Making world-class emails for 8 & 9-figure brands. CEO @ Bedford. P&G Alum.
Ecom Email Agency
- Tweets 10,957
- Following 635
- Followers 2,658
- Likes 11,043
Working with a new client
17 year-old founder, 10 million $ dtc brand
No zoom calls. No in-person meetings. Only meets over black ops 6 calls.
"If it can't be discussed over COD, it's too complicated"
The workforce is changing
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Gmail using all most advanced AI tech in the world to suggest I reply to an email with “Great, thank you so much”
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New project to fend off the cold dm bros
- Fake Calendly link
- Sends an AI voice on the other end to the call (using your voice)
- replies to follow up DMs
Demo coming soon
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UPS & FedEx making so much money with Canada Post going on strike they're not even trying to compete anymore
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6 months ago my cofounder and I quit our day jobs at P&G. We wanted to spend more time doing what we love, building DTC brands. This week we launched out first new brand, Pearly, for under $10k. Here's a thread on the journey so far 👇🏼
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Same dudes flexing their 100k shopify order plaques complaining about a $150/mo Klaviyo increase
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How is judge me so cheap. What is this black magic?
I've seen 8-figure stores using it. Paying $15/month. Their support appears to be good too. 🤯
Seems like it breaks the conventional business triangle of "choose 2 of speed, price, quality" and just does it all.
What am I missing?
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ok hear me out...
I know @seanfrank hates when people use his logo on their agency sites without permission, so I found a sneaky way to get around that and get Ridge onto mine.
Introducing Fridge Wallets. All I need to do now is make a fake email for them and I'm set for life. Stay tuned...
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The "Fentanyl Czar"
I just had a good call with President Trump. Canada is implementing our $1.3 billion border plan — reinforcing the border with new choppers, technology and personnel, enhanced coordination with our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl. Nearly 10,000 frontline personnel are and will be working on protecting the border.
In addition, Canada is making new commitments to appoint a Fentanyl Czar, we will list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the border, launch a Canada- U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering. I have also signed a new intelligence directive on organized crime and fentanyl and we will be backing it with $200 million.
Proposed tariffs will be paused for at least 30 days while we work together.
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I know @seanfrank hates when people use his logo on their agency sites without permission, so I found a sneaky way to get around that and get Ridge onto mine.
Introducing Fridge Wallets. All I need to do now is make a fake email for them and I'm set for life. Stay tuned...
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I do all the CS for 2 ecom brands myself in ~15 mins a day.
If you're sub $1mil a year as an ecom brand, there's no reason to be outsourcing CS tickets.
Here's the guide outsourcing gurus don't want you to see 👇
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So excited to announce my new Protein Water brand, phuddle.
What is phuddle? It’s water. With protein. And optimal pH. For your gains. For your soul.
Dropping at a bodega near you, May 2025.
Jump in the phuddle today.
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Is it just me or do like 12 agencies have True Classic on their website logos of brands they've worked with?
What's going on here?
Unrelated - brands should license out their logos to agencies /s
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Instead of Forbes 30u30, @shopify should create Shopify 30u30
Feature 30 dope brands that have been around for under 30 months, but are growing insanely fast.
Facilitate retail intros, give them free press, put them on Mr Beast videos, whatever.
Base it on 5 categories:
1) Revenue (top 5 growth stores)
2) Retention (best repeat customer rate)
3) Virality (most views on socials)
4) Fan Favorites (votes)
5) Tobi's Favorites (because why not)
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This rant is for all the weekend builders out there who are looking for their next idea 👨💻
@Klaviyo built a $10 billion company focused on ecommerce email, piggybacking off of Shopify's success.
Today, they have 150k+ stores using their platform, and I doubt they'll be slowing down anytime soon.
Most ecom SaaS founders are focused on building Shopify apps. Few are focused on Klaviyo apps 🤔
Email marketers are always on the hunt for automations and content strategies to enhance campaigns and flows. But it doesn't seem like anyone is building app for them.
