Brian Moran

Co-Founder & CEO

Your ad costs are not the problem.

If you're spending $50 to get a customer who spends $50, do NOT shut off your ads. 

Add one upsell and that $50 customer becomes a $70-85 customer on day one. 

You don’t need to be spending less on ads, just make each customer worth more.

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Founder of SamCart • Scaled to $300M. Acquired Typeset ($75M valuation). Watch me sell them for $1B.

Helping 100,000 creators sell $7B+ with SamCart. Focused on making it easier for creators to launch & grow.

If nobody has ever complained about your price, your price is too low.

Cheap pricing doesn't attract more customers, it attracts worse customers. The people who haggle over $50 are the same people who will drain your support team, leave bad reviews, and churn in 30 days.

Price with confidence or don't price at all.

Worst niches to print money 

- Gaming 
- General lifestyle 
- Travel guides
- Anything targeting 16-22 year olds (they’re broke)

Best niches to print money 

- Fitness (especially women's)
- Finance/Investing 
- Business Education
- Health & Wellness

Study what people with real disposable income buy, then build an offer around that.

6 marketing skills to scale past $10K/month...

1. MARKETING EMAILS

Email is still the most reliable lever in digital products. Period. 

Promotions, newsletters, nurture sequences. Even if you’re not actively posting, you can get repeat buyers without paying for every single click. Worst case, your audience trusts you more. 

Your email list is one of your greatest assets. 

2. DIGITAL ADS

This is how you buy attention, fast. 

You can run ads on websites, social platforms, or search to get in front of new people.

But the real value is the data. Reporting shows what creative works, who’s engaging, and when they convert.

Ads turn marketing into a scoreboard.

3. ORGANIC SOCIAL MEDIA AND BLOG POSTS

You can pay for attention (ads), or you can earn it by posting on social media. 

Social posts educate and build trust with your audience. You can launch a product and they’re already ready to buy. 

It’s time-consuming, but it’s an audience you own. 

4. BRAND WEBSITES

It doesn’t even need to be a full website.

Just one landing page that convinces strangers to buy from you. No “about us” page needed.

If you do it right, it will do all the selling while you sleep. 

5. GRAPHICS AND INFOGRAPHICS

People online like to skim. 

They decide to engage with content within less than a second. 

Great visuals convey ideas faster. 

You can turn abstract concepts into something that can be easily understood and shared without a single word. 

6. WHITE PAPERS AND CASE STUDIES

White papers let you educate and frame the problem. 

Case studies show your audience you know what you’re talking about. 

Both help justify the purchase, especially when your product is higher ticket. 

The best way to get people to buy is proof.

—

♻️ Repost if someone you know needs to learn these skills

Paid subscription communities are the biggest scam in the creator economy and nobody wants to say it.

Here's what actually happens when you launch one.

Month 1: 100 members, you feel like a genius.
Month 3: 65 active subscribers, you're on a hamster wheel trying to get back what you had constantly.

A recurring subscription is harder to sell than a high-ticket product because you're not asking for money once, you're asking someone to commit to paying you forever.

And when your community eventually dies (it will), everyone can see it. A dead Skool group is public and that kills your brand.

If you want to argue with me on this, please name one major entrepreneur who built their fortune on a paid recurring community. You can't.

Marie Forleo, Hormozi, Jeff Walker, Ryan Deiss, all of them made their money the exact same way: low ticket products on the front end, high ticket on the backend. One-time purchases.

We watched membership sites die in 2010 and we're watching the same thing happen with Skool in 2026.

The model is simple. 

Cheap product to build a buyer list, high ticket offers for the people who already like you.

The stuff that changed my life the most is stupid simple: 

> My dad always had a side-hustle but family came first no matter what. 
> Playing baseball taught me more about business than any book.
> Mastering self-talk has created every positive result I ever got. 
> Scaling SamCart from 0-$300M with my brother Scott. 
> Kids changed everything. My net worth 10X’d since having them.
> Lastly wife. Nothing else on this list comes close.

DUMBEST ways to use AI to PRINT $$$:

- Run 15 different SaaS tools 
- Code 15 apps in a weekend
- Act like every new feature is the next big thing 
- Spin up 14 businesses (stupidest thing in the world) 

BEST ways to use AI to PRINT $$$:

- Focus on one business (unless you’re Elon) 
- Speed up your workflows 
- Treat it like a crazy smart assistant to help your business.
- Use it for things that actually generate revenue: product, copy, content, etc. 

