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/

Over the last 90 days, I built a brand from scratch: category research, product formula, name, brand design, packaging, and website.

I used AI for probably 85% of the process. 

But here's what nobody talks about: the other 15% required humans. And that 15% made all the difference.

So I documented the process, and I'm giving away the breakdown for free.

What's inside:
- How I used Claude as a thinking partner for category research
- The naming process (including 2 failed brand names)
- How I used AI to develop the actual product formula
- Where AI's "yes-man problem" almost killed me
- The top 1% designer conversation that changed everything
- Why I spent 30+ hours on packaging with AI and still needed a human to finish 
- How I used Nano Banana Pro to generate my product imagery
- Where I'm drawing the line on AI-generated content vs human content

Bonus: A usable framework for knowing when to push AI harder vs. when to bring in a top 1% human to help.

I've been in DTC marketing since 2017 and run a creative agency working with 50+ brands. This doc is everything I learned the last 90 days trying to build my own thing with AI as my primary collaborator.

Want the full 2123-word outline and 16-minute Loom video?

Like this post and comment "BUILD" and I'll send it over 👇

♻️ Like & repost if this would help someone in your network ♻️

JSESSIONID

li_at

Talks about #dtc, #careeradvice, #growthmarketing, and #digitalmarketing

Creative-led growth for 8-9 figure consumer brands | Writing about AI & advertising | Sold 100k+ personal cooling devices

My 81 favorite BFCM/holiday ads from the past few years. 

This is not another "inspiration board" with random creatives.

It's a curated Foreplay.co collection of ads that actually work during peak shopping season.

Here's what makes these different: 

→ Written for people actively shopping right now 
→ Designed for bottom-funnel audiences hunting for deals 
→ Built for comparison shoppers evaluating your product vs. competitors 
→ Crafted for buyers comparing your solution vs. failed alternatives

PROBLEM THIS SOLVES: 
Most brands don't realize that BFCM / holiday creative is a completely different category of advertising.

Your audience isn't browsing. They're hunting. They're comparing. They're ready to buy but need the right specific reason to choose you.

Meanwhile, many brands are running the same top-funnel creative they use year-round, wondering why it fails. 

WHY THIS IS CRITICAL: 
The next 35 days aren't really about awareness or consideration. Your audience is in active shopping mode.

They're not asking "Do I need this?" They're asking "Should I buy this one or the other one?" and "Is this actually a great deal?"

So I built a Foreplay board with 81 of my favorite ads. Including a bunch of formats you could make with footage you're already sitting on.

Want the Foreplay board link?

1. Comment "BLACKFRIDAY" below
2. Like this post
3. Make sure we're connected so I can send the link

P.S. I'm sending the link to anyone who comments by Friday

We're hiring for multiple creative strategist roles (junior through senior). 

Honestly it’s because our strategists keep landing incredible roles at amazing brands that they can’t turn down (I’m proud of them).

Our people have been hired by Athletic Greens, Gruns, and other best-in-class DTC brands. 

You're a good fit for this if:
- You have a feel for making TikTok's that get lots of views
- You can work across data, taste, and creation
- You believe the next winning ad is 1 deep insight away
- You're AI native & use it as a strategic / operational partner

What we offer: 
- 100% remote work
- Make ads for best-in-class brands & build an elite portfolio
- Cutting edge creative strategy: AI, elevated shoots, native content
- In-person team event in January in Miami
- Insane growth potential, we promote fast

Links in comments 👇

Need to hire a freelance TikTok Shop / Affiliate strategist. 

You're a good fit for this if:

- You've grown multiple TikTok shops to over $100k a month
- You're an operational psychopath who enjoys wrangling hundreds of affiliates
- You have an innate feel for making viral TikTok content
- You can build an incentive structure that drives creator participation 
- You're AI native & use it as a strategic / operational partner

I don't care about resumes. Just send me a well-written DM with the names of 2-3 specific brands you've grown on TTS and the exact role you played in making the growth happen. I'll double check your work on Kalodata.

Matthew McConaughey's 'private LLM' idea is actually what every creative strategist needs in 2026. 

The people who are making fun of him for it are totally missing the point.  

My agency ships 2000+ video ads / month across 40+ brands.

Broad AI creative strategy tools are a waste of time. All they do is make it faster to generate a higher volume of mediocre content. Nobody needs that. 

What CS's actually need are narrower context kits:

- AI trained on ads they actually won, and why they won
- AI with vision into their ad account data
- AI that analyzes that data like an expert performance marketer
- Agent that knows exactly how to analyze customer reviews
- Micropersonas specific to the brand they are writing for
- Voice, and messaging guidelines specific to brand they are writing for

So that when a CS asks "how do I improve this skincare ad," the answer is actually valuable and based on a competitive advantage specific to them / the company they work for. 

McConaughey gets it. He wants an AI that thinks like him, not like everyone.

That's what we need as creative strategists.

I've been playing with Octo the last few weeks, and they are seriously onto something within this category of AI tech.

Dropped the link to the tool in the comments.

so we're all just ignoring the fact that...

1. you can have AI analyze the top 1% of content in your niche and extract the exact frameworks, hooks, and structures that actually get engagement.

2. you can voice-record your thoughts with Wispr Flow and have Claude turn them into polished LinkedIn posts, Twitter threads, and newsletter drafts.

