Ryan is the Co-Founder of Tru Earth

Purpose driven direct to  consumer brand builder.

Ryan has:

✅ Helped Grow Tru Earth to more than 160,000 active subscribing customers
✅ Together with Tru Earth's Changemakers, eliminated more than 165,000,000 plastic-containers from landfills..
✅ Donated more than 33,887,227 loads of laundry detergent to those in need.
✅ Grown multiple premium subscription boxes to multi-million dollar businesses.
✅ Written content has been read by more than 100,000,000 readers.

Connect: 
Facebook https://m.facebook.com/theryemckenzie/
Twitter: @RyeMcKenzie

About Tru Earth
Tru Earth® based in Vancouver, Canada is a leading eco-friendly household product company committed to eliminating plastic from landfills and oceans. At its core, you’ll discover that Tru Earth, is actually a movement (#TruEarthMovement™). The Tru Earth team joins more than a quarter million equally committed people in more than 50 countries to combat the 645 billion plastic household product containers dumped in landfills and oceans globally each year. 

Our customers are #TruChangeMakers™, disrupting the multi-billion-dollar household product industry, reducing carbon emissions by up to 94% and caring for the health of the planet and their families. 

Tru Earth’s suite of products and planned launches come with our pledge to provide #TruChangeMakers with laundry, bathroom and kitchen products they need to make a substantial impact on the health of our world. To do ourpart, we promise to match all first-time subscriptions by donating to families in need across the globe. Because at Tru Earth, we know many small hinges can swing very, very big doors.

Ryan Mckenzie

The average DTC brand spends 6+ months trying to expand into Canada.

Canada isn’t harder. It’s because they’re stuck solving 47 small problems sequentially, instead of all at once:

Customs documentation. Carrier relationships. Compliance research. Tax registration. Warehouse vetting. Duty calculations. Returns processing.

Each one takes 1-2 weeks to figure out. None of them compounds. 

By month 4, you've burned cash and momentum learning things a 3PL partner already knows.

We built Breakthrough Fulfillment to solve all of these simultaneously, in 2 weeks. 

What we do:

- Take the hassle out of cross-border logistics. We handle imports and fulfillment from start to finish, so you never touch customs paperwork.
- Get your products to major Canadian cities the next day, keeping customers happy and your carts full.
- Navigate compliance, taxes, and paperwork effortlessly with our expert guidance. We know the regulations, so you don't have to learn them.
- Skip the middleman. Work directly with decision-makers for fast answers and smooth operations, not ticket systems.

We'll have you live in Canada within 2 weeks, ready to test, scale, and start selling.

You test Canada while competitors are still on month 2 of compliance research.

See how we're helping brands collapse months of operational overhead:

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www.breakthrough.studio

Cut Shipping Costs by 68% and Get Next-Day Delivery Across Canada | Premier 3PL Services

Co-Founder Tru Earth | Saving the planet, one strip at a time.

This guy is quietly killing the $500B+ SEO industry with an AI tool called Meridian.

Some are calling it “the Google Analytics of ChatGPT.”

Here’s why ignoring Meridian right now would be a HUGE a mistake:

People aren’t Googling anymore. They’re asking AI.

And they get one answer not 10 blue links.

That single shift just nuked traditional SEO.

The CTO of hubspot admitted it: “Google’s 10 blue links are dying. If you’re not showing up in ChatGPT answers, you’re invisible.”

This is where Meridian comes in.

Meridian shows you:

- If AI recommends your brand

- When it recommends competitors instead

- Why you’re missing from answers

Paid ads rent attention. Classic SEO built an asset.

Now AI answers decide existence.

→ Reddit dropped 15% because their SEO doesn’t matter anymore

→ Monday. com lost 40% of its market cap in a month too

I’m going to leave a link to try Meridian here: Trymeridian.com

P.S. I'm giving away the world's first AI visibility tracker. This shows you exactly how you're ranking In AI search. 

Comment “Meridian” and I’ll send it to you. 

And yes, I am a proud Meridian Partner on this launch.

For ecom founders spending $50K+ a month on Meta and looking to scale from $1M to $10M+:

I’m opening up space for 1 more brand for hands-on ad guidance + growth strategy.

We’ll work together to:

- Dive into your campaigns and fix what’s not working
- Optimize creative, targeting, and funnels so every dollar counts
- Map out a clear plan to scale ad spend without wasting money
- Catch up weekly (or bi-weekly if that works better) with actionable next steps

If this sounds like it could help, DM me and we’ll see if it’s a fit.

I get out of the shower dripping wet and grab my phone.

Water pooling under me. Don't care.

I voice note the entire messaging strategy that just appeared in my head.

Brad's wife's foster sibling had invested in this laundry detergent patent. They offered it to us.

We tried the product. It was good.

But we kept thinking there's no way such an inexpensive product could work with media buying. The margins can't carry paid acquisition.

We liked it. Thought maybe subscription might help. Weren't convinced.

So we sat on it.