Keep falling into the AI influencer hype and you'll still be poor in two years.

How to 10x your team's output with AI (without hiring more people): 

1. Fire anyone against AI use
2. Use AI to remove roles from your hiring plan 
3. Cut workload first
4. Document everything
5. Plug into AI model of your choice
6. Have each member find 5 AI use-cases per role in 7 days

AI doesn’t magically make you more money.

It helps you generate revenue faster and more accurately.

Why I decided to build in public for SamCart:

1. Forces clarity on why we build 
2. Trust compounds faster than numbers
3. Keeps me showing up like day one
4. Gain more affiliate partners
5. Reach better customers 
6. Stronger brand moat
7. Attract more A+ players 
8. Reminds me why I started
9. Forces us to build better software
10. Get more introductions from the right people 
11. Helps me live with balance and work with purpose

You don't need a new job. You need a bigger game.

Two roles. One engineer, one marketer. Both AI-native.

The kind of opportunity that makes you quit something good for something great. SamCart. $30M+ ARR. Nearly $100M raised. $7B+ processed. We're building something brand new inside of SamCart. The next era of eCom. AI that doesn't assist. AI that builds your entire business for you. I need two people who want to be at the center of it.

AI Engineer You've built AI products real people use. Production, not demos. You think like a founder. You ship fast and own the outcome. If you haven't written 500K+ lines with Claude Code or Cursor, don't apply.

AI Growth You've been THE person behind the growth. Not part of a team. THE person. If you haven't had AI managing your ads, spinning up creative, running your blog, writing your emails, and building your funnels, don't apply.

This is NOT a title play, a management role, or a 9-to-5.
This IS founder-level impact, founder-level comp.

You'll work with me daily. Small team. Massive mission. Hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs are about to build businesses in a way that's never existed before. The hardest, most rewarding thing you've ever done.

Apply here → https://lnkd.in/g3MWDYk5 
60 seconds. No resume. Just proof.

Open article: My branded typeform by samcart.typeform.com

Me...

> Did the bare minimum in school
> Hated every job I ever had
> Took a paper shredding job for $15/hr & covered in dust 
> Living in a basement apartment
> Every waking moment I was trying to find a way out
> Studied online business relentlessly for a year
> Made my first sale
> By the end of the year I was doing $80k/month
> Didn’t quit my job because I was too scared it wouldn’t last
> Work found out and fired me on the spot
> Scaled to $100k-$150k/month fulltime 
> Got bored and had the idea for SamCart
> Dumped $1M of my savings into it
> Built SamCart to a $300M+ valuation 
> Building toward $1B exit

graphical user interface, text, application, email

20 y/o using AI:

- Actually uses it 
- Tries every tool out there
- Figures out what's possible in real time
- Spends 20 hrs/day learning thru YouTube

50 y/o using AI:

- “Too busy” to learn
- Barely understands it 
- Outsources it to low level employees
- Doesn’t watch YouTube/X so they stay ignorant

The people who dominate the future will treat AI like an advantage, not a passing trend.

Everyone’s asking me what to sell in 2026.

SamCart powered 75K+ businesses and processed $7B+ in digital product sales, so I never guess what's working or not. 

These 10 fitness digital products are printing money (they’re not slowing down):👇

1. 7-DAY MOMENTUM PLAN

People don’t need another pep talk. 

Build them a simple plan for the next 7 days: 

• Training
• Routine 
• Mindset 

They’ll stop starting over every Monday.

2. WEEKLY MEAL PLANNING SYSTEM

Healthy eating falls apart when it becomes a second job.

Makes eating clean easy with the right system: 

• Mealplans
• Grocery lists
• Macros/Calories 

Simple to deliver. Easy to recommend.

3. NO-GYM BODYWEIGHT PROGRAM

Convenience sells. 

Create step-by-step home workouts with beginner-intermediate progressions.

Zero equipment. Zero excuses.

4. PROGRESS TRACKER

Nothing kills progress faster than guessing. 

