Building a Product-Based Business with Nick Barrett

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The best companies are created when the founder makes themselves, you know, irrelevant and not needed.

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That's how you are going to get the best value for your brand is that if someone that acquires it doesn't think that they need you to make it work.

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They can just plug in another CEO.

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They can pay a quarter of the amount or whatever that you would want and go from there.

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Welcome to The Wayfinder Show with Luis Hernandez, where guests discuss the why and how of making changes that led them down a more authentic path or allow them to level up in some area of their life.

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Our goal is to dig deep and provide not only knowledge, but actionable advice to help you get from where you are to where you want to be.

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Come join us and find the way to your dream life.

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Welcome back to the Wayfinder show.

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I'm your host, Louie Hernandez.

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And today I'm here with Nick Barrett.

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Nick is the founder of Chordbrick.

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Chordbrick is a nifty little device that I will let Nick describe himself to you on the show.

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Nick is an entrepreneur in a product development who is Also, a recovering alcoholic of seven plus years.

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His mission to build something extends beyond his patented creation to inspire others to build something and to share their creation with the world.

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So Nick, welcome to The Wayfinder Show.

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Hey, Louie.

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Thanks for having me here.

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Yeah, thanks for being here, man.

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I'm excited.

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I want to thank you, you know, right off the top with your vulnerability and, willingness to share some of, your recovery, process.

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So that's good.

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But before we do that, let's just talk about cord brick real quick, and I'd love to know exactly what that is, and, I don't want to do any injustice in my description, so why don't you describe it for us?

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Sure, yeah, I mean, I've given the pitch like 10, 000 times at this point, so I've got it down pretty quick, the original problem I had was my phone cord was always falling off my nightstand.

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And my thought was, why can't I just invent a little brick that doesn't have adhesive and you can move it on, any bedside table or even right on your bedsheet.

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And then, I wanted to be able to solve multiple problems with the product too, because I thought that would create, competitive advantage for us.

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And I thought maybe we.

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And patented if we did that.

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And so I put these little end channels on it and you can snap, wrap, trap your cord on the brick, and then you can unwrap untangled too.

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So it basically stays with your cord all the time.

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And then, if you flex open those side jaws and kind of set, the brick on one side or on the backside, you can stand your phone as well.

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So it kind of becomes a, phone accessory and because it's with your charging cord all the time, that's kind of useful around any charging station too.

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So, yeah, neat.

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I'll definitely have to order a few cause I, I'm looking at my desk right now and I got one, two, three, four, five cables all over the place.

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It drives me nuts and I haven't found a good solution to that.

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that seems like a good one.

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Perfect.

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Now we got a, we got a bigger one desperate too.

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So for at a desk, it may be better.

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It has little side pockets to stand your phone too.

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So that's our second product that just came out this year too.

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That's awesome.

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Yeah, I did see that.

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So, you know, let's backtrack a little bit then.

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I love hearing the human story.

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We kind of started the Wayfinders show with that, as I mentioned before the show, just really hearing people's stories and what they went through and overcome it.

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Cause I find that to be brilliant, inspiring.

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So can you share a little bit about, you know, you've been sober now for seven plus years and, what that looked like maybe before and, the depth of it, what was your bottom like and how'd you get out of that?

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Sure.

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Yeah.

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I'm very fortunate to have had my last drink on March 10th, 2017.

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when I got a third DUI.

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And so that was, what really, woke me up.

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I had been aware there was obviously a problem with the first and the second one.

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the second one being about six months before that, that third one, I was really in a downward spiral there near the end, which is common among, people who, But yeah, you know, I pretty much started drinking at a fairly young age, 16 or so loved it immediately, took away the social anxiety, that feeling of discomfort and was, you I felt like I was able to kind of fit in more or at least feel more comfortable with myself.

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they call it a social lubricant, right?

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it really didn't, progress to a point where it was a problem for quite some time.

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But, as some people say who are in AA, it's a progressive disease.

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It gets worse, never better.

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over time it slowly picked up.

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I needed more to get the same feeling.

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over several years, about 12 years or so, when I went to college at 18, I really got consistent with the drinking then.

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and I was lucky enough to really never get into too many other substances.

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I don't, didn't really ever have a lot of money or, wasn't willing to sell my last possession to, to, you know, Get involved in stuff like that.

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And I think too, I knew people would find out if I was really spending, spending money like that and, you know, needed to ask for money.

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I mean, our first couple of jobs, I worked in marketing.

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I did graduate college at Penn state, worked in marketing, worked in sales, worked in property management, and, you know, did fairly well at those jobs.

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I think people, some people would call me a functioning alcoholic.

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I think there's varying degrees to functioning alcoholism.

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So, you know, some people go their entire career being able to kind of function and proceed.

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And then, other people, you know, aren't able to get a job or get employed at all with it.

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So there's certainly varying levels of severity, but that was kind of how it ended for me, was just picking up every day and, you know, I was an everyday drinker and, then, by myself drinker.

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So.

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you know, just kind of hiding it, right.

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And, you know, sticking to myself and, that was a solution to all my problems.

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So I kind of knew I needed a solution to that or needed to stop for a few years before I did.

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And I think I even remember in college thinking like, this doesn't, I don't act the same way that other people do.

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I don't, you know, the other people don't seem to have the need or the desire to drink so frequently that I do.

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so it was pretty much right away that I.

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Kind of knew something was different, but it really didn't hit the fan, if you will, until, a dozen years down the road.

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Yeah, wow.

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So that third DUI was kind of like, they say, your bottom.

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Was that really the signal?

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Yeah.

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Yeah, I mean, I think people experience varying degrees of bottoms.

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Like when you stop does not have to be your worst moment, right?

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It could be at any time.

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and you know, most people do Kind of seemed to stop at, a real, point like that.

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That's a, getting awoken by something.

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For me, it was the law.

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And with the third DUI, they actually wouldn't let me leave jail without an alcohol ankle monitor on my ankle.

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So, I mean, you could imagine.

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And like going from there to starting a business, you know, I really had no confidence.

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I was, completely at that bottom and no self esteem, completely lost in the world.

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Didn't really know where my place was.

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So it's been an incredible transformation, for me personally since then.

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Yeah.

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Congratulations.

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It's tremendous.

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Thank you.

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I'm wondering for recovery, did you decide that you join AA or did you go to a rehabilitation center or what did you do?

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Yeah.

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So first I was fortunate enough to go to a rehab center, actually here in Naples and really quickly started going to AA meetings.

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we were allowed to leave the rehab center and attend AA meetings, which was really nice.

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In this community, there's several rehab centers.

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And so, there's actually quite a few AA meetings, in this particular area, Florida itself has quite a lot of recovery centers.

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I was going to two and three meetings a day.

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I would go to back to back meetings.

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I'd go to meetings in the morning and at night.

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it was a critical part of me getting sober.

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And I think what that was, was.

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What really helped was just hearing other people kind of tell my story and other people describe the same types of things that I was feeling and thinking and doing, and seeing where it had gotten them and the type of different trouble, that they had experienced and kind of then just realizing like, okay, like this is a real thing for me and it would be better if I stayed on this path and stayed sober and see what I could do otherwise, because it was totally ruining my life before that.

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When you hear the stories of others, right, I'm sure there were some people who had, just more craziness that came with it, right?

