YouTube Channel: @RyanDanielMoran

Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the show. I have a very special clip for you today that I want to share with you because so often we feel like we're behind as entrepreneurs. And we addressed this on a recent coaching call with one of our members named Don. And Don is 68 years old, and he's starting a new business. And Don has had challenges and failures in the past, but he's still ready to start something new. I was so proud of this guy, but for bravely coming in front of the group and asking for help and getting clarity around his mindset and letting go of this gunk from his past so that he has a clear road to success moving forward. I know so many of you who are 28, 35, 50, and you're wondering if your best days are behind you. This comes up in my brain too. We all drag around a big bag of failure. We all have a record of all of the mistakes that that we've made in the past. None of us are different. None of us are unique to that challenge. And so when Don bravely came to the front of the group at 68 years old and said, I'm ready to let go of these failures in the past so that I've got a clear path to victory ahead, that made me really proud and excited. And I asked Don if it was okay if we shared this clip to help other entrepreneurs overcome this thought in our brain that maybe we're too late. You are not too late. We are still at the very beginning of a bunch of new industries that are converging, and we happen to live during that time when there's more abundance than ever possible. This clip was recorded inside of the 1%, which is our mentoring group for entrepreneurs building million dollar businesses. Only 1% of people ever become millionaires, and the 1% is where we help entrepreneurs become one of them. If you want to join us, hop inside the group@capitalism.com.

What?

Hey, guys.

What's up, Don?

You know, I have a product, and it's a chocolate product, and I have been working on this. I actually launched this a few years ago and had a lot of success. Actually got into over 100 HEB stores in the Austin area. And we were cranking, but we totally ran out of money, made some terrible decisions. I had two business partners and. And had to. Had to close it and fulfill any more orders.

Justice. I sense a breakthrough coming through in this.

No kidding.

I'm so pumped for what I know.

When I discovered you, Ryan, and I read your book and I woke up literally at 3 in the morning about two months ago. And I, and I, I was done with chocolate. I was like, no way I'm ever going to go back into a food business. I don't want to have anything to do with it. We were even making it ourselves in a factory that we built.

So, no, I say that every Christmas. I'm done with chocolate. I'm done with chocolate, man.

Well, anyway, I thought, I can, I can do this, I can, I can build, I can do this. If I do it the right way, I can relaunch this product. And.

Yes, you can.

So right now I'm really, I'm, I'm short on funds. You know, I've got a little bit saved up, but I'm at the point now that I'm, I've got my corporation set up, my, My brand is ready to go. I've rebranded from the old product.

Don, you obviously, like, you know this world.

Yes, you need a manufacturing co packer, but you already know that world. So, like, we don't. Unless you want to. We don't need to spend a whole lot of time solving that. What I really want to know is, why are you pumped this time? What do you get this time that you didn't get before?

Because I can see the path. I can see the path to where I want to get to. I couldn't see it before. And I have, I feel like I have support from you and in this community, I feel like I actually have a place I can go to get some answers. And I didn't have that before. So I'm trying, struggling with whether to go with a Kickstarter to raise funds or just dive right into, you know, build an audience and go right into Amazon.

You know, it's not hard to sell chocolate. And I'll tell you, when people taste this, they just kind of, you know, I get this deer in the headlights, oh, my God, look in their face. So I, I just got to get this into people's mouths.

I, I can, I can see the path, but I'm still. I'm just like, scared to death, I guess.

Are you scared to death because it failed in the past?

Yes.

Are you scared to death because it's new?

I'm scared to death because it failed in the past and I don't want to screw it up again.

I get it. Just so, Just so you know, I get it. I've been there and most of us have. And most entrepreneurs who have tried anything have that little reference. What about that one time it failed?

Yeah.

