The Achieve Podcast - Shane Feller (BGZ Brands)

Welcome to another episode of the Achieve Podcast, the show where we highlight leaders, creators, and entrepreneurs who are building meaningful businesses, shaping their industries, and having an impact. I'm Taylor Baker Baker, your host, and today we're excited to learn from Shane Feller, the CEO at Bodyguards, and you can find that bodyguards.com, and that's with a Z. Now Shane, we were just talking off camera about your family history in this space, You grew up doing this, coming home from school, cutting it, working on it, family business, and now you've been the CEO for 2 years now? Yep. That's awesome. So how did your parents get into this space and what are you guys focusing on right now?

Yeah, great question. Super stoked to be here with you, Taylor. Yeah, fun little story with my family, like super proud and blessed to be a part of this company. But my parents started the business 24 years ago and it started as a little custom cut screen protector business. They saw an opportunity that at the time you had the PDA, Palm Pilots, all these old school devices. And the only solution for screen protection was that you actually would buy these sheets of film and you'd cut it out yourself. So my parents saw this opportunity saying, what if we put the customer first a little bit on this and cut it for them? So we had a cutting machine in our basement and then a shrink wrapper in the garage. And so growing up, I was the child labor that what we would do is we would— people would send in the dimensions of their screen, we'd cut it in our basement, count it in packs of 15, and then we'd shrink wrap it and send it out to the customer. And so really fun. I'm really blessed to be a part of it. My parents involved, there's 6 kids, and to be honest, the business was founded out of a necessity to feed us, not necessarily out of the desire to build a big business. It really was, hey, how are we going to put food on the table? And so my parents were very open with us 6 kids, to be honest, of what was happening in the business. So dinner table conversation was, how are things going in school? But we kind of got straight to business a lot of the time of like, how many orders did we get today? Did we, did we get them all out? And then did we get them before 4 PM? Because that's when USPS would, would ship same day. So we would be rushing that when we come home from school at 2:30, shrink wrap everything so that we'd get it to, uh, ship out before 4 PM. And it was, it was really fun.

That's awesome.

That—

and I love the work ethic your parents installed in you guys at such a young age. And now you guys have several brands that you're, you're kind of focusing on, but mostly it's Bodyguards. What is it about Bodyguards and who guys are serving right now, your target audience?

Yeah, so Bodyguards is— it's been— it's the one that kind of at the beginning was the founding business. It actually was called ScreenGuards, and then we, we actually created a product called Bodyguards, and it was a full body wrap. When, when iPhone came out in 2007, it really changed the game, um, for smartphones, right? And people started looking for external protection, not just for the screen. And so we created this product called Bodyguards, and it actually did so well that our company was known for this Bodyguards product. And so we actually made the decision to change the name of the company to Bodyguards. And that, that was the right decision for us. And since the beginning, we've been focused on creating products that protect what matter most. And to, to be honest, we really had an angle of focusing on your phone is always with you, and it actually is the avenue for communication with a lot of people, and it's for work. Family, social media, all those things is kind of a central hub for everything we do. So we wanted to create product that protected that so that no matter what you were, you were doing, you had that protection for your phone. And it's been a really good business for us. We, we actually were the first to— we created the market of tempered glass screen protection. So everyone, like, we were the first to launch this. We won a CES Innovations Award. It's a, it's an award which is big in our, our space of consumer electronics. And we were the first screen protection because I'll, I'll be the first to tell you, I know protection is not a sexy business in the sense of like no one's aspiring for the day that they're so excited to get a screen protector. It's more been a need, right? It's like, hey, I invested thousands of dollars in my technology, in my phone. I need to protect it. And we knew where we, where we fit there. And so we wanted to create the most premium elevated experience. And that's where Glass came in. But what's been fun and why we're focusing on Bodyguards today more than our other two brands, which is Lander and Moxio, is because we see a really big opportunity in elevating what we mean by protection, where we will continue to protect mobile devices and that our products will still be protecting mobile devices. But we see an opportunity to actually elevate the word protection and elevate what we believe matters most, which is people. And so we are creating product that not only protect your phones or your technology, your computers, your iPads, all of the different technology we have, but protecting you in some way. And so we've launched a product in the last year that's called the Red Light Converter. And what it does is it takes the blue light from your phone and converts it into beneficial red light. And so the benefit of this is a lot of people know about the negatives of blue light on their eyes for sleep, myopia, eye fatigue with work. Our screens are not going anywhere, right? So we wanted to create a product that— what if we could take our technology and enhance the benefit as a— for us as people? So that's what we did. We created this product that actually converts that light into beneficial red light. And red light has so many benefits, not only for your eye, but for your skin and your overall wellness. And so that's kind of the direction of Bodyguards is we want to protect what matters most, which is people. So our feature set with all the products that will be coming out from, from here on out really have more than just a device protection, but an actual benefit for the people.