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Did that help you to realize, Hey, you know, I ain't so bad or I ain't so good or, you know, like, yeah, how bad it got for me.

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I mean, it's hard to say like where that is in the scale of, how bad it gets for people before they quit, like a lot of people quit with, having gotten zero DUIs, and just, realizing that it was affecting their home life.

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and so then other people, you know, are in jail multiple times, go to multiple rehabs.

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Luckily, this was my first rehab, and, attempt at really quitting.

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I probably quit, two times before then on my own for about 30 days.

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But I mean, besides that I could count on one or two hands, the number of days that I did not drink before that, in the previous 10 plus years.

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So, this was really my first full attempt at going for it.

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And so, I had a lot of help on the way, a lot of support from family, which I'm very fortunate about place, a place to stay, which is one of the reasons, that I created this build something mission and we donate to construct housing that sober housing for people when they first get off the street.

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and you know, that's managed by approved organizations, helps them get jobs and stuff like that.

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Without that support and the network here in Naples, I'm not sure it would have gone so well, but it was a really good environment for me to be here personally.

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So, you know, a lot of times when we, drink, I've had my own, experiences with alcohol as well.

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I think I always considered myself a functional alcoholic and so therefore I didn't really consider myself an alcoholic.

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but I now look back now that I don't really drink, and think like, man, I drank a lot.

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And some of these behaviors I exhibited just were not functional.

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They were not good.

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So, I wonder now being clean for so long, you start to realize how much the alcohol was, almost hiding some of the internal issues, we were dealing with.

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Right.

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Does that make sense?

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Yeah.

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I mean, the thing that, I've heard is the reason that people drink and do drugs is because they want to change the way they feel broadly speaking, they don't feel good.

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They're either depressed or anxious, which is, not staying present in the moment.

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they want to relax, let the steam off.

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I think some people for whatever reason, I personally don't think it's a disease.

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I think it's a kind of a learned behavior.

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I've changed that opinion with new data and people I've heard talk about it, but it's kind of irrelevant either way.

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Once you fall into it, it can be really tough to stop you know, I know from experience, so.

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Yeah, so tell us more about build something.

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I'm assuming that has something to do with the housing you were talking about, right?

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Yeah, so, we created this company cord break and we sell basically tiny little bricks.

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They're silicone and they're weighted.

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Because the recovery mission was kind of so close to my heart.

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I was fortunate enough to have sober housing when I first got sober and what that means is basically, a house where there's no alcohol in it, right?

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at least for me it was, but there's managed sober housing, which is what, we donate to, a portion of our proceeds, portion of our profits.

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and that's kind of like, it's a nonprofit organization.

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They build the housing, they maintain the housing, the drug test people, they help them get jobs, make sure they're going to meetings and kind of get their start.

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Back, you know, help them start a new life from coming off the street or coming from rehab or coming from jail and stuff like that.

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So, yeah, that, that's part of the mission.

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And then, because this has been so rewarding for me personally built a lot, you know, the, the, the building, the company is what I mean.

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and, and staying sober, you know, I, I do want to pass that on to other People I'm actually going to a local university, next week, which will be my fourth semester or so speaking to this entrepreneurship class.

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and I, I'd love to do more of that, because it's just really fun to talk to young people and show them something that's kind of relatable.

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Like I think they can see themselves inventing the product that I made.

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And so, at least when I was younger, I used to think like, Oh, everything's been invented.

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How can I possibly think of something new?

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but you know, really you can always think of, there's always new ideas, new problems to solve.

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And so, it's nice to show people, inspire them, maybe to kind of create something themselves and then talk about how rewarding it's been for me from a self esteem standpoint as well, so that's kind of the, what drives me, I guess.

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Yeah, that's neat.

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You know, I think oftentimes when we go on the entrepreneurial journey, we start by thinking that we have to have something very original.

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Right.

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And I've come to, in my journey, recognize that it doesn't have to be original, just have to execute better most of the time.

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however, in your case, you do have something pretty original.

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which is interesting because it's, I'm a big believer there's very few original, ideas, products, all that.

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How did that come about?

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Well, I know you were just looking for something to, you know, yeah.

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I mean, I had a lot of ideas.

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I think it's the best way to answer this question.

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Like this was not my first idea.

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I think most entrepreneurs would say that they've had, you know, but they have ideas all the time.

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And they just can't get to all of them.

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I had worked a bunch of different jobs and I'd had this idea for like three or four years before I actually started the process of, really diving into it and pursuing it at a pretty much full time basis.

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one of the reasons I actually chose this product to do of my other ideas was because I thought, okay, this thing is really unique.

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there's really nothing like it.

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So I have a competitive advantage.

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And what a lot of people would say is that's the blue ocean strategy.

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you're creating a whole new market.

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There's no competition that you're really, facing.

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Or at least, you know, you're different than the competition somehow.

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You kind of create a new category.

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there were weighted cord holders, but there's nothing that also wraps your cord and there's nothing that stands your phone.

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So that's like three plus features in one product.

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And so I knew that that was a competitive advantage.

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And the other thing I knew was, or at least I thought I knew, was This thing is really small and it's really simple.

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It's not like I'm developing a piece of technology or a phone or a car, something very expensive with a lot of different parts and things that I'm unfamiliar with.

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Like I thought, okay, it's a piece, it's a brick of silicone.

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Like how expensive could it be to get some aid and try to sell them?

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so I kind of did that thinking that it would be pretty low risk for me to start a business with, and I wouldn't need much capital, which I didn't have.

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And I had to, ask friends and family for the first couple thousand dollars to start investing in different.

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Things like molds and other things.

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And, turned out I had to go get a lot more money than I thought.

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Probably 10 times as much money as I originally had planned for.

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so, you know, that's something to consider when you're starting a business, how much more you might actually need, I mean, that was kind of the reason that I decided to do this particular product, I think, like you said, you don't always need to do something completely original, but I think it's important that, you identify pretty early, like what's your competitive advantage and how are you different than the other people and who are you selling to?

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Like, who's your customer and why are they going to pay you specifically?

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What do you offer them that other people can't offer them somehow?

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Sure.

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yeah, going back to the funding.

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It's funny, I have a friend who's, he's a serial entrepreneur and he's started a bunch of companies that have always been successful.

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He talks about figuring out how much money he needs to start a company.

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He said, the answer is always more.

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Exactly.

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You think it's, it's a small, You know minimal viable product as they say and really you need more but what about a lot of people Go ahead.

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Sorry to interrupt you there No, I think one thing a lot of people don't realize is like you think okay i'm gonna have this twenty thousand dollar marketing budget Okay.

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Well, the first half of that you're gonna spend testing and failing so it's not gonna pay off, right?

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you're gonna have to learn in Each new channel and set up all these different things that you need to even participate in that channel.

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at a reasonable, comparison to competitors.

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it's going to be difficult to kind of get established and be able to come up with a fair offering when you're just ordering the minimum amount of product, when you're packaging and other things aren't fully developed and your messaging is still getting massaged.

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because other people have been doing it for longer.

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Yeah.

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I'm curious how you feel about oftentimes there's a limiting belief that people have when they come up with an idea that they don't want to share it with anybody.

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Right.

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Yes.

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And, I, I'm curious to know what you think about that.

