Braxton Manley is the founder Braxley Bands (a D2C Apple Watch bands company). The company started as a class project but now has scaled millions of dollars. Braxton shares his story, lessons learned, favorite resources, and much more.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

1:22 Origins of Braxley Bands

4:22 First customers and inflection points

07:30 DTC brand learns and restructures using Profit First

11:11 Design frameworks and philosophy

12:13 Scaling brand, facing MOQ challenges, shifted focus

14:18 E-commerce strategy and customer loyalty in marketing

17:50 Ways to drive traffic (and pitching Mark Cuban)

20:22 Riding big waves for product demand

23:30 Ways to reduce expenses and maximize revenue

25:43 Switch to Sendland for email and SMS

28:00 Hiring a fractional CMO, Tegan Gainan

28:52 Outside perspective is invaluable for growth

32:06 Adopting a flexible approach, learning from mistakes

35:49 New business of flavored mastic gum for facial structure

37:41 Soft launching under a beta brand for feedback

41:30 Braxton’s girlfriend and founder connections

43:05 Peace Love Hormones business

45:00 Shiny penny syndrome and multiple businesses

45:45 Businesses with family members

47:00 Communication frameworks to express needs

50:00 Final takeaways

Guest Links:

Braxley Bands https://braxleybands.com/

Braxton Manley X https://twitter.com/Braxtonmanley

Braxton Manley IG https://www.instagram.com/braxtonmanley/

Other Links Mentioned:

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) Agency https://oddit.co/

Social Snowball https://socialsnowball.io/

Sendlane for email and SMS https://www.sendlane.com/

Fractional CMO for ecom brands https://tegangainan.com/

Peace Love Hormones https://www.peacelovehormones.com/

Mystic Gum https://mysticgum.com/

My Links:

🧠 3-minute Newsletter: https://making-connections.beehiiv.com/

🎙️ Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mitchellcohen

🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/MitchellLandon

📸 IG: https://Instagram.com/mitchelllandon

Courtney Johnson creates viral content across LinkedIn and TikTok on her personal accounts (and as a ghostwriter for others). She shares her “unhinged cheat codes” to grow a personal brand, b2b social strategies, leveraging tools/hacks to free up your time, mental models, and much more.

Timestamps:

(04:31) Leverage and income diversification

(08:10) Simplifying tasks to make everything else easier

(11:45) Art of using effective hooks in content

(13:45) Niche targeting/strategies to increase engagement

(17:17) “Problematic cheat codes” to get ahead

(20:01 ) Courtney’s ultimate cheat code for creativity and focus

(22:06) Finding your zone of genius and unfair advantages

(23:50) Shapeshifting your hotness & understanding power dynamics

(26:00) Creating niches from your unique interests

(31:35) Wealthy people & entrepreneurial cheat codes

(39:15) VA task delegation, automation, and software tools

(44:15) Favorite books and mental models

Courtney’s Links:

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtneylynnjohnson/

TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@courtney..johnson

Other Links Mentioned:

• Virtual assistant service https://www.timeetc.com/
• Virtual coworking https://flown.com/
• “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz https://www.amazon.com/Four-Agreements-Practical-Personal-Freedom/dp/1878424319
• “The Big Leap” by Gay Hendricks https://www.amazon.com/Big-Leap-Conquer-Hidden-Level-ebook/dp/B0026772QU/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0
• “The ONE Thing” by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan https://www.amazon.com/ONE-Thing-Surprisingly-Extraordinary-Results/dp/1885167776/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0
• "We Should All Be Millionaires" by Rachel Rodgers https://www.amazon.com/We-Should-All-Be-Millionaires/dp/B08CVS2G24/ref=sr_1_3

My Links:

🧠 3-minute Newsletter: https://making-connections.beehiiv.com/

🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/MitchellLandon
📸 IG: https://Instagram.com/mitchelllandon

Charlie Light created the first huge parody account (@cokedupoptions) on Twitter/ X and turned it into a $40K/month content agency. Then he sold it. 

Here’s how he did it and what he’s up to now. (Recorded Oct 2023.)

Timestamps:

(00:00) Started first finance meme parody account 

(05:40) Transition to managing larger Twitter accounts

(07:01) Ghostwriting for founders 

(14:16) Trends on Twitter come and go

(19:25) Figuring out what long-term game you want to play 

(24:33) Up-and-coming writers doing content right

Charlie’s Links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/charliewrich 

Website: https://solowriters.com/ 

My Links:

🧠 3-minute Newsletter: https://making-connections.beehiiv.com 

🐦 Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/MitchellLandon

📸 IG: https://www.Instagram.com/mitchelllandon