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

The average DTC brand spends 6+ months trying to expand into Canada.

Canada isn’t harder. It’s because they’re stuck solving 47 small problems sequentially, instead of all at once:

Customs documentation. Carrier relationships. Compliance research. Tax registration. Warehouse vetting. Duty calculations. Returns processing.

Each one takes 1-2 weeks to figure out. None of them compounds. 

By month 4, you've burned cash and momentum learning things a 3PL partner already knows.

We built Breakthrough Fulfillment to solve all of these simultaneously, in 2 weeks. 

What we do:

- Take the hassle out of cross-border logistics. We handle imports and fulfillment from start to finish, so you never touch customs paperwork.
- Get your products to major Canadian cities the next day, keeping customers happy and your carts full.
- Navigate compliance, taxes, and paperwork effortlessly with our expert guidance. We know the regulations, so you don't have to learn them.
- Skip the middleman. Work directly with decision-makers for fast answers and smooth operations, not ticket systems.

We'll have you live in Canada within 2 weeks, ready to test, scale, and start selling.

You test Canada while competitors are still on month 2 of compliance research.

See how we're helping brands collapse months of operational overhead:

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www.breakthrough.studio

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

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

This guy is quietly killing the $500B+ SEO industry with an AI tool called Meridian.

Some are calling it “the Google Analytics of ChatGPT.”

Here’s why ignoring Meridian right now would be a HUGE a mistake:

People aren’t Googling anymore. They’re asking AI.

And they get one answer not 10 blue links.

That single shift just nuked traditional SEO.

The CTO of hubspot admitted it: “Google’s 10 blue links are dying. If you’re not showing up in ChatGPT answers, you’re invisible.”

This is where Meridian comes in.

Meridian shows you:

- If AI recommends your brand

- When it recommends competitors instead

- Why you’re missing from answers

Paid ads rent attention. Classic SEO built an asset.

Now AI answers decide existence.

→ Reddit dropped 15% because their SEO doesn’t matter anymore

→ Monday. com lost 40% of its market cap in a month too

I’m going to leave a link to try Meridian here: Trymeridian.com

P.S. I'm giving away the world's first AI visibility tracker. This shows you exactly how you're ranking In AI search. 

Comment “Meridian” and I’ll send it to you. 

And yes, I am a proud Meridian Partner on this launch.

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

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

We’ll work together to:

- Dive into your campaigns and fix what’s not working
- Optimize creative, targeting, and funnels so every dollar counts
- Map out a clear plan to scale ad spend without wasting money
- Catch up weekly (or bi-weekly if that works better) with actionable next steps

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

I get out of the shower dripping wet and grab my phone.

Water pooling under me. Don't care.

I voice note the entire messaging strategy that just appeared in my head.

Brad's wife's foster sibling had invested in this laundry detergent patent. They offered it to us.

We tried the product. It was good.

But we kept thinking there's no way such an inexpensive product could work with media buying. The margins can't carry paid acquisition.

We liked it. Thought maybe subscription might help. Weren't convinced.

So we sat on it.

Then one Tuesday in the shower, it happened.

The entire messaging.

One second I'm standing there with shampoo in my hair, next second I can see everything clearly.

How we position the brand. The benefits. The environmental angle. The subscription psychology. Everything.

That shower moment became the messaging for Tru Earth for the first four years.

Not four months. Four YEARS.

Breakthrough moments don't happen when you're forcing them.

Your subconscious works on problems even when you're not at a desk strategizing.

If you're stuck on your messaging right now, spinning your wheels...

Maybe you don't need another framework.

Maybe you just need to let your brain do what it already knows how to do.

Stop forcing it. Let it simmer.

When it clicks, don't let it slip away.

Voice note that sh*t immediately, no matter where you are.

Email-only retention stops scaling at a certain revenue threshold.

You’re doing $500K-$2M, email is working “fine,” but your repeat purchase rate’s barely moved in 6 months.

And you’re “solving” for growth by dumping more into acquisition instead of fixing retention.

You know SMS works.

The problem is, you’re worried about:

- Managing another channel when you’re already stretched thin
- Compliance (getting sued for text spam)
- Coming off as desperate or annoying
- Whether YOUR customers will actually respond

But your worries don’t add up, operators:

SMS subscribers convert 4-10x higher than email-only subscribers.

If you’re doing $1M+ and not running integrated SMS, you’re probably leaving $150K-$300K on the table annually.

And January makes this worse.

Your email list just survived Q4. It’s exhausted. Opens are down, fatigue is real.

The channel you’re ignoring while your email list burns out has 98% open rates and gets read within 3 minutes.

This is where Omnisend makes sense for operators at scale.

It’s email + SMS in one platform. Not two disconnected tools. Unified flows, segments, and reporting.

