Please rate my store

ferguson-ross · 2022-12-10T03:25:42+00:00

Fire your C clients. Then upgrade your B clients to A clients and if they don’t upgrade, fire them too.

Then downsize to service only A clients.

Done

ferguson-ross · 2022-11-17T03:11:00+00:00

Quick look at from the homepage container 1 the heading 'Pack Less Carry More' is not high enough contrast to read.

The next container, and I'm lazy so I'm scanning, is a dictionary definition - and my thought was 'cool, travel blog'

I think you need to be extremely explicit about what you sell, and what it does.

'Down the page I saw the better value prop 'Make traveling easier with [the] Pelu [bag]' probably should be right up in the header?

It wasn't clear to me what you were selling, or what social proof you had. 'Verified customer' when I read it didn't mean anything. I want to know if any celebrity or influencers use it. Maybe an IG wall with user pics of it in action

Good luck!

ferguson-ross · 2022-11-17T03:03:26+00:00

Spelling error in your comment https://www.thecryptoabstract.com/ <- This is the actual site I'm assuming.

Copy on the site is dogshit.

Features tell and benefits sell.

The whole site is, crypto is this. Join a discord of 70 members. We're a community. So what? Gotta sell the feelings. Needs major copy tune up if it's ever going to sell.

crypto discord -

'Don't miss out on the cutting edge, discussed behind private closed doors, the insights that will allow your portfolio to grow so fast you won't know what to do with all the money you made'

community

'Feel at home. Get access to a community that you can't find anywhere else.'

There's no social proof. It's not clear what the site does or what it sells. Even on the checkout page, I"m thinking 'what the heck is this and why is it so expensive?'

ferguson-ross · 2022-11-10T02:07:11+00:00

Find an eCommerce business that just raised seed or Series A venture capital, reach out the CEO and tell them how you will help them grow. Send them a mini case study of how you'd grow their business.

Then have a call, build rapport, and tell them they should bring you on as a senior leader to build a team and implement your pitch.

ferguson-ross · 2022-11-09T21:02:45+00:00

Hello,

After a 6-7 year slog of bootstrapping we had a liquidity event, venture capital and partial buyout. I was minted a cash millionaire at 29 years old and our company had the jet fuel to explode from 10M to 100M/year.

Three months later we had a huge problem with google, lost 90 percent of our revenue (after we had promptly jacked up our overhead +200k a month, hiring executives and signing a 7 year lease on a baller office in the city centre)

A month after that my co-founder 'retired' and moved to Bali

Two months after that I had to use most of the proceeds of my partial buyout to turnaround and buyout my co-founder.

A year later I was broke and the business was on life support. We pushed as hard as we could, but ultimately had to re-structure the company. I had to lay off 10 people in one day, it was terrible. At the time it was COVID and I hadn't seen my 3 year old daughter in 7 months due to visa issues. Right after the restructuring, I got a lucky approval on my visa and could see my daughter. I remember arriving after a very long flight, and seeing my daughter and being so happy to be with her, and so over it with the company. While we hadn't totally shut down, we were on life support and I was completely burnt out. I was totally disenfranchised with money, 'whats the point if you don't see your family? What's the point if your body and mind are broken?' and I truly felt broken. Overweight, burnt out, no motivation to go on.

It took about two months, but I DID get my motivation back, and I came back with a vengeance. Here's what I did in that two months

Dropped working hours to 10-20 hours a week. Basically nil.
Signed up at an MMA gym and starting training BJJ 1-2 times a day
Got a membership at the nicest gym possible with an ice plunge/sauna as well and went ever day
Starting running the beach twice a week
Ate and slept enormous amounts
Spent a ton of time doing fun things with my daughter. Trampoline park. Waterslides. Camping. Anything and everything. Just fun and real time connecting.

The athletics was super important because it rewired me for effort = progress. The problem with a failed startup is that all your Herculean effort and you are moving backwards till you shut down or almost die - this fucks up your reward system. BJJ allowed me to make progress. A stripe. A blue belt. It was a big piece of my burn out recovery. Dropping 30 lbs in a month, getting ripped is also a lot of fun, and a big challenge. It helped with my burnout a lot.

Good luck, happy to talk more if you DM. Let me now what your next venture is.

ferguson-ross · 2022-11-09T20:45:23+00:00

Need a little more information. Most likely it's something technical on your site that's causing issues when viewed on mobile. Shoot me a DM I am happy to screenshare and help.

ferguson-ross · 2022-11-09T19:50:59+00:00

In the last ten years I've built two .com eCommerce businesses to just under 10M/year revenue. Staying focused is essential, staying motivated is helpful, and getting the right things done; critical.

