

It sparked a post on real collaboration challenges.

A quick coffee run snapshot?

Became a thread on sparking creativity mid-day.

Random life hacks from daily pics?

They resonate because they're unfiltered.

But here's the 2026 twist: Add AI smartly.

Use tools for refining hooks without losing voice.

Prompt engineering polishes ideas fast.

Yet always keep it authentic, fakes get ignored.

Scroll your roll today.

Find that hidden story.

What's your top camera roll post idea? Share below.

How I start Mondays when the week is packed.

This week is stacked.

A lot to do.

And if I’m honest…

 it feels like it’s going to be a challenge.

When weeks look like that, I’ve learned something the hard way:

Mental health isn’t “nice to have.”

It’s the foundation.

Because if my head isn’t right, everything gets harder:

I overthink.

I rush.

I make messy decisions.

And the week starts running me.

So I try to start Monday the right way.

Not to be “productive.”

To stay stable.

Here’s my Monday reset:

>> Phone away in the morning

If I grab it early, I start the day reacting.

And I don’t want to begin the week in reaction mode.

>> Walk first + change the work location

Even a short walk resets my brain.

And working from a new place (coffee shop today) breaks the “same desk, same stress” loop.

>> To-do list = priorities, not pressure

I look at the list and decide what actually matters.

Not what’s loudest.

Not what’s easiest.

The 3 things that move the week forward.

>> Meetings in one day (if I can)

Meetings spread across the week destroy deep work.

So I try to batch them and protect the other days.

Clear weekly goals

If I know what “a good week” looks like, the chaos feels smaller.

I can say no easier.

And I don’t end Friday wondering what I even did.

And one more rule I’m strict about:

No matter how busy it gets… I keep time for exercise.

And time away from work.

Because the goal isn’t to survive the week.

It’s to finish it with energy left.

Building Pixfocal taught me this fast:

Being a better founder is not always about adding more.

- More tools.

- More routines.

- More systems.

- More “productivity”.

Sometimes it’s the opposite.

Sometimes growth comes from removing the habits that make everything harder.

For me, that looked like:

- Reacting too fast when something went wrong

- Letting stress decide what to work on

- Jumping between tasks all day

→ Saying yes to too many ideas at once

That’s the tricky part of building something mostly on your own.

No one tells you to slow down.

No one tells you you’re overcomplicating it.

No one tells you your bad habits are starting to run the business.

I’ve felt that a lot while building Pixfocal.

And honestly, some of the biggest progress did not come from finding a better tool or a smarter hack.

It came from doing less of the wrong things.

- Less reacting.

- Less rushing.

- Less noise.

That made room for the things that actually help:

- Better focus.

- Better decisions.

 - More calm.

- More real progress.

So now I think entrepreneurship is less about asking:

What should I add next?

And more about asking:

What do I need to stop doing?

Because sometimes that’s where the real growth starts.

I used to mistake stress for productivity.

Busy morning? Good sign.

10 tabs open? Even better.

Jumping between tasks? I thought that meant I was getting things done.

But most days, it wasn’t true.

I was just scattering my focus, filling my to-do list, and ending the day with that annoying feeling of:

“I did a lot… but did I actually move anything forward?”

That’s why now, most mornings, I try to prevent 3 things from happening...
before the day even starts.

1. Multitasking

This one used to fool me the most.

Replying to messages.

Checking numbers.

Writing something.

Fixing something else.

It felt productive because I was always in motion.

But in reality, I was just breaking my attention every few minutes.

Nothing got my full brain.

And everything took longer.

Now I try to protect my mornings from that.

One task at a time.

A clear to-do list.

And usually a simple Pomodoro system so I stay with the thing I actually need to finish.

2. Not prioritising properly

A long to-do list can feel organised.

Sometimes it’s just disguised stress.

Because when everything feels important, nothing really is.

I've had too many days where I stayed busy with easy tasks…

while the one thing that actually mattered got pushed to the end.