00:16:14.923 --> 00:16:18.192
Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm pretty passionate about this actually.

00:16:18.232 --> 00:16:29.712
when I first thought of the idea, one of the first things I did was I took my product to a mall and, the product that I had made, I should say, I went to Michael's about modeling clay.

00:16:29.712 --> 00:16:34.283
I created a little brick, I redid it three or four times to make it look, nice and presentable.

00:16:34.283 --> 00:16:36.863
And then I took it out and I said, Hey, what would you pay for this?

00:16:37.273 --> 00:16:40.413
You know, cause I wanted to test and see like, what would, what would people's comments be?

00:16:40.413 --> 00:16:46.472
And the first couple of people were like, Oh, I pay five, 10, Wow, 20 for this little thing.

00:16:46.472 --> 00:16:53.153
I mean, and then, you know, I pretty much got responses right away that people were experiencing this problem that they understood, et cetera.

00:16:53.513 --> 00:16:59.623
You know, it was hard because when you're doing market research and stuff, people don't want to let you down and they don't want to tell you the truth maybe.

00:16:59.623 --> 00:17:02.072
So I tried to pretend that it wasn't my invention.

00:17:02.072 --> 00:17:03.812
I was showing it for someone else too.

00:17:04.053 --> 00:17:06.272
but I, you know, I seem to get good feedback from people.

00:17:06.932 --> 00:17:12.823
But that continued and, it was really helpful along the way to continue getting feedback from people and make iterations.

00:17:13.143 --> 00:17:20.113
The first thing I always tell other entrepreneurs when I'm advising them or they tell me they have an idea, maybe they don't tell me even what the idea is.

00:17:20.113 --> 00:17:23.792
As I say, you know, do not be afraid to share your idea with people.

00:17:23.803 --> 00:17:25.502
People are not going to steal your idea.

00:17:25.897 --> 00:17:29.768
The only time someone's going to steal your idea is if it's successful first.

00:17:30.008 --> 00:17:34.248
they probably won't steal the idea if you haven't proved it yet.

00:17:34.458 --> 00:17:36.428
the other thing is it's your idea.

00:17:36.617 --> 00:17:38.597
entrepreneurs are mostly visionaries.

00:17:38.627 --> 00:17:42.847
So they have a vision for how the product or service or whatever should be.

00:17:43.147 --> 00:17:44.738
and so if it's your idea.

00:17:45.222 --> 00:17:47.022
I mean, how are people going to get into your head?

00:17:47.123 --> 00:17:53.742
people always overestimate what people think that they think they can read that people think that other people can read their mind, but they can't.

00:17:53.803 --> 00:18:00.303
so, you know, don't be afraid of like, just, you know, at least sharing the minimum concept with other people.

00:18:00.303 --> 00:18:01.383
Cause they'll poke holes in it.

00:18:01.413 --> 00:18:04.353
And they'll just help you think of other things that you wouldn't have thought of otherwise.

00:18:04.623 --> 00:18:06.323
And again, my experience is.

00:18:06.682 --> 00:18:16.143
You know, unless you're talking to the absolute perfect person in the world who, you know, wants to do this exact same thing, which is pretty unlikely, they're not going to steal your idea.

00:18:16.423 --> 00:18:22.032
if it hasn't been proven the way that investment work works is, the investors, They don't really care about the idea.

00:18:22.063 --> 00:18:23.192
They care about the sales.

00:18:23.202 --> 00:18:26.942
You have to go prove it on some scale first before you can even get investment.

00:18:26.952 --> 00:18:36.323
So it's the same thing for anybody else really wanted to start up a company, or who's going to go, they're going to have to go back to their investors or whoever their money sources and say, here's why I think it's going to work.

00:18:36.323 --> 00:18:41.653
But if they don't have any proof yet, If they haven't done it, themselves, then it's going to be unlikely to succeed.

00:18:41.792 --> 00:18:46.292
Then even if you start creating your product, they're going to have to compete with you.

00:18:46.673 --> 00:18:52.282
So it doesn't really make sense from a risk standpoint to go compete with something that's already selling.

00:18:52.492 --> 00:19:00.133
you should just create something new or different, to not go, cause you're gonna have to Go lower on price or do something better than the original person is doing it.

00:19:00.143 --> 00:19:04.873
So, maybe someone will do that, but, I tend to think it's more unlikely.

00:19:04.893 --> 00:19:05.982
It's better to share your idea.

00:19:06.627 --> 00:19:06.968
Yeah.

00:19:07.167 --> 00:19:08.067
No, I'm with you.

00:19:08.317 --> 00:19:15.268
And I think, we look at the best, technology companies out there in the world and when they come up with a new product, they just open source it now, right?

00:19:15.538 --> 00:19:27.337
anybody can take it and steal it or whatever, but they just put it out there for everybody to test it, create a beta model, give it away and, then it grows very quickly, they discover, product market fit quicker.

00:19:27.928 --> 00:19:29.008
I mean, it's the way to do it.

00:19:29.682 --> 00:19:32.653
what you're building is your brand, you know, that's what you're going to be selling.

00:19:32.712 --> 00:19:37.692
it's only in certain sectors is your intellectual property or your trade secret really that critical?

00:19:37.712 --> 00:19:46.893
it is the brand that people are acquiring at the end of the day because there's going to be knockoffs and stuff like that, which there already have been of my product actually So, I can tell you so far.

00:19:46.952 --> 00:19:55.472
it's not been that big of a deal in year four so Something pretty easy to copy still really hasn't seen a lot of knockoffs in year four.

00:19:55.472 --> 00:19:57.083
And I've been telling people about this for years.

00:19:57.093 --> 00:20:00.353
So here's a good example of maybe why not to be worried about it.

00:20:00.847 --> 00:20:01.077
Yeah.

00:20:01.077 --> 00:20:01.577
Good point.

00:20:02.028 --> 00:20:03.018
what's your growth been like?

00:20:03.018 --> 00:20:03.738
Like, where'd you go?

00:20:03.758 --> 00:20:04.837
You said four years.

00:20:05.258 --> 00:20:05.657
Yeah.

00:20:06.307 --> 00:20:10.357
so year one, we basically were like full development, very end of year one.

00:20:10.438 --> 00:20:14.627
we just made a couple thousand dollars on the, we were in Q4.

00:20:15.248 --> 00:20:15.718
What was that?

00:20:15.718 --> 00:20:17.837
2020, 2021.

00:20:18.258 --> 00:20:28.387
And, just got a few, hundred units sold or so, maybe a thousand, and then, year two, we 10 X that, year three, we five and a half X that.

00:20:28.647 --> 00:20:30.067
so we've grown considerably.

00:20:30.097 --> 00:20:34.528
I expect a two or three X it's always harder to, keep those multiples up as you get larger.

00:20:34.758 --> 00:20:36.788
but, you know, we could do a two or three X this year.

00:20:36.877 --> 00:20:39.647
and then, it could be that again for the next couple of years.

00:20:40.087 --> 00:20:43.597
what's really interesting is we've got three different sales channels with this product.

00:20:43.637 --> 00:20:44.238
We've got.

00:20:44.472 --> 00:20:47.853
The direct to consumer, which is my website and Amazon and things like that.

00:20:48.103 --> 00:20:49.502
we've got the retail channel.

