Shawn Freeman

Technology Coach & Founder | Proven technology leadership to help you grow a profitable future proof business.

You’re not just running an MSP. You’re building something bigger. 

But right now, it feels like you’re stuck working in the business instead of leading it.

You’re juggling too many roles, managing clients, fixing daily issues, and trying to grow your monthly recurring revenue. The competition is fierce, and figuring out how to break through feels overwhelming.

I get it because I’ve been exactly where you are.

In 2011, I founded my own MSP. It started small, with all the typical struggles. Feeling trapped in the day-to-day grind, pricing uncertainty, struggling to delegate effectively, and the constant stress of finding quality clients. But through relentless refinement of systems, positioning, and leadership strategies, I scaled that MSP to seven figures. In 2020, I successfully exited with a high-value acquisition.

Now, as the founder of Impactful MSP, I help ambitious MSP owners like you achieve sustainable, long-term growth, without burning out or getting lost in the weeds.

👉 Here’s the truth:
Your technical skills aren’t the problem. The real challenge is building a business that runs profitably, consistently, and without you trapped in the day-to-day grind.

You don’t need random tactics or one-size-fits-all frameworks.

You need proven strategies, clarity, and the right mentorship to:
✅ Define a mission, vision, and core values that guide every decision you make.
✅ Scale your MRR fast with systems that work, no fluff.
✅ Stand out in a crowded MSP space with a unique differentiator.
✅ Attract and retain high-value clients who pay what you're worth.
✅ Simplify operations so you stop being the bottleneck.

You know you're capable of more, but you're unsure of the next step.

That's why you need me:
I've lived the MSP journey. I’ve felt the stress of unpredictable revenue, tough client churn, competing in a saturated market, and the struggle to lead while overwhelmed. But I also cracked the code to breaking through, and I’ve helped MSPs scale to seven figures and beyond using my coaching methods.

My clients have:
→ Increased MRR by 25%+ within months.
→ Closed larger, more profitable deals with ideal clients.
→ Built scalable systems that run without micromanagement.

This isn’t theory. It’s battle-tested strategy from someone who’s been in the trenches.

If you're serious about becoming the go-to MSP in your market and ready for predictable, scalable growth, send me a DM with the word 'IMPACT' and let’s talk about your next level.

No fluff. No hype. No BS. Just results.

Vice President - Alberta

This mindset shows up in every strong leader:
“I don’t know how, but I’ll find a way.”

It’s a belief that has fuelled countless success stories.

It helps you see challenges as opportunities,
and it keeps you moving forward when things get tough.

Here's why it's so powerful:

It’s rooted in resilience
↳ It helps you push through uncertainty.
↳ It lets you return stronger after setbacks.

It runs on creativity
↳ It helps you see solutions others miss.
↳ It turns obstacles into new possibilities.

It thrives on adaptability
↳ It helps you adjust quickly when things shift.
↳ It keeps you steady in uncertain moments.

It’s sustained by persistence
↳ It keeps you moving until the goal is met.
↳ It turns consistency into meaningful results.

With these traits, you’ll always find a way forward.
And when you do, you can turn it into a scalable system.

That’s how you build something that runs without you.
That’s when grit starts turning into growth.

Once you understand it you have to apply It.

Here's how:

Build repeatable systems
↳ If you solved it once, document it.
↳ Make it easier for the next person.

Create clear strategies
↳ Set goals that align your team.
↳ Make sure everyone knows what success means.

Use tools that support people
↳ Give your team tools that help them move smarter.
↳ Then trust them and get out of the way.

Remove bottlenecks (starting with you)
↳ If everything needs you, it won’t scale.
↳ Build something bigger than your inbox.

Here are 3 ways to start today:

Document one win
↳ Think of a time you had to find a way.
↳ Write the steps so someone else can repeat it.

Check in with your team
↳ Do they have clarity to act without you?
↳ Do they have the tools to move faster?

Simplify one process
↳ Make it easier, faster, or clearer for everyone.

The “I’ll find a way” mindset will take you far.
But turning that mindset into systems?

That’s how you scale.
That’s how you lead.
That’s how you win.

Ready to make your wins repeatable?
I help MSP owners build systems to grow.
If this resonated with you, DM me!

♻ Found this valuable? Share it with a fellow leader
🙌 Shoutout to Case Kenny for the quote!

MSP Coach | Helping Founders Build High-Performing Companies

I have an exciting announcement to make...

On Monday December 1st, I'm launching a podcast!
It is called Beyond Technology, and I can't wait to share.

The idea for this show came from conversations
I've been having with top founders and leaders.

Conversations about how they build, how they think,
and how they use technology to support their growth.

We talk about the decisions that drive growth,
the systems that build real momentum, and
the role technology plays in modern leadership.

The guests bring real experience from building
companies, and offer perspectives you don't hear often.

