Tru Earth

Tru Earth offers a plastic-jug-free laundry detergent alternative in a revolutionary new strip form.
Helping save the planet, one small change at a time.

Co-Founder & CMO

My Passion Media Inc.

CMO for My Passion Media.  Oversee product development, paid media, content production, SEO, Social Media, marketing automation, funnel development and email marketing across all My Passion Media Properties. 

Brands including but not limited to Explore-mag.com, Canadiantraveller.com, Exploretheusa.com, InfoBarrel.com, Environment911.org, and Pawmanefin.com.

Chief Marketing Officer

Canada Wide Media

Vice President of Content Marketing.

Responsible for online content strategies, lead generation and marketing funnels.

Vice President Content & Marketing

Hinzie Media Inc

Owner

Business Objects

Technical Support for Business Objects Enterprise.  Was on the Elite team supporting only top tier companies and their Business Intelligence solutions.

Technical Support Engineer

Ryan is the Co-Founder of Tru Earth

Purpose driven direct to  consumer brand builder.

Ryan has:

✅ Helped Grow Tru Earth to more than 160,000 active subscribing customers
✅ Together with Tru Earth's Changemakers, eliminated more than 165,000,000 plastic-containers from landfills..
✅ Donated more than 33,887,227 loads of laundry detergent to those in need.
✅ Grown multiple premium subscription boxes to multi-million dollar businesses.
✅ Written content has been read by more than 100,000,000 readers.

Connect: 
Facebook https://m.facebook.com/theryemckenzie/
Twitter: @RyeMcKenzie

About Tru Earth
Tru Earth® based in Vancouver, Canada is a leading eco-friendly household product company committed to eliminating plastic from landfills and oceans. At its core, you’ll discover that Tru Earth, is actually a movement (#TruEarthMovement™). The Tru Earth team joins more than a quarter million equally committed people in more than 50 countries to combat the 645 billion plastic household product containers dumped in landfills and oceans globally each year. 

Our customers are #TruChangeMakers™, disrupting the multi-billion-dollar household product industry, reducing carbon emissions by up to 94% and caring for the health of the planet and their families. 

Tru Earth’s suite of products and planned launches come with our pledge to provide #TruChangeMakers with laundry, bathroom and kitchen products they need to make a substantial impact on the health of our world. To do ourpart, we promise to match all first-time subscriptions by donating to families in need across the globe. Because at Tru Earth, we know many small hinges can swing very, very big doors.

Ryan Mckenzie

Nothing burned me out faster than waking up every day with a full schedule and zero direction.

But once I got clear on my values, burnout and confusion lost their hold on me.

Autonomy:

The ability to choose how I work and what I work on. It drives almost every decision I make.

Simplicity:

The discipline of removing excess. It’s my framework for clarity because complicated solutions usually hide risk, waste time, and cloud judgment.

Variety:

The need for new challenges. It keeps me engaged and motivated, which is why launching something new excites me more than hitting arbitrary revenue targets.

When I was 25, ego and early wins had me thinking I had it all figured out.

But when life took an unexpected turn and I ended up in a sales job, the crash humbled me and forced a reset. 

That moment made it clear: values, not ego or external validation, should guide my decisions in life.

If you’re a founder drifting or drained, try this straightforward approach to get aligned:

- Sit down and write out what truly drives you.
- Identify the conditions that make you excited to work and the things that drain you.
- Let your values guide every choice: the projects you take on, the people you bring in, and the opportunities you chase or decline.

Defining your values puts your decisions back on track and makes burnout powerless.

Co-Founder Tru Earth | Saving the planet, one strip at a time.

I spent years thinking I was broken and everyone else just had this natural focus and drive that I was missing.

I remember sitting down to work, getting a solid hour of deep focus in, and then spending the next 7 hours floating between busy work, useless tabs, and pretending to be productive.

There’s so much preaching about “deep work” and focus, but honestly my solution ended up being Ritalin. 

I took it for the first time at 33, and I just sat there thinking, “Wait...people actually feel like this every day?”

That one day, I tore through a backlog of procrastination I’d been avoiding for months.

It was the first time I realized the problem was my ADHD this whole time.

I was struggling because I didn’t understand how my brain actually worked.

Once I understood that, everything changed. 

For the first time, the way I handled work and decisions finally aligned with how my brain actually worked.

I never realized how dangerous it was to share my ideas too early.

