Opossum is Dead
Not literally. But the alias is dead. Opossum is dead and all that’s left is Calvin & NOBS.
So first, I have to apologize for being dormant. I’M SORRY. I was busy building the biggest project of my life. So far.
I thought I could maintain everything. I thought I could be a good husband. A good father. Build the fastest growing oral care brand in the US…while bootstrapped...with an anemic team… Maintain my sanity. Maintain my Twitter. And run this Substack.
I was wrong.
It was just too much. My health has suffered. My relationships. I didn’t intentionally cut the Substack but you can only maintain and build so many things before things fall off.
So the Substack just went on the back burner.
Now that I’m no longer anon, the Substack and social media is easier to maintain.
There’s a reason why I’m not anon and you’ll soon realize in the story that I’m about to outline. It’s been a crazy 5 years. It’s time that I tell you what has been going on and why I’m now giving up the Opossum identity.
During my time in the military and working as an engineer for the defense department, having a minimal social media presence was pushed hard. A level of secrecy was ingrained in every part of my life. That’s what initially led me to having an anon online identity.
Running this brand has forced me into having a more and more public life to accomplish the things that I want to accomplish.
Unfortunately, that part of my life is over. I say unfortunately because I liked the privacy. I still do as much as possible. If you have the choice to be private or public, always choose private.
For what comes next with our brand, I just no longer have the choice.
I’ll explain what comes next when the time is right over the next few months, but for now, I’m going to outline what this Substack is going to become.
What It Won’t Become
It won’t be me shilling every product under the sun and selling my soul like so many newsletters do.
It won’t be “hoorah! You can do it if you just materialize it!”. I’m not sacrificing my morals or my identity to please anyone.
What It Will Become
It’ll be the same me trying to convince you to start a business, steps on how to do it, tips on ecom and marketing, and escaping the rat race that is Corporate America.
A story of what has happened over the last 2 years.
A step by step as to how we built NOBS from the old articles that I wrote.
A lessons learned narration of the pitfalls that we fell into as we built the brand from ground up.
Everything that the old Substack was but with updated articles. I’ll delete the old articles as I update them.
So where do we go from here?
Well. Here’s some rough bullet points of what I have planned for future content. I’m sure I’ll deviate from it a bit as I refine my writing style again. Along with a few announcements that are happening through Q1-Q2.
It’s going to get messy. There’s going to be broken links. But you’ll see first hand how the info in this Substack was actioned on to build an amazing brand.
Very Rough Outline of Future Posts
Background of how NOBS started, I disappeared, and team structure.
The CJ era and keeping everything private. How we did it. The company structure. The alias names. The exposing myself after quitting my job to affiliates. The conferences. The fact that people still call me CJ to this day…
SEO & Twitter growth era.
Transitioning manufacturers and formula hell.
Secret announcement 1.
Podcast era and attribution of podcasts.
Secret announcement 2.
TikTok fail then launch of TikTok Shop.
Breakout growth.
Huberman freakout.
Can’t get inventory fast enough.
Overbought inventory…All of this inventory with no money to push it in ads…
Go mini viral with first influencer the next week. Provide enough capital to start advertising again.
Couple weeks later, first viral moment.
Riding high then counterfeits hit. Don’t have IP. The importance of IP. How we dealt with counterfeits. Almost destroyed our business.
Prioritization and how distractions can destroy your growth.
Affiliate trust eroded and why doxing made sense.
Rebrand and why IP matters. Doing the rebrand.
Wrapping Up
Opossum is dead but I’m back. Stay tuned for the the story of how NOBS was built and how you could replicate the success.
Follow me on Twitter, TikTok & Instagram.
If you’re subscribed to this newsletter, you need to keep in mind why we’re here.
Your boss and company, no matter how nice, doesn’t care about your future. Nobody outside of a few family members and select friends care about your growth and your future.
You are the only one that can save yourself and make your life what you want it.
Single player. Just you.
This Substack is here to help you build a business and build the life that you want. I’ve laid out the basics to understand, analyze, & grow most any online business.
The best way to learn how to do this as fast as possible is to start from the beginning of the Substack. That and follow me on Twitter, TikTok & Instagram.
Disclaimer: Nothing written here should be construed as legal for financial advice of any kind. These are opinions and observations, built up over years working in retail, e-commerce & affiliate marketing.