And if you’re at $250K+/mo, their Personal Migration Partner Program handles the move (compliance setup, flow migration, list transfer) so you’re not figuring this all out at midnight.

Omnisend’s data shows their US merchants average $68 in revenue for every $1 spent.

You already know SMS works.

Do you know what another quarter of delay is costing you?

If you’re ready to stop leaving revenue on the table, start here:

https://lnkd.in/dddMBgx8 

Use code RYAN30 for 30% off your first 3 months.

If you’re at $250K+/month, ask about the Personal Migration Partner Program and let them handle the migration.

omnisend.com

Recommended by Ryan McKenzie

What gets you to 7 figures is completely different than what gets you to 8.

At 7 figures, you can brute force growth. Throw more budget at ads. Work harder. Grind through problems.

At 8 figures, that breaks. You hit a wall where working harder just burns cash faster.

That shift is not about effort and feeling productive. It’s about systems, creative strategy, and which levers actually move the business.

I’ve taken brands through this transition. I know where the wall shows up and what it takes to break through. 

I’m opening up 1 spot for hands-on ad guidance + growth strategy.

We focus on:

- Ad strategy and media buying at scale 
- Creative optimization (maintain performance as you scale spend)
- Operational and strategic changes
- Dive into your campaigns, audit and fix what's not working
- Weekly (or bi-weekly) calls with actionable next steps

This isn't an agency thing. It's boutique coaching with someone who's scaled brands through the exact problems you're facing.

If you’re spending $50K+ a month on Meta, doing $1-5M in revenue and looking to make that jump, DM me and we’ll see if it’s a fit.

There was a time in my life where I genuinely believed I’d screwed things up so badly there was no way back.

I’d be driving down the road sometimes just screaming at the top of my lungs.

I had no idea how to get myself out of this hole.

I thought my career was over.

Not "this is tough" over... Like, this is it. I peaked at 32. I'll never see those numbers again. No path forward.

That's where I was in 2012, 2013.

We’d built this ringtone subscription business ranked number one on Google.

Business was pumping.

Then it collapsed, pretty much overnight. 

Everything we'd built for a decade... poof. And I had anchors everywhere.

A house I just bought. A condo I still owned. An expensive car lease.

The business that was supposed to carry this was now dead. We had money saved to pay our taxes, so we did what desperate people do: made a desperate decision.

We invested it into this forex thing that was paying 1% per week. It was registered with the Canadian Securities Commission, so we thought it made sense.

Six months later, lost that too.

All the money we owed the government, gone.

They sent a bailiff to my house to take my truck.

I wasn't home, my wife answered the door.

She had no idea any of this was going on...

I was hiding the collapse from everyone. Her. My kids. Anyone who asked how things were going.

"Yeah, things are good. Busy, you know."

Meanwhile, driving down the road screaming.

When you're in it, you don't think you're getting out. You don't think you'll be able to rebuild.,The worst part wasn't losing money or having debt…

It was the certainty that I'd already had my one shot.

I'd built something once, watched it collapse, and now I was done.

Over.

Peaked at 32 and didn't even know it was happening.

If you're reading this and you're quietly afraid you've already peaked...

If your business is struggling and you're wondering if you'll ever get back up...

If you're in the car fighting the urge to scream because you can't see a way out...

I get it.

I don’t have some corny, reassuring guru advice.

I'm not gonna tell you "just keep grinding" or "everything happens for a reason."

When you're in the hole, the hole is real.

The debt is real. The fear is real. The car screaming is real.

What I will tell you is, I was wrong.

I was wrong about it being over.

I was wrong about peaking at 32 and never seeing those numbers again.

But I couldn't see that when I was in it.

Nobody can.

AI is leveling the playing field the same way the internet did.

Last night before bed, I was having AI research futures for the S&P, gold, and Nasdaq so I could understand what the market would do this morning. The tools are genuinely insane.

But do not trust everything it outputs, or you’re falling behind.

Because sometimes it's completely full of sh*t.

I was at a hockey game Saturday. Asked ChatGPT if they'd traded a player to another team, mentioned the local team's name.

It told me yes. Said Kevin Bieska played for the Express.

I pushed back. "I don't think that's true. And I meant Cole Bieska, not Kevin. Kevin's the dad."
It checked again. "You're right."

That's not even a complicated thing to know. But it hallucinated anyway.

So you need judgment. You need to be able to evaluate accuracy. Using AI for research means you have to be able to assess whether it's right. Maybe it's not even you doing the evaluation, maybe you find another tool to verify. 

But you can't just blindly trust the output.

And I think that means we're still going to need good people.