I used to cling to every opinion, hoping for clarity, but ended up more scattered and drained than ever. 

Whether it be friends, families, or business associates, I needed someone to “sign off” on every single idea, sketch, or landing page. 

And pretty quickly, I noticed every conversation pulling me into decisions that didn’t align with my goals.

One cousin said it was too niche. 

A friend said it wouldn’t fly. 

My mom freaked out about the risk. 

I kept twisting my ideas around based on emotional feedback instead of real market signals. 

By chasing reassurance, I lost momentum before I’d even built anything.

I had to learn the hard way that the only feedback that matters comes from the people who will actually open their wallets. 

Not your family, friends, or anyone who’s just trying to be nice. 

Your real audience only cares if your product actually solves a problem for them.

So I started running small experiments by listening to early pushback, watching how buyers really acted, and then tweaking everything based on what stuck.

Now, this is a core principle for me in business: zip it, build, test, and validate with your market.

Things that truly make you happy in life cost almost nothing:

- showing up for your kids’ hockey game
- staying healthy
- building meaningful relationships

With time, my definition of success has changed from owning the next car, house, or having a specific “number” in the bank to simply cherishing my autonomy in life and business. 

I’ve bought the expensive stuff in life. 

After the initial dopamine hit, it becomes maintenance, debt, or another liability, and you’re left chasing bigger “hits” just to feel the same rush.

I’ve finally come to the point where I only want enough capital working for me to cover my lifestyle. 

Everything else is just extra.

li_at

JSESSIONID

Talks about #dtc, #ecommerce, #marketing, #marketingstrategy, and #ecommercemarketing

I didn’t realize it at the time, but chasing entrepreneurship was my way of filling a gap I grew up with.

And I see many young entrepreneurs doing the same. “I didn’t have this growing up, so I need to be successful to finally have it.”

That “it” usually turns out to be material: a house, a car, the validation you think will finally make it all feel worth it.

Ask someone to describe their dream life if money didn’t matter, and most will list what they want to have or buy, not how they really want to live that life.

You don’t see this hedonic trap until you start getting the things you once dreamed about.

The high fades, and you start chasing bigger wins just to feel the same dopamine rush.

Then it hits you that real success is having the freedom to spend your time how you want, doing what you love, without being trapped by your own success.

Maybe that’s what freedom really is.

I’ve built my brand to $150M+ in revenue and learned one thing the hard way: 

If you want predictable scaling, optimize the ENTIRE funnel.

1. The Hook:

Make sure you execute your hooks properly.

I’ve tested multiple hooks around the same creative theme and seen CPCs swing from $4 → $1 just because of different hook execution.

2. The Offer: 

Even a winning hook can’t compensate for a weak offer.

That’s why it’s best to test:

- Value props
- AOV thresholds
- Bundles
- Pricing
- Urgency

3. Audience Relevance: 

Match your creative messaging to their awareness level.

Test personas, angles, and emotional frames to figure out what actually resonates with your target audience. 

4. Audience Retention:

A click means nothing if your viewer bounces after three seconds.

Track completion rates, story structure, and comment quality to make sure my attention retention is also good.

Scaling only works when you get every part of your funnel right.

Your hook, offer, audience relevance, and attention retention all need to work together.

Miss one, and you’re going to feel it in every metric.

You can get your Canadian operation live in as little as 2 weeks.

I’ve seen that many successful U.S. DTC brands hesitate to expand into the Canadian market, assuming it means paperwork, customs delays, and slow shipping.

That’s why we built Breakthrough Fulfillment to make expanding into Canada a two-week decision and handle everything you need to get up and running.

We simplify the entire process by:

- Taking the hassle out of cross-border logistics. We handle imports and fulfillment from start to finish.
- Getting your products to major Canadian cities the next day, keeping customers happy, and your carts full.
- Navigating compliance, taxes, and paperwork effortlessly with our expert guidance.
- Skipping the middleman. Work directly with decision-makers for fast answers and smooth operations.

We’ll have you live in Canada within two weeks, ready to test, scale, and start selling without the usual slowdown.

See how we’re helping U.S. brands launch and grow faster across the border:

Open article: Cut Shipping Costs by 68% and Get Next-Day Delivery Across Canada | Premier 3PL Services by www.breakthrough.studio

Cut Shipping Costs by 68% and Get Next-Day Delivery Across Canada | Premier 3PL Services

Dear Ecom founders, 

You didn’t come this far by being soft. 

