Should I Pursue Revenue or Excitement?

Hey, Team Ryan here. Welcome to capitalism.com today I'm going to be joined by Dane, who is a member of the 1%, and he's struggling with the balance between pursuing revenue versus pursuing something that's really exciting for him. And he's built a couple of businesses with some success, but since he wasn't all that jazzed about them, he wasn't able to pull them through hard times. And so he's looking for that thing that really excites him enough to be able to run for the next several years, maybe even for the rest of his career. So I allow members of the 1% to book personal time with me to help them overcome these types of challenges. And then we record them and share them with you. And this is one of those. If you're struggling with how do I find that business that I can really sink my teeth into and grow for the next five, ten years? This is going to show you how to find it and see that you might be sitting right on top of it. Enjoy.

All right, Dane, welcome to capitalism.com how are you doing?

Thank you, Ron. I'm really good. I'm really happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

Yeah, you bet. Well, why don't. I mean, this time is for you, so why don't you tell me a bit about your business and how it can help?

Yeah, well, I've got some brands that I'm currently selling on and off Amazon at the moment. So I've got some children's products that I sell on Amazon.

And they got off to a fairly good start, but they've faded away now, so I'm looking to back off out of those. And I have a face mask brand as well. It's a fashionable face mask with a nanofibre filter inside the mask. It's a really good quality product and it's an interesting time to be selling that product now, but also a challenging time because a lot of people, well, one, it's difficult to get to the people I can't sell on Amazon and it's difficult to sell on Facebook. So I'm having some challenges with that. But more for me, I'm looking forward towards my next brand, which is one that I want to be more passionate about. And so when I first contacted you about this interview, it was really about planning for my future and being involved in a brand that I am passionate about. Because all those three brands that I mentioned previously with children's products and their face masks, they aren't something that I'm passionate in, but I Got involved in them, you know, more about the business side of things and making money. And I read one of your emails and it spoke about, you know, how do we balance those things out. Do we focus on something that's. That we're passionate about or do we focus on something that's more about the money? So are we chasing the revenue or are we chasing something that's what we're passionate about?

So let me stop you right there, Dane, because you kind of. You glanced over something really quickly and that was. You're like, yeah, I have these two brands and now I want to back away from them. And then there's this Facebook mask, There's this Facebook mask, this face mask that I want to back away from. But you really sped through those first two brands. So first of all, I need you to tell me how well they're doing financially, and I need you to tell me why you're walking away from them or why you're backing away from them.

Yes, My two children's brands, they.

One of them is a children's floating bookshelf, and I was able to launch that about maybe three years ago now and sell it at a higher price point and do relatively well off the back of that. But there's now just so much competition that's been overcoming from China particularly, that can offer the same product for a hell of a lot cheaper.

It's not something I compete on brand with.

So hold on, that's a thought. Have your sales been impacted?

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Okay. So there has been a reduction in revenue on those brands, is that correct?

Yeah, completely. Year on year, you know, it's backing up by 50%. 50% to the point now that it's really not worthwhile in the investors.

Okay, got it. So those children's brands performed for a while and they were cash flow positive and they did okay. And now you can't compete as well. And so you're. You moved on to the face masks and that has. That has its positives and its negatives. So just so you know, I'm noticing a theme here of, of you going after markets that you perceive to be competitive, getting, like, going in when they're hot, but then not being energized about them enough to build a business around it once the cash flow kind of dries up. And so what I'm hearing you say is now you're looking for the thing that is energizing enough for you to keep going regardless of what your competitors do. Is that where this is going?

Yeah, that's Right.

Okay, great. So how can I help you make that transition?

So the transition for me now is to be involved in something, like you say, that I can be passionate about and to really dig in when the times get tough and to compete based on the brand rather than just the finances and making money off the back of a product, but actually to build a brand. And so now I find myself at a crossroad where my background was in health and fitness previous to being involved in E commerce. And so I was a coach, particularly in weight loss. I've got degrees in nutrition, a degree in exercise, prescription qualifications, and nlp. So helping people change their behavior. So I was coaching people, you know, with their. With behavior change over a period of about 14 years. And so I've got a big experience and background in that area. And it's still something that's always in the back of my mind, you know, health and fitness and how I can help people. And so to get back involved in that area now, I'd like to be able to do it with a product.

