Auke-Jan retweeted
Unvaccinated children are brighter, have more Light in their eyes, function better in all situations, rarely suffer common chronic health ailments, get over illness faster, are more inquisitive, and have more joy and wonder.
Auke-Jan retweeted
Thinking that you can wake up late and still be as effective is a psy-op that’s designed to keep you less successful than you could be. Most successful people are still waking up before the sun. There's something about waking up early that seems wiser, and more noble. Waking up and working late leaves the opposite impression - that you’re disorganized and lazy. Ben Franklin said 300 years ago: "early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." And if you don't believe me, just take one look at the most effective people you personally know of. One thing they probably all have in common is a good sleep schedule. I see this in my employees specifically. The best ones are up early. This is such a failure-proof indicator of someones effectiveness that I literally fired an employee of mine after we did a team retreat; he consistently woke up later than everyone else in the villa.
Auke-Jan retweeted
You won't unlock new scale with your ads until you become better at storytelling.
Humans have always used stories to pass down knowledge, teach lessons, and shift beliefs.
The ancient Greeks couldn't explain thunder and lightning. So they told a story… Zeus, king of the gods, throws lightning bolts down from the sky when he’s angry. Suddenly a terrifying and unexplainable event was understandable.
That's what stories do, they make sense of the world in a way facts alone can't, it's how our brains are wired. And that same wiring is why storytelling works so well in ads today.
When people scroll, their guard is up. They know what a normal ad looks like and they skip it instantly (in this scenario you already paid for that view and got nothing back)
But a story told in a format that's native to the platform bypasses their guard and lets you put a narrative in their head. That's why a story can completely shift how someone thinks about their problem and how to solve it.
Instead of you telling them your product is the best for xyz (which they'll resist), the story leads them to that conclusion themselves.
There's a chemical reason why this works too. A good story triggers dopamine (which drives attention and memory) and oxytocin (which builds trust).
Storytelling ads also help you reach more new people.
Because good stories hold attention and drive engagement, the algorithm sees them as content people actually want to consume. So it pushes them into colder audiences and rewards you with lower CPMs.
Compare that to a straight hard-selling ad that only reaches the small pool of people already in-market.
Good stories get you into the bigger, colder audiences. And those people enter your funnel already believing in your solution because they've consumed your story.
The formats working best for us right now:
- AI Animation Ads (these come in so many fun formats, once you have your messaging dialed in, go ham and test a lot of variations)
- Yapper Ads
- Native statics + long form copy
So here's what to do next:
put your phone in your pocket, go for a walk without any music, podcast, or scrolling tiktok , just raw dog it, and while walking try to think of ideas for stories around your current best working angle.
Then write down your ideas in your notes app.
Then come home, make yourself a bit less sober using your drug of choice, normally a beer and a ciggy does it for me, and try to write a good storytelling ad and run it.
Do that a few times and get better at it.
That will be your next unlock.
Auke-Jan retweeted
This video is like watching the Mona Lisa being painted
He was always in such a flow state man wish we could’ve seen more from him during his prime xitter.cf/cr7ioo/status/20433867…
Auke-Jan retweeted
I NEVER turn off a losing ad. I don't care if that ad has 0.8 roas.
If it gets a lot of spend + has >80% new visitor %, it's a winning ad.
These ads let me 2x, 3x the budget quickly and scale fast. Meanwhile MOF & BOF targeted creatives convert like crazy and balance the account's roas.
I will never stop preaching this until all of ecom twitter does this. Look at your account from a funnel's perspective.
Auke-Jan retweeted
Podcast format is ABSOLUTELY crushing for us in the ad account.
Targets all demographics, everybody listens to podcasts.
Like & Retweet to get our Swipe File
(Must be following otherwise no DM)
Auke-Jan retweeted
Giving away free 1:1 advisory calls to 2 people.
Normally €1,500/hr.
I’ll audit your brand and I’ll tell you exactly where the money is leaking.