Create a central hub to track: 

• Workouts
• Habits
• Weight
• Measurements 

It turns “I feel stuck” into clear next steps.

5. AT-HOME STRENGTH SPLIT

Beginners quit when they’re forced to improvise.

A simple strength split with clear recordings will help people stick to their routine and use correct form. 

“Tell me what to do today” sells forever.

6. MONTHLY RECIPE PACK

A monthly drop of clean, repeatable recipes makes healthy eating easy to maintain.

Works great as a recurring offer without relying on group chat hype.

7. 5–7 DAY FITNESS EMAIL SERIES

Give them daily workouts and a simple nutrition plan.

If you get them a quick win, the next offer becomes an easy yes.

8. HOME GYM STARTER BLUEPRINT

People waste money buying random, overpriced equipment.

Tell them exactly what to buy and how to train with it.

Clear path, strong perceived value.

9. WORKOUT VAULT ACCESS

Build a library of: 

• Past routines
• Challenges
• Recordings 

Consistency is easier when you’ve already done the planning.

10. 30-DAY WELLNESS JOURNAL

Fitness is bigger than workouts.

A daily journal that tracks sleep, energy, food, workouts, and habits helps people connect inputs to outcomes.

Better feedback loop = better adherence.

—

People buy fitness products because they want to be told exactly what to do. 

Less thinking. More doing. Faster progress.

Package it like a system, not a pile of tips.

♻️ Repost if someone you know wants to print money in the fitness niche.

lies about internet money: 

- get-rich-quick coaches are grifters
- courses are pyramid schemes
- u need 10,000+ followers minimum 
- u need a perfect funnel before you can start

truths about internet money: 

- u only need 6 weeks if you execute
- outcomes & experience > information 
- it’s easier to sell to someone who bought
- human touch is MORE valuable than ever

Stop overthinking what to sell in 2026.

These 10 RELATIONSHIP digital products will print money:

(after processing $7B+ and powering 75K+ businesses with SamCart)

1. CONNECTION CARD DECK

Sometimes you’ve got nothing to talk about besides logistics.

Make a deck for couples, friends, or families:

• Light
• Deep
• The stuff people avoid

It turns, “so what’s new?” into actual conversation.

2. BOUNDARIES SCRIPT PLAYBOOK

People don’t struggle with having boundaries.

They struggle with setting them.

Give them a workbook that helps them:

• Name the line
• Say it clean
• Hold it when it gets uncomfortable

A great relationship starts with self-respect.

3. ATTACHMENT PATTERNS GUIDE

A lot of toxic relationships are the same fight on repeat.

Different person. Same pattern.

Teach the basics:
• How each style shows up
• Common triggers
• What to do instead

Help people label it so they can change it.

4. THE FIGHT FAIR CHEAT SHEET

Arguments go sideways when everyone’s improvising.

Create a one-pager for the moment things start heating up:

• De-escalation lines
• Reframes that work
• The next thing to say

Less fallout. Faster repair.

5. THE DATING PROFILE REWRITE KIT

Dating apps punish vagueness.

Build a fill-in guide that helps people:

• Write a bio that filters
• Pick prompts with intent
• Stop wasting time early

Better profile = better options.

6. LOVE LANGUAGE ACTION TRACKER

Knowing your love language is just trivia.

Doing it is the relationship.

Make a tracker that turns it into reps:

• What to do
• When to do it
• How often

Consistency beats intensity every time.

7. RELATIONSHIP RESET JOURNAL

If people don’t process after a breakup, they’re doomed to repeat it.

Build a guided journal that walks them through:

• What happened
• What they allowed
• What they’ll do differently next time

Help them stop dating the same person in a different body.

8. COUPLES ALIGNMENT WORKBOOK

Couples drift apart when there’s no shared vision.

Make a workbook that gets alignment on:

• Finances
• Travel
• Family
• The next 12 months

Do the talk now, not after arguing.

9. DEALBREAKER CLARITY WORKSHEET

Some people ignore dealbreakers.

Other people label everything a red flag and wonder why they’re still single.

Give them a worksheet to sort:

• Dealbreakers
• Growth areas
• Real examples

Better standards. Less chaos.

10. 7-DAY RECONNECT CHALLENGE

A lot of break ups don’t need to happen.

The relationship just needs a reset.

