TikTok Organic, Scaling up, Selling Out & Hitting ££ Rev Goal - Documenting the journey - Episode 4

Yo. Episode 4 then of documenting the journey, which I seem to be rolling with in terms of what we're calling this. Not wearing a hat, wearing a fucking Hawaiian spec shirt for once. I bought like six, six shirts the other day because it's summer and I fucking like wearing wavy shirts instead of just like shit T shirts. What's going on? Quite a lot's gone on. I got back from visiting my parents for the first time in like six months today. I was there for like four days up north. So that completely skewed my routine on everything. But yeah, I feel like this is gonna be a quicker episode than usual because I'm in a fucking rush. I'm recording a pod later actually as well. This will be going up on Wednesday, 1 June. Feels like summer has officially arrived. Fucking. I was running some fast runs today, but that's beside the point. We're now what, nearly seven weeks in? Let me check my calendar. Six weeks or seven weeks in since we launched the fucking brand. One, two, three, four, five, six. One, two, three, four, five. Seven weeks in. Yeah, and we're just about to hit milestone number one, if you can have a guess what that is, which is pretty cool. In seven weeks. What's going on in the past week? I wrote a few notes, I'm not going to share my screen yet. Nothing fucking interesting to show. So switched to 3pr that I said that happened. The issue with that was they then were holding the stock saying that they're not going to ship the stock out to range collection. There's like 800 units there. We shipped a thousand before, but then we started to scale. So I'm about to run out of fucking stock. And now it's the four day bank holiday for a four day weekend with two day bank holiday tomorrow and Friday, which I didn't think about. So I get a call saying that the collection have a range which was super expensive, can't happen today even though it's booked for today, has to happen Monday. So probably going to sell out over the weekend, which is a nice problem to have, but it's a problem. And then we got that stop moving over to the warehouse I'm using now, which is much smoother I think. And then we've got 5,000 units landing next week. So then we can start to really push it a little bit. And then we got 10,000 units come in about six weeks after that. And I'll probably put another order in within the next month or something depending on how shit is going. What happened on Friday? We have been testing out some Tick Tock organic stuff because I want to build out like an army of organic creators. I've seen brands like Tabs do it. Tabs and rise. Two American brands that they seem to be. Two brands that crushing it on TikTok organic. Seeing that on Twitter a lot, you probably have as well if you're in that like money Twitter space. Dtc, I think they primarily run Tick Tock organic and by that I mean, you know, paying people to run their own account potentially go viral on organic because they can't run paid ads, which I think is potentially not a sustainable strategy long term. But I think it's mad what they're doing. Like I think someone posted a half a million a month, 75% net margin because if there's no ad spend, my net margin would be like 75% same as theirs. So yeah, starting to see potential with that. I sent out product to a few creators just saying like try it out. I didn't think I'd see much of it. A few guys are paid and they didn't perform very well. And then if you guys who watch the pod, if you're watching, you probably know who you are, you know who I'm talking about. He put up a video and then it went fucking viral. I got 1.4 million views in like two days. And I saw a massive increase in traffic. I think from that I would estimate there was like 15,000 website visitors from that one video. Sales wise. It's hard to say exactly, but I think it was probably a few grand in terms of like the difference I saw. And yeah, I was mad. I was like, fuck. Obviously he said he'd do a free trial. We're now working on like a paid structure, but even now I'm trying to figure out the best way to do it because I don't want to pay creators up front for a flat retainer. I think it's just doesn't work. I tweeted about it, but then obviously at the same time I can see why, you know, a lot of them don't want to do just performance based because then there's a risk of ultimately the algorithm doesn't play ball that they're not gonna get paid. So I think somewhere in between is what I'm gonna do now, like a small base retainer because ultimately you can use the content in like other ads, reels, Instagram ads, all that shit. And then pay per view. I'm thinking some like 500 pound per million views, which you might think sounds a Bit ridiculous because you're not tracking sales. But from what I'm reading and what I'm seeing in my own research is pretty hard to track sales. So that's what I'm gonna try. I think that's got mad, mad potential, particularly for the products. It's controversial, it looks pretty, it's very broad appeal. Like, you know, all genders, all ages ultimately can, can be in the