What's Working

Subscribe to our Newsletter:https://whatsworkingpod.beehiiv.com/Spencer Wise joins What’s Working Pod with one of the craziest ecom comeback stories we’ve ever heard. He pivoted from a failed consumer service to a physical product brand, hit his first million dollar month in December 2023, and then watched it collapse when counterfeiters flooded Amazon and TikTok Shop with $7 knockoffs using his own photography. By early 2025 he was $300,000 in personally guaranteed credit card debt with rent checks bouncing.Spencer breaks down how he validated his first product before buying a single unit, how to negotiate 120 day net terms with a China supplier, the TikTok Shop to Amazon to retail flywheel, and what he is building next with a consumable supplement brand designed from the ground up to have LTV.Connect with Spencer: Follow Spencer on X: https://x.com/EcomRatConnect with the hosts: Follow Isaac on X: https://x.com/theisaacmed Follow Zain on X: https://x.com/NotZainAgainOur sponsors: Richpanel: Richpanel is an AI-native customer service helpdesk purpose-built for e-commerce and direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands - https://www.richpanel.com Fulfil is an agentic Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform explicitly designed for high-growth direct-to-consumer (DTC) and omnichannel eCommerce merchants - https://www.fulfil.io ROKT Aftersell is an eCommerce post-purchase upselling and cross-selling application primarily built for Shopify and Shopify Plus merchants - https://www.rokt.com/products/rokt-aftersellProduction & Scaling Partners: This video is fully edited and produced by Content Forge. Need DFY YouTube organic for your brand or full-service editing for your YouTube channel? Get a free consultation here: https://getcontentforge.com/ Need help launching or scaling your brand on TikTok Shop? Book a free consultation with Zain at: https://zainith.agency/Chapters:00:00 - Spencer Wise: $300,000 In Debt And The Craziest Ecom Comeback02:48 - How He Validated His First Product Before Buying A Single Unit Of Inventory06:44 - First Million Dollar Month In December 202307:48 - January Falls Off Then TikTok Shop Becomes The Most Profitable Period Ever10:29 - The Dark Ages: Copycats Selling His Product For Seven Dollars Using His Own Photography13:36 - The Brand Is In Collapse: Falling Revenue And Growing Debt17:32 - Closing The Books And Realizing It’s $300,000 In Debt18:26 - The Last Lifeline: Shopify Capital And Building An Internal Creative Team19:50 - The Comeback: Back To A Million A Month By Summer20:44 - How To Sue Counterfeiters In Federal Court And Collect Six Figures In Damages23:50 - Credit To His Wife: She Never Once Lost Hope When Rent Checks Were Bouncing25:07 - Q4 2025: Seven Million In December And Twenty Million For The Year26:00 - Why He Sold A Twenty Million Dollar Brand While It Was Still On The Upswing28:26 - Low AOV Zero LTV: Why He Needed A Better Business Model28:53 - What He Is Building Next: Consumables And Why The Business Model Is Just Better37:12 - Channel Mix For The New Brand: Meta First Then TikTok Shop44:18 - How He Negotiated One Hundred And Twenty Day Net Terms With His China Supplier

Subscribe to our Newsletter:https://whatsworkingpod.beehiiv.com/Jordan Menard joins What’s Working Pod after growing Instant Hydration from zero to nine figures, then stepping away to build something he couldn’t stop thinking about. After years teaching himself supplement formulation from clinical literature, he found a protocol he believes can make your body measurably younger on an epigenetic clock by up to five years biologically. White Rabbit launches January 2027, and this is the first time he’s talked about it publicly.Connect with Jordan: Follow Jordan on X: https://x.com/jordanmenardConnect with the hosts: Follow Isaac on X: https://x.com/theisaacmed Follow Zain on X: https://x.com/NotZainAgainOur sponsors: Richpanel: Richpanel is an AI-native customer service