But the next chapter requires something harder:

graphical user interface, text, application

The hardest punch I ever took in business was realizing how little money we were actually keeping.

Before you scale another dollar of revenue, understand this:

If I had to rebuild Tru Earth to 8 figures from scratch, I’d ONLY use these 3 tools. 

1. Shopify

Everything your customer experiences, from landing page to checkout, happens on Shopify.

If your traffic won’t convert on the storefront, that’s your signal to fix fundamentals before adding more apps, automations, or growth hacks.

2. Klaviyo

This will stabilize cash flow and expand margins.
Email and SMS will always outperform any “growth hack” or paid tool in terms of ROI.

If you’re not maximizing revenue from the customers you already have, adding more tools just means you’re burning money faster.
3. A one-click upsell app

This is your AOV unlock and scale enabler.

Even a modest lift in AOV can transform your acquisition strategy and make paid traffic more forgiving, so you can make scaling less risky for your business. 

But I’ve seen founders do the total opposite. 

They’ll:

- Spend $700/month on segmentation tools before fixing their offer.
- Pay $499/month for an AI CRO assistant before testing their product page.
- Install 4 attribution tools before improving their creative quality.

It’s complexity disguised as progress.

Before adding another tool, ask yourself:

“Is this solving a real bottleneck in my business, or am I hoping it covers up a weak one?”

90% of the time, you’re better off taking that money and reinvesting it into better:

- Product
- Customer feedback loops
- Creative testing
- Email flows

Beyond Shopify, Klaviyo, and a one-click upsell app, every other tool is optional until your fundamentals demand it.

January is when everyone suddenly remembers email is still their highest intent channel.

• Founders start shopping for agencies.
• Agencies start shopping for better ESPs.
• Everyone is trying to fix retention before another chaotic Q4.

Omnisend just published a roundup of the top email agencies going into 2026, and there is a clear pattern in the brands that are actually winning.

They are not choosing between “agency or software.”

They are pairing serious strategic help with a platform that lets them execute at scale.

You get the agency for the thinking.

You use Omnisend for the doing.

The blocker for a lot of operators is the same every year.

They know their current ESP is holding them back, but the migration sounds like a painful, risky project that nobody has time to own.

That is exactly what Omnisend’s Personal Migration Partner Program is designed to solve.

If you are spending $250+ per month, Omnisend assigns you a dedicated migration partner who:

• Moves your automations and flows over
• Rebuilds your email templates
• Transfers forms, tags, and segments so you are not rebuilding everything from scratch

You keep your team focused on growth while someone who does this all day handles the move.

And when you do bring in an agency, they are stepping into a clean Omnisend setup with automation, segmentation, and reporting already in place.

Omnisend’s own data shows their US merchants average around $68 in revenue for every $1 spent on the platform.

Pair that with the right agency, and your “new year, new retention plan” actually has the infrastructure to work.

If you are rethinking your email setup going into this year, this is the moment to get both the strategy and the stack right.

You can check it out here:

 https://lnkd.in/dddMBgx8

Use code RYAN30 for 30% off your first 3 months, and if you are at $250+/month, ask about the Personal Migration Partner Program so they handle the migration for you.

Open article: Recommended by Ryan McKenzie by omnisend.com

Our $150M+ growth at Tru Earth came down to one validation pillar that gave us confidence for every launch:

Focus first on the problems your customers are already facing.

Teams will automatically jump to the next cool idea thinking

“My customer already bought. Surely they’ll buy again.”

But your customer is only interested in buying the next solution in their journey.

Fortunately, you really only need three things to crush every product launch:

1. Understand what your customers want next.
2. Deliver such a good first experience that buying again feels like the safest decision.
3. Build products that are aligned with your brand values.

Get your launches aligned with the customer journey and your customers will naturally circle back without too much force.

$1–5M brands often hit a wall. I’ve scaled past $250M and share the exact 8-figure roadmap in my newsletter.

Open article: Ryan McKenzie by ryanmckenzie.com

I’ve burned more money than I care to admit testing this.

The top landing page conversion killers:

The most common growth bottleneck is sending all traffic straight to the PDP.

You're limiting yourself to people who are already ready to buy or compare products. 

That works to a point, BUT you're cutting off every new audience that doesn't know your product exists yet.

