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I use Grammarly to check my spelling, punctuation and my ability to make sense when I'm writing under deadline pressure.
I love it. It's like having a roaming editor who knows my style. But there's one suggestion that always annoys me. The little prompt that says: want to sound more confident? Not only does it slightly offend me, but it also reframes whatever I've written as a definitive statement.
Perfect if you're a Big 4 consultant, a LinkedIn fluffer or an “AI expert”.
But I try to avoid it.
My opinions aren't always definitive. One idea that works for one business won't always work for another. And leaving room for disagreement or for someone to build on an idea is how you have meaningful conversations online rather than arguments.
That's my view anyway.
But here's what I do believe: the ability to hold an opinion loosely, to evolve it when the evidence demands it, is one of the most important skills in ecommerce right now.
In an industry where acquisition vs retention, growth vs profit, human vs AI are constantly being debated, pigeon-holing yourself into one side is dangerous. The market moves too fast for permanent positions.
I was reminded of this while talking to Mike Halligan, co-founder of Scratch Pet Food, in this week’s episode. Mike first joined me five years ago, and I loved his clear vision. He was building Scratch through community, owned audiences and organic trust and deliberately avoiding paid social. It was a principled stance. The reasoning was sound.
This time around, he told me he'd spent a large part of those five years since then going deep into Meta advertising. It’s a complete shift from where he stood before.
"Looking back now, I'm like, I was an idiot for not investing more in Facebook ads."
I don't think he was an idiot. He had a position and he backed it. But he also didn't hold onto it past its use-by date. When the business needed to move, he moved with it, and he was honest enough to say so.
That's the skill. Most founders and eCommerce operators get stuck. It’s often through fear of the unknown, ego, or a public position they feel they can't walk back from. But the ability to change your mind isn't a weakness. It's a signal of strength.
The channels we use, the way customers interact with us, the tools we build on, it's all shifting faster than ever. If you're not open to challenging your own beliefs, you won't just fall behind; you'll quickly become irrelevant. But… I’m open to changing my mind on that.
Cheers
Bushy
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Scratch’s Mike Halligan on Why He Was Wrong About Meta: How He Built a Smarter Growth Engine | #607
Last time I caught up with Mike, Scratch was proudly swimming against the ecommerce current. No paid ads, no unnecessary complexity, just product, trust and a tight subscription model. And Mike was locked down in a hotel room mid-COVID.
How things have changed (yep, he’s out of the hotel room). That philosophy hasn’t disappeared. But it has evolved, and Mike is very honest with us on how and why he has adapted Scratch.
“E-commerce has got harder. More competition, higher costs, and a lot of teams have had to raise the game just to stay in the same place.”
Scratch is now a multi-million dollar business. They’ve expanded the range, built new infrastructure, and gone deep on Meta. And in true Mike fashion, he’s not just running campaigns but has built a full Meta creative system, which he breaks down for us.
In the ep, Mike breaks down his Meta creative system that he has refined, how he's evolved Scratch's subscription model, how he is using Claude and why he's sticking tight with Wordpress. Awesome chat.
KEY MOMENTS
4:44 – The Scratch Philosophy: Simplicity and Subscription
7:13 – Building Loyalty Through Quality and Trust
12:08 – Adapting Marketing Strategies: From Community to Meta Ads
14:39 – Understanding Customer Acquisition and Retention
17:12 – Creative Strategies in Meta Advertising
19:31 – The Evolution of Ad Formats and Creative Messages
25:19– The Shift From Influencers to Creators
28:49 – Understanding Customer Personas Through AI
36:16 – Navigating Meta’s Ad Landscape
44:37 – Future Possibilities of AI in Business
49:36 – Bushy’s Takeaways
Three things that stuck with me from this one:
Simplicity isn’t static 🎯
If your business has grown, your systems need to catch up. What worked at $1M will break at $10M. Keep the core simple but upgrade the machinery behind it (ops, tech, reporting) so it can handle the next stage.Creative is the growth lever now 🎥
Stop trying to “optimise Meta” and start building a creative system. Define your key customer types, map their awareness stages, and produce ads for each - not just one generic campaign. Volume and variation beat one “perfect” ad.AI amplifies judgment, not replaces it 🤖
Use AI to do the heavy lifting, like analysing reviews, generating angles, and spotting patterns. But don’t outsource decisions. The advantage comes from combining AI output with your understanding of the customer.
If you’re making lots of decisions in ecommerce, this episode is a good reminder that no decision needs to be the forever decision. You just need to be willing to update your thinking when the evidence changes.
The full chat is live wherever you get your podcasts.
💡 Work with Nathan
Need help making a big call or sense-checking your strategy? You can book a consultation session to tackle challenges, test assumptions or connect with the right people in ecommerce.
I also partner directly with retailers and tech providers on team coaching, transformation strategy and advisory roles. If that sounds like what you need, get in touch, and we’ll take it from there.