helpdesk purpose-built for e-commerce and direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands - https://www.richpanel.com Fulfil is an agentic Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform explicitly designed for high-growth direct-to-consumer (DTC) and omnichannel eCommerce merchants - https://www.fulfil.io ROKT Aftersell is an eCommerce post-purchase upselling and cross-selling application primarily built for Shopify and Shopify Plus merchants - https://www.rokt.com/products/rokt-aftersellProduction & Scaling Partners: This video is fully edited and produced by Content Forge. Need DFY YouTube organic for your brand or full-service editing for your YouTube channel? Get a free consultation here: https://getcontentforge.com/ Need help launching or scaling your brand on TikTok Shop? Book a free consultation with Zain at: https://zainith.agency/Chapters:00:00 - Jordan Menard: From Zero To Nine Figures At Instant Hydration03:41 - The Subscription CPG Model That Gets Nine-Figure Valuations05:52 - LTV To CAC: What The Three To One Ratio Actually Means For Investors07:12 - Why Subscription Fatigue Is A Myth09:57 - Narrative Ads: The Creative Format That Spends Eight Hundred K On One Video11:44 - Why Jordan Hired An Organic Storyteller And Will Never Go Fully AI13:10 - Media Buying Is Not Dead: What Separates Good From Great At Scale15:04 - Seal Team Six Style Teams Are The Future Of Marketing16:09 - How Motif Digital Was Born And Why He Chose Boutique19:09 - The Betrayal That Pushed Him Toward Instant Hydration20:55 - How A Research Nerd Taught Himself Supplement Formulation23:52 - Twenty Percent Of People Cannot Metabolize Caffeine And He Built For Them25:01 - It Tasted Like Drinking A Battery: Seven Months To Get The Flavor Right28:12 - Introducing White Rabbit: The Protocol That Could Make You Biologically Younger30:02 - The App That Shows You If Your Supplements Are Actually Working37:11 - Why AI Search Will Eventually Audit Every Supplement Label38:00 - Cellular Senescence: The Zombie Cells That Are Aging Your Body Faster39:26 - Organic Content And TikTok Shop: The Long Game For Lowering CAC#Longevity #Biohacking #EcommerceMarketing #WhatsWorkingPod #SubscriptionBusiness

Subscribe to our Newsletter:https://whatsworkingpod.beehiiv.com/Robert Derow is a Managing Director and Partner at BCG, one of the most prestigious strategy consulting firms in the world, where he leads their Digital Growth and Agentic Commerce practice. He has been doing data driven full stack marketing for 25 years, has worked with Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies on digital transformation, and is one of the few people in the world who can tell you with authority what the largest brands on earth are actually doing about AI right now. Ashwin is the co-founder of Nile, an agentic e-commerce infrastructure company helping brands treat every AI chat as a sales channel. Between the two of them, this is one of the most data heavy conversations we’ve had on the pod.We also get into why trust is the final frontier of commerce and why Amazon solved speed and convenience but is quietly losing the trust war, why TikTok Shop is still in the early innings with the US at fifteen to twenty billion in GMV versus over four hundred billion in Asia, and an AI platform tier list for commerce impact that ranks OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, Grok, and Gemini from S tier to C tier with real reasoning behind every pick.Key Takeaways: GEO Is the New SEO and Your Competitors Are Already Doing It: Every Fortune 1000 company Rob works with now has some form of generative engine optimization running. If your brand is not showing up in AI-generated answers, you’re already behind.Connect with Ashwin and Robert: Follow Ashwin on X: https://x.com/BeingAshwin Follow Robert on X: https://x.com/rderowConnect with the hosts: Follow Isaac on X: https://x.com/theisaacmed Follow Zain on X: https://x.com/NotZainAgainProduction & Scaling