As an email agency owner, I hear this complaint from my team, our clients, and other agencies all the time. So let's do something about it 👇
Here's a list of 13 app ideas I think you could build and grow, piggybacking off Klaviyo's huge customer base:
Popups: Quality list growth is like oxygen for email marketers. We need it to survive. Amped came and left in what feels like less than a year. I think there's room for 2 or 3 large companies like them now that they're gone.
Refer-a-friend: Most solutions in this space are run by loyalty apps who try to sucker you into setting up a loyalty program. It's 2024, nobody wants to be a part of a loyalty program. Just make it SUPER easy to setup a simple "refer a friend and get a partial refund/credit" functionality in Klaviyo. This feature would crush in post-purchase flows, or even everyday campaigns.
Cross-promotion: Make a marketplace for legit brands to run listicles/cross-promotions of each others' products. Instead of focusing on list size, it should focus on store revenue, and how much revenue they drive for others. E.g. I can run a cross-promo with another brand and be 80% sure it will drive 25k for my brand, and 25k back to theirs.
Boost open rates: Build an advanced model with subject line data off the back of milled/really awesome emails. Pull only the best subject lines. Buy data from big brands on which subject lines get the most revenue. Allow me to paste in the content of my email, and generate 10 subject lines.
Campaign planning: auto-generate content calendar ideas for brands for the next 3-6 months. Allow me to input my range of discounts, product info, email frequency, etc. and spit out ideas for a content calendar.
Content blocks: like the Design Packs app, but for email. Give me cool ways to show products, promote offers, etc. with email. Allow me to export to Canva, Figma, AI, etc.
Recurring emails: some brands want to send frequent reminders or emails on repeat. Klaviyo makes this WAY too hard with flows.
Weather flows: Allow me to delay some email campaigns until a rainy days in a customer's city. I want to email them when they are bored at home, not when there's beautiful weather. You could stockpile 12 emails a year, and send weather-based campaigns once a month.
AI personalized flows: Allow me to take info about the city, name, etc. of my customer, and generate content for my flow around that. Could be text, a crossword puzzle, a midjourney image, whatever.
Aging segments: for retention-based businesses (think baby/pet/etc.) where the consumer ages out of some products, help me build smart segments. It won't be perfect, but it saves me time building hacky segments in Klaviyo.
Giveaways: it's so hard to run a simple giveaway. All the apps frankly suck. Make it stupid simple to run a 3-week giveaway campaign. All I should have to do is feed 10 creatives, my logo, the prizes.
Customer engagement: Allow my customers to vote on mini-polls or reply about product ideas, share UGC, ask questions, etc and let me re-use that in future campaigns easily.
Milestones: Facilitate simple flows for unique milestones like X orders, $X spent, X years since first purchase, etc. Klaviyo does a bad job with this because things like free orders, samples, etc. throw it off.
DM or comment if you want to ask questions or build something in this space. I'm also open to investing or helping co's building any of these ideas 🤜🤛
The last time I wrote a rant like this about shopify bundles sucking, a group of savvy devs built a killer app that's now growing like wildfire.
Tag a builder who could benefit from this!
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Looking for a video editor. Details below 👇
Someone who likes doing 1-off projects for SaaS brands, longer form video (maybe 1-2 min), 3-4 week turnaround, lots of creative flexibility, comfortable making assets using AI tools (i.e. veo).
Have a friend who is looking for someone good. Will pay well & a good company to add to your portfolio.
Please don't dm me, email me or spam me about this. Just post your portfolio or video in the comments and they'll see. Or just tag whoever might be a fit.
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My only goal for 2025:
Get onto the DTC illuminati list.
I missed out on David protein bars, Fermat swag and a few cases of Olipop. Unacceptable.
This is the year I will make my mom proud.
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I get asked a lot by first-time ecom founders if they should sell merch. Here are my thoughts in a flow chart.
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Shopify needs a "deactivate this app" feature before you fully uninstall.
I want to see if it's going to break my whole store down before I fully commit to saving $19 per month 😂
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TIL the guy who founded and sold Ring cameras to Amazon got rejected on Shark Tank and ended up becoming a Shark years later 🤯
Can't think of a better flex
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We're on day 7 of Applovin mania
"I was skeptical, but it actually works" posts have begun
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Woocommerce is the Android of ecommerce.