Then one Tuesday in the shower, it happened.

The entire messaging.

One second I'm standing there with shampoo in my hair, next second I can see everything clearly.

How we position the brand. The benefits. The environmental angle. The subscription psychology. Everything.

That shower moment became the messaging for Tru Earth for the first four years.

Not four months. Four YEARS.

Breakthrough moments don't happen when you're forcing them.

Your subconscious works on problems even when you're not at a desk strategizing.

If you're stuck on your messaging right now, spinning your wheels...

Maybe you don't need another framework.

Maybe you just need to let your brain do what it already knows how to do.

Stop forcing it. Let it simmer.

When it clicks, don't let it slip away.

Voice note that sh*t immediately, no matter where you are.

Email-only retention stops scaling at a certain revenue threshold.

You’re doing $500K-$2M, email is working “fine,” but your repeat purchase rate’s barely moved in 6 months.

And you’re “solving” for growth by dumping more into acquisition instead of fixing retention.

You know SMS works.

The problem is, you’re worried about:

- Managing another channel when you’re already stretched thin
- Compliance (getting sued for text spam)
- Coming off as desperate or annoying
- Whether YOUR customers will actually respond

But your worries don’t add up, operators:

SMS subscribers convert 4-10x higher than email-only subscribers.

If you’re doing $1M+ and not running integrated SMS, you’re probably leaving $150K-$300K on the table annually.

And January makes this worse.

Your email list just survived Q4. It’s exhausted. Opens are down, fatigue is real.

The channel you’re ignoring while your email list burns out has 98% open rates and gets read within 3 minutes.

This is where Omnisend makes sense for operators at scale.

It’s email + SMS in one platform. Not two disconnected tools. Unified flows, segments, and reporting.

And if you’re at $250K+/mo, their Personal Migration Partner Program handles the move (compliance setup, flow migration, list transfer) so you’re not figuring this all out at midnight.

Omnisend’s data shows their US merchants average $68 in revenue for every $1 spent.

You already know SMS works.

Do you know what another quarter of delay is costing you?

If you’re ready to stop leaving revenue on the table, start here:

https://lnkd.in/dddMBgx8 

Use code RYAN30 for 30% off your first 3 months.

If you’re at $250K+/month, ask about the Personal Migration Partner Program and let them handle the migration.

omnisend.com

Recommended by Ryan McKenzie

What gets you to 7 figures is completely different than what gets you to 8.

At 7 figures, you can brute force growth. Throw more budget at ads. Work harder. Grind through problems.

At 8 figures, that breaks. You hit a wall where working harder just burns cash faster.

That shift is not about effort and feeling productive. It’s about systems, creative strategy, and which levers actually move the business.

I’ve taken brands through this transition. I know where the wall shows up and what it takes to break through. 

I’m opening up 1 spot for hands-on ad guidance + growth strategy.

We focus on:

- Ad strategy and media buying at scale 
- Creative optimization (maintain performance as you scale spend)
- Operational and strategic changes
- Dive into your campaigns, audit and fix what's not working
- Weekly (or bi-weekly) calls with actionable next steps

This isn't an agency thing. It's boutique coaching with someone who's scaled brands through the exact problems you're facing.

If you’re spending $50K+ a month on Meta, doing $1-5M in revenue and looking to make that jump, DM me and we’ll see if it’s a fit.

There was a time in my life where I genuinely believed I’d screwed things up so badly there was no way back.

I’d be driving down the road sometimes just screaming at the top of my lungs.

I had no idea how to get myself out of this hole.

I thought my career was over.

Not "this is tough" over... Like, this is it. I peaked at 32. I'll never see those numbers again. No path forward.

That's where I was in 2012, 2013.

We’d built this ringtone subscription business ranked number one on Google.

Business was pumping.

Then it collapsed, pretty much overnight. 

Everything we'd built for a decade... poof. And I had anchors everywhere.

A house I just bought. A condo I still owned. An expensive car lease.

The business that was supposed to carry this was now dead. We had money saved to pay our taxes, so we did what desperate people do: made a desperate decision.

We invested it into this forex thing that was paying 1% per week. It was registered with the Canadian Securities Commission, so we thought it made sense.

Six months later, lost that too.

All the money we owed the government, gone.

They sent a bailiff to my house to take my truck.

I wasn't home, my wife answered the door.

She had no idea any of this was going on...

I was hiding the collapse from everyone. Her. My kids. Anyone who asked how things were going.

"Yeah, things are good. Busy, you know."

Meanwhile, driving down the road screaming.

When you're in it, you don't think you're getting out. You don't think you'll be able to rebuild.,The worst part wasn't losing money or having debt…

It was the certainty that I'd already had my one shot.

I'd built something once, watched it collapse, and now I was done.

Over.

Peaked at 32 and didn't even know it was happening.

If you're reading this and you're quietly afraid you've already peaked...

If your business is struggling and you're wondering if you'll ever get back up...

If you're in the car fighting the urge to scream because you can't see a way out...