I've handpicked leaders who think deeply about growth,
and who speak clearly about what shaped their journey.

Each episode is short and focused, built for
listeners who want practical business insights.

A new episode will drop every second Monday,
with ideas and advice you can apply right away.

If you care about leadership and modern business,
the Beyond Technology Podcast is for you.

More details coming soon.
Stay tuned!

Want to double your revenue?

In just 6 months I scaled an MSP from $1M to $2M ARR.

Here’s what we did and how you can too:

1️⃣ We Built a Strong Operational Foundation
• They weren’t struggling to get clients.
• They were struggling to keep up with growth.

So we:
→ Built SOPs for onboarding, delivery, and retention.
→ Documented workflows to replace verbal handoffs.
→ Added weekly check-ins to catch issues early.

Growth feels chaotic without systems.
We eliminated that chaos, one process at a time.

2️⃣ We Gave Them Strategic Vision
• They didn’t have a revenue problem.
• They had a focus problem.

So we stopped the “grow for the sake of growth” cycle.

We got crystal clear on:
→ Quarterly revenue milestones with exact targets.
→ A defined ICP so they only pursued qualified leads.
→ A 3-channel growth strategy

When you focus on the right clients, growth speeds up.

3️⃣ We Created Financial Clarity
• They were making money.
• But they couldn’t see where it was going.

So we got hyper-clear on the numbers:
→ A 12% minimum profit margin target.
→ A real-time dashboard for MRR, churn, and profit.
→ Cut poor-fit clients to free up high-value capacity.

More revenue means nothing if you can’t measure profit.

Growth isn’t about hustling harder.
It’s about removing friction.

Stop chasing unqualified leads.
Stop running your business on guesswork.
Stop celebrating revenue without tracking profit.

This MSP didn’t need more effort.

They needed clarity, structure, and control.
And once they had it, growth became predictable.

What would doubling your revenue change for you?

More freedom?
More impact?
More control over your future?

If you’re ready to build a real growth engine...
DM me or book a free scale call.

Let’s build the business you actually want to run.

P.S. Enjoy this selfie of Frida and I!

Leadership doesn't mean carrying everything alone.

You can be the one others rely on and
still need people to lean on yourself.

That's not weakness.
That's wisdom.

There are parts of leadership no one sees.
→ The late nights
→ The quiet wins
→ The rejections
→ The doubt you never admit out loud

It gets heavy when you hold it solo.
The pressure builds when you pretend you're fine.
The pace slows when no one is beside you.

But things shift when you have the right people around.
People who challenge your thinking.
People who support your vision.
People who steady you when the pressure rises.

Leaders rise higher when they're supported.
They move faster when doubt is not driving.
They build better when they're not alone.

That's why community matters.
Not as a strategy, but as a multiplier.

If you're an MSP and want to grow with people
who get it, I have a community you'll want to join.

Send me a message, and I'll share the details.

Your pricing should reflect your value.
Not your fear of losing the deal.

Underpricing is one of the fastest ways to stall growth.
Yet more MSPs do it than you think.

Charging $50 per user.
Winning clients on price.
Then wondering why growth never gets easier.

The truth?

Clients who choose you because you are cheap
are the same ones who churn, scope creep,
or drain every ounce of your time.

You don't build a strong MSP by underpricing your value.
You build it by knowing exactly what that value is.

→ Do you help clients run a stronger business?
→ Do you help them achieve their goals?
→ Do you make their teams more effective?
→ Do you improve their bottom line with tech?

If yes, stop racing to the bottom.

There are plenty of clients who will pay more
when you make it clear why you're worth more.

But it starts with your mindset.

From scarcity to abundance.
From guessing to clarity.
From surviving to scaling.

If you are unsure about your pricing or how to
communicate your value, book a call with me.

Let’s make sure you're not holding your business back.

Behind-the-scenes at our first recording session.

Some great conversations are coming your way.
Check back Monday for the first of many.

#BeyondTechnologyPodcast

Every business owner eventually notices the same thing. Technology is no longer a side piece of the business. It’s woven into every decision, every sy

Open article: Introducing the Beyond Technology Podcast by Shawn Freeman • 4 min read

Introducing the Beyond Technology Podcast

Soar With Us

Full service digital marketing agency helping DTC e-commerce companies scale to 7 and 8 figures through done-for-you paid traffic, retention and funnel optimisation.

Supporting over 100 brands, including:
- The Essence Vault
- Space Goods
- Tallow & Ash
- UN:IK Clothing

Founder

For You Advertising

Specialist DTC growth agency helping brands take advantage of the rapid expansion of TikTok. Providing platform-specific content and paid advertising services to 6, 7 and 8 figure brands across all major territories.

Co-Founder

Launch With Us

Facebook, Instagram & TikTok Advertising Agency helping early stage startups go from 0 to 1 with paid advertising.