00:20:49.532 --> 00:20:56.232
It works great in retail because being a weighted product, when people pick it up, they actually feel the weight, which is a little tougher to communicate online.

00:20:56.512 --> 00:20:59.393
Whenever I'm in person with people, I always put one in their hands right away.

00:20:59.393 --> 00:21:02.583
And they, you know, something with a weight just has like a premium feel to it.

00:21:02.843 --> 00:21:03.303
Hmm.

00:21:03.303 --> 00:21:04.073
Something about it.

00:21:04.403 --> 00:21:06.413
and then now we have the promotional products channel.

00:21:06.722 --> 00:21:14.923
because it makes a really great promo item, like putting logos on it and giving it away for a company to their employees, to their customers, especially like high ticket items.

00:21:14.923 --> 00:21:17.702
I mean, imagine your logo, like right on someone's nightstand every night.

00:21:17.702 --> 00:21:21.413
The last thing they see, it's a great, you know, location, location, location for real estate.

00:21:21.413 --> 00:21:21.663
Right.

00:21:21.663 --> 00:21:29.133
So for a promotional item, especially being something new, unique, fairly inexpensive, I'm pretty excited about that channel as well.

00:21:29.353 --> 00:21:30.363
Yeah, that'd be great.

00:21:30.363 --> 00:21:35.863
I could see these, you know, when you go to conventions and such being, The giveaways at such places.

00:21:36.163 --> 00:21:37.143
They will be hopefully.

00:21:37.603 --> 00:21:38.423
Yeah, good.

00:21:38.722 --> 00:21:48.012
What has been like a real catalyst that you've seen to help your, you get to 10 X and five and a half X, you know, increases in, in sales.

00:21:49.823 --> 00:21:56.173
well, we're, we're very fortunate in that, the keyword stocking stuffers applies well to this product to cork brick.

00:21:56.522 --> 00:22:02.762
that was really how we kind of blew up a couple of years ago, or really in year two, when I had just jumped on Amazon.

00:22:03.242 --> 00:22:15.163
It's, it's extremely difficult to do, online advertising for an inexpensive product, because if you could imagine, you've got to have shipping, you've got to, you know, have, you know, there's, there's minimum credit card fees.

00:22:15.393 --> 00:22:20.313
and then, for advertising, there's basically a minimum click price, especially on these social media sites.

00:22:20.313 --> 00:22:22.992
And it's been increasing greatly, particularly since COVID.

00:22:23.462 --> 00:22:26.012
and you know, it's, people are competing for your attention.

00:22:26.478 --> 00:22:31.688
I mean, the best advertisers in the world are advertising on, the social media platforms, but that's where they know people are spending a lot of their time.

00:22:32.157 --> 00:22:40.958
and so, because I really kind of have to have people buy two or three or four of these at a time, it's been difficult to get that direct to consumer channel.

00:22:41.593 --> 00:22:50.032
Going, but the stocking stuffer thing on Amazon really kind of helped our product take off and me realize that, okay, this is not just a cord management product.

00:22:50.103 --> 00:22:51.603
It's a giftable item.

00:22:51.603 --> 00:22:58.163
And if you look at the category, the other things because they just do one thing or their adhesive and they're just worried about cord holding.

00:22:58.442 --> 00:23:03.192
and then if you look at cord wrapping things, you're just worried about cord wrapping and phone stands are just doing phone stands.

00:23:03.192 --> 00:23:06.192
This thing, because it can do kind of so many things, it's really giftable.

00:23:06.468 --> 00:23:09.768
And that stocking stuffer term kind of really helped us take off.

00:23:10.577 --> 00:23:19.228
and I think in the retail environment too, you know, there's not a lot of cord management products that you see at stores, but this is a little different again, because it kind of does do a lot of different things.

00:23:19.248 --> 00:23:20.137
It's reusable.

00:23:20.147 --> 00:23:22.298
There's, you know, it's not going to break or wear out.

00:23:22.557 --> 00:23:24.317
so, you know, customers seem to really like it.

00:23:25.313 --> 00:23:38.292
And then, kind of just being in multiple channels, I think has really helped that growth to, you know, a lot of products, they just work well in one channel online, just in store or just as a promotional item, but this one works well as all three.

00:23:38.502 --> 00:23:41.782
And so that I think is kind of what's leading to these multiples and sales increases.

00:23:42.837 --> 00:23:48.167
Did you already have any background, in starting a company that's selling a product before this?

00:23:48.678 --> 00:23:49.417
No, zero.

00:23:49.417 --> 00:23:51.807
I worked for, an adventure recreation company.

00:23:51.807 --> 00:23:54.057
I worked for a company who owned real estate.

00:23:54.057 --> 00:23:56.188
I worked for a company that developed websites.

00:23:56.208 --> 00:24:01.587
I guess I worked for a premium cigar company for about a year.

00:24:01.667 --> 00:24:03.597
To be honest, I'm not really a cigar smoker.

00:24:03.647 --> 00:24:05.258
and I wasn't incredibly passionate about that.

00:24:05.258 --> 00:24:28.587
So that was probably the closest I've had to working for a company that sold a product but we're again we were in marketing and so I was just doing like the online campaigns and supporting the sales people and stuff like that So I would imagine that you when you came up with the idea for this Usually the entrepreneurial journey is you have the idea and you think, okay, I just got to invent this thing and get it in the hands of people and then I'm going to become a multi zillionaire, right?

00:24:28.587 --> 00:24:30.667
This thing's going to be the next great item, right?

00:24:30.887 --> 00:24:31.567
That's right.

00:24:31.847 --> 00:24:37.238
And oftentimes what ends up happening is the getting it in the hands of people is the hardest part, right?

00:24:37.238 --> 00:24:39.387
That this people don't think enough about distribution.

00:24:39.387 --> 00:24:40.708
They only think about the creation.

00:24:40.718 --> 00:24:41.337
Am I right?

00:24:41.827 --> 00:24:42.367
That's it.

00:24:42.563 --> 00:24:43.752
So how did you deal with that?

00:24:43.752 --> 00:24:44.942
How did you transition?

00:24:45.113 --> 00:24:48.262
Cause I hear you speaking now and you're clearly in distribution mode.

00:24:48.643 --> 00:24:50.173
how did you go through that transition?

00:24:50.173 --> 00:24:52.833
what was, that evolution like for you?

00:24:52.942 --> 00:24:55.772
well, let me just start by saying we're in that transition right now.

00:24:55.772 --> 00:24:58.073
I mean, distribution is incredibly hard.

00:24:58.173 --> 00:24:59.012
you're absolutely right.

00:24:59.022 --> 00:25:04.502
It's, it's, it's way harder than the idea or the creation and making of the product.

00:25:04.913 --> 00:25:06.843
distribution to me means.

00:25:07.373 --> 00:25:08.843
Where are you going to sell it?

00:25:08.843 --> 00:25:14.782
And how are you going to get it to those customers for anybody who may not kind of understand the meaning of the term in this case?

00:25:14.782 --> 00:25:19.163
And so, like, how are you going to get the product in front of the customer?

00:25:19.442 --> 00:25:19.762
Right?

00:25:20.103 --> 00:25:21.732
so we do that in three ways.

00:25:21.752 --> 00:25:29.792
We do it online, and that's kind of split between my website and, you know, Amazon and other third party resellers in store, right?

