firewood slop

I allow myself access to Instagram only on weekends and vacations.  I actually delete the app on Sunday nights and (usually) re-install it on Fridays.

There are lots of reasons why — #1 is that is that I loathe how the ads I’m served so bluntly and clumsily illustrate how the algorithm and advertisers work together to manipulate people.

That is until today! The algo blessed me with an ad that spoke to a secret hobby that I’ve had for a very long time that very few know about outside of my immediate family and close friends.

The ad?  

Thanks for reading!

~Eric

Eric Boggs
CEO @ RevBoss

PS - as a friendly reminder, you’re receiving this email because you filled out a form on revboss.com at some point or because we interacted on LinkedIn at some point.

We live in an old house in a historic neighborhood with a wood burning fireplace – basically items number #1, #2, and #3 when we were looking to move way back in the year of our Lord 2012.  Starting around Thanksgiving, I have a fire in the fireplace every weekend and – if we’re at home – most weeknights.  I love it because it makes the house so cozy, it elicits happy memories from my childhood, and gives me an excuse to do two of my favorite things, which are:

1) operating a chainsaw
2) swinging an axe.

Sourcing firewood to warm my family honestly feels like the most timeless “dad” thing that I do.  And not enough people do it, which I get of course – most people don’t have wood burning fireplaces and chainsaws are super dangerous and scary if you don’t know what you’re doing.  That said – regardless of station or context, knowing how to swing an axe should be a requirement on the manhood entrance exam.

We live in the city, so I don’t have “easy” access to good firewood…which is honestly the fun part.  I’ve cut up trees that have fallen in Forest Hills Park multiple times, trees that have fallen in neighbors’ and friends’ yards, pulled over on the side of the road to toss curbside detritus into the bed of my truck, you name it.

It’s a game and it’s fun.  All you need is a pick-up truck and a chainsaw.

So this guy's promise of an easy $500k firewood business?  Amazing idea, absolute bullshit.

I’m not going to mention this guy’s business – it looks like it exists or at least existed, the site was down when I wrote this.  And I’m definitely not going to knock the idea or the hustle or the content – none of which was AI slop…but was definitely slop in the “this is BS” sense. 

And there are firewood delivery businesses already in Durham – some associated with arborist / tree services (of course) and others that look like some good ol’ boys from out in the county (100% my kind of people btw) trying to make a buck.  And there are firewood delivery businesses in this guy’s town – which isn’t that much bigger than Durham.

This guy clearly figured something out and looks to have built a real business.  He delivers firewood and people pay him for it.  Seems like a great business – useful, tangible, local, the kind of thing you can be proud of. 

And somewhere along the way he decided that wasn't enough… so now the business isn't firewood, it's selling other people the dream of firewood.

Dude. Just have your firewood business. What are you actually trying to do here?

Somewhere we all got convinced that a business that just works – that pays you, that you're good at, that people rely on – is somehow a failure if it doesn't 10x into a massive exit, a franchise, or a passive-income machine you can run "a few hours a week."

That's the lie underneath the whole "business system" genre...and basically all of the entrepreneurship content on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, etc. 

Gotta say though – amazing job nailing the target. The algorithm did its work by finding the one guy in Durham who owns multiple chainsaws and would emotionally respond to a firewood ad. 

I totally get that the vector wasn’t actually firewood – it was my (expected) discomfort with my life, job, status, income, etc. 

TBH, I just clicked because I’m really, really into firewood.

And so have you.

He (or she) is the one in your inbox promising 40 meetings a month from a "fully automated, hyper-personalized" outbound system that's so easy and 100% definitely will work. Same pitch, different product. Sell the dream of the shortcut where you skip the part that requires actual work and thought.

I sell go-to-market help for a living, so maybe I'm the pot calling the kettle here…but I definitely have a lot of credibility in this category.  I spend all day talking to founders, clients, and prospects that have gotten pitched the automated, effortless, guaranteed version of growth, and it's the same firewood-system energy every single time.

The stuff that actually works is slow, hands-on, and really hard…like splitting firewood…which is probably why nobody runs ads for splitting firewood on Instagram.*

*except that one super hot Thor guy my wife enthusiastically reminded me about when I told her I was writing this.

That’s my family in Rocky Mountain National Park — we just got back from an 11-day camper van trip around Colorado / Utah. It was a wonderful trip.

It was notable for me because it was the first vacation in a very long time where I didn’t take a laptop.