On the cusp of entering CTC, my greatest fear could be summarized in six words: “It can’t really be this good.”
That was late 2019. I was running my own content agency and it was absolutely smashing; I’d 4x’d my earnings since March of that same year. Joining CTC would mean shutting it down … a decision I didn’t take lightly.
Why was I entertaining the idea?
At the time, I’d worked with CTC as a consultant for three months, though I’d known its leadership for around two years. From an intellectual perspective, I fell in love with Taylor Holiday (its CEO) and Andrew Faris (now the CEO of 4x400, CTC’s ecommerce-brand holding company) during my time at Shopify Plus. They towered above the other agency partners I’d collaborated with as Editor in Chief. Not just intellectually but also by way of passion and quality of output.
After CTC brought me in to help create holiday content, I began working with Cory Hamilton (the Director of Propaganda) and Reilly Roberts (then, a Marketing Specialist; today, our Marketing Manager). The more we worked, the more people I was exposed to within the organization, the deeper my love grew.
That’s why — when Taylor began making overtures about “acquiring” me and my agency (or, more accurately, “acqui-hiring” me) — my fears turned upon those six words mentioned at the outset. Had CTC appeared slightly above average, I wouldn’t have been so suspicious.
Sitting in Andrew Faris’s car the night before I received my offer letter — a balmy 60-degree Southern California evening (I’d traveled south from Portland, OR to help them plan 2020) — I put a finer point on the doubts that pressed upon me:
“My greatest fear is discovering something outlandish like Taylor has a secret family in the Netherlands. There has to be some deep, dark secret … because it just can’t be this good.”
Andrew’s response? First, he disclosed he’d just invested six-figures of his own money into CTC and 4x400 — nearly the sum total of his personal net worth. Second, he said to me, “Aaron, it is this good. And I’m betting mine and my family’s future on it.”
So, I took the plunge. Head-first. Deep-end. No life-preserver. I offloaded my clients, shuttered my agency, and took the position of Partner and VP of Marketing at Common Thread Collective.
Today (a full year later), my running joke is I keep waiting for the honeymoon the end … and it hasn’t.
The reason this is the hardest review I’ve ever had to write is that I know what you’re thinking and I know how near-unbelievable it all looks. If you’ve done any research into CTC, if you’ve spent any time with them — or, rather, us — if you’ve peeked over the fence into our yard, then you’re probably afraid of the very thing I was afraid of: “It can’t really be this good.”
Unfortunately, I can’t assuage that fear with reasonable caveats.
Sure, we have our share of problems. We lack diversity — but we’re actively and aggressively meeting that deficiency head-on. We aren’t as profitable as we’d like to be — though, both top-line and bottom-line revenue has doubled YoY. At times, work-life balance disintegrates — after all, servicing clients can be a boiler room no matter how you slice it.
At the end of the day, all I can really do is pile on the unbelievability.
Cory, my second in (marketing) command, was a co-founder of CTC. It sounds crazy we’d have a healthy relationship. Nonetheless, here we are — one of CTC’s most-senior members, reporting to me … and both of us loving life.
There’s Panagiota, the VP of Differentiation (i.e., HR), who doesn’t just genuinely care for the people of CTC but bleeds for them — not to mention being the only woman of color at the executive level and bringing the heat to ensure that changes.
There are Adrianne and Grant who run ADmission (CTC’s paid-membership ecommerce training community) and whose dreams revolve around raising up the next generation of online entrepreneurs. There’s Dane Sanders — who leads Tell Me Your Dreams, possibly the most-hokily-name program in the history of professional and personal development. And, the most impactful I’ve ever experienced.
Honestly, there are too many wonderful people to mention for fear of leaving someone out. But, indulge this long-winded review for two more paragraphs, and I’ll name the last …
Then, there’s Taylor Holiday. Alongside one other professional relationship, no single person has taught me more, challenged me more, trusted me more, fed me more, led me more, and invested in more.
Let me end where I began: “It can’t really be this good.” Yes, it can be. In fact … yes, it is. And it’s only getting better.
