Going from $0-$1mm in business is probably the hardest part.

- entire time you feel like everything could fall apart at any moment

- you don’t have much data to base decisions off…so ur flying blind

To survive this phase u need to cap ur downside. Make smart small bets.

1) In the $0-$1mm phase a lot of people take on way too much overhead and ultimately get KO’d

Why you hear stats that most small businesses fail.

To survive u need to be scrappy. Work out of Starbucks, garage, ur house, etc and be as lean as possible

“Flexing overhead” isn’t cool

I started Vibedration when I was 22.…paid for my first order with a credit card

Starting a brand donesn't need to be an overly complicated process...let me show you a few things

~THREAD~ 1. most important aspect of starting a brand….is testing concept with small budget

I came up with idea and immediately ran $500 of test ads to a shitty shopify site with 2 products on it

People bought and I sent a message saying I was delayed on production.

Concept proven.

Don’t see much fb ads advice since ios14 purged all quick cash fb scammers

We’re relying a ton on “ASC” and spending $15k a day with a 4x

Here’s a few tips straight from the KC account: 1. Advantage plus or “ASC”

I’ve found that these campaigns do best when you mix creative types.

I tried testing separate campaigns with only single image or video or dpa…shit doesn’t work

Build a campaign with 5-8 creatives…1-2 of each creative type and let it rip

tools to start a 7 figure brand are right in-front of your face

iPhone, computer, Shopify, Alibaba and ur right there

KC is an 8 figure brand and we still get all our suppliers off Alibaba

Here’s a few tips to help you with alibaba: 1. First off, the site is not a swap meet. People have this weird thing in their head about the site.

The site provides protection from suppliers scamming you and makes it easy to find good factories

if I started building another e-comm brand today from $0...here's 5 things i'd focus on that could get me to 7 figures quick 1. It’s honestly not as hard as you think to build a lean 7 figure online biz

Your easiest path to start in…is within a niche that you’re apart of. This is your competitive advantage. You know these people...they're u.

Build a product for you / this small niche.

People new to e-commerce look for a unicorn problem 2 solve

That’s the hard way

Find a niche that you know & make a product for them

Then when you make new fresh products they’ll come back again & again

Your competitive advantage is KNOWING your niche This is how you can compete in niches thst are insanely competitive

My first brand I made a product for girls going to music festivals that we’re looking to take cute pics.

I was going up against camelbak...but I knew festivals & partying better than wank execs at Camelbak

E-commerce brand we're building live the Private Facebook Group is growing fast & profitably

April 2020: $66,495

Month over month growth: 113%

Profit: $26,553 (40% profit margin)

We’ll be at $150,000 months SOON.

Apply w/ L|nk in bio to build your brand along side of us We started this brand on Jan 1, 2020

(In December we ran a few ads but traffic was too expensive so we decided to hold off till January)

Before launch we went into great detail on how to pick a nice & test

1st month: $12,929

Ad spend: $4,982

COGS: $3,390

Profit: $4,556

🚨THREAD🚨

Here's the outline to my Private Facebook Group:

(Link in bio)

1/
•Our Mindset when building a brand
•Choosing CLTV over Immediate Profit
•Picking a niche & products within the niche
•How we chose our niche
•How we picked product within that niche 2/

•Testing the niche / product before investing
•Picking the Brand Name
•Leaving the name open for expansion into more niches / products
•Buying the domain
•Legal Business structure
•LLC - Scorp
•Trademark
•Insurance
•Selling permits

China is hurting right now.

Been negotiating some of the best pricing and lead times I’ve seen in years

They’re desperate for business

Use this and stock up. I’ve also been talking to my freight forwards trying to pre book cheaper freight too.

Buy low...sell high 🤑🤑 Also what you can do....

Negotiate payment terms.

Ex: 20% up front. 40% upon completion. And 40% when the goods hit your wharehouse / 3pl

Change your cash flow...and you can probably afford more inventory

👊🏽👊🏽

YTD Update: $86,422.05 in sales

Building this brand live from $0 to scale just like we said we would.

Giving step by step insights on everything from paid ads to supply chain to customer retention.

