Pat Wu

Proudly building TTS with BorgRise US

[Pat Wu @bgrspatwu]

Uncertainty isn't the enemy of action. It's the only reason there's money in it. The day it becomes a sure thing, you're already too late.

Uncertainty is the only reason action exists.

[Pat Wu @bgrspatwu]

The #1 creator on TikTok Shop in June: myfamilypov posted 402 videos last month.
That's 13 a day. 129M views, $2.4M in GMV

How do they post that much? Most of you can't hold 3 a day.

I've coached creators at every level, from 30k to 300k a month in GMV.
The difference in output comes down to one thing: how they see the publish button.

The ones who have a video volume problem and take forever to post all believe the same thing:
The more they polish before it goes out, the better it'll do.

They treat a video like a problem you solve on paper, then publish the finished answer.
But the answer isn't on paper.

The views, the sales, whether GMV Max picks it up, none of that exists until the post is live. Not even the smartest person has it in their head yet.

So they call it talent they don't have, and they push even fewer videos, or they just stop. Talent was never the missing piece. The best video gets built one post at a time, off feedback you can't get any other way. The creators who just hit publish already figured this out.

Publishing isn't where you show what you know. It's where you go to learn it.

[Pat Wu @bgrspatwu]

Everyone thinks they can't post because they're not ready.

You're not unready. You just don't want to find out you're not as good as you think you are.

As long as you don't post, you never have to find out. You stay the smart one who just hasn't started yet. The moment you hit publish, that's up for grabs. So you tell yourself you're still tweaking it. Still learning. Still getting ready. It's the most respectable way to hide.

I reverse-engineered this in myself, and in every creator I've coached. Skill was never the thing. You welded posting to your identity, so a flop stops feeling like a bad post and starts feeling like a verdict on you.

The people who actually make it? Half of them will tell you they were the dumbest one in the room. They stopped needing to look smart, and started posting before they were ready.

Thinking about it won't tell you if it works. Posting will. So detach who you are from how the post performs, and hit publish. The post you're most scared of is usually the one you actually learn from.

[Pat Wu @bgrspatwu]

One of the most common questions TikTok Shop creators ask me:

How many videos should I make for one product?

I don't think that question matters as much as people think.

Because both answers can be true.

Some creators test 15 videos before a product starts working.
Some creators test 2-3 videos, realize the angle is wrong, and move on.

The real question is not:
What's the right number?

The real question is:
How do you get the answer?

TikTok Shop is very similar to entrepreneurship.

You are not taking a test.
There is no teacher handing you the correct answer.
There is always someone winning with a "saturated" product, and the only way you find out how is by interacting with the market directly.

Good creators don't just look at a winning video and ask, "How do I copy this?"

They ask:
1. Why did this work?
2. Which variable created the result?
3. If I change the hook, does it still work?

Then they post.
Read the result.
Change one variable.
Post again.

I've watched creators post 45 videos on a single product, each one a tiny iteration on the last, and it works. Also, some creators pull a million views in under 5 videos.

Most creators think they need more answers.
But the answer is in the market.

Good creators don't wait for it. They just test, and see what works.

Do that enough and it becomes their own system: read the market, build your own rules, get better.

Once you can get your own answers, nothing stops you.

[AI最严厉的父亲 @dashen_wang]

https://t.co/ydNVItD1l5

[Luca @lucawashenko]

i have noticed as we have scaled from 7 to 8 to 9 figures rather quickly there are now a million things requiring my attention on any given day

so I have had to adapt a new strategy to remain singularly focused and calm my ADHD brain

i call it the "eye of sauron"

first, I clearly define 1 singular priority (based on bottleneck theory) with my biz partner at the beginning of the month and then reaffirm that prio every week

and like the eye of sauron i try to apply maximum effort ONLY in that direction

all the calls, the messages, the chaos of business still needs to get attended to

but after that is all done, the eye of sauron locks onto the 1 priority and I can execute all the unscalable "in the business" work that is needed to religiously push things along

follow up 5 times myself, do the boring work for hours, pay for the consulting calls, take the meetings with as many agencies as possible to solve that bottleneck as quickly as possible by resolving the knowledge gap

other fires will 100% be burning but I let them burn while the main task gets pushed forward

as a result, I am working "on the business" for everything else that matters, but doesnt matter as much

this has the added effect of
1 I can let my team handle themselves without me and see who swims and who drowns
2 I get to stress test processes and see adherence without me
3 I move along the 1 main thing 100x faster than if it was just 1 of 20 in my to do list every day

then every month I reevaluate the main priorities and see if another part of the business needs my attention, at which point the eye of sauron will rotate again

[Jimmy Farley @JimmyFarley00]

THE EASIEST WAY TO GET MORE IS TO GIVE MORE… LET THIS BE YOUR SIGN

[Davie Fogarty @daviefogarty]

I have a friend who does $500M+/year revenue and another friend (young kid) who cashflows $2M/month on crypto.