Create a 5 or 7-day challenge with daily actions:

• Connection
• Appreciation
• Quality time

Small moves are all you need to reignite that spark.

People buy relationship digital products because they want a plan they can follow.

Give them structure.
Give them prompts.
Give them reps.

That’s what they need.

♻️Repost the first post of this thread to help someone get rich in 2026

Most operators are losing 8-15% of top line revenue to random fees they don’t even know about. 

(Read this so you can save up to $240K-$450k/yr)

Your first sale is not revenue, it’s proof. 

Proof that someone in the real world will exchange their money for what you built. 

That changes everything because now the only question is how many. 

Not "will this work" but "how do I scale this." 

The problem is that people never make that first sale because they're still perfecting the thing instead of shipping it. 

Launch ugly, and just tweak it every single day based on DATA.

15 ways AI can save you hours every week (whether you run a business or not)

(P.S. Last tip will tell you how to make more money)

1️⃣ Run your calendar automatically
Schedules meetings, blocks focus time, detects conflicts.

2️⃣ Summarize long emails into 3 bullets
Key actions and decisions only. Reply in seconds.

3️⃣ Auto-generate meeting notes
AI joins calls, records decisions, sends summaries.

4️⃣ Build your to-do list from your inbox
Pulls tasks from emails, meetings, and notes. Updates as priorities shift.

5️⃣ Draft emails in seconds
"Follow up on the invoice" becomes a full email in your tone.

6️⃣ Generate personalized workout plans
Goals, schedule, fitness level. AI builds and adjusts the plan.

7️⃣ Track nutrition from a photo
Snap your lunch, get calories and macros instantly.

8️⃣ Brainstorm ideas on demand
Content, campaigns, product names. Creative partner in seconds.

9️⃣ Write reports in minutes
Tell AI the structure, give it data, edit instead of starting from scratch.

🔟 Research without reading 100 articles
Hours of research can be condensed into a clean summary.

1️⃣1️⃣ Get recipe ideas from your pantry
AI suggests meals from what you already have.

1️⃣2️⃣ Plan travel based on your preferences
Recommendations that match your style, adjusted in real time.

1️⃣3️⃣ Learn a new language with AI
Private tutor, real-time corrections, available 24/7.

1️⃣4️⃣ Detect suspicious financial activity
AI flags anomalies and learns your spending patterns.

1️⃣5️⃣ Build presentations without touching slides
Key points in, polished deck out.

And if you're a business owner or creator, AI goes even further.

At SamCart, AI creates your products, writes your copy, builds your site, and sets up your checkout. What used to take 40 people, AI handles for you now.

See what that could look like for your business 👇🏻
https://lnkd.in/gZijvnzW 

♻️ Repost if you're using AI for more than just ChatGPT prompts

samcart.com

Creator Revenue Calculator — How Much Could You Earn?

“My market can’t afford high-ticket” > no u just suck at selling
“Nobody understands the value of my product” > no u just suck at communicating 
“People’s attention spans are down” > no u just suck at holding attention
“My following just wants freebies” > no u just suck at getting them to buy 
“Nobody wants to read our landing page” > no u just suck at writing copy 
“Organic content is dead” > no u just suck at making organic content
“My customers don’t buy software” > no just suck at building software
“Facebook ads don’t work for me” > no u just suck at Facebook ads

I've watched THOUSANDS of digital creators sell $7B in digital products on SamCart. 

The ones doing $1M-$50M/year sell these 10 business digital products: 

1. THE LAUNCH RUNBOOK

Build a step-by-step timeline for before, during, and after: 

• Email schedules 
• Post templates 
• Day-by-day actions

The creators doing this consistently treat every launch like a repeatable system, not a one time event.

2. THE BUYER INTEL KIT

I've watched creators build products nobody asked for and wonder why they're not selling.

Build a kit with: 

• Survey templates 
• Interview questions 
• Frameworks

Find what people will actually pay for. Stop guessing.

3. THE CLIENT INTAKE PACKET

The first 48 hours of a client relationship sets the tone for everything after.

Bundle everything into one reusable packet: 

• Welcome docs 
• Intake forms 
• Kickoff emails 
• Expectation-setting templates

The best sellers treat their process like a product.