Your judgment as a leader shifts. Because if AI is gobbling up jobs, there should hypothetically be way more people looking for work. The skill becomes finding people who are actually hungry and self-motivated. People who want to show up and make things happen.

How do you build a team that can leverage these tools to get 10x the output?

If every person now has access to 100x the output potential, how do you find the people who can actually GET that from these tools? Who are hungry, eager, and do good work?

I think we're going to move away from people for a bit. Then we're going to realize we still need them.

Not everyone's a unicorn. So the game becomes finding unicorns.

What separates founders still growing after 3 years?

It’s not what they ADD.

What they CUT:

What Healthy Founders STOP Doing

I read a stat recently that the latest AI models have an IQ around 160.

When you're building workflows and automation, you're essentially working with someone brilliant.

But even at 160 IQ, it doesn't fully understand what you're thinking or the exact output you want.

You plan something that seems perfect. You build it. Then you sit there trying to figure out how to actually use it.

That gap between planning and execution is where AI projects stall out.

Workflows are multi-step and deterministic. You decide all the steps, and the AI executes different things along the way.

The logic it uses at each step needs to be evaluated. Optimized. Like CRO, but for AI outputs.

• You create a rubric
• You have a scoring mechanism for evaluating whether the output is good
• You can let the LLM decide initially, but you still need someone with deep domain knowledge to go through each step and verify the output is actually right

Not just "right enough." Actually right.

LLMs are trained on massive datasets. Feed them domain-specific information, but you still need someone evaluating multiple run-throughs. You'll get output that seems fine but isn't optimized.

And there's always room to optimize.

Yes, you need fewer people. But you still need people.

Smart operators build these systems, optimize them, then move on to the next thing.

The future is about doing different work, not less.

More decision-making. Less execution.

Planning becomes critical when you're using AI to execute those plans, because the quality of your inputs directly determines the quality of your outputs.

The person running the business still controls the inputs.

Learning how to give clear instructions and plan effectively is one of the valuable skillsets you can develop right now.

Your static ads start with claims so generic they might as well be invisible.

"This helps you save time and money."

Great. So does everything else. 

A feature dressed up as a benefit is not a message. And your audience has heard it a thousand times before.

You don’t need more claims or flashier features. Speak to what your avatar actually wants.

Saving time isn't the goal. It's what they DO with that time that matters.

Do they want to stop reviewing data at midnight and actually see their kids before bed? Get out of the weeds so they can think strategically again? Stop burning hours on tasks that don't move the needle?

You have to tell them the end state.

Instead of "save time and money," try: "Stop spending 10 hours a week buried in spreadsheets and start showing up to the moments that actually matter."

Same core benefit. But now it's specific. Now it connects.

The process:

• Research your avatar
• Understand what they actually want beyond surface-level efficiency
• Build a message template
• Test variations with different end states
• See which one resonates

The ad that works is the one that resonates with the person reading it.

When I was deep in the Tru Earth build, my calendar was open. People could grab me whenever.

I thought that was leadership. Maybe you can relate.

Be available. Be the person people come to.

Turns out, that was just lazy management.

My team would bring me problems. I'd solve them. Fast. Done. But I was becoming everyone's shortcut, not their leader.

The boundary that felt the most uncomfortable: Tuesdays only.

I batch all my coaching calls on one day now. The rest of the week stays open for deep work. 

When I first implemented it, I felt like an asshole. People would want to talk, and I'd say "Let's get it on the calendar for Tuesday."

But what actually happened surprised me:

My team started solving problems before bringing them to me.

I introduced Dan Martell's 3-1-1 system: if you're bringing me a problem, you need three potential solutions and the one you recommend. No problem shows up without options attached.

That forced agency. It forced thinking and ownership.

And honestly, I don't love being on the phone. I like my creative blocks. I like spending three hours thinking through a framework without interruptions.

Protecting that time wasn't selfish. It was the most generous thing I could've done.

Because when I was always available, I was teaching them they couldn't make decisions without me.

Now they make calls. They own outcomes. And when we do connect on Tuesdays, we're solving the right things instead of staying stuck on a hamster wheel of urgency.

Lazy management always feels like you’re doing more.

But constant availability creates dependency, not leadership.

AI isn’t going to just show up and make everything super easy.

It'll make some things super easy. It'll make some jobs obsolete.

But if you're the one controlling it, there's a lot to learn about how to communicate with AI to produce the results you actually want, how to build systems that work in practice, and how to troubleshoot when they break.

You have to think differently.

It's like trying to do ballet instead of bodybuilding.

Both require muscles. Both are athletes. But bodybuilding muscles aren't going to be great for ballet, and ballet muscles probably aren't good enough for bodybuilding.

They're just good at different things.

Operators of the future look different because their responsibilities are different.