Why listen to me:
• €15M/yr brand
• In ecom since 2018
Like + RT + comment “Advisory”
Must follow. Picking 2 winners in 3 days.
Auke-Jan retweeted
I can’t get this Grüns deal out of my head.
Everyone focuses on the exit but I think what really matters is the acquisition on the other side.
I don’t think there is any better vertical in the world to invest in right now than a subscription-based consumables brand.
I’ll tell you why…
Ai is clearly the future. But I don’t think the play is building an Ai company. My theory is that every Ai company will eventually get replaced by Ai.
However, do you know what will never get replaced by Ai?
Physical products.
There is a massive misconception that ecom is a digital business. It is not. Go visit your supplier in China & tell him you run an online business. He will punch you in the face.
SaaS is an online business. Ecom is not.
Ecom is a physical business model operated remotely. The benefit for ecom operators is that ai tools are designed FOR US - not against us.
I honestly can’t think of many other businesses models where this is the case.
So, what is the biggest threat to ecom?
I think it’s probably 3D printers.
But i’ll tell you what 3D printers won’t be able to do (for a very long time at least) - print health products.
For example, let’s say you’re selling electrolytes. You can’t just magically print a sachet with a dozen different ingredients.
In addition to this - I think health & beauty are the two industries that are just going to keep on growing.
- Health is only going to grow in size because people are aging with smartphones & access to information. This has never happened before. Everyone will be researching why certain changes are happening to them, thus pushing people down funnels.
- Beauty is only going to grow because ai is going to make people feel uglier than ever before. Ai generates people more attractive than anyone you will ever see in your life. Think about how that will affect beauty standards in society - it’s a trillion dollar
opportunity.
So, if you want to build a $1bn+ business. I think if you look at the way the world is shaping up, it’s undeniable that a health-based DTC subscription brand is the play.
All the macro factors are in your favour.
You just need to make sure you optimize for these three things:
- Build an incredible product
Ai will soon kill your conversion rates if your product can be debunked
- Nail your positioning (op)
Ai will make building a brand easier. Why should customers choose yours?
- Distribution-max
Your advantage in ecom will always be your ability to compound attention that converts.
Once you understand all this, you start to realize why ecom is the best mode to scale to a $1bn exit.
If you are building in the ecom industry - I hope you appreciate how blessed we actually are. In a world full of doom & gloom, I can’t believe how bullish this industry is right now.
It’s a generational opportunity.
GOOD LUCK & HAPPY SCALING.
Auke-Jan retweeted
A great category and timing can make a good founder look like a genius, and a tough category and timing can make the same good founder look like an idiot who doesn’t know what they’re doing -
Beyond a certain point of baseline competence, this is arguably the single largest factor in deciding success at scale or not - so then the question is, is the real talent in spotting what’s the next great category with perfect timing? 🤔
Auke-Jan retweeted
I've found pretty much all my success from being a natural contrarian
Always against the grain
When people zig, I zag
The alpha is always found by doing pretty much the opposite of what the masses do
It's so obvious it's what you need to do to get an edge I've no idea how so many people never see the pattern.
How do you expect to get extraordinary results by doing the ordinary?
By definition you need to be doing what others aren't
The creative volume thing is a good example.
Everyone preaching how important creative volume is to be able to scale -> everyone starts pumping out as many ads as they can -> 1000 active ads becomes the norm -> you have no edge over anyone else as everyone else is doing the same thing -> ad quality diminished as a result of pursuit of as much volume as possible -> your ads get raped in auctions by people who took the time to research, plan and direct their ads to the best of their ability
This is literally exactly what I did. Heard all the hype and dogma around creative volume, deliberately dialled mine back even more knowing people would start to abandon quality in pursuit of volume. So if i could increase mine even further, the delta between my ads and the competition would get bigger and bigger.