audience. It's not like it's super restricted. So yeah, that showed my potential. That's the only video that's hit. I've probably spent a few grand on the creators and a lot of stuff hasn't hit, which is a bit frustrating, but that showed the potential. So I'm doubling down on that again, trying to figure out the best way to do it. But when we've got a restock in the next week, I'm gonna get a load of people posting again because yeah, like ads started to scale as well. We're up to like 1500 pound a day ad spend now, which might sound like a lot, might not sound like a lot, but that's like the limit of where I can go right now. Seeing like 2.5 blended ROAS in the past week. That's gone from like a 1.5 to 2 by the way, to like 2.5 roas. That happened over the weekend, which was mad. The only difference was obviously it was payday. So there's always gonna be a bit of a boost with that end of the month payday. That TikTok video seems to have done something. I don't know if it's like just a shitload of top and traffic we're retargeting. But also Facebook ads seem to be popping like over the weekend. They were fucking mad. The best I've ever been like attributed number wise and scale wise. So that was nice to see because they weren't doing too well last week. To be honest, I was getting a bit concerned like, you know, if it's not, if it's not working as I'm not working, but like if it's not super profitable or even profitable on attribution on like the platform attribution at like a grand a day. I was thinking, well, fuck, how we going to scale this to ten grand a day spend? But it's starting to look a lot better now. Other thing I've noticed as well, like repeat orders are coming in. So we're up to like 350 subscribers now, which again, seven weeks in, that's quite a lot. It's like nearly 15 grand mrr, which obviously there's going to be churn and always will be an element of that. But as that compounds, you know, we're seeing repeat orders come in which obviously you don't pay to acquire them again. So that's 40 quid, whatever it is, 40 quid average, just coming in for a new order, starting to see that consistently every day with repeat orders coming in from like obviously the first few weeks and that's going to compound and you know, just on a small scale I'm seeing that now. I'm thinking when that compounds, you're going to have a very profitable, very compounding and consistently growing business on your hands ultimately, especially because the product feedback has been genuinely so good. Like, I'm pretty relieved. I mean, I knew it'd be good, but there's always an element of when you make something from scratch, you know, is the market going to tell me it's shit? But the market's not told me it's shit. The market said they like the taste, it works. Fundamentally, that's the most important thing for 95% of people. There's a few people that say shit or whatever, but there always will be. So, yeah, science to scale, that's good. Like I said stock issues, it'd be very nice. I think we could be spending three to five grand a day on ads profitably right now, which is a good sign. But obviously anyone can say that you can't necessarily do that, you know, the stock and we don't have the stock right now, so that's a big bottleneck. But like I say 5k units come in next week, 10k units about six weeks after that. So, you know, that's 750 grand worth of stock in terms of revenue, potential value in like the next arriving in like the next two to two months, six to eight weeks. So, yeah, I'm pretty confident based on what I've seen in the first six months and what I'm seeing now and like my experience put together, I think within the next six months we could be doing half a million a month pretty comfortably, like pounds and profitably as well. So if we could get there in six months, that'd be fucking mad. Maybe it doesn't make sense to push it that hard. I might find that it doesn't make sense, but I think that'd be a nice level to get to you by like ultimately like December, November, December. I think that's kind of where I'm shooting for. And then obviously if we could do that into next Year. It's very, very early days. But, yeah, the signs are good. Yeah, I suppose, like sharing numbers and stuff. It's funny because I think I'm speaking to someone about this. I speak about this all the time on the pod as well. But, like, the level I'm at now, revenue wise, is smaller than was ever, not ever at. But, like, it's smaller than I've been at since I was, you know, 21 and I'm 26 now. But it's not the same. And by that I mean, like, when I was between the ages, I didn't do less than 100 grand a month in revenue from E commerce at all for about four years between the age of like 21 to 25. Then fucking neon beach happened, whatever, you know that story. And then I was out of the game for like a year. So I always had. I was very consistent back in the drop shipping game and then building Midnight City and then Neon Beach. So I was used to having big numbers, like, you know, relatively big numbers and like never drop below that. So it's kind of weird. Obviously, the first six weeks I've been below that