They're learning how to do different things. Troubleshooting systems more than what they're doing now. The actual work changes. The muscles you need change.

I've built enough AI tools in the last year to know this firsthand.

Sometimes you plan something, execute it, and realize it's actually less efficient than just doing it by hand. I've built entire systems and thought "this is actually less efficient by the time I do all this stuff. I can just build a Claude project instead of this gigantic automated mess of Frankenstein parts."

That's the learning curve.

Context matters. But putting it to use is often different than planning it. You'll build something and realize you need to review a step before moving to the next one, or that the sequence doesn't match how you actually work.

Critical thinking becomes more important, not less.

Understanding how to think about problems differently. Connecting the dots on what you want, building it to see it, then iterating when you realize there's a more efficient path.

Your job changes. How you think about problems changes.

The operators who figure that out first get real leverage from these tools instead of just adding complexity.

I watched a brand lose thousands in Canadian LTV because customers kept getting hit with surprise customs fees. 

That’s the hidden cost of shipping to Canada from U.S. fulfillment centers. 

Most U.S. brands know Canada is sitting there as an easy expansion market, but they hit the same logistics wall: surprise duty bills, 2-week shipping times, and compliance paperwork that burns months. 

We built Breakthrough Fulfillment to solve the exact problems I ran into as a CMO scaling Tru Earth across North America.

Here’s what we handle so you can focus on selling:

- Cross-border logistics without the customer service nightmare. (We manage imports, duty, tariffs, and compliance. Your customers never see surprise fees at the door.
- Next-day delivery to Toronto, Vancouver, and major Canadian cities. We freight forward strategically, then drop into local post networks. Your customers get orders in 1-2 days, not 2+ weeks. 
- Direct access to the people who actually make decisions. No account manager layer. You work directly with me and my business partner for same-day problem solving.
- Live in Canada in under 2 weeks. No 6-month compliance learning curve, no endless onboarding calls.

See how we're helping U.S. brands make Canadian expansion as smooth as possible:

https://lnkd.in/gEfxQkee

If you're a brand doing $500K+ and ready to test Canadian expansion without the logistics headache, comment "INTERESTED" below and I'll send you our onboarding breakdown.

Meta rebuilt their ad system around these massive foundation models, and most people think that means UGC won.

They’re wrong.

Statics are benefiting more than anyone expected, but not because of the designs like you think. 

Gem and Lattice can now track the full customer journey and identify who your creative targets are before the hook even loads. The system builds familiarity by orchestrating multiple touchpoints strategically, not just showing the same ad over and over.

Which means statics finally win on what they’re actually good at: creating moments.

There’s this old pickup artist technique called “bouncing”.

The idea is that your brain identifies trust through diversified experiences over time. Or you can shortcut it by creating multiple distinct moments in a short window.

So they’d meet you at the bar, ignore you, make you wonder why. Then insult you playfully. Then take you somewhere for a crazy show you’ve never had. Then the dance floor. Then outside for wine. 

Four completely different moments in 30 minutes.

Your brain processes that as familiarity. As trust.

Ads work the same way.

If someone only sees two of your ads and they’re always the same, you’re creating exposure but you’re not creating moments. Exposure is like seeing the guy who wears the same shirt to the bar every week. You’ve seen him 50 times, but nothing ever happens.

Creative diversity is about creating opportunities for distinct experiences with your brand in different settings.

Recently I uploaded 100 static ads. Same Persona, slightly different angles and messaging, a couple different jobs to be done.

Cut our CPAs in half.

Not because the designs were better. Because the system could finally orchestrate those moments at scale. The purchases from videos improved a little, but the account-wide CPA dropped significantly because these multiple creatives were working together.

Statics give you controlled variation. You control every variable. Faster feedback loops. More reliable testing.

The designs didn’t change.

How the system evaluates them did.

If you’re only testing two hero ads hoping they carry your account, you’re asking one person in one outfit to do all the work.

The algorithm got smarter. That doesn’t mean louder creative wins.

It means moments beat exposure, and the system can finally orchestrate them at scale.

The same brain that built Tru Earth almost bankrupted me twice.

Same impulsivity, same inability to pause before acting.

I used to keep this running list in my head of all the ways my brain was broken.

The same impulsivity that let me see Tru Earth's entire positioning in a single shower... bought 10,000 bottles of collagen on a whim.

Bottles I couldn't sell because I didn't check if I could actually sell supplements in Canada. 15 months of warehouse fees, just bleeding money.

Businesses I'd start when I was fired up, then abandon when the grind set in because I couldn't focus.

Midnight emails I'd send when I was pissed off. By morning, I wouldn't even care but the damage was done.

For the longest time, it felt like a curse.

What shifted?