That’s why I try to organise my list before I start.

What really moves the needle?

What’s urgent? What can wait?

That alone makes the day feel lighter.

3. Working without clear goals

This one is sneaky.

Because “trying to be productive” sounds good.

But productivity without a real goal is just activity.

And activity can waste a whole day.

I’ve had days where I was fully locked in…

but on things that didn’t really matter.

That’s the worst kind of busy.

Now I try to start with a much simpler question:

What does a good day actually look like?

Not a full day.

Not a chaotic day.

A good day.

Usually the answer is much shorter than I think.

For me, better days usually come down to this:

A clear to-do list.

A real priority.

A system to focus.

That’s it.

Not doing more.

Just doing the right things with more intention.

How I watched a meeting kill creativity in real time.

Yesterday I was on a call with a fashion designer and their marketing person.

They were aligned.

Good energy.

Excited about a new content strategy.

And then the designer said something that quietly derailed the whole thing:

“Okay, so… just to move forward, can come up a creative concept now?”

On the call.

In real time.

And you could feel it.
The vibe changed.

The marketer got tense.

Ideas got safer.

Everything started sounding… generic.

Because here’s the truth:

Creative thinking doesn’t happen on demand.

Especially not under pressure.

Especially not while someone’s watching.

Especially not when you’re trying to “perform” creativity.

Meetings are for:

Direction

Decisions

Feedback

Alignment

Not for inventing the next great concept from scratch.

So I jumped in and suggested something simple:

“Let’s pause.

Give it 48 hours.

Bring 5 concepts to the next call.”

Instant relief.

And it reminded me of a rule I try to follow now:

Don’t ask for creation during a meeting.

Ask for clarity during a meeting.

If you want better creative work, the best “productivity hack” is preparation.

Here’s what I’d do instead:

>> Agree on the goal of the content (what are we trying to achieve?)

>> Define constraints (formats, brand voice, what to avoid)

>> Assign concepting as async work

>> Next meeting = review, pick winners, refine

That’s how you get ideas that actually feel fresh.

Not forced.

#fashionbrand #contentstrategy #brandbuilding #fashionbusiness #ecommerce

How I realised progress is easy to miss.

Today I woke up and had one of those moments.

I opened PixFocal…

watched what it can do now…

and thought:

“Wait… we’ve come a long way.”

Because most days I’m not thinking about what we’ve built.

I’m thinking about:

What’s broken.

What’s missing.

What we should ship next.

What customers are asking for.

What’s still not good enough.

And that’s the trap.

When you’re a driven person, there’s always a next thing.

So if you only let yourself feel good “when we arrive”…

you’ll never feel it.

You don’t really arrive.

You just collect wins.

And keep going.

That’s why I’m trying to get better at this:

Looking back once in a while.

Not to slow down.

But to remember I’m not starting from zero anymore.

Progress deserves a pause.

Even if it’s just a small one.

Anyway... here’s a quick look at what PixFocal can do today.

And I’m proud of it.

#fashion #productphotography #entrepreneurship

Fashion launches don’t usually fail.

They stall.

I’ve been supporting a small fashion brand and their team for the past 2 months.

Great product.

Great taste.

Everyone working hard.

But the launch was… stuck.

Not because they didn’t know what to do.

Because the to-do list was one giant monster:

New collection

Product photos

Ghost mannequin

Site updates

Emails

Social

Wholesale assets

Everything at once

So over dinner we did the least sexy thing possible:

We chopped the launch into tiny steps.

And we made one rule:

Start with the thing that unlocks everything else.

For them, it was images.

So the plan became:

1) Image sprint (2 days)

Pick the 12 priority SKUs

Shoot quick, clean photos (same angle, same distance)

Generate ghost mannequin with PixFocal

Export a consistent set for the store

2) Website sprint (1 day)

Upload

Build the collection page

QA on mobile

3) Launch sprint (1 day)

1 email

3 posts

Done.

The vibe changed immediately.

