Have you ever looked at a business and admired it, like, really admired it, and said, “I want my business to be like that”? If you think that way, that’s amazing. But now let’s work backwards.

What do I mean? Well, you’ve got to ask yourself the question: How did they get there? What did they do to build what I’m looking at now? Because it’s not enough just to say, “These designs are fire, I want that too.” That’s surface-level. You’ve got to go deeper.

This is what reverse engineering is all about.

It’s the process of studying something successful, like a brand, a business model, or a product, and breaking it down step-by-step so you can understand how it was built. Once you understand the how, you can learn, apply, and rebuild it in a way that fits your own business.

You want the brand? Cool. Now look at everything:

• What does their email marketing look like?

• Which email goes out first? Second? Third?

• What are they actually saying in those emails?

• Cheat code: Sign up for the email list and learn.

• What about text message marketing?

• Sign up for that list too and watch how they nurture you over time.

If you’re into street fashion, don’t just stop at the look of the product:

• What’s the weight of the shirt? What’s the blend?

• Where are they sourcing their blanks? Are they using wholesalers in America, or overseas manufacturing?

• Who are they using for samples?

And content—pay attention to it.

• What content is working for them?

• What’s getting traction—reels, stories, blogs, YouTube, product demos?

Here’s another cheat code:

You can go to the Facebook Ad Library (yes, it’s real) and see what ads any brand is currently running. Just search their name and boom, you get a glimpse into what they’re promoting and how they’re targeting their audience. That’s free game.

Now, how does their website function?

• Is it built on Shopify?

• Is it mobile-optimized?

• How are they driving traffic to it, ads, influencers, SEO, organic community?

Then dig into the mission and values.

• What’s driving them?

• How are they connecting their story to the hearts of their audience?

That’s reverse engineering at its core.

It’s not stealing. It’s studying.

It’s not copying. It’s learning.

It’s not cloning. It’s building smarter, with a blueprint that already works.

God bless the entrepreneur ®️