Happy Thursday!

In 5 minutes, you'll be learning about the following:

1. ​The State of SEO 2026: How to Win in the Age of AI
2. YouTube’s New AI Features: More Content, Less Work
3. The Playbook Behind the World’s Fastest-Growing Brands
4. ​Our Biggest Milestone Yet: Neat’s First Hire
5. How a BBQ Rib Idea Exploded Into $250K/Month on Shopify [Podcast]

Jim Huffman, GrowthHit & Neat Apparel CEO
​(Want a friend? Let's connect on Twitter or LinkedIn)

​The State of SEO 2026: How to Win in the Age of AI​

AI is rewriting the rules of search. Here’s what’s really working (and what’s not).

Every year I look at the State of SEO report, and this one hit different. It’s like the industry is standing with one foot on solid ground and the other dangling over a cliff.
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On one side: the tried-and-true. Original content still wins. Two-thirds of SEO pros say it’s their #1 growth driver.
On the other: the unknown. AI answers are stealing clicks. Nearly 78% worry they’ll see traffic disappear.
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That tension is shaping three strategies:

1. AI-Heavy Adopters (22%) – chasing scale through automation.
2. Authority Builders (49%) – doubling down on expertise and trust.
3. Hybrid Strategists (58%) – using AI to speed things up, but keeping humans in the driver’s seat.
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The throughline? E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). AI can summarize, but it can’t replicate lived experience, fresh research, or your point of view. That’s why nearly half of SEO teams are betting here - it’s the moat AI can’t cross.
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The bottleneck is still time. Content creation ranks as the hardest thing to scale. Most teams are offloading the grunt work (audits, drafts, research) to AI while reserving human effort for insights that actually stand out.
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Budgets, though, remain steady. 65% expect no SEO cuts in 2026 because the ROI is still real: 60% reported traffic gains last year, 34% saw more leads.
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So if you’re planning ahead, here’s the playbook:

• AI is your intern, not your strategist.
• Invest in authority. Publish stories, data, and POVs that can’t be faked.
• Measure what matters. Leads and sales protect budgets more than rankings ever will.
• Don’t silo SEO. Only 9% see returns from cross-team collaboration, but 37% are planning to invest there.
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SEO isn’t dead. It’s adapting. And the people who win will be the ones who know when to lean on AI and when to lean on hard-earned expertise.

👉 Download the full report here​

​YouTube’s New AI Features: More Content, Less Work​

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30+ new AI features on Youtube designed to help you create content at scale without hiring an army.

Every business I know wants to do more with video.

The problem? Producing content feels like a second full-time job. By the time you’ve planned, filmed, edited, clipped, and posted, the week’s gone and so has your energy.

That’s why YouTube’s latest AI rollout is worth paying attention to. At their “Made on YouTube” event, they unveiled 30+ new tools built to take the heavy lift out of video creation.

A few standouts:

• Instant dubbing in 20 languages with lip sync. (Like in the short demo video above, where Italian audio is dubbed into English while the speaker’s lips sync perfectly to the new track.) That means your content can cross borders and feel native without hiring translators or re-recording.
• Auto-clip highlights from long videos into Shorts - perfect for podcasts, webinars, or sales calls you’re already recording.
• AI-powered editing that turns raw footage into a polished draft - transitions, music, and even voiceovers included.
• Ask Studio, a chatbot that explains what’s working (and what’s not) in your channel analytics.

The takeaway: this isn’t about shiny new features. It’s about leverage. Video is still one of the most powerful ways to attract, convert, and retain customers—but you don’t need a studio team to make it happen. These tools shrink the workload so you can publish more consistently, test faster, and keep pace with where your customers are spending their time.

If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines saying, “we should be doing more with video,” YouTube might’ve just removed your best excuse.

​Our Biggest Milestone Yet: Neat’s First Hire​

After hitting 6-figures a month, it became clear - we need more hands on deck.

Today was a big milestone: we just extended our first official hire for Neat™ .
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We got to 6-figures per month with the founding team.
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But, things are breaking.
Balls are getting dropped.
We need help!
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When I think about this role, the sweet spot looks like a Venn diagram:
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​💧 Culture fit → someone who deeply aligns with the mission and values.
​💧 AI-first / growth mindset → not just using AI, but depending on it to move faster and smarter.
​💧 Scrappy marketer → resourceful, willing to roll up their sleeves, and ship content that drives growth.
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Finding someone who sits in the middle of those circles isn’t easy. It’s tempting to optimize for just one of them. But if we’re serious about building something different, we need people who can blend all three.
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We just extended the offer today.
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Excited to see what firepower this person can bring to the team.
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The lesson for me: in early-stage building, the people you hire are the strategy. Tools, tactics, campaigns - they all matter.
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But it’s the people who determine whether those things work or fall flat.
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More to come.

​Want to Go Offshore? The Free Summit Starts Soon!​

Your roadmap to second residencies, offshore wealth, and a freer life - straight from the world’s top expat experts.

The 2025 Expat Money Online Summit is a free, 3-day virtual event designed for individuals who are ready to take action and protect their future and freedom in a world that’s changing fast.

