What is the (ecommerce) holiday hangover? 

If December was your biggest month ever, January can feel like something broke overnight.

During December sales spike, ads look strong, and dashboards glow green.But January hits and suddenly refunds accelerate, inventory disappears and cash tightens.
In this Week in Review, Neil breaks down why December rewards volume but January reveals discipline. You’ll learn how post-holiday returns, refund timing, inventory lockups, and fixed expenses quietly crush unprepared ecommerce brands, even after a “record” Q4.

If you understand what January is actually showing you, it can become your strongest quarter instead of your worst.

🚀 What should I sell next? Visit: gpt.caimandata.com to generate data-driven product ideas powered by Caiman Data’s AI engine.

In This Episode, We Cover:

✅ How post-holiday returns distort revenue and cash flow

✅ The inventory lockup problem sellers never model

✅ How refund velocity creates cash flow gaps

✅ Why payroll, 3PLs, and ad bills expose weak systems

✅ How operators plan for January before Christmas

📍 Chapters

01:49 Why January is revealing, not slow

02:59 How post-holiday returns break cash flow timing

04:15 Inventory lockup and reverse logistics delays

04:52 How operators plan for January before Q4 ends

05:48 What to audit first when January hits

06:55 Why disciplined brands gain market share in Q1

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From walking away from e-commerce to building a $50K-per-month profitable brand. This episode shows what happens when you stop quitting and fix the real problem.

In today’s episode of High Voltage Business Builders, Neil sits down with Jarod Jones, a Voltage client who originally dismissed e-commerce entirely. After acquiring a struggling Amazon business, Jarod identified a single product issue holding everything back. Fixing that one problem changed the trajectory of the entire brand.

This conversation breaks down what real business ownership looks like, why most people quit too early, and how process, patience, and reinvestment turn chaos into a scalable asset.

In This Episode, We Cover:

✅ Why Jarod originally ignored e-commerce and what changed his mindset

✅ The difference between being an operator and being an owner

✅ How a failing product almost killed the business and why fixing it mattered

✅ What it takes to relaunch a broken Amazon brand

✅ How reinvesting profits fuels compounding growth

✅ Why Amazon alone is not a complete business

✅ Building an omnichannel brand with a 3-5 year exit in mind

📍 Chapters

02:00 Jarod’s background and why e-commerce was not on his radar

03:40 Early skepticism and discovering e-commerce as an asset class

05:10 Choosing partnership over going solo

06:50 Why Jarod did not want to be an operator

08:20 Acquiring an existing Amazon business

10:00 Identifying the real product problem

11:30 Relaunching the brand and fixing manufacturing issues

13:00 Crossing back into profitability

16:00 Time commitment shifting from hours per day to hours per month

17:30 Moving from Amazon to omnichannel thinking

19:30 Treating the business as a long-term asset

21:00 Building with a future exit in mind

22:30 Why process beats quitting

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Why is your margin getting smaller even when sales look fine? 

Your revenue is growing, your ads look fine, and orders keep coming in. So why does it feel harder to make money than it used to? This episode explains why margins shrink as platforms mature and how sellers get caught off guard.

In this Week in Review, Neil explains how platform maturity removes early incentives, raises costs, and quietly compresses margins long before dashboards turn red.

Using TikTok Shop changes, EU policy updates, and platform maturity patterns, we’ll hear why margins shrink under the surface and how operators plan ahead. If you depend on one platform, this episode shows what to watch before 2026.

🚀 What should I sell next? Visit: gpt.caimandata.com to generate data-driven product ideas powered by Caiman Data’s AI engine.