If someone lands on a PDP with no context, all they see is a product and a price. 

There's no curiosity. No excitement or reason to care.

You can't take someone from excitement to logic to overcoming objections when you skip straight to logic.

You need a hook that makes them curious about the solution before you show them the product.

Otherwise, you're just jamming a price in their face and hoping they're already convinced.

That's not a funnel. 

That's a filter for people who were going to buy anyway.

It took me years to realize it’s not worth suffering through the process for a finish line that might never come.

We’re wired to think, I’ll be happy when...

I graduate.
I get a job.
I get a partner.
I buy a house.
The kids move out.

Chasing milestones is natural, but the things you think will bring happiness often become the liabilities that limit your peace.

At the peak, I had it all on paper, business was ripping, condo and house were secured, and I had an expensive car lease.

But when money dried up suddenly, all those “luxuries” were liabilities that weighed me down. 

I realized the less you’re tethered by dopamine traps, the easier it is to actually be at peace.

I definitely believe in having goals, but chasing them at the cost of the present is a trap.

Ask any ultra-wealthy entrepreneur, and most would trade it all to go back 10 years and enjoy life as it was.

If you want to:

- Create listicle landing pages that actually convert for your ecom brand
- Use the exact blueprint I follow to drive sales
- Grab proven listicle templates for inspiration
- Multiply sales from a single high-converting page

Check it out here:

ryanmckenzie.com

Ryan McKenzie

You can cut your CPC in half by pivoting to a niche listicle landing page. 
The riches are in the niches.

Take hair products. 

African-American women need different products than Asian women or white women with blonde hair. Different textures, different problems, different objections.

Generic psychological tricks in copy won’t work here, but a niche-specific listicle targeting micro audiences will definitely convert.

- You swap out the top 3 points of your listicle for a different niche. 

- Change a few images. 

- Update the testimonials. 

Your designer doesn't need a week because you can crank it out in hours.

You don't even need a video in your ads. The entire customer journey happens inside the listicle. 

You prime them, address objections, build trust, and send them to PDP ready to buy.

When ad costs go crazy, listicles let you pivot to cheaper, more targeted audiences without rebuilding your entire funnel.

Check out how we build high-converting listicles for our clients here: https://lnkd.in/gxrfWz5D

Listicles are Ad Spend Insurance when CPMs spike, they keep your CAC stable

A friend of mine came to me because they were losing close to $10K a month on $30K in revenue.

6 months later, their supplement brand hit a $20M run rate.

At first, he ran his supplement brand like a dropshipping operation, obsessing over making a profit on every first sale.

But it was holding him back from true scale.

A perfect example of what happens when someone comes from dropshipping into real ecom and realizes the rules don’t translate.

So instead of focusing on front-end profit alone, we changed his strategy to optimize upsells and backend revenue.

Rather than chasing $10 profit on 10 sales, we aimed for $5 profit on 100 sales while optimizing upsells and repeat purchases.

His brand absolutely exploded after this.

Been incredible to watch their comeup.

One offhand comment from a friend completely rewired how I scaled True Earth to 8 figures. 

I realized I'd been doing it backwards.

Two words from my friend completely changed the way I built Tru Earth.

For ecom founders spending $50K+ a month on Meta and looking to scale from $1M to $10M+:

I’m taking on 1 more brand for hands-on ad guidance + growth strategy.

I’ll be working directly with you in our weekly hour-long sessions (bi-weekly if needed) to:

- Review your campaigns and troubleshoot what’s not working
- Optimize creative, targeting, and funnel structure for higher ROI
- Build a clear roadmap for scaling ad spend without wasting money

If this sounds like it could help, DM me and we’ll see if it’s a fit.

Jordan West

E-Com Investor & Podcast Host | Multiple Exits| Avid Golfer, Biker + Hiker | Dad Of 3 | CEO + CMO | Mastermind Host

My Journey 
When I was 23 I decided to buy a Taco Del Mar restaurant... I knew I had made a huge mistake at 2pm the first day when only 3 customers had walked in... (and two of them were my parents haha) 
For 5 years I worked hard to grow sales every way I could think of and in the end, tripled our revenue which still didn't seem to matter on the profit side. (I lost a lot of money 💰)

The one thing that I seemed to be the best at in the restaurant endeavor was marketing and getting people in the door. 

