Get Unstuck: Conversations with Capitalists

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Today is our monthly Q and A that we do on Zoom where we just rap about life and business. And there's several of you who are in the queue today. Dawn, go ahead and take yourself off mute and tell us what's on your mind.

Are you talking to me, Dawn?

I'm talking to you, Dawn. Okay, okay.

Because I just submitted my question like not too long ago.

All right, cool.

So I have finally finished a gateway product, a 90 day tapping journal. And I'm thinking about like the three to four or the other products in the suite and there's just so many different ways I can go if I want to focus on specifically on EFT and create products related to that. Because the ideal customer is somebody who's really interested in that particular modality, which is where I would get a little bit stuck with the rest of the products or if I want to go more of a general wellness thing and have the journal and then have a variety of other stress reduction, stress management or wellness related products.

So just so that I'm clear, are you set on the physical product line matching the existing client business that you've got meaning, is that, is that how you've decided that you want to go or are you struggling to make this fit?

So I think, I mean I have an audience, I have another program, I have a membership program. So I have people who are interested in that.

I'm definitely not married to the idea like it has to be that way, but it might just be like if I have the people to serve, it might just be easy to find the products for that.

Yeah. So perfect. Let's back this up one step. Because.

This person is not on an EFT tapping journey. They're on a different journey. They're on a journey. They found this as a possible solution to one of their problems. What's the journey that you would say this person is on?

So a big part of it is learning alternative ways to Manage stress to release anxiety and fear, especially right now.

And a lot of them are dealing with physical pain. Like the stress has manifested in chronic pain, chronic illness, or different things like that. So they're really on a journey to feel better, you know, physically and emotionally.

Okay.

So that they can do what?

So they can have more joy or have more happiness.

Live a life of less pain, I guess.

And where does most of their pain come from?

Well, a lot of it's coming from anxiety, fear, and stress.

Okay. Okay. That's caused by what.

Like holding on to past trauma.

Okay.

Lack of, like, emotional resilience.

Lack of self awareness. Sometimes there's like that. That victim, you know, it was like this. All this stuff has happened in my life and they're just carrying it around. But a lot of it is, especially right now, a lot of it's very related to just the stress and anxiety of the uncertainty and fear of everything going on.

Yeah. So this is such a great case study and example for everybody who's watching, because it's so easy to fall into the belief that the modality that we have, like the solution that we have, is the journey the customer is on. But they found us in the middle of a journey towards something else. And in your case, it was the journey of either discovering a higher sense of purpose, a higher calling, just developing a greater path for their life. And they're hitting these. They're basically in the process uncovering all this stuckness that they want to release. One of those modalities is eft. So if we look at the bullseye, the client who's paying you right now is person who has chosen that modality as a release to their stress, anxiety, or challenges. If you go one step outside the bullseye of the person who is still looking for the solution to their problem, what else do they consider or purchase along that journey?

So, okay, so I have a whole list of things. Like they would be like weighted blankets, would be something that they would be interested in, like essential oils, like gratitude journals, different pillow sprays or things like that. A lot of them struggle with sleep challenges, like eye masks, like the head massager that hits the different acupressure points.

You just listed off six products in 11 seconds.

Yeah. Which felt a lot easier than trying to force this tapping journal that you seem kind of stuck on.

So how do you feel after backing up a step?

I mean, I feel. I feel good about, like, understanding the things that they would buy. And I'm not. I'm trying not to get stuck in. Like, how would I do it all. Like, how would I, you know, I don't want to get stuck in that.

But.

But I definitely can see that if I take it out of the EFT part and I just look at the person who's interested in less stress, there are so many different things that.

They would be interested in. Right. That they would buy.

You've got a but in there somewhere. What's the but?

I don't know. I guess the but is just the whole figuring it all out part. But. But with the tapping journal. Because I'm excited about. So the tapping journal fits into my program right now and the people that I. That I serve right now, would that make sense to be like product number one or just kind of completely release the EFT part? That's something separate. And then the brand, like the wellness brand, is something completely different.

You could absolutely make an EFT journal be the first product if it was the thing that was most exciting to you. It is most certainly not a gateway product. It is not a gateway product because it doesn't open up new purchases.

Okay.

It's very, very late in the buying cycle that someone would buy an EFT tapping journal. In order for someone to buy an EFT tapping journal, they would have to know what that is, be sold on its effectiveness, trust the source, and know that they needed a way to document their progress.

Okay.

You're hitting the very tail end of it rather than using it as a way to open up.

People. Now, if you were to rephrase that as some other sort of daily journal where they were tracking their stuck points.

And then they could have that revealed over time and the next step would be to clear that through some modality. Now we're talking about more of a gateway product.

So I'm not trying to convince you on which way to go. I'm just showing you the difference between what is the gateway product and what is not. A gateway product is made to open up more purchases, whereas what you're talking about is really the very. You're really talking about cashing the check. You've got the audience, and now how do we get them to buy something? And what you're describing doesn't necessarily open up more products.

Okay.

Okay.

That makes perfect sense. Okay. Thank you so much.

You're welcome. So.

Any direction you go is fine. And you could go in any order that most. Whatever most excites you is what I'm going to recommend that. That you do. But I love the fact that when we backed up, you were able to go boom, boom. Boom, boom. Down the line of what product you want to focus on. That was beautiful because now you have a brand, and the Journal can be part of that brand. But don't mistake the Journal as the brand. That's the important difference.