In This Episode, We Cover:

✅ Why platform growth is never free and who actually pays for it

✅ How fees, logistics rules, and compliance costs quietly compound

✅ Why revenue and ROAS are misleading signals of business health

✅ How margin erosion hides inside “healthy” growth

✅ What operators track that sellers usually ignore

✅ How to pressure-test your business against future platform changes

✅ Why platform dependency becomes concentrated risk over time

✅ How to think about fees, fulfillment, and regulation before they hit your P&L

📍 Chapters

00:00 Why platform growth always comes with hidden costs

02:00 How e-commerce platforms behave as they mature

04:00 TikTok Shop fee increases and tightening logistics rules

06:00 EU parcel duties and why low-AOV models are exposed

08:00 Why sellers feel pressure without seeing the cause

10:00 The difference between revenue growth and margin quality

12:00 Why most sellers miss platform-induced risk

14:00 How operators stress-test fragility before it becomes a problem

16:00 Evaluating fee sensitivity, fulfillment flexibility, and regulation exposure

18:00 Why platform dependency increases risk heading into 2026

20:00 What to do now to protect margins before rules change

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From zero product to $433K in sales. This episode breaks down what real e-commerce growth actually looks like.

In this episode of High Voltage Business Builders, Neil sits down with David, a Voltage client who started with no product, no brand, and no prior e-commerce experience. After nearly two years of research, delays, and hard lessons, David launched a premium Egyptian cotton bedding brand on Amazon FBA and crossed $433,000 in gross sales within his first 12 months live, despite being out of stock for nearly five months.

If you’re interested in building an asset, not chasing overnight wins, this episode will give you a clear picture of what the process really involves.

In This Episode, We Cover:

✅ What it’s like to start an e-commerce business with no product or prior experience

✅ Why patience and long-term commitment matter more than quick results

✅ How inventory mistakes and stockouts impact growth

✅ The mindset shifts required to push through doubt and overwhelm

✅ Why building a brand is different than just selling products

📍 Chapters

02:00 David’s background and why he decided to build an e-commerce business

05:30 The early overwhelm and decision to get help

08:00 Why starting a business is harder than most people expect

10:20 Choosing a product and launching on Amazon FBA

12:45 Selling out inventory and running out of stock

15:40 What inventory delays teach you about real business operations

18:30 Brand differentiation and certification as a competitive edge

21:10 Building with the exit in mind

24:30 Profit, growth cycles, and realistic expectations

Guest: David Karcher

Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/passiveincomeguy

Entrepreneur and Founder of Threads of Egypt

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Everyone loves talking about marketing.New creatives. New channels. New funnels.

But if a customer can get the same product in one hour, three-day shipping feels broken.Not inconvenient. Broken.

And when ads stop converting, most sellers blame marketing.This episode explains why that is usually the wrong diagnosis.

In this Week in Review, Neil breaks down why fulfillment speed is no longer a backend operation. It is a growth lever. Platforms like Amazon and Shopify already understand this shift, even if most brands do not. Marketing creates attention. Fulfillment decides if attention turns into revenue.

🚀 What should I sell next? Visit: gpt.caimandata.com to generate data-driven product ideas powered by Caiman Data’s AI engine.

TLDR:

✅ Fulfillment speed now impacts conversion more than ad creative

✅ Same-day and next-day delivery reset customer expectations

✅ Platforms compete on friction, not marketing

✅ Slow shipping raises CAC and kills discounts

✅ Fulfillment has become a trust signal

✅ Operators design offers around delivery, not price

📍 Chapters

00:48 Why ads are not closing sales anymore

01:13 Amazon and Shopify fulfillment signals

01:51 Marketing creates attention, fulfillment creates revenue

03:04 Why discounts stop working when shipping is slow

03:22 How operators redesign fulfillment for growth

03:56 Fulfillment signals brands should watch

04:54 How operators think about fulfillment heading into 2026

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Bitcoin isn’t a trend and it’s not going anywhere either…. 

In this episode of High Voltage Business Builders, Neil sits down with Bitcoin advisor Eric Runge to break down what Bitcoin actually is, why it exists, and why serious investors are paying attention. This isn’t a hype-driven crypto conversation. It’s a fundamentals-first discussion about money, inflation, and long-term wealth.

If you’ve ever said, “I don’t really understand Bitcoin,” this episode’s for you.

