345 : Craig Soderdahl – Develop techniques to solve the inevitable problems that arise from running an ecommerce business
Craig says it well: ” Build out your fear muscles to get past the next ecommerce hurdle”. (Pro tip: There will be one!) You see recognizing your limitations rather than ignoring them and the focusing on alternative approaches, true “b” options allow you to roll when you need to rather than curl up in a ball and suck your thumb. Craig offers some great advice on how to create your own techniques.
Mentioned:
Craig’s Facebook contact
Sponsors
SPECIAL OFFER FOR MY LISTENERS ONLY
Gaye’s Million Dollar Arbitrage List
Tactical Arbitrage – Get an 18 day free trial with code: “Tactical”
Freeeup– Save 10% (forever) and get an instant $25.00 voucher for your first hire.
Transcript: (note- this is a new tool I am trying out so it is not perfect- it does seem to be getting better)
Craig: [00:00:00] That’s, that’s a really good question. I, something that has surprised me is I don’t think entrepreneurial self or entrepreneurialship is a contagious or it’s something that people like to do. So there are really, really bright and gifted people who just are super fearful and I’ve talked to multiple people who are way smarter than I am, but they’re like, I would never do what you’re doing yet. And yet they’re writing computer software programs from scratch for a mega mega organization. Okay.
Cool voice guy: [00:00:40] Is your host Stephen Peterson?
Stephen: [00:00:47] He wanted to talk a few moments about some sponsors scope from several labs. Um, when’s the last time you created a listing? Right? And when you create that listing, you’ve got to come up with the keywords, right? It’s all key word dependent. I don’t care if it’s a private label or wholesale. You’ve got to get it right. Well, what’s the best way to get it right? And if you’re selling a similar product that’s really successful, you go and you take and use their keywords and that’s what scope does for you. So phenomenal tool brought to you again by seller labs, the leaders in technology. When it comes to Amazon, right now, they are just crushing it with all their products, but scope allows you to get that listing right, get ranked for those key words as fast as possible. Therefore you get the sales, so go to seller labs.com, forward slash scope.
Stephen: [00:01:36] Use the code word momentum, save a little bit of money, get some free key words to test, try it out and see if you see an improvement. If you don’t adjust, what’s cool about what I love about a seller labs is that you then message and say, Hey, I didn’t get this right tyler. Hey Jeff, this isn’t working right. What am I doing wrong? And Boom, you’re going to get the help you need and that’s what you’re going to get from solar lamps. And, and it’s a very special group that had been very. I’ve been very fortunate to be connected with them. And again, I look over time they’ve delivered every single time. You know, same thing I can say for Karen from solutions for ECOMMERCE. I mean, she’s been carrying my account for a couple years now and our account, my wife and I, and she really does handle things for us.
Stephen: [00:02:17] Um, I mentioned, uh, just last week we created a new listing with, I forget how many variations, but again, all the flat files uploaded done as I needed. I pop in, so she’ll send me a template, I pop in some information and then boom, it’s handled, await. These pictures weren’t done right, blah, blah, blah. This UPC, Nita poom modified adjusted. And again, the communication’s been phenomenal too. I get an email back saying, hey, this was done or this, you’re missing this, Steve. Hey, you gotta do this. So, you know, we have those challenges too and that’s why I like working with somebody who’s been doing it. I’ve been doing it for a long time to do, you know, Karen also does listings for Ebay. Yep. Lots of them. So if you want to build out that channel, which of course you should, it’s q four. You should be selling everywhere.
Stephen: [00:03:01] You can, um, Karen can help you with that too. So you gotTa tell her I’ve sent you, so you’re going to go to solutions four ecommerce forward slash momentum. You’re going to save 50 bucks every single month. You’ve got to save that $50. But more importantly, you’re going to get an inventory health report. Um, did you just get hit with monthly longterm storage fees? Well, guess what? If you haven’t, they’re coming. You want them to get that inventory right and she can help you with that. You’ve got to tell her I sent you again, solutions. The number for ecommerce forward slash momentum will get you into that. Save the 50 bucks. Get that inventory health report though. That’s really, really important. Get that going right away and I don’t want to miss my coach when it comes to retail arb or online or when I have a question and I do.
Stephen: [00:03:41] Not that we don’t, we don’t really do much of it anymore, but when I do have a question, I go to Gaye Lisby because why? Because she’s really. She is a coach. I mean, she’s really phenomenal, but she also puts out a daily list and you’re going to get that list five days a week. You’re going to get tons of leads, the number of, uh, agreed to amount that you’re supposed to get. She least, she usually gets to those in the four days. And then the fifth day seems to be a bonus most of the time. Phenomenal Group, small amount of buyers where this list is going to end. The best thing is the nuggets that you learn. Hey, why is the red one better than the blue? One? Gaye can help you with those questions. I saw. Hey, I got a, I got to the dreaded letter about a brand.
Stephen: [00:04:20] Here’s the, here’s the way you approach it. Hey, receipts, um, how do you, what’s the best practice? I saw her leading instructions, teaching me the accountant how to do a better job with it. And it’s phenomenal. So it’s Gaye Lisby’s, um, made a million dollars selling. I’ll have the link in here. You’ve got to use the link and it does help me. I don’t want to say it that way, but it’s part of amazing freedom with Andy, slam inslee, Ron Hirsch, corn, and nate’s lamins so you know you can trust. Okay, so come back to the website, take a look at it, and you will get a savings and you can get two weeks free right now only through my link. You get two weeks free. Try it. You don’t like it? I get it back off, but right now is the time to make money. Get cash flow going right now.
Stephen: [00:05:05] And so join you. Get two weeks free. The only way you’re going to get the two weeks freeze. If you use my link, it’s on this episode. Come on out and give it a try. You will not be disappointed again. You’re going to see me in there. So reach out if I can help you too. Let’s get into the podcast. Welcome back to the ECOMMERCE momentum podcast. This is episode 345. Craig Soda Doll. I got that name right. Yes. You know, you want to be inspired, get ready because, uh, you know, we’re going to talk about building your fear muscle. That was a phrase he used and it just resonates with me so much. I connect with it because you know, it, we’ll talk about a weight loss thing, trying to gain strength and all that kind of jazz and it’s pushing through these difficult challenges, um, and they keep coming, right?
Stephen: [00:05:51] And then you’re trying to lose weight or you’re trying to exercise and pushing past at. Building up those right is such a great analogy. And Craig talks about pushing past that when you’re stuck. And so in your ecommerce business, when it gets challenging, when Amazon changes of rule, right? We have one now that, that we’re working with a challenge, right? It’s a, uh, saying something, you know, hazardous or whatever and it’s not, but you’ve got to go through that pain, right? It’s like, oh, what about, you know, we got all this money tied up. Well guess what? We’re going to have to push through it because on the other side it’s so much better. And so your ability to get through that. Right. The other thing that I really take away from Craig is his optimism. When he looks at something, he’s looking at it first off.