00:25:29.792 --> 00:25:33.383
So you got to figure out how to get to the people who are going to put it in the store.

00:25:33.893 --> 00:25:38.323
And then the promotional product industry, and that's actually got a couple different layers to it.

00:25:38.932 --> 00:25:44.432
the way it usually works is I don't actually sell directly to the end buyer who buys the product with the logos on it.

00:25:44.482 --> 00:25:52.502
I actually sell to Joe's t shirts in every town in the U S that has a bunch of promotional products.

00:25:53.028 --> 00:26:02.847
You know, a big assortment for the people in their community or locally to come check out and look at because I think with promotional products you kind of want to see a Sample and stuff too.

00:26:02.998 --> 00:26:05.597
and see how the printing would work and color options and stuff like that.

00:26:05.607 --> 00:26:16.317
So, you know, a lot of times, like, you know, when I was working at the premium cigar company, for instance, we would have a guy come who, he had contacts to factors in China and he'd just bring us an assortment of stuff.

00:26:16.357 --> 00:26:18.397
You know, we didn't have to go looking for the promotional product.

00:26:18.448 --> 00:26:19.407
He'd bring us stuff.

00:26:19.728 --> 00:26:22.907
And we would just say that with the logo, with this logo, boom.

00:26:22.907 --> 00:26:23.157
Okay.

00:26:23.157 --> 00:26:23.688
Thank you.

00:26:23.942 --> 00:26:25.202
And he would go source it for us.

00:26:25.202 --> 00:26:26.712
And so this is kind of how it works.

00:26:26.712 --> 00:26:29.292
You know, I've connected with a bunch of these distributors.

00:26:29.353 --> 00:26:39.633
and then they are going to go out and actually reach out to the end buyers, the people looking for the logos, you know, 150, 500, a thousand of these at a time, and sell it to them.

00:26:39.663 --> 00:26:43.732
So, you know, the distribution in each of our channels, I think is different.

00:26:44.232 --> 00:26:51.053
Amazon, obviously, you put your upload your product on Amazon and you start advertising because you really can't reach customers if you don't advertise on Amazon.

00:26:51.053 --> 00:26:53.292
That's just the game, direct to consumer.

00:26:53.363 --> 00:26:55.113
The distribution has been very difficult.

00:26:55.363 --> 00:26:59.192
You've got to figure out which medium to advertise in, which one's going to be profitable.

00:26:59.202 --> 00:27:02.913
Test ads takes a lot of time to kind of develop the creative, learn the systems.

00:27:03.303 --> 00:27:09.923
there's plenty of other, you know, we just joined an email, list website called, grommet, if you go to the grommet.

00:27:09.932 --> 00:27:17.712
com, we just won a product of the week this past week, launching cord brick on there and, you know, made several thousand in sales, just getting on there.

00:27:17.732 --> 00:27:18.633
it's a cool concept.

00:27:18.633 --> 00:27:21.282
They actually don't even charge me anything to get on there.

00:27:21.313 --> 00:27:24.742
They just want to offer cool products to their customers and to their user base.

00:27:25.083 --> 00:27:33.173
Things like that are distribution, but there's so many different ways that you can, you know, pursue to, and spend money on getting your product out there.

00:27:33.173 --> 00:27:35.103
We've got an affiliate marketing agency.

00:27:35.103 --> 00:27:41.972
That's trying to get our product to people who write blogs for things like gift lists, which, stocking stuffers is such a great term for us.

00:27:42.222 --> 00:27:45.053
I want, we want Cord Break to be on the top 25 gifts, right?

00:27:45.053 --> 00:27:50.613
So we'll send them samples and probably no guarantee that they'll, put us anywhere, but we have a chance to be getting ranked somewhere on a list.

00:27:50.623 --> 00:27:51.452
things like that.

00:27:51.623 --> 00:28:00.843
third parties, affiliates in this case, influencers, et cetera, might want to promote the product because I think it applies to a lot of people and they get a little kickback on a commission or any sales.

00:28:01.627 --> 00:28:09.532
Have you tried going on any accelerators or, you know, different pitch programs or, you know, shark Tank, anything like that?

00:28:10.083 --> 00:28:10.413
you know what?

00:28:10.413 --> 00:28:12.363
I hear the Shark Tank thing all the time.

00:28:12.363 --> 00:28:14.073
I mean, I've been hearing it for years.

00:28:14.103 --> 00:28:15.962
it's something we may pursue eventually.

00:28:16.323 --> 00:28:19.863
I've got a little bit of inside information from people who've actually been on the show.

00:28:19.863 --> 00:28:19.952
Mm-Hmm.

00:28:20.232 --> 00:28:22.333
and I've actually met two sharks this year.

00:28:22.633 --> 00:28:22.722
Oh, wow.

00:28:22.722 --> 00:28:23.893
And who both love the product.

00:28:23.893 --> 00:28:26.472
So I've actually reached some of those people directly already.

00:28:27.173 --> 00:28:31.792
I think, when you're creating a business, you want to take the path of least resistance.

00:28:32.153 --> 00:28:39.603
you want to make every dollar as valuable as it possibly can be, and you want to make deals with people who are going to give you a fair shake.

00:28:39.843 --> 00:28:48.823
And I think the problem with shark tank, in my opinion, is that those five or six or seven panelists that they have, you know, routinely on the show.

00:28:49.528 --> 00:29:03.478
The competition for their money and their contacts is so high that, really as an entrepreneur, you can get a much better deal where you give away way less of your company and basically get the same thing from people who have, good connections as well with investors who don't have a TV show.

00:29:03.897 --> 00:29:22.347
so yeah, that's the strategy that I've been pursuing I've got, a couple products and maybe adding more a couple years down the road, if we don't take off, like, I think we're going to, I think Shark Tank would be a great option, to get the name out there and potentially make a deal with someone who's, proven to, know how to make businesses successful and grow them.

00:29:22.988 --> 00:29:23.407
Yeah.

00:29:23.682 --> 00:29:24.373
what, I'm curious.

00:29:24.373 --> 00:29:25.633
You said you met two of the sharks.

00:29:25.633 --> 00:29:26.462
Which ones did you meet?

00:29:28.333 --> 00:29:31.343
Damon, John, I met him at the promotional products trade show.

00:29:31.363 --> 00:29:32.202
he lives in Miami.

00:29:32.202 --> 00:29:39.012
And so this was in Orlando in January and he was walking by my booth with a bodyguard with his sunglasses on with his little matrix suit on.

00:29:39.012 --> 00:29:39.603
It was great.

00:29:39.932 --> 00:29:42.063
you know, looking just like a Lawrence Fishburne.

00:29:42.073 --> 00:29:42.673
It was awesome.

00:29:42.873 --> 00:29:43.423
I stopped him.

00:29:43.423 --> 00:29:49.333
I recognized him immediately and I'm like, Damon, and he's like, yeah, I'm like, can I get a picture?

00:29:49.333 --> 00:29:50.472
It was the first thing I thought.

00:29:50.833 --> 00:29:52.032
And he said, yeah, sure.

00:29:52.032 --> 00:29:52.462
Hurry up.

00:29:52.512 --> 00:30:00.032
so I gave my camera to his bodyguard and we went over, took a picture and I soon realized, like, as I'm taking the picture, standing there, I'm like whispering in his ear.