I stopped trying to be a “disciplined” person. That sh*t doesn't work when your brain is wired differently. I started treating my brain like a high-performance engine that just needs different fuel.

When I get excited about something now, I write it down. All the pros, all the cons. Then I wait 24 hours.

If I still think it's brilliant the next morning, then maybe it's worth doing.

I ask operators who’ve been there. They understand the difference between a real opportunity and dopamine chasing.

When overwhelm hits, I dump everything on paper. Prioritize. Knock off the easy wins. The tactile act of crossing things off? That's dopamine I can actually use.

Here's what most people don't get about brains like mine:

The same brain that can't sit through a boring meeting can hyperfocus for 12 hours straight on something interesting.

The same impulsivity that makes bad decisions lets you act fast when everyone else is still analyzing.

The same restlessness that makes you chase new ideas keeps you from settling for mediocre.

You're not broken. You're just wired differently.

The collagen thing taught me cooling-off periods.

The midnight emails taught me my first reaction isn't always my best reaction.

The overwhelm taught me how to finish things instead of starting fifty projects and abandoning them all.

I don't try to fix my ADHD anymore.

I just learned to drive it better.

Most brands test hooks the same way:

Write 20 different hooks. Test them all. See which ones get the best hook rate and CTR. Scale the winners. Repeat until something breaks.

But if you’re still doing that, you’re testing backwards.

Because the algorithm isn’t just looking at your hook rate now.

Gem changed everything.

Gem is Meta’s creative brain. It’s the LLM analyzing who your creative targets are and why it’s working. It’s tracking Persona fit, jobs to be done, and angle resonance across the entire customer journey.

All of this is being identified before you hook even loads.

Which means you're optimizing for the last thing the system evaluates.

Hook rate, CPA, CTR are great indicators. Trash starting points.

Today’s winners validate who it's for, what job they think needs done, and what belief connects them to the offer.

Then they write hooks around what's already working.

Stop testing backwards.

If you’ve ever been taken advantage of...

That sh*t is not for the faint of heart.

It’s why you see entrepreneurs all over social media talking about the importance of being ruthless.

But here’s what they don’t talk about:

Running ads for a CPG brand is financial russian roulette. 

You can scale to $100K+/mo in spend then realize you were wrong. 

Facebook says 3.2x ROAS. 
Google says ROAS is 2.8x. 

And you’ve got ZERO clue if you’re actually profitable or not. 

Not to mention attribution...

→ Customer sees an ad on Instagram. 
→ They google your brand name. 
→ Click on the Google ad.
→ Buy on your site. 

Both platforms claim the sale and you pay for the same sale twice. 

Up until now, there’s been no “simple” way to solve this...

But when a platform called Iris Finance recently reached out to me to partner on a post, I knew it was solved. 

They automatically pinpoint where the sale came from. 

And reconcile the data so you’re never worried about being double-charged. 

I’ve used it for 2 weeks now and it’s been super solid. 

If you want to get a demo you can DM me and I’ll send you the link.

I help DTC brands turn $1 into $43.80 | Scaled Chronos from 0 → 85 team members

Hey! Thanks for stopping by my profile.

I'm Josh 👋, co-founder of Chronos - a retention and lifecycle marketing agency for 7 - 9 figure DTC brands (say that 3 times fast).

In short, we help fast growing brands nail repeat purchases, so they can scale their acquisition efforts with confidence.

Over the past 7+ years, we've worked with over 500+ brands and have generated over $300M in tracked, attributable revenue. Some of the results we're proud of:

👉 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐞: 2x-ed email rev in 90 days, $44M in first 12 months

👉 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲: 26% increase in cart recovery AOV

👉 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐌+: 288% increase in total email revenue

👉 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐈𝐂𝐄: 2.53x in customer return rates

👉 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐲: 32% increase in customer AOV

In a sea of retention agencies, choosing the right one can be tough. Here's why brands choose Chronos:

🏷️ 𝐖𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬: We've been in the game for 7+ years and focus on building long term relationships by consistently delivering results.

🏷️ 𝐖𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐜𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬: We've seen a lot. Having worked with over 500+ brands, we bring a proven playbook of what works - and what doesn't - to get you results faster.

🏷️ 𝐖𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐬 No 'yes men' here. Our team actively challenges ideas and collaborates with you to achieve the best possible outcomes.

Making that leap is never easy - but if you're ready to partner with a team that's as invested in your growth as you are, let's chat.

Feel free to DM me, or check us out at: chronos.agency

Joshua Chin

In the next 12 months, I’m rebuilding Chronos from scratch into a 75-person retention company with over 9 figures in GMV across 20+ brands. 

Here’s how I’m doing it: 

- Finding a rich person’s problem to solve.

- Charging upfront, but removing risk with guarantees.

