Packing, Planning & Pixels

Welp. It’s finally here. It’s officially moving week.

A quick recap for those who are new here… I’ve been essentially homeless since October of 2023. It all started when I lost my job at Barstool Sports this past fall which coincided with me moving out of my apartment. Since then, I had to make some VERY strategic financial decisions to survive until I got back on my feet:

Obviously, this could only last so long. Especially once my severance ended, I needed to come up with a way to pull my weight.

So… I started this newsletter.

And I got a job.

The latter being the way I would start making money again. The former only because I no longer could afford therapy.

But now, to much of Barstool Sports’ distaste & horror (JK, it’s a wonderful company- this is 100% humor based 😃 ), I am so fucking back.

+10k subscribers on Trust Fun✅

New job✅

And now… NEW APARTMENT✅

In all seriousness, last fall I truly didn’t think I was going to make it here. You know when there’s just a mountain of shit infront of you? When it just seems like you’ll never, ever get there?

6 months ago I had zero people reading this. I had just lost my job. I had no idea where I was going to live. It was scary & hard. It took a serious, serious toll on me. I damn near hit rock bottom. I could pretend & say some cliché bullshit like “I’m better because of it” or “You gotta just roll with the punches” which, sure, may be true. But holy fuck is it hard. My anxiety reached levels that I never thought it could. But, you gotta just adapt & continue to learn about yourself. Find what works for you & what maybe doesn’t & adjust accordingly. Here’s what's helping me these days….

1) Exercise. Making a routine & sticking to it. I can’t get myself to go to the gym & do my own workout, so I’ve been booking expensive exercise classes that charge me if I miss them. It’s definitely not cheap but it forces me to show up.

2) Making plans. Having shit to look forward to & being surrounded by people is so healing. And let’s be honest, you may not always being getting invited to stuff. I know I wasn’t. So take control yourself. Plan a big dinner with friends. Get everyone over for a game night. Being social is critical.

3) Keeping drinking to a minimum. Obviously we all now this, but avoiding hangovers & being able to have 7 mornings a week is legit a superpower.

4) Sleep. This goes hand & hand with the rest. Get 7 or 8 or 9 hours. Sleep rules.

Anyways, I’m moving this week in to my dream apartment with my amazing, smart & beautiful girlfriend. Packing & moving absolutely sucks so much. But damn, how far we’ve come.

Welcome to week 17 of Trust Fun.

Taking Control

Just like taking the reigns on your personal life, it’s critical to do that same for your business. Every few months, you’ve got to audit your routine. Some things that may have worked for you before, may no longer being working now. Or the landscape has changed & others have figured out a better, more efficient way to do something.

Specifically when it comes to your marketing spend, you never truly know what you’re not doing or missing. If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s to NEVER fall in love with your marketers. Keep ‘em on their toes & audit their work. A quick reminder to everyone… you’re running a BUSINESS. Be objective & be honest. If you test a new channel, say TikTok Paid Ads, & your marketing agency / in-house team can’t get it to be profitable, don’t just write it off.

Sorry to blow your ego a bit but it’s probably not TikTok’s fault… It’s yours.

We had this issue at Barstool where we wrote off channels if we couldn’t figure them out ourself with the team we had available. This was stupid & honestly lazy.

Any time your testing something new, you most likely need new help to figure it out. And every few months, NO MATTER WHAT, you’ve gotta check-in & audit your methods.

Cheat code for everyone here… This is exactly what PixelTheory does. They’re not an agency, they’re a true scale & growth partner. We actually used them at Barstool to come in & audit our total marketing P&L & they found SO MANY GAPS. Like alarming amounts. And what’s even cooler is they don’t just say “hey we can do this 20% better,” but they actually dive in & learn your entire business & acquisition funnel, study your marketing P&L, & then give holistic ways to drive substantial, profitable growth. Because they’re ecommerce experts, not just marketers, they truly get the whole picture. They’re team is legit. Anyone who works with Squatch is good enough for me.

I hands & knees begged us to hire them at Barstool but, alas, I got canned.

Anyways, PixelTheory is gonna offer only two (2!) brands here from Trust Fun an entirely free audit of their paid acquisition channel. Honestly, this could UNLOCK something for you big time.

Sign up to be considered here, I highly recommend them. They’re only gonna pick 2.

Be humble & curious & be ok changing your norm. That’s the only way we’re all gonna be able to buy jet skis and saunas.

See you next week.