I get it.

I don’t have some corny, reassuring guru advice.

I'm not gonna tell you "just keep grinding" or "everything happens for a reason."

When you're in the hole, the hole is real.

The debt is real. The fear is real. The car screaming is real.

What I will tell you is, I was wrong.

I was wrong about it being over.

I was wrong about peaking at 32 and never seeing those numbers again.

But I couldn't see that when I was in it.

Nobody can.

AI is leveling the playing field the same way the internet did.

Last night before bed, I was having AI research futures for the S&P, gold, and Nasdaq so I could understand what the market would do this morning. The tools are genuinely insane.

But do not trust everything it outputs, or you’re falling behind.

Because sometimes it's completely full of sh*t.

I was at a hockey game Saturday. Asked ChatGPT if they'd traded a player to another team, mentioned the local team's name.

It told me yes. Said Kevin Bieska played for the Express.

I pushed back. "I don't think that's true. And I meant Cole Bieska, not Kevin. Kevin's the dad."
It checked again. "You're right."

That's not even a complicated thing to know. But it hallucinated anyway.

So you need judgment. You need to be able to evaluate accuracy. Using AI for research means you have to be able to assess whether it's right. Maybe it's not even you doing the evaluation, maybe you find another tool to verify. 

But you can't just blindly trust the output.

And I think that means we're still going to need good people.

Your judgment as a leader shifts. Because if AI is gobbling up jobs, there should hypothetically be way more people looking for work. The skill becomes finding people who are actually hungry and self-motivated. People who want to show up and make things happen.

How do you build a team that can leverage these tools to get 10x the output?

If every person now has access to 100x the output potential, how do you find the people who can actually GET that from these tools? Who are hungry, eager, and do good work?

I think we're going to move away from people for a bit. Then we're going to realize we still need them.

Not everyone's a unicorn. So the game becomes finding unicorns.

What separates founders still growing after 3 years?

It’s not what they ADD.

What they CUT:

What Healthy Founders STOP Doing

I read a stat recently that the latest AI models have an IQ around 160.

When you're building workflows and automation, you're essentially working with someone brilliant.

But even at 160 IQ, it doesn't fully understand what you're thinking or the exact output you want.

You plan something that seems perfect. You build it. Then you sit there trying to figure out how to actually use it.

That gap between planning and execution is where AI projects stall out.

Workflows are multi-step and deterministic. You decide all the steps, and the AI executes different things along the way.

The logic it uses at each step needs to be evaluated. Optimized. Like CRO, but for AI outputs.

• You create a rubric
• You have a scoring mechanism for evaluating whether the output is good
• You can let the LLM decide initially, but you still need someone with deep domain knowledge to go through each step and verify the output is actually right

Not just "right enough." Actually right.

LLMs are trained on massive datasets. Feed them domain-specific information, but you still need someone evaluating multiple run-throughs. You'll get output that seems fine but isn't optimized.

And there's always room to optimize.

Yes, you need fewer people. But you still need people.

Smart operators build these systems, optimize them, then move on to the next thing.

The future is about doing different work, not less.

More decision-making. Less execution.

Planning becomes critical when you're using AI to execute those plans, because the quality of your inputs directly determines the quality of your outputs.

The person running the business still controls the inputs.

Learning how to give clear instructions and plan effectively is one of the valuable skillsets you can develop right now.

Your static ads start with claims so generic they might as well be invisible.

"This helps you save time and money."

Great. So does everything else. 

A feature dressed up as a benefit is not a message. And your audience has heard it a thousand times before.

You don’t need more claims or flashier features. Speak to what your avatar actually wants.

Saving time isn't the goal. It's what they DO with that time that matters.

Do they want to stop reviewing data at midnight and actually see their kids before bed? Get out of the weeds so they can think strategically again? Stop burning hours on tasks that don't move the needle?

You have to tell them the end state.

Instead of "save time and money," try: "Stop spending 10 hours a week buried in spreadsheets and start showing up to the moments that actually matter."

Same core benefit. But now it's specific. Now it connects.

The process:

• Research your avatar
• Understand what they actually want beyond surface-level efficiency
• Build a message template
• Test variations with different end states
• See which one resonates

The ad that works is the one that resonates with the person reading it.

When I was deep in the Tru Earth build, my calendar was open. People could grab me whenever.

I thought that was leadership. Maybe you can relate.

Be available. Be the person people come to.

Turns out, that was just lazy management.

My team would bring me problems. I'd solve them. Fast. Done. But I was becoming everyone's shortcut, not their leader.

The boundary that felt the most uncomfortable: Tuesdays only.

I batch all my coaching calls on one day now. The rest of the week stays open for deep work. 

When I first implemented it, I felt like an asshole. People would want to talk, and I'd say "Let's get it on the calendar for Tuesday."

But what actually happened surprised me:

My team started solving problems before bringing them to me.

I introduced Dan Martell's 3-1-1 system: if you're bringing me a problem, you need three potential solutions and the one you recommend. No problem shows up without options attached.