3. you can upload a single piece of winning content to Claude and prompt it to take that same idea and put it into 8 different formats. 

4. you can have AI watch viral videos in your space and give you detailed breakdowns of why they worked, then help generate similar concepts for your own story and area of expertise.

5. you can feed AI your best-performing posts and have it generate 100 variations in your voice and style.

6. you can turn any industry report, podcast transcript, or article into 20 pieces of original content with your unique take.

7. you can create custom GPTs trained on your writing style.

8. you can generate post-ready thumbnails, graphics, and visual assets without touching Photoshop.

9. you can take one 60-minute conversation and have AI turn it into 2 week's worth of content: posts, threads, newsletters, video scripts.

10. you can have AI analyze your audience's comments and engagement to identify exactly what topics and formats resonate most.

11. you can rip the structures of high-performing creators (in your niche or not) and plug in your own ideas and perspectives

12. you can literally just pick up your phone, record a TikTok with your raw thoughts, and TikTok will basically just handle the editing and captions.

13. you can have AI scrape viral content in any category and automatically organize it into your Airtable database with full analysis of what made it work.

14. you can set up N8N workflows that automatically find trending topics in your space and generate content briefs before anyone else catches on.

15. you can have AI agents specialized for different content types: one for LinkedIn thought leadership, another for TikTok scripts, another for newsletter storytelling.

16. you can take any boring industry insight and have AI help you find the contrarian angle that gets people talking.

Now is the single greatest time in history to join the 5% of humans who actually create content, instead of mindlessly consuming it. 

What are you waiting for?

My $1.2M BFCM disaster nearly got me fired from an 8-figure brand. 

So I created a 103-item checklist to make sure it never happened again. Drop a comment on this post and I'll send you the entire checklist. 

Now back to the story....

I was so obsessed with our Black Friday email campaigns.

But I ignored the 3 flows that drive the bulk of BFCM revenue:
→ Welcome flow 
→ Cart abandonment 
→ Browse abandonment

Be honest with yourself: When's the last time you locked yourself in a room and made every single email within those 3 flows as strong as possible?

Omnisend data shows that:
- Email automations account for just 2% of email volume but drive 37% of email sales.
- 87% of automated orders come from just these 3 flows

Most brands haven't touched them in months.

Looking back, I was leaving a massive pile of on the table because I wasn't making optimizations likes these for BFCM:

- Making our Black Friday offer crystal clear ATF in every email
- Ensuring cart abandoners saw their exact products + our discount
- Adding urgency with clear deadlines to every flow
- Personalizing welcome sequences based on how people signed up

Inbox competition during BFCM is brutal.

The time you spend making every single email within these 3 flows perfect is so much more important than forcing your team to take another design pass at your campaigns.

Omnisend is great for DTC operators & agency owners b/c it makes it simple to nail these 3 flows:

- Email + SMS + push all working together
- Dynamic product recommendations that actually work
- $68 ROI for every $1 spent

Your BFCM campaigns will get opened once. Your automations work 24/7.

Focus aggressively on the 2% of volume that drives the bulk of your sales. 

---

👉 If you want to try Omnisend for 30% off for your first 3 months, check the link in the comments. 

---

And to grab my 103-Item BFCM Preparation Guide:

1. Comment "BFCM" below
2. Like this post
3. Make sure we're connected so I can send the link

P.S. I'm sending the link to anyone who comments by Monday

#Omnisendpartner

Omnisend

21 ways to find your next $100K spend ad:

1. Build an Airtable database that organizes all of your existing winners, making it easier to turn 1 win into 10 wins.

2. Use N8N + Apify to capture TikTok creators who are consistently hitting 100K+ views in your category, then scrape their email addresses to do outreach.

3. Set up Claude Desktop and use that as your primary writing zone, with all of your data flowing into projects that are specific to each part of the creative process. 

4. Mine Amazon reviews with AI agents to find the exact trigger events customers use before buying, then turn those into hook concepts.

5. Use Wispr Flow to voice-note analyze every ad that made you stop scrolling this week b/c your subconscious knows what works.

6. Make it a habit of writing down the specific creators that you see amazing partnership ads from, and have a $10/hour offshore person do systemic outreach.

7. Use Motion (Creative Analytics)'s Social Listening Agent to process 500+ customer reviews in 3 minutes and extract the psychological frameworks that drove purchase

8. Start your ads mid-moment. 

9. Analyze your top-performing ads with the Audience/Angle/Offer framework.

10. Put your best 4-5 creators on $1K-$5K monthly retainers instead of chasing new talent. Make it easier on yourself.

11. Use Octo to analyze groups of ads together, and automatically build storyboards for new ads to make based off of the undeniable proof in the ads that worked. 

12. Just launch your ads as partnership ads, stop playing Meta on hard mode. 

13. Use Adology.AI's "god view" to watch every signal related to your brand on the internet.

14. Use Arcads to make a comedic podcast related to your product, using Nano Banana to place your product onto one of the podcasters.

15. Actually allow a good thought to pop into your head, write it down, then talk through it with Wispr Flow into Claude.

16. Take something that's already a winner and do format multiplication: normal UGC becomes a staged moment, podcast version, street interview version.

