Marketing Systems

What the sessions actually say

1. Sell what the market is starving for, not what you feel like selling

   Sabri's first businesses failed because he picked the product he was interested in, then went hunting for buyers. Reverse it. Research what is already selling in irrational quantities, what people would crawl across crushed glass to get, then work out what spin or angle you can bring to that. You get the wind in your sails instead of swimming upstream.

   Sabri SubySabri Suby: how to build an offer nobody can resist →

2. Make the offer so strong it keeps you up at night

   Most businesses have resistible offers: buy my thing, and if it doesn't work, oh well. Sabri launched King Kong with a guarantee to get clients onto page one of Google or he worked for free. The test is whether the prospect asks how you can possibly deliver on it. If they don't ask that, it isn't irresistible yet.

   Sabri SubySabri Suby: how to build an offer nobody can resist →

3. Expect a refund rate under 5% on a guarantee

   Founders freeze at the thought of guaranteeing results. Sabri's benchmark: if more than 5% of customers claim on your guarantee, you are not doing a good enough job of delivery. Treat the claim rate as a quality signal, not a reason to avoid guarantees. A compelling offer beats a convincing argument every time.

   Sabri SubySabri Suby: how to build an offer nobody can resist →

4. Mine your sales calls for the line that actually activates buyers

   Dain's shortcut to a core message: rewind to the moment in a sales conversation where the prospect lit up and said yes. Ask what exactly you said just before that. That phrase, not a brainstormed tagline, is the emotional core of your messaging. His team opens strategic workshops with "take me through the sales process, what's the sales language, what activates people".

   Dain WalkerDain Walker: Brand Strategy That Actually Scales →

5. Treat trust as an output of relevancy plus credibility

   Dain argues you cannot chase trust directly. Trust is what happens when the market sees you as relevant (same language, same beliefs, same problem) and credible (proof that counts in your category). Credibility in financial services looks nothing like credibility in beauty, so define what proof your specific pool respects before you build assets.

   Dain WalkerDain Walker: Brand Strategy That Actually Scales →

6. Ask your audience what they want, then bucket the answers

   Before writing his book, Dain posted a mock-up cover on Instagram asking what people wanted to learn about personal branding. Over 1,000 comments came in. Cam sorted them into buckets and they collapsed into five problems: I'm scared to start, where do I start, is it worth the time, people will judge me, and I'm overwhelmed. Run the same exercise and let the buckets become your messaging pillars.

   Dain WalkerDain Walker: Brand Strategy That Actually Scales →

7. Fix target market and messaging before any tactic

   Allan calls these foundational, which he defines bluntly: if you get this wrong, you are stuffed. SEO hacks, pay-per-click and content all fall flat on top of a bad message and wrong targeting. Treat marketing like building a house and get the architectural blueprint down before you lay bricks.

   Allan DibAllan Dib: get the message right before you amplify it →

8. Interview your clients instead of guessing why they buy

   The first thing Allan's accelerator makes people do is interview their customer base. He says he has never seen a business owner not be surprised by the real reason people buy. Owners think it is their technical skill, but Allan changed accountants three or four times and never because the next one was better at accounting, it was because they were more responsive and proactive.

   Allan DibAllan Dib: get the message right before you amplify it →

9. Mine three sources for the exact words customers use

   One, sales calls, which you should be recording and reviewing with AI transcripts to find the most common questions. Two, customer service and the help desk, for the most common complaints and sticking points. Three, client interviews. Capture the phrasing verbatim rather than paraphrasing it into your own jargon, then use those exact words back in your marketing.

   Allan DibAllan Dib: get the message right before you amplify it →

10. Treat your first podcast interview as an audition for the next ten

    Amanda's method: listen to a few podcasts you admire and write down the questions that come up every time (your backstory, a time you thought you'd lose everything, your proudest achievement). Workshop punchy, succinct answers with anecdotes before you pitch anyone. Then chase one interview and treat it as the audition that gets you on other shows. She calls it a concertina effect, and it started for her more than ten years ago as a guest.

    Amanda DelosaAmanda Delosa: PR and personal brand without a budget →

11. One podcast interview generated around $500,000 in revenue

    Amanda went on Mark Boris's show Mentored during COVID. Listeners who sat through an hour of her talking arrived already sold, doing ten minute discovery calls and paying large invoices to start a strategy. She estimates that single interview generated roughly $500,000 in revenue. That is why she calls long-form the bingeable content: an hour builds trust that a reel cannot.

    Amanda DelosaAmanda Delosa: PR and personal brand without a budget →

12. Cut one interview into three months of micro content

    Any podcast interview you do can be snipped into micro content. Amanda says some founders get about three months of posts from one recording. So go after the big pinnacle piece first and break it down, rather than trying to invent fresh short-form ideas from scratch every week.

    Amanda DelosaAmanda Delosa: PR and personal brand without a budget →

13. Test demand with a giveaway landing page and $10 a day in ads

    Before Hero Packaging launched, Anaita built a landing page offering a free compostable mailer and ran a Google ad to it at roughly $10 a day, then counted signups. Do the same for every new product: get the smallest quantity possible, pre-sell it, and only commit to inventory once signups prove demand exists.

    Anaita SarkarAnaita Sarkar on testing demand, margins and founder content →

14. If you will not spend money on ads, you must spend time

    Anaita's rule is time or money, ideally both. No ad budget means content every day, markets, events, blog posts, SEO and being in rooms with the right people. Saying you have no ad budget and also hate making content is, in her words, the dumbest thing she has heard, because a business needs one of the two inputs.

    Anaita SarkarAnaita Sarkar on testing demand, margins and founder content →

15. Build one gathering place for customers, even if two people show up

    A Facebook group, a broadcast channel, a Saturday running club. Anaita points to activewear brands running weekly run clubs: even at two attendees it gives you content, face time with customers and a reason for people to feel they would miss out if they left. She argues community is the difference between a brand with longevity and one with none, because every business has direct and indirect competition.

    Anaita SarkarAnaita Sarkar on testing demand, margins and founder content →

16. Run Google PageSpeed Insights on mobile and chase 85 out of 100

    Anaita says 80 to 90% of traffic is mobile, so test the mobile score, not desktop. Aim for 85 to near 100. Watch two metrics specifically: first contentful paint (the first thing that loads) and largest contentful paint (the last thing that loads). Anything over 2 seconds is too long.

    Anaita SarkarWebsite optimisation that actually moves conversion rate →

17. Pay a freelancer $100 to $150 every three months to strip JavaScript

    Anaita rebuilds speed roughly quarterly because she keeps adding Shopify apps. The brief is simple: remove all the old JavaScript and speed up the site. She hires on freelancer.com or fiverr.com, posts the job, waits 24 hours for responses, then picks on review count and portfolio examples. It is not a technical job to brief.