Less stress.

More momentum.

Small steps don’t just reduce overwhelm…

They get teams moving again.

#fashionbusiness #contentproduction #ghostmannequin

How I built PixFocal while feeling like a beginner.

A couple of months ago, when I started developing PixFocal, I was also 
stepping into fashion.

And honestly?

I felt behind.

Everyone else seemed to already know the rules:

>> Fit.

>> Merchandising.

>> Production.

>> Product photography.

>> What “good” even looks like.

Meanwhile I was at zero.

The hard part wasn’t failing.

It was watching other people look fluent… while I was still learning the alphabet.

And I still feel like a beginner sometimes.

Because every time you go deeper into fashion, you realize there’s another layer.

But here’s what I’ve learned:

Beginners aren’t a problem to solve.

They’re a place to learn from.

Being a beginner means you’re brave enough to be bad at something that matters.

Most people avoid that.

They’d rather stay comfortable being “good” at something they’ve outgrown…

…than be awkward at the thing they actually want.

PixFocal didn’t start from mastery.

It started from one question I was almost embarrassed to ask:

“Why does ghost mannequin take so much time and cost so much… when every brand needs it?”

That curiosity turned into a product.

And the only way I’ve kept going is the same way beginners move forward:

>> Show up.

>> Ask the obvious questions.

>> Ship the next small improvement.

>> Repeat.

What are you giving yourself permission to be a beginner at right now?
#founderlife #fashionbusiness #buildinpublic

I’m new to fashion. 

Here’s what shocked me.

I thought fashion eCom was mostly “branding.”

Turns out… it’s mostly photos.

Not because they look nice.

Because they make people feel confident.

My beginner takeaway so far:

>> if the product isn’t clear fast, nothing else matters

>> “premium” often just means “clean + consistent”

>> editing is where brands lose hours

That’s literally why I’m building Pixfocal.

Confidence sells faster than copy.

If you run a fashion brand: what’s harder for you, shooting or editing?

#fashionbusiness #ecommerce #Shopify #productphotography #founders

Going viral feels great. 🔥

Until you realise your store still looks… average.

I’ve seen this with fashion brands a lot:

A Reel pops off.

Traffic spikes.

People browse.

And then… they bounce.

Not because the product is bad.

Because the presentation doesn’t match the hype.

A viral post is not a conversion moment.

It’s an attention moment.

So if the landing experience is messy, people leave.

Here’s what we changed for one small brand:

🧥 Cleaned the product images first
We standardised the catalog with ghost mannequin so everything looked premium + consistent.

🧩 Built a “viral landing” collection
Only the featured pieces. No distractions. Easy to shop.

📌 Pinned a clear next step
“Shop the drop” + one link + one destination.

🧾 Added proof where people hesitate
Shipping/returns, fit notes, reviews, and a couple UGC shots.

⚡️ Created a simple reason to act
Limited stock / preorder window / “ships by” date.

Same traffic.

Completely different outcome.

The biggest myth in fashion content?

That views sell.

Views don’t sell.

A clean catalog + clear next step sells.

That’s a big reason I’m building PixFocal.

Ghost mannequin isn’t just aesthetic.

It’s how small brands make their store feel premium… fast.

If you’re getting attention but not converting, check your product images first.

Nothing beats a Sunday swim to get ready for a busy week ahead :)

March hits, and suddenly everyone's talking resets. 

But if you're remote like me, the real reset isn't a new planner...

it's reclaiming your space.

Last month, I let my desk spill into the living room. 

Result? Endless "just one more email" nights and zero real downtime.

Here's what I changed:

Designated a "no-work zone" in the corner with my favorite chair and books.

Set a hard shutdown ritual: 

>> Close the laptop, light a candle, step away.

Added plants to visually separate work from chill...

turns out, green makes boundaries feel real.

Now, my brain actually switches off. 

Productivity up, burnout down.

If your home office is blurring lines, try this. 

Your focus (and sanity) will thank you.

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