Partners: This video is fully edited and produced by Content Forge. Need DFY YouTube organic for your brand or full-service editing for your YouTube channel? Get a free consultation here: https://getcontentforge.com/ Need help launching or scaling your brand on TikTok Shop? Book a free consultation with Zain at: https://zainith.agency/Chapters:00:00 - Will AI Chatbots Handle Most DTC Orders In Ten Years?03:14 - Why Fulfillment Is About To Become Part Of Your Brand07:32 - How Fortune 1000 Companies Are Approaching GEO Right Now09:18 - Reddit Citations Dropped 85 Percent On ChatGPT In August11:45 - The 90-Day Plan To Make Your Brand AI Discoverable13:00 - The Internet Boom Gave Access — AI Gives Intelligence15:33 - Your Store Is Now Open To Both Humans And Agents19:30 - AI And Jobs: Net Neutral Or Mass Unemployment?21:22 - ChatGPT Ads: Why Is Nobody Seeing Results?23:30 - Which Ad Platforms Can Actually Compete With Meta?25:09 - Trust Is The Final Frontier Of Commerce29:54 - TikTok Shop Is Still Early And Here Is The Data33:14 - What Is Nile And How Agentic E-Commerce Works35:05 - The Full AI E-Commerce Tech Stack You Need Right Now41:41 - AI Platform Tier List: OpenAI Anthropic Perplexity Grok Gemini43:19 - Will Entry-Level Jobs In Professional Services Disappear?45:16 - Game6: Predictive LTV At The Keyword Level#GenerativeEngineOptimization #AICommerce #TikTokShop #EcommerceMarketing #WhatsWorkingPod

iRestore took a failing family business that lost money for ten straight years and turned it into a 9-figure red light therapy empire with a $1,000+ AOV.In this episode of What's Working, Kevin Chen (CEO of iRestore) breaks down his journey from quitting his corporate path to rebuild his dad’s failing quit-smoking laser clinic. He reveals how iRestore pioneered the home red light therapy market on Amazon before "red light" was even a search term, how FDA clearance creates an unshakeable regulatory moat, and why he spent two years developing a translucent face mask so users could multitask.Kevin also exposes cheap competing red light brands selling "Christmas lights" with zero power efficacy and explains why hiring A-players beats striving for 1% OpEx when aiming for $1 billion in revenue.Connect with Kevin: Follow Kevin on X: https://x.com/KFC_KevinChenConnect with the hosts: Follow Isaac on X: https://x.com/theisaacmed Follow Zain on X: https://x.com/NotZainAgainOur sponsors: Richpanel: Richpanel is an AI-native customer service helpdesk purpose-built for e-commerce and direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands - https://www.richpanel.com Fulfil is an agentic Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform explicitly designed for high-growth direct-to-consumer (DTC) and omnichannel eCommerce merchants - https://www.fulfil.io ROKT Aftersell is an eCommerce post-purchase upselling and cross-selling application primarily built for Shopify and Shopify Plus merchants - https://www.rokt.com/products/rokt-aftersellProduction & Scaling Partners: This video is fully edited and produced by Content Forge. Need DFY YouTube organic for your brand or full-service editing for your YouTube channel? Get a free consultation here: https://getcontentforge.com/ Need help launching or scaling your brand on TikTok Shop? Book a free consultation with Zain at: https://zainith.agency/Chapters:00:00 - Intro & The $1B Vision for Red Light Therapy00:40 - Rebuilding a Failing Family Business03:07 - Pivoting from Quit-Smoking Clinics to Physical Products05:07 - Pioneering Red Light Therapy on Amazon07:01 - How to Sell $1,000+ AOV Products Online10:08 - The FDA Clearance Moat vs. Cheap Counterfeits12:52 - Category Expansion: Launching Red Light Face Masks16:15 - Spending 2 Years Engineering a Multitasking Mask19:26 - Cracking Costco: In-Store Demos & Costco Connection21:00 - Managing Omnichannel Pricing & Channel-Specific SKUs24:03 - The Dyson Playbook: Building Long-Tail Hardware26:02 - Sponsor: Fulfill ERP28:24 - Red Light Market