Stephen: [00:06:35] It’s all upside the degree of upside, man. When you’re looking at it, something from that perspective instead of going in, how much is it going to cost me? Well, no, how much is it gonna make me already. It’s already going to break even. Now I’m going to see what’s the upside of it. I think that perspective is, quite frankly one of the reason that he’s, you know, 10 exing and going to double and triple and waited. Here’s plans. I mean, it’s, it’s, there’s no doubt he’s going to do it. There’s absolutely no doubt. Very, very cool. Great Story. Let’s get into the podcast and welcome back to the ecommerce momentum podcast for excited about today’s guest because I think he has a lot of perspective to offer. Not that he’s old because I’m older, but he has perspective. Um, and I think, I think it’s always healthy when you get perspective for somebody who’s doing it, not just talking about doing it, not just saying, Hey, look at my instagram, you know, in my Lamborghini, now he’s doing it and his doing it for him is going to practices and doing, being involved yet being a very successful businessman and it’s, it’s very, very encouraging.
Stephen: [00:07:42] Craig soder doll, how do they die? Last name. I got it. Oh my goodness. That’s tough duty. That’s the pressure right there. All right. We already have stuck it. I stuck the landing. All right, well, hey, thanks for coming on Craig. I really appreciate it. I appreciate what you do as a dad. I mean I appreciate the effort that you put in and it was one of the things I wanted to make sure we talk about is that because that’s not easy life life life happens to you too, doesn’t it?
Craig: [00:08:14] And my oldest actually just graduated this past year so we’re down to three boys in the house and kind of one of my priorities is making it to their events. Um, and so last year, because my boys are getting a little older, I have one in high school and then I have two in middle school, one’s a sixth grader, seventh grader, and then I have a sophomore and a freshman in college, but last year I was approaching that kind of season of life where your kids are kind of almost getting to that point of where they have teachers who coach them as part of the middle school program. So last year I decided to coach my kids, my younger two, I’m in football and in basketball. And then in La crosse coach for almost three months, three seasons straight, which was probably a little bit over commitment. Um, but it was just awesome being there, being with their friends.
Stephen: [00:09:13] You’re developing young men from the point of view, not only as a dad, but as the second most influential person, a teacher in their lives at the most critical age. They say developmentally, it gives me the chills to think about it. That’s commitment.
Craig: [00:09:30] Yeah. It’s a lot of fun because I get to know these boys and they’re around my kids a lot, the other kids that I coach, so I just wanted to be there and talk about winning and losing and giving it your best and worst.
Stephen: [00:09:45] Hang on to give them all trophies now. Right. There’s no winners right there. You just don’t get trophies. Right. They just participation trophies. Isn’t that the right way to do that now?
Craig: [00:09:53] Yeah. You know, I don’t know if we got participation. I was the head coach a Lacrosse team last year and I never played lacrosse. Uh, I’ve been coaching for three years now, so I’ve come a little bit smarter than the other Dads, but I’m not necessarily a great coach, but one of the things I used to work at a Christian camp for 18 years, a left that job this past February. But one of the things that we do there was we talk about something that we observed in them. So then we appreciated about each camper was what we did at camp. And so I ended the season this past year of just something that I appreciated that was unique and valuable that I saw in each kid, um, at the end of the season. So I pulled them up, stood right next to them, and we just talked about kind of just something that is unique that I loved about them and that they offered to the team and parents appreciate it because they can see that a coach gets to know their kid, um, and that there’s value in each person, but it’s valued in different sense, meaning not everybody gets a trophy, but someone gets recognized for something that’s unique about them.
Craig: [00:10:56] And I really appreciate that
Stephen: [00:11:00] building foundations and people not giving them something they didn’t. Participation stuff. I mean the fact that they came, that’s cool, don’t get me wrong, but because showing up is a big piece of it, but you know, building them up so they’re ready when you go to work and it’s expected that you’re going to be here. Craig, I mean, you know, you work from eight to four. I don’t want to hear about your problems. I mean, you’re, you’re here at eight, right? And you’re right, I don’t want your challenge is don’t bring that stuff in. And so by giving them that strong foundation who gave me the chills second time today, I’ve got the chills from somebody, but it’s very cool to me again, because this is. Do you see when you’re looking at other coaches and, and I don’t condemn anybody, but do you see the different styles, um, and the results, I mean, do you have to undo some other coaches stuff
Craig: [00:11:53] that there are coaches that just show up and just try to endure the season and really don’t try to take the time to get to know people or it’s kind of that win at all costs coach or a totally checked out coach. And so, you know, at the end of the season I want them to improve in their skills. I wanted them to be committed to doing the best that they can. Not everybody, there’s no cuts, there’s no tryouts. So, you know, I’m just happy that they’re there and that they’re wanting to get better and that the end of the season we actually did pretty well. Um, you know, for football we actually won the championship, which was awesome. And then Lacrosse we ended up losing I think one game the entire season. So, you know, that’s kind of fun to be there. But I’m at the end of the day you really want kids to be challenged, um, because that’s going to apply to their lives at the end of the day. It’s not just getting a trophy and showing up, it’s really about putting the work in and you know, really trying your best right
Stephen: [00:12:55] when coaching and they’re like, you know, what do you do for living? You know what I mean? What, what do you sell? You sell junk, sell crap on Amazon. How’s this work? Right. I mean is there a for Lauren? Look in their eyes a whole bunch of times because I think back to when I was a career, now my oldest is 32, I think said 32. And when I think about, you know, making it to the games, but I was barely made it, you know, you’re still in a suit and tie and you’re, you know, you’re getting there for the last 20 minutes because you’re renting from a meeting or a dinner or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Um, and then I look at that dad that’s in the outfit that’s got all the Regalia of the right word. I think that might be the right word. Who’s got all the, everything for whatever sport it was. And they’re into it. And they were there. They were at every practice and this and that. I must admit, I, I, I longingly looked a little bit at that. Like, wow, that’s got to be so cool.
Craig: [00:13:57] Yeah, it’s been awesome to be able to have the flexibility of, you know, when I work, I think most parents today, probably the community that I’m in as well, they are very, uh, sports nutty bar. I’d say, you know, I don’t know a better way to head, but there they drink the Koolaid, especially when it comes to football.
Stephen: [00:14:22] You’re crazy, man. You’re crazy. Exactly,
Craig: [00:14:25] they’re not always necessarily coaching, but a lot of them there are there for the practices just kind of sitting in watching. Um, but you know, I think coaching stretches you in a lot of ways because you do have to be engaging with kids. You got to get to know parents, you’re building a culture, um, but then just having that time, where are you getting to know kids and they’re getting to know you is special. So I know a lot of parents at the end of the season, we’re grateful and it gave me a whole appreciation for all the coaches that have poured into my kids.
Craig: [00:15:02] Oh totally. I was like, man, you know, I should be thinking all the coaches that my kids ever had up and now because they’re, they’re the heroes and a lot of aspects they’d give up their time. They’ll give up their energy, they give up their work. Um, and our football team that are two of our boys have been on, um, they kind of, our traveling team, these coaches don’t have a single kid on the team and they’ve coached for like 10 years and they were talking like fifth and sixth graders and you know, they coached three hour practices four days a week to do two games a week and uh, you know, they’re, they’re the ones that put in the hours and the talent and the skill and they don’t even have kids that are on the team, which is to me remarkable. And I’m like, I got to do my. Part of those guys are coaching my kids and they don’t even have kids. They have kids on other teams and yet they’re still coaching this team. So
Stephen: [00:16:04] when, when, when you think about being a entrepreneur now, would you call yourself an entrepreneur? Right, that’s fair. Okay. Alright. So when you think of yourself as an entrepreneur now, did you ever think that you had that in you? When you look back, I mean being honest, looking back, did you have that in you?
