One Expensive Lessons
And a brand update from our first FULL month after launching
Deacon here with our latest update from the Dr. Barry's turnaround. Pour yourself something warm, because today we're diving deep into the numbers – both the wins and the "learning opportunities" (aka expensive mistakes).
First, the headline numbers:
August revenue: $21,080
Almost doubled from July ($10,000)
And way up from June ($1,000)
But here's what's really interesting...
The $3,000 Mistake That Taught Us About Scale
You know those moments when you're excited about growth and decide to "test something real quick"? Yeah, we had one of those.
We were seeing great results with our Amazon PPC ads, so Travis decided to uncap our daily budget (previously ~$100/day) to see what would happen. Turns out, when you're bidding against brands like Tums and Prilosec who have "stupid money" to throw around, uncapped budgets can get expensive fast.
Result? We wiped out almost a week's worth of profit in two days.
But here's the fascinating part - instead of trying to outspend big pharma, we pivoted. We redirected that budget to Google Ads driving traffic to our blog content. Why? Because we're building something they won't bother competing with: a direct relationship with our customers.
The Strategy That's Actually Working
Here's what's clicking for us:
Current customer acquisition cost: $10.33 (and profitable!)
Adding 50 new email subscribers daily
Getting paid to build our email list (our ads are ROI positive)
The math is simple: Double the leads, double the business. Our path to $50K months isn't about outspending the giants - it's about building better relationships with our customers.
What's Next?
We're sitting on solid inventory levels ($8K units) and $4K in the bank. Instead of building cash reserves for reorders, we're reinvesting in growth. Specifically:
Scaling up Google Ads (aiming for 100 leads/day)
Testing new blog content strategies
Optimizing our email nurture sequences
The Real Lesson
For the e-commerce operators reading this: Sometimes the best growth strategy isn't competing head-on with bigger players. It's finding the angles they're too big to care about.
And for the investors watching: This is exactly why we love acquiring established brands. The products are proven - it's just about applying the right systems and strategies to scale.
What do you think about our approach? Hit reply - I'd love to hear your thoughts, especially if you've had similar experiences with scaling ad spend.
Until next time,
Deacon
P.S. Next month's numbers might look weird - we're writing off $5K in expired inventory. Don't worry, it's just accounting. The actual business is healthier than ever. 😉