That forced agency. It forced thinking and ownership.

And honestly, I don't love being on the phone. I like my creative blocks. I like spending three hours thinking through a framework without interruptions.

Protecting that time wasn't selfish. It was the most generous thing I could've done.

Because when I was always available, I was teaching them they couldn't make decisions without me.

Now they make calls. They own outcomes. And when we do connect on Tuesdays, we're solving the right things instead of staying stuck on a hamster wheel of urgency.

Lazy management always feels like you’re doing more.

But constant availability creates dependency, not leadership.

AI isn’t going to just show up and make everything super easy.

It'll make some things super easy. It'll make some jobs obsolete.

But if you're the one controlling it, there's a lot to learn about how to communicate with AI to produce the results you actually want, how to build systems that work in practice, and how to troubleshoot when they break.

You have to think differently.

It's like trying to do ballet instead of bodybuilding.

Both require muscles. Both are athletes. But bodybuilding muscles aren't going to be great for ballet, and ballet muscles probably aren't good enough for bodybuilding.

They're just good at different things.

Operators of the future look different because their responsibilities are different.

They're learning how to do different things. Troubleshooting systems more than what they're doing now. The actual work changes. The muscles you need change.

I've built enough AI tools in the last year to know this firsthand.

Sometimes you plan something, execute it, and realize it's actually less efficient than just doing it by hand. I've built entire systems and thought "this is actually less efficient by the time I do all this stuff. I can just build a Claude project instead of this gigantic automated mess of Frankenstein parts."

That's the learning curve.

Context matters. But putting it to use is often different than planning it. You'll build something and realize you need to review a step before moving to the next one, or that the sequence doesn't match how you actually work.

Critical thinking becomes more important, not less.

Understanding how to think about problems differently. Connecting the dots on what you want, building it to see it, then iterating when you realize there's a more efficient path.

Your job changes. How you think about problems changes.

The operators who figure that out first get real leverage from these tools instead of just adding complexity.

I watched a brand lose thousands in Canadian LTV because customers kept getting hit with surprise customs fees. 

That’s the hidden cost of shipping to Canada from U.S. fulfillment centers. 

Most U.S. brands know Canada is sitting there as an easy expansion market, but they hit the same logistics wall: surprise duty bills, 2-week shipping times, and compliance paperwork that burns months. 

We built Breakthrough Fulfillment to solve the exact problems I ran into as a CMO scaling Tru Earth across North America.

Here’s what we handle so you can focus on selling:

- Cross-border logistics without the customer service nightmare. (We manage imports, duty, tariffs, and compliance. Your customers never see surprise fees at the door.
- Next-day delivery to Toronto, Vancouver, and major Canadian cities. We freight forward strategically, then drop into local post networks. Your customers get orders in 1-2 days, not 2+ weeks. 
- Direct access to the people who actually make decisions. No account manager layer. You work directly with me and my business partner for same-day problem solving.
- Live in Canada in under 2 weeks. No 6-month compliance learning curve, no endless onboarding calls.

See how we're helping U.S. brands make Canadian expansion as smooth as possible:

https://lnkd.in/gEfxQkee

If you're a brand doing $500K+ and ready to test Canadian expansion without the logistics headache, comment "INTERESTED" below and I'll send you our onboarding breakdown.

Meta rebuilt their ad system around these massive foundation models, and most people think that means UGC won.

They’re wrong.

Statics are benefiting more than anyone expected, but not because of the designs like you think. 

Gem and Lattice can now track the full customer journey and identify who your creative targets are before the hook even loads. The system builds familiarity by orchestrating multiple touchpoints strategically, not just showing the same ad over and over.

Which means statics finally win on what they’re actually good at: creating moments.

There’s this old pickup artist technique called “bouncing”.

The idea is that your brain identifies trust through diversified experiences over time. Or you can shortcut it by creating multiple distinct moments in a short window.

So they’d meet you at the bar, ignore you, make you wonder why. Then insult you playfully. Then take you somewhere for a crazy show you’ve never had. Then the dance floor. Then outside for wine. 

Four completely different moments in 30 minutes.

Your brain processes that as familiarity. As trust.

Ads work the same way.

If someone only sees two of your ads and they’re always the same, you’re creating exposure but you’re not creating moments. Exposure is like seeing the guy who wears the same shirt to the bar every week. You’ve seen him 50 times, but nothing ever happens.

Creative diversity is about creating opportunities for distinct experiences with your brand in different settings.

Recently I uploaded 100 static ads. Same Persona, slightly different angles and messaging, a couple different jobs to be done.

Cut our CPAs in half.

Not because the designs were better. Because the system could finally orchestrate those moments at scale. The purchases from videos improved a little, but the account-wide CPA dropped significantly because these multiple creatives were working together.

Statics give you controlled variation. You control every variable. Faster feedback loops. More reliable testing.

The designs didn’t change.

How the system evaluates them did.

If you’re only testing two hero ads hoping they carry your account, you’re asking one person in one outfit to do all the work.

