Joe Marston 🚀

Co-Founder

Scaling e-commerce brands to 7 and 8 figures 🚀 | LU Entrepreneur of The Year Award Winner | Founder of The Leading TikTok Marketing Agency and an Award Winning Full Service Ecom Growth Agency.

3x Agency Founder.

We scale brands to 7 and 8 figures with creative, paid traffic, retention and funnel optimisation.

In 2024, having a great product is one thing…

But scaling a brand to £10M is a another.

You need a simple roadmap for profitably attracting and converting customers, at scale.

Because when you get that right…

- You stand out from competitors in the market
- You build a community around your brand
- You acquire customers at will (profitably)
- You turn customers into raving fans 

Giving you complete control over your growth.

We help our clients do exactly that with our proven system that guarantees growth.

1. Initial diagnostic to identify bottlenecks in your business
2. Developing a bespoke growth strategy for your brand
3. Creative ideation and production 
4. Unique UGC collaborations
5. Targeted advertising (Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat)
6. Email marketing 

And having generated over £100M+ in sales across 200+ brands, we’ve know the ecommerce game inside out.

🚀 Mystery Shirt In A Box grew from £5K to £2.6M in just one year with our help
🚀 The Essence Vault is hitting 7 figure months in its second year since launch
🚀 Vintage Threads tripled their revenue working with us with a 6x ROAS
🚀 AIRfreshh went from 0% to 52% of revenue from email in 2 months!
🚀 Bene Culture saw their revenue grow 6x in 6 months with our help
🚀 The Oodie generated £2M on TikTok alone in their first year
🚀 UN:IK’s first quarter of 2023 was up 88% on 2022
🚀Grew Liam and Co. 500% year on year

Don’t put up with unpredictable, unsustainable or underwhelming growth any more.

If you want to see how we could help scale your brand, send me a DM saying ‘SOAR’

If you're not ready yet, I post daily educational content to give you all the secrets.

Founder

E-commerce growth agency offering bespoke services to online businesses looking to increase their sales and scale their brand.

Some DTC brands are exiting at just 3x EBITDA. Others are hitting 12x. That’s a £90M difference on a £10M EBITDA business.

A few weeks ago, I co-hosted a private event in Dubai with Emmett Kilduff at The Fortia Group, one of the top M&A advisors in eCom.

Room full of 8-9 figure operators. 

One takeaway came up again and again:

The biggest exit premium isn’t from brand.
It’s from how early you start planning.

We broke down:
- Why DTC brands are leaving millions on the table at exit
- What actually moves your multiple (hint: it’s not your ROAS)
- The 8-part framework Fortia use to engineer $100M+ exits

It’s all in the deck. And I’m giving it away.

If you’re doing £10M+ and thinking ahead 12–36 months, this will save you millions.

Drop “EXIT” below and I’ll send it over.

Building DTC brands to 8 and 9 figures | Founder of Soar With Us & For You Advertising | Triple Whale's "Agency of The Year" Winner

We’ve stopped using ROAS and CPA as our north stars. Here’s why.

Since the Andromeda rollout, Meta’s algo is making delivery decisions before ROAS or CPA ever show up.

Which means:

→ If you’re still using CPA to spot winners, you’re already too late.
→ If you're scaling on ROAS alone, you're scaling old data.

We’ve rebuilt how we benchmark creative across every account and replaced the old north stars with these two:

1️⃣ CPMR: Cost Per 1,000 Reached Accounts

This tells us how efficiently we’re reaching net new people, not just blasting the same warm pool.

→ High CPMR = your creative looks repetitive, low-signal, or unengaging
→ Low CPMR = Meta sees your ad as scroll-stopping, high-signal, and worth delivering

We track this by:

→ The account level (trend over time)
→ Format level (UGC vs static vs story-style)
→ Persona level (motivator x demo)

2️⃣ New Visitor %

Cheap reach means nothing if it’s not fresh.

This tells us how well a creative is breaking out of its bubble and unlocking new demand.

→ High CTR but low New Visitor %? You're just retargeting your existing crowd.

→ Low CPMR + high New Visitor %? Signal to scale.

→ High CPMR + low New Visitor %? Scrap it. Meta’s not even trying with that asset.

