Mark Lim

@DanaPeters0321 Inspiring

I'm Dana. I built an $18M ecom brand in 1 year. Now we’re projecting $40M by EOY. To understand how I got here, we have to go back to a few moments that shaped who I am. Starting in the Marines…

A pattern I've noticed: the harder a brand works to justify its price, the less the buyer believes it's worth it.

@saikurrra Win!

first one.

Some of the best clients I've worked with all started with a paid test.

In 1959, every car brand competed on size, speed, and power. VW had a small, strange looking, affordable car... ...AND it was manufactured in a plant built by the Nazis. So VW had everything working against them Instead of pretending the Beetle was something it wasn't, they ran a nearly blank page with the car tiny in the corner. The headline: "Think Small." They reframed small as smart. Fewer fuel stops. Easier parking. Lower costs. It made buyers feel intelligent for not falling for the hype. It became one of the best ads of the 20th century. Same principle applies to DTC today. If you sell skincare with 3 ingredients while competitors brag about 47, don't hide it. "Three ingredients. Nothing your skin doesn't need." That's your Think Small. If your supplement has no flavoring while competitors taste like candy, don't mask it. "No flavoring. No sweeteners. Just the thing that actually works." That's your Think Small. If your coffee subscription only offers two blends while competitors have forty, don't add more. "Two blends. We roast what we're obsessed with, not what fills a menu." That's your Think Small. Stop competing on the same claim as everyone else. Own the thing that makes you different, even if it looks like a disadvantage.

@EcomTable Who are some folks you’d recommend

Ngl, scrolling on x has been more valuable than any course. Follow the right people, scroll 15 minutes a day.

Want to know if a creative strategist is legit? Ask them this. "Why is this ad working?" If they only talk about the hook format, the CTA, the thumbnail... they're reading the surface. If they can tell you what the ad makes someone feel and what desire it taps into... they get it. Most people can tell you what an ad says. Very few can tell you what it actually communicates. That's the gap between someone who copies ads and someone who actually knows how to build one.

@umzrs Lols that’s true thou…

The easiest way to know if you should fire your agency is if they agree with everything you say

Most ads say the right things. They mention the benefit. They list the features. They tell you why the product is great. And yet your ROAS is like a middle age man trying to stay relevant......Desperate, exhausting, and painful to watch. Because it's not about what your copy says. It's about what your copy makes someone feel. Two ads can say the exact same thing and create completely different responses. One gets ignored. The other gets people to take action. The difference is never the information.

@clayyroy niceeee

hard to hate life 💆🏽‍♂️

"Maybe it’s something we do to compensate for our insecurities." So much truth to this. That's why when you have the moneyyyy...here are the 3 people you should look to hire first 1) a therapist 2) a house help 3) a goated accountant

@growthzacks @growthzacks yeahh it baffles me as well. But i do realized its a very ecom thing... Coming from the info space, the main focus there are very TOF ads.

100000% It's impossible to be a small fish and have that much influence. I've been writing about this a lot lately because of how much misinformation there is on TOF spend. Not sure why anyone thinks this can actually be accomplished with an optimization setting. Make no sense

I used to think my job was to make people want things. Took me a while (and an amazing book) to realize that's impossible. Nobody has the budget to manufacture desire from scratch. Not Coca-Cola. Not Apple. Not Nike. Definitely not a DTC brand spending $500 a day on Meta. Your job is to find what people already want and build a bridge between that want and your product. The bridge is the ad. The want was there before you showed up.

@FedotOff90 "Maybe it’s something we do to compensate for our insecurities." That's the punchline... Take the money and invest in therapy. It'll make you a better person and 10x your success

Just had a call with 9 fig brand owner ( smart AF he is here on twitter but in stealth mode) and realized: The smartest mfers in Ecom aren’t bragging about $100k days. They silently building a business behind the scenes. You don’t even know those mfers names. And then boom: $100 mil exit, $500 mil exit, $1 bil exit etc. Surprise surprise mfer. Publicly sharing your numbers invites unnecessary competition and makes you focused on pleasing your ego instead of actually building a good business with great products and infrastructure. Bragging on twitter only works for @Seanfrank because he knows he’ll sell you a wallet or a luggage or Fulfill ad. You ARE his avatar. It makes business sense. But your 60 years old grandmas aren’t here reading your posts. The won’t buy from you. Think about it: You won’t impress someone doing $1 mil a day with your $100k screenshot. YOU WILL impress someone doing $0 or $1k a day who will likely find your brand and will rip your ads. Also let’s be honest: Making $100k a day with forced subs, 3% chargeback rates offset by dispute management app, bid caps tactic and drop shipped supplement from China doesn’t make you a good operator. It makes you a loophole finder. Still not bad, you making money but you are NOT top tier operator. But It’s ok, everyone has to start somewhere. I’ve been there myself and had an urge to show off. Maybe it’s something we do to compensate for our insecurities. So now, You found a loophole and made few coins from your sketchy enterprise? Great. Now instead of bragging about those few dollars made, invest those coins into a great product and better experience for a customer. Create better MOAT for your business. LEVEL UP. Build an actual brand. That IS what great operators do.

The best ads don't create desire. They give existing desire a place to land.

@EcomKostnchko_ Scaleeeee

Todays ROAS made me cum a little... Maybe pre-cum Coz what the fuck is this right?

@stepanecom Win

We doubled our MRR last month. Now we’re already looking to hire again. Growth is exciting until you realize every milestone just unlocks a new set of bottlenecks to solve Back to building 🫡

@Seanfrank slap it on the vision board

phone background until I hit 100m in ebitda per year (2028)