level in terms of monthly. Now we're just getting back there. We're just pretty much crossed that now in terms of run rate. But yeah, it's not even comparable because, like, building something from scratch, which is completely bespoke, as this is completely almost kind of creating a market in a way which I do believe I've kind of done with this, like, microdose. Invitation granted, like, the product's not, you know, they're similar products, but the way I'm branding it, the. The ethos behind it, the mission behind it, particularly in the uk, it literally is new. Like, I've made that market from scratch. So coming up with an idea from scratch, building something from scratch, which is bespoke and hard to compete with, at least quickly, is way more valuable than, you know, doing 10 times the numbers, which I've done and plenty of other people are doing. And that's fucking cool. Which I've done in drop shipping and, you know, hybrid drop shipping, branded drop shipping in the past. So it's funny because I was doing 800 grand a month drop shipping at one point when I was 22, which is fucking mad really thinking about it. Yeah, I was driving that blue R8 doing 800 grand a month drop shipping and would have been like, summer 2018 around that time. I remember that being in Bali. But even then I think I was acutely aware of, you know, this, this first, it isn't sustainable because, you know, it wasn't sustainable because it's almost not a business. It's like, it's like a little hustle that's got out of hand. I think that's what like a lot of TikTok drop shippers are probably going to realize over time. You know, when they get the first maybe ad account ban or TikTok clamp down on certain stuff. It's just like Facebook was when the feedback score came out. And there's nothing wrong with, you know, been in your teens, in your early 20s, fucking scaling, dropshipping stores. But it's not the same. It's not even comparable. Like it really, really isn't like cash flow wise fucking great. But it's not sustainable because shit will happen like clamping down like Facebook did in 2019 because I was that guy. Like I was fucking crushing it. And then my ad account got disabled and, you know, pretty much pretty soon you can't run the products you're running. It's not sustainable in that sense. It's not sustainable in another sense because anyone can rip your shit at any time. You don't have any IP ultimately, but also beyond that, like you're not building anything of like compounding value. And granted I've tried to do that a few times with like Midnight and then Neon. We all know that story. And ultimately, yeah, I didn't build anything of mad value long term, but I'm so proud that those brands are still running. And obviously now the intent with Space Goods is to fucking build something that is probably my last, my last E comm brand, I hope. And it's. And it can compound because, you know, dropshipping shit again like I used to do. So I'm not shitting on anyone that does that. I'm just giving context. Like when I used to do that, you know, fucking dopamine thrill of scaling so much and scaling so quick and not even having to think about stock management in the same way. It doesn't compare really. Whereas obviously now I'm getting people saying like the fucking products changing their life and shit. And it's much more fulfilling. Like, of course it is. It was much more fulfilling when I moved from drop shipping to selling beautiful, you know, selling necklaces that look good that I still wear. And I still think it cool with Midnight City, but that wasn't quite as fulfilling because it wasn't like affecting people's mental health and shit, which is kind of what space is all about, really. Like ultimately that's Kind of the mission. So. Yeah, anyway, where am I going with that? Yeah, it's just not comparable. But it's funny, like, looking back at my own experiences and comparing them, because even though the numbers are much smaller right now, they won't be much smaller for long. But even though they are much smaller, I still feel like it's a much more impressive operation because I know that it's fucking. I'm building something good. Like, I really do. Like, deep down. And, you know, the market is telling me that. The feedback's telling me that the results are ultimately telling me that. So, yeah, a few more things, I guess I saw, like, the first potential pending RIP of the brand. I say RIP of the brand. Like, granted, there's gonna be stuff that's similar, but, like, someone sent me some. Someone tweeting about a brand that's coming soon. It was like every detail was almost obviously just ripped from what I'm doing. Like, the packaging was the exact same. And because it's a pretty unique brand, particularly like the product name, the brand, the packaging, the aesthetic of it, like, it's gonna be pretty fucking obvious when someone's taking massive influence from what I'm doing, but, you know that's gonna happen. But it pissed me off when I saw that because I spent so many months getting this right or at least trying to get this right, and I think I am getting it right now, starting to. So, yeah, that's