Craig: [00:16:25] So my answer might surprise you, but you know, talking to my mom and looking back, I’ve been an entrepreneur at heart for a long time. I probably suppressed it.
Stephen: [00:16:38] Why would you suppress it? I mean, were you forced to suppress it? Oh, like don’t let those feelings come in Greg ears, right?
Craig: [00:16:45] I, I think because, you know, there’s safety in the work and I was one of those people that I kind of found out later in life what I felt like I was really good at and it was like when I put that into action with my kind of my work, it was like, wow, this is, this is who I am.
Stephen: [00:17:02] And they become easy. Is that why, like when you, when you saw whatever that was and you did that, it was like, Ooh, this feels right. It was easy. No effort.
Craig: [00:17:12] Correct. So in my, uh, when I worked at a Christian camp, I was there for 18 years, about my sixth year, we started a program that was kind of innovative and new, which was a day camp program that actually traveled. And so we partnered with organizations that were in local communities, whether it be a church or a school, and we’d host day camps at their place and nobody was at that time was doing it. They were all doing it there overnight camp. And for me that was like, my brain was spinning all the time and I loved it and it was coming up with ideas. It was about being creative, it energizing, it was fun. Um, and you’re kind of building something. And so that’s what I’ve realized about myself is I’m a builder, I’m a creator. I like, I can see new and innovative ways that other people can’t see. And that’s the stuff that, you know, that’s not work for me. That’s fun.
Stephen: [00:18:07] So when you see a, do you see things as problems or challenges? First question.
Stephen: [00:18:14] Well that’s a tough question. I mean, which one do you say when you look at something that’s not going right? Is it a problem or a challenge?
Craig: [00:18:19] I think it’s a challenge. Yeah. I would say, you know, are there, are, there are different ways of looking at it, you know, when I see a wall I kind of go, okay, I’m stuck here, but you know, what’s the way to get around it? Is it over it, under it, around there. There’s definitely lots of ways to. Um, and I’m flexible. So that’s another thing about me is like I don’t, I see the world more in gray than black and white sometimes.
Stephen: [00:18:45] Where’s that come from? Why? Why are you, why do you have that ability to see that? Because be honest about myself, I look at it and saying that’s a problem.
Craig: [00:18:54] Yeah.
Stephen: [00:18:55] And it’s almost in here’s the problem with that. It’s, it’s a, it’s an all or nothing, right? And that’s the limit that it’s self imposed. I mean I know it’s me and I know that about me. But what makes you different there?
Craig: [00:19:07] I feel like I’m a very flexible person and, and because of the creative side I feel like there’s just a lot of ways to solve a problem. And so I definitely don’t look at things more in black and white over time, so, you know, by the time I’m implementing a decision, um, you know, I may have processed it over days, weeks, months. Um, and I also, so I’d say this about myself, I’ve tried to be exposed to a lot of different things, whether it be TV shows or when I’m walking down an aisle at Walmart or watching the profit is one of my favorite TV shows. Like I’m just trying to pick up or reading a magazine, reading a book, just trying to pick up ideas and then how to apply it to my business, my life. Um, so just constantly having your eyes open and thinking of different possibilities that might fit your situation. Yeah.
Stephen: [00:20:08] Nope. Right. You’re not, you’re not decided. I think that’s another skill set if you’ve not decided because I’m pretty certain about a lot of things. And that’s the limit. Again, I mean I understand the limits that I come with and, and that’s kind of background. Were either of your parents entrepreneurs?
Craig: [00:20:28] No, I don’t believe. I think my mom is fairly creative, but my dad was a doctor in the army and he was in the army for 25 years and my mom was a nurse, stayed at home with us when we were young. So no, I don’t, I don’t feel like, feel like I’m a little bit different. Uh, in terms of I didn’t grow up with entrepreneurial background from aunts, uncles, grandma, Grandpa, they were pretty much nine to five jobs, safety, that kind of stuff.
Stephen: [00:21:00] You used this phrase creative. That’s interesting too, because what I would have went to would mean that you’re an artist, right? This is my limit of knowledge. I would sit back and say, oh, you must be a musician, or you must be a, a, you know, an artist who can paint or draw or something like that. That’s generally what least in my little bubble I would have been. Now I know better, but that would have been it for me and creative. That would have been about it. I mean, honestly, I mean I don’t, I can’t think of much more than that. Music or art period writers, I guess writers would fit in there too, but that would have been my limit. Is that how you define yourself or where, where does creative work in your world?
Craig: [00:21:42] Yeah, creative for me is really thinking outside the box on the strengths. Strengthsfinder I score pretty high in terms of futuristic. Um, and so I, I kind of have come to that realization that I really am. I’m not a today guy. I’m really about a future guy. So if you want me to be an accountant I will fail miserably, but if you want me to solve, you know, a six month out problem or a month out problem or look at an opportunity that’s coming up like that, that’s where my brain just spends a ton of time and I can see around corners and I don’t mean that to brag, but like, because I really am, I’m stinky at the detail stuff, but just kind of like seeing different ways of putting things together to solve a problem or to create an opportunity that doesn’t exist in the marketplace.
Stephen: [00:22:38] Do you look around, like in that example, do you see, can you see the alternatives and then run them through in your mind, is that Kinda how the approach works? That’s creepy.
Craig: [00:22:54] We’re actually doing that or so going into 2019, we’re changing our business model because of an opportunity that I saw in a different application and said, hey, if that kind of that kind of work for them, it can work for us. And I would say 99 percent of other people don’t see that opportunity. There’s risks to. So I say that like sometimes creativity also is stepping out because no one other people are stepping into that arena. So you definitely have to have that willingness to take on that risk. Um, but it’s kind of a, it’s a, it’s a fun thing to do when you’re kind of like nobody else is doing that. We can be first to market, um, and really changed the dynamics of the game. Um, and I love it.
Stephen: [00:23:42] I mean, what do you, what do I mean? And don’t give away your secret sauce of course, but I mean, what are you looking at to see? I mean, I agree with you when, when everybody’s going one way and you see the opportunity going the other way, man, you got such a big advantage, right? You know, I say that about electric cars. I still, and I just saw, I think posted today that says two or three and five, plan on buying an electric car. Now, you know, they’re not there yet, but what happens to the gas stations of the world? What happens to the, uh, the auto shops and stuff like that, right? Because the electric car has 18 parts were a regular car, $40,000. If somebody buys those gas stations knowing that the land is premium location and you know, whatever, that’s a visionary, right? So those are the things I go to. What do you look for?
Craig: [00:24:33] Just look at market opportunities and I don’t know how to describe it without giving somewhat of the process.
Stephen: [00:24:42] Well, you can wet our appetite just a smidge.
Craig: [00:24:45] Sure, sure. So it’s kind of like, the other thing is where am I experiencing pain points? That’s the other part is if I’m struggling somewhere, um, how do I, how do I correct that issue that I’m struggling with and maybe has struggled with for quite some time, and so my brain will stay there, um, and just look at all solutions and I, I am, you know, in my former job and my current position, I have one other guy that works with me full time. Um, I am constantly bouncing ideas off and, you know, for the realists out that are out there, they’re kind of like, no, that will never work, or, you know, tell me more. And that will like out here a lot of no’s from people, which I’m fine with. I move on very quickly because I throw out ideas all the time. But then if there’s a, oh, that might work, but we’ve got to figure out more. That’s what I know. Like, hey, we’re potentially on to something and that’s, that’s where I like to live. Now. I’m not the execution guy of that
Stephen: [00:25:47] person that works for you. He’s the executioner.