The algorithm got smarter. That doesn’t mean louder creative wins.

It means moments beat exposure, and the system can finally orchestrate them at scale.

The same brain that built Tru Earth almost bankrupted me twice.

Same impulsivity, same inability to pause before acting.

I used to keep this running list in my head of all the ways my brain was broken.

The same impulsivity that let me see Tru Earth's entire positioning in a single shower... bought 10,000 bottles of collagen on a whim.

Bottles I couldn't sell because I didn't check if I could actually sell supplements in Canada. 15 months of warehouse fees, just bleeding money.

Businesses I'd start when I was fired up, then abandon when the grind set in because I couldn't focus.

Midnight emails I'd send when I was pissed off. By morning, I wouldn't even care but the damage was done.

For the longest time, it felt like a curse.

What shifted?

I stopped trying to be a “disciplined” person. That sh*t doesn't work when your brain is wired differently. I started treating my brain like a high-performance engine that just needs different fuel.

When I get excited about something now, I write it down. All the pros, all the cons. Then I wait 24 hours.

If I still think it's brilliant the next morning, then maybe it's worth doing.

I ask operators who’ve been there. They understand the difference between a real opportunity and dopamine chasing.

When overwhelm hits, I dump everything on paper. Prioritize. Knock off the easy wins. The tactile act of crossing things off? That's dopamine I can actually use.

Here's what most people don't get about brains like mine:

The same brain that can't sit through a boring meeting can hyperfocus for 12 hours straight on something interesting.

The same impulsivity that makes bad decisions lets you act fast when everyone else is still analyzing.

The same restlessness that makes you chase new ideas keeps you from settling for mediocre.

You're not broken. You're just wired differently.

The collagen thing taught me cooling-off periods.

The midnight emails taught me my first reaction isn't always my best reaction.

The overwhelm taught me how to finish things instead of starting fifty projects and abandoning them all.

I don't try to fix my ADHD anymore.

I just learned to drive it better.

Most brands test hooks the same way:

Write 20 different hooks. Test them all. See which ones get the best hook rate and CTR. Scale the winners. Repeat until something breaks.

But if you’re still doing that, you’re testing backwards.

Because the algorithm isn’t just looking at your hook rate now.

Gem changed everything.

Gem is Meta’s creative brain. It’s the LLM analyzing who your creative targets are and why it’s working. It’s tracking Persona fit, jobs to be done, and angle resonance across the entire customer journey.

All of this is being identified before you hook even loads.

Which means you're optimizing for the last thing the system evaluates.

Hook rate, CPA, CTR are great indicators. Trash starting points.

Today’s winners validate who it's for, what job they think needs done, and what belief connects them to the offer.

Then they write hooks around what's already working.

Stop testing backwards.

If you’ve ever been taken advantage of...

That sh*t is not for the faint of heart.

It’s why you see entrepreneurs all over social media talking about the importance of being ruthless.

But here’s what they don’t talk about:

Running ads for a CPG brand is financial russian roulette. 

You can scale to $100K+/mo in spend then realize you were wrong. 

Facebook says 3.2x ROAS. 
Google says ROAS is 2.8x. 

And you’ve got ZERO clue if you’re actually profitable or not. 

Not to mention attribution...

→ Customer sees an ad on Instagram. 
→ They google your brand name. 
→ Click on the Google ad.
→ Buy on your site. 

Both platforms claim the sale and you pay for the same sale twice. 

Up until now, there’s been no “simple” way to solve this...

But when a platform called Iris Finance recently reached out to me to partner on a post, I knew it was solved. 

They automatically pinpoint where the sale came from. 

And reconcile the data so you’re never worried about being double-charged. 

I’ve used it for 2 weeks now and it’s been super solid. 

If you want to get a demo you can DM me and I’ll send you the link.

The go-to infrastructure for entrepreneurs selling digital products and services | Founder @FanBasis

I’ve been building businesses since I was 13.

At 17, I had my first exit - after scaling a startup to 16,000 users and raising six figures in non-dilutive capital.

That led to venture. I spent the next few years investing in early-stage SaaS and fintech companies at Storm Ventures and MBX Capital.

But I didn’t want to stay on the sidelines.

So I left VC and went all in on building again.

That’s when I launched FanBasis. 

Originally a platform helping celebrities monetize fan experiences.
In the first year, we onboarded 350+ influencers and did 7-figures in GMV.
But something clicked in 2023.

The top earners weren’t just selling shoutouts or fan calls.
They were selling digital products, coaching, communities, and info services.

So we pivoted.

We turned FanBasis into the infrastructure layer for anyone selling digital anything - products, services, communities, coaching, you name it.

And the growth exploded.

→ 338% avg seller growth within 12 months
→ 3,500+ creators, coaches, and agencies onboarded
→ Built-in BNPL, smart payment routing, automations, and more

I built FanBasis to solve the real problems I faced scaling my own info product and agency: 

🚫 No-code chaos
🚫 Failed payments
🚫 Stripe shutdowns
🚫 Overpromised platforms
🚫 Underdelivered results

Now we help set up high-ticket digital entrepreneurs for success. 