4. THE CONVERSION PAGE FRAME

A blank page is the reason most people never launch.

Give them a proven layout with: 

• Copy prompts 
• Section structure 
• Headline formulas

We've seen what converts across $7B in transactions. Structure wins every time.

5. THE EMAIL CAMPAIGN VAULT

The creators burning out before their launch even closes are usually writing emails from scratch every time.

Bundle the templates they need: 

• Welcome sequences 
• Launch emails 
• Cart close copy

Build it once so they can use it forever.

6. THE CONTENT PIPELINE CALENDAR

Build 30-90 days of content ideas with: 

• Hooks organized by content type 
• Topics mapped to the buyer journey 
• Enough variety to stay consistent

The ones posting every day aren't more creative. They're more organized.

7. THE DM CLOSING SCRIPTBOOK

Closing in DMs doesn't have to feel like being a used car salesman.

Build fill-in-the-blank scripts for: 

• Discovery conversations 
• Handling objections 
• Following up without being weird

The best closers have a repeatable process.

8. THE BRAND BUILDER PLAYBOOK

People make a decision before they read a single word of your copy.

• Colors and fonts 
• Tone and voice 
• Positioning that builds trust fast

The sellers who look like real businesses get treated like real businesses.

9. THE LOW-TICKET OFFER STARTER

Every creator I've talked to has knowledge worth $27-$97. 

They just don’t know how to package it.

Build a mini-course that covers: 

• How to pick the topic 
• How to structure it 
• How to price and launch it

The first product doesn't even need to be good. It just has to exist.

10. THE NICHE VALIDATION WORKSHEET

The most expensive mistake I see is someone building a product for a market that was never going to pay.

Build a guided workbook to: 

• Pick a profitable niche 
• Define the exact buyer 
• Validate demand before building anything

♻️Repost this to help someone make more money in 2026

Anna Sullivan

Founder - The Creative Exchange

I help CPG brands create social media that people actually want to engage with.

After 10+ years building social strategies for brands trying to make "boring" products exciting, I decided to put my own skin in the game. I launched Littlefoot Matcha – and took it to $50K in revenue this year through pop-ups, TikTok, and zero traditional advertising.

What I do:
I run The Creative Exchange, where I develop social media and UGC strategies for CPG brands that need to stand out in crowded feeds. My approach? Stop trying to be perfect. Start being consistent, visual, and genuinely interesting.

My CPG expertise:
→ Turning "hard to be excited about" products into scroll-stopping content
→ Building UGC programs that actually feel authentic (I was doing this before it had a name)
→ Creating content strategies that work across TikTok, Instagram, and emerging platforms
→ Developing visual identities that make people screenshot your brand

Why I'm different:
I'm not just consulting from the sidelines. With Littlefoot Matcha, I'm:
• Testing every trend firsthand
• Learning what converts at pop-ups vs. online
• Building a community from scratch
• Dealing with the same algorithm frustrations you are

From analyzing why Oatly's lookbooks go viral to figuring out why Juicy Marbles has 97K followers selling fake meat – I obsess over what makes CPG brands magnetic on social.

Work with me:
• Mini Social Media Strategies: Get a digestible, actionable strategy in 2 weeks ($1,500-3,000)
• Full social media management and content creation
• UGC program development
• Brand positioning for founders who want to stand out

Currently accepting select CPG brands who are ready to stop playing it safe.

Let's make your brand the one people actually follow.

Founder & CEO

Creative Agency for Challenger Brands
For Food, Beverage, Skincare, Beauty, Wellness, Healthcare, and Baby Care brands

Core Services: Social Media, Community Management, Copywriting, Influencer Management, Email and SMS, Creative Production, Paid Advertising

14m+ in Sales Made
3.5m+ Followers Gained
14+ Brands Launched 
15k+ Creative Assets
140+ Campaigns Launched

I realized I was charging way too little—so I made a change.

When I first started my social media agency, I charged anywhere from $300–$750/month to fully run Instagram and Facebook for small businesses.

That meant:
👉 Strategy
👉 Content creation
👉 Visual design
👉 Posting
👉 Community management

Basically… everything.

At the time, it felt fair. I wanted to help small businesses, build my portfolio, and say “yes” to opportunities.

But then reality hit.