A product and maybe building content and being able to build an audience with content and then sell a product off the back of that. And so that's where at the junction I'm at now, you know, thinking, well, a product, do I choose a food product, do I choose a fitness product, do I choose to sell information or can I combine them? And I don't want to. I don't want to spread my. My effort too far, I guess, to think about what I would like to do.

So it sounds like you've narrowed in on the market that you want to go into. Behavior change and health and fitness and your background. So you know the market that you want to go into, correct?

Yeah.

Okay, so tell me the person that you really like to help.

The person I really want to help. You know, I found I was most passionate about helping previously when I was a weight loss coach was entrepreneurs. I loved hearing their story. And often in our consultation, I'd be more interested in hearing about their business story than their, you know, than their weight loss or their health. I really, really interested in about what they were doing and how they were doing it. And I wanted to help them. I would learn from them about their business side of things, which was a trigger to me that, you know, to know, to change industries again, but also to them in terms of their performance so that they can achieve it in their business.

And they don't have to sacrifice their health and wellbeing to do so.

Great. I mean, that's a super clear avatar. And what's the change that you want to help them make in their lives?

One, not to sacrifice their health and wellness for the business, but I don't think you we can have both. We shouldn't have to sacrifice.

Our health and our wellness to build a business. We should be able to do both at the same time and we should be able to feel proud of our physical body. If you were to stand on stage and when people see you, they see your business and if you've got a big fat gut in front of you while you're presenting, then you don't have complete control over everything. You know, you've got some avenues in your, in your lifestyle that are out of control. So.

For me, yeah, it's about helping people to improve their performance and their appearance so they can be successful in their business.

And do you want to create content or do you want to sell products or both?

I've got a lot of content in my mind. It's always been there and.

I just, I've always felt like I need to get, I need to get this out of my head to share it with other people. So I think that's a positive thing. You know, I remember being in Cuba last, last year, I think it was. We were traveling and the whole time I'm there I was thinking, shit, you know, I can see someone doing something or I choose to do something. I think I could tell people, you know, while they're traveling to do this or to choose this, and this is why I do this, or look at this person why they're choosing this, you know, to eat this type of food and this is the result. So I feel like I got this information that I want to give out, so I'd be happy to use that to build content. But I've sort of always been a little bit cautious about getting back into being a coach again because that wasn't completely right for me either.

So I am 90% sure what I'm going to recommend for you because your brand feels real obvious to me. So I'm pretty sure I can go there. But before we go there, I want to ask, and forgive me if I'm asking too personal the question, but with the two brands that have paid for your life that did profitably, are you more in the mode of I need to make enough money to be full time again, or are you more in the mode of I want to build the business that I want to grow and sink my teeth into for the next five years? Which one? Which one? Gets most of your focus right now.

Brian, just say that again please. Just so I completely understand the question.

Yeah. So with where you are right now, you just had a couple businesses that have, have shrunk a bit. Right. And that sucks. So are you more in the mode of wanting to replace that income? Meaning are you more in money making mode or are you more in the motive? I want to build the business that I can sink my teeth into and grow for the next five, six, seven years.

Yeah. The second one is the treasure. I want to build a business. And.

So Dane, for me this is very obviously.

A food and or supplement brand.

And you could also throw in some products that are travel or at home workout products. So here's how I travel on the road, I pack this food bar, I pack these supplements, I bring this weight training equipment with me and in any hotel gym I can get a good workout. In doing these things.

I'm thinking about like what would I throw in my bag when I'm traveling for a business meeting? What supplement do I pack? What food do I bring as a snack? It's like my food and supplement emergency pack. And what do I wish I could bring with me so that I could put it in the hotel gym and still have a complete workout.

So to me that's a very complete, awesome brand and it sets you free to go make content without you being a coach.

Okay.

You're speaking straight to the hard charging traveling entrepreneur.

And you get to speak straight to them and your products take care of the financial engine of it all. To me, that's what stands out to me is the brand that you're describing. How does something like that feel for you?

Yeah, yeah, that's something that I'm interested in.

Keep going. I feel like there's a but I'm.

Interested but you know, that's something that I've been considering. You know, be able to build a brand and use my information to provide the content and then, you know, have products that I can sell off the back of that. Yeah. If there's a but then it would be that.

That would be that I feel that.