Explosion: From Niche to Top 200 Amazon Search30:34 - Scaling Logistics & Supply Chain for 100% YoY Growth31:50 - Why 1% OpEx is Overrated: Hiring A-Players vs. AI36:53 - Product Development & CEO Priorities for a $1B Brand37:41 - 30-to-60 Day Consideration Windows & Attribution38:48 - AI Model Tier List for E-com Operators42:06 - Advice for Young Entrepreneurs: The Mentor Rule43:36 - Why DTC is NOT Dead45:05 - Exposing Fake Red Light Brands (The "Christmas Light" Scam)46:05 - The Science of Red Light: ATP, Collagen & Hair Miniaturization48:56 - Outro & Where to Find Kevin#WhatsWorkingPodcast #iRestore #KevinChen #RedLightTherapy #EcommerceGrowth #FDAclearance #HighAOV #DTCBrands #ProductLedGrowth

Subscribe to our Newsletter:https://whatsworkingpod.beehiiv.com/Sean Frank is the CEO of Ridge, one of the fastest growing nine figure DTC brands in the world, and co-host of the 9 Operators podcast. He’s been running YouTube creator sponsorships since 2016, spending more than almost any brand in history, and his team sits at the intersection of e-commerce, advertising, and brand building.Connect with Sean: Follow Sean on X: https://x.com/SeanfrankConnect with the hosts: Follow Isaac on X: https://x.com/theisaacmed Follow Zain on X: https://x.com/NotZainAgainOur sponsors: Richpanel: Richpanel is an AI-native customer service helpdesk purpose-built for e-commerce and direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands - https://www.richpanel.com Fulfil is an agentic Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform explicitly designed for high-growth direct-to-consumer (DTC) and omnichannel eCommerce merchants - https://www.fulfil.io ROKT Aftersell is an eCommerce post-purchase upselling and cross-selling application primarily built for Shopify and Shopify Plus merchants - https://www.rokt.com/products/rokt-aftersellProduction & Scaling Partners: This video is fully edited and produced by Content Forge. Need DFY YouTube organic for your brand or full-service editing for your YouTube channel? Get a free consultation here: https://getcontentforge.com/ Need help launching or scaling your brand on TikTok Shop? Book a free consultation with Zain at: https://zainith.agency/Chapters:00:00 - Intro And Who Is Sean Frank00:58 - Sean's Ten Year Vision: Sell Ridge, Investment Bank, Or Family Office02:04 - Why Ridge Has Not Sold Yet And Why Timing Is Everything03:09 - When To Take Life-Changing Money vs When To Hold04:54 - Is The Meta Ads Paradigm For Physical Products Coming To An End?06:13 - Why Everyone Is Starting A Health And Wellness Brand Right Now08:52 - Where The Alpha Actually Is In Digital Advertising In 202609:38 - Snapchat, Reddit, And X: The Underinvested Ad Channels10:19 - How Crypto And Gambling Apps Destroyed The YouTube Sponsorship Market12:12 - The Real Alpha In Creator Marketing Is Short Form Affiliates Not Big Deals13:22 - TikTok Shop: The Three Boxes You Need To Check To Win14:22 - International Markets: The UK, The EU, And The No-Go Zones18:26 - Wholesale Reality Check: Only Works If You Can Get Into The Big Three19:24 - How Nine Operators Became An Eight Figure Business20:22 - AI At Ridge: Inventory, Creative, Finance And The 2 To 3x Productivity Bet21:45 - When To Use An Agency vs Hire In-House23:52 - The MKBHD Deal: Equity, Salary, And Where The Real Value Is25:23 - Why Creator Accounts Will Dominate Ad Spend Next Year27:03 - Why Meta Can Never Build A TikTok Shop Competitor27:45 - Meta, Innovator's Dilemma, And The $500 Billion Reason They Can't Pivot31:30 - Meta AI Glasses And The AR Wearable Bet32:44 - The Pros And Cons Of Running A Family Business34:06 - Operators Build: Launching A Sleep Brand In Public36:39 - The GLP-1 Wave And Where $20 Billion Is Moving Next38:00 - Why Agencies Never Reach Billion Dollar Scale#EcommerceMarketing #TikTokShop #DTC #BusinessStrategy #WhatsWorkingPod