17. Give open-ended briefs to strong up-and-coming TikTok creators via TikTok Shop affiliate program - let them run wild with commission-only structure and cash bonuses. 

18. Use Sora 2 Pro to generate beautiful cinematic b-roll that allows you to create brand new concepts with existing footage. 

19. Build an agent that analyzes your customer support tickets for recurring pain points, then creates creative concepts that address those specific objections.

20. Create a systematic workflow where you feed viral TikTok transcripts to Claude and have it help you do script re-writes that don't suck.

21. Start posting TikToks yourself. You'll learn the importance of writing incredibly specific caption hooks that break through.

TLDR:
- AI workflow = a competitive advantage 
- Human taste = your strategic filter 
- Outrageous operating speed = market domination

Wispr Flow

Motion (Creative Analytics)

Octo

Adology.AI

Arcads

99% of creative strategists confuse looking busy with real insights:

→ They group ads from different channels together
→ They compare testing campaigns against proven winners
→ They set identical CPA targets across Meta / TikTok / YouTube

Because of this, the "analysis" ends up being meaningless.

They're comparing apples to oranges to bananas.

→ Conversion campaigns mixed with awareness campaigns
→ New channel performance held to mature channel standards
→ Creative tests evaluated against scaled winners

The result is bad decisions based on weird data.

"This ad failed" - no, it was a test in a testing campaign.
"TikTok doesn't work" - no, you expected Meta-level ROAS on day one.
"This format underperforms" - no, you compared video views to conversions.

To actually generate insights, evaluate creative within its own context:

1. Group by objective first. Conversion campaigns together. Video views together. Awareness together. Never mix them.

2. Separate testing from scaling. Your testing campaigns should have 10-25 ads where you're taking big swings. Don't compare those against your proven winners running at scale. Different purpose, different benchmarks.

3. Adjust expectations by channel. A new TikTok test won't hit your Meta ROAS targets immediately.

This is why a media buying foundation is so critical for creative strategy.

And why I'm willing to pay for tools like Motion, because it makes it simple for junior / mid-level CS's to build these segments with filters and actually evaluate the creative properly.

The strategists who understand this will always out-analyze the ones just making pretty decks.

P.S. Motion is hosting a 2026 Ad Creative Trends event in a few weeks. If you want to stay ahead of what's coming, link to register is in the comments.

How to survive and thrive as a DTC brand in the age of AI:

First off, ruthlessly copying what works is a strategy. I'm not going to pretend it doesn't work. AI makes it way, way easier. 

If a competitor's hook is crushing, study it. Rip it. See what happens. "Lift & Shift" can be a percentage of your creative output. 

But if 100% of your strategy is copying, you're screwed.

The brands I see actually breaking through right now aren't the ones who copy best. They're the ones who push past the baseline from a point of originality.

TikTok is the cultural tastemaker for the internet right now. The brands I constantly see in my TikTok feed aren't playing it safe.

Hismile. Underbrush. Hiyo. Pete's Pasta. Stan Store.

These companies aren't ignoring what works. They're paying attention to proven ad structures and formats, but injecting something unmistakably theirs. 

People can sense the difference. They can sense the difference between a brand with a genuine point of view and one that's trend hopping.

The AI age makes copying easier than ever. Which means it's easier for anyone to make content that is "competent."

But that means the gap between "competent" and "extraordinary" is widening every single day. 

Brands that win in 2026 will have a portfolio approach.

Don't make copying 100% of your strategy.

2026 will be the best time in history to be a Creative Generalist. 

Because AI makes it possible to get your vision to 85% done, and as long as you have the network to take it the remaining 15%, you are unstoppable.

Don't let anyone tell you that you need to "pick a lane."

The future belongs to the people who can see the big picture and make it become a reality insanely fast.

Built an AI owl podcaster in ~20 minutes with Arcads & Nano Banana Pro.

Used Nano Banana Pro to generate the owl + podcast setup:

“A wise owl sitting at a podcast table in a cozy moonlit library, warm ambient lighting, vintage microphone in front of the owl, owl wearing this exact black sleep mask, leather-bound books in background, intimate podcast studio setting, cinematic lighting with soft golden shadows, professional yet cozy atmosphere.”

Then I used the Sora 2 in Arcads to make the 8-second demo video. Provided the script and some subtle motion notes.

Is it ridiculous and unserious? Yeah, and that’s the point. 

This is the category of AI-produced content I’m actually excited about. You can think of a wild idea, and then make a demo in like 20 minutes. AI tools like Arcads remove so much of the friction.

Comment "PROCESS" and I'll send you the exact tool stack and step-by-step process I used to make this demo. 

---

P.S. Arcads is running a BFCM promo where you get 50% OFF all annual plans, so now’s a good time to sign up and try this workflow for yourself. Link in first comment. 

#ArcadsPartner

70% of your creative time should be spent on the first 3 seconds.

I always knew that the hook mattered. But after growing my own TikTok from 0 to 19.2K in a few months, feel like I have a different level of understanding now.  

The hook actually is EVERYTHING. 

And the hook is 3 related elements, all working together:

1. The written caption
2. The voiceover
3. The visual action

Most people are lazy and make the caption the same thing the person is saying. 

The best creative strategists connect all 3 elements to make something that people won't scroll past. 

Seeing our team pay attention to the details and put this into action makes me feel awesome.