So, like, you're in good company. And that voice comes up for all of us, even me. And I have, I have a friend who has had three eight figure exits, one nine figure exit, ridiculously successful. He still has the voice, he still has that like. But what about that one project I did that failed, right? It's like we've all got it, We've all got it. I, I'd like for you to consider that this is a new business. This is not you resurrecting the old business. This is a brand new business. Now it can be the same old or a similar product, but I want you to give yourself the grace that this is totally a new business, completely new. And part of the reason of this is strategic because if you in your brain are like, this is, I'm resurrecting my old business, the first thing your brain will do is say, well, I guess I need to get into 100 agbs now. I guess I need to go retail for this. Maybe I need to call it something that sounds like my old brand. You'll try to go back in the past and carry it forward. And guess what else is in the past? All my doubts and failures and financial losses. And so that is just going to trip you up. And what I would like for you to just focus on is the new business forward. And the new business forward can be super lean, it can be super simple, it can be super profitable from day one. It can start simply and humbly and scale from there. And it doesn't even have to be a chocolate business. It can be, it can be a, whatever business you want that has one ganache product in it. Are you with me so far?

Right.

Is that a yes? When you say right?

Yes.

Okay, cool. So my next question for you is beyond just the ganache, what is the brand and who is it for?

Yeah, well, the, the, the brand is, is for moms who deserve some self indulgence after having a rough day with kids and everything else they're dealing with. That's my who.

I want to put you on something because if I can do one thing in this call, I'm gonna get you excited.

Okay?

Right. Because this is, I go a lot on my gut. Right. I'm about to do that thing I do where I cold read someone. And where you're at right now is you have a hell of a lot of desire stuffed down by a whole lot of doubt. And you are trying to out think, think that doubt so that your desire and your excitement can come up again.

Okay?

So like you are you are very subdued in your energy about this because you're trying not to relate back to the old failure. And now you're overthinking that with like this story about who the person is. That's my read on you. You can tell me if I'm wrong. There's something about the story of like stressed out, stressed out women who need an indulgent treat at the end of the day is just strikes. If that's really like your desire and you get enthused about it, go for it and I'll help you clean up the messaging on that. But that to me screams like stress eating. It just, it just, it screams like, like a chocolate and, and a pain point to me just feel weird in my brain. I, I, this is just me, like what I would do. You can take this or leave this. I would say, like, my person is people who love chocolate. Like, my, my person is like, dude, I am a chocolate brand and I do indulgent chocolate treats that have no compromises because I love chocolate. And this ganache will blow your socks off. Watch what happens when you dip it in a, you dip a strawberry in it and you freeze it and watch people freak out. And my next product is a chocolate sauce and a chocolate bar and a chocolate frosting and a chocolate and then I have a mix and it's, it's like, where's the excitement in this brand? That's what I, that's what I want to find right now. Because when you describe oh my ganache and people put it in their mouths and they freak out and then your person is the person who is stressed at the end of a long day and just need something to make them feel good. It's a very different energy.

Yeah.

And so I want you to find, like, if, if you're pumped about this business, then I want you to have a positive spin on the brand and the messaging. Not trying to solve a deep pain point.

You follow me?

Okay.

Yeah.

Like, let's try this again. Like, where, where does your excitement lead you for this brand?

Well, actually, I, I started out with, you know, anybody who likes dark chocolate who is health oriented, and I found this to be true. There, there are people who like dark chocolate and people who don't like dark chocolate, but if they, if they appreciate the, the health benefits from dark chocolate, they, they just love this. And I thought that's my, that's my who initially because anybody who likes dark chocolate and cares about their health. But I thought that was that, I thought that was too broad. That's why I, I, I honed in a little bit.

I love that. I like that way better.

Okay.

Because like what you're describing is more like Lily's chocolate.

Yeah.

You know, Lily's a huge brand.

Right?

They're huge. They're everywhere. And that's their person. Person is like, I really like chocolate and I'm trying to avoid sugar. It's the only chocolate bar I buy.

Right, Right.

And so if you can do something similar but be a real chocolate lovers brand. Oh, I'm so in.

That's okay. That I, that feels better to me, actually.

Good.

I thought I was, I was too. It was too broad and not, not specific enough.

But because, because your brand is like chocolate superfans. Sorry. Your person is like chocolate super fans.

Yes. Okay.