I love that. I love that so much. And that's such a true thing where we're spending more time on our phones, electronics than ever before. And have somebody proactively saying, hey, you know what, let's look at this from a health consumer perspective and not just a device itself.

Exactly. Yeah, we, we like, again, I don't wanna talk bad about technology because technology is one of the greatest inventions ever, right? And so we need it to connect with people that we love or connect with people across the world. So it is one of the best avenues and we don't wanna say technology's bad, use our product. That is not at all our message. Our message is technology is not going anywhere, and you need to have a healthy balance with it, like everything in your life. And what if you create products that actually help you get more out of your technology for you personally, not just protecting it?

I love that. Now, for you guys at this stage of the business, what is driving the most growth for you guys?

It's definitely that, that angle of focusing on the people that are using our products and creating features that actually benefit them. Our, our goal and what we're wanting to create is products that are truly investments for people, not just an expense or a, a needed, uh, insurance for their device, right? When you buy a phone case and a screen protector, uh, you can personalize it and make it look cool, but a lot of the times it's not necessarily that you want it, you just feel like you need it. Where, where we're doing and what we're excited about for all of the growth that we're having as a business is when you buy a Bodyguards product, it's actually investing not only in your technology, but it's investing in yourself and your well-being. And that's where we see a big opportunity. And we— it aligns with the purpose of the company. Like, it was created to be a different company for people, the environment. There's a lot of pros and cons of the statement I'm about to make, but we are a family business in the sense of like, we try to treat everyone as family. And I know all the cons of that, that there can be red flags of that. But I personally believe that the pros outweigh the cons, and our goal is to take care of the people that we have because you're only as good as the people that you surround yourself with. And that's, that's what we wanted to create, is product that now our internal culture and what we focus on, we want to bring that external, which is providing beneficial products or benefits to people, not just their phones.

I love that. Now, for you, what turning points, positive or negative, have affected the way you— and molded the way you think about running the organization itself?

Yeah, I would say we've had a very diverse business. Like we've talked about, the business is called BGZ Brands. That's the parent company. And we have multiple brands, and we've had ups and downs with all of those brands. 3 years ago, we were heavily concentrated in one business segment that was a private label business, actually. And we lost that business and it caused us to actually have to go through a lot of difficult things in terms of laying off people and changing the structure of the business and the focus of the business. And it was very brutal. And I would say one thing that I've learned from it is it's really important with the— about the people you surround yourself with. I really do believe that you can find joy and happiness even in the worst of times. Like, And that's what it taught me is we were going through absolute hell. Like it was really a hard time for our business. And, but the reality is like the relationships that I built because of those hard times, I wouldn't trade it because the people that we built and got out of those hard times, and we're still going through things like every business, it's not cupcakes and rainbows with every business. Every day is a different struggle, right? But I wouldn't change the people that I'm doing it with. And that's, that's been the learning for me is like, surround yourself with the right people that you want to go to war with because you can't ever do— you can't really control a lot of things in business, but what you can control is how you react to those things. And that is heavily dictated by the people that you surround yourself with.