1,358 people commented on a STOLEN viral post about AI Kobe Bryant.

I jumped in to offer my perspective, as someone who writes about AI every day but also worked in real sports marketing with pro athletes. 

I don't love dunking on people, but here's the problem I had with that viral post:

First off, the guy stole the content word-for-word from someone on Twitter. It's not his video. It's not his workflow. It's not even his hook.

Now onto the content itself (which wasn't even his):

Even if Kobe Bryant were still alive, there is a 0% chance Nike would ever make a consumer-facing ad like the one this guy posted (that he didn't even make himself). 

The video was useful as a prototype video, but if they were actually launching something like that it would probably tank their stock price.

The writing was AI slop, it made no sense.
The voice tried to sound like Kobe, but didn't.
AI Kobe was dribbling and dunking all weird. Super glitchy.
People hate the AI-ification of everything.

In reality, here's what would actually happen if Kobe was still alive:

Nike would organize a shoot with the real Kobe Bryant. 
It would cost a lot of money. 
The writing would have soul. 
He would dribble and dunk like Kobe, because it would actually be Kobe. 
He would sound like Kobe, too, b/c it would be his actual voice.

The AI process that the poster described is actually a massive unlock for the pre-production process. They could use the prototype video to pitch a campaign to Kobe. Way more powerful than a storyboard + 3rd party references.

But the real Kobe Bryant would HATE the video that he posted. The team responsible for it would be fired immediately.

So to me: when someone writes a post about text-to-video replacing consumer-facing Nike ads with real NBA stars is disingenuous.

I'm laughing tat my desk right now b/c there are so many layers to this latest LinkedIn grift:

AI Overhype + Stolen Content + "Fire Everyone" Hook

- Marketer & massive NBA fan

388k people have watched my TikTok about why a brand backed by the Paul Brothers, Mr. Beast, and other massive influencers is totally failing.

Here are the spark notes for why I believe the sales are so underwhelming:

1. If your positioning is wrong, nothing else matters. It's a shaky foundation. Better ads, more spend, bigger influencers...none of it will fix a broken core message.

2. Celebrity without trust doesn't worked like it used to work. People are smarter now, and they value authenticity over pure celebrity influence.

3. You can't do problem-based marketing when the problem is an insecurity nobody thinks they actually have.

Follow me on TikTok for more breakdowns like this. Link in comments.

aspiredigital.ca

Scaled 135 (and counting...) DTC Brands in 5 Years.

Chief Executive Officer

Mulraney Marketing

Freelance Marketing

You ever stare at your ad account and just think: “I don’t even know what to test anymore.”

Yeah. That.

You’ve got a product that works. Revenue’s solid.

But growth? Flat. 

ROAS is too tight. Creative’s gone stale. And scaling spend feels like lighting money on fire.

I’ve seen it too many times. Founders, CGOs, CMOs, stuck refreshing dashboards, waiting for something to pop... while still being the only one in the room thinking about tomorrow.

That’s where I come in.

No frameworks. No fluff. Just hands-on help fixing what’s broken in your growth system—fast.

At Aspire Digital, we’ve worked with 135+ DTC brands. Directly generated $22M+ in revenue by spotting the real problem, not the obvious one.

That “why isn’t this scaling?” feeling? I get it.

Me and my team plug in, find the cracks, rebuild what matters i.e. creative, audience, structure, and get your growth engine running smooth again.

No more recycling last quarter’s best ad. No more random tests. No more guessing.

Just strategy that sticks. And ads that hit.

If that sounds like what you need, DM me “ASPIRE.”

I’ll send over a quick 15-min Loom teardown of your current setup on what’s working, what’s costing you, and what I’d do first to fix it.

Let’s get you unstuck.

Michael Mulraney

Everyone keeps saying DTC died last year.
I think LAZY DTC died, and that's the best thing that could’ve happened.

The last 4-5 years, we lived through the wildest market cycle in eCommerce history.

The COVID Boom: Unlimited demand. Free capital. Cheap CPMs. Every ad printed money.
The Aftermath: Reality hit. Costs soared. Funding dried up. Brands collapsed overnight.

I watched hundreds of DTC brands go through both eras.

Some scaled to $50M+ while others disappeared entirely.

And what separated them wasn’t product. It was discipline.

The collapse wasn’t the end of DTC.
It was an evolutionary event.

When the easy money left, founders had to rediscover the fundamentals:

✅ Profit before growth
✅ Story before ads
✅ Cash flow before capital

Hard markets don’t destroy great brands... they expose them.

I’m convinced 2026 will kick off the healthiest era DTC has ever seen.

Not the fastest-growing. Not the flashiest. But the healthiest.

Brands that learn how to operate lean, tell real stories, and control their own destiny will dominate.

We’re already seeing it with the brands we scale at Aspire... the ones thriving now are the ones who evolved through the chaos.

👇 Curious to hear from founders... what changes have you made to survive the shift?

Scaled 135+ DTC Brands In 5 Years Using Creative-First Ad Testing | DM “ASPIRE” to get a personalized 15-min teardown | Meta Ads | Google Ads | TikTok Ads

You don’t need more ads.
You need bigger ideas.

A few months back, a founder bragged about his creative engine on a call.

“We are currently generating fifty new ads a week,”

Except... none of them were profitable.