Fast forward to 2014 when my wonderful wife Carmen (definitely my better half) started a modest baby clothing line and was selling at craft markets. 

I asked if I could test running a few ads on Facebook... and the rest is history. I learned every up-and-coming strategy and tactic and helped grow the small start-up to a multi-million dollar company and still growing!

Since then we have acquired multiple DTC brands and have built an agency (upGrowth Commerce) to service our brands as well as others who are in a similar situation to us!

In 2019 we started the podcast "secrets to scaling your e-commerce brand" which is now in the top 50 business/marketing podcasts in multiple countries including Canada and the United States.

I love connecting with people, so please connect. (I do have a no a**holes policy though, so don't connect if that's you.) 

I talk all about scaling businesses using paid ads on “Secrets To Scaling Your E-Commerce Brand”.

Chief Executive Officer

I have an airport hack for ALL OF YOU! (that may just change your life) 

Lately... at the airport I've been doing something kind of weird. 

You probably wouldn't peg me for this kind of person but here it is. 

I've been...

1. Putting my phone in my pocket 
2. Not having airpods in. 
3. Talking to whoever is around me that looks interesting and doesn't have their head buried in their phone. 

And HERE'S the WILD THING! 

Today alone I made 2 insane connections... 

the first was a nice couple that was sitting beside me in the emergency exit row. 

They turned out to own (with another group) a bunch of motel properties that I had been eyeing for a MASSIVE RESORT that i think could be an insanely huge attraction for the city I live in. I had been thinking about it for a while and it's crazy that they just happened to be beside me on a random flight. Many more other connections too... but I digress. 

The second was a random guy who runs point for one of the largest inference chip companies in the world helping put in data centres... 

Well I just happen to have a local data centre deal that I've been dreaming up for my town. 

The first convo actualy helped steer me in a totally different LIFE direction than I was thinking about fo rthe next 5-10 years TBH (not exaggerating) 

So... the lesson. 

Get off your effing phone 
Talk to people. 
The universe/god/life wants to give you good things... but you won't get them staring at your phone or sitting in your office. 

they are out there! 
Anyone else ever have moments like these?

I know I announced this recently, but I wanted to really break it down for you all.
We’ve made a big move at Social Commerce Club that most people don't realize! 

👉 Parker Kump has stepped into the role of CEO.
👉 I’ve moved into President + Chief Visionary Officer.

My role as Founder & Owner hasn’t changed! 

If anything, I’m more involved... just in the lane where I create the most value: vision, bar-setting, and finding new angles on the social commerce + ecom market.

This shift isn’t a change in how we actually operate day to day tbh... 

It’s a recognition of the role Parker’s already been playing, AND it’s a huge part of how we’re going to scale from here. (and have been scaling since he stepped into this role informally 3 months ago! 

In EOS, they talk about the ideal pairing of the Visionary and the Integrator. (if you aren't familiar go read traction and/or rocketfuel) 

That’s us (and I have finally found my integrator lol!) 

Visionary (me): pattern-spotter, idea machine, obsessed with where the market is going next, constantly raising the bar and starting “just one more” fire. (ya my team loves that... lol)

Integrator (Parker): brings structure, focus, and follow-through. He turns chaos into clarity, runs the business, manages the team, and makes sure the trains don’t just run… they run on time and healthily. 

Parker is my Integrator.

When I decided to acquire Tuff Media, it was because I knew exactly who he was for me:

Parker is the Warren Buffett to my Charlie Munger.

Different roles. Same philosophy. Unfair advantage together.

What’s happened since we locked in this partnership?

93% of Social Commerce Club clients are hitting or exceeding their revenue targets.

We’ve built the structure and leadership to triple as an organization.

We’re on track to drive $1B in GMV through social commerce for brands over the next 3 years.

Internally, this move has been insane (in the best way):

Parker challenges every assumption and every dollar.

He protects the team and the roadmap from my “10 new ideas before breakfast”… and then forces us to execute the right ones.

He’s raised the operational bar across the board and turned SCC from “fast-moving agency” into “fast-moving company with real leadership and systems.”

And for me?

I’m still in the trenches at SCC, (don't worry) just focused where I’m most dangerous (in a good way):

Vision and strategy

Big bets and partnerships

New ways to look at social commerce and what’s possible for brands

Setting the standard for how we show up in the market
This CEO / CVO split gives us the foundation we need for a more ambitious Social Commerce Club - more impact for brands, more innovation in social commerce, and more opportunity for our team.