Okay?

Okay.

Thank you so much.

You bet. Good to see you, Dawn. And thanks for your email this week. I appreciate it.

You're welcome.

All right, Inez, who do we have next?

The next contestant is Chelsea.

Hi. So it's Bradley and Chelsea.

Hey, Brad.

How's it going? Good.

So our question is we started a curated toy shop a year ago where we have other people's brands in our shop, and about six months ago started introducing our own products. And then about two months ago, heavily started our own.

Like, should create our own brand. Yeah, about six months ago is when.

I read your book.

And then we kind of started looking at business slightly different instead of selling other people's products that we have a lower profit margin on and then also deal with map pricing and things of that sort, obviously. So we're in the process of doing that, and we have been for the last few months developing a number of products and just now really getting to the point we're starting to launch them. But our main question is, should we continue to sell the other products or should we just focus on our own?

Because we have a. We have quite the following of, like, dedicated, and we sold out every time we launched anything. So it's like we have kind of the. We have our brand now. People are referring to us as our own brand, but we just don't know if we need to keep. Kind of keep that hook of bringing in the people who know the really well known brands. That makes sense.

Well, so tell me. Tell me where you're torn because, like, I have my bias, but why. Why do you feel that you do need. Why is there consideration of you continuing your existing brand just to miss out?

I mean, I guess it's that it's still a sale, it's still an opportunity, and people still look for some of those products that would drive traffic to our website. So our products, you know, and then our products could also sell.

But then the flip side of that is we look at, okay, if we spend a couple thousand dollars on somebody else's brand bringing it in, we could have taken that money and put it in our own products where we have better numbers. So we feel like, you know, are we at, like, when is. When is it the point that we go, okay, we're well, well known enough, you know, in our little Niche that we don't have to have these other brands to get more customers or is it a flow to our shop that we don't want to miss out on? Like we're really.

I got you. So I understand a little bit better now. Thanks for that context. What is the breakdown in revenue between the two sources? Your own stuff versus selling other people's stuff.

We're making, you know, it's about a.

Half, I would say. Yeah.

Our current that we're purchasing from other people's shops is about 50. And then.

No, he's saying.

What do you mean?

Are you saying like total sales or like profit margin?

Well, that's good. My follow up is gonna be profit. But right now, tell me top line because I'd like to understand how much momentum and how much attention those other brands are giving you in the first place. That's helpful to know.

Well, that was, I mean, that was our main source for the first six months. So now we're looking at six months within and our top, like our top selling products are our own brands.

Great.

Versus the other ones, especially the last two months. So now our, you know, we're just trying to keep inventory in on those.

Okay. So it's not zero what the other brands bring in. It's bringing in some. Right. And it's bringing in some exposure. You're really weighing which is the better gain keeping the brands or going all in on your own brands right now. Right. But I'm also kind of picking up that having the brands is giving some exposure to the brand that you've got. Is that.

Okay, so is it stressful to carry both or is it more that you're trying to analyze what is the right way to do it.

It's a little bit stressful in the sense that we have. There's a lot more competition and so it feels pulling that way. Like, you know, in our little niche of what we do, there's a lot more people who sell those similar brands.

Yeah.

And our own products are more. They complement the other brands. They kind of hit a pain point kind of, and we fix that. But yeah, I don't know, it's stressful in that sense, but like it's not.

But it's money that we could essentially spend to make more profit, to build faster or quicker. Essentially, yeah. I mean, I don't want to miss out, but at the same point.

We.

Could take that and invest.

I got you. So a couple things that you should know at this point. One, you are in the position of leverage right now. Your Brands are outselling the brands that you carry.

And when you promote something or feature it, you run out of stock, whether it's yours or someone else's. And you're confirming this by saying that you're playing this inventory management game. So all that to say you're in a position of leverage where you don't have to carry anybody else's stuff anymore because you've got your own and you've got your audience. So the way that I would play this is to be looking at how could I best manage that leverage to be able to grow the business and serve the customer. So what that might look like is asking the question, if we don't need the profit from selling other people's stuff, how can we do it in a way that gives us the most attention and the most customers that will come back and buy the brands that we have a stake in? Or what brands do we really love that are not getting a lot of attention that we could go to to talk about partnerships, investments, cross promotions. To be able to leverage the audience and the exposure that you have, but bring it into your own brand rather than giving it to somebody else or having a stake in the exposure that you give somebody else.

Yeah, that's kind of what we did with one smaller company. We took them under, and now they create things for us, but it's under our brand.

That's great. That's great. So you have the leverage. And the reason I want you to know that is because both of you have used the language of fear, of missing out. I don't want to miss out, but the truth is, you're the hot girl at the dance, and everybody wants to dance with you, and they're missing out. You're not missing out by choosing the wrong boy. You can just go choose another boy.

So you are in that position of leverage where you get to choose where you want to go. So don't sacrifice that just to keep things going the way that they are. You can just tweak it a little bit to be able to highlight your brands on a grander scale. So here's one of the ways that this might look. You might go to one of the brands as one of the best sellers and say, and tell them, show them the numbers, your sales versus their sales. This is our audience size. This is what happens when we promote this. Do you want to do a collaboration rather than compete with each other? And now you both sell more and you get the benefit of this other brand. Talking about you and your audience builds and you get Their customers.

