1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:02,200 Hello and welcome to another episode, the winning Shop 5 2 00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:03,400 podcast. I'm delighted. 3 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:06,000 She's an amazing guest. Rhett, cofounder of Cased. 4 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:07,480 Rhett, welcome to the show. How are you? 5 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:10,640 Doing good, excited to be here. Well, it's so good to have you 6 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:12,840 and right, I'm going to jump straight in with the big hitter. 7 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:14,840 People probably seen this in the title. 8 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:18,280 In nine months after you started the business, you were doing 9 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:23,120 $400,000 a month in revenue. How on earth did you scale to 10 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:26,960 that level so quickly? Well, a lot of things. 11 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:31,000 I would mainly say we just have a really good product and our 12 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:33,760 niche space of padded apparel doesn't really have any 13 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:36,880 competition on meta ads. I'd say that's the main reason 14 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:39,640 why we've scaled, but a lot of other factors as well. 15 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:40,800 Cool. So you've, I mean, we'll talk 16 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:42,640 about competitors a bit later. You've obviously got some 17 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:44,440 competitors and we'll kind of talk about that sphere. 18 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:47,360 But I'm, I'm interested to hear more later in the recording. 19 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:49,520 Let's, let's talk a little bit later about the meta ad side of 20 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:52,000 things. But I mean products, for 21 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,240 example, if people haven't heard of case like you got not you got 22 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:58,440 400 in nine months, you got $400,000 of revenue coming in 23 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:01,280 people buying your products. Firstly, what is the product? 24 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:04,599 And in my notes, it says there's $70,000 you spent in product 25 00:01:04,599 --> 00:01:07,320 development, You maxed out some credit cards, told me through 26 00:01:07,320 --> 00:01:10,600 that process and how wisely or unwisely you might have spent 27 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:12,360 some of that money. Like what was the development to 28 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:15,240 get the thing launched? Yeah, I mean, I don't think I 29 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:23,000 spent the $70,000 too wisely. So to get it launched, I was 30 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:25,600 really dumb in the beginning. I had no idea what I was doing. 31 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:29,760 I literally just went on to Google or I, I think I asked 32 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:32,320 Chad GBT like, hey, how do I make padded apparel? 33 00:01:32,320 --> 00:01:35,080 And then it was like, oh, you should message manufacturers on 34 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:37,360 Alibaba. So then I went on to Alibaba and 35 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:39,880 I just looked up like padded jacket and I just like messaged 36 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:41,760 10 people and I'm like, Hey, can you make this? 37 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:47,920 So that's how it started, OK. And you know it, what I thought 38 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:52,120 would be like a 2 month prototyping process turned into 39 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:53,520 like an 8 month prototyping process. 40 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:57,600 So we didn't get our first sale until like eight months of 41 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:01,160 trying to design this product and you know, we scaled to 40 KA 42 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:03,360 month within nine months of our first sale. 43 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:08,880 But before that was a whole lot of products iteration anyway. 44 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:13,440 So after we kind of started working on the prototyping 45 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:16,720 process, we had like 10 manufacturers sent us products. 46 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:22,240 I like 3 of them kinda so that I told those 3 manufacturers, hey, 47 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:25,480 can you like fix this and this and send me a new padded jacket. 48 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:29,520 And I just went through that cycle like 10 times over until I 49 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:31,400 had a product I was really stoked on. 50 00:02:31,920 --> 00:02:36,760 Even though we have a new manufacturer now, because even 51 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:39,000 after a year of product iteration, the product still 52 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:41,640 wasn't absolutely amazing. I actually just flew to China 53 00:02:41,640 --> 00:02:44,240 like 3 weeks ago. We were in Pakistan, switched to 54 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:46,680 China. Product iteration has been a 55 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:49,680 grind man since the beginning. I really, really have not done 56 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:52,440 it in a smart way at all. And you know, it's funny because 57 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:56,240 in the beginning I thought it was going to be like, maybe, you 58 00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:58,720 know, 20,000 bucks to get this process started, which is money 59 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:03,520 that I had. But then it started to get more 60 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:06,560 expensive, started to get into like the 70 K plus range. 