00:30:00.323 --> 00:30:02.073
you got to come check out my product after this.

00:30:02.083 --> 00:30:03.232
So he's like, all right, fine.

00:30:03.232 --> 00:30:03.613
What do you got?

00:30:03.613 --> 00:30:04.053
Hurry up.

00:30:04.343 --> 00:30:07.042
You know, he had somewhere to go and, he was just gonna walk by me.

00:30:07.042 --> 00:30:09.532
He wasn't really looking at anybody else's products along the way.

00:30:09.853 --> 00:30:12.373
so I started doing my pitch like real fast and he goes, stop.

00:30:12.373 --> 00:30:16.323
I'm like, Oh man, did I just like upset Damon John or something like that?

00:30:16.323 --> 00:30:18.363
And he says, he pulls his phone out of his pocket.

00:30:18.607 --> 00:30:19.928
And he goes, can you do that again?

00:30:19.958 --> 00:30:20.778
I'm going to record you.

00:30:20.778 --> 00:30:21.278
Is that okay?

00:30:21.278 --> 00:30:23.307
I'm like, yeah, like, of course.

00:30:23.728 --> 00:30:26.708
Uh, so I wish I had someone to actually record him recording me.

00:30:26.708 --> 00:30:27.458
That would have been the best.

00:30:27.837 --> 00:30:28.667
I was there by myself.

00:30:29.178 --> 00:30:32.958
And so he recorded me doing the pitch and, you know, he pointed his camera at my face.

00:30:32.958 --> 00:30:34.887
And so he's got my face somewhere on his phone.

00:30:35.137 --> 00:30:37.647
I haven't seen him again, but, I really appreciated that.

00:30:37.647 --> 00:30:38.877
And it was a super cool story.

00:30:38.877 --> 00:30:39.938
And, you know, we got the pictures.

00:30:39.938 --> 00:30:40.778
I share that around.

00:30:40.788 --> 00:30:42.127
The other one is Kevin Harrington.

00:30:42.468 --> 00:30:47.518
he was on the original, first season of Shark Tank, and ended up leaving, but, was an original shark.

00:30:48.248 --> 00:30:49.678
He's the creator of the infomercial.

00:30:49.837 --> 00:30:51.988
if you enjoy infomercials, thank Kevin Harrington.

00:30:51.998 --> 00:30:58.867
He's the first person to buy TV time to sell something, in the middle of the night, in Ohio, back in the eighties, he's an investor in Celsius, a beverage company.

00:30:58.867 --> 00:31:00.288
Most people are familiar with right now.

00:31:00.678 --> 00:31:02.208
and he's just a brilliant mind.

00:31:02.208 --> 00:31:04.637
So, I went to a special, event with him.

00:31:04.688 --> 00:31:17.048
And, actually I'm working, with his son right now on trying to, transmit what he knows about selling products and infomercials into an online funnel to send people directly to my website, because really my website, corebrick.

00:31:17.048 --> 00:31:23.768
com is, the best way for me to get customer information and be able to market them, new products that I'll have in the future.

00:31:23.948 --> 00:31:31.728
and at the end of the day, your customer list is a huge part of, your brand value when you're looking to get acquired, which is what we're going to try to do in a few more years.

00:31:32.018 --> 00:31:32.428
That's right.

00:31:33.218 --> 00:31:34.607
Wow, that's brilliant, man.

00:31:34.827 --> 00:31:37.907
Good for you for shooting your shot with, Damon John and Kevin Harrington.

00:31:37.917 --> 00:31:38.288
That's awesome.

00:31:38.298 --> 00:31:38.718
Got to.

00:31:39.597 --> 00:31:41.637
Yeah, I'm sure they're all listening to the show.

00:31:41.637 --> 00:31:45.698
So, Damon, go ahead and look for that video and, hit Nick up, man.

00:31:46.167 --> 00:31:47.587
Yes, send it to me, nickatcordbrick.

00:31:48.317 --> 00:31:49.018
com, Damon.

00:31:49.327 --> 00:31:49.928
That's right.

00:31:49.978 --> 00:31:50.597
That's right.

00:31:52.057 --> 00:31:53.597
Well, Nick, this has been fun.

00:31:53.597 --> 00:31:57.758
Let's, but we're around that time to, get into our world famous Wayfinder 4.

00:31:57.758 --> 00:31:58.678
So, are you ready?

00:31:58.678 --> 00:31:58.698
I'm ready.

00:31:59.837 --> 00:32:00.867
Yeah, man, let's do it.

00:32:01.268 --> 00:32:01.637
All right.

00:32:01.647 --> 00:32:09.577
So give us a hack and you use every day to shoot life with routine, app, habit, whatever.

00:32:11.798 --> 00:32:26.948
I would say probably, using AI every day, I mean, when I, when I'm doing something and, and even stuff, I think I know how to do, I've been double checking and asking chat GPT four Oh, different things and, it's been great for ideas.

00:32:26.998 --> 00:32:29.438
it helps with improving emails.

00:32:29.518 --> 00:32:31.008
it's good with responses.

00:32:31.008 --> 00:32:33.317
It can help me solve all kinds of problems.

00:32:33.347 --> 00:32:39.738
I mean, I basically never use these, you know, chat supports on different websites anymore.

00:32:39.738 --> 00:32:44.498
I pretty much just ask chat GPT first, anytime I'm having a problem doing anything.

00:32:44.553 --> 00:32:51.643
and, what's cool is it's got memory now, so, you know, you can kind of tell it what to remember about you and it considers that it's responses.

00:32:51.643 --> 00:32:58.032
So for anyone who's not, and I've actually talked to a lot of young people lately who are not using it and they say, well, I don't know what I'd use it for.

00:32:58.242 --> 00:33:01.633
And that just blows my mind because it just, you know, I mean everything.

00:33:01.633 --> 00:33:02.982
I mean, are you Google searching?

00:33:03.002 --> 00:33:04.163
Stop immediately.

00:33:04.593 --> 00:33:10.032
Just, start working with these AIs because these LLMs are going to be completely a part of your daily life, before too long.

00:33:10.032 --> 00:33:12.012
And if you're not using them, you're just going to get behind.

00:33:12.603 --> 00:33:12.923
Yeah.

00:33:13.423 --> 00:33:18.702
I mean, even Googling, you know, they now include their, AI in it too, and it's pretty darn good.

00:33:18.712 --> 00:33:19.032
Of course.

00:33:19.413 --> 00:33:19.663
Yeah.

00:33:19.883 --> 00:33:21.073
It's amazing how far it's come.

00:33:21.123 --> 00:33:26.083
I was kind of an early adopter in chat GPT, and then I kind of realized, it's kind of the same stuff.

00:33:26.083 --> 00:33:31.462
It wasn't terribly, so I stopped using it for a while and more recently I started using it again.

00:33:31.472 --> 00:33:32.403
Holy cow.

00:33:32.403 --> 00:33:33.093
Has it evolved?

00:33:33.163 --> 00:33:39.032
It is just, incredible how in about a year, how much it's evolved and how good it is.

