💰 FROM WALL STREET TO $22M | Dickie Bush & Tristan Homsi Unfiltered
Dickie Bush was a hedge fund trader at BlackRock making $200K/year. He started a newsletter in 2020. By 2024, he'd built Ship 30 for 30 and Premium Ghostwriting Academy to over $2M in total revenue with 30+ employees.
In this 2+ hour conversation, Dickie and former top sales rep Tristan Workman break down:
📊 BUSINESS & SCALING:
✅ The Marketing Efficiency Ratio (MER) that changed everything
✅ Why perfect attribution is the enemy of scaling
✅ Contribution margin formula: How doubling team size TRIPLES breakeven
✅ Cost per call vs cash per call (the only 2 numbers that matter)
✅ From $50 cohort to $8M/year: The Ship 30 scaling journey
✅ Hiring the first sales team (how Tristan's Loom video won the job)
✅ 345 days on Slack: The burnout that led to complete system redesign Blended marketing: Why organic + paid beats either alone
💡 STRATEGY & SYSTEMS:
✅ Bottleneck analysis: How to identify the ONE constraint killing growth
✅ Just-in-time vs just-in-case: Why planning is often procrastination
✅ The 2x income rule before quitting your job
✅ Working 2 full-time jobs: How Dickie did it (and why you shouldn't)
✅ The "3 quests" framework for goal setting that actually works
✅ Why raising price $1K goes straight to bottom line
🧠 MINDSET & LIFE:
✅ The "turkey problem": Why salary jobs are riskier than you think
✅ Memory dividends: The $5,800 Super Bowl ticket that pays forever
✅ 10% fund: Automatically investing in experiences, not just stocks
✅ From 280lbs to 185lbs: The health transformation that enabled everything
✅ Why travel as a "digital nomad" killed productivity (and what he does now)
✅ 75 memory dividends goal for 2025
✅ The meditation routine that guides $10M decisions
📍 TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Introduction: Dickie & Tristan's story
05:30 - The L Tristan hired
12:45 - Life at BlackRock: The moment Dickie knew he had to leave
18:20 - The "turkey problem" and Covid wake-up call
25:10 - Starting Ship 30 for 30: $49 to $60K in one month
31:40 - The 2x income rule before quitting
38:15 - Working 2 full-time jobs: The 2021 grind
44:20 - Moving to Miami with Cole: The acceleration period
52:30 - Hiring the first sales team & Tristan's 46% close rate
58:45 - $5-6M generated by Tristan alone
01:05:20 - Why most sales reps are entitled (and how to avoid them)
01:12:15 - The marathon mindset applied to sales
01:18:40 - Follow-up mastery: 17 emails to close
01:25:30 - 2024: The year of mistakes and lessons
01:32:10 - Marketing Efficiency Ratio explained
01:38:45 - Contribution margin: The math that changes everything
01:45:20 - Why they cut $500 payment plans (and revenue went UP)
01:52:15 - Organic vs paid: It's always blended
01:58:30 - LinkedIn algorithm change tanked leads 70%
02:05:40 - Travel as a tool, not a lifestyle
02:12:20 - Memory dividends: Investing in experiences
02:18:50 - The 3 quests for 2025
02:25:15 - Health routine: Meditate, train, stop eating by 7pm
02:31:40 - Sobriety stance: Michelin dinners and weddings only
02:38:20 - Discipline = doing it on the 10 hardest days
🎯 KEY TAKEAWAYS:
→ Your overall throughput = sum of moving everyone closer to buying
→ Contribution margin decreases as you scale (plan for it)
→ Marketing Efficiency Ratio (Revenue ÷ Total Marketing Spend) = business health
→ Memory dividends compound forever, stocks only compound financially
→ Future you will laugh at what current you is worried about
→ Perfect attribution kills scaling; blended metrics enable it
→ The best sales reps do boring follow-up for 7+ days
→ Raise prices more than you think; it goes straight to profit
💼 DICKIE'S JOURNEY:
- 2018: Started at BlackRock ($120K/year)
- 2020: Started newsletter during Covid
- 2021: Ship 30 first paid cohort ($60K month)
- 2021: Quit BlackRock (hit 2x income rule)
- 2022: Moved to Miami with Cole
- 2023: Hired Tristan & first sales team
- 2024: $8M+ revenue, 30 employees
- Total: $22M+ revenue in 4 years
💼 TRISTAN'S STATS:
- 46% lifetime close rate
- ~800 total enrollments
- $5-6M revenue generated
- Record: Highest upfront cash month (no financing)
- Now: Running own sales team & consulting
📱 CONNECT:
Dickie Bush: @dickiebush (Twitter/X)
Tristan Homsi: @tristanhomsi (Instagram)
Ship 30 for 30: ship30for30.com
Premium Ghostwriting Academy: [link]
📚 RESOURCES MENTIONED:
- "Efficiency" by Wall Street Playboys
- "Die With Zero" by Bill Perkins
- The Compound Effect
- Tim Ferriss
- Spotter Studio (thumbnail tool)
- TubeBuddy / VidIQ
- RapidTags.com
🎙️ ABOUT:
Raw, unfiltered conversations with entrepreneurs building 7-8 figure businesses. No fluff, just systems, numbers, and real talk.
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