    Anaita SarkarWebsite optimisation that actually moves conversion rate →

18. Do the speed maths on your own traffic before you write it off

    Anaita ran Step One underwear through PageSpeed Insights and got 34 out of 100, with first contentful paint at 3.2 seconds and largest contentful paint at 27 seconds. With 60,000 organic visits a month and 40% of people abandoning a site that takes over 3 seconds, that is 24,000 recovered visitors. At 2% conversion and a $100 average order value, that is about 485 extra orders and $48,000 a month.

    Anaita SarkarWebsite optimisation that actually moves conversion rate →

19. Do one interesting thing a week and document it as a content series

    Anaita starts every Monday by deciding on one interesting thing the brand will do that week. Redecorate the office, run small guerrilla marketing at Bondi, surprise a staff member, organise a mini founder event. She documents it on stories Monday to Wednesday, then posts the outcome on Thursday, including if it failed, because people back you when you fail publicly. Her line: if you do interesting shit, you'll have interesting things to talk about.

    Anaita SarkarThe weekly routine that keeps your brand top of mind →

20. Map seven content ideas per platform on Monday, storyboarded not dot-pointed

    Seven ideas for Instagram, seven for TikTok, seven for LinkedIn if you post to all three. Reposting the same piece counts as one. Anaita does not stop at a list, she storyboards each piece: green screen screenshots ready, images ready, all banked. She then films at least two pieces on Monday so the week starts with content in the bank. She does not batch create because too much changes day to day at Hero Packaging.

    Anaita SarkarThe weekly routine that keeps your brand top of mind →

21. Review your ads manager yourself across four time windows every Monday

    Anaita checks the last 3, 7, 14 and 30 days to see the trend, not a single snapshot. She looks at whether CPA is climbing on specific creatives and whether ROAS is moving up or down, then cuts creatives, optimises campaigns and switches some creatives back on. Her position: no agency report will teach you what your ads manager will. Go in yourself.

    Anaita SarkarThe weekly routine that keeps your brand top of mind →

22. Build a referral engine with businesses that serve your customer but do not compete

    With no ad budget, Raso cold called web design companies, creative agencies and PR firms because they had clients who needed SEO but could not deliver it. He paid them a commission once the deal was signed, not on the lead. That channel grew the agency for years before it ever spent on paid ads. Ask who already sells to your customer and cannot do what you do, then offer them either a commission or a lead swap.

    Andrew RasoFrom $500 to 200 staff: how Andrew Raso scaled an agency →

23. Make a retainer or membership your first business model, at any price point

    Raso says the first thing any owner should build is recurring revenue, whether that is $50, $100, $1,000 or $2,000 a month. Predictable monthly income is what gives you the confidence to budget and, more importantly, the confidence to hire. Without it you stay stuck doing everything yourself. He points to e-commerce brands like pet food that moved customers onto subscription as the ones now winning.

    Andrew RasoFrom $500 to 200 staff: how Andrew Raso scaled an agency →

24. Test unglamorous cash flow mechanics like gift vouchers

    Raso cites his friend Babak Moini of Laser Clinics, who made most of his early money by putting laser clients on memberships. Selling gift vouchers turned out to be a second cash engine, because a large share of vouchers were never redeemed. The point is to actually trial these mechanics in your own business rather than assume they will not apply.

    Andrew RasoFrom $500 to 200 staff: how Andrew Raso scaled an agency →

25. Guess the buyer's email address instead of networking your way in

    Annabel had zero retail contacts. She searched terms like "Priceline beauty buyer" on Google and LinkedIn to get names and titles, worked out the company's email format, then guessed. An out of office reply confirms the format is right. One day she sent 300 emails and the Priceline buyer replied almost immediately. Her framing: path of least resistance, and if they don't reply there are 365 days in the year, so email again until you catch them on a good day.

    Annabel HayAnnabel Hay: from nightclub idea to Priceline and CVS shelves →

26. Pay for third-party QA before a batch leaves the factory

    Clutch's first 5,000 units were sealed by a machine running too hot, which pierced the tube tops and caused leaks in transit. Annabel had to issue mass refunds on nearly all of the $160,000 made at launch, then pay again for new manufacturing and a new manufacturer. She had never heard of third-party QA inspectors who squeeze and check every tube before dispatch. Build a pre-launch checklist and don't let the excitement of holding a finished product make you ignore red flags.

    Annabel HayAnnabel Hay: from nightclub idea to Priceline and CVS shelves →

27. Budget your patent in stages across the 12-month window

    Annabel paid roughly $30,000 to $40,000 to lodge with the International Patent Office. About 12 to 18 months later the office confirmed patentability, which opened a 12-month window to lodge in each individual country. She ranked countries into priority one to four and spread the filings across quarters to match cash flow rather than paying around $300,000 at once. Miss a country in that window and you start the whole process again.

    Annabel HayAnnabel Hay: from nightclub idea to Priceline and CVS shelves →

28. Make the book problem-centric, with no solutions and nothing about you

    Ari's rule for a targeted book: every chapter describes a problem the reader knows they have but has not made a priority. No frameworks, no IP, no company story. The point is the reader thinking "he gets me, he understands my world", which is what he defines trust as. Solutions are commoditised and buyers do not care about them pre-sale.

    Ari GalperAri Galper: the targeted book that books your calendar →

29. Bolt the consultation onto the book offer so there is no gap to chase

    Everyone else runs free lead magnet, form fill, we call you. Ari removed the hole between ordering and scheduling. The button says "yes, mail me the free book and I want to talk to one of your consultants", the form repeats it twice more, and clicking through shows a calendar. Books ship only after the consultation is confirmed.

    Ari GalperAri Galper: the targeted book that books your calendar →

30. Post a real book, not an ebook, because the mailbox is empty

    Ari argues nobody prints a 100-page ebook or scrolls it on a phone. Physical post gets 100% deliverability versus download rates he calls unproductive for a low volume, high margin business. Recipients hold it, show it to partners and staff, keep it on a shelf, and some post about it on LinkedIn before they have even spoken to him.

    Ari GalperAri Galper: the targeted book that books your calendar →

31. Validate with free ebooks, then charge for the next one

    Chontel started NuForm's concept testing with free ebooks posted to her community and a comment-to-claim mechanic. Free downloads show genuine interest and grow the algorithm. Then she charged for ebooks, which showed what people actually placed value on. It costs nothing to run and it is still effective.

    Chontel DuncanChontel Duncan on validating a digital product cheaply →

32. Use newsletter behaviour as a live demand signal

    Track lifetime value on your email list, not just list size. Chontel watches how long subscribers stay, whether the response rate changes and whether people are still opening at all. When she pivots the content, subscriber and open behaviour tells her which one or two areas to feed and nourish.

    Chontel DuncanChontel Duncan on validating a digital product cheaply →

33. Sell a physical product to learn what you are not

    Chontel dabbled in apparel and a resistance band for at-home training around the start of COVID. It sold well, but it confirmed the business was best at training programs and nutrition. A side venture either pivots you in the right direction or signals what to stay focused on. Both answers are useful.