00:33:39.032 --> 00:34:03.222
We're going to be having a few people on a, who are AI thought leaders, on the show to, cause I really want to understand it more in, in all different aspects, Not just ideation, but how it's going to affect society and all kinds of stuff, you know, so yeah, but yeah, How about a favorite this could be a book movie hobby?

00:34:03.532 --> 00:34:04.732
Activity whatever.

00:34:07.542 --> 00:34:11.773
i'm gonna go with my favorite new diet it's intermittent fasting.

00:34:11.972 --> 00:34:16.103
Okay, intermittent fasting has changed my life To an incredible degree.

00:34:16.202 --> 00:34:21.083
I was spending a lot of time, cooking and eating and doing the surrounding activities.

00:34:21.083 --> 00:34:24.302
And I've reduced my caloric amount significantly.

00:34:24.302 --> 00:34:26.503
I've reduced the amount of time that I spend eating.

00:34:26.943 --> 00:34:28.713
I think it's easier on my digestive system.

00:34:28.983 --> 00:34:30.313
it's helped me sleep better.

00:34:30.322 --> 00:34:32.992
I've been following, rules of not eating before bedtime.

00:34:33.282 --> 00:34:42.402
and I think like when you're well rested and you're focused I mean, whenever I would eat, like a lot of times in the past, I really, get tired afterwards and crash.

00:34:42.452 --> 00:34:44.353
so I've really changed what I'm eating.

00:34:44.643 --> 00:34:52.552
and when I'm eating and how much, and I think it's really helped my mental health, just, how I feel on a regular basis, how much energy I have every day.

00:34:52.893 --> 00:34:55.583
so that's my favorite, thing I got going on right now, probably.

00:34:56.213 --> 00:34:56.592
Excellent.

00:34:56.972 --> 00:35:00.922
I think any of the nutritional hacks is, is just incredible.

00:35:01.103 --> 00:35:07.472
Well, I'm curious to know what your, what, what is the time span that you keep your, your in fasting too?

00:35:08.253 --> 00:35:09.393
So I drink coffee in the morning.

00:35:09.393 --> 00:35:12.072
So some people would say I'm not fasting when I, you know, have cream in my coffee.

00:35:13.072 --> 00:35:17.123
but, so, you know, I'm not super hardcore about any of these rules, by the way.

00:35:17.172 --> 00:35:19.753
usually like three or four in the afternoon is when I eat.

00:35:19.762 --> 00:35:21.722
And I eat like usually one large meal.

00:35:21.733 --> 00:35:27.932
Sometimes I'll eat a smaller, snack or some yogurt and fruit later in the evening, maybe five or six or seven even.

00:35:28.163 --> 00:35:31.032
then you should go to bed like around 30, 10 o'clock, something like that.

00:35:31.773 --> 00:35:33.753
So you're only really eating one today?

00:35:34.963 --> 00:35:35.853
Usually yeah.

00:35:36.103 --> 00:35:36.603
Oh wow.

00:35:36.773 --> 00:35:37.253
Interesting.

00:35:37.773 --> 00:35:38.182
Okay.

00:35:39.063 --> 00:35:41.913
how about a piece of advice for your younger self?

00:35:45.302 --> 00:35:51.103
learn, if you have an idea, try to, try to figure out the manufacturing process before you.

00:35:52.757 --> 00:35:58.447
you know, you can ask people about the business, but I would say You're going to make a product.

00:35:58.588 --> 00:36:00.898
and, and this goes for kind of software too.

00:36:00.907 --> 00:36:03.987
Like, like how do you make it?

00:36:04.057 --> 00:36:05.887
How does, how does that magic happen?

00:36:05.978 --> 00:36:08.728
And like, you need to know exactly how that happens.

00:36:09.188 --> 00:36:20.657
with me, I wasted a lot of time and money in the beginning, dealing directly with the manufacturer, in the U S and what I really should have been doing was prototyping and talking to industrial designers who understand.

00:36:21.313 --> 00:36:26.382
the best way to make the product so they could help me design it with that in mind from the get go.

00:36:26.652 --> 00:36:30.842
And I basically jumped ahead and went to a mold before I really done proper prototyping.

00:36:30.842 --> 00:36:34.592
And so that was a, 10, 000 mistake right there.

00:36:34.822 --> 00:36:36.523
almost sunk the company to be honest.

00:36:36.552 --> 00:36:40.588
but we had had a little bit of momentum by that point and we were able to, luckily come up with the.

00:36:41.398 --> 00:36:43.867
New design and find a new manufacturer and get the cost down.

00:36:43.867 --> 00:36:49.688
And so, we were fortunate there, but figure out the manufacturing, as much as you possibly can and learn as much about that process.

00:36:49.688 --> 00:36:53.998
Cause one thing, a lot of people don't understand is, you have to design a product for manufacturing.

00:36:53.998 --> 00:36:56.277
And usually what that means is you've got to compromise a lot.

00:36:56.552 --> 00:37:00.992
You get, you can't make the product exactly like you want because of limitations with the manufacturing.

00:37:00.992 --> 00:37:10.813
And that can just be with the amount of labor involved, the amount of materials, the difficulty in combining the materials and manufacturing processes or getting the performance of the product with the combination of all those.

00:37:10.873 --> 00:37:11.413
Interesting.

00:37:11.873 --> 00:37:22.432
You know, before I asked the last question, I want to backtrack a little bit, something to start about with, I've often met, I think a lot of the most successful entrepreneurs I've ever met have.

00:37:22.788 --> 00:37:29.117
Oftentimes, they've had an addiction that they've recovered from, and yourself with alcoholism, right?

00:37:29.157 --> 00:37:31.197
and I think there's actually a transferable.

00:37:31.842 --> 00:37:36.523
Skill set there, but if that's the right way to put it, could you speak to that?

00:37:36.552 --> 00:37:42.282
Do you believe that's the case a hundred percent and it's basically a fact I think the data totally backs it up.

00:37:42.512 --> 00:37:49.663
a larger percentage of entrepreneurs have had Or do have some kind of addiction or something like that, that had been really successful.

00:37:49.922 --> 00:38:01.443
And I think that the reason is, a larger percentage than average, run marathons and, do extreme, endurance and sports like that.

00:38:01.733 --> 00:38:05.827
and I think one of the things is like, When you're in the addiction mode.

00:38:06.117 --> 00:38:13.168
like I used to think I had no willpower, that I had no discipline that I just gave into the temptations too easily and I couldn't control it.

00:38:13.168 --> 00:38:17.737
I couldn't stop it, but I think actually it was the opposite.

00:38:17.797 --> 00:38:42.007
I had extremely strong discipline in, choosing to do those things and not listening to my mind and not, breaking the rules and justifying it and rationalizing it, and I think in entrepreneurship What I've developed is, I've been able to kind of turn around that willpower and that determination to like, it's like, if you really want to find drugs and you're a drug addict, like you're going to do anything, you're going to figure it out.

00:38:42.007 --> 00:38:42.297
Right.

00:38:42.347 --> 00:38:43.967
And I mean, that's kind of the way that.

00:38:44.288 --> 00:38:47.637
Works as an entrepreneur is you just have to figure it out.

00:38:47.637 --> 00:38:58.898
Like you're not going to know Most of what you're doing in the first couple years You're going to be doing everything new people have told me the first product is the hardest the second one So you don't have to repeat all these things and make mistakes and whatnot.

