Fakepreneurs, Villains, and the Burnout Lie

This week, we’re burning the buzzwords and dragging some sacred cows into the light. Here’s what we’re unpacking:

🚫 John says stop calling him an entrepreneur.
The title’s been hijacked by course-peddling clout chasers. He’s not here for the rented Lambos or LinkedIn motivational fluff—he’s building, not performing.

🧨 Bryan says your 5-figure month doesn’t make you the next Bezos.
That viral dropshipping win? Cool story. But real entrepreneurship is surviving the crashes, chargebacks, and copycats—and still showing up. Katy Perry didn’t become an astronaut for riding a rocket. Neither do you.

⚔️ Jimmy says your brand needs a villain.
Trying to be liked by everyone? That’s why no one remembers you. The best brands pick a side and go to war—against bad software, soulless travel, or corporate blah.

🔥 Amer says you’re not too busy—you’re just avoiding the hard stuff.
Answering emails and checking boxes feels productive, but it’s a trap. Real leadership means doing the uncomfortable work that actually moves the needle.

Let’s jump in.

Scale vs Profitability - When Growth Becomes Unsustainable w: Anthony Coombs - EP43

In this episode, we’re getting real about the messy middle of business—from chasing growth at all costs to suddenly needing to make money (wild concept, right?).

We unpack infamous brand faceplants like American Apparel, MoviePass, and Nasty Gal—what went wrong, what we can learn, and why switching from growth mode to profit mode isn’t as simple as flipping a switch. Plus, we get into the latest buzz around 23andMe’s bankruptcy and the not-so-sexy side of data privacy.

If you’ve ever asked “wait... are we actually profitable?”—this one’s for you.

Grab your headphones and check out the episode here!

Big thanks to our sponsors at: Omnisend, Nacelle, and Workspace 6.

Katy Perry going to space for 11 minutes and calling herself an astronaut is the eCom equivalent of launching a dropshipping store, hitting a 5-figure month from a viral product, and updating your bio to “Serial Entrepreneur”.

Let’s be real folks, riding a rocket someone else built, for a few sponsored minutes in low orbit, doesn’t make you an astronaut. Just like copy-pasting an AliExpress product into a Shopify theme, running one fire UGC ad, and getting lucky on ROAS doesn’t make you the next Jeff Bezos.

True astronauts spend years training. True entrepreneurs build resilience, not just revenue. They survive the iOS updates, the supplier ghostings, the payment processor bans, and that gut-punching day when you realize your "winning product" now has 312 TikTok copycats.

So go ahead, celebrate your 11 minutes. Pop the champagne, flex the Stripe screenshots. But don’t forget: building a real brand means coming back to Earth, strapping in, and doing it all again, with your own rocket this time.

Entrepreneurship isn’t about a moment of lift-off. It’s about what happens after re-entry.

It’s hiring. your first VA and learning you’re a terrible manager. It’s waking up to 42 chargebacks because your supplier shipped sand instead of supplements. It’s realizing your “winner” product just got banned on Meta. It’s rebuilding when a payment processor holds $30k of your cash. It’s having to grow when no one is clapping.

Being an entrepreneur means getting past the highlights and pushing through the long nights, the slow months, the broken links, and the endless customer emails about shipping times.

Katy’s 11 minutes don’t make her an astronaut. Just like your screenshot of a Shopify dashboard spike doesn’t mean you’re ready to lead a brand, hire a team, scale a business, or weather a recession.

But that doesn’t mean the spark isn’t real, it just means the real work starts now.

You want to be an entrepreneur? Cool. Build something that lasts longer than a trending product and flies higher than a short-term win.

That’s the gravity of the game.

Stop Calling Me An Entrepreneur.

I get it.
It’s the default label when someone builds a business.
But in 2025, that word is poisoned.

Every grifter with a WiFi connection and a Canva logo calls themselves an entrepreneur.
It’s become a synonym for “I sell courses about selling courses.”

That is not me.

I invested in BattlBox when it was only a concept.
I’ve helped launch brands from the ground up.
I’ve built things that actually matter.

I don’t want your LinkedIn title.
I don’t need your startup jargon.
I’m not trying to be in the scene.