Shopify is apple.
Not sure what that makes Wix.
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Hosted another DTC founder dinner in Toronto last night. DM me if you'd like an invite to the next one!
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🙅 No gatekeeping. Here's a list of 33 offer types you can run this BFCM.
We have a 52-page internal BFCM doc full of value like this. Reply to this post or DM and I'll send it your way (must be following).
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AI is frying people's brains.
Had an interview recently where I'm 95% sure it was AI prompt driven.
I would ask something, the candidate would start to slowly answer with word fillers for a few seconds (seemingly as if he was loading), and then a thoughtful answer would start to flow out of his mouth.
As he gave the answer, his eyes tracked left to right, over and over. Clearly reading off a screen.
These weren't your generic "tell me about a time you worked in a team" type of questions. These were questions you couldn't have prepared for ahead.
The funny part is with all that effort, the candidate's answers were only mediocre at best.
The whole experience felt dystopian.
Interviewing is fun 🙃
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Excited to announce @AliaLearn as an official Paperboy newsletter partner 🤝
I'm on a mission to get to 10,000 email subscribers on my retention newsletter and their support goes a long way.
Disclaimer: I don't take any affiliate commissions for suggesting Alia (through my newsletter or agency) outside of sponsorship, and barely break even on the newsletter. I genuinely just love their product. More brands should be experimenting with popups and they make it stupid easy.
Link to the newsletter in next post.
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Launching a new brand next week 😎 Any DTC people want to check out our website before we launch to give feedback/suggestions?
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Shopify now has a "bought together" report that let's you quickly see what people frequently buy together.
Do your customers a favor and turn the top 3 or 4 combinations into a bundle OR create a corresponding post-purchase upsell with top combos
Shopify Analytics -> Reports -> Items Bought Together
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Thanks for reading this far 🙏🏼 I hope you enjoyed it! Here's a 15% off code to our store: TWITTER. If you've never had bubble tea before, we have a sampler kit for you. bit.ly/35zRxPE. Back to building 🔨
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🚀 It’s Launch Day! 🚀
@SergeySap and I have been working on something in stealth for the last year. Introducing Bedford.
A short thread 🧵
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Met the popup 🐐 @iamshaanarora last night in NYC.
If I owned a popup company I'd be sweating right now. These Alia guys are built different.
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Alia has succeeded in becoming the Amped of 2025.
✅ Nike
✅ Mr Beast's Feastables
✅ Pokimane's Myna Snacks
... the list goes on
Who's stopping these guys?
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Hiring a freelance ecom email copywriter. Up to 10 hours per week.
You don't need to have a career in copywriting to apply.
This is a great role for any marketer who wants to take on some extra income.
Looking for someone who likes to write unhinged/fun copy (think DudeWipes, LiquidDeath, Chubbies).
If you like memes, humor in copywriting, and trying crazy things, you'll like this gig.
Comment or DM me a funny meme about copywriting if you're interested 😉
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Quarterly reminder that Microsoft Clarity has a free heatmap software that records user sessions and shows you a click map with no restrictions.
If you're launching a new brand and plan to spend on ads install it right away.
It will give you a good idea of what people are browsing on your site, what content you should focus on, and how to better control the user journey.
Takes 2 minutes to setup. Way better than HotJar or any paid alternative (unless you're doing advanced stuff).
Microsoft didn't pay me to share this.
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Less venture backed founders who are promoting their product and providing little to no interesting stories/ideas. Skipping most of those.
Less back to back hubspot ads 😉
More of everything else - pod is on point.
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Might get cancelled for this but...
The only thing worse than hiring a full-service marketing agency (SEO + ads + email + website, etc.) is hiring a full-service marketing agency that also has a 3PL
🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩
Unless Jeff Bezos is running that 3PL you're setting yourself up for bankruptcy. Would love to be proven wrong here.
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How do people store their files in creative agencies?
Google drive file sharing/access is a pain.
I've heard dropbox is not the best.
What are people using in 2025?