Bryan Bumgardner is the head of media buying at North Beam, the first party data attribution tool used by some of the fastest growing e-commerce brands in the world. His team sits with over 1,000 ad accounts and he is one of the few people actually backing his opinions with real data.In this episode we go through every major ad platform, rank them S tier to D tier, and break down what is actually working for DTC brands in 2026. We also get into why Meta feels broken but is still mandatory, why ChatGPT ads are too on the nose, and why Bryan thinks performance marketers need to go back and read David Ogilvy. Whether you’re a brand owner, media buyer, or agency running paid ads this year, this episode covers everything from TikTok Shop strategy and connected TV to App Lovin, partnership ads, and why account structure basically does not matter anymore.Key Takeaways: Meta is Still Mandatory: It is the only platform that moves someone from awareness to purchase inside one app. Nobody else is within five years of replicating that. You have to be there. Their Earnings Mean Nothing for You: Spend is up 20% year over year but customer acquisition costs are up 10%. Meta making more money and your ads performing better are two completely different things. Performance Marketing Made us Worse at Marketing: We forgot how to tell stories. The brands that win the next decade will be the ones who go back to the basics. Go read David Ogilvy.Connect with Bryan: Follow Bryan on X: https://x.com/BryanBumgardnerConnect with the hosts: Follow Isaac on X: https://x.com/theisaacmed Follow Zain on X: https://x.com/NotZainAgainProduction & Scaling Partners: This video is fully edited and produced by Content Forge. Need DFY YouTube organic for your brand or full-service editing for your YouTube channel? Get a free consultation here: https://getcontentforge.com/ Need help launching or scaling your brand on TikTok Shop? Book a free consultation with Zain at: https://zainith.agency/Chapters:00:00 - Bryan Bumgardner And What North Beam Actually Does00:56 - Is Meta Broken In 2026?04:00 - The Ad Load Problem And Meta's Real Objective05:01 - Does Account Structure Still Matter?06:04 - Why Creatives Are Now The Only Lever That Matters07:23 - Spend Is Up But Performance Is Down — What The Data Shows08:33 - Meta's Goal Is Stock Price Not Your Ad Performance09:02 - Consumer Sentiment On AI Generated Content11:42 - Why Brands Cannot Quit Meta Despite Worse Results13:59 - TikTok Users Will Not Click And Why That Matters15:10 - How TikTok Shop Unlocked Ad Spend For The Platform18:05 - ChatGPT Ads: The $60 CPC Experiment Nobody Liked23:43 - CTV And Why Everything Eventually Becomes Cable TV28:05 - How Vibe Is Opening CTV To Small And Local Businesses31:43 - Performance Marketing Has Made Us Worse At Marketing32:15 - Ad Platform Tier List: Meta, CTV, Snap, TikTok, App Lovin, YouTube, OOH36:17 - Why You Need To Build Brand From Day One38:43 - Partnership Ads: Borrowing Trust At Scale40:37 - Does Clipping Actually Drive Incremental Results?42:15 - How To Become A Better Storyteller43:49 - Where To Find Bryan And The North Beam Newsletter#PerformanceMarketing #MetaAds #TikTokShop #EcommerceMarketing #WhatsWorkingPod

Calvin Klaski and the founders of NOBS waited until they were generating $1 million a month in revenue before quitting their corporate day jobs. Now, they run a massive oral care empire with just a 3% operating expense, managing the entire business from an iMessage group chat.In this episode of What's Working, Calvin pulls back the curtain on how NOBS disrupted the legacy toothpaste industry without taking a single dollar of VC funding. He explains their backdoor strategy to get into 960 Target stores, landing in the beauty minis section and quickly becoming the number one seller in dollars per store. Calvin also breaks down their brilliant TikTok Shop strategy, paying 20 to 40 creators and running aggressive retargeting ads to artificially engineer a viral trend before organic affiliates jumped on board. Plus, he shares why Nano Hydroxyapatite (nHA) is replacing fluoride, why you