"I felt stuck with the business," André recalls of that pivotal moment. "Revenue was steady between $60k and $70k, but growth had slowed down. I wasn't sure where to focus my efforts."
For five years, André had been building an online store specializing in high-quality insoles designed for people who spend long hours on their feet. The business was born from personal experience; after struggling with foot pain during travels and finding relief through the right insoles, he saw an opportunity to help others dealing with plantar fasciitis, flat feet, and overpronation. Friends and family tried his products with similar success, validating his belief that this was something worth sharing more broadly.
But by July 2024, that initial momentum had stalled. Despite having a proven product and steady customers, André found himself at a crossroads, even considering starting a completely different business. That's when he discovered MentorCruise and connected with Jimmy Jaspers, an e-commerce entrepreneur whose practical approach to scaling businesses caught his attention.
Instead of immediate hockey-stick growth, André's revenue actually dropped by almost half in the first six months of mentorship.
"During that time our revenue actually dropped by almost half, but it was necessary to build a solid foundation," André explains. It was a deliberate restructuring that would prove essential for what came next.
Jimmy's first piece of advice challenged André's entire approach to business. "One of the first things Jimmy pushed me to do was leave the bubble I was stuck in," André says. "He made me understand the power of networking and putting myself out there."
Just months into their mentorship, André flew to another country to attend a marketing event, a move that would have been unthinkable before Jimmy's encouragement. "Without that push I probably would have stayed in my comfort zone and missed opportunities that ended up changing my business."
During the course of the mentorship, Jimmy helped André identify and fix three critical areas that were holding the business back.
While working through the initial revenue decline, first came finances. Jimmy's probing questions about André's bookkeeping led to an uncomfortable realization and a necessary change. "He made me question how my books were being handled, which led me to change accountants," André shares. "That decision saved me thousands of dollars and prevented bigger issues that would have cost me much more down the line."
While scaling was underway, next was operations. Communication issues with suppliers were creating bottlenecks that André had simply accepted as part of doing business. Jimmy provided practical strategies to improve these relationships, cutting down production delays significantly. "That was huge, because it meant we could keep scaling without getting stuck waiting for stock."
The third change was perhaps the most psychologically challenging: pricing. André had been operating under assumptions about what customers would pay, but Jimmy pushed him to test rather than guess. "At first I was hesitant, but it worked. It gave us healthier margins, allowed us to spend more on ads, and kept growth sustainable. That single shift played a major role in scaling up to $500k months."
After six months of rebuilding, something clicked at the start of 2025. The fundamentals were finally in place, and André had clarity on his strategy. What followed was extraordinary: revenue jumped from around $50k per month to $500k in just eight months.
"The pivotal moment was realizing that I had to slow down, fix the basics, and then push for scale," André reflects. "That shift made everything else possible."
First came consistent $100k months, then $200k, and finally the acceleration to half a million in monthly revenue. In total, since starting mentorship, André has seen his business grow by over 600%.
The monthly mentorship calls with Jimmy became what André describes as "therapy for the business." Meeting once a month, each session starts with André highlighting the most pressing challenges, which they then tackle systematically.
"Talking with Jimmy helps me open up, see problems from different angles, and think deeper about the direction I'm taking," he explains. "Some of the biggest breakthroughs have come just from that process of having someone experienced to challenge my thinking and guide me toward solutions."
The return on investment has exceeded any traditional metric. "Although it's not measurable, the ROI has been insane. A single insight from a call has led to hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra revenue," André notes. But perhaps more importantly, the mentorship has fundamentally changed how he approaches business challenges.
"I don't believe mentorship alone created the $500k month, because of course there were other decisions I made along the way," André is quick to clarify. "But Jimmy's guidance was the spark that helped me take bold actions, stay accountable, and focus on the things that actually moved the needle."
Today, André isn't slowing down. He's continuing his mentorship with Jimmy while also joining mastermind groups to expand his network and learning. His goal for the next 6 to 12 months is ambitious but, given his trajectory, entirely achievable: scale past $1 million in monthly revenue and establish his brand as a true market leader in foot health.
"The best part is the knowledge keeps compounding, so the value doesn't stop after the call ends," he says about his ongoing mentorship. "Beyond money, it has boosted my confidence and given me a clear path forward whenever I feel stuck."
For entrepreneurs facing their own revenue plateaus, André's story offers a powerful lesson: sometimes the path to exponential growth requires first having the courage to slow down, fix what's broken, and rebuild on stronger foundations. And having an experienced guide like Jimmy Jaspers through MentorCruise can make the difference between staying stuck at $70k months and breaking through to $500k and beyond.
The transformation from a stagnant $70k monthly revenue to $500k didn't happen through a magic formula or overnight success. It came through the willingness to step back, challenge assumptions, leave comfort zones, and most importantly, accept guidance from someone who had already walked the path. For André Barbosa, that combination has turned a five-year-old business struggling to grow into a scaling success story with its sights set on even bigger milestones ahead.
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