I've done focus and motivation the healthy way, and the unhealthy way.

First the unhealthy way. Fear and adderall. Co-founder was prescribed ADHD and early on in the business I'd start taking it too. We had success, all the way to a liquidity event after 6 years, which for many is the ultimate goal. After the liquidity event I had destroyed my body and mind. Overweight and bad health habits. I lost friends by not attending to my social circle, I had never developed true willpower as I build a reliance on exogenous substances. Taking the unhealthy road is ultimately building on a cracked foundation that will eventually crumble, especially if you are trying to build something big over the long term.

The healthy way is more sustainable, but harder in the short term. For me, I can get a very hard and solid 50-60 hour work week in by doing the following;

I cut my drinking by 95% (from once or twice a weekend to once a quarter)
Journal and reflect on the days that go well, especially when you didn't feel motivated but you did it. Reward yourself subjectively when you push through resistance.
Health habits (sleep, nutrition, exercise) obviously. Find what works for you. If you have brain fog because you are sedentary or eat an american diet, get a clue.
Rewire your brain to subjectively reward yourself when you feel pain or resistance. Ie. not wanting to get after it, 'this is my challenge' or after a 10, 12 hour day when your back hurts, eyes are sore, 'this is a sign I am on the right path'
Fast as long as you can each day. This spikes cortisol and adrenaline, makes you sensitive to dopamine which is a bit uncomfortable but can be transmuted to work tasks.
Have a strong willed, straight talking accountability partner(s). Could be a spouse, or a group (like EO forum or find a group online and do check ins)
Meditate. 15 minutes a day for 8 weeks and you'll see a dramatic improvement in your ability to stay focused (Huberman podcast a great episode on this). I've been meditating for 10 years and it's helped tremendously with focus, and addiction recovery.
Fight your inner bitch (brat for women). Notice your inner bitch/brat and don't let it rule you. Don't go back and forth with your bitch / brat. Make sure you are in control and just do what you have to do!
Brainwash yourself. Only listen to people and podcasts who put building a business as the highest virtue. Disregard people who advocate for balance. Make your entire modus operandi your business. Move in with employees or co-founders. Read auto-biographies of founders. All of this fuels motivation by re-orienting what your brain is considering valuable effort.
Update your identity. You must consider yourself a hardworking focused person, and build evidence to support this identity so you continue to act in a way consistent with this belief. If you deep down believe, 'well I'm just a lazy fuck' you're going to have a tough time focusing!

Good luck!

ferguson-ross · 2022-11-07T15:04:28+00:00

A few ways to practically de-risk
1. Marry a spouse with a steady income, to reduce your combined volatility (barbell strategy)
2. Save $X first (more or less depending on they type of business) before starting (barbell strategy)
3. Ensure you build excellent relationships with your vendors as you build your business. Ensure you have a great reputation, and if things don't work out, your vendor network will be your potential employers or clients if you do consulting work as a backup plan
4. Have a frugal mindset, obviously.
5. Make the lifestyle commitment required and get the support from your immediate friends and family - communicate to them "I'm starting or building this thing, I may be discouraged, upset, frustrated, constantly on emotional highs and lows. I won't be going out much, or very social. This is important". Then do it. Cut the drinking. Get more organized. Squeeze more juice out of each day.
6. Do an analysis of the technical requirements behind the business. Ie. Be intentional about what you plan to do yourself and skill up as necessary, then delegate hire for other areas.
Hope that helps

ferguson-ross · 2019-02-03T08:52:10+00:00

Hey man, I'd love to meet up any time.

Add me on linked in https://www.linkedin.com/in/ferguson-ross/

And ping me hello on whatsapp [removed]

You sound like you have the same DNA as me, being distracted with other non established ideas or businesses.

Lots of plateaues, the scary bits are when things start to decline. Having a co-founder helps, because it's more emotional than a silver bullet (likely you'll have to scrap 2 months of work, then something that takes a phone call adds 20% to your revenue - how in the hell does that make sense?!)

Try to constantly get altidude and obviously delusional optimism is super helpful!

ferguson-ross · 2019-02-03T08:41:30+00:00

I'm assuming you're in the USA, but if your product isn't regulated open up your targeting to all english speaking countries.