Right, right.

So that's one way that you could leverage that. Another way that you could leverage that is by.

Taking the fact that when you sell out or when you feature something, it sells out and going to other smaller brands and featuring them and taking an equity stake in them. That's another way that you could position this. A third way that you could position this is by releasing additional products to your existing audience and featuring them in front of the people that bought other brands and other products and just continue that from building. So to answer your question directly, I wouldn't be in a hurry to cut selling other people's products. I wouldn't be in a hurry to stop that. But I would be thinking about the willingness to punt that profit.

To clear up your own energy for you to be able to focus it on your own brands and to see how you can make that audience even bigger. I said a lot in those three minutes. So did any of that land?

Yeah, it did. And I think that's kind of on the path of where we had a lot more brands that we carried. And like the last probably six weeks we've scaled down and like, we're not reordering certain things and we figured out, okay, these are the top three people that, you know, companies that we really like working with and they sell well, you know, because we felt like we just had the gamut, like it was just too much and we wanted to just kind of streamline it and make ours the focus yet have, you know, variety.

My guess is that if you were to make a list of other people's products that you sell, there's six to ten that do well and then you have a list of others that just, that don't matter. Cut the ones that don't matter. Make a best, you know, a best sellers list, only focus on those and rotate in a new one once in a while and see how it does.

Yeah, that's good. Yeah, helpful. Thank you.

Riley, how do you feel?

I'm right there with you, I think. I mean, I feel like we've done pretty well and kind of streamlining over the last six weeks. I feel confident kind of moving forward, but I guess even with branding in mind, you know, we went at it completely backwards. Now we got into the game and we just started, you know, buying stuff and throwing stuff on the wall, seeing if it'll stick, and we did pretty well, you know, compared to what we could done. But in terms of branding though, you know, that's. That's my own thing, I guess, is just Making sure that we're making the right steps forward to, you know, make sure the brand is going to do well, because that's the overall.

We don't want to lose our customers, be like, oh, we're not selling any of that. Then I think we're at the point where we have the loyalty now.

Yeah, makes sense. How long have you guys been doing this?

A year ago? This August.

All right. Okay, so you're right at 12 months. When did you launch your own brand?

No, it was January. We kind of did our own things, but really kind of like made a splash with our own really big products in May.

Okay, so only a few months.

Yeah.

And you're doing half. And you. So you doubled your revenue since you launched your own.

That's. That's freaking great.

Yeah, we were kind of blown away.

Guys. Are you're on the three months to 1 million plan?

Yeah, trying, trying. We're spinning our wheels.

We're trying.

So, I mean, you guys, you. You guys have done it really well where you built the audience, you're launching the products, and it just becomes about, don't kill the baby, but keep stoking the fire of what is going to make you rich, which is your own brands.

That's your leverage, and you can use that to light the fire that comes from connections and promotions and collaborations and all that stuff. So just to beat this horse a little bit more.

I wouldn't give up selling other people's products, but I would give up your dependency of making it profit so that it frees up other promotion opportunities.

Okay, yeah, we appreciate it. We just kind of needed that confirmation of, like, okay, we're doing this. You know, we got the right path that we're on.

So when you don't. When you don't need the profit, you can start saying, you can start being honest in a way that will really bond with your audience. Like when you say things like, this brand really sucks and you don't have to be promoting them and they're all pissed off. Great pr. It's just great.

Yeah, we've tiptoed around a couple brands that we've had, and then they weren't good. So.

Yeah, So, I mean, I would. I would publicly say it.

I would publicly. I mean, you don't want to throw shade, just to throw shade, but when something isn't good, say it.

Yeah, I mean, I've said it like in. When people ask for opinions. I've said it in messages or emails, you know, but I haven't publicly said, oh, this is why we stopped caring.

Or, you know, X, Y, Z. I would publicly say this is why we stopped carrying this brand.

Watch how your audience responds. Your sales will go up, because now you have the trust.

Of other products.

Yeah. Okay.

I'm really excited for you guys. Call me if you need an investor.

All right. Good to see you guys.

Thank you.

Jim Philpot, come on down.

Hi. Hi, Rowan. Hi, everyone.

Can you hear me?

Not at all. Can you yell a little bit louder into that microphone?

Right. Yeah. Yeah.

So my question. Can you hear me now? If I just. Not at all.

No, I can't. It's weird. Try putting your hands on your. On your headphones and squeezing really hard. Try that. What if you. Or if you raise your left hand.

I'll just try it without the headphones and without the mic, actually.

Tim, I'm messing with you.

Yeah.

Right. Can you. Can you hear me now?

Nope.

You still can't hear me now?

I can't hear a thing you're saying. No. It's so weird. Tim, can you hear me?

Yes.

Oh, you can. That's good. That's good.

Can you hear me now?

No, but I can read lips. Tim, I'm messing with you. We can hear you loud and clear, my friend.

I ripped out my whole system. Just.

I was really hoping to get a screen capture of you squeezing your own head.

I thought might be going too far.

It would have been a great retargeting ad.

What's up, Tim? Good to see you, man.

Yeah. Yeah. Good to be on. Thanks for. Thanks for having me. So my question is.

So.