✅ Buy Now Pay Later & custom payment plans built to convert.
✅ Smart payment routing (so failed payments don’t stay failed).
✅ Full automation from checkout to access (courses, Discord, Circle, etc.).
✅ Upsells, order bumps, affiliate stacking - all in one. 
✅ 5,000+ integrations so you can keep what works and ditch what doesn’t.

If you’re already selling and ready to scale, 
Click the link in my featured section to turn knowledge into income today.

This platform was built by operators, for operators. To scale without the tech headache.

Yash Daftary

Most people think building digital products takes months of work.

They're wrong.

With AI, you can create and launch profitable products in one evening.

The barrier to entry has never been lower.

The tools are free. The market is massive. The infrastructure exists.

You don't need to be an expert. 
You don't need a massive audience. 
You don't need months of preparation.

You need one product that solves one specific problem for one specific person.

Create it with AI. List it tonight.

7 AI Products You Can Build Today (And How To Sell Them)

Ages 25-28 are when careers wildly diverge.

Two types of people exist at that age.

Highly ambitious people trying to build their careers as fast as possible.

And people who take the relaxed approach. Got something working at 22. Now they're leveling up within that industry with no risks and nothing on their own.

By 25, you already have something going for you.

By 28, you decide if you're taking any big risks.

After 28, it gets harder.

- Bills
- Marriage
- Buying a house

Etc.

All of that makes risk-taking more difficult than in your early-mid twenties.

One of the reasons I started FanBasis was because I knew I could take big risks early.

If it didn't work out, it wouldn't be the end of the world.

The older you get, the harder that becomes.

The window for big swings closes slowly.

“You don't play your hand, you play the man in front of you.”

When you're selling anything, talking about what you have and what your product does is fine.

But that's not how you actually close people.

The way to sell is understanding what they're looking for.

What are their pain points?

“If you truly understand someone's pain point, it becomes impossible not to close them.”

As long as you can address it, it's 100% closable.

If you can explain someone's pain point to them better than they can explain it themselves, you don't even need to sell anymore.

They'll view you as an expert because you understand what they're facing.

After that point, they're already sold.

You're just handling logistics.

This works in B2B, B2C, everything.

The way to sell is SIMPLY understanding pain points.

Not pitching features or explaining benefits.

Understanding what keeps them up at night and showing them you've been there too.

That's when trust happens.

And trust is the only thing that actually closes deals.

Grateful to be featured in Business Insider alongside companies like Gopuff as one of the retail startups that raised funding in 2025.

We closed our $20M Series A led by Left Lane Capital earlier this year. 

The funding environment has tightened significantly since the post-pandemic surge. 

VCs (according to the article) tracked $396M in retail deals this year compared to $7.6B in 2021.

Being able to raise from a position of strength while operating profitably is something I don't take lightly. 

This team made it possible.

We're using the capital to scale FANBASIS as the leading marketplace for digital products and services. 

There's still a lot of work ahead, but I'm excited about what we're building.

Thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey.

I sourced 25% of deal flow at Storm Ventures as a college intern.

Sat in hundreds of pitch meetings. Watched what made investors lean in and what made them check out.

Founders polish their pitch decks while missing the signals investors actually evaluate.

What drives investment decisions:

Can these founders build a billion-dollar company?

Early-stage investing is about people who can scale, not just build.

At least one founder needs to:
- Own the business side
- Handle complexity and leadership
- Navigate growth at scale

Teams made only of technical founders often struggle at a billion-dollar scale.

Have they lived through this problem?

Solutions born from firsthand pain outperform theoretical ideas.

Someone on the team needs deep, lived experience in the problem space. Founders who've faced the problem personally build solutions that adapt over time.

What's genuinely proprietary?

If it's easily replicable, it's not investable.

You need:
- Proprietary tech, data, or infrastructure
- A strong edge on distribution
- Something competitors can't easily copy

Zero competitors is a red flag.

If your idea exists, others have already tried it. Existing winners prove the problem is real and customers are willing to pay.

What are you building that beats them?

Are customers vocal advocates?

Investors talk directly to customers. Strong advocacy is proof the product is genuinely valuable.

Can this scale from 1,000 users to 10 million?

A $50M-$100M business can still be non-scalable.

Investors assess:
- Infrastructure readiness
- Operational leverage
- Your plan for scaling with capital

These indicators rarely show up in pitch decks, but they heavily influence investment decisions.

What are you working on right now that investors would lean in for?

Hidden Signals That Predict 10x Companies

The winners in 2026 won't be the ones with the best AI.

Based on research from McKinsey, OpenAI, and Stanford, here's what's coming:

Models don't matter anymore. The gap between AI models keeps shrinking. Free models now match frontier performance. Competition shifted from the model to how you use it.