What do chocolate super fans love? Like, they put it on everything. They put it on toast, but they're not going to buy Nutella. Tell is what everybody else buys, so they buy mine instead. But mine and mine's healthier because it uses monk fruit instead of sugar or because it has all the flavonoids. Because we go and we source local cacao from. I don't know. You have your story there.

Exactly.

But if you can go in that direction, like.

Now we have a story that you could legitimately raise funding for.

Right.

But first what you have to do is, is go make that prototype. Spend a few hundred bucks getting a great prototype that you're pumped about, document it, and you have people ready to buy from you on launch day. Right. And I'll just future cast so we can solve this monkey in your brain of, of funding. Once you have that little launch list and you have people who are pumped about it now, it's easy to take that and go raise a hundred grand to, for the, for the next round and then go raise more money from there. And like the, the money will follow that excitement as you are in motion. Still with me.

You mean raise it through sales?

I mean, it could be sales or it could be through capital partners. Well, we'll address that later because that will be an easy problem to solve once you take the action steps we're talking about.

Right.

Don, there's, there's something in here where I see a lot of people go, this is who I, who could or would buy my product instead of here's who I want to provide my product for. And what Ryan just you were like, I think it's, this could be because they're tired, they're stressed, and they like a treat and they don't want the sugar so they could buy or would buy my product. What Ryan just did was like, who do you want to serve? Who, like, who's raving about it? And then he went, oh, yeah. And then his person was super clear. It was chocolate lovers. Like, it's just like they put it on everything. They're obsessed with it and they love that mine is sugar free or less sugar and all this other stuff. But he was like, this is who.

You want to serve.

This is who you would be obsessed with serving. And then the second thing is like.

Your quote unquote failure in the past is why I would probably want to invest in you because you've made the mess ups. Like, you've seen what didn't work, but you were successful and you saw some stuff. But then what scares me or concerns me is that you're not in vision mode, which is where the energy comes from. And so a lot of like finances and it follows a lot of energy. It's like this person is excited about the future. They know where they want to go. They want to do this thing. They can see it. And so they're casting a vision and then funding follows because they see that you're excited about it. Then you can say, and hey, I did this before. We are in HEB stores all over the Texas area. People were buying it. They were, they were excited. But here's the mistake I made. So this is why I'm focused on doing it this way.

Yes.

Like, I believe we already have someone that's similar to that in the fund. Now, I'm not going to share who it is or anything like that, but I, we part of why we were excited, why the fund was excited, was because they saw the mistakes they made and they, they pivoted and now they're seeing success. And so that, that gave us the confidence to pour finances into them.

Yeah, they were literally bankrupt. Yeah, they literally went bankrupt and used that as an opportunity to retool recenter recast division. And that got, that got us pumped.

I, I, I went bankrupt. I spent all of my retirement money. Yeah, that's, I mean, I flat ass busted.

Yep.

I get it.

The last five years, learning what I did wrong and, and doing just what I could to pay the bills with online skills, but it's been a tough time.

So here's, here's the good news, Don. Here's the good news. The reason why we have retirements and the reason why we think about getting to a place where we're financially set is so that we can focus on doing the things that excite us. And my job, as someone who you look up to in this area of life, this business, is to tell you and remind you that if you just do the thing that really excites you, the money will be there.

And if one thing happens from your time inside of the 1%, and that one thing is that you realize that you can build this business in a way that truly excites you, first of all, you'll have a wicked good time building this business. And second, it will far surpass the success of the previous business, and it will make up for all that past failure.

I'm trying to tap into the guy that got into all these H E B stores. I'm trying to tap into that guy, and he's there and wants to go again. He's. He's got a fear of the. Of failure.

Yeah.

And I'm going, I want to tap back into that guy. And that guy assumed things were going to work. So what would have to be true for you to be that guy?

I think just selling one jar of this stuff to somebody and. And look at their face. Just like I remember their faces five years ago when they taste it and they. And their eyes roll back in their head. That that's where I want to get to again.

Well, there's probably 600 members of the 1% who would be first in line to buy it. Okay, so that's done.

What's.

Take it to the moon.

I'm serious. I mean, I'm serious. I'm going to take this. I want to really rock this business and. And come out of this with a really nice retirement, and then I'm just going to go travel.