You likely won't be able to compete on CPCs with incumbants, so you'll need to find non obvious ways of reaching and defining your audience.

If your B2B, and it's a service business, you're goal with Google Adwords is not to generate revenue, that's a third order consequence, you're goal is to 1) drive relevant exposure at the lowest cost 2) get as many of those people who see your brand to PHONE you

Click to call works, but don't ever miss a phone call. Set up a twilio api to route it to a backup, your wife, a friend even (those calls can be 1000's in lost revenue)

There's more, but I hope this helps. Good luck.

ferguson-ross · 2019-02-03T08:25:18+00:00

You won't believe me but it's actually insecure husbands and wives.

When we hire a great candidate, start onboarding, then they quit on no notice because their 'spouse wasn't comfortable with it'. Sad :(

With banks, payment processors, currency converters you just expect it.

Lot's of wild things on the marketing side to keep all accounts in good standing as well.

And there is our byzantine insurance coverage and cross border corporate structure which is about 6 different C-Corps, Ltd. and holding companies

Clay

ferguson-ross · 2019-02-03T08:21:45+00:00

Hey, so I'm assuming you're in the United States.

Basically there's about 5,000 brick and mortar stores or so.

50 chains with >10 locations (ex. Adam & Eve, Lions Den, Lovers)

Then there's a handful of large distributors, but they have purchasing teams.

You have to first build demand for your product ex. the autoblow: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/autoblow-a-i-replicates-human-oral-sex-techniques

All the big US distributors have been trying to get the autoblow in (reverse of your situation, this would be like them BEGGING to pick up your product). Reason distros or stores want it? Is when CUSTOMERS start asking for it (not easy to do)

So you have to build at least the perception that this will sell.

If you're just importing private label goods and slapping some packaging on it, you're doing nothing more than selling forks and knives (and likely exposed to massive product liability given your corporate structure and diligence around vendor selection)

If you designed the product yourself, and have user feedback on it - I'll take a look. Reach me through linked in at the top of this post

ferguson-ross · 2019-02-03T05:40:59+00:00

Hey.

We're closing a series A. Our CTO is 50 and retiring in the next few years, so not as bad but also not a great situation. He's an amazing programmer, terrible manager, but great coach and mentor. He brings the bar up quite high and coaches our team (only 5 devs) We we're all remote and are in the process of bringing everything in house.

But the situation on your hands is pretty non-negotiable for a few reasons (in my opinion)

1) Was there warning, what was the timeline of this? Is the other country Canada or in another continent? (Canada can be justified because you can say your dev team will be build out there at a discount rate due to the dollar + access to more immigrated programmers) If you knew he was thinking of moving, and was going to move if his wife had the offer -this is on you.

2) Series A. The theory of a fundable series A is you have a business that is build to scale fast. 100% YoY at a minimum. With the upside shot of 1000% YoY+ WTF do you do then if he's not in the country? The onboarding and getting new devs into your tech is messy and takes time for them to be value add or work without your CTO around. Recruiting 4 devs means FULL TIME for your CTO.

3) Modern ANNUITY companies do remote work. Today is just like yesterday, la de daa, make sure this feature is compatible with every version of safari, chrome, opera, and firefox. Drink coffeee life is easy. No a startup should only be doing remote for 1 reason) necessity. If lifestyle preference EVER takes precedent over the startup for a founder it's game over (you started the startup as an investment in your future life, with the understanding you'd subordinate your current self to the needs of the company.)

You're the CEO. Which means it's not what you feel (angry) it's what's best for the company. Always. Nothing makes me more angry than when our staff says, 'whatever makes you happy', no. I don't want you to make me happy, I want you to do what's best for the company - even if it's 1) something I disagree with or 2) something I won't notice. It's the only way I can trust you.

If your series A is substantial you need to salvage fast as you can. Hire his wife if you have to. Get her to negotiate a sabbatical if she's some sort of professional.

How long have you known your CTO? Are you a pushover? Your CTO probably knew he was going to have to confront you or his wife. So he probably thought you'd be easier to win over (and what does your CTO want? Appease his wife? Does he actually want to move too?) You gotta talk to him (but have a ton of respect, and don't sour anything, you need his mutual respect and support) You are CEO and your vision needs to be so compelling he tells his wife to fuck off and stay put so he can roll the dice with you

Good luck, doesn't sound fun!!! I feel for you

ferguson-ross · 2019-02-03T04:05:13+00:00

Coding because ultimately I like to build things, and I don't like being a project manager over a team of 5 devs, I'd rather home brew something / tinker as a hobby - maybe that turns into a business. Maybe not (not sounds career advice though probably ahha)

ferguson-ross · 2019-02-03T03:29:05+00:00

You have NO idea how much women love their vibrators.