Workflows win, not agents. Only 10% of organizations scaled true agents. Meanwhile, 20% use workflow tools. McKinsey predicts workflows will unlock $3 trillion by 2030.

The technical divide is ending. 75% of enterprise users now complete tasks they literally couldn't do before. If your value is purely technical, your advantage is shrinking. If you know your domain but lack technical skills, this is your moment.

Context beats prompting. Models understand vague instructions now. But they don't know your Q3 goals, brand guidelines, or yesterday's email. File management is no longer optional.

Ads are coming to chatbots. Without ad-supported tiers, best AI stays locked behind expensive subscriptions. Ad revenue makes powerful AI accessible to students, nonprofits, and casual users.

Software becomes physical. Waymo logged 100M+ autonomous miles with 96% fewer crashes. Amazon robots cut order-to-shipping time by 78%. Capital assets are becoming software endpoints.

Right now, expertise is being reset. There are no experts who know everything yet.

You just need to learn faster than the person next to you.

2026 will reward the ones who moved while things were messy.

AI Is Changing In 2026...

If I lost everything tomorrow and had to start selling digital products from scratch, this is exactly what I'd do 👇

Step 1: Create your socials

2026 is the best year to start. Algorithms favor beginners now, and 200 followers can get millions of views. The playing field is level.

Step 2: Create one specific product.

Not a product that teaches everything. One product that solves one specific problem.

"How to get sales with Instagram Stories" beats "How to make money online" every single time.

Specificity sells.

Step 3: Post twice daily.

Written content at 7 AM. Carousel at 12 PM.

Content equals traffic. Traffic equals sales. Use comment triggers to drive people to your checkout page.

Step 4: Hit 100 checkout views daily.

Your first major goal: 100 people viewing your checkout page every day.

At this level, you'll make $100-$300 daily consistently.

Track your numbers. Most people fail because only 40 people viewed their page all month.

Step 5: Fix your mindset.

If you don't believe this will work for you, you're right. It won't.

Work on your headspace as much as your strategy.

Understanding how abundance works is the secret. Practical execution without belief equals failure.

Most people overcomplicate this.

They wait for the perfect audience size, perfect product, perfect strategy.

Meanwhile, someone else ships something imperfect and starts making sales.

Your first digital product won't be your best one. But it will teach you more than months of planning ever could.

What's stopping you from starting this week?

Something better exists.

You know it does. You can feel it when you're sitting at your desk, scrolling through your phone pretending to work.

The gap between where you are and where you want to be is literally just… the belief that you can actually close it.

People never try because they think the only option is burning everything down and betting their entire life on themselves overnight.

That's not realistic when bills and responsibilities are a visceral reality.

Build while you work for an extra 5-10 hours a week. 
Teach what you already know. 
Create something digital. 
Consult on the side. 
Build an audience.

It might not be retirement money by tomorrow, but it sure as h-ll is freedom money.

Your 9-5 becomes the funding source for your  business. A steady paycheck while you figure out what works.

Then when your side thing hits $10K/month, you decide if you want to go all in or keep both running.

The infrastructure exists, platforms are built, and the barrier to entry is lower than it's ever been in human history.

Six months from now, you'll be exactly where you are today or you'll have built something that gives you options.

We analyzed 13,000+ sellers on our platform to understand what actually drives success.

What we found:

Average sellers reach $10K monthly in 6-9 months.

Getting to that first milestone requires:
- Proper payment infrastructure
- Scaling tools that actually work
- Foundation to support consistent revenue

72% of sellers see immediate revenue jumps after adding financing options.

Going from first sale to consistent revenue happens faster with buy-now-pay-later. Removing friction at checkout matters more than most people think.

Top performers build both models at once.

High-ticket offers:
$2K-$10K for immediate cash flow

MRR components:
$500-$5K monthly for predictable revenue

This combination is how you get to million-dollar months.

What top sellers are using right now:

Webinar funnels generating multi-million-dollar launches in 3-hour windows.

Automated upsells powered by forced VSL sequences hitting up to 20% conversion rates.

High-ticket MRR models:
- Agency services at $4K-$5K monthly retainers
- B2B consulting with recurring high-value contracts

Infrastructure that matters:

Instant payouts = faster ad scaling
Multiple payment options = higher conversion
Geographic flexibility = no location barriers

What separates thriving sellers from struggling ones:

Thriving sellers:
- Build both high-ticket and recurring revenue
- Invest in proper payment infrastructure
- Use automation to scale
- Build reliable operations

Struggling sellers:
- Rely on a single revenue model
- Accept payment platform limitations
- Use manual processes that don't scale
- Optimize for metrics that don't drive revenue

The gap is in infrastructure and how you build.

2025 Seller Economy Report

Most people give up on their New Year's Resolutions either this week or next.

In 525,600 minutes (1 year), most of you won't change. You'll keep doing what you've always done and expect different results.

Einstein called that madness.

92% of people give up on their New Year goals. To not be part of that statistic, you need to redefine madness.