I feel that perhaps I'm. I know this is the wrong thing to say, that this is what's on my mind, that I'm not perfect enough to be able to lead people in that direction because I don't have a six pack. I'm not a muscle bounce guy and I don't have a million dollar business and I would be encouraging people who already do and who want to have that physique and this is what I see them following. You know, they see, I see them following people who have been able to achieve already physically and financially and they want that. And so I guess I'm a little bit anxious that if I'm not, if I'm not there.

In why they follow me.

Okay, so I have so many thoughts here. But so first of all, Dane, are you a father?

Yes.

Okay, how many kids times three. Okay. How old are your kids?

Five and a half. Three and a half.

And eight and a half. Okay, cool. So you've been in the thick of it now. Let me, let me ask you this. Do you care as much about having a six pack today as before you had kids?

I'm going to say, I'm going to say yes. I still want to be as fit and healthy as I was when I was younger.

You want to be fit and healthy but like do you care if you have 8% body fat or do you care more that you're healthy and fit?

No, I still care on.

You do care about, you care about the abs?

Yeah.

Well, there goes my theory.

Where I was going with this is like you look at Elon Musk. Is Elon Musk fit? No.

Right.

I mean he's not, he's not.

He'S chubby. Right. He's like.

He could lose, he could lose £50 and, and, and still have like, and still be healthy, right?

Yeah.

So the, the majority of hard charging entrepreneurs are look more like Elon Musk than they look like they have six pack abs. Like more people look like Elon Musk than look like Aubrey Marcus. There's a, there's a decent example. And so does Elon Musk care about having a six pack? No. Because then he would have it. Yeah, he can, he can afford really good health.

Yeah.

Now also the other comparison that's coming to mind is Dave Asprey when he started Bulletproof did not have a six pack, did not have 8% body fat. He said publicly I feel my best around 20% body fat.

Okay.

Right now he has slimmed down. He looks phenomenal. But for years he was the bulletproof executive. He was about high performance, he was about mental clarity, he was about maximizing all areas of life and he didn't care if he had a six pack. So if you are targeting entrepreneurs, you are probably targeting more Dave Asprey's of the world or more Elon Musk's who want to look like Dave Asprey than you are targeting people who want six pack abs and the million Dollar business and the model wife and the four hour and the travel to work. Right. That's a much smaller group of people. Yeah.

So, so where I'm going with this is.

Look, ask any 45 year old entrepreneur what they think of trainers with six packs and they'll say not relatable for me. You see where I'm going with this, Dane?

Yeah, I see where you're going. And yeah, I mean to be honest, I'm not willing to invest the time, effort and energy that it would require to get a six pack because the.

Say that, here's the say exactly that Dane. Like this is your content, right? Your content is like I'm an entrepreneur and I do not have the time or energy to, to care about having a six pack because I'm gonna have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with my 5 1/2 year old. I'm just gonna do it. That matters more to me than the striations around my abs.

Right.

Like, and every entrepreneur who is, can relate to that because they have kids is gonna go thank God, me too.

Yeah.

So people who are listening to audio can't see you but you're smiling pretty big.

How are you feeling right now?

Yeah, it's a validation for me because I feel like that, you know, I feel like if you, if we want our body to be, you know, so perfect then there's some sacrifices that are involved to do that. And what would I sacrifice? I would have to sacrifice. Yeah. The time with my children, some experiences with my children or other people that I don't get to share some of those foods or drinks that I would otherwise. And I'd have to sacrifice the time that I better invested in my business.

You know, rather than going to the gym, you know, two hours every day. Right. So yeah, I feel that, it's just that I was concerned that other people, you know, they want a poster to follow and I may not be that poster but like you say, it's really about narrowing the audience to.

That's exactly right. Your market is not the person who has 12% body fat and wants to get to 8. That is not your market. Your market is a 45 year old with 30% body fat who wants to be taken seriously in a business meeting.

And in the business meeting having 18 to 20% body fat, you're the fittest guy in the room.

Okay.

And so your message to them is things like how do you work? How do you work having a beer with the client.

Into your health and fitness routine. What's the one supplement you need to travel with and then you go develop that. Like if I were you, my, I think my first product would be a high end nutritional shake.

Like a high end powder or a high end.

Like already done nutritional shake.

With greens and protein and probiotics and anti inflammatories that taste great.

Like look, I know you don't have time to dial in your macros. If you know what macros are. I know you don't have time to work out two hours a day. The only thing I want you to do is wake up in the morning and do this 20 minute workout routine and drink this for breakfast.