Craig: [00:25:50] Yep, so a guy that I work with, our Christian camp, he’s an engineer by background, he’s a detail guy, he loves spreadsheets, he loves standard operating procedures. That is not how I live day to day. Um, and so were we compliment each other really well and because we worked together for 16 years, you know, like we know how each other thinks and operates. So there’s not that the adjustment period was very, very quick. He didn’t know anything about Amazon, uh, but because we knew each other, that was, that was awesome for us. And we got, we got moving real fast because of that.
Stephen: [00:26:28] So it’s not uncomfortable for you to give up that control because you realize that that’s short. That’s your shortcomings.
Craig: [00:26:36] Absolutely. Yeah. No, it’s. And I did that with the day camp program that I started. It grew from a brand new and within 10 years we were serving about 10, 15,000 campers. Wow. Uh, in eight states. So, I mean it exploded, but I’m like, if I’m leading the day to day, this thing is not going to grow. So I am very comfortable giving up, you know, power or authority where I don’t have expertise, I still have vision, but I definitely did not the day to day guy and you know, like you have to rely on those folks to execute for you.
Stephen: [00:27:15] Sounds expensive. I mean that sounds like a cost, you know, I always think back to when I asked the wholesale formula guys, Eric, their first hire was a, uh, their marketing guy and I mean they had warehouse people, I don’t mean it that way, but the value that he brought their team which brought them wholesale accounts in that kind of thing, right dillon? But, but it was just, it goes against everything. Those are the positions you save. Everybody’s got a bootstraps, pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Craig, don’t, don’t spend the money. How do you, how do you get past that? Because that’s a fear. A limit, right? That’s a limiting belief in a fear. How did you push past that?
Craig: [00:27:58] You asked a great question. Is that a problem or a challenge? To me, I look at the opportunity and go, if I don’t hire this person, where am I going to say? So I was a solo entrepreneur, I was treading water and I’m like, if I want to scale this, I’ve got to make the investment. And I always think about what’s my payoff, like what, what do I need to achieve to hit that? So even if I break even that, adding that person, what is that going to do in terms of freeing me up to do what I do best.
Stephen: [00:28:27] So you see only upside there.
Craig: [00:28:30] Oh absolutely.
Stephen: [00:28:31] So you’re only looking at the level of a dude. No, that’s a glass half full or glass MP. I mean that’s really it. Optimist or pessimist period. Period. So you’re an optimist, old saying, oh, it’s going to be an upside because he’s going to do at least something for. Even if he sweeps the floors, it’s better that you don’t have to do it. So you’re looking at it from that point of view. Every bit of value he adds. Oh my goodness. Craig.
Craig: [00:28:56] And we are scaling to that. Um, so my last year versus this year is night and day and I knew that I needed the help to get ahead and so there was a level of fear, sure. But if I didn’t do it, you know, the whole thing could collapse tube because I couldn’t do it all myself and it wouldn’t be healthy if I did it all myself. Um, so like right now, this year compared to last year, I just closed out last month and it was 10 x the prior year.
Stephen: [00:29:32] Jesus, you’re going to attribute, I mean, this is, is one plus equals three or four not to correct. It’s so mature. It’s so am I am. I mean, I guess I’m sitting back and thinking is how much, how much does he know? I mean, how obviously you are comfortable with them because you had worked so long together. You knew his skillsets and they complimented yours. He knew what kind of boss you were, what kind of stress level you’re going to bring him because that’s a big deal today because everybody has options. And I think it’s so important for people to realize, you know, you’re, you’re lucky to get a paycheck. Nope, not today. You know, in my town you could make $25 an hour unloading boxes in any warehouse, picker, warehouse. There’s, there’s, I think there’s 65 of them in my town. So in they’re all competing for the same people. Right? So they have all have options. So you really do have to be more mindful of that. But in your case, how, how, how do you get. I guess it’s not the fear there, it’s the fear of now you’re giving him, Hey, this is my open books. I mean, because you’re, you know, it’s one thing about bringing somebody in that world. They get to see it all.
Craig: [00:30:43] Yeah. And I, I really knew that if I was going to hire a second person, I mean this was the guy that I had in mind because I trust him. I know his skill set, he knows my skill set. We really do compliment each other. And I truly. So this May, I have truly handed off my operations to him. He is running all my financials, you know, he is negotiating with suppliers. Um, my role is really about kind of what the next opportunity is finding products. I’m listing them, marketing them, and so I truly have given him, as you say, you know, the keys to the kingdom, the open book. Um, but I’ve, I’ve, I’m kind of more wire that way. I do trust people more than I distrust them. So
Stephen: [00:31:37] how about this. Let me ask this question because I think this is a powerful one. When, um, when, how do you cast a vision to show him the upside? Because it sounds like to me, because it sounds like he could go do this himself, right? I mean, we’re all sitting here, everybody listening to this saying, well, Gee Sec, I could just go do his own. Making his own water bottles is, I’m looking at my desk, right? He can just bring them all from China. He knows how to do it. Or You could do wholesale. How do you, it must be, how do you cast a vision to say, you know, hey, bob, um, you could do it yourself and this and that, but, but together we can be so much more.
Craig: [00:32:14] That’s a really good question. Something that has surprised me is I don’t think entrepreneurial self entrepreneurialship is a contagious or it’s something that people like to do. So there are really, really bright and gifted people who just are super fearful and I’ve talked to multiple people who are way smarter than I am, but feel like I would never do what you’re doing yet. And yet they’re writing computer software programs from scratch for a mega, mega organization. I’m like, well, you’re an entrepreneur. And like, well no, someone has to tell me where to go and then I’ll go do that and I don’t. To me, he can do that. I guess the way that I cast the vision, I’m also a numbers guy, so even though I don’t love the detail, um, I can project growth and opportunity buy products that we can bring to market. Um, and so that excites both of us. Now he is, he has parked share
Stephen: [00:33:14] profits. There must be an upside that you share, right? Logically. Correct. And I, I, that’s hard to do.
Craig: [00:33:24] Yeah. And I’m not, I’m not as money driven, but I part of, so I’m willing to give profits away to people that I love and people that I connect with, people that I trust and people that are performing, I don’t want to give equity away or assets. I think that’s the harder part. And part of that is because it makes decision making a little bit more challenging
Stephen: [00:33:47] long term.
Craig: [00:33:48] Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So he gets a portion of the profits. Um, and because we both came from the nonprofit world for many, many years, years, like he has the ability to double his salary, you know, this next year, but his salary was matched by working for me and then the profit based was basically the opportunity to double his salary
Stephen: [00:34:14] if we, if we killed now, I don’t want to use that phrase. If we, uh, if we grow, we all get the benefit of it. If we don’t grow, we all feel the pain of it. And then giving them the freedom to do it. And how do you, how do you, when you’re casting a vision again, because I, this visionary thing has been intrigued when you’re casting a vision, how deep does it go? So, hey, we’re going to bring in six new products next year. Uh, and you know, and, and you’re, you’re feeling everybody out and you get the vibe. Okay. Yeah, they seemed like a go. Where does your level of stopping his start?
Craig: [00:34:52] So I did it through the ordering process
Stephen: [00:34:56] first time.
