Leaps, Letters & Logic

Somehow January is basically over? I didn’t really start any of my new years resolutions yet either. Shit. Oh well. We got 11 months left. Plus… Little secret for ya here…. Just between you & me… Keep it DL… It’s a LEAP YEAR. Ya. Not kidding. We got a free day in 2024. 366 baby.

I love a leap year. Love it love it love it. This will be my 7th one. Means you basically get a free day, 24 hours, to do absolutely whatever the fuck you want. No strings attached. House money. Free time. Pretty sure you don’t have to go into work on February 29th either. Not entirely sure about that but I for sure won’t be. I officially declare February 29 as a federal holiday for all Trust Fun readers.

Feel free to print this out & show it to your boss. Sorry it’s not written in ink, all I have on me is a mechanical pencil. I’m a big eraser guy. Hate pens.

Speaking of setting goals & doing cool shit, it was also a big week for Trust Fun because we, dare I say, inspired (?) 2 people to start their own newsletters. Pretty sick. Also kinda nuts. Also… more competition? Shit. Maybe a bad idea. I gotta stop making this look so easy. But, on a positive note, does this mean that I am officially an #influencer? At some point I’m going to need to see a paycheck. In the meantime, I suppose the self-gratification of encouraging some of my friends to write, express themselves & do something awesome is enough.

First, big congrats to Teddy Giard. Stoked to follow along. Teddy’s a hilarious marketer & great LinkedIn follow.

Second, my extremely good buddy Jonny Lazarus announced this AM he’s launching 5 For Writing, a weekly newsletter about the in’s & out’s of the NHL, being self-employed in sports media, & essentially how he took a MASSIVE risk to live out his childhood dreams. I also designed the logo. Not bad, eh?

If you don’t know or aren’t following Jonny yet, you need to. He’s one of the best dudes I know, extremely hard working & 100% authentic. He’s a great writer. He’s also single. Just saying. Subscribe to 5 For Writing.

Websites Are Hard

I’ve been thinking a lot about websites lately. It’s actually insane how important your website is if you’re an online business. I know that sounds obvious (duh, an online business’ website is OBVIOUSLY important), but let me explain. I’d say most of the ecommerce companies I’ve worked with will get their site to a certain “quality” & set it and forget it. Typically, as a founder, you build a site that you like. That you feel like makes sense. You grab a shopify plan, you throw together some cool product images, some site logic & navigation, & if you have the budget, work with a web developer to build it out.

But, I feel like some people forget that your website is literally everything. It’s your closer. It’s your most critical asset. Even if you have the best marketing in the world, if someone comes to your site & can’t EASILY 1) understand what your selling, 2) see very high quality images & 3) get around the site quickly, then nothing else matters. The difference between an okay website at a 2.5% conversion rate versus a good website at a 3% conversion rate can be the difference of many, many millions of dollars.

*Note: conversion rate is the rate at which someone actually makes a purchase on your website. So if 100 people visit my website and 3 people buy, my site’s conversion rate is 3%.

The issue here is that people aren’t adjusting, adapting & improving their sites as often as they should be. Doing audits on site speed & load times. Making sure dead pixels are off the site. Attempting to constantly make things simpler, having strangers go through their site, and give candid feedback on what’s easy to understand & what makes no fucking sense.

Maybe, instead of hiring a new marketer… Try hiring a UI/UX designer & doing some user flow testing… It could literally change the trajectory of your entire business. Wanna know how you can make your marketing dollars perform better? Increase AOV & conversion rate.

We’re in the weeds of it right now at Mugsy. Our site speed sucks. Our logic is slightly confusing. BUT, we’re working on it. We’re investing in it. I’m getting lots and lots of feedback. But it’s hard. No one knows your site better than you. BUT, in that same vain, remember… NO ONE KNOWS YOUR SITE BETTER THAN YOU. So make it easier. Make it sexier. Thousands & thousands of times a day, you’re making first impressions with random visitors on your website. Visitors who are looking to give you their cold, hard cash.

Don’t be lazy. Don’t show up in sweatpants. Wear a suit. Take a shower. Put on some deodorant. Hell… Put on cologne.

Have a great week. Stay sexy.