We launched this on Jan 1, 2020…

Link in B!O to apply to our e-comm community We’re operating at 40% profit margin….$25,000 this year

I don’t know anyone who is putting their rep on the line & letting people follow along & ask question while a brand is being built in real-time

$2.7k last Sunday.....we’ll be at $10k days soon

Brands >

Apply in B!O

Cat fight was way sicker

Don’t @ me

Your ex is going to text you today

Because it's "soy-lenties day"

Here are some copy / paste responses that will make her go crazy...

And hopefully never text you again

CC: DK King's retweet from black twitter Original screenshots from the convo on black twitter hahaha

These are my favorite so you can copy pasta:

"You can't be my b!tch you're broke"

"Get a new job then come holla at me"

"can't even afford a fking meal"

"Stay moping the floors"

I spent 3 years of my life building Vibedration, from garage to globally recognized brand.

Blood, sweat, tears, and lost a lot of friends along the way.

I spent every last dollar I had to make my first order.

In business hard work is the only shortcut to success.

[Thread] 1. I lived in China for a year so I could figure out manufacturing.

I ate whatever food would help me build relationships (snake, weird sea food, etc)

We were spending $500,000 on orders & I wanted to make sure I learned every step of the process.

You need to step in your customers shoes before you sell anything.

Identify their problems. Find out how they walk & talk. What do other brands funnels look like?

Then you are ready to sell to them.

10 Questions to Ask

~A THREAD~ 1. What brands sell something to them and what do their ads / website funnel look like? Go research Facebook ads library.

Get on email lists and pay attention to the copy, subject lines, email frequency...what does this tell you?

Buy something...is there an unboxing experience?

2019 was an INSANE year

Sales grew 47% to $2,071,029

I get DM’s all the time asking my advice for someone just starting out in e-commerce...

Here are my top 5 tips:

~Thread~ 1 - Low cost testing

eBay and Etsy are still some of the best ways to test a product before betting the house.

Take sample pictures or product mockups, run a 10 day auction on eBay, set starting price to $0.01

Let people tell you if there’s demand & how to price your product

ANY product can FAIL.

And there’s a simple formula for winners.

Take a product with proven demand, solve the problem better or for a more specific niche.

Example: my first brand Vibedration, cute "camelbaks" for ravers

No need to reinvent the wheel.

~THREAD~ Dollar Shave Club

Billions of people need to shave their facial hair (known problem)

and dollar shave positioned themselves as a low cost, high quality alternative, that's super convenient

They've grown this to a BILLION dollar brand.

I don't like rats.

They lack skills to hunt, and are forced to scavenge on whatever they can find.

Efe is a counterfeit rat.

He's never built a real business and has frauded many peoples out of their hard earned money.

~thread~ 0 real online business skills

He started by selling a dog shit course on “how to pickup women".

Selling a $0.99 product and lying all the way to the bank.

Everyone will say you’re too young to start a business.

F$$k them - I started when I was 21.

"ah you’re still in college what do you know”

Then guess what? You start putting up some results & people’s “tone” slowly changes…. Entrepreneurs that started young will start to take notice and help you.

My main supplier in China started when he was 19 (31 now & built an empire)

He helped a TON...giving me payment terms that allowed us to land product and sell it before paying him.

I've made MILLIONS during the holidays

Most don't realize it's the only time of the year where it's okay for brands to break most of the RULES

A few of my favorite tips / strategies

~THREAD~ Facebook Ad Frequency

Throw it out the window. It doesn't matter during the holidays.

If ROAS is solid..keep the ads running.

I've had campaigns smashing at a frequency of 15. This will happen in campaigns with customers / site traffic, let it fly till ROAS tanks.

4 of my Favorite Business Principles

That can help ensure success from the start

~THREAD~ 1. Be Original

This is how you create something "sticky" that people crave.

Telling a unique story IS the value proposition

Every entrepreneur is trying to be the next Gary Vee or whoever the “flavor of the week” guru is…DON’T DO IT

In the early days of VIBEDRATION we focused heavily on creating a brand that resonated with millennials

Camelbak’s social presence looked like a wrinkled newspaper...

And they‘re just a category or term associated w/ hydration pack

Tips on creating a brand

~THREAD~ 1. Brand Slogan

What do you stand for? We came up w/ the slogan “Life’s A Party, Stay Hydrated”

We wanted to let people know we support parting and enjoying life….add some water

Especially at music festivals when its 100 and everyone is “rolling balls”

STAY HYDRATED