Craig: [00:34:58] First Time. Yeah. And then kind of when it gets to the inspection and we’re about to ship it and like all the transactions of dollars, I’m handing that over to him. And part of it is the simplicity rather than me being the middleman. I want the product to be designed in such a way or to be produced in such a way. And you know, I can answer those questions. Packaging the inserts, that kind of stuff. Um, but he’ll hit, he gets the, hey, I need to handle the financials. I need to handle the appropriate inventory when it’s gonna arrive, you know how it’s going to be shipped, where it’s going to be shipped. ‘Em. That’s the execution operation side.
Stephen: [00:35:39] No. How about when you’re in that design phase, you’re bringing in samples and stuff like that. Is he involved in that level, you know, to say, Hey, this is what I’m working on. This is the water bottle that I’m doing right here. Okay. And so there’s buying. He gets a chance to say some things and
Craig: [00:35:55] one of the other things that we have done, some of our products, and you may be familiar with that time if you heard it.
Stephen: [00:36:04] I have, yes.
Craig: [00:36:06] So that’s something that we test, you know, colors, design size, um, so just giving the audience kind of a simple sample and that’s been helpful as well because I’ll believe something is going to be amazing and he might believe differently. And so we tested with a sample audience and you within an hour or two you get good feedback on.
Stephen: [00:36:28] You don’t like it.
Craig: [00:36:30] No, you don’t like it, but I love it. I love the feedback as well. Like why they picked a versus B or you know, they just, they give you a lot of insight. Um, so I don’t always, I’m, I’m being, I’m relying more on pick food, um, over time because it, it does truly say, Yep, your intuition was really good or your intuition is really bad. Um, and, and they have to live with that.
Stephen: [00:36:58] When, when, when your intuition is bad or is it on? Maybe that’s a better way to say it than bad. Yeah,
Craig: [00:37:08] I don’t. Yeah, I would say it’s not bad because I think that it would still sell. You’re just trying to make sure that you’re maximizing the market at the end of the day. So it’s not like they don’t, they hate the product, but it’s kind of like where their preferences lie. So, uh, it’s not like you’re going to be at a total dud, but it could save you some, you know, you might need to rethink something, um, to, to bump your score up so to speak, or ache one way better than the other.
Stephen: [00:37:36] When you’re describing a lot of winds here. And this is one of the challenges that, you know, I get a lot of people who say that Steve, you know, you’re putting on people and they’re all successful. And I’m like, well, success is relative. You know, the thing I keep saying to people is, you know, Craig, you could be more successful if you weren’t coaching three teams, right? You could give that many hours, whatever, and it sounds like a lot of hours you could have put that into your job, but you’re not willing to. And that cost, right. Makes that success relative to you. And so there are differences, right? I think people, that’s, that’s what I always try to put upon people. How do you, how do you pick yourself up when things don’t go well? Because it sounds like you’ve got a lot of winds, but not everything winds, right? Not Everything is good,
Craig: [00:38:18] right? So there’s constant challenges. You know, I’m working harder, uh, now that I’m self employed and an entrepreneur, um, but I, I think I’d take a lot more at bats and see it as a
Stephen: [00:38:40] sports was going to come into this. There’s no way this coach is coming out,
Craig: [00:38:45] so I’ve got definitely a lot of strikeouts over time and I, I’d say one of the things that we face constantly and that’s been a frustration, you know, when you, when I talk about there’s been months that we are, our sales inventory management has been just painful for us because it’s really hard to predict, you know, how much to keep in stock and when your suppliers are going to get you that stuff and not being overstocked. I’m having at the right time. And so you know that I feel like I’ve failed at that or missed out on the opportunity when it comes to inventory management pretty much this entire year. And that’s been really frustrating.
Stephen: [00:39:28] So. So what are you doing to adjust from that? Right? Because first off, recognizing you have a problem. Craig is the first step, right? So that’s good, right? You admit it and say, okay, I got a problem. Is this, is this. When you end the engineers sit down and say, okay, what’s our best thinking? Or do you reach out to help for help? Do you reach out to others? Uh, what, what’s your process? Because it sounds like it’s real.
Craig: [00:39:52] Yeah, it’s real. And he started full time with me at the beginning of June, so he hasn’t, we have not worked together that long. And again, he had no Amazon selling experience. He had bought a few items from Amazon so Amazon was fairly new to him. Um, so we sit down, we talk and part of it is we’ve, we’ve tested with different suppliers. We actually have suppliers domestically and we all have suppliers in China and there’s been quality issues. So we’ve just been like, okay, how do we manage this and what are the pitfalls like why are we short? Um, and part of it is quality issues. So when we get shipped some stuff, most of it’s domestic where we have some issues quality wise we might order 10,000 units and then by the time we process through them, three or 4,000 of them might be bad.
Stephen: [00:40:47] Yeah,
Craig: [00:40:49] you can be out of inventory. So he’s like holding our suppliers more accountable for paying more because domestic suppliers don’t always come with quality control. Sometimes you know, you’re getting a cheap price for a reason and so now we’ve negotiated, we’re going to pay you more, but we were not going to receive any benefits
Stephen: [00:41:10] that goes counter intuitive to what everybody believes because the belief is, is that if it’s domestic meaning coming from the U, s is worse in your, in your experience, your statement then what you’re receiving from China. Now China, a lot of it is because it’s become so, uh, I don’t want to say compartmentalize. It’s become so just routine to have an inspection done. I mean he’s all things. Those processes are in place now it seems because there’s so many new ecommerce sellers just demanding new products and so it’s, it’s almost like wrote at this point if you’re doing it right. It’s interesting to hear you say that that’s not your experience with us manufacturers. Is it? Is it because they’ve rested on their laurels? I mean, I don’t mean that as a criticism, but I mean they just didn’t have to worry about it in the past.
Craig: [00:42:00] I think they got a lot of. Part of it is I deal with mainly just one US fire at this point and they either didn’t have anybody holding them accountable and they just, you know, they were the cheap price option and so I think that they really don’t. Quality doesn’t matter to them as much and so, you know, it’s like you’re getting a good price, so why are you complaining? Even though you know, we hadn’t done the math or I hadn’t done that.
Stephen: [00:42:34] We would call that obsolescence and kneeled accounting world. That would have been just obsolete. Yeah. Yeah. The little bit of them are bad, but overall you’re getting a good deal, craig.
Craig: [00:42:43] Correct. So I, I agree with this statement. I feel like China is very, there’s just a formula almost in terms of the quality process now you still have to do work in it, but the inspection is very much part of the process. We’re in the United States. It’s just not obvious that there are people who would go into companies and inspect product before it gets shipped to you. It just doesn’t. You kind of rely on that company to manage quality control. And when the company really doesn’t, you know, you kind of wonder what your options are at, at this scale, you know, like if I was, you know, multimillion or a billion dollar organization, you probably could put those quality control people into.