Just starting out, sort of second or third month in that sort of grind phase, I'm sort of building up on Instagram slowly but surely. How. How is it. How. How do you encourage influencers to work with you beyond the first, you know, first free product or whatever, into something that, you know, because obviously, you know, I can't. I can't really pay cash, and I can't. I mean, sort of saying, oh, you can have an equity stake. Seems a bit silly when the company's so small.

So, Tim, are you married?

Not yet.

Are you in a relationship? Yeah.

Yeah.

All right, cool. So how did you persuade the person you're in a relationship to call you the first time?

I guess I was just. I called them, I guess. I don't know. What kind of. Did you have second guess your answer?

Did you have to pay cash?

No, it was a relationship. Right? Like, you started small, you had a few conversations, there was a mutual affection.

And then it became a relationship over Time, right? Yeah. So do you see where I'm going with this?

I think so, yes. Yeah.

So I think it's such a sad mistake.

So many entrepreneurs make when they try to begin a relationship with cash.

Unless the cash is just a way to get the attention enough to be able to begin the relationship. So, for example, JP Sears is one of my best friends, right? He lives a few miles down the road, one of my closest friends.

He's been to my home. I've been to his home. We know each other really well. When we met, it's because I booked him as a speaker at the Capitalism conference and I paid him a few thousand dollars. Right. So like that, he had a thousand different opportunities because he's Internet famous. I paid him money to show up at an event. We struck up a friendship. It became a really deep friendship. So that started. That got it moving, but that was just. Money is just a way to allocate attention.

I mean, there are people on this call that started as members of the 1% that I would now consider friends. They've been to my home. So sometimes business relationships start with a transaction and become friendships. But I think a lot of entrepreneurs think that influencers are motivated by just cash, when really it is a relationship just like anything else. And so the way that I like to start them is by going for the easiest yes possible. Yeah. So that is. I don't know what your market is, but if you're in health and fitness and you've got 10 influencers that you're eyeing, that can be as simple as, hey, so and so. I really like your content. I have a connection with this other person who is a following the same size as yours. I thought the two of you could do some collaborations together. Would you like an introduction?

That's an easy yes. Hey, so and so, I have a. I have a podcast that's launching and I would really like to feature your product brand that I see you talking about on my podcast. Would you like to be a guest and we can talk about where you're going with this brand? That's an easy yes. Hey, so and so, do you take any sponsorships on your. On your YouTube channel? I would like to talk to you about sponsoring it. Are you open to the conversation? That's an easy yes.

Yeah. Okay, so it's not like, go straight in with, oh, I've got this much money I can give you for Correct. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that just sounds. It sounds wrong in and of itself, doesn't it? Yeah, I don't use that again, I'm.

Going to give you a crude example just to make the point. That is like walking up to the girl at the bar and telling her how big your dick is.

It's like, it's. It's disgusting. Yeah, It's. It now, like, the wrong person who doesn't know any better is like, this is how important I am.

Yeah.

But to everyone else, it's like.

Get out of here. And so that is how it's received when an influencer gets a message that is like, I've got this much money. I can pay you.

Yeah.

I'm not gonna.

I'm not. I'm not whoring out my audience.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And presumably you lead with. With the sort of vision and, well, connect the vision of. Of your brand with that. What they're trying to do, obviously.

Yes. But say as much as you can and in few words as possible. And like, you don't like the opening move when you're starting a relationship with someone is not to sell them on yourself.

It is to get an easy yes by serving them in some micro way.

You feel the difference?

Yes. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. First is, what can I do for you? I'm sorry? The right way is how I can do it for you. The wrong way is, look how amazing I am.

They will discover how amazing you are or at least be more open to it for conversations in. The second thing that I would recommend to you is if you can just go to where the influencers hang out, conferences, meetups, zoom masterminds, Facebook groups where influencers collaborate in order to find brand sponsorships, other people's product forums. So, like, find out whoever trains influencers how to monetize their audience, buy their product and get into the Facebook group. These are all ways that you position yourself where your target partner hangs out, rather than just going out and hunting. So, Tim, does. Does that answer your question?

It does, yeah. Yeah, it does. I mean, I mean, it. It sort of takes a bit of a pressure off as well, because it's. Cause it's kind of. I'm always sort of thinking, what have I actually got that I'd be interested in? But I guess it's not like that at all.

Yeah, that's right. It's like trying to twist their arm. Like, how do I twist their arm into doing what I want them to do.

Yeah, yeah.

It's just. It's a relationship like anything else. Tell us a little bit about your brand. You're two to three months into the process.

Yeah. So I was following your million dollar brand program. But I made the mistake of doing a Facebook page and didn't have too much success with that on the launch.

But wait, why is. Why is that a mistake, doing it?

Well, I think I underestimated how effective. Sorry, overestimated how effective a Facebook page would be at getting people engaged. And sort of now that I'm doing it more on Instagram and it's actually more fun on Instagram as well, I kind of understand what it's supposed to be like to actually build an audience, whereas before I was kind of, I think, trying to do it too quickly in a bit of a rush or whatever. And. Yeah, so.

The launch was not really. It was more of a.

Sort of a jump, basically.

Okay, okay.

Does that make sense?

But yes, tell me a little bit about the brand.

So the brand is.