The word used to mean risk and vision.
Now it means lifestyle content and fake hustle.
It means curated desk setups and rented Lambos.
It means five side hustles that generate zero actual cash.

If that’s the club, I’m not in it.

I’m not here to impress people who confuse noise with progress.
I’m here to build things that work.

The label isn’t the mission.
The output is.

Call me a builder.
Call me an operator.
Call me whatever you want.

Just don’t call me an entrepreneur.

Why Every Business Needs a Villain: Stop Playing Nice and Start Getting Real!

Let's talk about the missing ingredient in your business strategy: a proper villain. 

And no, I don't mean twirling your mustache while cackling – I mean having the backbone to actually stand against something.

Every powerful brand in history knew exactly who or what they were fighting. Apple had IBM and later Microsoft. 

Nike had mediocrity and average performance. 

Salesforce had traditional software. 

Meanwhile, your business is out here trying to be loved by everyone while standing for absolutely nothing.

How's that working out for you? Let me guess – forgettable marketing, wishy-washy messaging, and customers who couldn't pick you out of a lineup if their lives depended on it.

Here's the brutal truth: If you're not pissing someone off, you're probably not saying anything worth listening to. If your business doesn't have a clear enemy – a status quo, a belief system, or a competitor that represents everything you're fighting against – then you're just another vanilla company in a sea of beige.

'But we want to be positive and inclusive!' 

Great. 

Be positive about destroying the enemy that's making your customers' lives miserable.

Having a villain isn't about being mean or petty. It's about clarity and conviction. It's about telling the market: 'This is what we stand against, and if you stand against it too, we're your people.'

Look at Patagonia taking on environmental destruction. Airbnb fighting against impersonal travel. Even Liquid Death making traditional water companies look stale and boring.

The most committed customers don't just buy what you make – they buy into your fight. They want to be part of your rebellion against the way things have always been done. 

They want to help you slay the dragon.

But you can't have heroes without villains. You can't have a revolution without something to overthrow. 

You can't have a movement without opposition.

So ask yourself: What's your business fighting against? What broken system are you here to fix? What competitor or outdated thinking represents everything you oppose?

Find your villain. 

Name it. 

Call it out publicly. 

Build your strategy around defeating it. 

Watch your marketing suddenly develop a pulse. See your team rally around a common enemy. Notice how customers who share your values start finding you magnetic.

Because a business without a villain isn't disrupting anything – it's just taking up space.

You’re Not Too Busy, You’re Terrible at Prioritizing

You’re not too busy, you’re just terrible at prioritizing.

Look... I get it.

I’ve been there. I still catch myself there sometimes.

Slammed schedule.
Ping after ping.
Doing 47 things a day and still feeling like nothing’s actually moving.

And yeah, it feels productive. You feel important. Needed. In demand.
But here’s the cold slap... most of it? Doesn’t matter.

I had to learn the hard way that being busy isn’t the same as being effective.
And the longer I clung to busywork, the more I let down the people counting on me…my team, my clients, my family... even myself.

Because when you spend all day fighting low-stakes fires, you ignore the house slowly burning behind you.

That hire you keep delaying? That strategy you keep "thinking through"?
Those are the moves that actually shift your business... and your life.

But they’re uncomfortable…So we default to the easy dopamine... answer some emails, check a few boxes, tweak a deck, call it a “win.” Boy, you got it wrong. Like I did.

Nah..We’ve gotta stop lying to ourselves.

We are not too busy.
We are just not prioritizing what matters.
And if that stings... good. Let it. Heck, let it burn. Every morning.
And let honesty be the rain that puts out the burn.

Because this isn’t just about productivity hacks or better time management.

This is about leadership.
This is about responsibility.
This is about the weight of the people who rely on us to get the big s#!t right.

So yeah, I’ve played the busy game. For way too freaking long.

But the day I got brutally honest about what actually moves the needle... that’s when things started changing.

And maybe that’s the shift you need too.
Not more hours... just more courage.
Courage to be honest with yourself. 

Let’s stop pretending we’re maxed out...and start owning what actually matters.

And that’s a wrap on this week’s unfiltered takes! If you’re hooked on our no-BS rants (or just love the chaos), be sure to hit that Subscribe button and let us keep your inbox spicy. 🌶️

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Have an ASOM day ✌️