Timeline — 2024-Q1

~469 posts. See [[../archive/pre-2025/_index]] for full text.

Key events this quarter

• 2024-01-06 — Channel hits 1,000+ members; first live stream announced
• 2024-01-07 — Posts "lessons before my 1st million in e-commerce" -- simplify ad structure, test creatives weekly, find your HERO product, know your numbers
• 2024-01-08 — Sets the goal: $1M profit in April. "Choose the most accessible and fastest roads!"
• 2024-01-09 — Launches mentoring program; first group starts 01.02
• 2024-01-10 — E-commerce project goes LIVE. "Today I am launching an e-commerce project, which will make 1 million in April." Built from zero, his own project
• 2024-01-11 — Using Hotjar daily to watch session recordings; makes first homepage improvements from data
• 2024-01-12 — First live ads running, 5 add-to-carts, no sales yet. Product is $2,000+. First test budget: $50/day
• 2024-01-12 — Reveals first orders will be dropshipped from Latvia; stock investment would be $500k
• 2024-01-13 — AI voice-over approach for content; found a creator making videos at $3-$5/piece. Plans to upload to all 8 platforms
• 2024-01-15 — Looking for a full-time assistant/hire for the project
• 2024-01-15 — Checkout bug discovered: duties/taxes showing incorrectly, customer lost. "So happy we have a chat at checkout"
• 2024-01-16 — FIRST ORDER. Celebration. "1 million in April, easy deal"
• 2024-01-16 — Defends not revealing the brand yet: "In April, when everything will be done, I will open everything from A to Z"
• 2024-01-18 — Manufacturer gave wrong dimensions; logistics costs rose by $500
• 2024-01-18 — Call with a brand guy from Canada; found the direction of the brand
• 2024-01-19 — Doubled Facebook ad spend, launched Google Ads. Getting close to $10k first week. Manual outreach to abandoned checkouts
• 2024-01-19 — "The plan is to make 1 million not in 3 months, but in 1 month! So all this stuff is just preparing for April."
• 2024-01-20 — Shipping from Latvia to US. Shipping costs start at 750 EUR + customs. Using Swotzy/FedEx
• 2024-01-20 — Target audience is 40-50+ year olds; Hotjar recordings show them reading every word for 25-40 minutes
• 2024-01-22 — First week done. Off-season for the product (confirmed via Google Trends -- at one of the lowest points)
• 2024-01-25 — Six days without orders, then record AOV day. Total ad spend so far ~$2,000. CPM $6.99. "Patience pays off"
• 2024-01-25 — Plans to hire a US salesperson once ad spend hits $1k+/day to close by phone
• 2024-01-26 — First $10k day. "There is something we changed on the homepage" that broke the ice
• 2024-01-27 — Store nearly at $20k revenue in two weeks. Sale made by phone -- signals need for sales hire. Mentoring group filling up (@Lelde_Ko joins)
• 2024-01-28 — "Profitable from the first order"
• 2024-01-29 — META spending limit: capped at $250/day. Goal was $100k+ day this week
• 2024-01-29 — Second week done. $20k+ total. Livestream recording shared
• 2024-01-30 — Crossed $40k in less than three weeks. 45k visits. Found US 3PL partner; delivery costs down to $500
• 2024-01-31 — Crossed $50k after 20 days. Shopify Payments holds $50k for 120 days. Switched to Stripe within 1 hour
• 2024-01-31 — First order delivered to customer
• 2024-02-01 — Shopify Payments frozen ~$50k. Response: "Let's make $100k a day and we can forget about those $50,000." Plans to spend $2k+/day
• 2024-02-02 — Ad accounts re-launched, spending $1k+/day. "It's so hard to raise spend after 0 days"
• 2024-02-03 — Shopify Payments closed; switched to Stripe (existing agency account). 36 hours without orders after increasing ad spend, then orders return
• 2024-02-04 — At 45% of weekly plan
• 2024-02-05 — New daily record. Approaching first $100k total revenue