JAQ Group Holdings

Marketing for one of the UK's fastest growing E-commerce groups. Working across a diverse portfolio of disruptive brands in multiple verticals.

Prospect Path

Digital Marketing Intern

Building DTC brands to 8 and 9 figures | Founder of Soar With Us & For You Advertising | CMO of JAQ Group

2x DTC Agency Founder 

We scale brands to 7 and 8 figures with paid traffic, retention and funnel optimisation.

In 2025, having a great product is one thing…

But scaling a brand to £10M is a another.

You need a simple roadmap for profitably attracting and converting customers, at scale.

Because when you get that right…

- You stand out from competitors in the market
- You build a community around your brand
- You acquire customers at will (profitably)
- You turn customers into raving fans 

Giving you complete control over your growth.

We help our clients do exactly that with our proven system that guarantees growth.

1. Initial diagnostic to identify bottlenecks in your business
2. Developing a bespoke growth strategy for your brand
3. Creative ideation and production 
4. Unique UGC collaborations
5. Targeted advertising (Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat)
6. Email marketing 

And having generated over £100M+ in sales across 200+ brands, we’ve know the ecommerce game inside out.

🚀 Mystery Shirt In A Box grew from £5K to £2.6M in just one year with our help
🚀 The Essence Vault is hitting 7 figure months in its second year since launch
🚀 Vintage Threads tripled their revenue working with us with a 6x ROAS
🚀 AIRfreshh went from 0% to 52% of revenue from email in 2 months!
🚀 Bene Culture saw their revenue grow 6x in 6 months with our help
🚀 The Oodie generated £2M on TikTok alone in their first year
🚀 UN:IK’s first quarter of 2023 was 88% on 2022
🚀 Liam and Co. increased their LTV by 22%


Don’t put up with unpredictable, unsustainable or underwhelming growth any more.

If you want to see how we could help scale your brand, send me a DM saying ‘SOAR’

If you're not ready yet, I post daily educational content to give you all the secrets.

Olly Hudson

This brand hit a $100M+ run rate in 11 months.

IM8 Health are scaling like no other DTC wellness brand we’ve seen.

- $100M+ run rate
- +74% QoQ growth (Q3)
- 80% subscription rate on new customers
- AOV jumped from $110 to $150 (driven by new product launch)
- Gross margin expanded from 52% to 60%
- EBITDA losses dropped from $40M → $8M

The strategy? Exceptional.

A few months ago, we broke down IM8’s entire growth machine. So with the new updated valuation, I thought I’d share it again for those who haven’t downloaded it yet:

- Paid ads (Meta + Google)
- Top 3 Lander pages
- Subscription funnel
- Email + retention strategy
- Ambassador programme
- Organic & community
- Bundle offer setup
- Scientific brand positioning

It’s one of the sharpest wellness brand builds we’ve seen.

Want the full teardown?

1. Like this post
2. Comment “IM8”
3. Make sure we’re connected so I can DM you the board

Reposts = bumped to the top of the list.

DTC Growth Expert For 8 & 9 Figure Brands | Founder of Soar With Us & For You Advertising

We broke down the funnel of a brand that sells a product every 5 seconds on TikTok Shop.

WONDERSKIN is quietly building one of the most effective DTC machines on TikTok Shop.

- 670K+ units sold (UK only)
- >20,000+ affiliate creators
- 5,000+ creative variants tested
- Seamless affiliate + Shop integration
- TikTok-native product launches (built to demo)

The playbook? Omnipresence through creator scale.

This funnel breakdown shows you how they structured their content, affiliates and offers to drive real revenue, not just views. 

If you’re running an ecom brand, this is your shortcut to building a TikTok system that sells.

- Uncover top DTC TikTok Shop strategies.
- Understand where content should sit in your funnel.
- Learn from the best to convert more customers on TikTok

TikTok called it a “halo effect” – with spillover to Amazon and beyond.

It’s a masterclass in TikTok-first DTC.

Want the full teardown?

1. Like this post
2. Comment “Wonderskin”
3. Make sure we’re connected so I can DM you the board

Reposts = bumped to the top of the list.

We’ve spent £32.6M on Meta in the last 30 days and now we’re giving away the exact creative intelligence system we use to stop brands wasting half their budget on grouped, suppressed ads Meta never delivers.

We still see DTC brands spend £50K–£200K testing creative that never stood a chance.

At that level of spend, scale doesn’t come from output. It comes from clarity and how well your creative matches how Meta actually thinks.

Under Andromeda, the algorithm doesn’t reward effort. It rewards signal density and creative distinction.

You can run 5,000 live ads in one account. But if they all feel the same in structure, tone, or pacing, they get grouped.

Grouped = suppressed.
Suppressed = wasted spend.

I’ve been testing a new AI-powered platform that helps DTC brands figure out what actually drives conversions in video content, turning creative guesswork into measurable sales growth.