gonna happen. But that was one other thing that was on my mind. So, yeah, fucking first of June. My plan with this was always to, you know, the first two weeks, I'm obviously not a full month. They were kind of like just like the launch phase, because mid April, May, June, July, first three months, I wanted to put down some solid months. Obviously may have just done June. The goal is to pretty much double what I did in May. And then July probably be like 1.5x that. Because it probably won't be sustainable to double it again just in terms of stock and then see where we're at. I've already been speaking to people that want to invest in, like, in the brand, you know, fortunate because of the good network I have. Obviously, I put a lot of content out. People probably know that what I'm doing is. Is gonna. Is. Is likely to be pretty big or do pretty well, because I guess they're backing me. Like, they're backing me. They're back in the idea. They're back in the market potential. Kind of those three things really, that I think make it a good Investment, you know, certainly to people that came in, in the first round, I'm not going to raise money for the sake of it, but there's a few people that I've already planted the seeds with. I would like them to get involved, not just from a financial perspective, but because I just think they can really help drive the business forward. Because that's another thing. I've massively seen the benefit of having certain investors on board already, which I never had in the past. I was probably a bit arrogant and naive and always want to do things myself. But even now, like we have a group chat, me and some of the guys, particularly one of my investors, been helping me a lot with stuff I just wouldn't have a fucking clue on. So yeah, there's massive, massive value there and it's kind of like a win win because ultimately they want the business to do well and they want to see me do well and, and I want to fucking deliver a great return on whoever's coming to the fucking investment round, whether that's now or in the future. So yeah, I guess I'm rambling a bit as usual. What else did I want to talk about? Yeah, this time of year, I think it's a bit of a weird one. It's kind of hard to find that balance between like enjoying summer and also being like, fuck, I want to get ahead, I've got momentum now. Etc, etc again. I think I touched on this in a few pods and maybe the last epic documentary episode for me. Like I like to fucking grind it out. I enjoy weekends generally, like two meals out, like Friday, Saturday drinks. I enjoy the pod. Doing the pod is kind of like semi, like look, semi leisure time for me, like obviously is a bit of work as well, but that's kind of like, you know, I get away from the screen, drink wine and shit. That's probably like my advice if anything, to be honest. Steak, weights, running on running and wine regime. I should, I should trademark that. But yeah, going to Marbella next week for like a hustle house, which is just like fucking load of guys going, we'll work, will sunbathe, we'll probably fucking party a little bit. I do that probably like once a a month or every six weeks. Probably more. Probably more like every six weeks during like summer. So I was in Ibiza like six weeks ago, Marbella, I'll probably do Bali in about six weeks and we're looking at going like Japan and shit, me and a few of the guys. So that's how I like to split it up. I like to be in the trenches, enjoy weekends a little bit and make sure I'm not missing out on life as well. But there's obviously seasons for everything. Like I had a rough year last year when it was tough for me mentally. So I'm conscious that I do want to enjoy my life as well as being the trenches. I do enjoy a lot of the trenches. I like building my thing, especially when there's momentum and I can feel it coming and starting to do well, which I genuinely can with this now. But yeah, finding that balance is hard. That will always be the entrepreneurial challenge that 99% of society probably can't relate to you, like, you know, four day, four days off for everyone now in it, like. But everyone I know will be working tomorrow and Friday as normal. And then, yeah, I'll probably fucking go send it on Friday night, try and celebrate this jubilee or something. Buckingham palace only like a mile away. But yeah, that's how it is. You got to make sacrifices now and then in it. And especially because I feel like I have such an opportunity now, you know, I really want to get this right, like, deliver on my promises to myself and the fucking world over the next few months. And that's partly why I'm building this in public and documenting it. Because pressure, as I said before, is a privilege. And it definitely helps me knowing that I'm putting shit out, like putting it out into the universe, putting it out online. So, yeah, fuck it, enjoy the process. But, you know, get, get that balance right for you. And being self aware is important. So, yeah, shit's moving. It's hot. This is episode four. Chat to next week. Let's go, boys. Scale to the moon. Space goes to the fucking moon. Let's go.