- Sacrificing everything except sleep, health, and core relationships.

- Optimizing around 4-5 hours of deep work a day.

- Picking up the phone and dialing. I never wait for opportunities to come to me. 

- Going to relevant events and meeting 10 new contacts a week.

- Paying my way into networks (#1 investment), attending events, and joining communities where people ahead of me are hanging out.

- Treating every interaction as a reflection of who I am. Delivering on my promises, going the extra mile for clients and partners, and never cutting corners to make a quick win.

I’m not actually rebuilding Chronos right now.

But if I ever decided to, this is the playbook I’d return to without changing a thing.

Helping DTC Brands Turn $1 into $43.80 | $300M+ Revenue Driven for 500+ Brands | Scaled Chronos from 0 → 85+

Ready to Make Retention Your Growth Engine? Let's Chat!

The Retention Playbook That Scaled 500+ Brands

CEO, Chronos Agency | Retention systems that turn $1 into $43+ | $400M+ attributed revenue via Email, SMS, Push | Free Audit Below

As a kid, all I wanted was to escape poverty. Entrepreneurship was never on my radar as a career option.

The moment I read that investment banking paid among the highest salaries, I knew it had to be my north star.

I thought it was the only path to take care of my family, make sure they had enough to eat, the bills were always covered, and money never weighed on them.

But I realized later on that breaking into high-paying industries like investment banking requires stacking opportunities in your favor. 

I had no network, environment, connections, or initial resources.

Still, I applied to universities with that one goal and got into the London School of Economics.

Then I saw the numbers. Tuition plus London living expenses came out to £400-500k. 

My parents had been through bankruptcies, so that money didn't exist for me. 

Borrowing from friends or family wasn't an option either because I didn’t want to build my career on debt.

At that time, entrepreneurship was the only path left that didn’t require money or connections I didn’t have.

So I took it.

I dove into anything I could access: YouTube videos, online courses, books, and whatever else offered knowledge I could afford.

Looking back, scarcity and hunger shaped me more than anything else.

With time, that survival instinct morphed into a drive that never turned off.

I had to piss a few people off to get here, and I've come to realize that staying authentic doesn't leave much room for people-pleasing.

It's a day-to-day decision that costs you deals, relationships, and sometimes your peace of mind.

It means not bending over backwards just to make a buck and not caving in just to keep things comfortable.

I don't always get it right.

My mission is to be the most trusted marketing partner for growth-oriented brands globally.

And that means speaking the truth even when it stings.

Some people walk away. But the ones who stay are the ones who fully trust you.

And in the long run, that's what keeps you at the forefront in the game.

This is a strong reference point if the goal of your welcome email is long-term sales instead of a quick first-order bump.

Selena Gomez’s retention team nailed it with:

- Headshot + welcome on first fold (immediately signals authenticity and connects with the audience)

- Short blurb on why she created the brand (aligns with audience values and challenges unrealistic beauty standards)

- Signature to end the email (adds personal touch, building trust and connection)

There’s no upfront discount. Margin protection comes first. The incentive is reserved for SMS opt-in, where it can be used more deliberately.

The result is a welcome email that feels intentional. It creates connection, signals credibility, and sets expectations for a longer relationship rather than a one-time transaction.

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Instead of spending weeks in January cutting prices and scrambling for ideas, this 10-minute video shows you what to fix TODAY.

You don’t need to rush to build a successful business.

We’re bootstrapped. From the outside, the last two years probably look like a plateau, but so much has been compounding under the surface: our network, our judgment, our relationships, our operating skill. 

The quality of our work today is miles ahead of what it was 2-3 years ago, and so are we as operators.

Sometimes what feels like “going in circles” is really the roots growing before the branches show.

You can’t brute-force your way into durable growth, and you can’t buy your way out of the maturity curve. 

Some phases are the necessary training ground.

Look at the Amazon aggregators like Thrasio: they scaled fast on capital instead of fundamentals, shot up overnight, and then imploded just as quickly. 

Hyper-growth without depth is fragility dressed up as momentum.

Some seasons look quiet. In reality, that’s when the roots are forming so the growth can hold its own weight later.

Without cohort analysis your LTV growth is pure luck. 

You're just blindly guessing when to sell and what to push.

This is what I mean: 

Say a good chunk of your customers naturally come back in 30 days. 

But your upsell only kicks in at Day 60. You lose the repeat order. Your LTV looks lower than it really is. And suddenly, you’re scaling ads on the wrong breakeven CAC thinking it is $50 when it should be $75.

That's 50% more room to scale left on the table.

Now, run a simple cohort analysis and you’ll find which product brings people back on repeat. That will become your hero product. 