Every ad looked slightly different... new colors, swapped hooks, tweaked copy, but the idea was the same.

They were optimizing for output, not impact.

It’s what I call the Volume Trap... the illusion that more ads = more success.

The best growth teams don’t ship the most ads.
They take the biggest creative swings.

Here’s how to reset:

✅ Aim for 5 great ideas, not 50 versions.
✅ Build tests around new stories, not new edits.
✅ Leave budget headroom for iteration after you get signal.

Creative diversity isn’t “blue vs orange background.”

Agree?

No alternative text description for this image

If you're a creative strategist (or anywhere near advertising), start studying human psychology.

A lot of us obsess over the ad itself.

The layout. The color. The camera quality.

But none of that matters if the message doesn’t connect.

You can have the prettiest ad in the world, but if it doesn’t speak to a real pain, desire, or belief... it’s just decoration.

If you want to build top-performing creatives, you need to stop studying ads and start studying people.

The best advertisers don’t just design better. They understand deeper.

They know exactly who they’re talking to... what they want, what they’re afraid of, what they’ve tried before, and why it didn’t work.

Here’s where you start:

‣ Read through hundreds of customer reviews... not just your own, but your competitors’ too.
‣ Look at what people complain about on Reddit and in comment sections.
‣ Study what they praise and what they regret buying.
‣ Look into their pain points, designers, frequently asked questions and issues with competitors 
‣ Build angles around that information.

Once you understand the human side, you’ll start writing ads that feel personal.

Ads that make people think, “That’s me.”

And that’s when performance changes.

If you're a DTC founder and someone told you to try to become "well-rounded".

Harley Finkelstein (Shopify's President) gives a different perspective.

The best founders are "spiky".

He built Shopify’s leadership culture around this idea.

He didn’t just study business... he studied law, mastering negotiation, writing, and critical thinking.

That combination created an arbitrage opportunity few entrepreneurs had: the ability to operate like a lawyer, communicate like a storyteller, and lead like a founder.

That’s what being spiky means... building a skill stack that doesn’t exist anywhere else.

It’s not about collecting random abilities.

It’s about combining unobvious skills to create an advantage that can’t be copied.

‣ A marketer who understands infrastructure.
‣ A creative who thinks in systems.
‣ A CEO who can read the room like a DJ.

Finkelstein used those same DJ skills... crowd reading, rhythm, and energy management... to lead teams and negotiate deals.

That’s how you transfer talent across disciplines instead of staying stuck in one lane.

The framework looks like this:

‣ Identify skills that are valuable but uncommon in your space.
‣ Go deep on one core specialty while staying literate in adjacent ones.
‣ Apply lessons from unrelated fields to your current challenges.

That’s how you build an unfair advantage... not by knowing everything, but by knowing the right combination of things.

DTC Founders... what do you think?

I see this almost every time I audit an ad account:

‣ Campaign launches
‣ The brand refreshes the Ads Manager every hour
‣ Results look bad after 24 hours
‣ Panic sets in
‣ Ad gets killed

And that’s how potential winners die.

I get it... it’s easy to react when you see spend going out and nothing coming in.

But that reaction is exactly what stops your best ads from ever surfacing.

If you’re selling a $200 product and shut an ad off after $30 in spend, you didn’t test... you guessed.

Maybe it would’ve converted at $50 or $60 spend.

But now you’ll never know.

Meta doesn’t learn in hours.
It learns in data.

And delayed attribution means that purchase you’re waiting for might show up tomorrow... not today.

Here’s what we do to stop emotional decision-making:

1️⃣ 𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲.
Let them run at least 3–5 days before judging results.

2️⃣ 𝗦𝗲𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁.
Know what you’re willing to lose to learn... before you launch.

3️⃣ 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗔𝗢𝗩.
A $30 t-shirt and a $500 table don’t need the same proof spend.

4️⃣ 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘆.
Don’t kill an ad before all attribution data has landed.

Every ad deserves enough time and spend to prove you right or wrong.
Anything less is just panic management disguised as optimization.

The fastest way to lift a winning ad? Fix the hook, not the body.

I see this mistake everywhere:

Amateur agencies rewrite the whole video... because the first line flopped.

That’s not testing. That’s chaos.

The angle does the heavy lifting.
The hook just has to stop the scroll.

If the body is working, rotate multiple hooks on that same body until one hits.

That’s how you scale fast without resetting learning.

Here's how we run it:

Proven angle: 30-day transformation walkthrough

‣ Hook A: “Transform your skin in 30 days”
‣ Hook B: “I tried 7 ‘clean’ serums. Only this worked.”
‣ Hook C: “Why 90% of routines fail in week two”

Proven angle: BTS formulation demo

‣ Hook A: “The ingredient your dermatologist won’t mention”
‣ Hook B: “This is why your vitamin C keeps failing”
‣ Hook C: “Stop buying ‘glow’ serums until you see this”

Proven angle: Mistakes vs. method side-by-side

‣ Hook A: “You’re doing this wrong in the first 10 seconds”
‣ Hook B: “Fix this one step and your skin changes”
‣ Hook C: “The 3 traps ruining your routine”

Lazy testing = new angle every time the opener misses.
Systematic testing = same angle, 5–10 hooks, clean read on what actually moves the metric.