This metric = your clearest look at creative incrementality.

We’ve now built both metrics into every client dashboard.

They're how we:
- Spot early winners
- Catch creative fatigue before performance tanks
- Scale without flying blind

Most brands won’t adapt fast enough. But Andromeda is live. And Meta’s already deprioritising ads that don’t play by the new rules.

You can build a business with anyone.
But you can only succeed for six years
and scale it to seven figures in profit
with someone you genuinely trust.

Everyone told us that being friends in business was a recipe for disaster.
Yet here we are.
Six years later.
Still good friends.
Still building.
Leading the agency game.
Multiple businesses together.
Nowhere near finished.

We’ve been friends since our early teens.
We failed twice before Soar.
We lived together for two years.
We learned each other’s strengths the hard way.

Then we moved to different cities.
And that’s where most Co-Founder friendships fade.
Not because of conflict.
Because every call becomes a work call.
And the friendship slowly disappears.

So we do the opposite.
We intentionally protect the relationship that built the business.

Olly flew out to Dubai last week.
No heavy agenda.
No rush.
Just space to reset properly.

Half work.
Half downtime.
One of the most productive weeks we’ve had all year.

We hosted a private Ecom roundtable with The Fortia Group.
Shared what we’re seeing in the market.
Answered questions.
Then kept the discussion going over dinner.

We organised a supplier for our new brand launch next year (more details on that soon).

We caught up with agency friends we’d only spoken to online.
Face-to-face made everything sharper and more actionable.

Random conversations turned into strategy.
Breaks turned into breakthroughs.
The quiet moments gave us clarity heading into 2026.

And the friendship got stronger again.
Which always makes the business stronger.

Founder lesson:
If you don’t protect the friendship,
you won’t protect the business.

Keep the relationship alive.
That’s how you survive long term.
And that’s where the real profit comes from.

Feeling overwhelmed with gratitude right now… 😄

This is our agency 2025 Black Friday social.

4 years ago this was a handful of people.

Now we have over 70 people in one room and that’s not even everyone…

So grateful for everyone who’s helped us on this journey

We audit 8-9 figure brands each week and we still see this one common mistake. 

👇THIS is the reason why your ad performance is tanking right now:

Your funnel is misaligned as you’re speaking “Product Aware” to a “Problem Aware” market.

So many brands try to scale on guesswork. They don’t know what their audience knows, so they can’t build creative that actually converts.

📉 Ads fatigue faster.
📉 CPA creeps up.
📉 New customer revenue stalls.

So we’ve built a fix: a Funnel Awareness Framework built around 5 levels of audience awareness—refined through 50+ accounts and decades of classic advertising theory.

Inside the playbook:

✅ The 5 audience awareness stages:
✅ Messaging strategies that actually match where your audience is
✅ Creative vehicles that cut through at each funnel stage
✅ Tactical breakdowns on how to rework your split to unlock scale

If you’re wondering:
- Why scale feels more expensive every month
- Why your top ads burn out in 7 days
- Why your funnel performance is stuck...

Start here.

Like this post
Comment “FUNNELS” and I’ll send over the resource.
(Make sure you’re following so I can DM you).

We’ve scaled 8 and 9-figure brands where one founder-led ad outperformed everything in the account and generated £2million in revenue.

When it’s raw, real, and structured right, founder content becomes a scaling lever, not a brand play.

But most brands get it wrong.

Either they overscript and kill authenticity… Or they throw up iPhone clips with no strategy.

So we built a framework that fixes that.

A simple cheat sheet that breaks down:

- The 9-part emotional arc behind every high-converting founder ad
- The exact storytelling structure that hooks, converts, and builds trust
- Plug-and-play hooks that stop the scroll
- Real examples from top-performing brands
- The best questions to ask to pull founder story gold

It’s punchy, practical, and built for scale.

If you're a founder (or you're running a brand where the founder *is* the story), this will help you turn your origin story into real revenue.

Like this post
Drop “founder” in the comments and I’ll send it over
(Make sure we’re connected so I can DM you).

Meta just launched the biggest creative update in years and most of you haven’t even realised.

We uploaded 20 new ads into an account. Meta grouped 15 of them as the same ad.