Push it in paid, feature it in your welcome flow, cross-sells, abandonment emails. Now you’re building around what really drives lifetime value.

Now instead of chasing a flashy AOV that jumps around with promos and bundles, you look at SKU repeat rate. 

That number is steady. It tells you exactly when people repurchase and lets you confidently raise your CAC. Even de-risks your inventory bets.

Cohorts analysis is how you engineer retention to drive repeatable revenue.

If you’re running a growing brand, your attention is already maxed out with growth, hiring, inventory, paid media, cash flow, etc. 

Every lever wants to be pulled at the same time.

Retention usually sits quietly in the background. 

It keeps sending. It keeps converting. It keeps propping up acquisition without demanding a meeting on the calendar. 

So it gets left alone.

At first, nothing feels wrong. 

Revenue still comes in. Dashboards look fine. The system appears stable.

Then small things start to drift. 

Engagement cools. Repeat behavior gets less predictable. You add a few more campaigns to smooth it over. 

Segments get a little broader. Output stays steady, but only because you’re pushing harder.

We see this exact sequence across eCommerce accounts.

Strong acquisition keeps filling the funnel, which makes the retention cracks easy to miss. Pop-ups, flows, and segments that were set months or years ago keep running, even as traffic sources change and customer behavior shifts.

What worked at $3M is now expected to carry $15M without question.

None of this happens because founders don’t care. It happens because retention doesn’t fail loudly. It fails politely, one small inefficiency at a time.

Eventually, the cost shows up where you feel it most. Acquisition gets more expensive. Conversion rates soften. Growth starts requiring more effort for the same return.

This is exactly why we run audits. Not to tear things down, but to show you where systems have drifted, what’s still working, and what needs attention before that quiet decay starts dictating your growth.

A friend in the industry reached out after noticing something felt off.

• Lead capture hadn’t collapsed.
• Form submissions were steady.
• Pop-up conversion sat around 7%.

During our audit, we identified 5 small tweaks that could potentially double their conversions, drive +40% revenue, and increase AOV by 7%. 

Swipe through to see them in action.

5 Small Tweaks From One Lead Capture Audit 

This is your LAST CHANCE to join us live before we start.

We’re going live today at 11 am EST to audit Glossier and Caraway.

We’ll walk through their systems, flows, and onsite experience as it exists right now.

No recording will hit the same as watching live, as we think through each decision.

Join us to see what's working inside two of the most well-run DTC brands right now.
https://lnkd.in/gN3Fp7dd

I made a pretty big mistake last year, and my team was the one who paid the price for it. 

I still remember staring at the numbers mid-year, and realizing they told a completely different story than the one we planned for...

We hired and invested based on an overly optimistic plan without accounting for higher-than-expected churn or lower-than-expected revenue.

And by mid-year, everything crashed down on us. 

Layoffs, shaken trust, and my team ultimately faced the consequences of my blind spots. 

It taught me that optimism is fine, but SYSTEMS need to plan for the worst. 

The retention equivalent of this mistake is forecasting LTV like it's guaranteed. 

Brands assume repurchase happens on a neat timeline, repeat rates stay stable, and margins stay intact. 

But the repurchase window is theoretical and not validated. 

Heavy promos pull forward demand, train discount dependency, and compress margin right when you're scaling spend. 

Cash gets trapped in inventory gaps right when you need it most. 

LTV is a system outcome shaped by offer strategy, promo rules, and inventory timing.

Don't forecast LTV like a promise. 

Test it like a variable and protect the conditions that actually create repeat purchases.

I've seen retention programs sitting at 20-30% of revenue look completely fine on the surface, then quietly fall apart within 90 days.

The issue is almost never strategy or campaigns.

It's that retention is owned by someone without authority to push back on lazy promos, challenge assumptions, or run a disciplined testing cadence.

You need an owner with judgment, not with just execution skill.

When I was younger, feedback felt like someone had thrown a brick straight at my chest. 

One comment, and suddenly my thoughts were running in circles, tearing me apart from the inside.

I’d replay it over and over, dissect every word, and convince myself it meant I wasn’t good enough. 

At that time, every reaction came from feeling trapped in my own thoughts. 

But now I try to take it in fully, even when it stings, because I’ve realized that the feedback is exactly what I need to grow. 

It’s a skill I’ve honed over the years, and part of that process has been learning to separate myself from the situation and looking at the problem without letting my ego get in the way. 

Receiving feedback has become my practice ground. With every session, I get a little more skilled at it.

80% of brands look stable right up until market conditions tighten...

Use this to evaluate whether your brand is defensively positioned or quietly exposed.

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Back in 2018, we were deep in discussion with operators at a high-level mastermind about the supposedly “perfect” email send frequency for ecom brands. 

