#236 How He Built a Global Snack Brand With Protein Popcorn

I love health and wellness more than anything. Being able to be part of someone's journey where they actually get to change how they physically look and how that makes them feel, I just find to be a completely honorable trait. So we started goofing around and the one thing that our kids uniformly would eat was popcorn. I'm like, we should find a way to make a protein popcorn, like a caramel corn. And we invented the caramel corn.

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That was an amazing, insightful experience with our guest. We have another one today. If you are thinking about being healthy, wanting to understand what opportunities you might have in that way as an entrepreneur who spends time doing things and moving and shaking and maybe traveling and other things, which always doesn't, you know, lead us up to the best health and wellness. I used to travel for a living and found it very difficult to eat the right foods and stay on track. While traveling. So I brought Tim in today. Hey Tim.

How's it going?

Good. Brought him in here to talk about some of these things since he's an expert in this, even has a product and brand line to support it. Thought he might talk about his story and his entrepreneurial journey. I'm talking about you in the third person, but I'll switch over to the first person here in a second. Who is, uh, the brother, uh, from another Midwestern mother, uh, as he hangs out in Nebraska, which we love our northerly Nebraska cousins up there. And, uh, has just had a whole amazing journey and experience in his life. I was hoping to share with you guys today so that those of you who are listening might get something out of it today. some value, some insights, some motivation, and maybe some direction that you can take away from this call today. So Tim, why don't you lay into us, man? What is it that you want to tell us to know about right out of the gate?

Serial entrepreneur to the truest form and description of the word. I love starting new things. I like seeing a break in the process and seeing a place where something different can, can happen. And that's me. I love health and wellness more than anything. Just, it's, we own a lot of businesses, but Being able to be part of someone's journey where they actually get to change how they physically look and how that makes them feel, I just find to be a completely honorable trait and something I'm proud of and my family's proud of.

Well, tell us a little bit more about your journey and what you've led up to today in terms of what you're doing.

Sure. Well, I came out of college, I worked at General Nutrition Center. I loved it. Just couldn't, you know, business college doesn't really prepare you for figuring out how to do alternative financing measures.

And college doesn't prepare you. What?

What?

No, I know it's crazy, right? I really went, I always explain to my kids, why'd you go to college? And I go, I went to college to play football. to meet girls. That was pretty much what college was, you know, I'm keeping it real. And, uh, I loved the nutrition business. I turned into quite a job while I was in college and got my shot at the NFL and it didn't materialize. I got hurt and then, you know how it was, started having kids and you gotta make money. And I got to work in the industrial chemical field with the government, uh, on pandemic outbreaks, actually. Thank God it wasn't during COVID Right. Um, you know, and, uh, realized how much I don't like politicians and, uh, how much really mattered what you were selling, that to be passionate about it. Money will only take you so far. Passion will take you that extra distance. And I was 29, just young enough and dumb enough to go for broke again. And, uh, literally went broke, uh, and gave up a really good paying job to start my first retail store in Omaha, Nebraska in 2010.

Okay.

Called Rex Nutrition. And, uh, and just, I just saw a glitch in the process. You know, it was very over-corporatized. I thought that, you know, the, the small mom-and-pop shop, the handshake, the, You know, fixing problems mentality would be better than just gross sales. And so that was kind of the caveat why I started it was to help people fix problems.

Yeah.

I always figured out if you fix somebody's problem, you get loyalty that advertising can never buy. And, you know, it led to a second store and a third store and we started franchising. And then at our height, we had, uh, 34 locations in 9 states. Ended up selling off most of the locations to my staff and turned 'em all into franchises. Um, and that kind of transitioned in around 2017. We, uh, started our first, uh, fitness center gym called Iron Heaven Gyms. Mostly because I got kicked out of the Globo Gym here. They said I was intimidating other guests and I was in really good shape. I was competing in bodybuilding shows all over the country, but I talk more than I lift. I am a salesman, so I'm definitely not intimidating, but they wanted to sell supplements at this gym chain. And I was, I'm a threat to that because everybody likes me. So all they did was spur me to start my own gym with a business partner. And now we have 3 massively growing facilities. The one I'm in right now is my office is in one of the gyms. It's 30,000, 33,000 square feet of Nothing but weights and protein shakes. And it's fun. And the one that, you know, we started our nutraceutical brand. My background is biomechanical engineering. So I like to invent supplements that fix problems.