Before both of them found success, they had started three or four different things at once. A lot of people thought they had a “lack of focus” because they pivoted constantly.

But eventually they hit a winner, and then they 10x'd on that one thing.

That’s a pattern I've noticed with people who build successful businesses.

They try a ton of different things, find creative new ways to acquire customers because they're not locked into one channel, and then go all in once they find what works.

But not everyone can operate like them.

That’s why I still think being focused when building is good advice providing you have something worth working on long term.

But for a certain type of person, the "lack of focus" early on is exactly what helps them find the real opportunity.

The trick is knowing which one you are.

And then having the discipline to 10x on the winner once you find it.

[Pat Wu @bgrspatwu]

赞美神，感恩你的无处不在给我勇气面对真正的自我。

[Pat Wu @bgrspatwu]

@miralizain Hey Maz! What tool are you using to generate the videos?

[Pat Wu @bgrspatwu]

Success lies not in reinventing the wheel, but in outperforming the competition and building upon that success.

[GREG ISENBERG @gregisenberg]

In 2013, at 23, I felt on top of the world.

I'd just sold my company for $5M. Well, kinda.

I'll tell you the story of how I lost it all.

The $5M was in stock in a VC-backed company. But not just any stock.

This company wasn't just any company.

The company was doing $35M in revenue, with 70% gross margins.

It was backed by Silicon Valley's who's who. I was living the dream. Or so I thought.

My thinking was simple: Worst case? We'd cut staff, print $20M/year.

And that rate, I'd easy be able to get my $5M of stock out, maybe even more.

How could it go wrong?

Spoiler alert: It did. Lol.

Slowly, then all at once, we became a zombie company.

Revenue started declining. Growth stalled. VCs lost interest.

Here's the thing about the VC model. They care about growth and the next big unicorn.

We looked like a donkey with a party hat.

Suddenly, no one wanted to fund us. We had to sell. Fast.

We found a buyer. People congratulated us. But I knew the truth: This wasn't a success.

The outcome? We got nothing. Zip. Nada. My $5M paper fortune? Gone with the wind.

But here's the silver lining: I learned this lesson at 23, not 43.

Fast forward to today:

I run a different kind of company. We're profitable. We grow steadily. No VC money. No paper valuations.

The best part of my job now is sending out profit shares. 2x a year.

Our team's reaction is priceless: "Wow, thank you! This is real?"

They're used to VC-backed startups:

1. Equity worth millions (on paper)
2. Promises of future riches
3. Reality - 90%+ of the time worth nothing

I've been there, worn the t-shirt. VC equity is just gravy. Maybe it pays off, probably not.

But profit shares? That's real money.

In your bank account. Buy a car. Put a down payment on a house. Live your life now, not in some hypothetical future.

This is why we're seeing the rise of the dividend startup.

More and more people are choosing real money over paper unicorns.

Here's my lesson learned:

Build a business that prints cash, not promises.

Focus on profitability, not vanity metrics.

Grow steadily, not at all costs.

Your team will thank you.

Your stress levels will thank you.

Your bank account will definitely thank you.

Your family or future family will thank you.

Am I grateful for my $5M lesson? Absolutely. It shaped who I am today.

So here's to failing young, learning fast, and building businesses that matter.

Real value. Real profits. Real impact.

I'm not saying you can't build a VC-backed business and build wealth. You totally can.

But the odds are stacked against you. And in 2024, easier than ever to build and find customers, building a "small business" like a micro-saas or niche marketplace could be quite the adventure and retirement plan in its own way.

And most employees think when they join a VC-backed rocketship, that their stock is as good as gold.

It usually isn't.

Sharing this story in case it's useful to someone.

The rise of the dividend startup isn't just coming.

It's here.

[DAN KOE @thedankoe]

You're still early

[Pat Wu @bgrspatwu]

The first use of any product is inside the consumer’s minds - Drew Eric Whitman

[Pat Wu @bgrspatwu]

Accumulate the most leveraged skills.

[Naval @naval]

@kyleschutter @ScruFFuR @suprraz @danielgross We were playing a single player game (knowledge accumulation) and a multiplayer game (status - showing off knowledge) simultaneously.

[Alex Hormozi @AlexHormozi]

I promise you, your life will change if you spend the first hour of your day preparing for everything else you do for the day.

[Pat Wu @bgrspatwu]

Knowledge X Practice = Success

Works every single time.

#ugc #tiktokaffliate #tiktok