The conventional wisdom was 1-2 emails/week, as any more would be overwhelming or spammy.

Looking back, this was an obvious rule to challenge because it was rigid, leaving no room for nuance. 

So I went back to the first principle of what’s actually happening on the receiving end.

Are people really reading every email? Are they annoyed when they see more than two emails a week?

Our data said no. 

People read just 20-30% of their inbox, which means if you’re intentional, you can send more emails without burning your list.

But some rules, especially the legal ones, should never be broken. 

For example, something that seems small like sending SMSs to people who haven’t opted in, can be a huge risk. 

Companies can get fined hundreds of dollars per message, which adds up fast across multiple campaigns. 

When the stakes are this high, the cost of mistakes dwarfs any upside. 

So get creative, break patterns, and test everything relentlessly.

Just make sure you protect the lines that are non-negotiable.

We're going LIVE TOMORROW. 

At 11 am EST, we're breaking down the systems behind brands doing $50M-$100M+ and showing you what you can apply immediately as you head into 2026.

Inside this session, you’ll see: 
- How they capture emails and SMS. 
- What happens after someone signs up or adds to cart. 
- Where margin quietly leaks in Shopping feeds and Merchant Center setups. 
- How creative needs to shift from Meta to Google. 
- And how small UX decisions impact conversion more than you'd expect.

By the end, you'll know what's silently eating your margin and what deserves your attention first.

Join us tomorrow at 11 am EST: 
https://lnkd.in/gN3Fp7dd

Your subscriber list is a goldmine for boosting your revenue, but most of these people slip through the cracks before they convert.

We built a system to re-engage these nearly-buyers, and add an extra 5-15% to your owned revenue.

Launching email from scratch feels simple until you realize one wrong move permanently tanks your sender reputation and inbox providers mark you as spam forever. 

Brands will blast their full list on day one, land in spam, and spend months trying to recover deliverability they'll never fully get back.

Here's the framework we use when taking over lifecycle programs with zero sender history: 

Phase 1 - Risk Assessment Before Launch 

Before sending a single email, we evaluate whether this brand has sender reputation built, or if inbox providers are treating them as spam by default. 

Can we segment by engagement recency, or does the list require cold outreach that risks deliverability permanently? 

Phase 2 - Micro-Segment Warming (Days 1-14) 

If we’re starting small, we create hyper-engaged micro-segments. 

7-day engaged, 14-day engaged, and 30-day engaged segments based on actual email engagement like opens and clicks, excluding Apple privacy opens, before expanding outwards to site engagement like visitors, cart abandoners, and checkout abandoners. 

This builds inbox provider trust through consistently strong open and click rates before expanding to cooler segments. 

Phase 3 - Staged Campaign Sequencing 

We develop campaign sequences designed to drive urgency while maintaining brand warmth. 

Launch email with promotional hook, urgency email, social proof with testimonials, emotional close, and post-sale education. 

This balances conversion pressure with value delivery so the program doesn't train discount dependency early. 

Phase 4 - Controlled Expansion (Days 30-37) 

Once we've earned inbox trust, we gradually widen the net to cooler segments while monitoring engagement. 

We earn access to broader segments through performance, and not by forcing scale upfront. 

The result: 

- 48.59% open rate demonstrating strong deliverability. 
- 83,379 recipients reached without spam issues. 
- 0.26% placed order rate under market restrictions. 

This is the operating standard we apply before scaling lifecycle programs. 

The brands that get this right don't just launch email...

They build sender reputation that compounds for years, not campaigns that burn out in months.

Click here to find gold nuggets of data for actionable insights:

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Book an Appointment with Chronos Agency Experts

If Q1 planning is on your mind, this live teardown session is worth your time.

January 14 at 11 am EST, we're auditing Glossier and Caraway live. 

Their email, ads, and onsite experience, all in real time.

We'll slow things down and walk you through what actually stands out when you look closely at brands operating at this level.

Send this to someone on your team who should see it.

Grab your seat here:
https://lnkd.in/gN3Fp7dd

Almost every brand wants the same thing in 2026: cleaner growth and more profit per visitor.

Founders chasing their next million are obsessed with repeatable systems. 

That's exactly what we're breaking down on January 14 at 11 am EST when we go live to audit Glossier and Caraway.

Inside this session, you’ll learn:
- Where stores quietly lose momentum after someone signs up or adds to the cart.
- Where margin leaks hide in Shopping feeds and Merchant Center setups.
- Why creatives underperform when it moves from Meta to Google.
- Where small UX decisions on PDPs and checkout impact conversion more than full redesigns.

You'll walk away understanding where scaled brands put their attention and why it compounds into margin.

Join us to see how scaled brands sequence their priorities.
https://lnkd.in/gN3Fp7dd

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