12 Months to $1 Million by Ryan Daniel Moran: Summary and Notes

Chapter 1The Landscape of Opportunity

To the question "am I too late," Moran answers that platform changes keep opening new openings. Amazon's FBA program let anyone open a store on the internet's Fifth Avenue, and his mentor Travis said it was so wide open that idiots got rich, until a correction swallowed those who never built real brands. Big companies such as Kimberly Clark and Procter & Gamble buy small brands because they cannot innovate as fast. Peter Rahal founded RX Bar in 2013 in his parents' basement for CrossFit athletes, and three years later Kellogg's paid $600 million for it. Kylie Jenner's first product sold out for $19 million in revenue on day one, and her company was valued at $1 billion within two years, which Moran reads as the same process with a large audience.

The chapter's second idea is identity marketing. Black Rifle Coffee and a coffee brand for moms may use the same beans and target completely different people. Michael Dubin, a comedian, launched Dollar Shave Club with a video aimed at younger men tired of paying too much for blades, and Unilever bought it for $1 billion in 2016. Moran describes the diffusion theory of marketing from a college professor, where innovators bring in early adopters and then the masses, and concludes that a few hundred loyal customers are enough to start the model. Going very micro is the key to fast growth.

"Products make a little bit of money for a short amount of time. Brands get acquired for millions of dollars."

Chapter 2The Mindset of a Seven-Figure Entrepreneur

Moran's parents separated when he was 11. In middle school a friend he had followed for a year and a half told him he only stayed friends out of pity. Moran hid in the computer lab for the rest of the year, and that is where he learned to build websites, drive traffic and write. When he confronted the friend four years later, the friend did not remember saying it. Moran says most entrepreneurs he meets recognize the story, many are children of divorce, and the pain can be turned into fuel.

He defines an entrepreneur as someone who takes responsibility for a problem and does something about it, and notes that beliefs about money being scarce or making money being selfish keep people out. His rule is to take care of yourself first, because businesses reflect their leaders, and he quotes Peter Shallard that the primary goal of an entrepreneur is to stay in the mode where work is easy. After the $10 million sale left him no happier, Tim Ferriss told him over dinner that even if the thing is not worth it, the pursuit is. Moran expects the business to show liftoff four to six months in, which is the time to go all in.

"An entrepreneur is someone who takes responsibility for a problem and does something about it."

Chapter 3Step One: Choose Your Customer

Suzy Batiz went bankrupt at 20 and again at 30 before, in her mid-40s, she created Poo-Pourri, a before-you-go toilet spray. Sales were slow until she identified her customer: women like her tired of embarrassing situations. A video of a prim English-accented woman on a toilet made the brand a sensation, and Moran writes that it did more than $400 million in sales within a few years.

Moran's own path ran from a dorm-room web business to moving to Austin, where a positive pregnancy test pushed him to commit to one business model. His core point is to build around people. A brand is trust, a group of products that serve the same person. Matt and he built Sheer Strength around themselves: men who wanted a clean pre-workout. A friend named James sold blue-blocker glasses for insomnia sufferers at a premium over the roughly $8 competition, then flopped with a second style of glasses until he realized he was a sleep company. Dave Asprey launched Bulletproof Coffee as a gateway product and followed it with MCT oil and ghee for the same high performer.

"People are what make you money, not products."

The chapter's seven foundational questions: to whom will you sell; what do they already buy, at least three to five products; which product will you focus on; what does your group think of similar products; where does your person hang out; how will you get predictable sales; and what will products two, three and four be. Moiz Ali asked forums about natural deodorant, made a $500 round of prototypes and sold out, the start of Native, which Procter & Gamble later bought for $100 million. The spotlight is Jared Springer, who started from a walker after nerve surgery, built a Facebook following of 60,000, and with 15 friends packed 5,000 Christmas orders in six hours in a Wisconsin snowstorm. His Happy Puppin brand reached a million dollars in revenue a year later.