How many hook-only iterations did you run on your last winning video before you called it “done”?

I think a lot of us are waiting for the “moment.”

That quote.
That podcast.
That piece of advice that flips a switch and changes everything.

I know I was.

For years, I kept thinking there would be a single moment that changed everything for me... that one idea that would make it all click.

I’d hear successful people say things like,

“I read this line in a book and it completely changed my life.”

And I kept waiting for that to happen to me.

It never did.

What actually happened was a lot less glamorous.

I just worked.
Every day.
For years.

Building my agency.
Failing, adjusting, learning... over and over again.

There was no flash of inspiration.
No perfect quote that rewired my brain.
No cinematic “aha” moment.

Just slow, grueling, consistent action.

And one day, I looked up and realized everything had changed.

Not because of a single moment, but because of a thousand small ones stacked together.

I'm sorry, but no amount of ads can help a brand or funnel that doesn't convert.

Look, ads are like gasoline.

But if there’s no fire to begin with... nothing happens.

You can run the best creative in the world, hire a top-tier agency, and spend six figures a month.

But if your offer is weak, your funnel doesn’t convert, and your retention strategy is non-existent... no amount of ad spend will save you.

We’ve seen it countless times.

A brand comes in thinking ads are the magic bullet.

But when we look under the hood, the problems are deeper:

‣ Product pages that leak conversions
‣ Offers that sound identical to everyone else’s
‣ No post-purchase strategy to bring people back

In that situation, scaling ads just scales inefficiency.

Ads don’t create demand... they amplify it.

They use paid media to pour fuel on what’s already working:

✅ A clear, differentiated offer
✅ A funnel that actually converts
✅ A backend that maximizes lifetime value

When those pieces click, ads become a growth engine.

Without them, ads are just expensive noise.

Elon Musk's net-worth is on track to hit THIRTEEN DIGITS... and if you’re a founder, you need to learn this about his strategy.

Elon doesn’t build rockets.
He makes the future feel inevitable.

Many founders think that businesses grow by pushing harder.

Musk shows that businesses grow by creating momentum so strong that the market pulls everything towards you.

Tesla.
SpaceX.
Neuralink.
xAI.

Each one has a mission that feels too big to ignore... and a story that makes people want to be part of it.

And that’s the real reason his net worth is about to hit a level we’ve never seen before.

Here’s what I see when I study Elon’s companies:

1️⃣ He doesn’t sell products. He sells futures.

Tesla isn’t about electric cars.
It’s about the future of energy.

SpaceX isn’t about rockets.
It’s about becoming a multi-planet species.

People don’t buy the product... they buy the trajectory.

2️⃣ Every company has a mission bigger than the business.

A trillion dollars isn’t built by fighting for market share.
It’s built by redefining the market entirely.

Musk doesn’t ask: “How do we win?”
He asks: “How do we change what's possible?”

That shift turns customers into believers and brands into movements.

3️⃣ He uses transparency as a distribution channel.

Prototype failures.
Factory footage.
Engineering breakdowns.
Roadmaps.
Setbacks.
Real takes.

Instead of hiding complexity, he markets it.
And people TRUST that.

4️⃣ He builds products so bold, skepticism becomes free marketing.

Landing rockets? Impossible. 
Cybertruck? Ridiculous. 
Boring tunnels under cities? Insane.

When everyone says it can't be done, proving them wrong becomes the story.

5️⃣ He makes himself the top-of-funnel.

Love him or hate him... people listen.
And that attention keeps all his companies permanently top-of-mind.

Never underestimate how powerful a direct founder voice actually is.

You don’t need Elon’s budget.
You don’t need Elon’s teams.
You don’t need Elon’s platforms.

But you can learn from the strategy that’s about to make him the first trillionaire in history:

Build products that matter.
Tell stories bigger than the features.
Show the journey.
Use your own voice.
Make people care about the mission... not just the product.

Stop obsessing over product-market fit.
Early-stage investors are betting on something else entirely...

𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫-𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐅𝐢𝐭.

When Blackbird invested in Carted, there was no revenue.

What convinced them wasn’t the product... it was the founders’ ability to learn and execute faster than anyone else.

They didn’t need proof of success, just proof of adaptability.

As Nikki Scevak put it on the Sachin & Adam podcast, he saw “an ASX-listed CEO trapped in a 17-year-old’s body.”

He was describing a founder who combined energy, optimism, and speed with the judgment of a seasoned operator.

That’s founder-market fit in action... investors back the person who’s inevitable, not the product that’s polished.

Harley Finkelstein (President, Shopify) calls them “surfboard people.”

Founders who don’t run from waves... they paddle into them.

They build whether the market’s hot or flat.

They’d still be solving the same problem even if the money disappeared tomorrow.

That’s who investors want to back.

The framework looks like this:

‣ 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 > 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗮: Show rapid iteration and visible learning velocity.
‣ 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 > 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: Build even when it’s hard, not just when it’s working.
‣ 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 > 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀: Let your energy and decisiveness prove your potential.

Product-market fit can be found later.

Founder-market fit is what gets you funded in the first place.

It's pretty wild that people still think “finding new audiences” means only tweaking interest groups or lookalikes.

I mean sure, that’s part of it... but it’s not how Meta REALLY finds new people.