    Chontel DuncanChontel Duncan on validating a digital product cheaply →

34. Audit your profile like a stranger with 10 seconds

    Divina runs the same check on every founder she meets. Land on the Instagram cold and ask: can I see who you are, what you do and who you serve in the first 10 seconds? Look for social proof in the highlight reel showing work with people in the visitor's sector, a bio that states the outcome and who it is for, and an obvious way to contact you (form, DM or email). If any of those are missing, the content is not the problem.

    Divina ArmuelaTurning content and personal brand into paying clients →

35. Put a CTA on every single post or you are leaking sales

    Divina's line: you can go viral for all sorts of things, but if you are not leading that audience to the next step you are just leaking. Every post needs to tell the viewer how to move to the next level. Do not expect people to figure out the next move themselves. Everyone needs to be led.

    Divina ArmuelaTurning content and personal brand into paying clients →

36. Run three posts a week across only three pillars

    The system a busy founder can actually stick to is a maximum of three posts a week, built on three pillars: who you are and your values, your offer, and social proof. Divina says if you only pick three pillars, pick those three. Nothing else is required to start.

    Divina ArmuelaTurning content and personal brand into paying clients →

37. Set a daily revenue number before anyone quits their job

    Don did not wait for a million dollar plan. The first milestone was a consistent $500 a day, enough to cover rent, before he left his job. Matilda's trigger was ten times that, roughly $5K a day, before she left recruitment. Pick a daily number tied to a real bill, hit it consistently, then make the leap.

    Don RobertsonSTAX: 10 Years of Building a Cult Activewear Brand →

38. Hire for demand, not for the org chart you want

    STAX's first meaningful hire was customer service, not marketing or brand. They had oversold a collection and were drowning in around 800 emails overnight on Outlook with no ticketing system. Matilda was answering them at 3am and giving things away for free. Hire into the place that is currently breaking, and hire someone who loves the brand but is not so emotionally invested that every angry email ruins them.

    Don RobertsonSTAX: 10 Years of Building a Cult Activewear Brand →

39. If you have to negotiate with yourself to hire someone, it is a no

    Don's rule after several bad hires. Matilda adds that every time they second-guessed their gut and hired anyway, it was a disaster. She also warns against treating interviews as a PR pitch: they used to run a PowerPoint on why you should work at STAX, and people arrived expecting the Instagram personalities rather than bosses. Make interviews an even exchange so both sides can test the fit honestly.

    Don RobertsonSTAX: 10 Years of Building a Cult Activewear Brand →

40. Screen every product against a five-point criteria list

    Dylan asks: does it solve a problem or is it genuinely unique, is there demand, is it saturated, can content be easily created and shipped to creators, and are competitor reviews positive. The final test is whether you can add products later to lift average order value and lifetime value. A product does not have to solve a problem, the viral light-up ducky lamps were just a unique take on something people already owned.

    Dylan MullanDylan Mullan: product selection and organic content for ecom →

41. Use Page Transparency and Google Trends to prove demand

    Dylan does not chase being first to market, he looks for recent competitors already selling. Go to a competitor's Facebook page, click Page Transparency, and if an ad has been running over three months it is a strong signal it is profitable, because nobody leaves a losing ad on. Cross-check with Google Trends (above 50 or clearly trending up) and main keyword volume over 10,000.

    Dylan MullanDylan Mullan: product selection and organic content for ecom →

42. Two quick tests for whether a product is already saturated

    First, check how long the competitors have existed. If a brand and its hero product have been around more than three years, the product is likely saturated. Second, walk into Big W, Kmart or Officeworks. If they have a home brand version on shelf, Dylan guarantees it is saturated.

    Dylan MullanDylan Mullan: product selection and organic content for ecom →

43. Test demand with a Photoshopped product and a $20 a day Google ad

    Anaita Sarkar validated Hero Packaging before manufacturing anything. She built a single landing page with a Photoshopped image of a compostable mailer, three fields (shipping address, email, business name) and the offer "do you want a free compostable mailer?". She spent $20 a day on Google Ads targeting searches like sustainable packaging, compostable packaging, eco packaging and green packaging. She hoped for 20 to 30 signups and got 1,000 in seven days.

    Dylan MullanCreating and selling products customers can't get enough of →

44. Free samples only count as proof when people come back and pay

    Sarkar's husband pushed back on the 1,000 signups because free is not a business. The samples cost about $7 each, so it was a real spend. She waited one to two months to see how many of those 1,000 would place a paid order. About 70 per cent did, giving her 700 paying customers and genuine evidence of demand.

    Dylan MullanCreating and selling products customers can't get enough of →

45. Take a service people already pay for and turn it into a DIY product

    Dylan Mullan modelled Happy Skin Co on HiSmile and Bondi Sands, both of which took something you used to book in for (dentist teeth whitening, spray tan) and made it a home product. Laser hair removal fitted the same pattern: expensive, inconvenient, painful, and strangers in your business. The technology already existed with Braun and Philips on the bottom shelf of shaver shops, but nobody had marketed it on social media.

    Dylan MullanCreating and selling products customers can't get enough of →

46. Test demand with a domain, a blog post and a PayPal link

    Before Finder scaled, Fred bought findlostsuper.com.au, put up a single blog post asking people to send $50 and their details, and waited. Money landed in his account before he had built anything, so he manually found people's super afterwards, sometimes three weeks late, and nobody complained. That was his proof of product market fit. Run the cheapest possible version that takes real money from a real customer before you build.

    Fred SchebestaFred Schebesta: cheap tests, boring categories, big content →

47. Define the right path as the one you can repeat, not the easiest one

    Fred's test for a good business model is whether it lets you do the same thing over and over. At Finder that meant publishing content, so he tracked pages published on a whiteboard and the team clapped for each other. He points to burger chains cutting chips the same way every morning and just pumping out cash. If a new direction cannot be repeated at lower cost and higher output, it will not scale.

    Fred SchebestaFred Schebesta: cheap tests, boring categories, big content →

48. Let the vision move as the model proves itself

    Finder's vision changed four times: help people with credit card content, compare everything like Amazon's everything store, help people make great decisions, then help people build wealth. Each shift only happened after the previous model worked. The wealth shift, driven by people going into stocks and crypto in 2020 and 2021, changed the org structure and the PR messaging from saving money to deploying money.

    Fred SchebestaFred Schebesta: cheap tests, boring categories, big content →

49. Cap the soft launch at three months, then go

    Grace still backs building in public because it holds founders accountable. But she would never stretch the coming-soon phase past three months. Beyond that, the audience loses interest and moves to whatever is trending next, and you have spent time and money on content that no one can buy from.

    Grace GarrickHard launching your brand with PR founder Grace Garrick →

50. Define a hard launch as a compressed window, not a big budget

    Grace clarified this mid-session: a hard launch does not mean a launch event, paid talent or a large-scale campaign. It means everything you would have drip fed over six months goes out in a very short window. Same content, same spend, far more impact, because the density of the messaging is what makes it feel big.

    Grace GarrickHard launching your brand with PR founder Grace Garrick →

51. Lift the embargo, post the content and open the site on the same day

    If you are launching by PR, set one embargo date so all media coverage goes live together, then repurpose and amplify that across your socials. Do the same for your key launch content, your website and your EDMs. One day, all channels, no staggering.