I was essentially inspired by your black rifle coffee example of a brand that has sort of personality, is kind of quite bullish and quite bold and reaching a new target customer. So it's essentially a cookingware brand for guys who are passionate about cooking casual home cooks rather than. Rather than professional chefs. But they also want to create this kind of sort of event, sort of almost party atmosphere, you know, in their house, bring people around, have. Have food that they've cooked and sort of almost impress everyone with how.

With.

With sort of how great they are.

Nice. Okay. I really. I really like how you described that.

Yeah, I was on. Sorry.

You know what your first few products are?

Yes, the first product is actually a. Is a kind of a chef's knife, which is, at the time I thought would be a good way for people. It's almost like people get it when they feel like they're being serious about it rather than just doing it because it's like a, you know, they've got to eat, so you've got to cook something. It's like, no, I'm serious. I'm doing it because I want to do it and it's fun.

So. So your play on this is Facebook or Instagram is fine, but all you have to do is show the end result. Let me tell you a quick story. So one of my best friends in the world, he's also my business partner on a project. His name is Clement, Juan Clement. If you've ever seen the old videos of me doing wine with Wyan, Clement was the straight man, while I'm the absurd one. And.

Clement doesn't consider himself a cook, but he is the best cook I know. Right? And all he does is go to Costco Get a huge slab of meat, put it in the sous vide, finish it by frying it. And then his presentation is amazing. Right? Like, so every time my mom visits from Ohio, she requests dinner with Clement. Right. And he loves it. It's a huge ego boost for him. But this is the story that I want you to remember. One time one of my employees who lived in Germany called me before she was flying over from our quarterly. For our quarterly meeting. And she says, ryan, I have one request. Said what? She says, I want to eat fish on a board. I said, what are you talking about? She's like, one time you posted on Instagram this unbelievable looking meal. It was fish on a board. I look and I go back through my Instagram and all that had happened is Clement had like sous vide some salmon and put it on this beautiful serving board. And it looked amazing, but it was just fish on a board.

But it was the board that did it. Like, it was a beautiful board. And so it, the fact that Clement owns this board, it made every meal 50% better. And it just made him look so cool.

And so like showing pictures like that, that's hot. Like, just if you make the classy serving ware that. I mean, like, I'm your target market for this. I've got one pan, it sits out most of the time. And when people come over, I'm like, shit, what do I put this on?

So I think that is your market. If you just show the products being used, you're done.

Because it's sort of like people don't get excited about the. Well, I suppose they do get excited about the product, but it's about the food. Isn't that. I see what you're saying. It's like about the end result.

Yes.

So don't teach people to cook. Yes.

Yeah, I can't even. I find that. So I don't. Yeah, I'm not doing that.

Yeah, yeah. And it's just, it's just been done a thousand times. But if you can make people look cool through the proxy of inviting people into their home, that's. That's hot. You look, you. You seem completely different than 10 minutes ago. You look pretty pumped right now.

Well, initially I was nervous because I was on Bram and Greg's podcast the other day and I couldn't explain the brand at all, but I thought I did sort of alright just then. So. Yeah, so I was just nervous.

Good, good. Well, it's good. It's good to meet you, Kim. I'm glad we figured out our audio issues.

So am I.

All right, man. Keep us posted.

Thanks. Thanks, Rod. All right, see ya.

Hey, Inez, how are you?

I'm fabulous.

How are you?

I'm watching you laugh at me.

So are you ready for the next victim?

Sure.

Amanda Alpine.

Amanda, come on down.

So I've been following you for a while, been in the group for a while, and I work for a brand right now. I've been working for a friend for almost a year. He has like a. It's like a million dollar business. And he. So I do his customer service for him and love it. Learned so much from his experience. It's a clothing company and eventually I'll probably leave my full time job and go full time for him and stuff like that. So just through everything that I've learned from you, like, it just amazes me how he started his business. He's had it for seven years and everything that he does is like exactly like what you said. So I'm just like, it's just, I don't know, like, so just hearing you and learning and, you know, being in the group, just amazing watching it all come together. So him and I have talked about maybe doing like another brand eventually later on.

So I. I've always wanted to do a clothing line even before I worked for him. And I work full time as a social worker and I'm really big on, like.

Looking at positive things and bringing out like the best in people. And, you know, working in mental health, you always, like, label people and diagnose them. And I never.

Like, I'm not really big on doing that because they feel like we aren't really much our label and the labels that we put on people, funny ways. I always try to look into good people, support them, build them up. And whenever I counsel kids, I would look at other things, things that they were proud of about themselves and stuff. So growing up.

My mom would always write me notes on my lunch bag. And I always remember writing notes, my lunch bag and feeling like loved and supported from them. So kind of wanted to do a business.

Kind of based on that to help kids and like other people feel like loved and supported. But I wanted to do it with clothing and have like messages from parents, like handwritten and then put like inside the clothing, almost like in the pockets or, I don't know, some way. So that's where I'm getting stuck. Like, how could I make that as a business or how to manufacture it? Because, like, the guy that I work for, he's like, the issue is going to be, you know, Doing individual messages and putting them in there. So I've looked at like sourcing agents and just getting like a little kind of like a locket or something to go in the pocket and put messages in every day. But yeah, that's just kind of what I've been playing around with and looking for ideas on how to do that.

