In 4 years, I built and sold our ecom brand for 7 figures.

The path to exit was far from smooth.

If you're a DTC founder dreaming of a big acquisition, this is for you.

The unfiltered story of how we made Cardly an attractive asset and the playbook we used to seal the deal 🧵 Some context:

In college, my partner @gio__aa & I noticed our classmates dropping $30-50 on phone cases.

Then they'd slap a promo card holder to carry IDs and credit cards.

So we thought, "Let's create a stick-on wallet that actually looks good."

We called it, Cardly.

Currently 100 downloads from hitting 50k downloads on @TheNextGenPod

So... to boost today's number...

Here are 56 ways guests on our podcasts have made money (in some cases, millions) @TheNextGenPod 1) Hydration Packs – Ryan Lange

2) Food Truck Software – Nick Nanackos

3) Newsletter about Space – @amlewis4

4) Selling kids toys on Amazon – Davis Clute

5) Moving Business – @Get_it_Done_Joe

6) Inventing a Sport – @woeismeade

Just interviewed @Codie_Sanchez on the podcast.

I regret making it a 30 minute call.

This could have gone on for hours....

The top 5 lessons I took away 👇 @Codie_Sanchez 1/ Think Like An Ocean

Oceans have thousands of rivers & streams that feed into it.

If one dries up, it's not the end of the world.

Most people only have ONE river (income stream) with their W-2 job.

Diversify your cashflow.

If you're trying to get into e-commerce, it can feel a bit overwhelming.

Here are 5 things I wish I knew before starting out. 👇 1) Pick the right product (by the numbers)

Today you should aim for:
• Minimum 70% gross margin
• $40 + Price
• Lightweight (easy shipping costs).

My first product was a $9 cell phone accessory.

We sold 120,000 units the last year. But had razor-thin margins.

News Flash:

2022 has the same number of hours as 2021.

Want to hit your goals?

Try these 8 high-leverage activities to getting more done in less time. 🧵 1/ Set up a Calendar Scheduling Tool

This might only save 2-3 hours in 2022.

But it will add years to your life by no longer asking "does this time work for you" 1,000 times.

I interviewed 41 founders making millions while in their 20's this year.

Here are the 28 who are on twitter you should be following 🧵 First up: @woeismeade

Follow Greg to learn how to bootstrap a company to 8-figures+

One of Greg's top tweets:

https://twitter.com/woeismeade/status/1445099712609148928?s=20

Want the secret to running a $1M company with 0 experience?

Stop inventing new products.

Do this instead (Warning: It involves stealing) Step 1: Go sign up for buyer email lists & create premium buyer accounts at the top internet brokerage sites.

Here's a few:
• Microacquire
• Quietlight brokerage
• Flippa
• Empire Flippers
• FE International
• Investors Club
• & dozens more.

I don't normally take notes during podcasts.

But last week I did a podcast with @ImSamThompson and spent over an hour furiously typing.

He sold his first company when he was 18.

Now he's 24 & running over dozen companies.

Here are 8 lessons you probably haven't heard before: 1/ "F*ck Me"

Want Sams opinion on how to grow your business?

You'll get a response with tactics, tips & even examples.

But it always ends in these 2 words.

He's a firm believer that you should test everything & let the market decided, not one persons opinion.

It's that time of year where people are setting goals.

Awesome 👏

But... over 90% of people don't achieve their goals.

So, to help you, here are 18 words of advice that changed my life (and can help you achieve your goals) 👇 It comes from the book, You Are A Badass, by Jen Sincero:

"If you want to live a life you've never lived, you have to do things you've never done."

Ok cool... what does that really mean?

For the past 2 years, I'd spend 16+ hours scrambling for Black Friday & Cyber Monday email ideas.

This year I decided to sacrifice my email to 50+ companies who I admire and study what they do.

250+ emails later, here are my 5 favorite email ideas for next year (save this) 👇 1/ Crossnet: "We Priced It This Way Because We Hate Math"

90 days ago we bought our first 68-unit storage facility.

Fast forward to today, we are on track to create $429,656 in value.

Here's the story 👇 When we first bought our property, it was pretty mismanaged:

20% empty/broken units
10% owner occupied units
15% of units occupied by owners friends who were late on rent for months

Rents were literally tracked on this white board (yes a white board)

This 24-year old built a business worth $5 MILLION in two and a half years.

The crazy part?

It wasn't a high-growth internet business.

It was an animal removal company.

Get ready for a wild story.
👇🏻 If ever there was a natural-born salesman, it's @JonathanMRivera

Born into a low-income family, his parents moved to Dallas from New York around 2001.

At 5, John was already selling his toys at garage sales in attempt to buy the newest toy on the market.

Something nobody talks about:

How to structure your days after you quit your job to run your business full time.

I struggled with this a lot.

You think the answer is just 9-5 but more hours & days.

For 2 months I worked Mon-Sat 8-8 & felt TERRIBLE.

Heres what works for me 👇🏼 1/ My favorite @naval quotes is:

“Work like a lion. Not a cow.”

In a 9-5 you have to work even when you don’t feel productive.

You dont have to do that when youre the boss.

Its tough to take off 2 PM on a Wednesday. But I promise it will lead to better work if youre in a rut

Ok 99% of my DM's are the same question:

"How do I start a business?"

Well this morning I was reading the @Apple product news.

So here's a product idea you can start in 2 months and easily do $1 million in sales 👇 Apple just launched Airtags.

I'm only positive about one thing in life:

People buy accessories with their Apple devices.

- Phone Cases
- Mac Cases
- Airpod Cases/Carabiners

So... you see where I'm going with this right?

Ever read a tweet that sticks in your brain for weeks?

Well, I have a bunch.

Here are 10 tweets I saved & think about often 👇 1) Be careful about who you're learning from.

https://twitter.com/JamesClear/status/1375540101569187843?s=20

I got a few followers today from talking about side projects.

So I'll share the easiest side hustle you can do to make money today Start or Buy a blog

Ok before you groan like you’ve heard this before, let me share how my partner & I bought a blog and grew revenue 50% in the first 4 months.