    Grace GarrickHard launching your brand with PR founder Grace Garrick →

52. Hire a videographer before an assistant

    Jack's first hire at Henderson was a videographer, not an associate, PA or EA. He started with an iPhone and a camera on a tripod with his partner filming, editing on a laptop, which he found too slow to do volume. Bringing media in-house early meant marketing sat at the top of the funnel from day one, even when he had 600 followers and people thought walking around with a videographer was strange.

    Jack HendersonJack Henderson: content, hiring and buying your first property →

53. Separate reach content from converting content

    Jack's best performing posts are controversial or mass-market topics (a post on the new $3 million super contribution cap did very well) but they do not book calls. The content that converts is specific to his niche of small business owners and high-paid PAYG earners, and it usually gets fewer views. Track the direct correlation between content and booked calls, and do not let a social media hire optimise purely for views.

    Jack HendersonJack Henderson: content, hiring and buying your first property →

54. Post two to three times a day across three platforms

    Jack aims for one post in the morning, one at midday and one at night. Instagram and TikTok take the same short form content, so one asset covers both. LinkedIn gets written content, where he says organic reach with no connections or followers is unusually strong. A copywriter reviews his best performing video content and writes LinkedIn copy off the back of it, which he sometimes edits before posting.

    Jack HendersonJack Henderson: content, hiring and buying your first property →

55. Stop single-shot prompting. Ground the model with project files.

    Cabral says a single prompt gives generic output that everyone can spot. Upload files into ChatGPT (or Claude) and use the projects feature so the same reference material is pulled into every response going forward. Add custom instructions for tone, target audience and Australian English spelling, because American Zs in your copy are an obvious tell that it came from ChatGPT.

    Jeremy CabralJeremy Cabral: AI Agents, SEO and Growth Engines →

56. Ask the tool to write your prompt template first

    Instead of guessing at structure, tell the model your goal: you want a project file that informs all future responses, so give me a prompt template to fill out. Fill it in, load it back into the project, and the LLM has structured knowledge it can reference easily. Unstructured files take more effort for the tool to use.

    Jeremy CabralJeremy Cabral: AI Agents, SEO and Growth Engines →

57. Shop between models for each task

    Cabral used Gemini to write the prompt for Leonardo AI (the image tool Canva acquired), then ran that prompt through ChatGPT because the result was better. Gemini produced the best prompt structure and the most repeatable image outputs. Models change constantly, so test the dropdown rather than defaulting to one tool.

    Jeremy CabralJeremy Cabral: AI Agents, SEO and Growth Engines →

58. Build the four foundations before you touch an AI tool

    Jeremy asked the room to commit to four things: one central spreadsheet holding every project (a solopreneur can start there), all documents in one editable place rather than email as the source of truth, transcribing every meeting after asking permission, and hiring a virtual assistant. The VA matters even in a tiny business because it forces you to break work into repeatable, delegable processes, which is exactly what an AI agent needs later.

    Jeremy CabralBuilding AI systems that actually scale your business →

59. Ask ChatGPT to write the prompt you then paste into a fresh chat

    Most people write a one-line zero-shot prompt and get a generic answer customers can spot immediately. Instead, ask ChatGPT to act as a prompt engineer for your task, take the prompt it produces and paste it into a new chat. Jeremy called this the single tip to take away if you take nothing else.

    Jeremy CabralBuilding AI systems that actually scale your business →

60. Load a project file with your pricing, products and FAQs

    Anything you repeatedly refer to when answering clients or drafting documents should live in a ChatGPT project file, whether or not it is public on your website. That context stops the model producing generic output. For his marathon Jeremy loaded roughly ten documents into a project and prompted ChatGPT 3,049 times across preparation and the race itself, with the quality of answers coming from the stored context.

    Jeremy CabralBuilding AI systems that actually scale your business →

61. Treat any ChatGPT draft as a 1 out of 10 and build from there

    Jeremy's point is that AI output is probably better than most of us could write, which is exactly the problem. If it takes one prompt, everyone has it. Ask what would make the same page a 10 out of 10, then do that work. Never publish straight from ChatGPT to the internet.

    Jeremy CabralFinder's Jeremy Cabral on SEO, AI search and Reddit →

62. Print the page and read it aloud before you publish

    A trick Finder used for years. Print out the content and read it out loud. If the words are embarrassing to say, the content is crappy. On screen you skim and skip sentences, so you miss the fluff. Then hand it to someone and ask directly whether it is useful.

    Jeremy CabralFinder's Jeremy Cabral on SEO, AI search and Reddit →

63. Build 6 to 8 guides as a cluster before moving to the next topic

    Do not write whatever interests you. Pick one topic, map the 6 to 8 guides your customer actually needs, link them to each other and keep overlap between them low. Each guide answers a distinct intent. The cluster has to be logical for your customers and make sense to Google.

    Jeremy CabralFinder's Jeremy Cabral on SEO, AI search and Reddit →

64. Reverse-engineer a headline from a brand you aspire to

    Jessy's method: pick the founder or brand you want to be like, search where they have been covered, then find the exact headline. Her example was "Jane Lu creates fashion empire selling $59 dresses". Then write your own version of that headline with your point of difference in it, such as a lower price point or the product going viral on TikTok, and pitch that to the same journalist.

    Jessy MarshallHow to pitch media and influencers without an agency →

65. Write to the publication, not to media in general

    Daily Mail and the Australian Financial Review do not speak the same language, so the same pitch will not work for both. Daily Mail leans into what is going viral on TikTok and what customers are saying. Marie Claire wants ingredients if you are beauty, or fabrics if you are fashion. Read a recent storey about a competitor in that masthead and bundle your storey up the same way.

    Jessy MarshallHow to pitch media and influencers without an agency →

66. Send one Dropbox link with every asset a journalist could need

    Jessy's asset pack: the correct live website link (state clearly that you want your own site linked, not Priceline or another stockist, or they will link the stockist), e-commerce imagery on white for magazines, lifestyle imagery for outlets like Daily Mail, and a press release with brand background in case they widen the storey. Do their job for them.

    Jessy MarshallHow to pitch media and influencers without an agency →

67. Fix the 5 Ps before you optimise a single ad dollar

    Jo argues small budgets get wasted because founders jump straight to ROI optimisation without the fundamentals. Start with proposition (what do you actually stand for, in the way The Iconic settled on "a better way for people to shop") and people (exactly who you are for). Getting those right is what drives the efficiency of every dollar afterwards. Trying to be all things to all people dilutes the brand, even on a large FMCG budget.

    Jo RobinsonThe Iconic's CMO on getting off the paid performance drug →

68. Watch for churn as the signal that paid performance has topped out

    The Iconic counts a customer as churned if they do not purchase again within 12 months of acquisition. Jo found they were spending heavily on paid performance, acquiring customers once, then losing them, which she describes as literally buying customers. Track first-purchase-to-repeat over a 12 month window. If acquisition spend keeps rising while repeat rate stays flat, more paid budget will not fix it.