So true. So true. You can't control, but you can control how you react. And, and your team. So when you think about growing and expanding, what are the biggest bottlenecks and obstacles that keep showing up for you guys?

I would say focus, like, make it— making sure that we're— our team can do anything, but we can't do everything. And that, that's the piece that I would say that continues to be a bottleneck, that whenever there's a problem to be solved, our, our team and myself included, we jump on solving that problem where maybe we need to step back a little bit more and and say, what is the right problem to be solving at this moment to be the most impactful for our business? And so that's, that's what keeps me up at night is, are we, are we solving the right problems as a business? And am I helping the team know what are those problems that we want them to solve? Because our team is just incredible in the sense of they just are doers, that they— there's a problem to be solved, all hands on deck, figure it out. And That's sometimes the bottleneck is like, we're maybe solving a problem that is a real problem, but it's not the biggest problem. And let's, let's make sure we're solving something that is more impactful.

I love that. What is the right problem we need to be solving though? Yep. Because there's, there's never, never-ending list of problems.

Sure.

But you get distracted. So now when it comes to your messaging and your outreach, your marketing systems, what's been working well and where do you feel the biggest gaps or frustrations?

Yeah, like I mentioned, cases and screens is not a sexy business. I know that it's, it's not something people are aspiring to buy. And so what's been working for us from a marketing perspective is actually having features and benefits that benefit the user of our products, not just the phone that they have. Everyone listening right now, look at your phone and see— I, I almost guarantee that 70% of them have a broken screen protector, or their case is really yellow and gross, but they just don't recognize it because they actually don't care that much about it. Where what we've been able to do is focus our marketing on the benefit for the people, and that's when they're like, oh, maybe I do need a new phone case, or maybe I do need a new screen protector because I'm missing out on these personal benefits that are helping me not only long-term but short-term too, with my sleep with my, uh, skin, all of those things. And so that's what's been working for us, is tweaking our marketing, not just focusing on device protection but how it benefits the person using it.

I love that. That is a great, a great approach to be taking, especially as becoming more and more aware— people are more and more aware of the health concerns with how much time we spend on screens.

Yeah, and to be honest, technology is new. It's like 100 years old if you think about it. And so we're all we're all learning how to deal with technology together. There's no, it's not like we've been, humanity has understand the relationship of technology and humans forever. It's not. And so we're learning it together. And so to your point, I believe we're learning so much about the positives and the negatives of technology in our lives. And our goal as Bodyguards is to be that digital wellness ally that helps people understand how can you balance your relationship with your technology, So it's the pros always outweigh the cons.

I love that. Now there's been a lot of talk around the AI and automation aspect of every business. Where have you guys found ways to utilize it and where do you still see opportunity on the table?

Yeah, it's, it's fun to like not know anything about something, right? That's kind of like the whole world doesn't know. Like there are experts, but it's only been around for a couple years. And so for me, what it's been beneficial today has been brainstorming, right? Going, having this kind of ally and this companion that I can brainstorm back and forth things. And it's helped our business from a copyright perspective, a CS perspective. There's a lot of benefits for AI, but what I'm really excited about is this next phase of AI, which is the, the agent models where we actually can utilize AI to replace the mundane tasks that, that really our team is bogged down with to spark more creativity in humans. Like, that's, that's what I'm excited about. I'm not sitting here going, I want AI to take over our company so I only need 3 people in our company. That is not the goal for me, um, in our business. But what if there's a world that, like, we could have all of our people using AI in a way that the tasks that are not allowing us to have more human connection with our customers replace that? Like, if it actually could replace the mundane tasks so that our team is focused on how do we create an amazing experience so that people can connect as human beings more. And that's what I'm excited about. I don't, I don't necessarily want everyone to talk to a robot every time they talk to our business. There are pros of it where people want speed, and so I'm not against it, but I do believe that as we go into a more AI world, you're going to seek more human connection. And our company is so about people that I never want our, our AI or our systems to be eliminating human connection. And so that's what I'm excited about for the future. I don't have it figured out yet. Like, I, I'm trying to learn it every day, but that's where I want to utilize AI more, is figuring out how do— how can it help us be more effective in the data analysis, the customer support, getting to the problem and solving the solution faster so that our team could be more creative and forward-thinking.