Great. So there's a couple ways that I would crack this. The first is you're talking about a perfect product rather than a product that gets you in the game. So if you're running into that issue, just ask the question, how can I make a less perfect product that I'm still proud of? Does every piece of clothing need to have a custom message in it? Not at this point. So making inspirational clothing is easy. There's a thousand companies that do that.

So are we open to starting there? Maybe. Is it easy to build an audience around that? Absolutely. Are there people that we could partner with on that? 100%. Could we perfect it later? Yes.

The second thing that I would encourage you to consider is splitting them into two products. You have the clothing line and then you have all the other stuff.

That later, as a follow up product you start to manufacture, whether that is lockets or pins or other apparel. So now later, when you take, when both are selling, you can throw bonuses into the orders. You can take a lapel and you can slip it into the pocket of.

One of the pieces of clothing. So that's, that's how I would get this ball moving. The next thing that I want to ask you is how set are you on doing clothes? Or are there other ways that you could serve this audience?

Well, I'm not that set on doing clothes. I guess, like for me personally, I guess I just know what impact that had for me growing up. You know, my mom, like, I always remember her writing notes and like, notes are like my love language. Like I love to write notes or cards or stuff, you know, to other people. So I just want some way to, I guess, help people feel connected and build them up so it doesn't have.

To be your play is to the parent, the uncle, the caretaker, the foster parent, the grandma. And your job is to make it easy for them to communicate love to the child. Clothes is one of those ways. Having a journal that you pass back and forth is another way. Having cookware with quotes on it is another way. Having pics, like selling picture frames that are designed in a way for the caretaker and the child to puzzle together.

A collage is another way. Photo albums is another way. Right. So this isn't my market, but I'm just rattling them off. These are. These are all ways that you could accomplish the same thing.

And you can still weave in what's important to you. But remember that.

It wasn't notes and messages that you loved. It was the receiving of love that made you feel loved.

And so if. If you tie that into an entire product line, you're golden. And one of those ways can be the messages that you deliver.

Can I ask about the audience, too? Because that's where I feel like I'm getting stuck on, like, how to. Not so much how to build it. Is there anybody in? Because I feel like it could reach a lot of people, but I don't know specifically how to reach, like, who to target, who my person is, because I always let this hold me back. But because I don't have kids, I feel like. I don't know, I'm not really good at, like, because I really wanted it to be essentially, you know, for parents to kids. And I'm not a parent, so I feel like that's where I. I don't know. That's my own thing, I guess, but I feel like that holds me back.

But have you been a kid before?

I have.

So you're qualified.

Okay.

So your audience is. Your audience is. You're influencing the influencer. The influencer being the parent.

Right.

And you don't try to be a parent. You don't try and talk about being a parent. You just talk about making kids feel loved.

And there are lots and lots of childhood psychology blogs, parenting blogs, mommy blogs.

I mean, like, there are a bunch of influencers that would want to get behind something like that.

I guess that's where my mind wants to be. Like, well, I was a nanny for five years, and I'm a licensed mental health counselor.

You know, you don't have to justify yourself. You don't matter in this process.

Right, Right.

Like, your service to the end user is what matters. Your. Your service to the problem is what matters.

Okay.

So I often will tell people when they're at a workshop at my home, I'll be like, you don't matter. Forget you. You have to get. And I'll say it in a very jarring way if they're not hearing me.

And the point in that is to actually soften it for them to realize that there's nothing about themselves that has to hold them back.

Because your only job is to serve the problem, serve the person.

And so you don't have to have a list like, you Are not the product, so you don't have to sell yourself.

Okay. And I think that's where, like, you. I think you had said or somebody had said on a call recently. It's like, about loving your customers, you know? And that's where my heart is. I mean, that's what my background, you know, like, that's why I do what I do, you know, so.

Okay. That's right.

Yeah. Thank you.

You're welcome. Good to see you, Amanda.

Thank you, Inez.

Do we have anybody else in the reserve?

We do. We have Henry Antinor.

Cool. Okay.

I'll start by saying I'm Henry. I joined the 1% a couple days ago. I'm brand new to entrepreneur ism.

But thank you.

I feel like I'm catching on pretty fast. Let me just see where I put that job. Yes.

Why don't you not read and just tell me?

Okay.

Last night, I already bought the. Paid for the llc, all those things.

And.

It takes a while in Tennessee, about two weeks for everything to settle in. The only issue I ran into is the fact that somebody owns the domain to battlegoods.com but they're not using it. But the trademark is available, so I already bought it. And all that while I'm waiting for that to happen.

The next things I'm doing is documenting the story and going into product research. So I guess my question is and website, local design line.

My question is you don't need to worry about any of that right now.

Huh?

You don't need to worry about any of that right now.

My question is, what should I focus on right now as I'm going into this? Cause I already know my customer is the MMA fighter.

Their story is the fact that they train around their lives, their livelihoods. Good partner training is strength conditioning a lot and techniques. And it takes a lot of time for them to learn all the skills they need to learn.

Got it.

They are a person who has to work a job or be a student and have more outside their life. So my product line, my first product, the gateway product, is a jerky idea, Specifically high protein, aiming for less carbs.

So I guess right now I'm just asking, like, is that the. That's the next thing to focus right now is product research, since I already know my customer basis and their problems in their story.

So how many. How many MMA fighters that meet your ideal demographic have you run your product idea by.