should never buy programmatic podcast ads, and how they funded their Mexican manufacturer's machinery to scale production.Key Takeaways: The iMessage OpEx Hack: NOBS operates with a staggering 3% OpEx by running the entire company through a three-person founder group chat, eliminating corporate meetings and communication bottlenecks. Engineering TikTok Shop Virality: After failing at short-form video for six months, Calvin manufactured a trend by commissioning 20 to 40 creators simultaneously and hammering retargeting ads to make affiliates think the brand was already exploding. The Target Backdoor Play: When brokers failed to secure a meeting, the NOBS team passed a message to a Target executive offering free product, eventually landing them discovery-focused space in the beauty minis section of nearly 1,000 stores.Connect with Calvin: Follow Calvin on X: https://x.com/CalvinandNOBS Check out NOBS Routines: https://x.com/nobsroutinesConnect with the hosts: Follow Isaac on X: https://x.com/theisaacmed Follow Zain on X: https://x.com/NotZainAgainProduction & Scaling Partners: This video is fully edited and produced by Content Forge. Need DFY YouTube organic for your brand or full-service editing for your YouTube channel? Get a free consultation here: https://getcontentforge.com/ Need help launching or scaling your brand on TikTok Shop? Book a free consultation with Zain at: https://zainith.agency/Chapters:00:00 - Intro & The 1,000 Store Target Launch02:25 - Driving Digital Traffic to Physical Retail04:06 - Why NOBS Uses nHA and Xylitol Instead of Fluoride06:59 - Hacking the TikTok Shop Algorithm with 40 Creators10:14 - Staying Anonymous Until Hitting $1M/Month12:47 - Calvin's Background: From Bow-Fishing to Corporate Retail16:17 - Why NOBS Rejected VC Money & Investors18:03 - Running a 3% OpEx Business from an iMessage Chat21:40 - When You Should (and Shouldn't) Hire a Marketing Agency22:30 - Training AI to Write Product Descriptions24:01 - Retail Expansion & The Danger of Over-Storing26:12 - Building the "Down to Health" Podcast28:42 - The Power of Focus: Don't Quit After 60 Days31:14 - Why Programmatic Podcast Ads Are a Waste of Money35:00 - Moving Manufacturing to Mexico & Iterating on the Fly37:59 - Outro & Where to Find Calvin

Cody Plofker took Jones Road Beauty to $160 million in revenue without a VP of Finance or a VP of Marketing. Now, he’s stepping down as CEO to stop the burnout and build the future of lean, AI-powered e-commerce.In this episode of What's Working, Cody breaks down the reality of running a 9-figure family business, why he stepped down to focus on high-level strategy, and his unapologetic take on why "AI UGC" is a complete oxymoron. He also pulls back the curtain on his exact AI tech stack (including Claude, Codex, and multiplayer AI tools like HQ) and explains how he is building a brand new sleep supplement company in public with near-zero operating expenses. If you want to know what the next era of DTC looks like, this is the episode.Key Takeaways: The Reality of Scaling Too Fast: Cody sped-ran Jones Road Beauty to nine figures but suffered from burnout due to a lack of proper organizational structure and executive support. Cody is extremely bearish on AI-generated creative, noting that true UGC relies on authenticity, while AI should be reserved for data analysis, web design, and administrative workflows. The DTC Twitter Bubble: Performance marketing isn't everything. Cody argues that real-world, larger brands invest heavily in brand health and tracking upper-funnel metrics, contrary to the hyper-performance bias of "DTC Twitter". The 1-Person Brand Era: As part of the new "Operators Build" podcast, Cody is helping launch a sleep supplement brand in public, aiming to use AI to replace entire agency functions for just a few hundred dollars a month in token costs. Retail Leverage: Jones Road Beauty opted to build its own brick-and-mortar stores rather than rely on Sephora, allowing them to control their own