Stephen: [00:43:26] You’d have your team over there. Yeah, there’ll be a full time job over there. And are companies that do right, they have a Chinese team. Right. But imagine a u s team. That’s interesting. You’re the first person to say that and it, it fascinates me. But I could see that as manufacturing starts to pick up. And it’s interesting. Um, we share warehouse Andy and I do and there’s a lighting company in here and he was buying always lighting from China. But the quality control was the issue. Couldn’t do it. So now he manufactured 95 percent of it is manufactured in the US. He said this last five percent, I can’t get China is the only place you can get it. But he’s gonna be able to call himself a, a US manufacturer. But it was the standards. He’s doing the assembly. He so he had to move out of our building because they have two buildings here. This one’s only for distribution. We’re allowed zoning. The other building they own. Next door is for manufacturing, so he had to move over there and then to fix his problem, which was quality control and now you’re seeing, he’s a US manufacturer of lighting. Um, and yet you could buy at a heck of a lot cheaper from China, but he’s now in the US doing it and doing it himself because he, this stuff, as he said, as you said, he couldn’t get the control he wanted. So he’s doing it himself. Hmm. Very interesting.
Craig: [00:44:44] Yeah. There’s so many business strategies out there that is a strategy that can work to be a reliable, high quality. You know, there’s definitely pros and cons with that strategy or more hands on. You’re building a team, you just have different types of headaches than just ordering it from China. You don’t have to think about if an employee shows up for work or not. Whereas when you do it on your own, you know, you’re just, you’re opening up more management that you didn’t necessarily have to do as an entrepreneur before
Stephen: [00:45:13] you got to be certain of which way you want to go because it’s a different. You’re running a different business then, right? Absolutely. You know, one of the things I want to talk to you about now you’ve had success, um, and yet you chose to invest in yourself and spend money with Andy and Lee, Ron and nate with amazing freedom and it. And they are sponsors on my show. Yes, I do. They pay me. So I don’t want it to be, we’re not, I’m not pitching their stuff, but I’m interested that, you know, to be honest, let’s be real candid and honest. You didn’t need them, right? You, you were, you already in your own world doing stuff. Why? Why would you spend a lot of money and you spend a lot of money to go to a retreat. You spend a lot of money getting in their course. Why would you do that? Because most people would say you could just, you’ve already done it, Craig, you already understand all those things.
Craig: [00:46:03] For me, it’s always about kind of that Roi. So in a way that I always look at things is can I break the bank? So if I go to this retreat and spend the money to go to this retreat, will I gain back the money that I invested, if not more, you know, like I basically am I covering my bets and is there an upside?
Stephen: [00:46:26] Well, and that’s, that’s. I want to stop there because what’s it, the only downside would have been lost money, right? And last time period, that’s it, right? I mean, it’s not like you’re going to, there’s, you know, it’s not like you’re going to lose a limb, right? So there, there’s the whole downside, right? And so it’s very calculated
Craig: [00:46:45] and I now have friendships, relationships. Um, you know, I can ask Andy earlier on questions and a different way because we have a relationship. And I think that’s a very helpful thing for me, especially if you’re talking about issues that other people may not be where I am. You know, those guys are ahead of me so I can ask them specific questions that they’re going to know answers to that are not, they’re not common because they’re not, you know, if you’re a seven figure seller, you know, you just have different questions than someone who’s just starting out in private label. So
Stephen: [00:47:23] you bought, you bought time because you don’t have to, you don’t have to sit, siphoned through and sift through all these, uh, all these different things. You, you have the ability to get right to the point, get your answer so you can move right on. And so that’s, that’s. Hmm. Did you take that into consideration in your calculation when you were looking for an Roi?
Craig: [00:47:48] Yeah,
Stephen: [00:47:49] yeah. In a. because I’m, and I don’t know how to quantify that, right? You know, I’m, I’m sitting here thinking about that though. When you talk about getting an Roi because the Roi would be, well, you know, I’m going to bring in revenue or I’m going to reduce expense, period. Steve, that’s it, right? I mean, that’s, that’s the way return of investment is. But in this scenario, the fact that you’re gaining time, every time you get a direct answer to a direct question without having to filter it, you know, without having to sift through your gaining time. So were you, did you use that in your math or is that all bonus plus stuff?
Craig: [00:48:21] What are the, what are the things that I can get answered faster or better? So the other, the other way to look at it as not only just a faster answer, but also saving me from mistakes. If I go down path a, you know, let’s say it’s a software decision or it’s a setup decision or it’s an accounting decision, you know, and, and those guys have the answer because they’ve done it, you know, that it just, it just helps move that for that relationship. And here’s the other thing that this is, this is how I learned and it goes back to the beginning of the interview. I’m always, my antenna are up big time when I met at something like that. So listening to Paul talk about licensing, like my brain had never really processed licensing and now it’s like, Oh my word, that’s a whole new world. I don’t have licensing or anything like that, but just for me it was like, wow, I just learned a whole new opportunity that hadn’t even considered before and so it makes me look at products differently. I’m going, can I license this? Um, and that was just one presenter. Other presenters that are presenting other materials, like what are my takeaways? And that could totally transform anybody that does Paul’s method with licensing
Stephen: [00:49:38] at Miller
Craig: [00:49:40] can’t calculate the Roi, the Roi on that because it’s enormous if you can get into that. So
Stephen: [00:49:48] I think it’s a mindset. It’s the approach you went into it with that mindset that there’s only upside. The question is really how much upside. And I think that that that’s back to the beginning of the conversation. That seems to be your super power. One of the other things that I think you can help people with scale because you’ve been able to scale now, you know, we already heard part of it is you hiring, you’re hiring your weaknesses or, or maybe they’re not weaknesses, things that you’re not interested in. Maybe. So to me, I think that’s just as powerful. If you can’t be interested in it, that means there’s no passion and you’re not in. But if, if, if your guy, Bob, I’m going to call it this Bob, is that his thing? What’s his name? His name is Keith. If Keith. Good job. Keith and on the back, awesome job key. But if, if Keith, that’s his thing and that’s his lane and he’s excelling in it, it’s because he’s in, he’s in, he’s in it. And so, um, let’s talk about scale
Craig: [00:50:53] for me. So I started on Amazon late 2015, really had no understanding of how to do it. Had a few for, went better than I expected again and I was trying to get my Roi, whatever. I invested in courses classes. Uh, and then I actually, I kind of stumbled on private label fairly early on in 2016. I joined a mastermind group, which again, I hadn’t sold a ton, but I’m like if I can learn from coaches that can really help me scale, um, you know, this whole I can get my money back. So I invested in, I think it was about $5,000 and one of my coaches was Brandon Andrews who’s a pl, I don’t know if you’d like to be called the word Guru, but he’s awesome as well. Um, you know, just really helped me see the power of private label. And so I kinda started small again.
Craig: [00:51:50] I was working at a Christian camp full time and because of that growth of day camps, we’re in multiple states so I would pretty much from May until late August be traveling throughout the summer. So my business really almost shut down for four to five months of the year. So I needed something that I could step away and step back into. And private label was kind of that opportunity. Anyway, I finished 2016, I think with about $250,000 in sales, I can’t remember exactly. And then 2017 I finished with about just under 600,000 sales last year and this year we’re on pace to do about two and a half to 3 million. And again, I talked a little bit about changing our business model. Our hope is that next year that turns into 6 million up to 10 million. Um, and so it really is about thinking, planning ahead and what infrastructure do we need
Stephen: [00:52:50] because it’s a way different. Right?