Drop your annual goals. 12 months is too long. No urgency. You could coast until December.

Annual goals are a compass. You need a map.

Enter the 12-week year.

Big companies track quarterly, not annually. 12 weeks creates urgency while allowing meaningful progress.

Your annual goal sets direction. Your 12-week goal moves you there.

Make goals action-based, not results-based.

Results aren't in your control. Actions are.

Bad goal: "Hit 100K YouTube subs by year-end"
Smart goal: "Create 36 videos. 9 per quarter. 1 every 10 days"

Bad goal: "Lose 10 pounds"
Smart goal: "Hit the gym 180 times. 45 per quarter"

You become what you measure.

Setting goals isn't enough. You need quarterly reviews. Track progress. Course correct.

Even hitting 2 out of 4 quarters puts you ahead of 99% of people.

The framework:

Pick your biggest goal. Break it into 4 quarters. Make it action-based. Review every 12 weeks.

A goal without a plan is just a wish.

Most people will read this and do nothing. Same vague goals. Same hope. Fail by February.

You're not most people.

How to ACTUALLY Achieve Your Goals In 2026

You don't need to reinvent success.

Just recognize the patterns already working and make them your own.

eBay Reselling: $2.7B in Q2 2025, up 6%. While Amazon owns the mass market, eBay dominates niches. Start by selling unused items from your house.

Brand Deal Flipping: Connect influencers with brands. Take a cut. YouTube is 12.5% of TV viewership. One brand, five influencers monthly at $7K each with 30% margin equals $10K/month profit.

Video Editing: Video is 82.5% of global internet traffic. Companies need editors or they're invisible. AI can cut clips. It can't build emotion or innovate.

Branded Dropshipping: Old model barely profits. Branded model builds trust, and products sell for $80 instead of $30. Higher margins, lower refunds, sustainable business.

Brand Identity Design: Companies need full packages, not $50 logos. Market valued at $9.5B in 2024, projected $40B by 2032. Charge $2,500 per package.

Short-form Content Strategy: The average TikTok user opens app 20 times daily. Attention is currency. Help businesses capture it.

Digital products: Create once, sell unlimited times. AI prompt packs, budget trackers, Notion templates. One prompt pack made $300K. One Notion template made $22,500.

Investing: When your money works for you, you stop working for it. Start with $1 on fractional shares. Takes years to hit $10K/month passive, but when you do, it requires zero extra work.

Eight proven pathways. Real numbers. Real possibilities.

Most people will read this and do nothing. They'll keep waiting for perfect timing, perfect conditions, perfect clarity.

You're not most people.

Pick one. Start today. Learn as you build.

8 Side Hustles Making $100k+ in 2026

Creating a 100-page ebook takes hours now, not days or weeks.

Making it good is where people fail.

1- Start with pain points, not topics.

Don't say "write me a book about mental toughness."

Ask AI to list the biggest pain points your reader needs solved.

People buy ebooks to solve problems, and your book needs to directly address pain points.

2- Generate one section at a time.

For a 30,000-word ebook:
→ 8 chapters = 3,750 words per chapter
→ 3 subchapters = 1,250 words per subchapter

Generate 1,250 words at a time.

3- Build the foundation first.

Get pain points from AI. Create your title and subtitle. Build your outline.

Skipping straight to "write my book" produces garbage. Add personality through storytelling.

Tell AI: "Focus on practical advice and use stories to make information personal."

AI-generated stories become placeholders. Replace them with your actual experiences.

4- Edit ruthlessly.

Never copy-paste and publish. You're the brain. AI is your assistant.

Fact-check everything. Remove fluff. Replace generic stories with real ones.

You determine what's good and what's bad.

5- Make it look professional.

Hire book cover designers. Budget: $10-$30. Premium: $100-$200.

100% AI-written ebooks are garbage.

AI speeds up the process. You still bring the strategy, editing, personality, and quality control.

A 111-page book on mental toughness sells tens of thousands monthly. Written by a normal person. No massive audience.

Just a well-written book solving specific problems.

You can do this if you prioritize quality over speed.

Put in the foundational work. 
List real pain points. 
Generate strategically. 
Edit ruthlessly. 
Publish something worth reading.

AI is making every person on our team 2-3X more effective.

- Our engineering team codes 2X faster with AI assistance.

- Our sales team evaluates performance with AI analytics.

- Our customer success uses AI for user behavior analysis.

- And risk assessment runs AI models for fraud detection.

Other "Non-Obvious" wins we've found with AI:

- Pattern recognition in payment data that humans would never catch.

- Automated seller performance scoring in real-time.

- Predictive customer success interventions before sellers hit friction.

AI isn't making our A-players "lazy" or creating half baked processes. 

We're using it to make Super Humans. 

Super Employees. 
Super Processes. 
Super Everything.

If you're using AI to do less work, you're missing the point.

If you're using AI to do more meaningful work at a higher level, you're building leverage.

The teams that win with AI use it to elevate their entire operation, not replace parts of it.

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