→ Same Entity ID
→ Same learnings
→ Zero new reach

Loukas just dropped a masterclass on how to avoid this penalty...

Here’s the biggest takeaways from the episode:

1. Meta now tracks ads using Entity ID
It doesn’t matter how many variations you upload.
If your visuals look similar (same text, same persona, same framing) Meta will group them.
That means one thing: creative similarity = performance decay.

2. Minor tweaks no longer count as iterations
Old method: change the headline, try a new voiceover, maybe shorten the clip.
New method: change the format, vehicle, and persona or don’t bother.
We now run fewer iterations per sprint, but each one is a bigger swing.

3. Visual change is the most important layer
Your first 3 seconds must be visually different.
→ A new creator in the same kitchen? Penalised.
→ Different script, same framing? Penalised.
→ Same product shot on marble with a new caption? Still penalised.

If Meta can’t visually tell the difference, it won’t give you a new Entity ID. And without that, your reach is throttled.

4. Iterate like this instead
We’ve replaced our iterative testing model with this stack:
→ Format: Static, UGC, high-prod, hybrid
→ Vehicle: Reddit native, podcast, founder VSL, testimonial
→ Persona: 40+ men, 50+ menopausal, Gen Z wellness, etc.
→ Hook angle: pain-point, fear, discovery, curiosity, etc.

Every winning message should now be run through 3 - 4 completely different vehicles, not just line edits.

5. Whitelisting becomes even more powerful
Each whitelisted ad uses a different Page = different Entity ID.
Which means Meta treats it as completely fresh.
Whitelisting now unlocks creative reach and performance diversity, not just social proof.

The takeaway? Your creative process needs to evolve.

→ More upfront persona research
→ More vehicle variety
→ Less lazy iteration
→ Higher volume of truly differentiated ads

Catch the ep here: https://lnkd.in/eZPN9sT7

some people wake up at 4am
run 30 miles
ice bath
no excuses

you see david goggins
and suddenly normal feels weak
average feels like failure

when i was younger
focus was impossible
discipline felt like a myth

I bounced between ideas
half finished everything
always distracted
always chasing the next hit of motivation

I thought success meant becoming extreme
superhuman
wired different

but the truth is quieter

you do not need perfect focus
you need daily progress
one small action
one hard choice
one uncomfortable task

not heroic
just consistent
today’s world makes it harder to stay steady
endless noise
constant comparison
highlight reels everywhere

so i stopped trying to be extraordinary overnight
and started trying to be better than yesterday

one focused hour
one hard email
one real workout
one honest decision

done daily
that stacks
that compounds
that changes everything

discipline is not a personality
it is a habit
repeated long enough
to transform into identity

clear lesson
you win by moving forward a little every day
not by trying to become goggins overnight

Last month, GMV jumped from £200 to £6,000/day in under a week.

And the biggest driver? A creative format we didn’t expect to work on TikTok at all. 

High-production, Meta-style assets.

Specifically, the founder answering FAQs direct to cam, layered with an AI voiceover. Originally built for Meta. 

We assumed it would feel too polished, too “ad-like” for TikTok.

But it’s now outperforming everything and driving 90%+ of total paid spend.

Yes, the brand’s also scaling through affiliates, which is bringing fresh eyes. But the real volume? It’s coming from these signal-rich, high-prod assets.

It’s made us rethink our assumptions around cross-platform creative.

What we thought would only work on Meta is now a top performer on TikTok.

We’re 100% testing this across more accounts.

What’s actually converting on Meta right now (Q4 trends from high-spend accounts):

If performance is flat heading into peak, it's probably not your product.

You're just not building for how Meta works today.

Here’s what’s cutting through right now:

1️⃣ Statics still scale

- Bold text, stat-led headlines and timelines are outperforming generic benefit copy.
- We’re seeing AI-style visuals + punchy copy drive scroll-stopping CPMs.
- Think: big numbers, human tone, ad that feels like a post.
- Native-feeling carousels work too, but only if you drop the polished brand voice.

2️⃣ Hooks > polish on HPs

- The best-performing hooks right now feel ripped from organic:
  "Here's what most brands get wrong..." or "Why I stopped doing X..."
- We’re leaning into founder/influencer POVs stitched into scripted flows.
- Objection-led HPs convert, especially “vs” style frameworks (us vs them, old vs new).