Chapter 4Step Two: Develop Your First Product

Native launched on Product Hunt in 2015 and sold one bar on day one, then 50 the next after a friend helped. A 20% repurchase rate and 4-star reviews led Moiz to ask customers why; the answer was application, and a year of reformulation took reviews to 4.7 stars and doubled repeat purchases. He turned down retailers to stay on his website, then ran a sale process with 16 of 100 possible buyers and chose Procter & Gamble.

At six, Moran learned from his aunt's boyfriend Don that companies would make any product idea for you. Today those contract manufacturers are on Alibaba. For the yoga brand, Moran and Sean read Amazon reviews, ordered samples for about 50 bucks, interviewed young women at Starbucks and tested mats in yoga classes before ordering their Zen Active mat. His advice is to refine rather than revolutionize, ignore packaging until money is flowing, price near the top of the market, and never run out of stock: a price cut on the yoga mats sold them out and cost a four-week wait and months of momentum. A student settled with one supplier and won a 20% discount. Travis Killian's team split-tests products against competitors and grew from four to five thousand a month to about two million a month within two years. The spotlight, Hany Sunarto of Neat Pack, launched a toiletry bag from a sketch, flopped on her second product and grew her list from 3,000 to 10,000.

"Don't waste time trying to come up with a new wheel. Simply give your person what they already want."

Chapter 5Step Three: Funding Your Business

Dollar Shave Club's famous video cost $5,000, and Dubin raised a first round of $100,000 in January 2012 only after proving sales. Moran's first Sheer Strength order was 100 units at $6 each, sold at $32, for $600 from savings; they reinvested into 500 units, then 1,000. The real problem, he says, is staying in stock, and price can control the speed of sales. Kevin Nations's pricing rule is to charge a little less than solving the problem is worth. Drew Canole charged $70 for Organifi's 30-day supply against competitors at $19 or $29, which paid for podcast advertising. A competitor outsold Sheer Strength two to one at twice the price because it targeted an older demographic.

Moran recommends having access to $5,000 to $10,000, telling founders to think like a movie producer who raises money rather than spends his own. Robert Herjavec told him the number one use of Shark Tank money is inventory. Investors fund what is already working, so ask for advice rather than money. His student Sophie raised more than $25,000 on Kickstarter for a reusable lunchbox against a $5,000 goal, using a phone video, 10 contacts and one Facebook group of 20,000 members, and her business later neared $10 million in sales. Good debt produces a return: Moran will borrow at 20% to buy inventory at $10 and sell at $50, but never to fund an unproven idea. The spotlight, AJ Patel, borrowed $40,000 for his skincare line and passed a million a year 13 months after his first argan oil sale.

"Money is an amplifier, not a magic wand."

Chapter 6Step Four: Stack the Deck

Gary Vaynerchuk told Moran he expects no conversions from his audience, yet that audience was the first spark for his Empathy Wines. In the grind, Moran says, the only job is to take a sale. When his yoga mats were eight weeks away on a boat, he and Sean built an I Love Yoga Facebook page with $10 a day in ads, reached about 3,000 likes in 30 days and documented the product's development, including a thicker strap their followers asked for. Close to launch they announced only 500 mats; they took 50 sales out of the gate, then 50 more, and soon 50 a day.

His formula for launch day: 1,000 followers, 10 personal contacts and one micro-influencer with at least 10,000 followers. He recommends documenting the build, entering the community's conversations, answering common questions and approaching influencers with a give. A hot list of people who comment that they want one turns honest scarcity into first-day buyers. Two optometrists, Jenna and Travis, built a Facebook group of a few hundred dry-eye sufferers against Moran's advice, and their dry-eye spray changed their business. Zach, co-founder of The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle, sold 10,000 units of a protein cookie butter in a week with zero ad spend. Marvin Lee put $80,000 on a credit card at 18% to stock up for Christmas.