    Jo RobinsonThe Iconic's CMO on getting off the paid performance drug →

69. Use unprompted brand awareness as the metric that justifies brand spend

    The Iconic's unprompted awareness was declining quarter on quarter because they had done nothing beyond Google, banner advertising and a little SEO. Jo used that decline as the board argument for shifting spend to the top of the funnel. She warned it could dent short-term sales and would take six months to a year to show. Awareness has since moved up 4 basis points against competitors who outspend them.

    Jo RobinsonThe Iconic's CMO on getting off the paid performance drug →

70. Build the brand pyramid from the bottom, not from the tagline

    Start at points of parity (tangible ones like 'safe to use', 'delivered on time', 'servers up 99.9%', and intangible ones like 'I feel smart making this choice'). Then purpose or central organising idea, then rational benefits, then emotional benefits, then values, then persona, and only then promise. Josh's point is that promise is impossible to write in a sentence until you have answered everything under it. Promise is a North Star, not a tagline like 'Just Do It'.

    Josh SparksJosh Sparks: the brand pyramid, archetypes and the WHAC exercise →

71. Swap points of difference for reasons to believe

    Josh argues most products and services have very few genuine points of difference once you strip out price and speed. Instead of hunting for a POD, ask what reason you give someone to believe your promise. Rational RTBs are price, service, delivery speed, returns policy, warranty, organic versus conventional cotton. Emotional RTBs are the ones that pay: will they feel smarter, freer, more creative, more beautiful, higher status.

    Josh SparksJosh Sparks: the brand pyramid, archetypes and the WHAC exercise →

72. Aim for the unfair advantage as your top emotional benefit

    The highest emotional benefit, per Josh, is that buying from you confers what the customer perceives as an unfair advantage. Something others do not have. It can be internal confidence and certainty, or an outward symbol of status, or both, in the same way that working with Goldman Sachs on an IPO or McKinsey on growth makes an executive show up with more certainty. If you can distil your emotional RTB down to an unfair advantage, you are in a very strong position.

    Josh SparksJosh Sparks: the brand pyramid, archetypes and the WHAC exercise →

73. Rescue a dying email list by mailing only your engaged segment

    One brand Kelly works with slid from a 30% open rate to 15-16% over six months and assumed email was dead. It was not, the platforms had started flagging them and their quality score was degrading. She cut the send list back to engaged subscribers only, sent about three campaigns to that segment, hit a 40% open rate, then slowly reintroduced the unengaged. They are back at 32%.

    Kelly SlessorKelly Slessor: the ecommerce fixes that actually move revenue →

74. Aim for a 40% open rate, treat 60% as the stretch

    Kelly's benchmark is simple. Thirty per cent is what most brands sit at, 40% is a good, healthy place to be, and she has one brand running at 50 to 60%. If you can get to 40%, your list health and content alignment are working.

    Kelly SlessorKelly Slessor: the ecommerce fixes that actually move revenue →

75. Kill the double opt-in on your welcome flow

    Double opt-in is the default setting in a lot of email platforms and Kelly says it is awful. Someone has just given you their email, which is the digital equivalent of agreeing to a first date, and you reply by asking them to confirm they really meant it. Turn it off and make the welcome frictionless.

    Kelly SlessorKelly Slessor: the ecommerce fixes that actually move revenue →

76. Define your target value before you record anything

    Kyle uses a who, what, how framework. Who am I creating value for, what specific value am I creating, and how do I create it. For his own show the who was business owners in years one to three, and the what was education and inspiration. The how is the part you keep iterating on.

    Kyle TraynorPodcasting, content research and personal brand with Kyle Traynor →

77. Give your show a mission specific enough to guide every episode

    Kyle's mission was to eradicate the need for a paid course for people in their first three years of business. That is why he refused to skip over detail. When a guest says "we raised $10 million and then went to market", that is the moment to stop and pull the string rather than move on.

    Kyle TraynorPodcasting, content research and personal brand with Kyle Traynor →

78. Go hyper-detailed on one subject per episode to stand out

    Kyle knew he was competing with Diary of a CEO and the Hormozis of the world for the one to three podcasts a person listens to each week. Stephen Bartlett went emotional, so Kyle went the opposite way. If the guest's genius is marketing, spend 60 minutes on marketing in detail.

    Kyle TraynorPodcasting, content research and personal brand with Kyle Traynor →

79. Find the actual constraint before you buy more leads

    Laura's example: you feel short on clients and immediately decide you need more leads. Break the customer journey and funnel into numbers first. You may find that lifting conversion by 10 percent puts you exactly on your goal, so the fix is conversion, not traffic. Solving the wrong problem keeps you busy without moving the needle.

    Laura HigginsLaura Higgins: sell by serving, and find your real constraint →

80. Make the sales call about them, not you

    Laura's rule: when you make it about you, you are selling. When you make it about them, you are serving. She opens with "what is the big problem for you right now, how can I help?" Her analogy is someone struggling with grocery bags and a baby on their hip. Offering to carry a bag is not pushy, it is what a decent human does.

    Laura HigginsLaura Higgins: sell by serving, and find your real constraint →

81. Aim for a 6 or 8 out of 10 close rate, not 10

    Laura says a 100 percent conversion rate means you are either not niche enough or not expensive enough. She wants people to push back on price and to occasionally say it is not the right fit. She also tells prospects when she is not the right fit for them. Rejection is part of the process, not a signal you are bad at selling.

    Laura HigginsLaura Higgins: sell by serving, and find your real constraint →

82. Give every weekday a fixed content pillar and stop deciding

    Lexie's core practical advice is to map your week: Monday education, Tuesday promotional, Wednesday testimonials, and so on, then repeat it every week. She argues generic advice like "be consistent" never gets applied, but a Monday-to-Friday formula makes content bite-sised and actually doable. Pick the pillars that suit your business and lock the days in.

    Lexie MurrayLexie Murray on organic social, influencers and content pillars →

83. Post promotional content Thursday night or Friday

    Lexie schedules selling posts to land when people have been paid. She noted that a lot of the Big Four pay salaries on those days, so people are ready to spend on a Friday. Feed the timeline when the money is in the account, not on a Monday.

    Lexie MurrayLexie Murray on organic social, influencers and content pillars →

84. Use the four content pillars if you refuse to be on camera

    Around half of Be Seen Socials' clients fit four pillars: promotional (what you sell), educational (the problem area, not the product), aspirational (the brand world and lifestyle around it) and influencer/customer (testimonials and creators). All four can be executed with no founder face. Build consistency across those four and you get enough relatability to carry the brand.

    Lexie MurrayLexie Murray on organic social, influencers and content pillars →

85. Run your feed on a Monday to Friday pillar timetable

    Lexi's core method: five posts a week, one pillar per weekday, no more. Monday is founder content, Tuesday is customer-centric, Wednesday is aspirational, Thursday is promotional, Friday is influencer content. Post more than five and you lose interest, post less and you do not grow. Once the days are fixed you stop asking what to post and just fill the slot.