00:38:58.927 --> 00:39:10.708
So, I definitely agree that it's common and so, A lot of people in the program say i'm a grateful recovering alcoholic and so I think I would say that now, it showed me where I could be and put me through a little bit of suffering and struggle.

00:39:10.898 --> 00:39:21.668
And I think if I hadn't had that too, maybe I wouldn't been so motivated to kind of, you know, prove my old self wrong and make up for lost time and prove, my family and other people that I was valuable and that I had something to offer.

00:39:22.152 --> 00:39:23.103
yeah, that's so good.

00:39:23.652 --> 00:39:25.193
You put it perfectly well.

00:39:25.233 --> 00:39:26.733
Yeah, and I see that as a marathoner.

00:39:26.733 --> 00:39:32.643
I see that in the community, both as a marathoner and in the entrepreneurial, community, really.

00:39:32.773 --> 00:39:34.443
It's well put.

00:39:34.643 --> 00:39:36.413
I hadn't actually thought about it in that sense.

00:39:36.413 --> 00:39:37.043
You're right, though.

00:39:37.322 --> 00:39:39.273
When you're a heroin addict, you're gonna get your hit.

00:39:39.532 --> 00:39:40.742
Every day, no matter what.

00:39:40.882 --> 00:39:42.353
Yeah, you're going to figure it out.

00:39:43.032 --> 00:39:50.233
And I often say that, you know, I'm in real estate sales and when I'm training a new agent, I'm like, Hey, we wake up every morning unemployed.

00:39:50.233 --> 00:39:55.233
And your job is to find a job at the day, every day, over and over, you know?

00:39:55.233 --> 00:40:00.072
So it's the same thing with drugs or alcohol or any other, Addiction, really.

00:40:00.092 --> 00:40:00.452
Yeah.

00:40:00.612 --> 00:40:01.853
It doesn't have to be substance, right?

00:40:01.853 --> 00:40:07.813
It could be, you know, sex or gambling or, you know, shopping or a number of other things too.

00:40:08.813 --> 00:40:15.983
So what about, I'll let you choose for this last Wayfinder 4 question, between a big opportunity or a limiting belief?

00:40:19.322 --> 00:40:27.103
we've got a huge opportunity, I think on social, and, you know, a lot of people have advised me and, said, it seems obvious, right?

00:40:27.103 --> 00:40:35.952
Like it's a very demonstrable product get on social, but I'll be honest, I really have not, hit the gas on, different social media and video and stuff like that.

00:40:36.193 --> 00:40:41.813
You know, I kind of wanted to keep my face off of the internet, you know, just not be the face of the brand.

00:40:41.813 --> 00:40:56.182
And the reason, I think the main reason is just because, you know, When you're getting acquired or when you're going to get acquired you don't want you to have to go then do it again I mean the whole point is for me to be I think the best companies are created when the founder makes themselves, you know, Irrelevant and not needed.

00:40:56.463 --> 00:41:02.483
that's how you are going to get the best value for your brand Is it if someone that acquires it doesn't think that they need you?

00:41:02.768 --> 00:41:03.478
To make it work.

00:41:03.527 --> 00:41:05.157
They can just plug in another CEO.

00:41:05.177 --> 00:41:08.958
They can pay, a quarter of the amount or whatever, that you would want and, go from there.

00:41:09.197 --> 00:41:11.228
I really haven't explored tick tock and.

00:41:11.592 --> 00:41:14.023
Although maybe it might be getting banned and whatnot.

00:41:14.043 --> 00:41:17.742
I've just heard from so many different people on the success they've had through Tik TOK shop.

00:41:17.922 --> 00:41:19.833
I think we have a tremendous opportunity there.

00:41:20.032 --> 00:41:25.643
It's just like, how much time are you going to spend doing videos with, them not really converting and whatnot.

00:41:25.672 --> 00:41:27.112
And I'm not really a videographer.

00:41:27.112 --> 00:41:28.492
I don't really do social media.

00:41:28.492 --> 00:41:29.193
I don't love it.

00:41:29.202 --> 00:41:38.563
So I think I kind of have to break out of my comfort zone there and just kind of go for it because, you know, this holiday season, we got a ton of inventory on hand and I really think that we could reach a lot of people that way.

00:41:38.592 --> 00:41:39.682
So I think we're going to give it a shot.

00:41:40.342 --> 00:41:40.672
Yeah.

00:41:41.273 --> 00:41:45.612
Well, you know, if, if you don't want to be on and you need a stud model, I'm here for you, man.

00:41:45.983 --> 00:41:46.402
I'm happy to.

00:41:46.402 --> 00:41:47.413
Hey, I'll take you up on that.

00:41:47.742 --> 00:41:58.003
Yeah, but you make a good point about companies, you know, and it's been proven, you know, you will get a higher multiple if the company isn't so dependent on, on the actual, the founder or what have you, right.

00:41:58.043 --> 00:42:06.103
It should be if it's easily transferable and maintains the same revenues or potential for more than you're going to get a higher multiple on an exit anyway.

00:42:06.103 --> 00:42:07.222
So good.

00:42:07.313 --> 00:42:09.242
That's why your brand is the most important, right?

00:42:09.262 --> 00:42:09.733
Totally.

00:42:10.128 --> 00:42:11.637
Yeah, cool.

00:42:12.177 --> 00:42:14.027
Well, Nick, this has been a lot of fun, man.

00:42:14.057 --> 00:42:18.677
If people want to know a little bit more about you, if they want to get themselves a cord break, how, how do we do that?

00:42:19.967 --> 00:42:21.418
Yeah, I'm going to cord break.

00:42:21.637 --> 00:42:24.047
com c o r d b r i c k.

00:42:24.237 --> 00:42:24.557
com.

00:42:24.597 --> 00:42:25.447
Of course, we're.

00:42:26.043 --> 00:42:31.842
On Amazon, we've got a new product called Desk Brick 2, D E S K B R I C K, just like it sounds.

00:42:32.163 --> 00:42:34.262
you can just email me, nick at cordbrick.

00:42:34.262 --> 00:42:34.682
com.

00:42:34.682 --> 00:42:39.592
Cordbrick's on all the social medias, YouTubes, and whatnot, at Cordbrick, so, find us there.

00:42:39.612 --> 00:42:44.293
if you're a founder or got an idea, please reach out to me.

00:42:44.293 --> 00:42:45.773
I'd love to, Point you in the right direction.

00:42:45.773 --> 00:42:49.802
If I can help at all, connect you with any of my small network I've gotten built up over the last couple of years.

00:42:49.802 --> 00:42:50.353
thanks, Louie.

00:42:50.402 --> 00:42:51.132
Enjoyed being on the show.

00:42:51.523 --> 00:42:51.862
Yeah.

00:42:51.932 --> 00:42:52.373
Likewise.

00:42:52.373 --> 00:42:53.003
Thank you, Nick.

00:42:58.032 --> 00:42:59.793
We hope you've enjoyed The Wayfinder Show.

00:42:59.943 --> 00:43:04.163
If you got value from this episode, please take a few seconds to leave us a 5 star rating and review.

00:43:04.452 --> 00:43:08.702
This will allow us to help more people find their way to live more authentic and exciting lives.

00:43:09.362 --> 00:43:10.663
We'll catch you on the next episode.