I love that. I love that. And we're utilizing that AI ability to take off so you can be more present with the humans in your life.

Exactly. Yeah, exactly.

Now, when you think about the next stage of the business, what are you most excited about, and what do you feel like you guys need to build or fix to reach that next peak?

Yeah, I, I would say they, they go together hand in hand. My answer is right now our goal as a company is that in 12 months people look at our business and actually categorize it as a wellness company, not just as a mobile accessory business. Um, like I said, we're not going away from those categories, but we're doing a lot of investment right now as a company to build the brand in a way that people actually connect it with a well-being product and a well-being brand, where today it's a technology and mobile accessory business. But our goal in the next 12 months, which is a big dramatic shift to where we are a year ago, I say, I would say we've made a lot of big strides towards this, but we really do want to be that digital wellness ally. And so that's the opportunity for us. And it's also the, the, the current problem we're trying to solve for, that we're trying to, to expand our reach so that people see us as this wellbeing ally that we create products that are helping you as a person.

I love that, I love that. I'm, I'm, I'm excited to see the next products that are coming out and what you get, what you have in the pipeline.

Yeah, it's, it's going to, it's going to be fun. You can tell me if we succeed or fail at it, but I'm very, very, very excited about the direction and the team that we have. And so it's, it's full steam ahead right now.

That's awesome. Maybe off camera I can get a little peek under the hood and kind of see what's coming down the pipeline.

Yeah, let's do it.

So I'll come up and visit. Um, so on your journey, for you personally, when you look back at the wins, the mistakes, what lessons stand out to you the most, and what do you wish you understood sooner?

Yeah, I, I mentioned this before, but it was the people I surround myself with. I have been extremely blessed in my life to have a front row seat of my parents that created this business in a way that I feel like is different than other businesses. The— in the sense of what they, what they value and care about is really the people and the experience that we have together. And so for me, I, I'm so grateful that I'm surrounded by people that are helping elevate me and teaching me every day. And I— what they've taught me is that I know nothing. In the sense like me alone can't make this company successful. Like I would be failing miserably in this role if I didn't have the team that I have. And I fully recognize that, that I almost wish my title, like the title of CEO sometimes has this weight that is real. But at the end of the day, if people were here internally, they'd recognize who's the most important person. I don't think it's Shane Feller in our business. I really don't think it is. My hope is that I can just keep the team moving and help them focus on the right things because they're the ones solving the problem. I hope I'm just identifying which is the right problem and linking arms with them. And so I'm grateful for those lessons that I've learned because we've been through very hard things as a business and we've been through really high things. And at the end of the day, you can be miserable when things are going well or you can be miserable when things are going bad. It really is a choice that you make, and it's dictated by who you're surrounding yourself with.

I love that.

That is so true.

And again, you're pretty young, but you're running a large organization. I mean, how many— how big is your guys' team now?

Yeah, we're, we're a pretty small team, to be honest. We're 35 people as a business, um, and everyone's vital. That's the pro and con of a little business, right? We're going up against some behemoths in our, in our industries, but I would I would still put our team up against anyone. And the fun piece is the pro and con of a small business is you're vital, right? So yeah, taking one day off is hard sometimes, but that's also what energizes me is that I'm actually needed here, right? And every role is needed. And so if everyone's not pulling their weight or being, um, putting forth all of their effort, it's pretty easy to see that. And so that That really, when we bring someone into our business, we're very upfront with that. Like, this is— can be taken as a con too of being so needed. It's— it takes a certain type of person that wants to be in that role. But if you want opportunity, our business is— it doesn't matter where the idea comes from. It really doesn't matter who, who comes up with the idea. If it's the right idea, we run with it.