I’ve never been more excited about where we’re headed... 

and I’m having the most fun of my career operating in full-on Visionary mode!!

I want to be clear 🫠 
These daily random TikTok Shop GMV MAX screenshots that I share are from ADS driven results ONLY 🤩 

This doesn't include organic affiliate driven content 

I feel like the guy in 2015 trying to tell his friends that Facebook ads work (I was that guy lol) while the majoirty of people were waiting...

I realize that if you haven't gone HARD on TikTok shop you won't be able to to before BFCM 

But... 2026 will be the BIGGEST SHIFT into social commerce that we have seen. 

As AI content becomes more prevalent, HUMANS will crave human connection 

Which is why I believe that LIVE SHOPPING + Afilliate driven content will be the two biggest levers any brand can add to their arsensal. 

So what is my recomendation for bransnds in 2026? 

1. Talk to my team NOW to get in line at Social Commerce Club
2. If you can't afford us... I'll send you recommendations for cheaper agencies
3. If you're just trying to dip your toes in the water of TikTok shop join my skool group here https://lnkd.in/gMAu-gDZ

And the majority of brands still think this is a channel for cheap junk and discounts 🫤🤦‍♂️

Insane numbers for. Channel that’s barely 2 years old. 

Share this with brands who are sleeping on TikTok shop 

Also… if you’re looking at how to launch talk to my team at Social Commerce Club 🤷‍♂️🔥

graphical user interface, text, application, chat or text message

Brands - if you are on TikTok Shop and you aren’t using Reacher for creator seeding you are playing on hard mode! 

Bora Mutluoğlu and Jerry Qian are two of my favourite humans!

These guys flew in to Vegas because I was here for a conference just for one dinner together! 

Funny… They asked me what my working hours are and all I can tell you is that they are quite different from their 7am - 11pm daily grind 😆😆

Any new features that I’ve told them to build they’ve built out 100 X better than I could’ve imagined!

These are the kinds of guys that I bet on every single day and the reason why I can’t step away completely from advising founders!

This post isn’t sponsored or anything ha ha ha but I will tell you that Bora sneakily went and bought dinner for all of us last night even though I texted him before threatening him that if he did, he was dead to me

Update… Still a great guy not dead to me ha ha ha 😆 

OK if you’ve read until now why are you not using Reacher 😆🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️😱

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Brands in 2022 👇
“I wish I would have spent more on Facebook ads when they were so cheap!l”

Brands in 2027 🔥
“I wish I would have listened to Jordan and gone all in on TikTok Shop before my competition blew up there!” 

Brands in 2030 😱
“Remember when 50% of our revenue wasn’t driven by live streaming.” 

Ok what did I miss? 🤷‍♂️

2026 Prediction (that most of you don't want to hear)

The social media platforms that WILL thrive will BAN AI CONTENT. 

No one wants it. (deep down) 

Users are spending less time on platform. (and it's GARBAGE)

I talked to someone high at up at a social media platform we all know and love the other day and they told me something INSANE. 

They are completely deprioritizing the majority of AI content in the feed because users are spending less time on platform. 

Humans want to interact with humans. 

I am going HARD on all things human in 2026. More connection. More IRL. 

Thoughts?

I accept basically every connection request… because why not? 
I’ll tell why not 😆👇👇

5 messages in 5 days and the last one is usually always some guilt ridden message about me standing someone up 

Just because I accepted your invite, doesn’t mean I want your messages ha ha ha!

Connectors… Beware 

Anyone else?

Me: “If you had one controversial take on what brands get wrong on TikTok Shop… what is it?”
Zohaib Rattu 🤳: “Over-subsidizing their products.”

Me: “Not could be cannibalizing your other channels… you ARE.”

That moment hit hard!!!

Because here’s what a lot of brands are doing right now:

They take their main hero SKU
Sell it full price everywhere else

Then make it stupid cheap on TikTok Shop “just to get sales” + get momentum

And then they’re shocked when

Amazon flatlines

TOTAL MER blows up

Retail partners start asking questions
TikTok didn’t break your unit economics.

You did!!

The way I think about TikTok Shop:

It’s the only channel that will pay you (even breakeven) to give you insane impressions.
If you even make $1 profit there

And you’re getting a $30 CPM worth of awareness for free
You’re winning.