Exactly what happened. My 5 ads a week beating out competitors publishing 300+ a week
We scaled a new brand from zero to 7 figs a month in it's 3rd month
It's literally the same with everything
Where the market moves, you need to move in the opposite direction, not follow like a sheep
These people are what is known as exit liquidity
Auke-Jan retweeted
Shelby/ whoever is behind the scenes is so cracked it’s not even funny.
Stage relationship with a mainstream “influencer”, script relationship controversy that solidifies her “boss babe” positioning, pay theme/ news pages to post about it, classic gender wars ensue in the comments, subconsciously pushing any woman who comes across it to naturally agree with Shelby’s fake “position”.
Said women look up who Shelby is and boom they’re in the funnel.
Auke-Jan retweeted
Here we go again... Please help @ShopifySupport @Shopify @tobi @harleyf
Our Shopify Payments was suddenly disabled due to a “rise in chargebacks” and “elevated risk” but our actual chargeback rate is 0.2%
Everywhere online you’ll read that staying under 1% is healthy
Shopify higher-ups have told us merchants are fine under 1.5%
And today I spoke with another Shopify leader who said anything under 3% is acceptable
We’ve been a Shopify Plus merchant for 3 years, processed 8-figures+ in revenue, and run a fast-growing subscription brand with $1M+ in monthly recurring revenue
We have our own custom formulas, verified Eurofins certificates, CN + USA manufacturing, and patents in progress. We operate fully legitimately
This year we’ve dealt with multiple copycats impersonating our brand, causing customer confusion. With our last viral tweet, Shopify successfully took one of them down. Now we’re here again
Recently Shopify placed a 10% reserve on our payouts. We didn’t fight it. We accepted it and continued proving we’re a trustworthy merchant. We even received a $2M Shopify Capital offer which we partially used
Yet now we’re facing an instant disablement with no warning and a full hold on funds
We’ve already sent Shopify every document requested and more than needed for full due diligence
If Shopify chooses not to reinstate our payments, then at minimum they should migrate our subscription tokens and cancel our Shopify Plus plan so we can continue operating without losing our entire subscriber base
This situation is critical for us and our customers
Please review our case ASAP 🙏
Auke-Jan retweeted
It’s such a shame
This year I’m doing better than ever, record year. Then I read something like this and think, wtf did I even do for the last 10 years? And I get depressed
People will say, “Don’t compare yourself, it destroys happiness.”
But it’s impossible for competitive people not to compare themselves
It’s absolutely crazy that you can be the super rich one in your normal friend group,
but at the same time feel like a complete loser in your business friend group
I’ve been in business for 10 years and still haven’t found a solution for that
Looking back, it’s sometimes even a strength because it pushes me to achieve more
I’ll never forget back in 2015 when I started and lost money for 3 months straight
In one of the Facebook groups, there was a guy from Bangladesh doing 2k revenue days
while I was just losing money
And I thought, wtf, how is this guy from that country smarter than me? No way
Two months later, I made my first 50k profit month
So if you’re like me and feel down or stupid when other people who aren’t smarter than you do better than you,
try to use that as fuel for motivation
Today I say goodbye to my 30s. It was a wild decade:
-Launched my first supplement company (Holy Land Health) in 2015 and went from $1MM rev that year to $23MM the second year.
-Had to meet with 9 district attorneys in Oakland after they sent me a letter about that company (it worked out alright).
-Launched an agency (Red Ox Consulting) that did $10MM+ in revenue in a single year. Hated that business.
-Made $1MM+ in freelancing income for 4 straight years (while running businesses). Did it by charging $50k per sales letter for clients.
-Wrote hundreds of sales letters that generated billions of dollars.
-Saw the emergence of AI occur, embraced it, and accepted that the days of charging $50k a sales letter were over.
-Founded a call center (Turtle Peak) and sold it for 7 figures.
-Founded a SaaS and sold it for 6 figures (FreeAdCopy).