One person so far? I'm talking to another. A couple people run right now on my Facebook.

Good. So your focus right now should be ensuring that the product that you're developing is actually something your people want. Yes. You're real. You're really clear on who your market is, and it sounds like you've access to some of those people. So your job is to develop three to five product ideas and verify that the people that you serve actually want them.

Well, I have.

And to do a lot of listening rather than telling them about your product. Okay.

All right.

Yeah, I have the three to five product ideas, so I should just go ahead and just ask them what they think about it and just listen.

Yes, that's right. And I would also. If you know what those first three products could be, then your job is to find the brand that ties them together and to speak directly to that target market with that brand messaging. So I would just be very curious about your customer and how you can serve them and listen very intently before you go to market or try to build the audience.

Okay. Yeah, I have a couple people I'm talking to right now.

Some of them are trainers who could also access other MMA fighters.

Good. So a quick story for you. So.

There'S somebody who's in the back room who started out by making these CrossFit gloves.

And they took them over to a CrossFit trainer and asked for feedback on the gloves.

And that CrossFit trainer gave them some feedback. And he said.

He said, I thought those people were gonna just not take my advice and never show up again. But they went back and iterated on the product and evolved the product to match that person's feedback, and then they brought it back to that CrossFit trainer. Well, that CrossFit trainer went on to be the biggest CrossFit influencer in the world. If any of you do CrossFit, you would know his name. It escapes me offhand, but he's the number one CrossFit influencer in the world who then started talking about the brand. And the brand went to a million dollars very quickly. The reason why that happened was because they listened, developed the product based on their customers feedback, and then they started naturally talking about it within the community. It's now one of the biggest CrossFit brands because it got picked up by other people who are like, wow, this is, like, really made for me. I really love these. I really like these grips and these bands. So if you go to your MMA contacts and you actually listen to their feedback about what the brand should look like and be, and you make the product for them, then it will circle within that community very quickly. You feel me?

Yes.

Sir.

So that is a good thing. I came to you early because I have the ideas, and I started to talk with some of my friends about it, but I got more friends that I could just run them through. One of my friends who worked in the MMA gym immediately liked the first product idea, which is a jerky, protein, high protein, jerky. But I could run it by others and see opinion, and then once I have a broad perspective and it seems to be that's the product idea, I could go into research and development. Doesn't matter.

And here's what will happen, Henry, when you show up, when you go back and you actually make a prototype, and you go back to those people and say, hey, I got my first prototype. Can I send you an example? They'll be like, holy crap. He actually did what? Like, he actually listened. And they'll be first in line to give you feedback on the prototype and first. And, like, they'll feel like they have ownership of the brand, even though they're.

They're.

They're just outside voices.

I was kind of scared to ask for help because I was like, should I. Should I give something in return first? Like, I was thinking about the give process, but maybe I was overthinking it.

Yeah. Yeah.

Well done.

All right, cool. That's all I have. I'm just starting.

All right, well done, man. And welcome to the group.

Thank you.

All right, good to see you. All right, Inez, can we. Can we finish with Kyle, who's got his hand raised?

Absolutely.

All right, let's do it. Kyle, go ahead and take yourself off mute and tell us what's on your mind.

All right. Sup, Kyle? Hi, Ryan.

Hey, man.

Dude, you created me out of thin air, man.

Did I? Wow. That.

I was not even. I wasn't on the radar. I wasn't even on the radar. No business, nothing.

And how did you find us?

Well, my wife does a personal training business. I broke my hand at work, so I wasn't working a lot of overtime, and I was like, man, I got to help my wife get more clients.

Yeah.

Found Craig. Found Craig Ballantyne.

Yeah. Okay.

Okay. So just started messaging him, and he's like, you need a coach. You need a coach. And I was like, sure, Coach, coach, coach. And he's like, well, what business do you have? And I was like, I don't. And he sent me a picture of your book, and I was like, well, so then I got the book, started reading it, and blew my mind. Like, blew my mind. So now you told me, like, hook me Whoa. Done. That's it.

Good.

So then I had all these crazy ideas, starting, right, by the way, I have stitches on my head, if you didn't notice.

I thought it was a tattoo, so I was.

Yeah, that would be cool.

That's valuable.

Yeah.

Badass. I ran into some angle iron yesterday at work at the firehouse. So I broke my hand. Check this out. I'll get moving on the question. So I don't waste your time, but I break my hand. I'm out for eight weeks. I go back for three days, and then I run into the garage door, and now I'm out for another week. But, hey, I'm working on some stuff, so maybe it's working out okay.

Awesome. That's great. Well, how can we help?

Okay, so I started. I listened to the six months to a million. Right?

Yeah.

That you had on that you have on the website, and it talks about building the Facebook.

Side of things. So I kind of went all in on that. I made some ads, spent some money. So I went from zero likes to 15,000 in, like, three weeks.

Okay, good.

Okay. I wasn't sure how good that is based on. I don't know. I think I spent, like, 1200 bucks getting likes overseas for 2 cents and then US and Canada for 8 to 13 cents.

Good.

That's great.

Is that good?

That's great.

All right.

So I'm. I went from going to build a business to building an audience to now, like, I'm finding the people that are kind of connecting. I'm starting to, like, fall in love with these people.

Good man.