The problem...

Most brands aren’t tracking the halo.
So they see “low-margin TikTok orders”

Instead of “cheap reach that lifts Amazon / Shopify / retail”.

If I were rebuilding your TikTok Shop strategy from scratch, I’d do 3 things:

1️⃣ Protect the hero
 
No more “fire sale” pricing on the SKU that drives your brand.
 Use:

 – Smaller bundles
 – Trial sizes
 – TikTok-only variants
 
And keep price architecture consistent across channels.

2️⃣ Define your blended model
 
Decide up front:
 – What MER are you happy with including TikTok
 – How you’ll measure halo (Amazon, Shopify, retail lift)
 – What CPM you’re effectively getting from organic + creator content

If TikTok is breakeven but blended MER is up and CPMs are down… keep going.

3️⃣ Make TikTok the awareness engine, not the profit center (at first) 
 
Creators get you reach.
 
Reach fills retargeting pools on Meta, Google, Amazon, retail.
 
Your job is to:

 – Seed a ton of creators
 – Let TikTok Shop break even
 – Harvest the profit off-platform

TikTok Shop doesn’t have to be “super profitable”. (at first)

It has to be super scalable.

Curious where you’re at...
 Are you still discounting your main hero SKU heavily on TikTok Shop? 

Or have you already pulled that back?

You’re talented?
Great! Let me tell you what matters more… 
And why talent is the thing that I look for last 👇👇 

Are you complainer? 
Are you a victim?
Do you not have a growth mindset?
Can you not take criticism?
Do you have a fragile Ego? 
Is it everything everybody else’s fault?


 if you answered, yes to any of the above, I don’t want you in any of my organizations.

If you are thinking to yourself, oh man, I have these people in my organization… do everything in your power to first coach and correct, but most likely you need to remove them. 

It’s incredible What will happen when you do! 

Anyone else with me?

Read the post below and I hope this sinks in for anyone who is in e-commerce...
EVERYTHING IS CHANGING 🫠 👇 

This same brand had 22K affiliate videos that they were tagged in on TikTok Shop alone... 

So how do you it? 

reators need conditions that make posting profitable, easy, and fun.
Here’s the simple checklist that makes creators post over and over again 👇

1. A Creator-Friendly Offer

If the economics suck, creators won’t post.
Free shipping (non-negotiable)
Strong commission ($4.50–$5+ per order is the mental target)
No “ad commission penalty”
Price that converts (or TikTok-only bundles to justify value)

2. A Product That’s Easy to Sell on Video

Creators ask themselves:
“Can I think of 10 hooks for this in 10 seconds?”
They need:
A clear problem/benefit to talk about
Something DIFFERENT vs. 10 lookalike offers
A “why now” (flash sale, seasonality, trend)
Good packaging that looks great on camera
Content they can repurpose to Amazon/Instagram/YouTube

3. Extremely Simple Info (No Homework)

High-volume creators DO NOT want long briefs.
Give them:

A 1-page product card
4–7 key selling points
2–3 angle ideas
Compliance notes (if needed)

NOT:

10-page decks
Shot lists
Forced scripts

4. A Relationship That Feels Long-Term

Creators post more when they feel like partners, not gig workers.
This means:
Transparent commission (no surprises)
Insight into upcoming drops & promos
Human communication
Fast responses
Reliable customer experience (so they don’t get angry DMs)

5. Operational Ease

Creators go hard when it’s frictionless to work with you.
They need:
Fast sample shipping
Inventory that won’t sell out for weeks
Freedom to create in their style
New angles, ideas, and seasonal hooks
Optional contests (GMV, most posts, best angle)

6. Outreach That Actually Gets Opened

Bad outreach:
 We love your content 🤩 want to collab?”

Good outreach:
Start with the problem their audience has
Then the benefit
Then the commission + free shipping
Then why your product is unique
Then how easy you make it for them to test

7. The Simplest ‘Will Creators Hammer This Product?’ Checklist

If you can check most of these, creators will post like crazy:
Free shipping
Strong & stable commission
Clear problem solved
Unique angle
Great product card
Simple outreach
Good packaging
Solid inventory
No shady term changes
Steady stream of new angles/promos

Thoughts? Share this with a brand friend who needs to know!

WOW - the reception on episode 1 of the Social Commerce Club podcast has been WILD! 