It predicts pre-launch:
- Which videos will scale
- Which will cannibalise delivery
- And which Meta will deprioritise entirely

Real results so far:
→ 1.7x revenue without increasing spend
→ 45% sales lift from the same budget
→ 28% CTR uplift by aligning with Meta’s model

And that’s before launch.

What it’s really doing?

Replacing creative guesswork with predictive, signal-rich testing.

It scores 100+ signals per video (hook strength, scene order, voice tone, visual variation) to predict what’s most likely to convert.

It changed how we launch:
✅ We now kill weak variants pre-launch
✅ We iterate fast off live feedback loops
✅We align every creative to Andromeda’s scoring logic

More importantly, it’s how we help 7–8 figure brands escape the “launch and hope” cycle that burns £50K–£200K before signal even shows.

So we broke down the full system: competitor intelligence → creator briefs → pre-launch prediction → live optimisation, all into a new guide.

This is exactly how we're using Aggero to:
- Cut 40-50% of weak creative before launch
 -Scale faster with signal-led assets
- Lower CAC and increase predictability in every test cycle

If you want the guide to launch with more confidence and far less guesswork.

Like this post and drop “SCALE” in the comments and I’ll send it over.

1 founder’s ad concept drove £2 million in revenue.

We didn’t need more creatives. We just rebuilt the same story into 12 variations across 4 formats.

Here’s the exact framework we used (and we’ve put it all into a cheat sheet).

When a founder story hits, it hits hard.

But what actually drives performance isn’t just the story.

It’s how you structure, package, and scale it across the funnel.

So we broke down our full process into a new resource:

🚨The High-Performance Founder Content Cheat Sheet

Inside, you’ll get:
- ✅ The 9-step emotional arc every founder ad should follow
- ✅ Proven hook frameworks to stop the scroll cold
- ✅ Best-in-class examples 
- ✅ Key questions to unlock founder story gold
- ✅ The anatomy of a winning founder-led concept
- ✅ Best practices for scripting, shooting, and editing
- ✅ How to scale one narrative into 15+ variations
- ✅ Why this format keeps outperforming statics, UGC, and DR ads

If you're a founder (or scaling a brand where the founder is the USP), 👆 this is how you turn story into scale.

Want it?
Like this post
Comment “founder” and I’ll send it over 

(Make sure we’re connected so I can DM you)

We’ve driven over £600M in revenue for our clients. Here’s how we plan to unlock the next £600M.

We’ve made a big step forward as we head into 2026.

We've hired a Client Success Director: a commercial operator focused on elevating and expanding the success of the clients who already trust us - creating outcomes that compound over time.

This role represents a long-term investment in focus, excellence, and meaningful client impact.

We’ve learned the hard way: chasing topline growth without operational maturity is a mistake.

This role helps fix that.

Nancy joins us to help unlock:

- Scalable service that evolves with client budgets
- A feedback loop that fuels performance
- Stronger infrastructure that supports both people and process
- Smarter forecasting, deeper partnerships, and clearer planning

For us, this marks an exciting shift to proactive growth and long-term success stories.

We’re focused on turning today’s brands into our strongest growth stories. 

This role is how we’ll do it.

Welcome to the team Nancy Rees!🚀

After BFCM, the brands that keep winning are the ones who shift their creative strategy… fast.

We’ve packaged the exact framework we use for 8-figure clients and we’re giving it away.

Most brands coast into December. But it's actually the second highest intent window of the year.

The catch? You can’t run Black Friday logic through a Christmas lens.

Our new playbook breaks down exactly how to pivot your strategy to keep performance high after the spike, built for scaling DTC brands running Meta at volume.

Inside:

✅ Gifting-focused hooks → think “For Her” not “50% Off”.

✅ How to reposition bestsellers as gifts 

✅ Building Christmas-specific product sets (e.g. Secret Santa, Limited Box Sets)

✅ Emotional gifting: campaigns that feel personal (e.g. “the gift they’ll remember”)

✅ The delivery deadline triggers that drive action and tactics for post-shipping-cutoff monetisation

✅ Creative testing tactics for Meta: why old tricks (like banner swaps) no longer work

✅ Screenshot gallery of best-in-class post-BFCM creative (from DTC brands across sectors)

We break it all down in our new resource:
→ Beyond Black Friday: The Creative Refresh

Want it?
Like this post
Comment “BF” and I’ll send it over!

LinkedIn

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li_at

Talks about #dtc, #paidads, #ecommerce, #emailmarketing, and #digitalmarketing

This is how we found a collagen ad framework that pulled £120k off £40k spend in 7 days.

If you want better ads? Stop studying the ads.

Start reverse-engineering what TikTok’s already delivering for free.

Most brands are looking in the wrong place for winning ad ideas.

Here’s a better strategy: instead of copying your competitor’s paid ads, reverse-engineer what’s already going viral organically.