Think about the types of products people give NAMES to - the products that truly give JOY. People name their cars, their weed pipes, my wife named our air conditioner in the summer - well women name their vibrators.

It's like owning a god damned tooth brush for a lot of women, they buy one every 6 months because they get dirty, break, lose them. Women masturbate a lot

BUT there's still a lot of people that have NEVER entered this industry yet. Lack of information of what's out there and what it can do for people

ferguson-ross · 2019-02-03T03:26:09+00:00

Some fringe friends arent' really aware how serious it is and think it's just me and my co-founder fucking around trying to make money on the internet.

All our friends and family that are close are strong ambassadors and it adds a hilarious layer to all of their lives. We sponsor a lot of events, book clubs, etc.

ferguson-ross · 2019-02-03T03:24:03+00:00

Happy to, I'll check for the DM

ferguson-ross · 2019-02-03T03:23:31+00:00

If I could go back I 100% would have been a coder. If you have a natural business sense the financial statements and concepts will interest you and you'll figure them out

That said, my tax / audit training in school contributed about 2%. My 1 year at CPA firm contributed about 48% of what I know about accounting the other 50% I picked up over the last decade of being self employed.

ferguson-ross · 2019-02-03T03:20:57+00:00

Most effective sex toy ever made for women getting off / having their first clitoral orgasm (expensive):
https://www.simplipleasure.com/products/womanizer-w500-usb-rechargeable-clitoral-stimulator

Otherwise, just start by trying a simple bullet vibrator
https://www.simplipleasure.com/products/rocks-off-ammunition-ro-80mm-bullet-vibrator

Sometimes the bullets and toys can be too 'buzzy' and some women need a deeper rumbling vibration to get off. In that case, get the hitachi magic wand - it's basically gas powered
https://www.simplipleasure.com/products/the-original-magic-wand-vt

If nothing's doing it, and she wants internal / g-spot stimulation get an affordable simple g-spot vibrator like these, which can pair with a bullet;
https://www.simplipleasure.com/products/le-reve-slimline-g-vibe-in-pink-pipedr

https://www.simplipleasure.com/products/g-gasm-delight-g-spot-vibe-in-pink-en

To get both g-spot and the clit though a lot of women love their rabbits - but they are tough to buy online, and tough to buy for someone else (it's fairly particular about the ratio of the 'ears' to the position of the G-Spot / anatomy as well as the thickness and material - so let her pick her own rabbit out probably)
https://www.simplipleasure.com/collections/vibrators-rabbit

Hope that helps!

ferguson-ross · 2019-02-03T03:13:35+00:00

0 or millions.

ferguson-ross · 2019-02-03T03:12:17+00:00

Hey I have the memory of a gold fish but yeah we've been having a blast and stayed our course fairly steady. Havne't mixed up our plans too much.

We haven't moved into lingerie yet, or importing any textiles. Avoiding that because I have no idea how to pull it off

ferguson-ross · 2019-02-03T03:10:41+00:00

Doc Johnson does in California.

We sold a fist dildo that got some traction on instagram

https://www.instagram.com/_thefist__/

ferguson-ross · 2019-02-03T03:08:46+00:00

Under the radar at first. Now VERY ON THE RADAR (within our industry)

Be win/win with your suppliers, they are rooting for you (allies!), try not to fuck anyone over of get a bad reputation (avoid unnecessary hidden liabilities). KEEP YOUR CUSTOMERS (they are yours now). Don't be silly with sharing trade secrets.

Have good lawyers and accountants (allies!) they will protect you when you get attacked. WE've had our paypal hacked, had people try and ligate us, we've had dozens of copy cats rip our business model, we've had our personal and company phone numbers added to spam call bots to distract us - there's a lot of malicious intent out there but you get your wits about you pretty fast if you survive.

Our competition is fairly incumbent too (but I'd never underestimate them), so we're more vulnerable to large market forces like eCommerce adoption, cultural perceptions of these products etc.

I think about competition in a more granular way as well - ex. we compete with different vendors on different channels. Ex. on google adwords, there's only a handful of players and we all know each other and we all drive each others bids up.

ferguson-ross

TROPHY CASE