3️⃣ UGC is less about format, more about diversity

- The TikTok Shop-style raw look is working, but only when you mix creator POVs.
- Our top UGC ads use 4–5 creators hitting the same problem from different angles.
- Voiceless demo ads are creeping back into rotation too. Worth testing again.

In short:
→ Statics need specificity and visual edge
→ HPs win on story, not polish
→ UGC scales through multiple voices, not one creator

Can’t believe we’re sharing this for free…

This episode is INSANELY valuable.

Listen to how our MD went from employee number 1 to leading a company of 70+ in 6 years.

Shoutout to Matt Lewis 

Give it a watch on YouTube. D2C diaries

This is the difference between an £80k and £500k BFCM weekend👇
(And I’ve got the unlock most brands don’t even know exists).

Black Friday’s 4 weeks out.

Your CPA is down. AOV’s up. Ads are finally cracking.

Then Stripe delays a payout. Inventory’s tight.

And your biggest window of the year gets blocked, by cash.

We’ve seen it happen to 8-figure brands spending £250k+/month. Not because performance isn’t there. But because finance can’t move at the speed of growth.

Wayflyer gets it.

They’ve funded Wild, Cuts, True Classics, Dock & Bay, and 5,000+ others, so they never have to miss momentum.

💰 They’re giving ambitious DTC brands $25K in upfront capital for $1.8K total cost on the run up to BF/CM (that’s 1.2% per month over 6 months). No equity. No hidden fees. Just the fuel to move when it matters most.

Here’s what that unlocks:

✅ Scale your best creatives while they’re pumping
✅ Restock fast movers before they sell out
✅ Get approved in hours, Shopify, Amazon, whatever your stack

The brands that win BFCM don’t have the deepest pockets. They move fastest.

If your ads are landing, don’t let cashflow slow you down.

👉 Apply here and get $25k next week: https://lnkd.in/eJRUWJ-P

There’s a moment every founder hits where growth isn’t the problem - it’s everything underneath it.

You’ve scaled revenue. You’ve built a team. But everything else starts to crack.

That’s exactly where we were 18 months ago.

This week, we sat down with Matt Lewis, our Managing Director at Soar Group, to unpack how we rebuilt the *infrastructure* behind our agency as we scaled to 80+ people.

They talk through:

→ What changed operationally as we scaled to 80+ people
→ Over-focusing on revenue growth
→ How feedback loops were operationalised
→ The forecasting model Matt built
→ Using role-specific KPIs that ladder up to the P&L
→ Matt’s origin story as employee #1

Behind the scenes, Matt’s been one of the most important drivers of how we operate today.

If you’re building a team or running into growth pains, this one will land.

🎧 Catch the full episode here https://lnkd.in/eFkcg6b9

We 3x’d spend in 14 days, by adding one persona.

Most brands hit a wall, not because the product’s capped, but because the person they’re selling to is.

We see it every month:

– CTRs plateau
– Spend stalls
– Everyone’s panicking over hooks and formats

When the real unlock isn’t messaging. It’s who you’re talking to.

That was the case with a health brand we scaled recently.

They were stuck in a loop: iterating on the same 25–35 demo, same UGC styles, same offer.

Solid CPA, but volume was capped. Nothing new was scaling. So we stopped optimising and started diversifying.

We pulled Reddit threads, X searches, Google Trends.

One insight that stuck out: 30% of women going through menopause struggle with severe bloating and most “gut health” brands weren’t speaking to them at all.

We reframed everything around that one pain point:

– Built 3 new persona storyboards
– Validated the angle with live convo data
– Refreshed visuals + format for 45+ demos
– Decreased editing pace by 20–30%
– Layered in soft CTAs every 10s to build trust

Result? 3x spend in 14 days, with CPAs -18% vs BAU.

Meta rewards net-new impressions. That’s why “persona-first creative” is outperforming hook-first testing across most top-spending accounts.

Because every persona = a new pool of distribution, and a new window of scale.

And your best audience might not be who you built the brand for.