And the difference now is I wanted to start a business, and now I'm, like, waking up in the middle of night, like, how can I help these people? I. My business started as, like, a supplement company for skateboarders. Sound like a crazy cockamamie idea for me in the beginning, but the people are coming out of the woodworks. Like, there's people that are my age, 30, 40, 50, that want to still skate. There's, like, there's thousands of them out there.

Yes, there are.

So I'm realizing niching is like, that this small.

There's.

Wow.

Facebook's amazing. So, anyway, I figured I'd run that by you right now since we're starting the incubator soon. Make sure I'm on the right track, doing what I can to prepare for your genius.

Well, thank you for the kind words. So this is a perfect start. The next logical question is, what do those people want to buy? Or what challenges are they running into? That you could overcome with a product or service. And if. And how, like, how responsive is that audience right now?

They're very passionate.

Yeah.

I would say I get four to five.

No, probably 15 to 20 comments a day on my ads. Maybe like five to 10 of those are questions like, hey, help me. I'm 35 years old, still ride a skateboard, and I've got knee pain or my hips hurt or whatever. So they're just asking for help me. And I'm like, ok. So I'm really into mobility, strength and I've got my modalities down to like mindset, strength training, mobility, fat loss. Because I believe that if you're going to be a skateboarder, you should cut down as much weight as possible to be as light as possible, your knees and your hips, but still be strong, muscular, explosive, you know. So a lot of my stuff, and I think I'm coming to. You can tell my head's going to explode with all my ideas. But I want to share information as well. And I feel like I'm in a position where I can. While I'm waiting for my products, I have a pre. I'm getting samples, waiting for samples for a formulation of a. I call it Roll Fast Burn is the name of the product. And it's a magic session formula similar to a pre workout but for skateboarders.

Nice.

So that is the first product I'm working on.

Okay. So I want you to consider a couple more. I want you to consider some pain relief products, joint supplements.

Yes.

Creams.

Okay.

And like, things like mobility bands. Okay. And your content.

Is.

It's really like amazing things that people do when they're over 40. 40, which is a combination of 30.

And 40 and 40.

35. That's right. So if they're over 30.

And you're showing tricks and things that they're doing while they're skateboarding and like over and over, you're just reaffirming. See? Yeah. You can still do it.

Yes.

Because the biggest fear that your customer has is losing the hope that they're going to be able to enjoy this again.

My knee hurts and now I am scared I'm not going to be able to enjoy the thing I've enjoyed my entire life.

That's it. That's what I was looking for. That is the. That's it.

And so most people would be. Would say like knee pads and protective gear and there's a need for that, whatever. But the biggest pain point is the fear that they'll have to stop.

Yes. And so if you can show example after example after example of people are doing it over 40.

And then your job is to say, your knee hurts by this. If your joints hurt by this. If you can't get out of bed in the morning without pain, you're probably tight by this.

Yeah, yeah.

And that, like, that's your play.

And like, go ahead.

Sorry. Yeah, so. So. So what I would probably do.

Yes.

Is convert some of these commenters into a Facebook group. Take, like, put a thousand of your most active people into the group and just love on them. Like, when you're up in the middle of the night, pull out your phone, be like, guys, I can't sleep because I'm sitting here thinking about this message that I got from so and so. I just want your feedback. How can I best help you do this? Good night. And wake up to a thousand comments.

Yes.

If you do that and then you start to develop the first product, you'll sell out your first launch, have a few hundred reviews out of the gate, have that 25 sales a day, repeat it four times, you've got a million dollar business.

Rad.

Which means I can help more people.

Yes. Like me. You can, dude. Thank you. I like your style, Kyle.

Like your style.

Style, Kyle.

I'm looking forward to working with you, dude.

We're gonna have a good time.

We are. Cool, dude. Well, I'll be in touch.

All right.

Good to meet you.

Thanks, Ryan.

All right.

Thank you. That was fun. That's fun. Isn't this game so much fun when you enjoy it?

This is.

This is what, like, so here's. Here's the beauty. This is such a great teaching point to end on. That was so easy because Kyle actually likes it.

And so often we think we have to have the formula or do it the right way. But the only reason that the formulas and the right ways exist is to make what is natural and easy applicable. And so Kyle has all this momentum with a market that he enjoys serving. And so we work in a few of the tweaks, a few of the systems, and it can pop real quick. But if there was no genuine desire to serve that person with a clear pain point, you could have all the systems in the world and they wouldn't mean diddly squat. They wouldn't be applicable. You wouldn't be able to use them, and you wouldn't want to use them anyway. But when there's obvious desire to want to move in a specific direction, then the systems and the processes and the ideas are very easy to apply, to be able to allocate that energy in a way that is really fun. You know, I'm. We're. What do you think, Inez? Are we four weeks from launching Switch? It feels like it's been four weeks for a while, but this flavor has been a tough nut to crack.

But a little more, because once we nail it, then it's four weeks.

Weeks.

Okay. And we're genuinely pumped about it. And it's gonna be easy for me to share. It's gonna be easy for us to talk about. And so applying a few simple frameworks just allows us to tap in customers really, really quickly. But if we didn't love the product, if we didn't love what we were doing, if we weren't enjoying the process, then we would just be building systems and processes for something that wasn't good and we didn't like. Have a great day, guys. Good to see you. Take care.

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