Here’s how we do it (and how you can too):

👇

We start with TikTok - just manual scroll.

Search the core problem your product solves.

If it’s electrolytes? Type in “hydration” or “electrolyte hack”.

Then sort by:
- Views
- Comments
- Watch-through rate (check if people are duetting or stitching it too)

But here’s the part most skip:

👉 Don’t just copy what they’re saying. Study how they’re saying it.

Look for:
- First-person story?
- Supermarket breakdown?
- POV-style skit?
- Us vs Them comparison?

These formats are gold. They’ve been stress-tested by the algorithm, not just by an ad account.

Then we take the winning format and rebuild it from scratch (same bones, new skin) for our brand or client.

This is how we found a collagen ad framework that pulled £120k off £40k spend in 7 days.

And if you want to validate whether a viral organic video is worth repurposing?

We’ve been testing a new platform that analyses each video frame-by-frame across 100+ creative signals (hook strength, pacing, visual variety, tone of voice) and flags what’s likely to support delivery vs. what might hold it back.

If you want better ads 👆 this is how you turn ideas into winning frameworks.

Want access?
Like this post
Comment “viral” and I’ll send it over"

👇 This is what it takes to build a successful agency and keep it growing.

Sometimes you look around a room and realise you’re building something bigger than the numbers, bigger than the campaigns, bigger than the output.

You’re building with people who inspire you to raise your standards, challenge your thinking, and show up sharper than you did the day before.

The kind of people who give more than they take.

Who treat the work like it matters.

Who bring energy when things are flat, and clarity when things get chaotic.

And when you find yourself surrounded by that, you don’t take it lightly.

This year, at our Black Friday social, we brought all four Soar Group agencies together to celebrate everything we’ve achieved.

Looking around a room of 80 people, I felt it more than ever.

And next year, we build on it.

Not just the output.
But the identity.
The team.
The us.

Ready to level up, together.

This is the clearest execution of proven conversion principles I’ve seen in a customisable Shopify theme.

Most brands don’t have an ad problem. They have a conversion problem.

No amount of strong creative or media buying can outperform a store that isn’t built to convert.

That’s why I’m backing this.

SURGE is a brand new Shopify theme, built on 13 years of CRO data and thousands of A/B test results.

It’s made by a team we trust.

I’ve known Oliver Kenyon for years. Founder of ConversionWise, the CRO agency we’ve worked alongside across dozens of mutual clients and campaigns.

These are the people behind:
- Hundreds of winning test frameworks
- Millions in additional revenue
- CRO strategies we’ve seen scale 6–9 figure brands

SURGE is the first theme we’ve seen that’s truly built for performance.

Proven layouts. Data-backed sections. Every component stress-tested in live campaigns.

We’ve seen what happens when you combine CRO and acquisition properly.

This is that - productised.

It’s the cleanest way to make your traffic convert better, your ROAS climb, and your entire funnel work harder.

Launches 5th December at 9am EST

Only 500 licenses available in the first drop.

👉 https://kntn.ly/054652d3

12+ Years of CRO and landing pages for Ecom brands | Clients include Portland Leather, GFUEL, BOOM! By Cindy Joseph, MOOD.

ConversionWise

Every ad account that “won’t spend” is telling you the same thing:

Your creative is too similar.

Because Meta GEM doesn’t optimise based on which ad performs best.

It optimises based on what each asset teaches the system.

And when your creative inputs lack differentiation across message, persona, or format, you limit the algorithm’s ability to find new buyers.

This is where most brands plateau - because their inputs no longer generate new signals.

Here’s what GEM actually is and how leading brands are adapting their setup to scale inside this new system:

1️⃣ Meta GEM is a foundational model for ads.
It’s built like an LLM, trained on trillions of interactions, across Facebook and Instagram.

It learns from:
– Every ad you run
– Every organic post
– Every signal users leave behind

The goal? Optimise every impression in real time.

2️⃣ Since rollout, GEM has quietly driven real lifts:
+5% in Instagram conversions
+3% in Facebook Feed
2x improvement in model scaling efficiency (Q3 2025)

But not every account benefits equally.
What you feed the model dictates how well it works for you.

3️⃣ Why this matters:
GEM changes how ads are selected, ranked, and delivered.

It doesn’t just look at a user’s past few clicks.

It analyses sequence-level behaviour over weeks and months, then makes delivery decisions across platforms and formats, not in silos.

4️⃣ What powers GEM:
If someone watches Reels on IG but clicks shopping ads on Facebook, GEM uses that to inform how and where your ad gets served.

Platform learning is now connected.

Creative needs to travel well across environments.

5️⃣ This brings us to the big unlock:
Your creative is now your strategy.
Campaign structure used to be the lever.
Today, the lever is creative signal density.
Every piece of content you publish teaches GEM what type of user buys and what doesn’t.