Good.

I'm 68 years old, and it's. I don't have a whole lot of. You know, I'm not 40, so I've got to. I've got to get this show on the road, so.

Well, here's the thing. Well, Don, you look like you're in good health. It seems like you have a lot of energy.

I give you permission to freak out at 75.

At 75. If this isn't working, you can go back to me like, I'm freaking out about my chocolate business because this is the plan I see in my brain. If Don gets pumped about the first product, there's people here who will buy it. Okay, I'll buy it. We'll all buy it.

Yeah.

Okay, great. He, like, he sells 500 units. Don's a little bit more excited now. Okay, List it On Amazon, everybody reviews it. This word starting to spread. He's getting 25 sales a day. Okay, we're on pace here. Next, Don goes and launches a second product. So now we got product. Two past customers come back and they're buying products. Number two, that one's getting to 25 sales a day. We now have some momentum here. You see where this is going.

Right.

Right. When we can focus on just stoking that fire, then it's really easy to go out and raise capital or to pre launch the next product. And it's all going to start with Don just getting excited again.

Yep.

And when that happens.

Like, everybody who's watching is like, I want chocolate. Especially if he's making it healthier than other chocolate. Like, boom. And every, like once a month, twice a month, you're getting, you're checking in with this group and people are giving you pointers. Doors are starting to open. Like, and it can happen really fast.

Okay.

You believe me about a four out of ten right now. It's okay. Jake didn't do at one point.

No, I, I'm, I'm completely on board. I'm, I'm just, I'm still in that nervous state.

Yeah.

No, I just am.

So when you're in that stage, best thing for you to do is bring it way down to the next micro.

Yes.

Like, I mean, way down to like, all right, what is right in front of me. I need to go dig up my old recipe.

Yeah.

I need to go call my old manufacturer and find out what the minimum order quantity is. I need to go look at what other companies have been valued at that were in my space. Like, I mean, come down to right here.

Right.

Is where stress happens. Me too. Is when, see, the vision's like, I don't know how that's going to happen.

Right.

And the brain is a gap now that it needs to freak out about rather than being like.

Right, right here.

I, I wanted to come over there and like shake you. And, and, and the reason why I wanted to shake you was I, I want you to just give this brand a shot by believing that jar. Because there was like, when I asked you who you had to be, you said, I, like, I'd have to be that guy that got excited about seeing this. So I just need to sell one jar of this chocolate. And once you said that, you go, I'm gonna take this. And I, I think you almost said mother effer, but I don't want to put words in your mouth. And you said, I want to take this, and you stopped, and then you go to the moon. And I was like, there he is. There he is.

Yeah.

And that person will give this brand a shot. But the guy that goes, but this, but this. But this is killing his brand. Like, you're just. You're just killing it because you're coming up with all of these barriers that your brand has to do and that you have to be in order for this thing to make it. And what me and Ryan are doing on this call is going, don, just sell one jar, take it, and you'll take it to the moon, because you'll see it, you'll have momentum. So just like, you've got to let this past failure thing die and do whatever you got to do to kill it and put it in its grave and kill the mother effort. Like, I'm. I'm dead serious. Like, I'm like, kill that thing or your brand's going to die. If you want this brand to work, if you want people's eyes rolling back in their head because they're tasting this thing, if you want to provide value for chocolate lovers, kill this person.

And how do you. How do you let that go? Justice.

You just say, hey, thanks for what you taught me and what I learned. And now I'm here. So you appreciate it. You say, thank you for that lesson. And you go, now I'm building this next thing. You focus on the vision of the next thing.

That's right.

And you go, what's the fastest way to get over a breakup, Jake?

Go explore.

Get. Get a new person a new one. Yeah. Get a new one.

Yeah.

What's the way that you get over a past business? You get a new one.

It's time. It is time.

Thank you. That you're right. You're absolutely right. I overanalyze everything. I always have. That's my. That's one of my downfalls. I.

We over analyze things when we're afraid too much. Yeah.

Yeah.

We overanalyze things when we're afraid. Good work, Don. We're really. I'm so excited for you.

Thank you.

Sam.