Right on.

Led to my wife and I joking one night, you know, we need to find a snack that my younger kids and my parents would actually eat. They won't eat the bars. They won't drink the shakes. They're not in that 5% demographic that finds a protein bar to be delicious. I love those.

5%.

I think more like 3, but okay. 5.

I'll give you 5. Yeah. So you call it 5% of people who consider like health and wellness and training to be like their obsession. Like that's their life. It's always been me. I've always been that guy, but right. Brothers aren't, my parents aren't, pretty much everyone I hang out with isn't. So, um, we started goofing around and the one thing that our kids uniformly would eat was popcorn. And the one thing that uniformly my parents would always eat, whether you're at the fair, you're at the movies, whatever, they'll eat popcorn. And so I'm like, we should find a way to make a protein popcorn, like a caramel corn. 'Cause most of the candy-coated popcorns, I mean, they taste good, but they're filled with lots of nastiness, high fructose corn syrup. You know, they're not using, you know, they're using genetically modified popcorn. It's not gluten-free popcorn, whatever it might be. 2017 into 2018, 600, over 600 batches. And I'm not kidding you, one really bad batch that she forgot to take the seeds out of that I cracked a tooth. So the joke is I've bled for this company. And we finally—

Piers.

Yeah, plug you for real. And we invented the caramel corn. And then I knew everybody's got a family and you've always, if you're into health and wellness and you have family that aren't there, you know, you're the black sheep. You're the witch doctor that's selling snake oil, whatever it might be. So I knew the only way to get an honest response was to put it out at Christmas at our house with my brothers who are doctors and not tell anybody and just put it in a bowl. And it was like, this caramel corn is really good. I'm like, yeah. And then my older brother knows me. He starts, he goes, why are you smiling? I know, it's just good. He goes, oh my God, this is healthy, isn't it?

What am I eating?

I guess it is, but you didn't know, you know? And so we launched at that time Optimal Performance Popcorn, and I made it for athletes. I'm— back then I was just thinking of the science. How much protein can I cram? How big of a bag can I make? Because you gotta think offseason and bodybuilding, I'm 300 pounds. I'm not a little guy. So, you know, I'm like, I fit 91 grams of protein in a bag at the time, which in hindsight was a really, really foolish idea, but And to my daughters, you know, and if you've got the joy of having daughters, I have 3 of them. It's like, they'll try to eat anything that's not mine. So they're like, they're bringing home gigantic bags of Smart Pop white cheddar, I think just to bust my chops. So I spent 6 months inventing the, the cheddar versions that we had. And I didn't, it really was a little more challenging because the other ones didn't have fat. This one I needed fat, but no sugar. So I added organic coconut oil. So MCTs, medium-chain triglycerides, help with fat loss, help with internal visceral fat, help with heart, skin, hair, and nails. And I knew it was perfect, but I knew that they wouldn't give me an honest response. So I took one of my oldest daughter's bags of Smart Pop White Cheddar. I emptied it, I filled it with mine, and then I used her hair straightener to reseal it. I left it on the kitchen counter and had a little candid camera moment. I hid the camera in the corner of the room to get an honest response. Because if your daughters are, are like mine, but my house was the hangout house because we always had food. So there's always about 10 high school girls at my house on any given day. And they start just destroying this bag. Like, this is so much better than yours.

I'm like, oh, is it?

And my daughter's like, oh, God, this is yours. I go, yeah, it is. But you didn't know.

Right.