6️⃣ To scale, you need diversity across:
– Persona
– Format
– Funnel stage
– Message style

7️⃣ Organic content is now an asset, not a nice-to-have.
If you’re testing angles via Reels, UGC, or statics before you launch paid...

You’re giving GEM more data to work with.

If not? You’re flying blind, while the model waits for real engagement to learn from.

8️⃣ The most successful brands we work with now build their systems like this:
– Broad targeting only
– Weekly creative updates
– 10–15 radically different assets live at once
– Performance tracked via signal KPIs (scroll depth, hold rate, etc.)
– Organic > Paid flow embedded into the process

9️⃣ So if performance is soft or spend won’t scale...
It’s not because the algorithm “isn’t spending.”
It’s because the system doesn’t have enough differentiated signals to learn who your next buyer is.
That's the wall many brands are hitting.

🔟 Meta GEM is here.
The question is whether your setup is aligned with it.
Because in this new system:
→ The real media buyer is the model
→ And the best creative doesn’t just convert, it teaches

I’ll die on this hill: if you’re a founder, you need to be in your ads.

Nothing builds trust or stops the scroll faster, but it’s easy to get the execution wrong.

If you want founder-led ads that actually scale, you need more than just a “hey I’m the founder” story.

You need a narrative arc. You need emotional contrast. You need why, not just what.

👇Here are 10 questions we use to extract stories that build trust and convert cold audiences:

1️⃣ What’s your name and role in [BRAND/ PRODUCT]? 

2️⃣ What was the defining moment or personal experience that inspired you to start [BRAND/ PRODUCT]? Can you share the story behind it? 
> Was it a personal struggle, a gap in the market, or an "aha" moment? 

3️⃣Describe what the [market] was like before [BRAND/ PRODUCT], and the problems you experienced personally? 
>What challenges did you face in finding the right CBD solutions? Were there common frustrations that others also seemed to experience? What did you feel was missing from the industry?

4️⃣ Describe how this made you feel? 
>How did your experience with these CBD challenges impact your daily life, confidence, or overall well-being?

5️⃣ How did your early experiences with [PAIN POINT] and the lack of effective solutions affect you? 
>Did you feel frustrated, overlooked, or determined to find a solution? How did these emotions shape your decision to take action?

6️⃣ Can you describe the research and development process that went into formulating the unique ingredients of [BRAND/ PRODUCT]? 
>What challenges did you encounter along the way? What steps did you take to ensure the product was different and effective? Were there any roadblocks or surprising discoveries during the formulation process?

7️⃣ Can you describe the emotions you felt during the early stages of building the brand and creating your first product? 
>What were some of the challenges you faced? Think about the early days - were you excited, nervous, overwhelmed? What obstacles did you overcome to bring your vision to life?

8️⃣ Can you recall a specific moment or experience that validated your decision to start [BRAND/ PRODUCT]?
>How did it make you feel? Was there a breakthrough moment, a piece of customer feedback, or an achievement that reassured you that you were on the right path?

9️⃣ What sets [BRAND/ PRODUCT] apart from other brands in terms of the impact it has on customers' lives? How do you ensure that the product continues to meet and exceed their expectations? 

🔟 Were there any pivotal moments during the development phase when you realised the potential impact this product could have on people's lives? How did it make you feel? 
>Was there a specific test, review, or milestone that made you see the bigger picture of how [BRAND/ PRODUCT] could change lives?

We’ve used this exact structure to help founders unlock ads that scaled past 7 figures, without looking or sounding like ads.

If your founder content isn’t performing, it’s probably missing narrative.

We ran a multi-cell Conversion Lift and A/B on test On Meta to confirm what we’d been seeing in the account for months.

Here's the data:

Creative diversity by persona is the biggest lever for scalable acquisition in 2026.

This year at Soar With Us, we’ve seen that brands delivering a high volume of distinct, persona-driven assets across all stages of the funnel achieve outsized returns on Meta. 

Partners adopting a diversified creative strategy see, on average, a 34% reduction in CPA.

We recently ran a multi-cell Conversion Lift + A/B test across our highest-volume accounts.

The goal was to prove what we’d already been seeing for months inside the ad account: that creative diversity (not spend) is the real scale lever in 2025.

We tested two core hypotheses:

1. More ad variants = better performance
2. Creator-led Partnership Ads outperform BAU creative

Here’s what we found:

🧪 Test 1: Creative Volume A/B
• 25 ad variants vs. 5 variants
• 171 more purchases despite 59,000 fewer impressions
• 15% cheaper cost per conversion
• Highest lift in 18–34s, Meta’s most competitive demo

🧪 Test 2: Partnership Ads vs BAU
• 800 incremental conversions vs 520
• Cost per incremental conversion: $25.63 vs $39.34
• ROAS >10x vs standard creative

Key learnings

1. Campaigns with more creative assets perform better than those with fewer.
2. Partnership Ads are a non-negotiable part of Meta campaigns for driving new customer acquisition.