-Founded Copy Accelerator (CA Pro these days), through which I've helped 500+ DTC brands who collectively have generated $10BN+ in revenue since working with them.
-Bought out my original co-founder of CA Pro for 7 figures.
-Became a guru and built a personal brand.
-Realized I didn't want to be a guru and stopped doing it.
-Made millions of dollars selling courses and info, including RMBC which is considered one of the best copywriting courses of all time, and more recently RMBC II.
-Did live events that generated millions of dollars in a single 3-day period.
-Stopped doing those events because I didn't like pitching/selling from stage.
-Flew private 50+ times.
-Bought a Bentley.
-Became an "investor" with 7 figures put into movies, an agriculture startup, tech startups, multi-family real estate, food startups, etc.
-Saw most of that money disappear as those companies/projects went bust and multi-family got crunched due to high interest rates.
-Became super illiquid
-Realized being an "investor" sounds sexy until you need cash and all your money is locked up in things
-At one point I sold a Rolex to help cover mortgages (at the height of my liquidity crunch).
-Recovered from that, but stopped spending like a celebrity. Most of the time I fly Comfort+ but rarely splurge for first class. Also stopped putting any personal expenses on credit cards. Went from monthly credit card payments of $200K+ to payments of like $10k or so on average.
-Had my first daughter in 2018.
-Almost got divorced in 2022. We separated and were in arbitration.
-Stopped drinking alcohol (along with my wife - and yes our drinking was related to us almost divorcing).
-We saved our marriage.
-Had our second daughter in April.
-Marriage is in the strongest place ever.
-Met an endless list of celebrities, billionaires, etc.
-Saw my best friend since childhood get diagnosed with cancer in his mid 30s and die right before his 38th birthday.
-Saw another best friend since childhood also get diagnosed with Stage IV cancer at age 38. Spent weeks at the hospital in LA supporting him last summer during/after emergency surgery to remove multiple infected organs. He's doing okay right now thank God. I try to visit him at least once every 3 months.
- Did $10MM+ in real estate transactions - these ones have mostly worked out pretty well.
-Got in great shape thanks to my friend Glenn Dawson and ResetU.
-Survived attacks from enemies trying to destroy my business.
-Finally stopped bouncing around to things and got hyperfocused on the telemedicine business I run, which did $20MM in our first year and is doubling that in our second year.
—
Honestly there's so much more I could put. It was a very busy decade…
But ultimately, the biggest transformation as I come out of it is a feeling of maturation and focus.
I'm thankful for the experiences I had. The good and the bad. The wins and the dumb mistakes. All of it...
But as I turn 40, the most beautiful thing is how much simpler my life feels.
Family:
They come first. I love being a dad. I coach my oldest daughter's softball games. I'm up early in the morning with our 6-month-old. I don't go out and party. When I'm not working or working out, I'm with my family. If it's not work time and I'm not with my kids, it's because I'm out on a date with my wife.
Business:
I say no to every new business opportunity that comes my way. I say no to pretty much any speaking invite or opportunity. I don't launch new info products or courses (with the exception of RMBC II). I don't have any interest in investing in random businesses. I'm good with CA Pro and telemedicine and that's it.
Finances:
I spend less. Money goes out of my account every month and into an index fund. Every now and then I'll buy some individual stocks. I don't do speculative stuff. I don't spend money on PJs or ultra-luxury cars. I still like nice things, but I buy them rarely, and there's never a compulsive need for "more." We have a nice house and even if I had a billion dollars, we probably wouldn't move. The house is great and the neighborhood is full of families and kids that my daughters can play with. Who cares about a house that's bigger.
Health:
I work out every single day. I eat pretty healthily. I'm as mentally and physically strong as I've ever been.
Spirituality:
I meditate regularly and I give thanks to God for everything I have.
—
And that's the tweet. Long. Maybe self-indulgent. Maybe contains lessons. I don't know…
But I'll only turn 40 once and there's something about big milestone events that can leave a man feeling reflective.