And worldwide in the 14 countries that Omaha Protein popcorn is now, white cheddar is actually the number one flavor. And so, um, we went 5 years into it. And to be honest with you, into 2022, it didn't do great. We went to the Mr. Olympia, you know, conventions. I was bodybuilding. That was kind of my realm, fitness conventions. And it did okay. But realizing most bodybuilders are broke. And, you know, we, I became the president of the Chamber of Commerce in, uh, 2022 and Hy-Vee Foods grocery stores, which, you know, Midwest, you know, it's a real, uh, local-owned, uh, employee-owned grocery chain, great chain. One of the guys who was in charge of the health market portion of Hy-Vee's in the chamber was like, let me sell your popcorn. And my friend, let me tell you this, like, I, it'd already been a rough 5 years trying to figure out a way to make this work. And I just hadn't gotten it done. I actually told him not to do it. I said, don't do it. I go, I don't want to have to return money to you if it doesn't, when it, when it doesn't sell. My words exactly. And I go, let's do a consignment deal and you just pay me if you sell it. And if you don't, I don't have to refund you. Well, they outsold my own stores 50 to 1 in a month.

Wow.

Yeah. And it, it was, so my daughter, my oldest daughter, I said, would you go down there and kind of spy? Just find out what they're doing, you know, what the heck's going on. Let's do a little market research, right?

Mm-hmm.

She comes back, she goes, it's the little old ladies and the little kids. They're just buying like half a dozen bags of crack. And I'm like, you've gotta be kidding me. So I go down there and I talk to the dietitian. Hy-Vee's a great chain because they have dietitians in-house to help the community. And the dietitian said it's the only snack they could get their Silver Sneakers, their 70-plus crowd, to actually eat and not lie about. They said they'll buy the bars and shakes when I'm there, but as soon as I leave, she goes, they would return 'em. She goes, but your popcorn, they won't stop eating. And these elderly patients, she goes, they muscle waste so bad because they're not as active. And then the little kids with just specific dietary necessities, they won't drink the shakes and they won't eat the bars. And so I went into 10 Hy-Vees and the same exact process. And so one of the gentlemen at Hy-Vee corporate over in Des Moines was like, you need to go. And you know, this is all your area, Midwest. I could tell you, you actually know where everything is. Half the time I do podcasts, I gotta explain what everything is.

Yeah.

So we went up to Chicago to Sweets and Snacks convention. I didn't know they even had snacks conventions, but my friend, you are missing out if you haven't been to a snack convention.

So it sounds like a fun place to go and gain 20 pounds.

200,000 qualified buyers. Hershey's had a 60-foot-tall chocolate fountain. I wanted to jump in and get type 2 diabetes.

It looked like—

Right.

It probably wouldn't take long.

But I have a new, I have a new banner backdrop, the whole setup, got a staff of 4. I'm like, we're gonna do this. And no one stops by my booth the first day. And I was upset. And this is the lesson for all entrepreneurs, just you gotta think outside yourself. And my wife, in all her brilliance, the smartest person I know, she goes, it doesn't say healthy or protein anywhere on our label. I'm like, oh my God, it doesn't. Because everything I do in my own realm between nutrition stores and gyms is all about health. I didn't really think about the average consumer.

Yeah.

So here we are at 10 o'clock at night and at a Staples in Chicago paying way too much money for a 9-foot banner that said protein popcorn. We safety pinned it on the board. We had a line of 400 people for 2 straight days.

That's awesome.

And then Hershey's, the same guys, they came up and he goes, are you the owner? I said, yes, sir. He goes, I'm going to give you 5 minutes of free advice. I said, well, why is that? He goes, well, because everyone who works at my booth is eating your popcorn at my booth and that's a problem. Okay. Okay. He goes, well, are you easily offended? And I go, no, I have 6 kids. I can't possibly, no, they, my kids, there's no filter in my house. He goes, cool. The name sucks. The bag is ugly. The color scheme sucks. You need a mascot. The only good thing about your product is how it tastes. I go, wow, that was really honest.

That was straightforward.

And then my wife, you know, we're on the flight home. She goes, you realize you haven't gone grocery shopping in 10 years, right? I go, I haven't. She goes, no, you'll buy the cheapest stuff possible and you'll buy it by the pallet because we have a huge family and then nobody will eat it. I go, you know what? I think you're right. So my wife actually got a bag and daughters designed the bag, the mascot, the little flexing popcorn kernel, the colorful design, as my daughters call it, aesthetically pleasing. We launched it in 2023. We are quite effectively up 16,000% now, distributing in 14 countries. We just started marketing. In fact, we, guys, we were in 14 countries before we even ran an ad. We ran our first ad 90 days ago and now have a marketing company. It's in tow and doing the bags in 4 different languages and really pushing very, very hard here in the United States was actually the last place we actually pushed. And now we're launching to 20,000 C-stores in the last 8 months.