In This Episode, We Cover:

✅ What money really is and why it’s failing business owners

✅ How inflation became permanent after the gold standard ended

✅ Why Bitcoin was created in response to centralized financial control

✅ The key differences between Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies

✅ Why long-term holders think differently than traders

📍 Chapters

02:55 What money is supposed to do

05:20 Gold, fiat currency, and the rise of inflation

08:10 Why Bitcoin is different from every other crypto

11:45 Decentralization and the hidden “permission layer” in banking

16:05 Why volatility scares investors and how professionals think about it

21:00 ETFs, institutions, and Bitcoin treasury strategies

28:25 Why Bitcoin is a long-term hold, not a trade

35:40 Managing downside risk for serious capital

Guest: Eric Runge

Founder & Owner, Veritas Bitcoin Strategies (Owner/Managing Member of Veritas Wealth Management)

Website: www.familyofficebitcoin.com/home-page-01

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Everyone loves Cyber Week numbers. Big charts. Big screenshots. Big claims.

But Cyber Week data lies….

When demand is compressed into five days, behavior gets distorted. And if you build your next 90-day strategy on distorted data, you scale the wrong lesson.

In this Week in Review, Neil breaks down what the post–Cyber Week data actually reveals, why traffic and revenue spikes mislead sellers every December, and how real operators read the scoreboard differently heading into January and 2026.

🚀 What should I sell next? Visit: gpt.caimandata.com to generate data-driven product ideas powered by Caiman Data’s AI engine.

TL;DR

✅ Cyber Week spikes distort behavior. Post-event data tells the truth.

✅ Traffic growth does not equal buyer intent. Clicks fooled many sellers.

✅ BNPL inflated AOV but increased refund and cash-flow risk.

✅ Conversion quality flattened even as sessions rose.

✅ Operators wait for normalization data before making scaling decisions.

✅ December rewards control. January exposes poor interpretation.

📍 Chapters

00:00 Why Cyber Week data is structurally misleading

01:35 What Adobe and Salesforce data actually shows

02:14 Traffic growth versus real buyer intent

02:52 AOV, Buy Now Pay Later, and hidden cash-flow risk

03:51 Why traffic was cheap but conversion quality was not

04:29 What smart brands are watching heading into mid-December

05:08 Why stabilization beats noise at year-end

05:29 The operator advantage going into 2026

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The biggest killer of businesses isn’t money, competition, or bad timing. It’s ego.

In this episode of High Voltage Business Builders, Neil Twa sits down with serial entrepreneur Sean Steimer to break down how ego destroys partnerships, blinds founders, and turns promising ventures into unnecessary failures. 

Sean went from cleaning tables in Scottsdale restaurants to managing multimillion-dollar operations, running a real estate team, opening restaurants, and scaling a patented golf product that nearly died when his original partner walked away. Sean reveals how he rebuilt from that moment and how self-awareness and humility determine whether your business thrives or collapses. 

If you’ve ever struggled with partnerships, conflict, burnout, or the temptation to give up, this episode will hit home. 

In This Episode, We Cover:

✅ Why ego ruins more businesses than money ever will

✅ The red flags that reveal a bad partner long before the paperwork

✅ The real impact entrepreneurship has on marriage and family

✅ Why “nothing fails until you quit” is the most underrated mindset

✅ The discipline of managing priorities, time, and expectations

📍 Chapters

04:40 Growing up in real estate and developing resilience

07:00 How ego kills deals, partnerships, and businesses

09:20 Communication as the #1 predictor of partner success

11:45 Time management, priorities, and “controlling the controllables”

14:10 Marriage, support systems, and life behind the grind

18:10 The Swingy story: patent win, partner exit, rebuilding alone

21:30 Scaling an ecommerce product to thousands of units

23:40 Failure, persistence, and why quitting is the only real loss

Guest: Sean Steimer

Entrepreneur, Real Estate Operator, Co-Founder of Swingy

Website: https://swingy.com

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Shopify went dark on Cyber Monday. Amazon glitched and wiped deal badges across Black Friday and Cyber Week. Sellers relying on one platform got crushed. But diversified brands kept growing because TikTok, Shopify, Amazon, and email all picked up the slack.