    Lexie MurrayOrganic social that grows a brand without ad spend →

86. Batch a month of founder content in one filming session

    The Monday founder pillar only needs four pieces a month, so film all four in one sitting. Meet the founder, your why, a founder highlight or journey story, and something honest about what you are working through. Lexi ran her own founder pillar solo for six years before hiring a content person two weeks before this session.

    Lexie MurrayOrganic social that grows a brand without ad spend →

87. Pick polished over raw when the brand is premium

    Lexi has changed her view on building in public. Crying on the internet can cheapen a brand that is trying to enter the market poised and professional, and she notes Uber and Airbnb never launched raw and real. Aim for elevated, chic, real and honest, but not unfiltered. If you are client-facing you also cannot post about client problems without legal risk.

    Lexie MurrayOrganic social that grows a brand without ad spend →

88. Build a service business account on four pillars, not random posts

    For a styling business Lexie mapped four posts a week: an expert pillar (a styling tip with no sell attached), a promotional pillar that spells out packages, pricing structure, onboarding and timelines, a customer pillar of testimonials and value, and an aspirational industry pillar. She stopped hiding her own package details years ago because being copied happens anyway and the delivery is never the same. Ambiguity loses the client who swipes on to someone clearer.

    Lexie MurrayOrganic content pillars, founder storey and getting engagement →

89. Use the aspirational pillar as your Vogue for free

    Lexie calls the fourth pillar the Vogue or Forbes for free: you place yourself alongside the level you want to be at by commenting on it. Her example for a stylist was posting the four Vogue articles you liked from Australian Fashion Week and your takeaways, then three predicted trends ahead of Paris Fashion Week in September. Keep it to your genuine expertise and avoid making claims you cannot back.

    Lexie MurrayOrganic content pillars, founder storey and getting engagement →

90. Treat Instagram as people who know you and TikTok as people who do not

    Lexie frames Instagram like the Facebook algorithm, distributing mostly to friends and family, which is why an account under 300 followers stays capped. TikTok pushes to strangers, closer to a TV commercial or a YouTube pre-roll. That difference should change what you post where, not just where you cross-post the same file.

    Lexie MurrayOrganic content pillars, founder storey and getting engagement →

91. Show the same outfit on two different body types

    Leah's highest-converting format is her and Renee, a size 6 and a size 12, wearing similar outfits and showing how each looks on both bodies. She has run this format consistently for close to four years, first with Ella and now with Renee. It is the content that reliably cuts through, and it is also what pulls new customers into the brand in the first place.

    Lia GeorgantisLeah, Girls with Gems: daily content that converts →

92. Lock the posting frequency, not the outfits

    Girls with Gems fixes how many times it posts across each channel every day, but only plans the actual content one to two days out. A Monday trade and creative meeting maps what is coming, then it changes constantly. If it is pouring rain the Hunza G swim launch gets pushed, because it will fall on deaf ears.

    Lia GeorgantisLeah, Girls with Gems: daily content that converts →

93. Give one day of the week a fixed identity

    Every Saturday is Sexy Saturdays, the hot going-out dresses, and it has run for years. The team deliberately holds back the strongest party pieces for that slot. A repeating named day gives you a reason to save your best stock and gives the audience a reason to check in.

    Lia GeorgantisLeah, Girls with Gems: daily content that converts →

94. Sell the idea before you build it, then underwrite the build

    Lisa calls it selling vaporware. She comes up with a concept, pre-sells it, and only creates it once the market has shown it will eat it up. She has done this with all 40 of her books and with the magazine itself, which gave her both confidence and speed to market. She has never borrowed money for a business in 23 years.

    Lisa MessengerLisa Messenger: pre-sell it, value stack it, then build it →

95. Value stack one big sponsor instead of selling small ads

    The industry model was a flat ad on a page for $10,000. The first issue of Collective Hub cost $350,000, so she would have needed 35 pre-sold ads just to break even. Instead she asked CommBank's CMO Andy Lark for $200,000 and stacked physical copies, advertorial, editorial, speaking and written articles on top, roughly $600,000 of value for his $200,000. It was sponsorship and advertising dollars, not a loan.

    Lisa MessengerLisa Messenger: pre-sell it, value stack it, then build it →

96. Make 79 calls and stalk the one person who fits your thesis

    Lisa made around 79 phone calls before she got to Andy Lark, chosen because people told her he loved entrepreneurs and still liked print. She chased him for about three months through multiple angles, then sent a tweet at 10pm and got a 2pm meeting the next day. She almost did not go. Go to the knife-edge meeting.

    Lisa MessengerLisa Messenger: pre-sell it, value stack it, then build it →

97. Send 400 targeted connection requests a month, spaced out daily

    Lisa says LinkedIn allows around 400 connection requests a month, roughly 100 a week. Do not fire them all off at once or the platform will read you as a bot, so spread them across the days (she suggests doing a batch while you are watching Netflix). The algorithm favours showing your content to new connections, because it assumes you have just met and are interested in each other, so every accepted request lifts the reach of your next post.

    Lisa TehLisa Teh on building a founder brand with LinkedIn and AI →

98. Fix the five parts of your LinkedIn profile people actually judge

    Use a clear photo with your eyes visible (no sunglasses, no toilet selfies), because humans connect through eyes. Put your business name in your banner on the right side, since mobile crops the left and hides text behind your head. Put Founder in your headline, as almost nobody outranks a founder and it lifts acceptance rates. Make the About section about you rather than the company, with the first three lines interesting because that is all anyone sees, and use the Featured section for your best posts.

    Lisa TehLisa Teh on building a founder brand with LinkedIn and AI →

99. Post on your personal page, not the business page

    Lisa focuses on personal page content because the LinkedIn algorithm favours it over business page content. If you cannot post, comment instead, because commenting is content too. Do not leave "great post" or fire emojis. Write something substantive or provocative, do it consistently on the profiles of people you want to know, and by the time you land in their DMs they already recognise your name and will usually reply.

    Lisa TehLisa Teh on building a founder brand with LinkedIn and AI →

100. Split leverage into three buckets, not just borrowed money

     Most people hear leverage and think financial leverage, using someone else's money to buy assets. Lloyd defines it as capital leverage, people leverage and systems leverage. Long hours happen when a founder has none of the last two. Audit which of the three you actually have before blaming your workload.

     Lloyd James RossDelegate to systems and people, then scale on partnerships →

101. Write the can't, don't want to, shouldn't list

     Lloyd's delegation filter is three columns: things you can't do, things you don't want to do, and things you shouldn't do. The shouldn't column is anything priced below your average hourly rate as an entrepreneur. Those go first. He points to Dan Sullivan's Who Not How: delegate everything but your genius.

     Lloyd James RossDelegate to systems and people, then scale on partnerships →

102. Start delegating outside the business before you touch the business

     The cheapest first step is getting someone else to wash your car and clean your house. Low-value personal tasks are the training wheels for delegation. If you never build the habit, Lloyd says you end up working 60 to 70 hours a week for the same money you would have earned in a 9-to-5.