Congratulations. You hit your stride.

Yeah, we're hitting it. You know, we met with Circle K last week and it looks like we'll be launching into Circle K franchises by Q1 of this next year.

So 8 years to an overnight success.

You know, exactly. And it, the amount of times I give speeches like, you're like an overnight success. I'm like, yeah, it only took me 20 years to get there. A lot of lost money.

I was counting up to 8, but I was giving you the grace for all the stuff leading up to the, to the points where you made the tweaks and you adjusted the brand and you adjusted the way that you approached the market. And hey, sometimes free advice is worth its weight in gold and sometimes it's just worth what you pay for it. Ready to escape your grind?

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It's like I say with anything now, and it was, I've made the statement, I wanna hear what everyone's opinion is. I wanna know different ideas. But I mean, when it really comes to you as the CEO spending money, like you gotta really mean that or not. And it's, yeah, it reinvigorated that thought process where, you know, marketing to guys in my demographic, we have a demographic 40 plus, we're a little bit different, a different discretionary spend, but You know, really looking at what are the 20-year-olds doing? Where are they at? Where's the attention at? Where's my wife's attention at? Which, you know, is obviously a different demographic. Where are my parents? Like, you know, that's a real area of the population that I really like to help in the 70+ crowd because they have the most muscle wasting issues that there is. And the funny thing was it turned, the whole thing turned on its head when I started having, I have about 200 hospitals in the United States that buy the cheddar flavors in bulk.

Wow.

And they give 'em out to women with gestational diabetes or nursing moms, cuz it's one of the only approved protein snacks that they'll allow for brain and eye development for baby and for mom. And so my sister-in-law, love dearly, she wasn't really all about the, the health and nutrition stuff that, that, that I sell until she got gestational diabetes in the hospital.

Okay.

Gave her a bag of the cheddar flavors and said, this is one of our approved snacks. And I didn't even know they were doing it.

Wow.

The cheddars especially because it's the coconut oil, which is very, very good for, you know, the omega fatty acids for the baby and for mom. And hydrolyzed protein or isolate protein, it's gluten-free. It has no lactose. It's completely clean. It's the fastest digesting protein in the world. And that's really the key to why this works so well, why you can't taste those proteins. Because most protein snacks in the United States use the lowest bottom barrel grade protein on the planet. that allows them to make their money. Well, I end up using, I went the opposite. I made the highest grade because this is something I'm going to feed my kids and feed my parents. And because of that, anybody can assimilate it. So, most protein snacks take 2 to 3 hours to digest. This stuff takes 6 minutes.

No kidding.

Yeah.

So, you found a good delivery mechanism and a flavor to match. What are the, you mentioned white cheddar, you mentioned caramel corn. What are the other flavors?

We have white cheddar, spicy jalapeño cheddar, nacho cheddar, caramel corn, peanut butter, chocolate delight, rainbow candy, and chocolate peanut butter cup. And then that, that's the 8 flavors right now. And then we're working on a co-brand with Lola's Hot Sauce, cuz I, the CEO is from Des Moines and, uh, figured 2 Midwest boys do something, do something crazy. So we're doing a spicy dill pickle. Oh, I love that. Um, because that became a very big popular thing with the teenagers. And then, uh, we're gonna do a ghost pepper white cheddar because according to the, my Middle East customers, our spicy jalapeño cheddar doesn't even register on their spicy.

It's not hot enough. Oh, okay.

Not hot enough. I'm like, all right, challenge. Accepted. We'll see how hot we can get it. And then, um, next year we're doing a co-brand with MuscleSport International. We're gonna do a blueberry cheesecake and a cinnamon roll. So that'll be— Amazing.

So what is your ultimate goal here? Obviously to sell the product, but I mean, are you thinking about the end in mind? Are you thinking about how you can grow the business? Is an exit on your horizon?