Want a deeper dive of this? Head to the podcast where the guys break it down further: https://lnkd.in/e8vS_2Xi

Over the last 3 years, my 2 agencies For You and Soar With Us have collectively managed £40million in ad spend and shipped over 20,000 creatives on TikTok alone.

This guide outlines our creative system that we’ve used to help 150 brands scale predictably and profitably.

We’ve laid out the exact 5-phase flywheel we use to operationalise creative for the most ambitious DTC brands:

1. Research – Trends, AI, reviews = clear direction
2. Strategy – Align creative to product economics
3. Execution – Modular assets built to scale
4. Testing – Isolate what moves the needle
5. Iteration – Build feedback loops that compound

🔄 TikTok isn’t an ad platform. It’s a creative ecosystem where content, commerce and community feed each other. And this guide will show you how.

Want the playbook?

Like this post
Comment “TIKTOK” and I’ll send it over
(Make sure you’re following so I can DM you).

We were too focused on growth, not out of stupidity but out of naivety.

This year we ran Soar With Us completely differently.

We stopped chasing volume.
We stopped hiring reactively.
We stopped pretending top-line growth meant success.

Here’s how we actually ran the business in 2025 and why it's been our most important year yet:

Forecasting became a strategic weapon.
No more gut-feel growth targets.
We built full-funnel forecasting across revenue, client mix, hiring, and profit targets, driven by a balance of commercial ambition and team capacity.
It's removed chaos and clarified decision-making across every department.

Culture got rebuilt from the inside out.
We didn't write values in a vacuum.
We ran a full-day offsite with the entire team to rewrite our mission, values, and behaviours, then operationalised them into hiring, reviews, and even client relationships.
Result? Better people, better work, better culture.

Client strategy > client volume.
We halved onboarding capacity and focused on deeper, higher-value partnerships.
That means fewer clients, more strategic impact, and significantly higher retention.
We’re finally seeing the compounding effects.

Feedback became a competitive advantage.
We built a culture of kind candour, rolled out 360 feedback across the company, and trained every manager on how to receive and close the loop on feedback.
It’s helped us level up faster than ever before.

Revenue came from within.
For too long, we were addicted to new business.
Now, 40%+ of our growth is from client expansion - cross-sells, up-sells, and moving partners through value tiers.
It’s lower friction, higher trust, and way more profitable.

Most people assume the next level of growth comes from more work, more ads, more hiring.

For us, it came from subtraction.
→ Less noise
→ Fewer distractions
→ Clearer intent

We’re ending 2025 leaner, smarter, and more strategic than ever before.
2026 is about scaling with that same clarity.

If you’re in agency leadership and you’re scaling fast, but feeling stretched thin, here’s the blueprint that helped us get here: https://lnkd.in/eFkcg6b9

We’ve scaled pet & homeware brands in markets with 100+ competitors.

Here’s what actually cuts through.
(and it’s not a better product)

→ “Us vs them” outperforms pain-led messaging
These categories don’t trigger visceral problems so instead of selling relief, we’re seeing brands scale by positioning their solution as the elevated choice.

→ Homeware scales when you stop talking about the product and start showing the life it upgrades
Think luxury, ease, or emotional enhancement of a space.
The goal is: “This makes my life feel better.”

→ Pet content is all about aspiration, not need.
The core motivator? “My pet deserves the best.”
Not health stats. Not price. Just pure emotional resonance.

→ Convenience is the untapped lever
Especially for homeware brands speaking to maternal or over-capacity personas. If it saves time, stress, or mental load, say that clearly. It works.

→ Don’t ignore the saturated market reality
There’s no shortage of pet food or homeware options.
What wins is category contrast. Your creative should say:
“We’re not like the rest and here’s why.”

If your pet or homeware brand is stuck explaining the product, zoom out.

Start showing what it means for the person using it.

Working in another niche and want a breakdown like this?

Drop me the category and I’ll tell you what’s converting right now.

Meta just made creative volume 10x harder and this (👇) is the only thing that makes it scalable.

Here’s where creative strategy is heading in 2026

1️⃣ Creative similarity penalties make AI non-negotiable
Meta now groups “similar” ads under one Entity ID.