Here's what we covered in our FIRST episode (and why you HAVE TO LISTEN if you're thinking about diving into social commerce!)

• Brands doing 3,000% live GMV on TikTok Shop
• The plan to be live 24/7 in 2025
• Why faceless brands (Nike, Lulu, etc.) are getting smoked by creator-led brands
• Jake Paul, Bieber, MrBeast... and the actual playbook they’re running!! (this will surprise you) 
• In an AI world, why “human-made” and live video become the premium

Also... how one of my strategists went viral on Instagram for the most INSANE THING! 

Listen here! 

https://lnkd.in/giVMbQkY

Why am I obsessed with TikTok Shop for brands in 2026? 

Look below. 

This is the halo. 

A brand that had zero searches on platform now is on track for 2 millionish a month. 

This is DEMAND GEN. 

This is the way. 

Send this post to a brand that needs to scale on TikTok Shop!

🔥🔥 Looking to hire 2 top 1% social commerce strategists to join us at Social Commerce Club that can be up and running on week one.

If that is you… or you know someone send me a dm and tell me why it’s you. 

Btw - next month we will be the first TikTok Shop platinum partner in North America 

Letssss goo. 

Ps small agencies and/or freelancers my dms are open 

Please share with your network 🙏. 

Ps this is North America client facing.

Big ask LinkedIn 🙏
We’re looking for a head of live shopping at Social Commerce Club 

Will be insane growth over the next 5 years 

Maybe one of the biggest ops that I can think of TBH 

Will be sooooooo much work

But you will help us build something HUGE! 

NA based only 

Message me if you think it’s you. 

This role will report directly to the CEO btw

Look at your feed right now!! (after you read my post obvs) haha 

LinkedIn carousels with the same AI font, same structure

X threads that all start with “10 game-changing lessons from…”

Instagram posts that feel like ChatGPT dressed in Canva (i lovev canva lol)

We’re about to hit peak AI slop.

When everything is optimized, nothing is interesting.

Here’s what I think happens next in my mind. 

1️⃣ Platforms crack down

Meta and TikTok already have detection models for synthetic content.
First step: “This is AI-generated” labels.
Next step: deprioritizing that content in the feed.

2️⃣ A “human-only” mode emerges (or a while PLATFORM) 

Whether it’s a new platform or a tab inside existing ones, there will be a place where:
AI content is banned or heavily filtered (or you can opt-out)
Human-created posts get preference
The cost of creating (time, effort) becomes a feature, not a bug

3️⃣ Audiences will pay more attention to humans

When every other post is generated, a founder talking into their iPhone, stumbling through their words, will win attention.
Founders: this is your edge.

Write your own posts (even if they’re NOT perfect - in fact imperfection wins IMO)

Speak your own thoughts (even if they’re rough)

Show your face, your kids, your messy whiteboard

AI can help you research and sharpen.
But don’t let it replace you!!! (becuase it wants to!!) 

The more synthetic + fake the internet gets, the more valuable authenticity becomes. 

BE YOURSELF - btw that's human me hiking my daily trail in the snow being as authentic as I can. 

Like our swaG??

No matter the level of business that I have got to…

This is ALWAYS true. 

Anyone else? 🤷‍♂️

I feel for other TikTok shop agencies 

It’s hard. 

Most don’t get it. 

We do 😆

Keep up the good work Social Commerce Club 🙌🏻

Yes yes yes 

We have been thinking more about what this role looks like from the agency perspective.

How we train fast

Who’s base knowledge makes them a good fit etc. 

And I will tell you what I know. 

99% of people don’t get it. 

They haven’t had the paradigm shift yet. 

It’s a new muscle 

It’s a new way of thinking. 

Working with creators is HARD! 

They don’t perform like ads do 😆

But this role is really big in terms of impact and responsibility 

Seems like more brands are catching on. 

But tbh I still feel like guy in 2014 telling their friends to invest as much as they can into Facebook ads and they laugh at me 🤷‍♂️🫤 when it comes to how big social commerce really is going to be!

Yesterday I was driving with my son who’s 6… 

We saw a bunch of billboards and he was asking about the messages on each

It reminded me of the classic Tim Ferris question… so I decided to ask him

“If you could put one message on a Billboard, what would it be?” 

He took about 3 seconds and said 

“My message would be “I love you””

This kid gets it ❤️

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