Those prices would never support:
❌ Team members
❌ Health insurance
❌ An office
❌ Software + tools
❌ Taxes 😅

So I did the uncomfortable thing.

I restructured our pricing, clearly defined our value, and stopped undercharging for work that drives real business results.

What happened next surprised me:
➡️ Better clients
➡️ Better conversations
➡️ Better boundaries

And honestly—the rest is history.

If you’re underpricing your services, consider this your sign:
Sustainable pricing isn’t greedy. It’s necessary.

Founder & Social Media Strategist | The Creative Exchange – Social & UGC Strategies for CPG Brands Founder

1 year ago, I launched Littlefoot Matcha 

Here's what I have learned so far:

1️⃣ Being ready to pivot is key
When I launched, I quickly sold out of matcha and was no longer able to get any from my supplier. I had to pivot to new suppliers, bring more offerings to the table faster than anticipated, and even introduced pop ups. This has helped the business make money during the matcha shortage. 

2️⃣ Views = Sales 
I have been able to accurately predict sales for pop ups based on the impressions my videos get. It's so hard to know what to plan for when it comes to a pop up, but video views have been a great way to predict overall sales outside of our regulars.

3️⃣ Customer feedback is important.
With our pop ups, monitoring sales and talking to customers has been key for increasing sales. Understanding why people come back (or don't), what they want in terms of drink size, flavors, etc. We have testing so many things this year and it's given us a clear path forward.

I am so excited for the year ahead and what we are planning to bring to Littlefoot in 2026.

Littlefoot Matcha has a weekly pop up at The Abbey Taphouse in Greensboro, NC.

Instead of paying to be in the space, the owner actually asked us to help run their social media.

For context, this is a 3 year old tap house serving beer, wine, TCH drinks, and kombucha. It's downtown, but not in an area you would ever drive by - you have to know where you are going. They focus on being the "soccer bar", host private events, and honestly not been able to draw a late night crowd.

Here's my strategy:
👉 I wanted to follow their current posting tactics about events
👉 I updated graphics (honestly finessing some things in Canva and am using Figma too)
👉 I went and took a ton of "stock" images for backgrounds
👉 I started posting videos for them (think trending bar humor type stuff)

Their team sends me pictures when they get in new beers and have new specials. They also manage all comments, social listening, and DMs. 

Here's what's happened so far:
✅ Finally started growing followers and got over the hump of being stuck under 4k followers 
✅ Really launched their TikTok (and we use the same videos on Instagram and TikTok)
✅ Posting consistently has helped with average post impressions 
✅ Posting about 2-4 videos a week with the average of 2k views per video and some videos have gained 6k-20k views 

My point of sharing this is, if you own a small business, a few optimizations and a little extra time dedicated to your social media can go a long way. I didn't work on a fancy strategy and I spend maybe 1.5 hours a week on this. 

For the results? I think it's definitely worth it.

✨ Bringing Korean Matcha to the U.S. with OSULLOC ✨

How do you introduce a heritage tea brand to a new market—during the busiest shopping season of the year? 🍵🎄

You blend culture, creators, and performance-driven media.

The challenge:
Build U.S. awareness for OSULLOC’s premium matcha and drive Amazon sales during the holiday season.

Our approach:
We launched a creator-led campaign across Instagram and TikTok, partnering with 50+ influencers to tell OSULLOC’s story through authentic, lifestyle-driven content—then amplified it with paid media to convert interest into action.

The results speak for themselves 👇

📣 Influencer Campaign

57 creators contracted
114 pieces of content
250K+ impressions
13K+ engagements

📈 Paid Media Performance
3M+ views
18K+ clicks
$0.30 CPC

Why it worked:
✔️ Strong creator-brand alignment
✔️ Platform-native content (not ads that felt like ads)
✔️ Paid amplification that supported both awareness and conversion

From Jeju Island to U.S. homes, this campaign proved that when storytelling meets strategy, even a centuries-old tea culture can thrive in a modern digital marketplace.

I got an email yesterday titled "Notice of Disengagement – 30 Days" from my bookkeeping team. 

It's the first time I have been let go by an agency.

I have unfortunately sent this emails to client's before, but only because the people we were working with would treat and speak to my team terribly.

The reason for this? Unknown, but I have my suspicions.