Craig: [00:52:53] And I’m, I’m, I feel like I’m a longterm view guy. I’m not a short term, so if I don’t take a lot of profits today because I can build next year’s business, I’m totally good with that. You know, like I’d rather not have a huge bank account today if I can build a business for tomorrow that’s really going to continue to grow and expand. Um,
Stephen: [00:53:19] well let me ask you a question there because that’s important now that you have somebody else who has a vested interest in that because this is what, let me, let me do to this. One of the biggest challenges today is a, um, corporate America that publicly traded companies. The investors are not thinking longterm. They’re looking for, they’re returned today because most of the investors are, you know, funds, right? And I don’t care, they aren’t looking 10 years out. They’re looking to make money this quarter for their people. How do you again, cast division to say, Keith have faith. We have a plan. We’ve got to execute on the plan. I mean, that’s, that’s real.
Craig: [00:53:58] Yep. So we’ve talked about we, we just picked up a book in the last two months and started implementing it called profit first. I’m not sure.
Stephen: [00:54:14] I just met the author. We really hung out together. Philly, I’m going to have him on a Greek and he just wrote another book too, but he is sharp. That dude
Craig: [00:54:23] and he’s showing if you could list it on audible, I would recommend that we actually have. I have a hard copy and audible, but he’s just entertaining but super smart and you know, he’s made a ton of mistakes and so it created this fairly simple system, but it really is about calculating profits and it also is about not taking too much out of the piggy bank, so to speak and starving the business. And so it really gives a lot of good safety nets. And so Keith also has a longterm view. This is the end of the quarter coming up and so we both can draw on profits.
Stephen: [00:55:01] That’s a pro tip. So it’s a quarterly profit number.
Craig: [00:55:04] It is a quarterly and they only take. So every time you get paid from Amazon. I know other people listen that don’t sell on Amazon, but every, every two weeks we get a check. We split it into different buckets. So there’s a tax bucket, there’s a salary bucket, there’s a profit bucket, there’s an operating expense bucket. I’m missing one other ones. So if somebody’s listening would know, but you kind of like started to divide that out so it automatically pays you, it pays your profits, it saves her taxes. So there’s really not a lot of surprises and it really is a healthy way because I’d say last year I was always like, oh crap, how am I gonna come up with all those taxes
Stephen: [00:55:46] now the biggest problem in this business. Right,
Craig: [00:55:49] exactly. So this kind of solves that and Keith mindset, so we’re about to come to our quarterly profit taking, but we know that we’re investing the scale and you know, keep keep and I feel bad, you know, I want to give him his money before I get mine, but he’s like, Hey, can we take our profits at the end of q four so we have money that we can put it into inventory so early
Stephen: [00:56:11] he’s coming
Craig: [00:56:13] and I, I totally agree. It’s like, yeah, like I want all my money to go into inventory so that we can scale this business
Craig: [00:56:24] as I sit back and I think about that, that does take a special kind of person because again, most shareholders would want the money immediately got. I take my money immediately, but, but he sees that there’s probably not a better investment than putting it in. It’s like, you know, letting it ride almost, but when there’s only two numbers on the wheel, right, is that kind of a weird way to say it, you know, it’s like win or lose or you know, and, and, and so he’s like, oh, that’s a better risk. I like that. And that’s again, did you have to, did you, did you let him listen to the profit first or did he come with that mindset already? And I are pretty frugal overall, but I found the book and I can’t remember how I got wind of it, but I listened to it on audible, absolutely loved it.
Craig: [00:57:11] Said, hey keith, you should listen to this by the book. And uh, he did. He bought it that same day. I think he was listening to it. Um, and he was like, man, this makes total sense. And we worked, we worked for that Christian camp and we always were struggling every year to make me budget. It was just kind of like one of those things where we had experienced kind of not hitting budget for multiple years in a row and just being short and cash is always tight. And so I think that’s trained us to say, and we don’t want to live that again and it’s much easier when you’re, you know, just the two men show kind of make decisions, but I think we’ve, we’ve experienced the pain of it that it was Kinda like we want to be healthy at the end of the day and healthy is a long term thing. It’s not a quick fix. Um, and so, you know, you’ve got to invest into smart decisions that’s going to be healthy in the long term. And profit first truly does set you up to do that.
Stephen: [00:58:09] It’s funny you mentioned health. You and I share a passion for hell, trying to get healthy. We built about the same weight. I think I’m a smidge older than you. Um, and we’re in a group of, uh, happen to be all men. It wasn’t by design, but it is. And we’re all kind of following the same thing, but it’s a very encouraging group because we’re all trying to really cause the understanding that your health is, your freedom is such a big deal. There’s no way you could have coached those boys had you not had your health. Right. There’s no way I’m that longterm. You could look three to five years out with this plan to grow to, you know, eight figures without a seven figure. Sorry, I got you an eight figure. Sorry about that. No pressure, no pressure. But at seven figures, you know, without your health. And that’s mental and physical. And so I think it’s just so important when, when you look at. Go for it. Yeah, please.
Craig: [00:59:04] I totally agree. I feel like it kind of creates this. You have more fuel in the engine so to speak. You’re not dragging, you just got this energy that’s just different and you feel different. And I liked my posture is different. Uh, so, you know, I, I let my health slide. When you’re raising kids, you kind of like our go and go and go and you can grab meals when you can
Stephen: [00:59:30] those French fries at the baseball game and
Craig: [00:59:37] completely checked out.
Stephen: [00:59:38] You’re not even mindless.
Craig: [00:59:41] I’m just putting food in my mouth so I totally think differently, but the one thing that I’d like to say about that group, and it’s not necessarily just this group because you can get it other places, but I think there’s a level of accountability and I used to think of accountability as a really bad word because I’m a flexible guy. I like to do whatever I want day to day and I don’t want it to be so tied into some schedule or formula and but yet this accountability of people that they have my back and they want what’s best for me as I do for them. Like if you’re a solo entrepreneur, I’d say partner with somebody who’s not necessarily doing the same thing you are, but the kids still be private label but have that accountability or you can check in and they’re helping you towards your goals. They’re giving you feedback. They’re giving you the tools and tips. I mean, this group has been so helpful for me on a health wise and I’m not an expert and I learn things new. Um, but it’s fun. It’s engaging. It’s not a negative accountability out. It’s not a boss accountability, so to speak. It’s like, Hey, I’m a friend who wants what’s best for you and we’re on this journey together and that’s, that’s super powerful and that’s been a game changer for me that I really didn’t appreciate. Before joining
Stephen: [01:00:55] group. I think you said this, that you would have never stuck with this, had you not had that group that is. So Andy was here today and we sat here talking about it. Both of us would have been onto the next fad diet, right? We would have all jumped right on, but now there’s a whole group of us. We have a new person who just joined and all I see is encouragement. Like, Hey, you know, and he’s asking the right questions and it’s just so cool again, because it’s so freeing. I mean, it’s like freeing to me when you see that. And like you said, nobody’s holding you accountable, but at the potential, I guess we’re back to the beginning of the conversation, you start to see the potential and you’re like, well, maybe, maybe I can do this, you know, maybe maybe I can make it, you know, um, to that next level. And this is the longest. And I think by far in that group, I think almost every single person would say this is the longest they’ve been committed to something without giving up. Uh, I think most people would say that, right?
Craig: [01:01:53] It’s been amazing because I would have lasted, I would say probably two weeks.
