Hey Reader,

You’re reading The Long Game - insights on financial mastery, entrepreneurship & building a rich life from Andrew at eComFuel.

---

The Sweet Spot for Taking Dividends

Extracting capital from a fast growing eCom business is really difficult. But there's a sweet spot where it does make sense.

I surveyed 200+ store owners to figure out where.

Here's what I found:

The magic growth range is 10-20% annual revenue growth.

Half of store owners I surveyed growing 10-20% are able to pull money out.

Every other growth bracket? Way less.

Why is 10-20% the magic number for distributing capital?

Because you're not bleeding cash to fund explosive growth. The business is often mature enough to generate excess.

Hypergrowth owners growing 60%+ top line? They look financially identical to sub-$1M businesses when it comes to extraction.

Both are pouring everything back in. One by choice, one by necessity.

The $1M revenue threshold matters too. Below it, less than 10% of owners are taking anything out. You're still building the machine. That's expected.

Once you cross $1M and settle into moderate growth, the window opens. And it widens fast as you scale.

At $5M-$25M growing rev 10-20%, three out of four owners are extracting capital.

The other thing most people underestimate: margins.

Below 5% net profit margin, less than a 1-in-5 chance of pulling money out. At 10-15% margins, that jumps to better than 1-in-2.

So the real question isn't "should I extract capital?"

It's "am I in the zone where I can?"

For the full deep dive on this topic:
​​
🎙️The In-Depth Guide to taking dividends (ECF blog)​
​
🐦 The X post that spawned a healthy discussion with pushback​

---

💬 Inside eComFuel This Week

Top discussions from inside our private community for store owners:

• OpenClaw nearly torched my Google account. Be careful.
• Product feeds have changed a lot. What's actually working?
• I paid an AI PR agency for a full year. Here's the good/bad.

Run a 7- or 8-figure store? Learn about membership & full access.

---

🔥Forge What Matters

This past week tried to break me.

I’ve been buried in 300+ data points for the eCommFuel Trends Report. By day four, the progress felt glacial, my head hurt and I was running on fumes.

Then Ross texted me Tuesday night. The next day was going to be the first real powder day of the year in Bozeman, and he wanted to know if I'd be at the hill.

My immediate reaction was a hard no.

I'm behind, I have a deadline, and the stakes are high. I made a bet that if I don’t get this report done on time, I have to film myself doing a dance in a squirrel suit and post it to the community. Seemed like I had all the time in the world when I anted up!

But….. Ross is a great friend and I haven’t seen him in months. It was the only real powder day we’ve had ALL YEAR. And I was running on empty and really, really needed a break.

So I played hooky despite the workload. It was exactly what I needed.

Came home with dead legs and a full cup. Sat back down at my desk that afternoon and felt something I hadn't felt all week — eagerness.

Stepping away isn't always the enemy of the work. Sometimes it's the only thing that makes good, deep work possible.

If you've been white-knuckling it lately, this is your permission slip. Go full Ferris Bueller for a day.

The work will be there - and lighter - once you get back.

---

👥 What My Friends Are Up To

​Deep-Dive on Agencies - My friend Andrew Foxwell from Foxwell Founders released this report on agencies. Interesting perspectives for store owners inside.

---

☕ Where I Ramble Between Newsletters

🎙️ Catch My Weekly Podcast: Longer form takes on building an incredible business and amazing life.

👋 LinkedIn and X/Twitter: Yes, I'll reply! Would love to hear from you.

​
​