As Meta leans into AI-driven delivery, brands that can produce sufficient persona-led creative variety will pull ahead. 

AI surfaces insights and refines targeting, but human creatives turn those signals into compelling narratives. 

🤝 Brands that combine AI and human creativity to scale persona-led messaging will define the next era of growth on Meta and beyond.

Your favourite athlete, actor, or founder didn’t get there by accident - they followed a system you never got to see.

Shohei Ohtani is the perfect example.

At 15, he built a 64-cell “dream sheet” with one goal at the centre: become the #1 draft pick.

Let that sink in.

Most of us at 15 weren’t even thinking about our future. He was building an operating system for his.

He used something called the Harada Method - a Japanese performance framework built around clarity, accountability, and daily execution.

You start by writing your main goal in the centre of a grid. For Ohtani, it was simple: Be the #1 draft pick for all 8 NPB teams.

Then you map out 8 pillars that support that goal. His were:

- Body
- Control
- Sharpness
- Speed
- Pitch variance
- Personality
- Karma/luck
- Mental toughness

A solid mix of physical, mental, and character-based pillars which are already smarter than 99% of goal-setting.

But he didn’t stop there.

Each of those 8 pillars got broken into 8 daily actions. 64 behaviours, mapped, tracked and executed.

Even for something like “Karma,” he made it tangible:

- Show respect to umpires
- Pick up rubbish
- Be positive
- Be someone people want to support

It’s a reminder that the people who consistently win *don’t just want it more,* they build systems that make it inevitable.

And it made me look at my own patterns.

I’ve had seasons where I’ve coasted (big goals, good intentions, but no system) and eventually, progress stalls.

And I’ve had seasons where I got serious about structure (daily actions, clear priorities, less noise) and the results always follow.

Not because I suddenly tried harder, but because I built the conditions for progress to happen without needing to overthink it.

That’s what Ohtani nailed.

And I’ve been trying to do a lighter version of the same thing this year, not to over-optimise everything, but to make sure I can achieve my goals for 2026.

If you’re feeling stuck right now, I doubt it’s a talent problem.

It’s probably just this: you haven’t built your system yet.

I came across a site called GoalPillars that builds these 64-cell maps automatically. Been playing around with it and surprisingly useful for turning a big goal into something you can actually execute on. I've attached examples of some of the templates they have.

If you run a DTC brand and performance has been inconsistent lately on Meta, you're not alone.

👨‍💻 Jason Yim announced on X that behind the scenes, Meta has quietly rolled out one of the biggest shifts to its ad delivery system since Andromeda earlier this year: a new AI model called GEM.

GEM = Generative Ads Recommendation Model

It powers how ads get shown across Facebook, Instagram, and Reels and it works very differently to the systems most creative teams are still building for.

At a high level, it learns from everything. Not just what people click, but what they scroll past. Watch time. Organic posts. Even how users behave across platforms.

This has huge implications for how brands brief, test, and structure creative.

Here's how you can adapt to GEM and unlock stronger delivery across Facebook + IG ↓

1️⃣ Build for signal quality, not just quantity.
GEM doesn’t just learn from clicks. It learns from scroll depth, watch time, post reactions, bounce rate, across both paid and organic.

That means every asset trains the algorithm. Not just the top performers.

2️⃣ Diversify for discovery.
The more varied the message, persona, and visual style, the more surface area GEM has to find new audiences.

We advise clients to think in terms of signal inputs:
→ Different angles
→ Distinct personas
→ Varied formats (carousel, UGC, statics, founder-led)

3️⃣ Think cross-platform.
Facebook and IG used to optimise separately.
Now GEM learns across both, so if a message performs well organically on IG, it could improve Feed delivery on Facebook.
Track performance per platform to inform where + how to scale.

4️⃣ Treat organic content as training data.
GEM pulls from both ads + organic.
We’re increasingly testing angles organically first and using that data to shape paid versions.

Story-led Reels, native statics, UGC with problem-aware hooks… these give GEM more useful signals before you spend big.

So when a brand says, “We’ve got loads of creatives. Meta just isn’t spending properly.”

We’re asking: “What signals are you feeding it?”

Because GEM doesn’t care about how good your creative looks.

It cares about whether your creative helps it make better predictions.

Client Solutions @ Meta | AI Solutions for Marketing

One of Thomas Phillips clients generated £175K from ChatGPT traffic at 19.7% CVR.

In the same 90 days, organic search brought in £13.9M.

Everyone’s talking about AI SEO. But the brands actually winning aren’t reinventing the wheel.

To rank in Google’s AI Overviews, you still need:

– Clear, consistent USPs across every touchpoint
– Credibility from sources
– Structured, in-depth content that answers real buyer questions

The interface is changing. The playbook isn’t.