Factories across China and Vietnam are now slowing down early ahead of Lunar New Year, which means your Q2 inventory window is already shrinking. TikTok Shop continues its retail takeover, and AI is rewriting the rules for product discovery, listing visibility, and who gets recommended.

In today’s Week in Review, you’ll hear what actually happened inside Shopify and Amazon during the meltdown, how operators protected their revenue, what you must do before January hits, and why 2026 will reward brands who diversify and think like CEOs, not dabblers.

✅ Do not wait on inventory. China and Vietnam are already winding down for Lunar New Year. If you don’t finalize orders soon, your production moves into April or May.

✅ Shopify crashed and Amazon glitched deals. Operators with omnichannel setups absorbed the hit. Single-channel sellers got wrecked.

✅ Maximize profits in December instead of scaling losers. Double down on your highest-converting SKUs, best reviews, and fastest shipping.

✅ TikTok to Amazon is the new performance pipeline. UGC targeting Amazon searches drove major lifts last week.

✅ AI is the new e-commerce gatekeeper. AI agents are scraping, rewriting, and interpreting your listings. Machine-friendly listings now determine visibility.

📍 Chapters

00:59 Shopify Cyber Monday outage and platform instability

02:03 Why single-channel dependence is dangerous

03:24 Amazon deal badge glitch suppressing Black Friday + Cyber Week offers

07:42 January returns spike, lower conversions, and planning Q1 strategy

08:15 Real-world Voltage brand results during outages

09:00 TikTok UGC targeting Amazon search and the “halo effect”

10:45 How to structure listings to be chosen by AI

11:46 Why 2026 belongs to omnichannel operators

13:19 Your operator mindset for 2026

Follow Neil:

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Your biggest advantage in e-commerce is being a founder who refuses to get knocked out.

In this episode of High Voltage Business Builders, Neil Twa sits down with Dan Demsky, CEO and co-founder of Unbound Merino, an 8-figure DTC apparel brand built on nearly a decade of grit, adaptation, and relentless reinvention.

Dan opens up about the real challenges DTC operators are facing today: tariffs slashing margins overnight, supply chain volatility, rising acquisition costs, and the pressure to stay profitable while scaling. He explains how his team survived by tightening cash flow, cutting waste, and becoming sharper operators instead of panicking or raising prices too quickly.

If you’re building in ecommerce and want to understand what’s actually happening on the ground, how high-AOV brands survive acquisition costs, or what retail expansion really looks like this episode is a masterclass in real-world leadership and long-term DTC growth.

In This Episode, We Cover:

✅ Why survival comes down to “don’t get knocked out” and strong cash-flow discipline

✅ How to audit spending, tighten costs, and become a sharper operator

✅ Why high AOV is critical when acquisition costs hit $50+ per customer

✅ Surviving COVID, freight spikes, and now tariffs as a long-term founder

✅ What retail expansion actually requires: timelines, risk, buybacks, and buyers

📍 Chapters

02:12 What tariffs actually do to margins and operations

04:24 Cutting costs, tightening cash flow, and becoming a better operator

08:44 The founder mindset: “just don’t die” and keep surviving

13:00 High AOV, acquisition costs, and the profitability game

17:50 Preparing for Black Friday and Q4 uncertainty

19:45 Why profitability beats revenue vanity every time

23:10 Using AI for leadership, planning, and business coaching

30:10 What retail really requires: inventory, buybacks, timelines, and patience

Guest: Dan Demsky

CEO & Co-Founder, Unbound Merino

Website: https://unboundmerino.com 

Follow Neil: 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neiltwa/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neiltwa/ 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/neiltwa/ 🐦 X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/voltagefba 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbabusinessbuilders

In This Episode, We Cover:
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