61 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:10,000 So my cofounder and I had to like Max out all these credit 62 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:12,440 cards to keep on funding the iteration. 63 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:15,840 And then my dad came in as like an initial investor, right? 64 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:19,760 And we just, it just ended up costing way more than I 65 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:22,400 anticipated to get this products off the ground. 66 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:25,440 So like literally having a unsellable product when I was 67 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:28,040 like spent my entire personal savings on the product 68 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:30,840 development in the beginning was like pretty stressful, but I was 69 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:33,360 already in so deep. I was like and I. 70 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:35,640 Can't click now like. I already put my whole savings 71 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:37,360 on the line. I need to make this real. 72 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:40,880 What what I mean was that the main reason that stopped you 73 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:43,880 quitting then was it just like I've spent so much money, I need 74 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:45,960 to make that back now? Like I mean, it's the worst 75 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:47,480 gambling strategy ever. Well, it. 76 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:49,520 Was like a 7th class policy, yeah. 77 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:52,960 Yeah, I mean, it's absolutely mad, but you, I mean, you've 78 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:55,360 obviously created an EC, you've changed manufacture, now you've 79 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:58,280 obviously created something of real value for anyone who's 80 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:00,040 like, what on earth is a padded jacket? 81 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:02,160 It's for motorbikes isn't it specifically? 82 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:06,640 Mountain Roads recycles. We have like padded pants, 83 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:09,760 padded shorts for snowboarders, padded jackets for bike fishes, 84 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:11,720 like padded apparel. Nice, nice. 85 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:14,600 I mean, it makes a lot of sense. And I guess part of your product 86 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:16,600 development was to make your product was you described as 87 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:18,120 like I would need something that's perfect. 88 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:21,519 I want to sell a perfect item to somebody, but there must be some 89 00:04:21,519 --> 00:04:23,400 safety regulations in this as well. 90 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:25,560 You don't want to make that first sale you mentioned nine 91 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:28,440 months before you hit the 400K. You don't want to make that 92 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:31,160 first sale and then have this moment of going our first 93 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:34,040 customers left the review going broke my arm like you know you 94 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,480 it's got to it's got to have a level of as well, hasn't it? 95 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:39,400 Yeah. For sure, and that's why it took 96 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:44,360 so long to launch and I think that's why the brand has scaled 97 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:47,840 so quickly cuz the product is genuinely awesome. 98 00:04:47,840 --> 00:04:51,360 It took a lot of money and a lot of time to make it. 99 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:53,400 Genuinely awesome products, yeah. 100 00:04:53,840 --> 00:04:57,840 Yeah, the main selling point. So comfort is what sucks in 101 00:04:57,840 --> 00:04:59,840 padded apparel. I was like, let's make super, 102 00:04:59,840 --> 00:05:03,120 super minimalist pads where it's like literally just soft fabric, 103 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:05,840 soft pads, that's it. All these other padded apparels 104 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:09,280 have like Velcro and straps and plastic pieces and 10 plus 105 00:05:09,280 --> 00:05:11,280 materials. I got rid of all that. 106 00:05:11,280 --> 00:05:13,120 We have very minimalistic comfortable pads. 107 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:15,360 The actual protection piece is easier. 108 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:18,360 You just like buy the protective foam and use it. 109 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:22,360 It's more of a comfort. That was like hard to iterate on 110 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,080 and that's our selling point. It's really interesting. 111 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:27,080 I'm going to ask you a really difficult question that wasn't 112 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:29,680 on our question list because I think this is a really key point 113 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:31,920 in this. You mentioned that like you've 114 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:34,680 got no competitors and meta ads, and you've also mentioned that 115 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:37,000 that the thing with the jacket that you were trying to solve 116 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,840 was comfort With those two things in mind, how much, well, 117 00:05:40,840 --> 00:05:43,520 those two specifically, how much did you know those two? 118 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:45,800 Things. When you when you first started 119 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:48,480 out and how much was it more of a discovery along the line? 120 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:51,080 Was it like oh Meta ads is working well are customers love 121 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:53,640 the dude dude so. From from the beginning I'm 122 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:55,440 like, we're only going to sell retail. 