product trends and avoid being dictated by massive retailers.Connect with Cody: Follow Cody on X: https://x.com/codyplof Listen to the Marketing Operators: https://www.youtube.com/@Operators9Connect with the hosts: Follow Isaac on X: https://x.com/theisaacmed Follow Zain on X: https://x.com/NotZainAgainProduction & Scaling Partners: This video is fully edited and produced by Content Forge. Need DFY YouTube organic for your brand or full-service editing for your YouTube channel? Get a free consultation here: https://getcontentforge.com/ Need help launching or scaling your brand on TikTok Shop? Book a free consultation with Zain at: https://zainith.agency/Chapters:00:00 - Intro & Why Cody Stepped Down as CEO of Jones Road Beauty02:35 - Running a Brand Without Industry "Passion"04:16 - Transitioning to AI Consulting & CRO Bounties06:06 - Why "AI UGC" is a Complete Oxymoron08:11 - Cody's AI Stack: Claude, Codex, Hermes, and HQ10:19 - How to Actually Implement AI in Creative Teams13:23 - The State of the Beauty Industry & K-Beauty Trends17:23 - Retail Strategy: Why Jones Road Avoids Sephora20:21 - The "DTC Twitter" Bubble & Investing in Brand Health25:30 - The Death of Non-Subscription DTC Brands29:23 - Announcing "Operators Build" & The Sleep Supplement Brand34:11 - Building a Brand Skeleton on a $200/Month Token Budget39:37 - The Power of Building in Public & Networking41:42 - Outro & Where to Find Cody

In Episode 14 of the What's Working Pod, we sit down with Prudence Millsap, co-founder of Beauty by Earth, to unpack the exact strategies she used to build one of the most successful bootstrapped beauty brands on the internet.Prudence pulls back the curtain on how taking TikTok Shop in-house catapulted them to $700k/month, and how that external traffic miraculously slashed their Amazon ad spend by 34% while increasing top-line revenue. We dive deep into the gritty reality of bootstrapping with just $20,000, why she insists on US manufacturing, and how she maintains a shockingly low 4-7% OpEx using an in-house Texas warehouse and Latin American offshore talent.Beyond the business, Prudence shares her refreshing philosophy on personal branding, how she balances entrepreneurship with family life, and why she recently sold off a brick-and-mortar business to stay hyper-focused on DTC.Key Takeaways: The TikTok Shop "All-In" Strategy: After burning $20k/month on agency retainers with zero growth, Prudence brought TikTok in-house and cracked the algorithm by aggressively seeding 30-40 product units a day. The Amazon Halo Effect is Real: Generating external demand on TikTok allowed Beauty by Earth to lower their Amazon ad spend by 34.2% year-over-year while actually growing their top-line revenue by 33.3%. Ruthless Financial Discipline: Prudence built the brand off an initial $20,000 investment. She took zero distributions in year one, lived exclusively off her husband's income, and ran the business purely on credit cards for the first 6-7 years. US Manufacturing: Manufacturing 100% of their formulas in the US is more expensive upfront, but it is exactly what their consumer wants and protects them from high finished-goods tariffs. Hyper-Lean Operations: Beauty by Earth operates on a 4-7% OpEx. They achieve this by running their own warehouse in Texas and heavily leveraging offshore talent in Latin America for their growth team.Connect with Prudence: Follow Prudence on X: https://x.com/MillPrueConnect with the hosts: Follow Isaac on X: https://x.com/theisaacmed Follow Zain on X: https://x.com/NotZainAgainProduction & Scaling Partners: This video is fully edited and produced by Content Forge. Need DFY YouTube organic for your brand or full-service editing for your YouTube channel? Get a free consultation here: https://getcontentforge.com/ Need help launching or scaling your brand on TikTok Shop? Book a free consultation with Zain at: https://zainith.agency/Chapters:00:00 - Intro & The TikTok Shop Strategy Hook00:39 - Cracking TikTok Shop & Seeding