→ Minor tweaks = same learnings
→ Visual sameness = limited reach
→ Iterations = wasted budget

Without AI, creative cost balloons trying to brute-force variation.
With AI, we’re getting 10x the output at 30–40% of the cost.

2️⃣ AI is solving the creative similarity problem
We’re seeing 70% of ad iterations get grouped under the same Entity ID. That’s a massive waste of output. Using AI helps us inject visual diversity at scale, without tripling post-prod costs.

→ Sora / VEO for visual metaphors and VO hooks
→ Nano for high-scale statics + brand visuals
→ Gemini to analyse video and guide variation strategy
→ Frame 4.0 to organise and deploy assets at scale

You wouldn’t ask an editor to shoot the ad. So why are your strategists still prompting raw?

3️⃣ Asset warehousing becomes your competitive edge
You can’t scale creative if you can’t find it.

We’re building a library of every product B-roll, VO hook, and visual format, tagged, labelled, and instantly promptable through Frame 4.0.

At the same time, we’re warehousing ad performance data, call logs, and internal learnings and feeding that into LLM workflows to automate creative direction.

The better your data layer, the smarter your AI outputs.

The takeaway:
→ Treat AI like a production department
→ Build creative systems that scale visual diversity
→ Train AI with real data
→ Give your strategists new tools, not new roles

🎙 Catch the full breakdown here: https://lnkd.in/eAwJAcMV

One of our best-performing ads came from a menopause stat we pulled off X and it unlocked over £40K in spend.

👇 This is how we got there and it’s the most overlooked step in creative strategy.

Everyone wants to jump straight into execution (more ads, new hooks, new creators), but if you skip the research phase, you’re not optimising.

Every signal you need already exists. You just have to extract it → interpret it → structure it.

We’re using a Grok + X stack to build creative angles from live audience sentiment.

In this case, the prompt surfaced a clinical study showing women going through menopause are 30% more likely to suffer from bloating.

Then it got interesting:

→ Pulled real Twitter convos around the pain point

→ Surfaced the emotional language people actually use

→ Mapped funnel stages (unaware → problem aware → solution aware)

→ Uncovered a totally untapped, high-intent angle

We built around it. New persona. New message. New positioning.

That ad crushed.

Once you understand the human drivers behind conversion (the objections, motivations, and phrases people actually use) you can build creative that just makes sense.

Want the prompt that unlocks different personas like the example in the image?

Like this post
Comment “GROK” and I’ll send it over
(make sure we're connected so I can DM you)

If you can help with hiring the BEST Creative Strategist talent please comment below.

A-players only. Must have experience with D2C.

Elliehcoaching

Fad-free fitness through enjoyable programs that deliver results⚡️ Personal trainer & online fitness coach 💻

Certified Personal Trainer

Mind of a Marketerr

An Instagram page sharing things all things marketing with a sprinkle of LinkedIn to build a community of current and aspiring marketers

All Bar One

Worked in a part-time capacity as a waitress in a busy shopping and leisure complex All Bar One. The role involved a variety of tasks including serving food and drinks, maintaining the restaurant floor and controlling personal cash flow.
- Developed strong customer service skills in this customer facing role, proven through positive feedback reviews from customers.
- Worked cooperatively in a team, alongside managing personal responsibilities in a high pressure, fast based environment. 
- Developed problem solving and initiative in order to meet customers' needs and expectations to the best extent.

Waitress

Society for Abandoned Animals

Society for Abandoned Animals Volunteer, April 2016 - August 2019
- Demonstrated commitment through cleaning and maintaining rescue animals' living space, ensuring everywhere including public viewing areas were to a high standard. 
- Developed time management skills through the ability to complete all tasks to a high standard under a time constraint. 
- Led and participated in fundraising events involving interacting with the public where I was responsible for ensuring everything was organised appropriately, so the event could be as effective as possible, alongside controlling donations and money.

