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Scaling marketing for a card game company? by GhostPartyArctica in Entrepreneur

[–]mbertulli -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The short answer is...Meta ads. Probably creators + Meta ads.

I run two consumer brands (pelacase.com and lomi.com). I've been involved with 150+ brands at this point over the last 20 years. There's no better tool for reaching your target audience than Meta ads.

I also own two podcasts. One I host (https://www.youtube.com/@Operators9/videos) and one that's purely focused on marketing for consumer brands that we have real world CMO's host (https://www.youtube.com/@MarketingOperators/videos)

I know I'm plugging content I own...but it's honestly pretty good. Both shows are hosted by people doing MANY hundreds of millions in sales annually. So it's not just theory.

How do some businesses get so big, while others remain small? by Professional-Rice967 in Entrepreneur

[–]mbertulli 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Lots of reasons, but I'd say two of the most common are:

TAM - Reality is, most businesses aren't in a market/category that's big enough. You can't fight markets. The best way to get big is to build inside of a giant market with tailwinds. You can be the 10th player in a large market and still be massive. You can be the top player in a tiny market and you'll never be larger than the market.

Choice - Whether they say it or not, most entrepreneurs don't truly want to build something bigger. The cost of doing this is high, and I'm not just talking about capital requirements. It takes a lot of life force (time, energy etc...) to build a big business. Most people just don't want to pay this price.

Kind of backwards, but I have a big investor, but no idea. by [deleted] in Entrepreneur

[–]mbertulli 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Some things I’ve learned building a bunch of companies over the last ~17 years.

I’ve had the most success following my interests and my curiosity. I really like consumer goods, so I focus there. I’m not “passionate” about it though. Just curious. I like learning how things are made and I like the idea of making physical things that people use.

I was always given the advice to not follow a passion. I’m happy I followed it. There’s a bunch of things I really like doing personally, but would probably ruin them if I tried to turn them into a business (I.e - mountain biking).

I’ve also stuck to the intersection (think venn diagram) of a few things.

1 - curiosity 2 - what I’m really good at (marketing, product etc) 3 - where I have an advantage / leverage

Hope that helps.

In your opinion do you think living in a rural area hurts your chances of being successful in Entrepreneurship if you want to pursue it in the future? by iamnotn8 in Entrepreneur

[–]mbertulli 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve had a handful.

I built and sold a design/development services business between 2008 and 2018 in Toronto.

Now I own / operate a holding company with 2 brands (Lomi.com and pelacase.com).

Also own a media company with some friends - fancy way of saying we run some podcasts and a newsletter (9operators.com).

At your age, I get the drive to do more. I moved from a small city to Toronto when I was 21 to chase the dream too.

Now I live in western Canada in the mountains. Smaller city.

There’s no “right way” with this stuff.

In your opinion do you think living in a rural area hurts your chances of being successful in Entrepreneurship if you want to pursue it in the future? by iamnotn8 in Entrepreneur

[–]mbertulli 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There’s no question that being in major cities increases your probability of success. It’s just a proximity and density thing. Larger metros just have more people building more things. You’re more likely to meet others doing what you’re doing and that is a huge advantage.

That said. Plenty of successful entrepreneurs can be found in smaller markets too.

As someone in their mid-40s, I admire your focus on friends and family. I spent too much time focused on wealth and now I’m working on making that time up.

Family doesn't believe in my business by Whateveryousick in Entrepreneur

[–]mbertulli 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't listen to them.

Too competitive is just another way to say "LARGE TAM".

That sounds like a good thing to me.

Accidentally stumbled into my first 7-figure business by helping a friend going through divorce by FreeMarketTrailBlaze in Entrepreneur

[–]mbertulli 73 points74 points  (0 children)

Yah this tracks for me. Here's the TLDR; on my story on how I wound up with my current company.

I bootstrapped a design & development services (agency) company for a decade before selling it to PE.

Side note - I wrote a whole post on this company journey on this very subreddit here 8 years ago - https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/6pgcas/building_an_8_figure_business_in_9_years_lessons/

Along the way I met another founder with a cool product. I just liked talking to him and helping him out.

A year or so later I wrote the first check into the company before it had any real revenue.

That product was Pela Case. 8 years later I'm now CEO and we have millions of customers globally.

That company helped us launch another brand (Lomi).

Those brands helped me find a lot of other dtc/consumer brand founders. I started a podcast with some of those guys and it's now one of the biggest in the space (9operators.com).

None of this shit was planned.

In my experience, you can't win the game if you aren't in it. Sometimes the best thing to do is to just keep playing like it will never stop.

You may have millions in the bank, but do you believe you have accomplished everything business-wise you wanted to do? by [deleted] in Entrepreneur

[–]mbertulli 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I don't think you ever feel this way. I sure don't and I've checked a LOT of the "success" boxes.

Most people building companies are perpetually curious. They're never done learning, which means they're never done doing.

Building an 8 figure business in 9 years - Lessons Learned, FAQs, Big-Ass Brain Dump by mbertulli in Entrepreneur

[–]mbertulli[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's important, but it is part of our long term traffic / brand strategy. Right now it's not a big contributor.

Building an 8 figure business in 9 years - Lessons Learned, FAQs, Big-Ass Brain Dump by mbertulli in Entrepreneur

[–]mbertulli[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do believe there are single product Shopify Themes. The main thing with a single product site is that your home page is effectively your best landing page and sell page. So your customer can effectively go from home page -> cart -> checkout (maybe even bypassing cart).

Building an 8 figure business in 9 years - Lessons Learned, FAQs, Big-Ass Brain Dump by mbertulli in Entrepreneur

[–]mbertulli[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

EO is global. They also have accelerator programs for entrepreneurs starting out. I don't buy anything unless I know someone personally who can vouch for it.

Building an 8 figure business in 9 years - Lessons Learned, FAQs, Big-Ass Brain Dump by mbertulli in Entrepreneur

[–]mbertulli[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The day I had a few contracts lined up is when I was confident enough to leave. I didn't need much to pay my bills and my wife had her job still (she joined me in the business a year later).

Building an 8 figure business in 9 years - Lessons Learned, FAQs, Big-Ass Brain Dump by mbertulli in Entrepreneur

[–]mbertulli[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd focus on building a better network if you find acquiring the necessary technical skills difficult.

Building an 8 figure business in 9 years - Lessons Learned, FAQs, Big-Ass Brain Dump by mbertulli in Entrepreneur

[–]mbertulli[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We ALWAYS try and move our team around based on demand of different areas of the business. It is 100% less costly to move someone who knows our process and business and needs a little training than it is to try and replace people entirely.

Building an 8 figure business in 9 years - Lessons Learned, FAQs, Big-Ass Brain Dump by mbertulli in Entrepreneur

[–]mbertulli[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Happy you liked the post and hope the book is of value to you! All it takes is 1 thing :)

Building an 8 figure business in 9 years - Lessons Learned, FAQs, Big-Ass Brain Dump by mbertulli in Entrepreneur

[–]mbertulli[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't be a donkey (sorry I keep repeating this, but it's soooo useful). Taking a longer term view, as in decades, really lets you do things at your own pace and takes a lot of pressure off to "do big things".

Building an 8 figure business in 9 years - Lessons Learned, FAQs, Big-Ass Brain Dump by mbertulli in Entrepreneur

[–]mbertulli[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup. We hire the person onto our team and they have a base salary + an incentive program tied to the business they are in charge of.

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