     Lloyd James RossDelegate to systems and people, then scale on partnerships →

103. Automate invoices into Xero with a Claude Code routine

     Luke's exact method: open Claude Code (not Chat, not Coworker), ask it to connect Xero via the MCP connector, then say "set up a routine task to pull any invoices that come through my emails and put them into Xero as a bill". Anthropic and Xero have an official connection. Expect about half an hour of configuring. Luke runs his routine three times a day.

     Luke HekaLuke Heka: simple AI systems that actually stick →

104. Understand routines versus managed agents before you build

     Inside Claude there are two options. Routines run on your Claude subscription, so nothing extra gets charged. Managed Agents run on an API key, which means a credit card and a charge every time you use it. For simple recurring jobs like email sorting or invoice capture, Luke uses routines so the cost stays inside the plan.

     Luke HekaLuke Heka: simple AI systems that actually stick →

105. Run the 60-40 split across every role before you automate

     Luke's audit: for each team member, work out what share of their week is boring repetitive work AI can do (roughly 60 per cent) and what share actually turns the business and makes money (roughly 40 per cent). Automate the 60. Then retrain the person on what the 40 now looks like. He learned this the hard way with a Mount Isa real estate office, where inspections were being booked automatically but nobody had told the team to just check the calendar.

     Luke HekaLuke Heka: simple AI systems that actually stick →

106. Cut cost relative to revenue, then hunt the efficiencies that fall out

     Bouris says he does this in his own business: cut the cloth to suit, then use the process to discover where efficiencies actually sit. When money is loose everyone adds subscriptions, six more employees, across the board increases. A tight cycle exposes all of it. His framing is not "cut costs" for its own sake, it is keeping costs proportionate to revenue and then looking for what the exercise reveals.

     Mark BourisMark Bouris on branding, networking and surviving the down cycle →

107. Market hard now because everyone else has pulled up stumps

     Bouris expects the tough conditions to run at least another six to eight months. His point is that when the cycle turns next year it is too late to start marketing, because everyone will be doing it then. Use digital channels through the quiet period and make the content genuinely valuable, so the audience finishes it thinking that was good information about my industry.

     Mark BourisMark Bouris on branding, networking and surviving the down cycle →

108. Improve everything, not just sales, while demand is low

     When there is huge demand you spend every day just doing. Bouris says the down cycle is the time to work on the business: sales processes, employment processes, inductions, annual conferences. Fewer clients means more hours available to rebuild the machine rather than run it.

     Mark BourisMark Bouris on branding, networking and surviving the down cycle →

109. Ask your youngest customers for a feed tour

     Milly hosted two 15-year-old work experience students for two days and used the time to ask a million questions, listen to how they spoke, and get a tour of what was actually showing up on their algorithm. Her rule: if you are targeting young people, hire young people, and if you are targeting new mums, hire a mum. There is no point guessing when your customer is sitting right there and usually happy to tell you.

     Milly BannisterMilly Bannister: storytelling, Gen Z and founder burnout →

110. Run customer calls about the brand, not just the product

     Milly pointed to Davey from Boring Without You Skincare, who runs calls with customers who want to give feedback. Not about the formulations, which are already sorted, but about the brand and the way it speaks to people. Ask questions you cannot guess the answer to, like whether they want the newsletter the day before a launch or on launch day.

     Milly BannisterMilly Bannister: storytelling, Gen Z and founder burnout →

111. Co-create the joke instead of borrowing it

     Big brands come off cringe when they use Gen Z language without knowing where the meme came from or being in on the joke. Milly's point: young people are marketing machines who create culture themselves, so the brands that land are co-creating culture with their demographic rather than tapping into it after the fact. She named Rhode by Hailey Bieber as the extreme example of a brand creating culture rather than chasing it.

     Milly BannisterMilly Bannister: storytelling, Gen Z and founder burnout →

112. Gift your entire first production run before you spend on ads

     Priscilla gave away all 500 units of Bangn Body's first shipment to anyone who would take it, and did not run Meta or Facebook ads for over 12 months. The logic was recognition: by the time ads ran, she wanted roughly one in ten people to already know the brand so the ad worked harder. Naked Sundays did the same, running no paid media for the first two or three years and relying on seeding, press and events.

     Priscilla HajiantoniThree beauty and wellness founders on getting product into hands →

113. Test whether a manufacturer will say yes by calling until number 13

     Samantha Brett had no manufacturing background. She Googled every sunscreen manufacturer and called them all, working on the assumption that twelve nos get you to a yes on the thirteenth. She then repeated the process with bottle manufacturers across China, India and elsewhere until she found one that could build a bespoke mister that would not spray into eyes. That bottle is now the reason the product ranks number one on Amazon US and Ulta US.

     Priscilla HajiantoniThree beauty and wellness founders on getting product into hands →

114. Recognise that a media profile does not convert to sales

     Sally Obermeder is blunt that a following does not mean add to cart. People already have a box they put you in, and if you push a product at them they get annoyed. Because SWIISH started with smoothies rather than a product, the habit was show and share rather than sell, and that removed the selling pressure from the content. Consistency over the long game builds the tribe, not the profile.

     Priscilla HajiantoniThree beauty and wellness founders on getting product into hands →

115. Film the work, then voice over it if the camera scares you

     Raquel could not talk to camera in the early years, so she filmed herself filling perfume bottles in her garage and lounge room, then recorded voiceovers explaining what she was doing. That behind-the-scenes footage of moving warehouse to warehouse became what the brand got known for. If you are not confident yet, shoot first and narrate later, then let practice build the on-camera confidence.

     Raquel BourisRaquel Bouris: guerrilla marketing and founder-led brand →

116. Turn a retailer rejection into a sampling stunt out the front of their stores

     Boots rejected Who Is Elijah with the line "you've got no brand awareness here, no one knows who you are". Raquel booked a flight five days later, took 500 discovery sets and her content girl, and stood out the front of three Boots locations handing samples to customers going in and out. She asked each person to go inside and ask staff if they stocked Who Is Elijah. Nine months later Boots emailed and agreed to stock the brand.

     Raquel BourisRaquel Bouris: guerrilla marketing and founder-led brand →

117. Use RocketReach to get buyer emails and post samples until they answer

     Raquel calls getting a retailer's attention the easy part. Take out a RocketReach membership, pull the buyer's email and office address, post them samples and keep emailing until they reply. She also landed David Jones at about 18 months in by DMing their fragrance buyer on LinkedIn.

     Raquel BourisRaquel Bouris: guerrilla marketing and founder-led brand →

118. Use "show and share" instead of telling and selling

     Sally's rule for the SWIISH team is "we don't tell and we don't sell". When they launched green powders nobody knew what they were, so every post explained what the product is, why they made it, why they chose that ingredient and not another, and how she personally uses it. People can then ask questions in the comments. Her reasoning: everyone is smart enough to decide for themselves, and when a customer chooses you, they stay.