The truth is...

👉 At lower spend, targeting tweaks can help.
👉 But once you scale, broad targeting almost always wins.

Because Meta doesn’t just find audiences based on your settings.

It finds them based on the signals you give it.

Here’s what that ACTUALLY means:

1️⃣ Change your angles.

Don’t just sell the product... speak to different reasons people buy it.
Pain points, desires, competitor frustrations, or even FAQs.
Each angle helps Meta find the people who care most about that message.

2️⃣ Call out specific personas.

Every product attracts multiple types of customers.
Build creative for each one, and let the algorithm do the rest.
It doesn’t need a “parent” interest to find parents; it needs a parent-focused ad.

3️⃣ Test creative formats.

Static, carousel, UGC, motion graphics... each attracts a different response.
Your creative type is your targeting.

4️⃣ Match creative to tone.

Some audiences prefer polished content.
Others connect better with raw, unfiltered videos or street-style interviews.
Figure out which one gets attention and trust.

5️⃣ Test where you send traffic.

A homepage, a product page, a first-time buyer bundle, a sale page, or an article... each attracts different intent.

Meta doesn’t “find” your audience when you adjust targeting. It finds them when your creative, message, and funnel align with who they actually are.

If you run an ecommerce brand, read this before your next crisis. 👇🏻

Every founder eventually hits a wall... your manufacturer delays, Meta bans your ad account, or your best supplier disappears overnight.

I built a framework that helps you handle those moments with clarity instead of chaos.

It’s called 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 (𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧).

A 10-step process to turn any setback into a structured action plan in 20 minutes.

It walks you through:

✅ What’s actually in your control
✅ How to reframe the problem
✅ 3 creative solution paths
✅ Immediate next steps and backup plans

Comment “𝗢𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗹𝗲” and I’ll send you the full doc.

(Just make sure we're connected so I can DM you)

Every week, I hear the same line from founders:

“Our ads just don’t work anymore.”

And look... I get it. CPMs are up, CAC is brutal, algo feels broken.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth most people won’t say out loud:

The problem isn’t Meta.
It’s the message.

We all spent the last 5 years obsessed with hacks... UGC formulas, hooks, creative testing frameworks, AI ad scripts.

But none of it matters if the story you’re telling doesn’t mean something.

Paid media isn’t a growth engine.
It’s a distribution system.

If your story sucks, Meta will make it fail faster.
If your story resonates, Meta will make it spread like wildfire.

The best-performing brands we scale at Aspire Digital don’t have the biggest budgets.

They have stories people care enough to share for free.

So before you double your ad budget, fix your narrative.

Why does your brand deserve attention?
What belief does it stand for?
Who are you actually talking to... and why should they care?

Performance follows meaning. Always.

I cut my to-do list by 50%... and got MORE done.

For years, my daily to-do list was a nightmare.

12 to 18 items, every day.

Some big, some small... but all sitting there, staring back at me.

It always felt productive to have a long list.

Until I realized most of it was just noise.

Here’s what actually happens when your list is that long:

You start chasing easy wins.
You knock out the small, low-impact tasks first... just to feel that hit of “progress.”

Four or five small checkmarks feels better than one big one.
But it’s that big one that actually moves your business forward.

I was busy... not productive.

Earlier this year, I made one change: I cut my daily to-do list in half.

Now, I list down my to-do and keep only my top six priorities.
No more than that.

Everything else (the small reminders, quick replies, admin work) goes into a secondary list I touch after the big tasks are done.

Studies show once your list goes beyond six items, your brain starts to lose focus.

You stop working strategically and start working reactively.

By forcing myself to choose only six priorities, I stopped hiding in “busy work.”

I started moving the needle on the things that actually matter.

Now, I finish more high-impact work and still clear the smaller tasks... just at the right time.

Your Meta ads might be selling more at Costco than on Shopify... and you’re not even tracking it.

I was talking with a DTC founder last week who was ready to cut all his Meta spend.

“ROAS is tanking,” he said.
“Retail’s the only thing keeping us alive.”

But here’s what he didn’t realize:

His retail success was being fueled by his digital ads.

At Aspire, we’ve seen this pattern repeat across dozens of 7- and 8-figure brands:

Paid media isn’t just driving DTC sales... it’s driving in-store lift, Amazon velocity, even retail buyer confidence.

You just can’t see it in your Shopify dashboard.

You can no longer treat digital and retail as separate funnels.

👉 In 2026, digital advertising is a brand awareness tax you pay to keep retail alive.

Your paid media is doing more work than attribution can measure.

If you only measure what Shopify can see, you’ll cut the very spend that drives your real growth.

Here’s how you can evolve in 2025:

✅ Layer retail and Amazon sales into media reporting
✅ Track store-level lift during high-spend campaigns
✅ Build brand-lift studies around view-based channels
✅ Get CFO buy-in on total-funnel impact, not last-click ROI

Because if you only optimize for tracked ROAS, you’ll underinvest in the engine that drives your brand’s awareness flywheel.

I love being in third-world countries.

I travel a lot... and I spend a decent amount of time in second- and third-world countries where power outages are pretty common.

And while I know that those outages have a real impact on people who live there all year-round...

I’ve also learned to be grateful for them.

Because for me (someone who works nonstop) a power outage is a forced break.