That's awesome. That's awesome. Now, if you had to pick one constraint to solve over the next 90 days, what would it be?

That's a good question. Constraint for, for me and for our company right now is— I don't want to be a broken record here, but the reality is we were rolling out obviously our 2026 strategy right now. And for me, I— we've been doing that process for 24 years, right, of strategy. And it's a lot of uplift on the executive team usually, right? Of figuring out where the problems are, what's working, what's not working. And we put together this beautiful plan, right? And then we present this plan and sometimes it can just fall into business as usual after we present it, right? So it's like, hey, we presented it, it's great, kumbaya, high five. And then we kind of go back to business, like just day-to-day operations. And so for me, in the next 90 days, my biggest focus has been changing that our team actually looks at those priorities and knows them inside and out, that it actually is a part of their decision-making from a day-to-day perspective of what am I working on. And so some of the things that we've— we're tweaking right now is rolled out a soft launch of our strategy, but then I'm actually saying the what and why is defined by the executive team, but the how is not defined until the whole team presents this together. And so that's what we're rolling out right now is everyone's working on the how we will achieve these goals, because it really is not an executive strategy, it's our company strategy. And so for me, the next 90 days, in order to accomplish everything we've talked about on this podcast of being a wellness brand, coming out with products that have more features than just protecting devices, is we have to really internalize this strategy and execute on these goals that we're setting, not just keep the lights on and keep operating the day-to-day. And so for me, that's the main focus, that if I can get the team and if we can get together as a team and actually execute on these goals, we'll accomplish everything we want. But if we just continue to, It's hard, right? It's hard to do this. It's really easy for us to talk about this on a podcast. To integrate it into the business and to change behavior is the thing that we have to do as a business. So that's, that's my focus for the next 90 days is making sure everyone understands the, the what and why, and then the how is clearly articulated. So everyone is actually incorporating it into their jobs.

I love that. Just make sure the clear is through, is the mission is clear throughout the organization.

Exactly.

Giving them autonomy, because when everybody owns it, they have more buy-in, they'll give in their better efforts, better ideas. So that's great leadership. That's awesome.

Yeah, no, it's the team. It's the team we have. I, I think it's just learning from the team and seeing what's worked and what hasn't worked in the past. And this is our company strategy, and it's not created by one person or a couple people. It's actually everyone is integral in actually executing and creating this strategy.

I love that, Shane. Thank you. Thank you for dropping so many bombs of wisdom. I love it. And so those who want to reach out and learn more, they go to Bodyguardz.com, and that's with a Z. So B-O-D-Y-G-U-A-R-D-Z.com.

Yep. And yeah, you reach out to me too. I'm, I'm all about learning new things. And so you can reach out to me on LinkedIn. My email is sfeller@body— or bgzbrands.com. I'm more than willing to talk to anyone because I recognize that there are so many things I don't know and I'm just trying to learn more and more because the more context I have, I feel like the better decisions I can make.

Absolutely. And that's— and again, that is wonderful to see where you guys are headed and the clarity, the purpose, the why behind it. It's like, we don't just protect phones, like, no, we're gonna protect the consumer. Yeah. Make a better product, a better world. So That is awesome. Thank you again for joining us and thank you to our sponsors of today's episode, Achieve Fractional, which provides fractional executive leadership for growing businesses. And if you enjoyed today's conversation, share it with a friend, with a colleague. If you're somebody who's interested in reaching out and becoming part of the team or wants to learn more, reach out to Shane and his team. Go to bodyguards.com or LinkedIn and reach out, get involved. And we will see you on the next episode of the Achieve Podcast.