Volunteer Staff

PizzaExpress

Worked in a part-time role in a busy Pizza Express Restaurant. Tasks included meeting and seating guests, maintaining the restaurant floor and ensuring guests' satisfaction. 
- Learnt strategic thinking in order to meet company goals and guest requests
- Developed organisational skills in order to be able to stay on top of duties, and delegate personal tasks

Door Host

Trafford Veterinary Centre

5 day working week work experience in a local veterinary centre learning daily runnings' of a business, and in depth work carried out 
- Open to learning new things about how the industry operates 
- Was able to experience a period of time in a real working environment
- Learnt key skills such as operating a checking in system and efficiently book in clients using a timetable

Work Experience 

Progress in 30 days or your money back 💸 Fluff-free fitness to help you drop fat and gain muscle 🤝

What if I told you if I'm so confident in getting you results, I'll give you your money back if you don't?

If you're reading this, you probably:

1. want to start training but have no idea what to do
2. started training 13 times but just can't stay consistent
3. do training but getting fed up of waiting to see progress

Probably confused, bored or irritated.. or maybe all 3

Been there, done it. Trust me.

5 years ago I stepped into the weights section for the 1st time and hated it
Today I step into the weights section 5x a week and love it 

Yes for growing my body 
But also for the habits, discipline, patience and confidence 

And now, I’m helping people do the same. People like you

With no fad diets, no cutting carbs, no silly expectations,
but sustainable habits, education and of course, enjoyment. 

Because fitness is hard. But SO worth it 

My Online Coaching is OPEN.

This includes:
> A tailored program
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Basically everything to get you results. In a healthy, sustainable and enjoyable way.

Sounds good? DM me the word "progress" or enquire here:
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Ellie :)

Ellie Hines 🍋

I’m quite proud of this transformation:

But even prouder of these ones: 

Then: Felt embarrassed asking for help 
Now: Happily ask for advice - why not?!

Then: Failing felt like the biggest deal ever
Now: If I’m never failing, I’m never growing 

Then: Focused on trying to look like others
Now: Focused on being the fittest ME

Then: Wanted to give up if I couldn’t do it
Now: Determined to keep trying till I can

Then: Thought eating less was healthier 
Now: Ensure I FUEL enough everyday 

Then: Wanted fast results 
Now: Found love in the journey 

Gym transformations really don’t end at the mirror.

The BEST ones are internal. 

What’s yours?

No alternative text description for this image

I’ve grown an audience of 35k by posting fitness content, but I’m about to stop. Quick recap:

Started posting here about fitness in 2024
Became an in person PT + online coach
Gained a following of 30k on LinkedIn
Made and released my own fitness guides 

But now:

I’ve realised I don’t love being an online coach.
For different reasons. 
So, I’m stopping. 

If there’s one thing about me, I’m a quitter. 

I’m not wasting my time doing something I don’t want to do, when I have the privilege to change it.

I liked the coaching,
I enjoyed creating my products,
but I’ve LOVED writing on LinkedIn.

So why not try build something from that… 👀

I don’t really know what I’m doing
I don’t know how I’m gonna do it
I don’t know if I’ll make it work 
I don’t know if i’ll always love it

But I do know trying is better than doing another 12 months of something, while wondering about something else

Here’s some reminders:

💭 You don’t have to stay in something because you started it

💭 Hindsight doesn’t exist so it might not be how you imagined and that’s life

💭 Life is short enough and long enough to try different things, fail, change your mind, experiment etc.

P.s - I’m excited

In a LinkedIn of “I made £10,000 in the first month of self employment…” Here’s my truths:

- Income could half in a week
- Getting new clients is a graft
- My organisation is not on point
- Especially when you lose others
- There’s parts of the job I don’t like
- I always feel like I could be doing more
- The to-do list is literally ever ending
- I don’t know how long I’ll do it for
- It’s harder than I first expected
- Admin bores the life outta me
- Procrastination is my enemy

I LOVE self employment.

Because the benefits hugely win.

But here’s a reminder that in a world of LinkedIn wins; stress, struggles and slow progress still happen too (probably more than people think)

My take : no one gets their dream life without being a bit “cringe”

All the time I hear:

“I want to try this but it’s cringe”
“I don’t want to look stupid trying”
“No I’m not doing that, it’s embarrassing”

But: 

Your gave influencer was *cringe* when they were filming their first vlog

The biggest LI creators were *cringe* when they were posting to no-one 

The best entrepreneurs were *cringe* when they were offering products for free for feedback 

The 7 figure founders were *cringe* when they were cold DM’ing people about their idea 

Your fave podcaster was *cringe* when they were recording in their bedroom alone

Yet we hold ourselves back SO much because our ego gets in the way.