Or is everyone suffering 😂
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Results testing Alia popups for a low 7-figure client so far:
Past: Attentive popup - 22.9 email opt-ins per day
New: Alia popup - 34.4 emails per day
+50% in users added, no major spike in unsubs (yet)
Did the opt-in rate go up? Yes.
Do I care? No, because every popup tool reports differently. More emails matters, and we are getting those.
Notes:
- offer was the exact same
- design was different (2-step), new creative
- didn't utilize most of Alia's features post opt-in, which we'll test more of soon
Before you say "well the design was different" I did this test because Attentive has a super restrictive popup setup. If you're on that platform, consider doing this test asap.
I'm sharing because a TON of brands we see for our free audits have dated popups that can be improved drastically.
For this client alone, this is +4k emails on their list every year. Alia team was super helpful, very low lift for the team, everyone happy 🤝
I'm not an Alia affiliate. I get paid 0 to talk about them. I run an email marketing agency and am sharing what works for us in public because I think it will help others. Go fix those popups.
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Made my mom proud this week.
Did a lecture on email marketing at NYU.
Gave the students all the sauce. Something I never had when I was in school.
LFG 🚀🚀🚀
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Claude vs. Shopify Apps🧑💻Part 2 of this series
Shopify Quiz Apps start at $400 a month. Claude built a free one in <5 minutes.
If this blows up I'll implement it on @societysocks and run $1k of x ads at it.
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Are there any good overseas shopify dev shops out there?
Every team I speak to has relatively high hourly rates (for their region) but also way overquotes hours. Ends up costing the same as a domestic dev who's honest with hours 🤷🏼♂️
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Big marketing agencies taking a $100k cheque from a Chinese supplier to set up a dupe brand to undercut their biggest customer.
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Shopify needs to invent a hybrid between a cart page and checkout page.
Can still edit quantities but also start paying if you want.
Stores should be able to switch between this and current state. Can see single/low variant product stores crushing with it.
Also the order details section on the checkout page has been quite poor for too long. It’s way too hard to see and confirm the products you are about to buy.
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Not sure why everyone is hating. I love my new wallpaper
MKBHD launched an iPhone wallpaper app today.
Let me say that again.
The infamous tech reviewer who "can destroy companies" launched an iPhone wallpaper app in the year 2024 (and it costs $11.99/month)
If you were reviewed negatively by MKBHD, now would officially be the time to not give a F.
The critic has stepped in the arena
And his performance is laughably weak
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Shopify app idea for the weekend hackers:
App that pulls all your data and tells you what time people shop. Time-zone adjusted, filter by country/AOV/etc.
Charge a one-time $50 (or $50 for 30-day access) because I only need to check this once or twice a year.
Could also just be a gumroad service
Why? Informs stores when to send emails, run special offers, send texts, reply to support, etc.
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When the brand guidelines doc you got cites Andrew Tate as inspiration for the brand voice
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Not enough talking about this because everyone in the industry is taking checks from Gorgias 😅
The guy who created lifetimely (the best LTV app on the app store) and later sold it, just launched a CS app.
It makes CS easy with AI + auto moderates your socials, FREE.
- Social media comment moderation to keep your ads troll-free
- AI-drafted replies for every support ticket
- Unlimited seats, unlimited tickets
All for FREE.
Link in profile! (leave your email to be reminded after Q4)
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POV: Your ecom brand gets featured on a major news publication, but it only drives 7 sales.
You then realize how silly most PR logos truly are, and how few influencers and publications have true influence.
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Just met the celebrity Shopify app builder in person @denniscessan
If you’re not using checkout links you’re doing funnels wrong.
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This week thousands of the world's top ecommerce builders will visit Toronto for Shopify Editions.
Great to reconnect with a few friends who flew down from India last night. Shoutout @PrakharS96 @debgotwired @adhithya_vijai
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Shopify's themes have come a LONG way
The value of custom builds continues to going down every day. Stitching 90% complete themes + 10% dev + replo = success
themes.shopify.com/themes/vi…
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The DTC SaaS apps that make AB testing stupid easy will continue to win.