Exit. We're looking at an exit. You know, we brought on some investors this year. It's the first company I've ever brought investors on really. Um, but a lot of people were asking and I was like, okay, well I've never done the big marketing spend, um, in that aspect. And You know, a functional food marketplace. There are a lot of barriers to entry with cost, especially with the type of bag we use. Protein commodity itself, it's at the highest price point in history just because it's a finite amount of resources. And all the big boys, Pepsi and Coca-Cola, have gotten into the protein snack game, which makes the commodity. So we decided to bring on investors with the goal that in 3 to 5 years, we'll probably sell, sell the, sell the brand off. Some of the biggest mergers and acquisitions in in the world over the last 7 or 8 years have been protein snack companies. To me, you got Coca-Cola and Pepsi buying up snack brands left and right just due to global cola sales dropping 10% year over year.

Yeah, like the Poppi acquisition recently.

Yeah, the Poppi acquisition, which, you know, and then you have the One Bar sold to Hershey's for $335 million in their third year. Ghost Energy got bought out by Coca-Cola in December for $990 million in their third year. So the good thing for us that As I've, you know, learned more, popcorn is the number one confectionery snack item in the world. And call it ignorance or arrogance, whatever it might be. But I got to go to Dubai last year and represent the Made in America initiative. And we're one of the only protein snacks allowed into Dubai because we met all the classifications. And so I got to go over there thinking popcorn was an American thing. And as I'm explaining to the very first gentleman in a very expensive 3-piece suit, I go, this is popcorn, what we do in the United States. And he started laughing at me. He goes, the crown prince here in Dubai owns the popcorn manufacturing facility in Dubai. I go, oh, I, I didn't know. And I, you start researching and yeah, popcorn's the number one confectionery snack item. And so we allow a much larger demographic. And so yeah, definitely an acquisition. And my goal is so much that I wanna see this in every airport and gas station everywhere I go because as a former professional athlete, I, It's most of these protein snacks that are out there. I simply won't eat them. They'll destroy my stomach. I want something that actually tastes good that my kids actually want to eat. I have a 6-year-old who it's like negotiating with a terrorist.

Yeah.

Other than chicken nuggets and chocolate milk, this is about the only protein source I could get this kid to eat. So, you know, and it's, and he thinks he's having a treat and he's having, he's getting his gains.

He loves it. He loves it. Right. I'm going to pivot a minute on the business question and ask you kind of what are the core metrics that you've been working on in your business? What are the levers you're pulling right now in terms of your business? feel are most impactful?

You know, I think it was, we, we brought on, we had 3 AI, 3 AI agents created for us specifically for targeting here in the United States more than anything. International business I find to be significantly easier than domestic business in the United States. International, just, we'll start in that caveat. It's when I went to Dubai, everyone's a 4th or 5th generation owner. And if you as the owner are willing to do those sales calls, you're gonna find success. When I went over to Dubai, there were 20 companies in different industries went over and I was one of 2 owners only. So we got the most respect, the most meetings, which got us the most yeses. And so I just find that negotiating with these larger family businesses in other countries, we're dealing with one in Malaysia right now. They had, they have family offices in 15 Asian countries. You know, it's just easier in that aspect. In the United States, we're finding that by the time we get to know somebody's name, they're off to a new job. In the United States here, especially like people change jobs, like we change, you know, socks every day. So, and then trying to get up the lever of like 60 employees in a row. So we find that trying to gather the information of who is the actual buyer, where are they at, what, what's in their realm. So we partnered with our marketing company and an AI company to create 3 AI agents to do scraping data to find out who is the actual buyer for each distribution companies, for C-stores, grocery buyers, specialty retail, find out what their information is. And that's a, that's a huge pulling point for us so that way we can get our information in front of the right person. I, you know, we, a lot of time wasted and a lot of money wasted marketing to the wrong people. Yeah. And it's hard to identify who that is. And, and so by using the power of AI, which before, to be honest with you, I was dead set against years ago. Too many Terminator movies, call it whatever you want. Well, I mean, that was our age group, right?

Right. And it just happened in August, but hey.

