The Built To Scale Podcast

Most marketers chase tactics. Nicole Starling built a seven-figure affiliate career by doing something almost no one does well: actually following through.Nicole made the leap from 30 years of professional performing into digital marketing in 2020 with no background, no network, and no safety net. What she learned in the trenches of affiliate and influencer marketing cuts straight to the core of why most brand partnerships underperform.What you'll learn:Why follow-through and accountability are more powerful growth levers than any funnel tacticHow Nicole closed over a million dollars in affiliate sales for a single product through cold outreach and relationship managementThe real difference between influencer marketing and affiliate marketing, and how to structure deals that protect your budgetWhy brands are overpaying for content creators who can't deliver, and how to structure smarter partnership dealsThe truth about email marketing in 2026: not dead, but definitely not a one-trick ponyHow to build a diversified creator strategy across micro and macro partnerships without blowing your budget=================================About Nicole Starling:Nicole Starling spent 30 years as a professional musician performing 12-18 shows per week before pivoting into digital marketing in 2020. She's now Partnership Manager at Starling Studios, where she builds and manages affiliate and influencer relationships for brands across health, wellness, and e-commerce. Her superpower is relationships: she's known for relentless follow-through and building the kind of trust that actually converts.=================================Connect with her at:Email: [email protected]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-starling-4bb58a310/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicoledesireestarling  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicstarling/ =================================Key moments:[0:00] Why a 30-year musician became a digital marketer overnight[11:22] The one word Nicole credits for scaling a product past $1M in sales: follow-through[20:21] Nicole's honest take on the current state of email marketing[28:55] Affiliate vs. influencer marketing: where they overlap and where they diverge[36:32] What it actually means to be a content creator in 2026[42:23] The smart way to diversify your influencer budget instead of betting on one big name=================================About The Built To Scale Podcast:Follow us on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-to-scale-agency/ For more information about Built To Scale visit: https://www.builttoscale.co/  If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for a future episode, please email [email protected].

Ben Harris has placed over 10,000 virtual assistants in three years. His first question to every overwhelmed founder is always the same: what are you doing right now that someone else could handle for $10 an hour?That question changes everything.What you'll learn:How to run a time audit that reveals exactly where your days are going (the 15-minute timer method Ben credits to Alex Hormozi)What a "$10 task" actually looks like and why letting go of them is harder than it soundsHow Ben's VA manages his entire email inbox so he never misses what matters and never has to think about the restWhy AI won't kill the virtual employment industry, and what history tells us about tech that was supposed to eliminate jobsThe three-phase Meta ads testing structure Sphere Rocket uses to scale a B2B service businessWhat Ben looks at every single day to know whether his marketing is working=================================About Ben Harris:Ben Harris is the CMO of Sphere Rocket Virtual Assistance and a former executive at ClickFunnels and ClickBank. He started selling autographed football cards on eBay as a teenager, scaled a supplement brand to become the top-rated pre-workout on Amazon, and most recently built a full web application using Claude Code with zero prior coding experience. He has spent the past decade sitting in rooms he says he had no business being in, and learning from everyone in them.=================================Connect with him at:Website: https://sphererocketva.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-harris-online/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ben.harris.750331 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benharrisonline More about Sphere Rocket:Free Resources: https://sphererocketva.com/resources =================================Key moments:[00:09] Ben's origin story: from eBay hustle at age 12 to ClickFunnels and beyond[13:20] What "buying back your time" actually means for a business owner[17:12] The 15-minute kitchen timer trick for auditing where your time really goes[20:00] The $10 task in practice: how Ben's assistant manages his entire inbox[28:35] Will AI replace virtual assistants? Ben's take, including the ATM and internet parallels[36:17] How Sphere Rocket runs Meta ads to acquire B2B clients and what ROAS looks like at day 40[46:10] "Marketing problems are math problems" and what every operator needs to know about their numbers=================================About The Built To Scale Podcast:Follow us on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-to-scale-agency/ For more information about Built To Scale visit: https://www.builttoscale.co/  If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for a future episode, please email [email protected].

Do you have a revenue engine sitting in the form of an email marketing list? Many do and they are scared to turn it up and email en masse. Liss Graham Ellis has been managing and monetizing email lists for over a decade. Her verdict is blunt: if you have buyers on your list, you should be selling to them. A lot. One of the first things she does when she takes over a new list is simply start offering buyers more opportunities to buy. Because whoever ran it before her was afraid to ask.What you'll learn:What each subscriber is actually worth per month (buyers vs. leads, and why the gap is much bigger than you think)Why a 100-word email outperforms a long-form essay and what your real job as an email sender actually isThe silent mistake bleeding subscriber volume (hint: not all your acquisition streams are connected to your ESP)Why most brands are over-jabbing and under-punching, and how to fix the balance immediatelyHow email, SMS, TikTok, direct response, and direct mail work together to build a full brand universeWhy your email list and social channels are business assets with real valuation value, not just marketing tools=================================About Liss Graham Ellis:Liss Graham Ellis is the founder and president of List Management, where she manages and monetizes email lists for clients across health, e-commerce, and direct response. She is also the co-founder of a TikTok Shop management company helping brands connect with influencers to scale on the platform. Her path into marketing was accidental: she entered a fitness transformation contest, won, landed on a podcast, and built a full business from there without a single day of formal marketing training.=================================Connect with her at:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557548173916Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisst_management/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mlgraham9 =================================Key moments:3:46 - What a buyer vs. lead is actually worth per month on your list8:26 - The 100-word email argument (she got challenged on this publicly and she is right)11:00 - The jab/punch imbalance and why you are leaving clean money on the table14:46 - How TikTok Shop works and why most direct response brands are missing it28:51 - Why direct mail is making a serious comeback in 202636:53 - The SMS trick that comes directly from your email performance data=================================About The Built To Scale Podcast:Follow us on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-to-scale-agency/ For more information about Built To Scale visit: https://www.builttoscale.co/  If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for a future episode, please email [email protected].