Strategy01:45 - The Amazon Halo Effect02:35 - Why Expensive TikTok Agencies Failed06:45 - Dialing in Amazon PPC & Slashing Ad Spend09:36 - Bootstrapping from $20k11:41 - Standing Out in the Beauty Market & K-Beauty17:49 - Navigating Business with a Co-Founder19:14 - Why They Avoid Retail (Sephora, Ulta)21:51 - The Anti-Personal Brand Philosophy26:37 - Quitting the 9-to-5 & Building While Parenting29:04 - Using AI (Claude) for Market Research30:53 - US Manufacturing vs. China33:13 - Running a 4-7% OpEx with Offshore Talent34:57 - The ROI of Hiring a Fractional CFO37:58 - Killing Distractions: Selling a Brick & Mortar Business#tiktokshop #AmazonSeller #Ecommerce #BeautyBrand #WhatsWorkingPod

Nik Sharma sold his agency Sharma Brands for a reason most people miss, and now he's building entire DTC brands using only AI, from ads to assets. In this episode of What's Working Podcast, Nik breaks down the exact move that led him to sell Sharma Brands through a reverse RFP process, why he wanted a blank slate going into January, and how he went from running one of the most recognized DTC agencies to becoming Chief Growth Officer at Lunar Solar while quietly launching an AI first brand holdco on the side.He walks through launching a health and wellness brand using nothing but AI, covering static ads, UGC, copywriting, and design briefs, including what happened when they finally commissioned a real photo shoot. Nik introduces the concept of the creative supply chain, the idea that brands don't fail because of bad products or poor media buying, but because they run out of creative to feed the machine. He explains every format of creative a brand needs, how to build an endless supply behind it, and what most agencies get wrong. The conversation also covers whether services still have a real moat in an AI world, why taste is the only durable advantage left, how he's validating new brands for under $150K before scaling, and what he learned from watching brand incubators raise millions and still fail.Nik also shares his personal brand strategy, why he's most bullish on Twitter and YouTube, and what he'd do differently building a personal brand from scratch today. If you're running an agency, building a DTC brand, or figuring out where AI fits in your business in 2025, this episode is essential. Nik Sharma is a DTC operator and former founder of Sharma Brands, now Chief Growth Officer at Lunar Solar.Key Takeaways: AI is a tool, not a replacement for "taste": While AI is democratizing software and automating lower-level tasks, human taste and strategic direction are becoming the ultimate moats for both brands and agencies. The "Creative Supply Chain" is the biggest growth bottleneck: Brands trying to scale from $50M to $100M usually don't fail because of a bad product or bad media buying—they fail because they haven't built a system to constantly generate a diverse, never-ending supply of ad creatives.Connect with Nik: Follow Nik on X: https://x.com/mrsharmaConnect with the hosts: Follow Isaac on X: https://x.com/theisaacmed Follow Zain on X: https://x.com/NotZainAgainProduction & Scaling Partners: This video is fully edited and produced by Content Forge. Need DFY YouTube organic for your brand or full-service editing for your YouTube channel? Get a free consultation here: https://getcontentforge.com/ Need help launching or scaling your brand on TikTok Shop? Book a free consultation with Zain at: https://zainith.agency/Chapters:00:00 - Intro00:34 - Who Is Nik Sharma?01:31 - Why He Sold His Agency04:17 - His AI Wake-Up Call05:13 - Do Services Still Have a Moat?07:42 - Launching a Brand With Just AI08:39 - What Categories He's Building In12:10 - The 70% Ads Budget Future13:06 - AI Video Ads That Actually Work15:12 - The Creative Supply Chain Explained18:01 - Will AI Kill Jobs?21:29 - How to Build a Personal Brand Today23:47 - Twitter vs YouTube vs LinkedIn27:31 - The Holdco Model32:35 - Where to Follow Nik#NikSharma #Ecommerce #WhatsWorkingPodcast