And then, and then we're, we're marketing to them. We're sending articles. We're having an AI agent write articles on our behest to rank up our SEO. Which helps a lot. And then, you know, for us, it's, it's twofold. I never focused on direct-to-consumer ever. I was always on the wholesale distribution side, but you need both. And, you know, so now we're identifying, you know, all the loopholes with our website. You know, what does the funnel look like? Do we need an upsell at the end? What is the value? What's the, you know, the, you know, the lifetime value versus cost of acquisition look like? And we know on the wholesale side exactly what that is. But we need the direct-to-consumer push to justify the wholesale business. So it's, it's kind of looking at it from a full 365-foot view or 365-degree view is, you know, what, what impact does direct-to-consumer sales have on wholesale distribution in the United States specifically? What, what position does that have with, you know, our Canadian customers versus, you know, Guam or each country being slightly different? So Levers that we're pulling right now, more or less, is, is really pushing into distribution versus us doing direct store delivery, which is a lot of times how you have to start out. You have to prove the concept first before distributors. C-stores is a big focus of ours just because the convenience store market is the largest real estate or real estate when it comes to sales in the world. There's 7 gas stations to every grocery store in the United States, 12 to every in the world.

Sure.

And so it's a high sales mechanism, but it's, it's Dominated by distributors, right? Which are massive gate— which are massive gatekeepers in the industry because, well, I mean, pretty basic, gas stations don't have room for backstock. And so they rely on this. And so getting through these processes, I've made a lot of mistakes in that field too. Um, just randomly showing up to a conference to try to meet people. Yeah, that's not, um, the gatekeepers don't like that, I found out.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and so that's the big thing for us is the marketing and then actually doing marketing specifically Towards C-store buyers, grocery store buyers, specific ad creative just for them, not just direct-to-consumer, because every buyer you have is still a consumer themselves. And so identifying 3 specific substrates and really putting time into ad creatives and ad spend directly to them on their own social media platforms has become quite interesting. And we found that the Actual highest click-to-add-to-cart ratio and finalizing of the sale came from wholesale buyers on our direct-to-consumer marketing push, which I never thought would be the case.

Have you looked at the subscription side at all yet? I know that those are, a lot of that's one-time sales to those market channels. Are you looking at any subscription models to help support your average order value, customer lifetime value?

We are, we are. We've looked at some subscription models and then we've, we've added in, you know, one-up sells to the cart to see what it takes to add to the average dollar value. My, my, my click ratio, my click spend is exactly the same whether they spend $20 or $70. It doesn't really change. So we're trying to make sure over the last 90 days, it's the first time we've spent ad money on ad spend, is seeing, okay, what's, which demographic of the 4 we've identified for our, you know, our customer avatars, like what's stopping them from, you know, finishing the cart? Like we, did we have an abandoned cart email? We're looking at all those things and we've noticed that we have been able to increase by doing bundle deals. Especially like, here's a sweet bundle. Here's a savory bundle. Here's the, the super pack. Okay. Hey, and then we have an upsell after that sale. Hey, don't be greedy. Add a, add one for your friend. Take an extra 25% off because the math for me when it comes to shipping mechanism and for my, my click, uh, cost is exactly the same. So we've noticed that we've been able to dramatically increase the average cart value, which is nice for that, you know, return on ad spend is being above, being in the green. I told our marketing company, um, and the guy that owns the marketing company is actually now an investor. He liked it so much that he's like, I want to own part of this. I'm like, now I like it because I like dealing with partners more than I like dealing with just employees or businesses that we hire. Because the first time I sent him a box, just like I sent you a box, he goes, this is really good. I'm like, well, yeah. He goes, well, 9 out of 10 things we sell aren't good. He goes, but yours is really good. I'm like, well, that was kind of the whole point. And, um, and he He'd become obsessed with it. I said, listen, if, if I'm break-even on ad spend versus, you know, what I get in, that's fine because there's other mechanisms that this feeds with wholesale and distribution. And he said, he goes, yeah, but we can do both. You can make money on direct-to-consumer and obviously see the longtime value of the wholesale distribution. I mean, the LTV to CAC ratio for distribution companies is insane. It's, you're looking at 50,000 to 1. Yeah, it's, it's nuts. But obviously direct-to-consumer is a little bit different. Now we have noticed that with the added emails and the email list that our return customer rate has gone up about 400%.

