Building a personal brand in 2026 is idiotic.
This is the era of the necked bearded one man AI empire, ran from mothers basement.
The age of the no-face creative introvert.
No sun. No human interaction. No dancing for likes.
Just a chat interface and a dream.
this girl might be a fucking genius
she built a relationship page around the same couple photo on every post, posts simple "rules we made after a fight" slideshows and then plugs an AI advice app on the last slide
no face
no filming
no audience needed
just:
-> one stock couple pic
-> relatable relationship content
-> same slideshow format every post
-> app plug as a "bonus tip"
the page only has 524 followers and it's already at 343k+ likes, top post did 1.7M views
she basically turned one beach photo into a full app distribution channel
this is the kind of slideshow use case i find way more interesting than random AI slop
Whenever you get worried about not achieving your goals just remember there’s plenty of room at the top because the majority of people are just whiny, overweight in debt, little bitches. You’ll blow past them so fast it’ll be like they’re standing still (because they are).
Nightmare Mode Protocol –– my notes
30-60 day sprint: Complete deprivation of stimulants
The Idea:
- The brain has no context on the source of dopamine and whether or not its beneficial for you. It doesn’t care where it’s coming form, it just knows it feels good
- When the brain receives a lot of dopamine from a certain activity, it craves more of it and loses interest in everything else (no matter how important it is even if that thing is important for basic survival)
- You can reset the standard and direct what it finds pleasurable by depriving yourself of other stimuli
Allowed downtime activities:
(1) do nothing (2) consume books (3) consume relevant content or documentaries (4) workout (5) meditate (6) make healthy stuff to eat (7) self/care grooming (8) clean room to reasonable degree, not OCD (9) Quick meetings / dinners / lunches with people I can connect with (10) listen to music but limit it to specific time, because its a strong source of dopamine for me as well (11) Time with animal
Personal Notes:
The only thing that will move you forward during this season is pure work and focus to get good at what you’re doing.
Eliminate EVERYTHING that interferes with your dopamine levels for a 60 day sprint, let the only outlet you have for satisfaction be your personal growth and work — naturally become obsessed with work
This is especially important in these early stages, where the work produces very little dopamine. You’re in the early stages of learning and need to brute through the work to suck less and less until you’re good enough for the work become rewarding. Then it will become very rewarding. Rewarding enough to allow space for other pleasurable things like watching movies/shows, having social media, or dating life and still be able to keep behaviors it in check.
Productivity stimulants like caffeine and nicotine are acceptable. Occasional indulgence in a sweet dessert for dinner is also acceptable but def minimizing sugar throughout the day knowing my body is going to reach for anything it can during this time to get a hit.
@marclamonthill@OfficiallyIce Can we please dedicate a segment on patreon where dumb and dumber (Newark couch) have to do research PRIOR to the podcast to make a case for their conspiracies and not just give low iq one sentence rebuttals with zero basis???
@jforjacob@10figsorgay@OceanNiro@30GotNext He can't. The anti Messi crowd are now resorting to conspiracy theories because the goat debate is dead and fucking buried.
Refs got it right yesterday...end of
If I was forced to make $100K/month with ecom in 30 days starting from zero, here's exactly what I would do in 20 steps:
Days 1-3:
Pick the right category and build the foundation
Find a category where the buying decision has a strong trust component — supplements, kids products, beauty, pet, health-adjacent
Validate the market size before touching anything — minimum $500M+ addressable market
Find a white label manufacturer — target 80% gross margins before spending $1 on marketing
Build a 100% subscription offer — no one time purchases ever
Price at premium from day one — $10 signals $10 quality. Never apologize for your price.
Days 4-7:
Build the product and brand
Design packaging that makes customers want to display it proudly — your packaging is your #1 silent salesperson
Build a simple DTC website — no Amazon, no retail, own the customer relationship completely
Offer 50% off month one — this is the highest converting offer structure I have ever tested across two 9-figure businesses
Write 5 core educational pieces about what is wrong with your category — education builds trust faster than any ad
Days 8-15:
Launch influencer machine
Find 25 micro influencers in your category — mommy bloggers if kids, health creators if wellness
Pay flat fees — expect only 10% to convert, kill the other 90% fast
Give them guardrails on what they can and cannot claim — then let them speak in their own voice
Track every post — views, clicks, sales, hold rate. The market is voting every day. Your job is to listen.
Whitelist the 2-3 winners immediately as paid ads from their handle — this is where the real leverage lives
Days 16-30:
Scale what is working
Take winning influencer creative and run it as paid ads — 20-40% of budget behind whitelisted content
Text every new subscriber personally within 24 hours — not a bot, a real human
Let customers customize their order — it raises costs slightly but creates a moat billion dollar companies cannot replicate
Survey every customer who churns — their reason is your next product improvement
Pour everything behind the 1-2 channels converting — kill everything else immediately
The conservative math:
25 influencers × 10% conversion rate = 2-3 winners 2-3 winners whitelisted as paid ads = dramatically lower CAC Lower CAC + 80% gross margins = profitable from month one Profitable from month one = no VC needed, ever
$30/month subscription × 3,000 subscribers = $90,000 MRR At 200 new subscribers per day = $100K MRR in under 30 days
That is the floor.
One viral post can add 500 subscribers in 24 hours alone.
I did this with $0 venture capital.
$103M annual revenue.
$260M exit.
The playbook works.
Comment "ECOM" and I'll send you the full breakdown.
**must be following + retweet to receive.
Every Wednesday at 3:30PM EST I host a free 30 minute open call where anyone can ask me anything about ecom, business, or building from scratch.
Link to register: https://t.co/sExcRo2qzY
Or interested in working with me 1-1 ?
Here's the link to apply:
https://t.co/h9RYPMtama
Let me know if you need anything else :)