Our dream lives could literally be sitting on the other side of a bit of cringe, and a lot of hard work.

Maybe we should all be a bit more “cringe”?

I’ve been more productive the past 3 days than the past 3 months. 

Here’s what’s been happening:

- I’ll block out a day free of in person clients
- I’ll feel inspired by having loads of time
- I’ll watch some motivational videos
- I’ll get ready to transform my life
- I’ll realise I can’t do it in 1 day
- I’ll tell myself I’m a failure
- And do nothing at all

Lol 

Then I’ll tell myself I’ll do it next time 
And the exact same thing happens.

But this week a friend said
“set some smaller goals” 
so I did.
And it worked. 

The goals went from:

“grow a business where I can travel”
“write 2 weeks worth of content”
“plan out the next 57 steps”

to:

“change my LinkedIn banner”
“write my next 3 posts”
“do 1 hour of research”

and, I did them.

Sometimes the smallest steps are the ones that move the needle.  

So if you’re struggling to get to your big goals, 
maybe focus on the tiny ones

Direction > speed

Habits control your life. 
Here’s 20 I’m intentional with to improve mine:

(Productivity, health, happiness)

1. Walk outside every day 
2. Drink de caff tea after 3pm
3. Make my bed every morning 
4. Have notifications turned off
5. Dark chocolate most days (yum)
6. Choose my outfit the night before
7. Do a daily wordle + mini crossword 
8. Read non-fiction every single night
9. Set screen time limits on my phone
10. Listen to as much podcasts as music 
11. Write a “must do, should do, could do” list
12. Go to bed at the same time most nights
13. Always have a glass of water close by
14. Drink water as soon as I wake up
15. Light candles when I’m working 
16. Have a simple skin care routine 
17. Say hi to people when running 
18. Speak to people in the gym 
19. Keep fruit easily accessible 
20. Eat a balanced diet

Not huge. Not crazy.

But compounded, powerful. 

Over to you. What’s yours?

This 1 thing has been a daily non-negotiable for me for 10 years.

Exercise. 

10 years ago I was studying my A-LEVELS
Used the gym as a daily non-negotiable relief

Never turned back 

- Lift weights
- Go for a run
- Do a circuit
- A badminton match
- Bodyweight exercises
- Even some handstands
- On the worst days, a stretch

Something. Anything. Every day.

In 2020 it was a break from text books. 
Then over the past 10 years, it’s become:

- a hobby I love
- a genuine passion
- my mood regulator
- a huge part of my routine
- 1-2 hours of time to be alone
- something that gives me energy
- peace away from everyday stress

And I don’t think that will ever stop.

Believe it or not I actual LOVE training. 
It’s not a chore, it’s fun. 

And it improves the rest of the day too. 

Whether I’m researching, got my head in a laptop all day, a day full of in-person clients, or a day off to myself, it’s always better with movement

I recommend it.

Ps. - who’s tried padel?! That’s next on my list.

Probably shouldn’t be bragging about this on LinkedIn but I’m a professional quitter. 

At 16 I quit health and social 
At 18 I quit the opportunity to study @ uni

(I chose to resit my A-LEVELS)
(And got onto my dream course)

At 21 I quit that same course 10 weeks in 
(then re-studied marketing)
At 22 I quit trying to get a graduate job
At 25 I quit a new job 6 weeks in 

And 3 days ago I quit my online PT coaching business. 

Not the way 16 year old me thought it would go but maybe that’s a good thing. 

Sidenote - there is a lot of other things I’ve stuck to. 

Quitters get stick for quitting. 
Because people think you quit because it’s hard. 
Wrong. 

I’d say there’s 3 main reasons for mine:

1. It wasn’t what I thought it was going to be 
2. I’d outgrown it and needed something new
3. I changed my mind on what I wanted 

And I refuse to stay doing something:

1. to prove I can do
2. because quitting looks bad 
3. because it feels safter than change

And you should to. 

You can still be determined, ambitious, tenacious, *and* a quitter 

What’ve you quit?

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The Battle

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