Stephen: [01:01:57] Yeah, two weeks. That’s usually what it is. I need to go back to your old habits. That’s how I always used to say when I change something in a company, I’d go in and they bring me in to fix it. I’m like, it’s going to work for two weeks and we’re going to slip right back. So let’s get through that next pain point and then we’ll get to that next place. And, uh, so. All right, so I think we’re always going to go and I just want to, because don’t, I don’t want to take it out too long. I want to make that we talk about fear, okay? Because I think, I think that, that you have this gift of optimism and I think that that is an absolute gift because you got trust and you see things and you have this, this kind of ability to see things that others don’t see, right? You know, uh, the Bruce Willis quote, I see dead people or the guy in that movie, I see dead people, right? So, but there’s still a fear. How do you get past that point of fear because it’s still has to creep into your life.
Speaker 4: [01:02:48] Well, it’s definitely the fear of the unknown and you know, that taking that risk, um, and when you hire somebody else, you know, you’re now taking on another family who’s counting on you. And so it’s one of those things where you really do have to process through, but a lot of it is just, it’s truly is mental. So I think facing on and saying, okay, is this are, is this the first time anybody has done something like this? Kind of thinking outside of yourself and saying what I am doing kind of has never been done before and I don’t mean that in a business model perspective, but just like taking on risk, growing, taking on more employees. I think that’s what most people shut down is because they kind of keep looking at their skill set and saying it can’t be done and I have that same thing.
Speaker 4: [01:03:45] It’s, I have a more of a fear of success that, you know, there’s risk involved. I’m going to be challenged. I don’t have what it takes to do this. Um, and so stepping out and experiencing pain, experiencing things that you really aren’t an expert on that’s out of your comfort zone, like those are, those are very powerful things when you get on the other side of them and they only make you stronger and they tend to build muscle. So when you face your fear, you are not only helping your business, but you’re building a muscle that will get you through that pain point when it comes on to the next challenge in life, whatever it is, because you really don’t know. And so you’re trying to, in my instance, it’s more like I’m going to go after this and I have to persevere and I’m going to get it wrong.
Speaker 4: [01:04:38] And I, I’m totally good with getting things wrong. I do it all the time, like, I guess wrong all the time, but that’s part of growing. You learn from that and hopefully you don’t make that same mistake again, but you got to step out. Otherwise your business won’t scale. And um, it’s just, it can be frustrating and limiting and at the end of the day you’re kind of letting yourself down. Um, and that’s Kinda like what this health group, you know, like when I kept giving a on a, on a diet, I just was letting myself down over and over. And so I kind of tie it back to that as I’ve got to learn to persevere and stick through. And things are hard and things I don’t like and things that aren’t comfortable and walking into the unknown because it’s going to make me a better person and hopefully a better example to my kids and others that are around me that, you know, like these are not impossible barriers, but you’ve got to work at them and they’re not, they’re not gonna come easy. There’s not always a simple formula or a magic bullet that’s gonna fix every single thing. And, um, I just always hear like the hardest things in life sometimes are the best things in life. Those are the things that are going to grow you the most, even though they’re really challenging at the time. They’re really worth it in the end. And that’s a powerful lesson to learn
Stephen: [01:05:56] to coach. This is the coach right here when go back to sports, but it’s absolutely true. How many times have you told that kid that? And yet you can tell them that and you don’t believe it yourself. Right? So that’s very powerful. A couple takeaways I’m going to take from this conversation. First off, building out your fear muscle. I love that. I think that’s such a great example, right? You got to build it out, you got to get through the pain, you’re going to have to get, it’s going to hurt, but it’s gonna get bigger. It’s going to get better. So build that Sol mitigating risk the way you described mitigating risk by using, you know, the pick four and by using. I’m sorry, by using profit first to help minimize risk. I think that that’s powerful stuff that a lot of people aren’t doing. And so that also reduces fear, right? Yep. Yeah, absolutely.
Stephen: [01:06:45] So, okay, so the goal of. Well, let’s, let me ask this first. If somebody wants to follow up with a follow up question, what’s the best way to get you a facebook is fine and I’ll put your link there. So it’s facebook messenger and I’ll, I’ll put a link there on this episode. So the goal of this podcast is to help people get past the point of stuck and you know, coach Craig, you know, we’re the fifth grade class man. We’re, we’re struggling, we’re struggling, we’re gonna, you know, we’re, we’re down at the team is down right? Last Guy, he’s up to bat and it’s, we’re losing something fierce. What’s your best advice to get people past that point is stuck
Speaker 4: [01:07:21] to take action. I mean, that’s. I think that’s. I actually helped coach and I work with other people, um, as well. And I have a lot of people who asked me for private label advice and you know, for me, I tell people there is no perfect private label product. I think pupils are, they’re just looking for this mystery is amazing. I’m a unicorn to jump out and go, oh, I found the perfect product. Well it won’t last for long. So sometimes it’s take action on things that you know you can control. There are a step in the right direction. I talk about base hits versus home runs, you know, people always want to hit home runs, but it’s like, you know, what? Build the base hits and eventually you’re gonna get home runs. But if you only go for home runs, you know, get used to striking out a lot.
Speaker 4: [01:08:10] But at the end of the day, you want to get up to the plate and you want to make progress. So to me it’s continuing to take action at the end of the day and not. I think people get analysis paralysis in, you know, like they just overthink things. And to me, you know, the lessons that are learned are taking action and going, okay, what went well, what didn’t go well, how can I adjust, how can I pivot from here, um, without necessarily sinking the ship to so you don’t wanna you don’t want, you know, foreclosed on your home in these decisions. So I’m not trying to say take action in a way that is totally banned. Like what’s that risk calculated risks. Yeah,
Stephen: [01:08:49] yeah, yeah. Now I got back, dude, I’m blown away. I’m so excited. I mean because as you were saying that I see the weight loss thing, we’re taking action, we’re pushing past it, we’re taking those small hits as you say right there. Just base hits. But when they start building, and you know, it’s funny because there’s two groups now because we’ve added a strength group to it too, and it’s just so cool. When I see somebody doing it and I get inspired, I’m like, all right, I can do that too, you know? And, and it’s so encouraging. There’s so much. It’s so, it’s so crossover. And again, your, your, uh, your net worth is your network man. And I’m just so lucky to have you as part of mine. So man, I really appreciate it. I wish you nothing but success. Thank you so much.
Speaker 4: [01:09:32] Yeah, you’re very welcome. My pleasure. This has been a lot of fun. I really appreciate it. And it’s been great getting to know you over time.
Stephen: [01:09:40] And what a great guy. Um, I’m very fortunate to get to know him and again, we have this group that we do and it’s so cool to see people be vulnerable. You know, you’re a real vulnerable in there because, you know, you were showing pictures of wait a software we use and you could see a, you see each other’s weight to be scales or you see people weight lifting and you’re looking at. I was weightlifting the other day and there’s a young lady at the college who is lifting a heck of a lot more than me and she was half my size and that’s intimidating, but you know what, I’m going to get there. I didn’t took me 53 years to get into shape. It’s gonna take me some time to undo it. So very cool to be with guys or people like this. And I meet guys only don’t mean it that way. But um, it’s very cool to find these people in your life and, and to me, you’ve got to embrace them and you’ve got to sow into them and build them up because guess what, they pull you along if you’re so lucky. And I’ve been very, very fortunate to meet people like Craig and uh, I’m just, I’m a much better person for it. He commerce momentum.com, ecommerce momentum dot compton.
Cool voice guy: [01:10:41] Thanks for listening to the ECOMMERCE momentum podcast. All the links mentioned today can be found at incomers. Momentum dot come under this episode number. Please remember to subscribe and like us on itunes.