Most health brands are faking it. And the market is starting to notice. Built To Scale CMO Shmuel Herschberg sits down with Dr. Jesse Ropat, a doctor of pharmacy turned direct response creative strategist, to break down why authentic authority is becoming the single biggest lever in health and wellness marketing. This is not a conversation about lab coats. It is a conversation about what actually moves the needle.What you'll learn:Why putting a real credentialed doctor in your VSL directly improves ROAS, click-through rates, and lowers refund ratesHow to balance persuasive claims with compliance without crossing the lineThe creative testing framework Jesse uses to squeeze maximum performance out of every ad conceptWhy long-form VSLs are still printing money and what the future format looks likeHow to use AI as a drafting tool without letting it flood your ad account with slopWhy volume of creative is the name of the game on Meta right now and how to build a system around it=================================About Dr. Jesse Ropat:Dr. Jesse Ropat holds a doctorate in pharmacy and has spent the last several years applying that credential where few others have: direct response marketing for health and wellness brands. He writes scripts, films creative, and serves as the credentialed authority figure for some of the top-performing VSLs running on Meta today. His unique combination of clinical knowledge and creative strategy gives the brands he works with a compliance edge and a conversion edge at the same time.=================================Connect with him at:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesseropat/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JesseRopat/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jesseropat/ =================================Key moments:06:11 — Why fake doctors are a ticking time bomb for your brand12:17 — The right time to bring a doctor into your funnel (hint: earlier than you think)13:29 — Long-form VSLs: still working, still printing16:36 — How close to the line can you push claims with a real authority figure?22:37 — How Jesse uses Claude to build first drafts without producing garbage26:22 — The hook, body, and CTA structure behind his mini-VSL ads=================================About The Built To Scale Podcast:Follow us on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-to-scale-agency/ For more information about Built To Scale visit: https://www.builttoscale.co/  If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for a future episode, please email [email protected].

Most e-commerce brands are optimizing for the wrong number. James Klein has spent 25 years in the supplement space watching founders chase ROAS while their businesses quietly decay. In this episode, he makes the case that lifetime value is the only metric that truly matters — and breaks down exactly how to build around it.What you'll learn:Why a high affiliate CPA model is structurally broken and what to do insteadHow to build a retention engine that turns first-time buyers into multi-year customersWhy blended ROAS across all channels gives you a clearer picture than platform-level reportingHow to use the first 30 days post-purchase to build a relationship, not just push the next saleThe difference between running offers and building a real brand (and why only one of them scales)Why the Spanish-speaking market in the US is one of the most underserved and highest-spending segments in direct response =================================About James Klein:James Klein is the CEO of Harmonium and Adonis Vitality, with 25 years in the nutritional supplement industry. He has built brands, scaled e-commerce companies, and advised dozens of seven and eight-figure health entrepreneurs. His focus is retention, lifetime value, and building businesses that are worth something — not just offers that convert once. =================================Connect with him at:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-klein-2a33904Harmonium: https://harmoniumhealth.com/Adonis Vitality: https://adonisvitality.com =================================Key moments:08:32 — When James first realized LTV mattered more than front-end ROAS14:14 — What he does with a customer in the first 30 days (and why it's not a sales push)23:57 — The deep fake problem in VSLs and where the platforms are headed28:41 — The underserved Spanish-speaking market hiding in plain sight36:29 — Why looking at Meta and Google separately is costing you clarity================================= About The Built To Scale Podcast:Follow us on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-to-scale-agency/For more information about Built To Scale visit: https://builttoscale.co/If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for a future episode, please email [email protected]. 

The Built to Scale podcast, hosted by Shmuel Herschberg, focuses on the discipline of scaling in digital marketing. The podcast is aimed at people building and growing digital marketing businesses, and it provides candid talks about the wins, setbacks, and real lessons from industry experts.TakeawaysScaling is a key focus in digital marketingPodcast is for people building and growing digital marketing businessesChapters00:00 Introduction to Built to Scale Podcast=================================Follow us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-to-scale-agency/For more information about Built To Scale visit https://builttoscale.co/If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for a future episode, please email [email protected].