     Sally ObermederSally Obermeder: show and share your way to a loyal community →

119. Withhold one thing on socials so people cross over to your database

     Sally treats social platforms as a database she does not own. So she shows and shares generously on social, then deliberately holds one thing back for the EDM: "this week there are 5 recipes for how you can use super greens", or a 21-day smoothie challenge. The lead magnet cost SWIISH a lot to make and cost the customer nothing, but the customer has to come through Shopify and leave an email to get it.

     Sally ObermederSally Obermeder: show and share your way to a loyal community →

120. Give value five times before you ask for the email

     Sally warns against opening with a free guide. "Give value, give value, give value, give value, give value. Then here there's even more value." Lead with the freebie and it reads as intense and suspicious, because people assume you want their email and their phone number. Accept that some people will take the free guide and leave, and that is fine.

     Sally ObermederSally Obermeder: show and share your way to a loyal community →

121. Use a future regret test to make the big, scary calls

     Sarah calls it her future regret management matrix. When Urban Outfitters placed an order she could only fill by leaving her legal job to pack for roughly seven days straight, she asked what 80-year-old her and 10-years-from-now her would regret more. Trying and failing while first to market, or staying safe and watching the window close. Law would still be there a year later, the retailer would not.

     Sarah DavidsonSarah Davidson: going global, partnerships and knowing when to stop →

122. Split your list into today, tomorrow and later, and only work today

     Sarah physically writes a list every day and sorts every item into three buckets. If it is not a today job, it moves off the page so she does not carry it. Her rule against distraction came from her husband: she was worrying about shipping matcha to Afghanistan when they could not yet ship to Caulfield North. Be discerning about what is genuinely urgent, because busy work like fixing the font on a post going out in two weeks gives you the tick without the progress.

     Sarah DavidsonSarah Davidson: going global, partnerships and knowing when to stop →

123. Partner with brands that own the other moments in your customer's day

     Matcha Maiden stopped marketing as though matcha was the customer's whole identity. They mapped the rest of that person's day: fitness, activewear, plant-based milk. Then they ran joint giveaways, events and goodie bags with those brands, including repeated activations with Lululemon. Ten businesses running one competition could each pick up around 15,000 new email addresses off a shared consumer.

     Sarah DavidsonSarah Davidson: going global, partnerships and knowing when to stop →

124. Narrow to one demographic and watch the floodgates open

     Leah's biggest trajectory change with Kaya was drawing a line in the sand: women only, over 40. Before that she was trying to be everything to everyone. Jessy backed this from the agency side, saying the brands Hive HQ works with see takeoff at the moment they get really specific about their demo. Pick the customer you can serve better than anyone, then say no to the rest.

     Talitha CumminsBeyond the Logo: Building Brands That Last →

125. Post one titled reel every night, no scheduling, no exceptions

     Talitha has released one 30-second video a night for close to two years. Each one carries a big blunt title on the front, like "Diamonds Are Not an Investment", rather than the moodboard aesthetic the rest of the jewellery category uses. Some hit 3 million views, some get 20,000. That single habit drives all website traffic, leads and appointment bookings, and she only started Meta ads about six months ago.

     Talitha CumminsBeyond the Logo: Building Brands That Last →

126. Get someone to interview you on camera instead of talking to yourself

     Talitha's first videos took a thousand takes filming alone in her bedroom. The format only clicked when another journalist offered to ask her questions off camera while filming. Answering a real question is easier than performing a monologue. If solo pieces to camera stall you, book a friend for an hour and film ten answers.

     Talitha CumminsBeyond the Logo: Building Brands That Last →

127. Use every new platform feature the week it drops

     Taryn says LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok penalise accounts that ignore new features. When Reels launched, non-users saw the rest of their content suppressed. LinkedIn currently wants video, so post video even if it feels awkward. The platform reads you as a good user and amplifies your other content for free.

     Taryn WilliamsTaryn Williams: maximising brand reach on a small budget →

128. Chase niche creators, not follower counts

     Instagram's algorithm is shifting towards TikTok's model, where the content itself is classified and served to people interested in that niche rather than to your existing followers. So stop paying lifestyle influencers with what Taryn calls vanity metrics. Find creators making very specific content (parenting, vegan food) that matches your category, because that content now gets the bigger reach.

     Taryn WilliamsTaryn Williams: maximising brand reach on a small budget →

129. Book one networking coffee every Friday at 8am

     Taryn ran a standing rule of an 8am Friday coffee with someone new, went to every event she could, and joined clubs. She also cold messaged people on LinkedIn. She kept that up for roughly two years before the inbound enquiries started, so treat it as a two-year build, not a quick win.

     Taryn WilliamsTaryn Williams: maximising brand reach on a small budget →

130. Do five things at 100 percent instead of 20 things at 20 percent

     Thu says the brands that scale well pick a strict strategy and stick to it with conviction, while the ones that plateau chase 20 different ideas at once. Her advice to visionary founders who arrive with 10 ideas is to filter down to three, execute those fully, then move to the next. Also know when to quit a strategy that clearly is not working rather than staying fixated on it.

     Thu NguyenThu Nguyen on Profit, Focus and Going Global →

131. Judge growth on EBITDA, not the revenue headline

     Founders proudly report 100 percent year on year revenue growth while their spend has gone up 400 percent. Thu's framing: there is no point making an extra dollar if it costs you two dollars to do it. Protect profit as the number, and treat revenue growth as meaningless without the margin behind it.

     Thu NguyenThu Nguyen on Profit, Focus and Going Global →

132. Bank a few quarters of profitability before you scale

     Thu's test for readiness is several consecutive quarters of stable profitability, not appetite or ambition. She sees founders raise capital during a plateau and then use that money to survive rather than grow. Before you take investment, ask honestly whether the capital funds growth or just keeps the lights on.

     Thu NguyenThu Nguyen on Profit, Focus and Going Global →

133. Test the marketplace on social media before you build any tech

     Wendy started Wedded Wonderland on Facebook around 2011-2012, simply talking about the suppliers she was meeting and the problems brides had. She treats social as a live survey: throw questions out, see what businesses and couples respond to, and use the answers as your product research. Only after years of that did the tech platform and concierge get built.

     Wendy ElkhouryTwo-sided marketplaces: start with demand, then supply →

134. Build the demand side first, then go to suppliers with proof

     Wedded Wonderland deliberately serviced couples first. Once couples were asking for weddings in Mallorca, proposals in Paris, photo shoots in Lake Como and weddings in Tuscany, Wendy could approach venues and vendors and say she had specific couples looking in their area, backed by search data. Her framing: "if you have the demand, it's far easier to be able to connect with the businesses that can service that demand."

     Wendy ElkhouryTwo-sided marketplaces: start with demand, then supply →

135. Cover the supply gap with a free concierge so you never lose a lead

     Wedded Wonderland's concierge is complimentary for couples, which means even when a listing does not exist for a request, the team can go and find a vetted supplier. That removes the classic cold-start problem where a customer arrives, sees an empty category and leaves. The concierge also does the vetting work the customer cannot do from the other side of the world.

     Wendy ElkhouryTwo-sided marketplaces: start with demand, then supply →