🎙 Full episode with Tom Phillips just dropped - https://lnkd.in/euiG8uZb

Scaling Ecom Brands Through Search | DTCSEOAGENCY.COM

We spent years obsessing over growth and not enough time building the systems to support it.

This week’s episode is a special one.

We sat down with Matt Lewis, Soar Group’s Managing Director - and the first person to ever join the business - to unpack the real operating system behind Soar.

The first conversation happened in a Costa in Tadcaster (the town we wrew up in) while we were both still at uni. I was trying to convince him not to take a grad scheme at PwC and to join me and Joe instead.

He said no. Then came back.

Since then, he’s been the single biggest lever in building Soar into a multi-brand agency group approaching 80 people.

Not just in growth, but in how we operate, plan, communicate, and scale culture across brands.

Behind the scenes, Matt has helped architect the structure that’s held all of this together.

Because the truth is: scaling is messy. It’s not about perfect playbooks, it’s about clarity, iteration, and staying relentlessly aligned.

If you run a team, an agency, or a brand... this one will land.

🎧 Full episode just dropped: https://lnkd.in/eUWKeZqi

Managing Director of Soar With Us | Building DTC Brands To 8 & 9 Figures | Co-Founder of Calm Collective

We swapped 2 elements in our creative and unlocked a completely new audience overnight.

All we did was change the format and vehicle. Meta delivered it to a brand new audience.

Here's an example of how you can do this for a supplement brand :

1. UGC video
→ A creator describing how the product “finally fixed their bloating”
→ Raw, selfie-style, shot at home
→ Classic Problem → Solution → Transformation arc

2. Static graphic
→ A clean, Reddit-style carousel breaking down
“4 reasons your gut health is wrecking your energy”
→ Clear pain points, reviews, subtle product CTA

Different formats. Different vehicles.
= Different entity IDs
= Fresh reach + better performance

Format = the structure of the ad (UGC, static, high-prod, etc.)
Vehicle = the way the story is told (testimonial, founder story, podcast, expert VSL, etc.)

If your ads are stalling, it’s because Meta thinks your “new” ad is the same as your last one.

To win now, start mixing formats and vehicles deliberately

That’s how you unlock new audiences, better CPMs, and scale that compounds.

We’ve spent over £100M on Meta.

And if there’s one thing you need to takeaway, it’s this:

The old Meta rewarded targeting.
The new Meta rewards signals.

If your creative doesn’t match user behaviour in the first 3 seconds, it won’t scale.

Meta’s changed. Quietly, and completely.

Here’s how the last 10 years rewired the platform and what that means for scaling in 2025:

- 2007: Ads launched. You could scale profitably with a decent pixel.
- 2012–2016: Tools got smarter, tracking got sharper.
- 2018: CBO marked the start of automation.
- 2020: iOS14 hit. Signal loss flipped the game.
- 2021–2023: Targeting got broad. Performance shifted away from media buying.
- 2024: ASC took over. Every brand running the same structure.
- 2025: Andromeda launched. Meta knows what the user wants, if you give it the creative signals.

Creative is now the most important growth lever on platform.

But it’s not just about more creative.

→ It’s about diverse formats
→ Strategic volume
→ And content designed to match how users actually consume today.

The game hasn’t broken, it’s evolved.

Scaling now is less about exploiting targeting, and more about building systems that give the algorithm the right signals at speed.

This shift is why we re-engineered how we make and test creative, to match how Meta actually works in 2025.

How has your team actually adapted to creative-first scaling this year?

Scaling to 8 figures on TikTok Shop in 2026? This is your cheat code.

We’re breaking down the strategy behind $23M in TikTok spend, plus a full BFCM debrief.

I’ll be joining Peter Nettesheim for a webinar to uncover the key strategies on how to scale your brand from 7 to 8 figures on TikTok Shop.

📅 Date: December 9th

⏰ Time: 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM (UK time, GMT, UTC+0)

Webinar Content:

✅ Step-by-step TikTok Shop blueprint
✅ Insights behind $23M+ in TikTok ad spend
✅ The TikTok first creatives strategy to scale from 7 to 8 figures
✅ How to optimise for short-form high converting creatives on TikTok
✅ Key insights from BFCM 2025: what worked and how to position for 2026

Only 100 seats available - register now! www.shorturl.at/9KNJU

We almost killed this concept - now it’s a top spender.

One of our go-to frameworks is the third-person POV discovery story - a creator finds a product while researching for someone else.

Emotional. Relatable. Always performs.

Except… this one didn’t.

It barely spent. Sat in the account doing nothing.

But instead of scrapping it, we rebuilt the structure:

– Moved the product reveal right to the start
– Cut the slow ‘discovery’ intro
– Added a clear before-and-after
– Put the ‘build-up’ at the end, not the middle

Same core idea. Different pacing.

Now it’s our 3rd biggest spender in the last 30 days.

Lesson? Performance lives in structure, not just the idea.

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