All right, Got it. Thanks, Brian.

How do you feel right now? Process out loud.

I feel I get your idea about having a nutritional shape like that. It's a really competitive market. Jesus.

So you love to compare yourself to others, right? If you stop comparing yourself to others and you just worry about serving your ideal client, you're good.

No one can serve your ideal client as well as you can. There's no competition for you to serve that person. I'm thinking of a person in mind. His name is Mike. Mike is 56, 57, retired executive.

Still is like investing and doing some things on the side, but mostly retired, multimillionaire, fairly out of shape, wants to get in better shape, but doesn't care that much.

He would very gladly pay a premium.

For someone that he really believed in. And he's not going out and shopping all of the comparisons.

This is not a volume business what you are talking about. This is a high margin.

Very specific business.

Okay. And if it's a low volume, high margin product, is that suitable for sale on Amazon?

Of course, of course you can sell it on Amazon. It's just not an Amazon business. You're just not, you're just not ranking for keywords. And like your play is not ranking for keywords, your play is having a very specific. Actually this would be a good play. A good play would be when you make content.

And someone buys this nutritional shake for $199 a month.

And they get access to the Facebook group where you participate and go live with them once a month.

Okay.

And now you're giving them specific help. They're in an accountability group and they're getting auto shipped their product when they subscribe and save on Amazon.

Yeah, that's it.

That's what I mean by you can take your sales on Amazon but it's not an Amazon business. They're joining for more than the product. They're really joining for you and the advice that you've given them in the journey that they are going on and having you in their corner cheering them on.

Okay. And the outcome for them is weight loss performance in a timely manner.

Yeah, it's, it's efficient.

I got to dumb this down in my brain. It's, it's brain and body optimization without thinking about it.

It's mindless optimization. Oh, that's a good name.

Mindless optimization.

Okay.

You only need, I mean like at that price point, you only need a few hundred people to have an extremely lucrative business.

Few hundred? You're talking about like 500, 600.

I mean 500 people is a hundred. It's a million dollar business.

Right.

And if you do your targeting really well, that won't, that won't take that long. But you have to go all in on that person.

You can't be dancing around going after the 28 year old want to be executive. So your goal in my mind is to go after that ideal person and get a few hundred of them paying you a few hundred bucks a month for your, you know, your line of products that are auto shipped to them.

And you have an extremely lucrative business.

Okay. And that person, you are thinking someone who is already, who's, who is already achieving in business, they are older and their body has been sacrificed for that success rather than someone who's more at the beginning of their journey.

Yes, that's right. So there's this quote that's attributed to the Dalai Lama. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the Dalai Lama, but it's attributed to him which is that man sacrifices his health to make money and later in life sacrifices his money to get his health back. Yeah, right, like that, that's, that's your tagline. Like your, your job is to help those people make that transition easier and faster before it's too late.

That, like that, that your market is the guy who sacrificed his health to get money. Your job is to now help them get their health back. And that's going to take. And it doesn't won't cost them time, but it will cost them money.

I love that positioning.

And what they are buying would start off as a shake.

Or some other products, could be bars and then that by buying that product it gives them access to this Facebook group where they get some, some advice and help along the way.

I mean I, that is, that was my idea and like just after half an hour of talking with you, but I really like that idea. That would, that would be probably how I would do it.

Yeah.

And if that sparks additional ideas for you, go for it. But that would be a really simple business for you to build. You could. You could launch that in 60 days.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. And in terms of the products, you think that something like a nutritional powder would be the first one to start with and then see how the market responds from there. In terms of what could come next?

I'm not sure. I mean, you'll have to decide what you think is the best first step for your client, your customer to make. And over time, you're just going to have different access levels of somebody paying $100 a month, $200 a month, or $300 a month for supplements, food, and, you know, whatever else you throw in there. But I think this, I would position this as a continuity business where you've got a handful of people, a few hundred people that you're all in on, and you're helping them achieve the life and body and brain that they wanted when they were 30. They're just a couple decades late. Got it?

Yeah.

All right, Dane, I've got a wrap with you. But what I want you to do is I want you to post a summary of this inside the Facebook group so we can hold you accountable of this and then hop on one of the lives that we do inside the 1% over the next couple weeks and just tell me how things are going.

Okay. Thanks, Ron. Appreciate that. You bet.

It's great to see you.

Thank you, Ron. You too. Cheers.

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