Excellent. So they're reordering.

Okay.

So for those who are listening, if you could just, you know, kind of summarize for me something they might be able to hear outta your story today that you want them to kind of walk away from in your experience for somebody listening to this.

Literally sit down and pick out 10 people in your life of different demographics, different age groups and everything, and ask them, just ask. And this would've saved me, my friend, probably half a million dollars in mistakes. How do you buy? Where are you looking at it at specifically? Like, okay, what made you buy that? Like, and just get down to the nitty-gritty. What makes my wife, who is an accountant, who's a CFO, spend money on ridiculous things on TikTok? Because it happens and I can complain about it or—

Or on Amazon in my house.

Oh, exactly. Exactly. TikTok shop, Instagram shop, and Amazon. What made you buy that? And literally I've done it with my daughters and I'm like, okay, what made you buy that? And I go, not in a bad way, not just in a completely student-level research. What made you, what was pretty? The girl was pretty. I think I look like her. I'm like, okay, cool. That's a good piece. Like we need to have people with 6 different people and different creatives that maybe people can see eye to eye with and maybe attract that look like their age, that look like their demographic. And, and it, it, had I done this in the beginning, it would've saved me probably half a million dollars in mistakes. Quite literally. Yeah.

Very, very good. It's very good intent. Well, man, look, I appreciate it. We've been having, we've been jamming out on this thing for a bit. Let's tell everybody where to go get some popcorn.

omahaproteinpopcorn.com. We're also on Amazon. Amazon's been flying through really, really fast. And, uh, yeah, best deals to be had are obviously on our site. We're able to do all the discounts that we, we can't do on Amazon. Amazon. But, and then honestly, if you go to omahaproteinpopcorn.com, you'll be able to find where to find us. We're in about 20,000 C-stores in the United States and probably another 20,000 retailers throughout. And regardless, support your local retailers. So if it's local, please buy it local. Those are people putting taxes into your community first and foremost. But if you can't, we'll gladly ship you a box from omahaproteinpopcorn.com.

Well, guys, I recommend checking it out. Check it out. The story has been amazing. The tenacity and perseverance are always good to hear. As those who are, you know, pursuing something right now should continue to pursue it. A little luck in business, a little luck in life doesn't hurt. For those who keep the tenacity and the perseverance going, it will eventually happen. Your story is another one of the, in a good line of great stories about, you know, getting success out of that tenacity. So I'm so grateful you came to share it with us today.

Thank you so much. I'm honored.

Well, guys, go check it out. Grab some protein for sure. Like, comment, engage on the episode. It helps us with big tech. It helps us get this message out to more people who need to hear it. Health and wellness is always an important part of your entrepreneurial spirit and your journey for tenacity and fortitude and, you know, coping mechanisms, eating well, working out and doing the things you need to do. And then just frankly, not taking no for an answer. As you heard today, Tim has worked for a long time to get where he is. Don't take no for an answer. Keep working. And always remember, your opportunity begins at the end of your excuses. I'll see you guys on the next episode.

Let me ask you this. If you're serious about building an e-commerce business starting on Amazon FBA, what if myself and my team worked with you one-on-one to execute the steps outlined in the podcast while helping you discover what the heck to sell, how to make sure it's profitable, and how to successfully launch a brand. Plus, how to do it under a consulting plus performance-driven model where I put a $10,000 skin-in-the-game guarantee for those that show up and are serious about building a real business done with us. If yes, text keyword profit to +1-417-413-4209. That's 1-417-413-4209. And I will personally respond with a few simple questions. If you're not in the US or Canada, please visit voltage dm dot com. That's voltage dm dot com. Click get started and book a no-pressure discovery call with me or a member of my team to learn more about the Business Builders one-on-one coaching and mentoring for CEOs, entrepreneurs, and those looking to build an empire or retire using the power of e-commerce. Once again, thank you for listening, and be sure to tune in next week for a brand new episode of the High Voltage Business Builders podcast.