"1,000 followers, 10 personal contacts, and one influencer equals 100 sales."

Chapter 7Step Five: Launching Your First Product

At a fitness convention Moran found a line wrapped around the hall for Quest Nutrition. Tom Bilyeu had cut bars by hand and given them to athletes, and the fans became Team Quest, who got every launch first. Moran writes that Quest did $500 million in sales by its fourth year and sold for $1 billion in 2019. Expect a dip about two weeks after launch. His advice when stuck is to go small: he told a student named Ken to come back with 10 reviews, and Ken returned getting seven to 10 sales a day from strangers.

Calling a repeat buyer taught Moran that building a business is a people game. Amazon rewards momentum with badges, frequently-bought-together placement and free traffic, but he cringes at the phrase Amazon business. Reorder early: 500 units at five sales a day is 100 days only until reviews lift sales to 10. Reviews should confirm a purchase rather than be the reason for it. Catherine Lavery's Best Self Co. funded its Kickstarter in 22 hours using $1 reward levels and early-bird rewards that needed only 200 backers, then went from mid-six figures to a million in seven months. Nested Naturals did a million in its first year on its Luna sleep aid, paid each founder $2,000 a month, and later lost $10,000 on influencers that returned maybe $100 in sales.

"You don't have an Amazon business. You have a business that takes sales on Amazon.com."

Chapter 8Step Six: Growing to Twenty-Five Sales a Day

Aubrey Marcus promised Joe Rogan the best nootropic in the world without knowing what one was, created AlphaBrain, and with Rogan as partner built Onnit from one product into a human optimization brand. Moran's goal for this stage is a machine that produces a steady 25 sales a day. Early on, Sheer Strength was at five a day and he and Matt called customers by hand. He reports bumps in sales at 25 positive reviews and at 100. His first product took about three months to reach 25 a day; now he can do it in about 14 to 30 days.

The follow-up he recommends is a deposit: ask whether the order arrived on time, credit $10 as thanks, ask what to release next, and only then mention a review. If stuck around 10 sales a day, go micro, run Amazon pay-per-click even at zero profit, test customer-testimonial video ads, and return to the community. A student selling to gardeners built a Facebook group of 14,000 that grows by hundreds a week. Once you reach 25 a day, repeat the process for product two, and expect every happy first customer back. Jason Franciosa's Element 26 weight belt replaced failing Velcro with a self-locking buckle and reached a million in 24 months while he and his partner kept their jobs.

"Always go for the give."

Chapter 9Step Seven: Build a Million-Dollar Brand

When Sheer Strength's second product hit 25 sales a day, the first jumped from its plateau to 50 a day, and by the time they sold the company that product did more than 300 a day. Moran attributes the jump to repeat buyers, bundles, followers who had been waiting and Amazon's cross-recommendations. This is the gold. Systems break here because you are the systems, so the shift is from one-to-one to one-to-many: share reviews and testimonials, and turn customer posts into ads.

The second product answers one question: what is the next thing the first customer would want to buy? The yoga brand went from mat to towel to block to foam roller. Extra colors, sizes and accessories are not new products. Best Self Co. got stuck until it decided it was a productivity company, and released Tempo, an adjustable hourglass. A student named Jonathan selling about a million a year in makeup bags realized his brand was about decluttering chaotic brains. Launch one product at a time. Tom Bilyeu told Moran a new product has about 18 months before copycats, and that Quest's mission is to end metabolic disease. Paul Miller's CozyPhones found unexpected audiences in children and in kids with sensory processing disorder, and did over $4.5 million within three years.

"A brand is outsourced trust."

Chapter 10Step Eight: Getting to $100k per Month and Beyond

Joel Marion and Josh Bezoni's BioTrust did more than a hundred million dollars in its first 12 months, mostly through email. Marion's secret was being willing to lose money: if he will make $30 from a customer after 90 days, he will spend $25 up front. That logic only works once you have several products. Moran names three needs: a place to take sales, a stacked deck, and a way to reach new audiences. The best platforms, in his order of sales impact, are podcasts, blogs and email lists, YouTube and social media. He points to how the podcasters around Sam Harris and Joe Rogan lifted Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life past three million copies.