Hosted by Mikkel Thorup, the world’s most sought-after expat consultant, this event will feature dozens of offshore experts sharing practical, step-by-step strategies for moving abroad, legally eliminating taxes, and explaining why so many eyes are turning towards Latin America. 

At the Summit, you’ll:

• Learn how to secure a second residency and move your wealth legally offshore
• Discover the best Latin American countries for freedom, investment, and safety
• Find out how smart families are eliminating their tax burden by living abroad

Your journey to offshore freedom starts at the Expat Money Online Summit 2025.

👉 Reserve your free ticket - space is limited.​

​The Playbook Behind the World’s Fastest-Growing Brands​

The biggest lesson? People don’t want seamless - they want entertaining.

I’ve been thinking a lot about why some brands seem to spread like wildfire while others stall out. And lately, the clearest example isn’t coming from Silicon Valley or Madison Avenue - it’s coming from China.

Here’s what’s happening: Chinese companies figured out how to make shopping addictive. Not in a dark, manipulative way, but in a way that keeps people coming back for the thrill of it.

Think about Shein dropping thousands of new products a week, or Temu turning a basic e-commerce scroll into a full-on carnival of pop-ups, surprise discounts, and flash sales. Shopping stops being transactional and becomes entertainment.

The playbook is simple but powerful.

First, speed: these companies can take a product from idea to launch in three months. Compare that to the years it takes Western companies to move the ball forward.

Second, price: they operate on “half the cost, almost the same quality,” which lowers the barrier for people to try them. And third, psychology: they bake in randomness and surprise. Pop Mart, for example, sells blind boxes where you don’t know what toy you’re getting until you open it. That little jolt of anticipation is what keeps customers lining up again and again.

What’s fascinating is how transferable this model is. Gen Z in the U.S. and Europe is responding to it the same way Chinese consumers have for years. TikTok, Temu, Shein, Pop Mart - these aren’t fringe players anymore. They’re shaping what global consumer behavior looks like.

And here’s the real lesson: it’s not enough to sell a product anymore. People want an experience. They want the FOMO of a limited drop, the dopamine hit of a surprise deal, the sense that shopping is fun, not just efficient.

As business owners, that doesn’t mean we need to replicate Temu’s chaos or Shein’s speed. But it does mean asking: how can I make my product or service more than just a transaction? Maybe it’s a surprise perk, a limited release, or a new format that makes customers curious. Growth comes when you stop being part of someone’s to-do list and start being part of their daily dopamine hit.

​The Cash Flow Crunch Every Founder Faces And How to Escape It​

You don’t run out of customers. You run out of capital. Here’s how to keep growth alive without raising a dime.

Here’s the thing nobody warns you about when you’re scaling fast:

You can be growing revenue like crazy… and still feel broke.

I’ve seen it too many times. You finally crack acquisition. Orders are flying in. But then - your bank account is empty. Why? Because every dollar is locked up in inventory you already bought or ads you already ran.

It’s like being trapped in a weird financial paradox: sales are up, stress is higher, and your “growth engine” is sputtering because you can’t keep it fueled.

This is the silent killer of scaling businesses. It’s not the product. It’s not the customers. It’s cash flow.

That’s why we teamed up with Wayflyer to unpack how smart founders are escaping the cash flow crunch without raising a dime of venture capital. We got into:

• The inventory trap and how to fund product before it becomes a growth bottleneck.
• Why “just sell more” is a dangerous mindset if you don’t solve the working capital puzzle.
• The financial playbook scrappy but smart operators are using to keep scaling while others stall out.

If you’ve ever thought: “How am I doing 7 figures and still stressing payroll?” - this one will hit home.

👉 Watch the full session on demand​

​From Idea to $250k/Month Selling BBQ Ribs on Shopify​

What if you could turn BBQ ribs into a $250K/month Shopify business? That’s exactly what Andrew Buehler did and it started with crowdfunding, cold emails, and serious sales hustle.

Jim sits down with Andrew Buehler to unpack one of the most unexpected eCommerce growth stories out there how he launched a premium BBQ brand and scaled it to $250K+ per month without outside investors.

Andrew shares his step-by-step process for using crowdfunding to launch, how he activated his network to get early traction, and the exact sales skills that helped him scale. It’s scrappy, smart, and full of lessons for any founder.

Key Topics Covered:

• How to successfully launch with crowdfunding
• Why activating your personal network is the ultimate unfair advantage
• What actually matters when you’re launching on Shopify
• Cold email and sales tactics that drive real customer acquisition
• Design insights that helped build brand credibility fast
• Why resilience is more important than funding

If you’re looking for a launch playbook rooted in hustle - this episode delivers the goods (literally and figuratively)..

Listen now wherever you get your podcasts

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​Let’s Fix What’s Blocking Your Growth​

• My Agency - GrowthHit​
• AI Growth Strategies to Sell More On Shopify - GrowthSchool​
• The Sold-Out Shopify Playbook - Get the product​
• Podcast - The Shopify Growth Show​
• Proven AI Prompts for Your Shopify Success - Get the library​
• My Book: The Growth Marketer's Playbook​

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