Since we started the engagement...
👉 1 line item in our monthly scope was never met (and we are getting a refund for that)
👉 Myself and my other team member in charge of managing this agency never felt like we could understand where things we at in the process
👉 We did not have a dedicated account manager (which should have been a question I asked before signing on)

It has been a struggle for us and seemed to be mutual for them.

Cancelling calls and not being able to do other things we need until after tax season.

I commend them on doing this when we obviously were not a priority.
And I have learned what to look for and ask from the next agency I onboard.

Curious if any of you all have had to cancel client contracts (and why).

Mini-series are not new. 

It’s often a strategy many creators and brands use. 

Creating a series of videos over time around one single topic. Many times you’ll hear people day “day one of” or “part one of”.

I have participated in creating series like these and they are great. Being able to tell a larger story in bite-sized pieces. 

TikTok is continuing to flame the fire with their latest spinoff app (that may be more geared to entertainment shows but it could open up opportunity for more): PineDrama

Many other apps like Quibi have never really seen to be successful, but we will see how TikTok makes this a success.

Open article: TikTok's latest spinoff app feels a lot like Quibi, but with shorter and cornier content by engadget.com

TikTok's latest spinoff app feels a lot like Quibi, but with shorter and cornier content

I love seeing concept designers on Instagram, and a recent post reminded me of a project I started 10 years ago: Concept Kitchen

When I started The Creative Exchange, I didn't have a lot of clients with budgets that allowed me to be creative.

So Concept Kitchen was born. 

A place to cook up concepts that were:
✔️ Daring
✔️ Creative
✔️ Bold

The project maybe lasted a year as I continue to grow projects and workload, but learning fro doing the work and being able to flex my Creative Director muscle was key for my growth.

I didn't go to school for design, or marketing, or business, and I honestly only had about 2 years of formal training in agencies before going full time with mine. So this project just may have been key for my growth and ability to "prove myself".

I talk to so many people who are fresh in their careers (or about to enter the workforce) and wonder how to get started. You don't need a client to start, your portfolio or case studies can be your own projects.

I didn’t set goals until after I started. 

Here’s why.

When it comes to social media, everyone talks about setting goals before you begin. And while I do think goals are important, I learned early on that social media growth doesn’t follow the same formula for every brand.

When I started my TikTok account, I actually didn’t set any growth goals for the first six weeks.

Instead, I focused on testing.
✅ Testing content formats. ✅  Testing hooks. ✅  Testing posting frequency. ✅  Testing what my audience actually cared about.

Those first weeks were all about learning how my brand showed up on the platform and how the algorithm responded to it. 

What worked for another creator or brand didn’t necessarily work for me, and that’s the reality of social media.

Once I had that initial data, then I started setting goals (trying to hit 10k this year btw)

Because here’s the thing: social media growth is incredibly dependent on three things—your brand, your audience, and the algorithm at that moment in time. 

And since algorithms constantly evolve, the goals you set today shouldn’t be permanent. They should be flexible.

In my experience, the best social media goals are reassessed regularly. They should be realistic based on your data, but still optimistic enough to push you to experiment and improve.

If you’re trying to set better goals for social media, here are a few tactical approaches that help:
👉 Start with a testing phase. Give yourself 4–6 weeks to experiment with formats, hooks, and topics before committing to specific growth targets. 👉 Track patterns, not just numbers. Look for trends in saves, comments, and watch time—not just follower count. 👉 Set process goals, not just outcome goals. For example: “Post 4 times per week” or “test 3 new content formats this month.” 👉 Reset goals quarterly. Algorithms change, audiences evolve, and what worked three months ago might not work today. 👉 Measure what actually matters for your brand. Sometimes that’s leads, sometimes it’s brand awareness, sometimes it’s community engagement.

The biggest shift for me was realizing that social media isn’t about predicting growth—it’s about learning from it.

Start. Test. Learn. Then set smarter goals.

Curious how others approach goal-setting for social media—do you set them before you start, or after you’ve gathered some data?

taplio

The Battle

Brian Moran

Anna Sullivan

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taplio

The Battle

Brian Moran

Anna Sullivan

Followers

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Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Brian Moran's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAnna Sullivan's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreBrian Moran's LinkedIn Performance