Back to fundamentals in EcomUniversity
Taking notes, sharpening the axe
The $100k or gay challenge continues soon
A lot has changed over the past month and a half👀
People give opinions because opinions cost them nothing. The moment their opinion has a price, they either tell the truth or say nothing.
- what a crazy quote
Day 1 of Q4, we just paid $100K to our students.
Josh even earned $17K+ in a SINGLE MONTH
All of it came through @ecombounty
Here's how it works:
Ecom brands post projects inside the community.
You study the brand, come up with an angle, and make the ad.
If it's good, they test it with their own ad spend, zero risk on your end.
You earn a % of every dollar they spend running it.
And there's no better time to start than today:
-Q4 just started
- People are buying more than ever
- Brand are spending more than ever
This means YOU can earn more than ever as well.
Q4 means brands are about to flood the community with new bounties. More projects, more ad spend, more % up for grabs.
Next up: $1M student payout/month👀
No way you're gonna watch this happen from the sidelines.
Let's say you submit your portfolio, the brand is professional, and from the very first minute they're already working on making your trial work better. (Even though it could backfire on them...)
Then you submit a really shitty piece of work (your portfolio was probably ripped), and you get harsh feedback on what you need to fix. Instead of taking responsibility, you bail without a reply.
The problem isn't your shitty work, because everyone starts somewhere.
The problem is that your personality is a total wreck too.
I'd rather fail 1000 times and get back up than give up.
Not 10 native ads in 1 day. Not 4 TOF VSL's in 1 day.
We're talking about 1 single video.
And now I understand when everyone says to provide value. Because everything is value. You as a person. Your work. The way you approach your work.
That's why I didn't earn anything. I was a shitty person. My work was shitty. And so was my attitude.
Then 1 year ago something changed...
Like I said even if you change just one or two words, you can already change one of the three criteria.
ex. with the three hooks we worked on, we compared and scored the Hook Rate of all three, which is how we got these results in the first round:
Hook 1 — Spend winner / best performer
Clarity: 8
Emotion: 9
Curiosity: 8
After learnings: (with a much more emotional visual)
Clarity: 8
Emotion: 9
Curiosity: 9
Hook 2 — Didn’t perform well
Clarity: 7
Emotion: 4
Curiosity: 4
After learnings:
It was too long, there were no high stakes, and we used words that the target audience would find boring. The audience is also quite sophisticated, so what we did was rework the hook based on the desire and the fact that we were targeting an older audience. We started with the pain point and then moved into the promise.
Clarity: 8
Emotion: 9
Curiosity: 7
Hook 3 — Didn’t perform well
It had completely unnecessary BS words.
After the learnings:
We cut about 60% of the words, making it much clearer, easier to understand, and more resonant with the audience. No jargon.
Clarity: 9
Emotion: 8
Curiosity: 9
Today I got 1% better than I was yesterday. Again.
Today I put a big focus on hooks.
Big shoutout to @Idan_Frenkel8
Clarity
Emotion
Curiosity
Rate your hook on each one from 1 to 10. You'll see that swapping just one or two words can make it much clearer or give it a much stronger emotional charge.
P.S.
Thanks @davidolic_ for brainstorming with me every Sunday. I wish everyone had a partner like you to suffer through it with them over Sunday lunch haha
How did iteration work in the 80s?
In the mid 80's, Chris Robinson, Dr. Rick Webber on General Hospital, looked into the camera in a Vicks Formula 44 ad and said:
"I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV."
He wasn't a doctor, and everyone knew it. Sales still went up a lot.
In 1986, Robinson went to prison for tax evasion.
Vicks didn't write a new ad. They kept the same script and swapped the face for Peter Bergman, Dr. Cliff on All My Children.
The ad was basically duplicated. Apart from the switch of TV doctors, it was nearly word for word the same as the earlier version.
Same hook. Same structure. New face.
That was iteration in 1986.
Sometimes the symbol is enough: the role, the white coat, the association.
Do not leave free money on the table.
The world changes, but the fundamentals stay the same.
After you cut people out of your life, it starts to feel like God never meant them for you in the first place.
That's what's been happening to me over the past year, year and a half.
Last night I was talking to my mom. Sunday is usually when we go over the week on the phone.
I love talking to her, because she really listens, and I've learned so much from her.
One of those things is how to stand on your own two feet. Without anyone's help.
There was a certain person who got me into the world of ecom. My mom never liked this person. But I'd known them for 15 years, so one Tuesday I called to ask what I needed to know about copywriting.
"Don't even start bro. Take on a store in the Hungarian market, I'll manage the whole thing."
Nov 3, 2025. The start of Csabi's ecom career.
I'll keep this part of the story as short as my ecom career in Hungary was. Nonexistent.
Jan 2, 2026
We started running ads in the US with zero (I repeat, ZERO) knowledge.
"Come on bro, we're testing 5 products a day."
I was one month into ecom, and even I wasn't buying it anymore. But instead of falling in line, I started doing my own little "market research."
That's when I decided to go my own way.
And what a good decision that was.
Ending a 15-year 'friendsip' vs. going after my own goals?
Obviously the 2nd one.
I calmly told them what I wanted. Of course they didn't take it well. I get it. And that's when this person started manipulating me. I stayed completely calm, because I knew what I wanted. They said a couple of things that would've made me blow a fuse 2–3 years ago. But in that moment, I stayed calm.
So why does any of this matter? This person lives one street away from my mom.
Yesterday my mom told me they never even say hi to her.
All I said was: "God, give these people every good thing, because they're poor."
My mom didn't get it. But I know everyone grows up eventually. If not here on earth, then maybe in Heaven. Or in hell.
One task at a time. Nothing else.
Phone out of the room.
Cold shower in the morning because I usually can't stop working at night and then I still feel like reading Influence at 2am is a good idea (ofc good human psychologymaxxing) and don't understand a single word of it.
That's the plan for tomorrow.
oh and to be 1% better than I was today
Dear son,
Study why selling to a woman is easier.
Study why big companies hire men with kids and in debt.
Study why the rich donate money to their local churches.
Study why celebrities are glorified and worshipped.
You'll thank me later.