The hack is mid-tier influencers with around 10,000 followers; make a list of 10 with 10,000 to 50,000 followers. Approach with deposits, starting with the smallest yes, which is often paying for an ad. Moran has sent tacos via Postmates, and John Ruhlin's Giftology sent him a signed Cleveland Indians bat and ball. Celebrity spokespeople rarely work unless they are owners or users; a cricket protein company spiked with every big mention and still failed. Capture influencer traffic to your own email list with a tracked discount link. Four relationships at 25,000 followers put you in front of 100,000 people. Sheer Strength reached $100,000 a month almost exactly 12 months from startup, and Moran says it felt like just a number. At that point you can pay yourself; he and Matt replaced Matt's $68,000 salary. Three months averaging $100,000 means a million-dollar business. Jeremiah Klingman built Tribe Fitness from an armband, collected reviews from 4% of customers and sold it for a multi-million dollar check at 21.

"If you go for the ask, you're an ask hole. Don't be an ask hole."

Chapter 11Step Nine: Putting It All Together

The process is simple and hard, and the work is resisting the urge to overcomplicate it. Moran restates the three stages as checklists. The grind: define your core customer to avoid the golden turd, a polished product no one is known to want; outline three to five products they buy; choose the first; pick a place to document the journey; order prototypes and, all else equal, choose the supplier with the best communication; stack the deck, even with $10 a day in ads; and take an order. The growth: get to a consistent 25 sales a day by checking whether the audience wants the product, thinking small, cultivating a core group of buyers like Team Quest, and using pay-per-click and video ads. The gold: launch only multiplier products, advertise through influencers and other people's audiences, build relationships over transactions, pay yourself around $100,000 a month in revenue, and take strategic risks once past the million. Moran adds that the idea of a lifetime comes around every six months.

"You cannot create a product for everyone. You can only create a product for someone."

Chapter 12Step Ten: The Big Payday

Mark Sisson started blogging in his early 50s, launched Primal Kitchen paleo condiments in his early 60s, and in early 2019 Heinz wrote him a check for $200 million. Moran says you really make your money when you sell, and that small brands built this way can outrun big companies that only think big. He has watched acquirers professionalize what they bought, swapping audience building for magazine ads and executive salaries, and he once advised a buyer for a year that ignored him and lost millions. He tried to buy businesses back more than once.

A business is only a business if it can grow without you, so his first hire after the million was someone who organizes the chaos. He warns against three mistakes: optimizing for vanity metrics, forgetting you are in the people business, and making decisions from algorithms. A profitable brand holds the negotiating power, and sellers usually sell a majority stake, about 60%, and stay on as advisors. On the day he got his check, his apartment was empty of furniture after a separation. Money, he writes, is like alcohol: it brings what is true to the surface, so cultivate a great life before the money arrives.

"You're not in the product business. You're in the people business."

He closes the chapter by pointing to a podcast he recorded with Suzy Batiz about doing personal discovery work while growing a company, which he links to her building a nine-figure business.

ConclusionThe Adventure Never Ends

Sheer Strength reached the million-dollar mark in December, almost six months to the day from its first sale, and Moran spent the winter in a funk, as he did again after his first Capitalism Conference. Todd Herman explained why: he had planned up to the goal and not through it. Moran then tells how, at 19 and in ministry school, he slipped into a San Diego bar to meet Travis Sago, who became his mentor for a decade and the next morning introduced him to Matt, the other person under 21 at the conference. Five years later, two positive pregnancy tests a few months apart pushed both men all in. He closes by saying 12 months to a million is only the first year of a longer journey, and that who you become along the way is what matters most.

"Because you planned up to the goal, but not through the goal."