Joshua Raphael

8 things I've learnt building a $10M/ year business at 26... (That nobody talks about because they're not sexy enough for Instagram) 1. Everyone says "outsource everything and be the CEO" - WRONG Stay in your zone of genius way longer than people tell you. I almost killed my business trying to be a "big picture guy" too early. Your edge is everything early on. Guard your superpower. 2. Pick your battlefield carefully - this is 80% of winning! Most entrepreneurs try to be heroes in terrible markets. I spent 2 years grinding in a market with low margins & saturation before switching. You can't outwork bad market dynamics. 3. The best roadmap beats the best hustle I see people working 80-hour weeks going nowhere. Map out exactly how someone got to where you want to be, reverse-engineer their path, and follow it. You need to get used to, and more comfortable with, thinking bigger. (more on that later) 4. Unit economics and maths aren't a nicety. I became obsessed with numbers. At coffee shops, I'd calculate their costs, margins, customer lifetime value. All roughly of course...This habit saved me from going too far with over 15+ bad business ideas. If the math doesn't work on paper, it won't work in reality. 5. Speed kills (my wife is tired of hearing me say it) Nothing is worse than waiting months for decisions or launches. Speed compounds everything. I'd rather launch 10 imperfect things fast than 1 perfect thing slow. You learn more in one week of market feedback than 6 months of planning. 6. Opportunity is everywhere (There are billionaires in everything from paperclips to waste removal and licensing) Lost everything and had to start over - TWICE. Each time I thought it was near but over. But opportunities don't disappear, they shift. If you understand value creation, you can rebuild anywhere, anytime. 7. Read biographies obsessively - learn from EVERYONE I now heavily favour biographies over self help books. They expand the horizon of "normal". The world's definition of success is narrow. A small-town pastor who transforms lives has leadership lessons most CEOs never learn. Controversially, the same can be said of a Mafia boss that runs his family and empire. Business principles are universal and don't have favourites. 8. Partner with God - it's all His anyway This isn't about building a "Christian business" - it's about HOW you do the work. Serve genuinely. Find joy in small wins. Remember you're a steward, not an owner. When you align with something bigger, everything changes. The brutal truth: Business is a game with rules nobody teaches you. Market selection beats motivation. Math beats hope. Speed beats perfection. Learn those rules, play by them, and you win.

The Great Artist At Work 👨‍🎨

@Armon_Sho @Aftersell How doo we work with this team??

Our @Aftersell Growth SWAT team just 4x’d RPV for a client… From $5 → $20/visit That’s +$5K extra rev every. single. day. ≈ $2M a year, with no extra ad spend. The fastest growing DTC brands obsessively test ads, offers, product formulation, landing pages… and even post purchase upsells. You must make obsessive experimentation a part of your company’s DNA. If you do, the market will reward you.

@harrydelmege_ You creating with AI or sourcing from creators etc?

Yappers win every time

@rfvivas @AxonAdsManager @triplewhale Want to send you a DM!

What if launching on @AxonAdsManager took one click? No setup. No guesswork. → Your best ads pre-loaded → Goals already set → Tracking ready → Campaign live instantly → Free credits to get started We partnered with @triplewhale to make this a reality for their customers. Now we’re opening it up to a small group of beta testers. If you want early access, fill out the form below👇 forms.gle/Yh5bZmvcLdGGCm…

@0xROAS What was this made on man??

i literally spent $1 to create this ai ugc video. and it took me less than 5 mins to make. it's actually hilarious watching people defend paying ugc creators $500.

@andrewjfaris Creator/influencer just product seeding or paid per post etc?

Start with a core agency that produces most of your basic performance creative. Add a serious creator/influencer outreach program. Get those two down and build off that foundation.

@williamkast_ @jameshyujinlee Free product seeding or?

@jameshyujinlee Insense, Backstage, Creator Marketplace, Direct Outreach Getting most from DMs and direct emails tbh

What is the best platform to find talented UGC creators in 2026?

@shauneng @HeeyongChu59255 Insense still?

@HeeyongChu59255 Product seeding is our top method still

World's falling apart. Young Chinese boy wants to give some free value Helped scale multiple Ecom brands to $100k days. A few already at $10M+/mth. Ask Me Anything FREE advice on what you can do with your brand to do the same

@DTC_Quizbuilder Loved it

This is a great breakdown on constructing listicles

@jforjacob @therahulissar Top tier reference.

@therahulissar Everybody is a Randall

DTC Twitter is extremely gay recently

@harrydelmege_ Love it! Are you taking clients currently?

NOW this is what a winning ad looks like 82k+ spent yesterday and $110k+ spent on our ads alone, basically all yappers We may not have invented yappers but I think we could be one of the best at it The team are on fire rn it’s crazy While everyone uses AI I’ve never been more bullish on yappers This ad will likely spend millions Maybe I’ll break this ad down in my next video with @alexgoughcooper MOTION

@harrydelmege_ Insane.

@hangmanecom @JemBourouhDE Will message! Thanks

@JoshRaphael3 the best - @JemBourouhDE

HIRING: Looking for a solid DTC Google freelancer or agency for a store - who is the best currently and not just an Upwork outsourced agency? Warm + Cold traffic 🙏🏻

@DTC_Quizbuilder Best way to build this?

@JoshRaphael3 Have a small internal community

Tik-Tok Shop --> Gemini --> Claude -->UGC Creators Getting a ton of UGC that’s ripping rn using this Find brands targeting a similiar demo on Kalodata (or problem) Use their highest GMV scripts

@chief_arik Super clean man!

What we’ve been working on 👨‍💻

@bony_ghadiya_ GOOGLE

should genuinely be gatekeeping this but f*ck it: full guide on how i scaled from $0 to $7M using Google Ads same system responsible for the majority of revenue across my client accounts like, RT + comment "GOOGLE" and i'll send it over (must be following + RT for priority access)

@bony_ghadiya_ ecom

We’re making our clients $5M/mo+ from Google ads The majority of this is coming from PMax I created a PMax Guide that shows you EXACTLY how to scale your brand on Google Comment ‘ecom’ and I’ll DM it to you for FREE (must be following)

@NotZainAgain Would love an invite!

TikTok Shop now allowing sellers to offer creators flat fee deals instead of commission-only. Yet another feature that's been needed for quite some time finally coming to fruition. Shoutout to Aaron in Social Collective for bringing this to my attention. Social Collective is an invite-only group for brand owners on TikTok Shop started by the guys from Social Army. If you'd like an invite just hit my DM's.

@umzrs This your designs? Super clean

Most brands try to sell the dream Smart brands sell the nightmare you're already living Good emails from supplement brands don't talk about "better focus” It reminds you that social media destroyed your attention span and you can't work for 20 minutes straight anymore Then offers the fix Ends up making a huge difference in terms of revenue generated $$$