DTC is full of performance marketers who will stay loyal if you can make it easy for them to prove to themselves they made a good decision working with you.
E.g. aftersell, klaviyo, intelligems, replo, etc.
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This is why I love New York.
Just asked a guy on the street if it's pronounced Klah-viyo or Klay-viyo and he told me to get the f**k out of the way.
I love this city 🍎
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Looking to hire a freelance designer for the next ~1 month for some misc projects.
If anyone has a good designer (comfortable with ecom web design) who is available for a contract would appreciate it!
Can be anywhere globally
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Still nervous about what offer your competitor is running this BFCM?
You can legally stalk their landing pages and find out in under 15 seconds.
It's stupid easy. Video + steps below:
Step 1: add /sitemap.xml to their home page url
Step 2: copy the "pages" url and go to it
Step 3: scroll to the bottom to see the most recent pages (it's usually chronological)
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Somebody needs to build milled for AB tests. Ideally a SaaS with BTS.
Just a directory of cool AB test ideas.
Filter by brand size, catalog type, etc.
cc @Intelligems @getshoplift
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Klaviyo is dropping smart campaigns (not just 1-time sends)
This takes out the pain of a multi-day campaign with a bunch of segmentation
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I've done 6 figures for a client in the last 6 months with this app alone.
And I don't see any email marketers talking about it.
It lets me:
- Create discounts and promotions without client needing to make any website changes or discount codes
- Create custom mini landing pages for sales in <10 minutes
- Link Klaviyo properties to personalize landing page content to the customer
It's a superpower for brands that are crushing meta ads but don't want to spam discounts on their public-facing site.
It allows you to gate any sales to only email subscribers while still making it feel personalized and not just a discount code.
It also helps that the founder (Dennis) is an absolute 🐐. Nicest guy and super quick with updates & fixes.
No referral links here. Look it up yourself on the shopify app store.
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BEFORE you hire a CRO agency go to a local YMCA, Spa, Sporting Event, Shopping Mall, whatever and ask 20 strangers (in your demo) to browse your site on mobile.
Say it's for a school research project (or some other elaborate excuse based on your age) and you need feedback. DON'T say it's your website, people are never honest about feedback.
You will:
- See what's broken
- See how people shop
- Get feedback/ideas
Fix those issues and test your ideas BEFORE you hire the agency. Hire the agency that can take your learnings and build on them (or just do it in house).
PS You can do this for almost anything in your business.
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Met with the @getshoplift team yesterday
- Making AB tests simple for stores
- Awesome branding & UI
- Growing fast
Looking forward to experimenting more in the coming months.
Giving Intelligems a real run for their money.
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3️⃣ Decision time:
After days of discussion, feedback from friends/family, research, surveys, etc. we landed on an idea. Pearly was born 🧋. bit.ly/3KWsSos
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The employee probably thought they could use that as leverage for a raise, and their boss just turned it into a cringey social post 😭
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Restaurants in Japan will have this as their only google maps pic and proceed to feed you the best meal of your life
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I built a countdown timer on my store in under 5 minutes with GPT + Shopify's new AI section builder.
My process:
1. write my thoughts in ChatGPT and have it create the prompt
2. paste the prompt into Shopify's AI builder
3. re-prompt Shopify to fix mistakes in the design
4. edit the button links/copy
And just like that I saved $5/month on a countdown timer app in under 5 minutes.
This is the future of theme editing.
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I respect 3PL owners because it's a combination of the worst side of running a brand (inventory management) and an agency (client management).
You're always a cost center (can't create value). Always expected to ship faster. Always expected to find cost efficiencies.
It doesn't help that sub 5mil ish brands are terrible 3PL clients. Usually it's your first time working with a 3pl, things aren't barcoded, volatile sales patterns, etc. High expectations but terribly setup for winning. Many don't make it past 1 year.
The list of pain just goes on.
When we ran Pearly, we went through a few 3PLs. Had some bad experiences, but honestly we could have also been better clients. In reality, it's the last thing you're thinking about when trying to scale.
So shoutout to all the people building 3PLs 🤜🏼🤛🏼
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