There’s nothing I can do.
The Wi-Fi’s out.
The power’s gone.

And for once, I have to just stop.

At first, I used to get frustrated.

Refreshing the same page over and over.
Driving around looking for a café with power.
Trying to tether to bad cellular data that doesn’t load anyway.

Now, I take it as a sign.

When it happens, I’ll go to the gym.
Or walk to the beach.
Or just sit in the quiet for a while.

It’s a reset I wouldn’t take otherwise.

As someone who tends to work until the battery dies (literally and figuratively), I've learned those moments of disconnection are a gift.

This is what my phone looks like now.

I’ve never been someone with major screen-time issues.

I never created a TikTok account.
I don’t have Instagram, Netflix, Disney+, or Prime Video.
The only social app I have installed is LinkedIn.

But even with that... just having a powerful device in your pocket is a distraction.

What I noticed was this:

Even if I opened my phone for something productive (Slack, messages, maybe a podcast), it was too easy to drift.

Two minutes checking something turned into ten minutes scrolling something else.

So a few weeks ago, I decided to try something I saw in a video:
Turn my iPhone into a “dumb phone.”

Not in a dramatic way... just removing anything that pulls attention.

It’s been one of the best changes I’ve made.

Here’s what I did:

𝟭. 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗦𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀

This is the app that made the biggest difference.

It turned my home screen into a simple monotone setup, replaced icons with text labels, removed widgets, removed colors.

Now when I open my phone, there’s nothing grabbing me.

I check what I came for, then put it down.

𝟮. 𝗨𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗽 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗧𝘂𝗯𝗲

My issue has never been Instagram or TikTok... it’s YouTube.

Because you can always justify it as “learning.”

But let’s be honest: half the time it’s just avoidance.

Untrap removes suggested videos, thumbnails, comments... basically anything designed to keep you on the platform.

If I search for something intentionally, I watch exactly that... and leave.

𝟯. 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝘆𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲

This one surprised me.

Turning my phone grayscale makes everything more boring... in a good way.

Messages, Slack, Safari… none of it is designed to pull you in when the colors disappear.

I have a double-tap shortcut on the back of my phone to turn color back on when I need to watch a video or review creative.

I know this probably sounds a little extreme.
But the truth is: I don’t see any downside.

I’m not trying to eliminate technology... I just want the device to stop pulling at me when I’m trying to work, think, or be present.

And this setup has lowered my screen time dramatically.

Not saying it’s for everyone.

But it’s been a big improvement for me, so I figured I’d share it in case you’re feeling the same pull from your phone that I was.

If your team spends more time talking about the work than doing the work, you have a problem.

At Aspire, communication has always been one of our biggest strengths.

Clients constantly tell us it’s one of the reasons they love working with us.

We’re fast, we’re responsive, and we’re clear.

We use Slack for real-time communication.
We do regular calls.
We make sure every client knows exactly what’s happening inside their account.

And that’s something I’ve always held to a really high standard.

But here’s what I’ve learned the hard way... you can actually take communication too far.

There’s a tipping point where “being great communicators” starts taking away from the actual work itself.

I’ve seen times where our team spent so much time updating clients, explaining details, and staying ultra-responsive...

that it pulled focus away from what we were really hired to do... optimize, test, and scale.

When communication becomes a distraction, it’s no longer a strength.

The balance we’ve learned the hard way is focused on this:

‣ Clients should always feel heard, informed, and supported.
‣ But our best communication is still results.

Because communication builds trust.
But results keep it.

Complete conviction in your future self eliminates 90% of daily anxiety.

Two weeks ago, our biggest client asked to pause their campaign.

If this happened 18 months ago, I would have spiraled.

How will I manage cash flows?
Will I have to make layoffs?
Is this the end?

But instead of stressing, I calmly started reaching out to prospects.

The difference?
I’ve built conviction in who my future self will become.

Not hope. Not blind optimism. Conviction.

I know I’ll build a thriving agency.
I know I’ll have incredible relationships.
I know I’ll find my person.
I know I’ll have hobbies that light me up.

Why am I so certain?
Because I know myself. I work hard. I don’t quit. I figure things out.

So if my future is secure, why panic about today?

That mindset has changed everything.

Setbacks feel temporary instead of catastrophic.

Rejection doesn’t sting as much.

I don’t waste time caring about opinions from people who don’t matter.

I can be fully myself without fear.

I’m more confident. Less anxious. More present.

The ups and downs are still there. But they don’t control me anymore.

That’s freedom.

Every auto-optimized ad ends up sounding like every other ad.

Meta’s copy rewrite AI doesn’t optimize. It simplifies and tries to blend in.

The system strips out tone, voice, and rawness... the very things that made your ad work in the first place.

In DTC, sameness is death.

At our agency, it’s policy to turn off Meta’s AI copy enhancement.

It’s literally on our launch checklist.

Here’s why:

‣ The AI often writes unapproved, made-up copy.
‣ It can break brand guidelines or tone completely.
‣ And most importantly... it removes the human edge that made people stop scrolling.

We’ve tested it.
We’ve seen it.

AI-assisted ads perform like beige wallpaper... technically fine, emotionally dead.

The winning ads going forward won’t be the most polished.
They’ll be the most human.

Because when every brand starts sounding the same, the only way to stand out... is to sound real.

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