[EPFN] Big Problems, Bigger Wins: From Chaos to $100K Launches

When “Big Problems” Turn Small: The Grind That Builds Everything

Some problems look like monsters when you first face them.

They weigh on you, make you sad, stressed, maybe even depressed.

And then life throws even bigger problems your way.

Suddenly those “giant” problems from a year ago look laughably small—like a mosquito on a mountain.

That’s the moment you realize you’ve leveled up. Call it mature, call it adult, call it forged-in-fire.

Right now, I’m at a stage where THE Agency can’t operate without me—not because we’re disorganized, but because we’re so boutique, so hands-on, that I give attention to every single product.

We just crushed a product launch ($100K in two weeks).

On the other side of my life, we’re moving locations with the horses—21 of them, to be exact.

We’ve got 8 employees, 134 riders (this morning alone), and yes, after the move announcement, we lost 19 riders. That’s reality.

We’ll probably lose 5–6 more.

But we’ll bring in 25 new riders, and another 25 on top of that to cover the costs of the new property and finally hit profit in October.

The goal?

252 riders by year-end.

And yes—you can actually see the place we’re moving to right here:

October 23rd marks a year since we bought our very first horse—just to make me happy.

Look where we are now.

All of this is bootstrapped.

Built by our family: my husband, our two daughters, and I.

We don’t sleep much, we don’t rest much.

Everything gets done with ZERO complaints. Nothing is late. Everything is on time.

Agency, Amazon, horseback riding school—we juggle it all, and it works.

People tell me recently, with full confidence:

“You have a lot of money.

When will you stop?”

Here’s the truth: I don’t have a lot of money.

Not yet.

What I do have is relentless work ethic.

The kind that builds something long-term, something unshakable.

America runs on two types of people: those who live off freebies and believe government money belongs to them, and those who work, build, and keep this economy alive.

We’re the second type. The builders. The grinders. The ones who get up when it’s hard and keep going until it works.

So yeah—problems from last year?

Tiny. Problems today? What is a problem, really?

We’re just moving forward—sometimes like a train making stops, sometimes like a time machine, sometimes like a jet.

What I know for a fact is this: we’re not going anywhere without speed.

Most people don’t want that life.

I do.

We do.

Because speed buys time in the future.

I don’t want to “work” forever. I want to keep building. And that’s exactly what we’re doing.

Cheers.

‘Robots.txt:’

Your Ecom Brand’s Invisible Traffic Gatekeeper

Imagine your online store is a house. Search engines and AI bots (like the ones behind ChatGPT or Perplexity) are like visitors knocking on every single door—even the bathroom. A robots.txt file is your “front door sign.” It tells them: “Come in through the front door, check out the living room (your product pages), but stay out of the messy garage (cart, checkout, admin).”

Why do sellers need this? Because if bots spend time on pages that don’t sell anything, your most important pages—the ones that bring money—get less attention. Even worse, if you don’t give AI bots directions, your brand info might never show up when people ask, “What’s the best [your product] to buy?”

Here’s the big deal: sellers who set up robots.txt the right way can drive 20–40% more traffic from search engines and LLMs combined. That’s not extra ad spend—that’s free traffic flowing to the pages that actually convert.

How to check if your store has one

1. Type https://yourbrand.com/robots.txt in your browser.

2. If you see a file, great. If it says “404” or “not found,” you don’t have one yet.

3. Repeat for each subdomain (like shop. or blog.). Each needs its own file.

What it really does

• Tells Google and AI bots what pages they should look at (like product listings).

• Blocks them from crawling junk pages (cart, checkout, search results).

• Makes sure your sitemap is easy to find, so all your money pages get crawled.

• Helps you show up in LLM answers (so instead of quoting your competitor, the AI quotes you).

Example robots.txt for an e-commerce brand

User-agent: *
Allow: /assets/
Allow: /*.css$
Allow: /*.js$

Disallow: /admin/
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /search
Disallow: /*?utm=
Disallow: /*?ref=

Sitemap: https://yourbrand.com/sitemap.xml

Prompt you can copy to make yours

"Write a robots.txt file for my e-commerce brand [insert domain]. Keep CSS/JS and product images crawlable. Block checkout, cart, and search pages. Add sitemap directives for [list sitemap URLs]. Optimize for both Google indexing and LLM access so my product pages can appear in AI answers."

Step-by-step: how to use robots.txt to get more traffic

1. Make a list – Write down which pages sell products (keep those open) and which ones don’t (block those).

2. Keep the looks – Make sure bots can still see your CSS, JS, and images so your store looks right.

3. Write your file – Use the template above, just swap in your own domain and sitemap links.

4. Put it in place – Upload it at https://yourdomain.com/robots.txt.

5. Test it – Use Google Search Console or just try to open blocked and allowed pages in your browser.

6. Watch what happens – Track in Search Console if more product pages get crawled. Check if AI tools like Perplexity start quoting your site.

7. Tweak it – If important pages don’t show up, adjust your file and test again.

👉 Bottom line:

Sellers who use robots.txt wisely guide both search engines and AI bots straight to the cash registers of their business.

Done wrong, you’re invisible.

Done right, you can grab thousands of extra visits—without paying a cent more on ads.

Why Sellers Keep Failing Their Launches

Pay attention to this. 

A lot of sellers fail their launches because of one thing: chaos. No strategy. They don’t know where to start, and they sure don’t know where to go.

Now look at this product on the screen:

• Only 49 reviews

• Pulling in $28K in sales

• Just 2 leading variations

Why?

Because they had a launch strategy. They knew their product positioning.

They understood their PPC and ad management.

They didn’t wing it—they had a roadmap.

Your first step should always be to ask:

• Where do I want to be with my sales in 6 months?

• Where do I want to be in 12 months?

• Will I realistically be able to achieve results like this?

The secret?

Reverse engineer your competitor’s success. With AI, this is simple—if you know what you’re doing.

And yes, I’m thinking (not doing it yet, but thinking) about running a tiny pilot project where I’ll literally guarantee a product that meets a certain revenue threshold with a set number of reviews.

Offer Example:

I’ll find you a product at price X that will make you Z by Y threshold, and hand you the strategy to get there.

If I do this, I’ll announce it Friday.

It will only be in this closed chat (you can join here).

Think of it as me giving you a magic wand. But you’ll still have to learn how to wave it.

Products to Launch in 2026: Problem Solvers Win

Looking ahead, the products that will crush in 2026 aren’t the “nice-to-have” gadgets. They’re the ones that turn small customer annoyances into big, urgent problems—then offer the solution. 

That’s how you position yourself as the obvious choice.

Example: feeling tired. Everyone shrugs it off, drinks another coffee, and keeps going. But what if you connect that fatigue to a magnesium deficiency?

Now it’s not just being “a little tired”—it’s linked to muscle cramps, restless sleep, and long-term health issues.

That small problem just became a big one. And your product—say, a magnesium + ashwagandha supplement—is positioned as the direct solution.

Or take back pain from sitting all day.

Annoying?

Sure.

But if you educate customers that this posture issue can snowball into chronic spinal problems, missed workdays, and thousands in medical bills, your ergonomic floor chair or lumbar support system suddenly looks like a life raft.

That’s the formula:

1. Magnify the problem. Make customers feel the true cost of ignoring it.

2. Educate them on the hidden cause. (Deficiency, habit, design flaw, etc.)

3. Offer your product as the clear solution.

In 2026, winners won’t be the ones selling “stuff.” They’ll be the ones selling relief.

Was this issue too much?

If yes, reply yes in the email, just give me some feedback.

It would be greatly appreciated.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Izabella