• 2024-02-06 — First $100k crossed. ~18% profit margin on paper. "$18k was made in the last 20 days, and previously I wanted to do $10k in 3 months"
• 2024-02-08 — 26% of weekly $100k plan done ($26k). Launching ~100 new ads. Valentine's Day campaign: free best-selling upsell with order
• 2024-02-10 — Google ad account blocked (restored same day). "Iman told me that at one point, you spend most of your time proving that you're not bad"
• 2024-02-11 — Four days left in first full month; pushing for $200k. Daily ad budget hits $2k+. Started SEO work (first 4 articles)
• 2024-02-13 — Guessing game: what will first month revenue be (Jan 15 - Feb 15)? Winner gets $100
• 2024-02-14 — Target ad spend: $4k/day
• 2024-02-15 — New daily revenue record. Channel hits 2,000 followers
• 2024-02-16 — First month revenue revealed (~$209.5k based on winning guess). Guessing game winner announced
• 2024-02-20 — CPA hit $2,618 on bad days, then recovered to $800. First refund/chargeback (FedEx lost package). Marketing strategy: prices going up each month, started with big discounts
• 2024-02-20 — Previous "prices going up" campaign made ~$70k; next one targets $250k+
• 2024-02-23 — Explains Shopify Payments closure: not a block, they closed the account due to risk. Switched to Stripe. Warns against WooCommerce
• 2024-02-24 — $250k mark crossed. Stripe holding ~$20k, PayPal holding ~$40k. Total invested so far: ~$15k personal cash (plus existing team)
• 2024-02-26 — 20k+ day returns. Vacation mode before March/April sprint
• 2024-02-27 — Two-day streak at $20k/day revenue
• 2024-02-28 — Averaging $20k/day for 3 days. Targeting $200k+ week. PayPal holding $47k
• 2024-02-29 — PayPal account unblocked. Someone copied the store and is selling the product. Last day of Feb -- pushing for daily record
• 2024-03-01 — New daily record. February done. Monthly card limit issues. "Let's go for 1M+ in March. P.S. It's still off-season for our product"
• 2024-03-03 — First PayPal money withdrawn. Next stop: Dubai
• 2024-03-04 — Meta ad account blocked for 24-48 hours (payment method change during price increase campaign). Weekly target missed (~$69k instead of goal). Flying to Dubai on Emirates
• 2024-03-05 — Mystery meeting in Dubai. "$100 to whoever guesses the reason"
• 2024-03-06 — Company registered in Dubai. "So I now have a company in Dubai, too"
• 2024-03-06 — Ad account still blocked; "pretty bad days at the project"
• 2024-03-07 — Back in growth. Live stream from Dubai. Gold Souk visit
• 2024-03-09 — Dubai floods/storms hit; on 34th floor
• 2024-03-12 — Week was "pretty bad." Testing smaller discounts. Planning flash sale: if $200k in 3 days, investment pays off. "We have growth month by month, but not as big as we were planning"
• 2024-03-13 — Approaching $500k total revenue
• 2024-03-14 — Ad account blocked again on last day of campaign. "Just ask yourself have I done 1% better today than yesterday"
• 2024-03-15 — Podcast filmed with Alex Fedotoff. Was in BBA (Billion Dollar Brand Academy) for one month: "A good place to learn basics and get kicked in your ass"
• 2024-03-16 — $500k total revenue crossed. Second monthly goal not achieved. Plans campaigns to still hit $1M in March
• 2024-03-19 — Stripe holds biggest part of money. "I felt good for 6 minutes" then got the hold email. Live stream celebrating $500k
• 2024-03-20 — 200+ orders milestone
• 2024-03-25 — Alex Fedotoff podcast interview published. Live stream from Dubai. TikTok launched: @ecombygustavs
• 2024-03-27 — Back to $15k+ days without changing anything. "Trust the compounding effect"
• 2024-03-30 — Back on $10k+ days. Approaching $600k total. "You learn, or you earn, there is nothing more"
• 2024-03-31 — Telegram live stream technical failure; rescheduled. End of Q1 from Dubai