123 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:59,520 I'm just going to cold e-mail thousands of bike shops and I'm 124 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,560 going to sell to like 100 of them for 50% off and just get 125 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:06,960 into all shops. I had no idea what meta ads even 126 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:09,400 were like. OK, amazing. 127 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:11,840 Like it's crazy that this strategy has worked. 128 00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:15,440 And we have yet. To sell to a single bike shop 129 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:18,160 the whole time, you know? That was my strategy for that, 130 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:20,400 you know. I mean you are a walking talking 131 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:21,560 AB test. I love this. 132 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:24,800 This is most of our guests are like, oh, we thought out the 133 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:26,440 strategy and we tried it for a year. 134 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:29,120 You're just like someone mentioned meta ads and we 135 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:30,720 thought that's easier than phoning bike shops. 136 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:34,000 Try that. And it is what, what what's been 137 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,040 the meta ads strategy then? Like how, why is it? 138 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:39,640 Is it just because you're the only one on meta ads or is there 139 00:06:39,840 --> 00:06:41,520 there must be more to your creative? 140 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:44,360 You're like, how do you, how do you guys invest in that? 141 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:47,640 Yeah, yeah, there's more to it. I mean, this was not the case in 142 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:51,520 the beginning, but right now we have like a whole creator system 143 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:55,440 built out of like 13 creators. We pay them 10% of revenue that 144 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:56,920 their ads generate. Like a whole system. 145 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,680 In the beginning it was just my cofounder and I like paid this 146 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:05,280 guy in Saudi Arabia to like make cool looking clips of us for 147 00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:06,280 cheap. And he would just do like 148 00:07:06,280 --> 00:07:08,200 hundreds of those and he'd like post them on the meta ads 149 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:10,400 library. And they were like, not that and 150 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:12,160 they're OK. They worked, but they weren't 151 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:15,000 like super optimized for E com and it was just really made by 152 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:18,160 like our Co founder And I like filming in our room, like 153 00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:20,000 showing the products like on our iPhone or whatever. 154 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:22,040 I mean it. It's so hard. 155 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:25,120 It's amazing value. Products like, I mean, I've run 156 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:27,400 an old yeah, last business years ago and I thought the moment I 157 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:30,320 start just being out on the beach, like with no one wants to 158 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:32,760 see me with no T-shirt share, like wearing these sunglasses, 159 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:36,400 like it's a challenge. Like not to devalue it sometimes 160 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:39,200 with some of the like the behind the scenes or the more kind of 161 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:41,880 raw rough footage, isn't it Like what what are some of the 162 00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:43,800 creative have really worked? Like what would you say is the 163 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:47,400 best two or three creatives you guys have made or used? 164 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:51,160 Oh well, now actually our best creative is actually made by AI, 165 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:52,960 which is pretty crazy. It's like a static. 166 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:54,920 Ass. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 167 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:57,160 And but like we didn't even make the template. 168 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:00,320 We like we like had AI make the template and it's and and it's 169 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:03,480 our best performing app other than that the founder story ad 170 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:07,040 like talking like for 60 seconds about our like entrepreneurial 171 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:10,880 story that ads. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 172 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,480 It's like our main customer base, our average customer age 173 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:18,880 is 48 and it's mostly male and it's also like usually a little 174 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:20,920 higher income. So I think there's a lot of like 175 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:23,440 entrepreneurial dads out there that are like, oh, this 20 year 176 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:25,520 old's killing it. I would go and buy his products 177 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:26,520 and those odds have worked. I. 178 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:29,080 Love that. I mean, I mean, yeah, yeah. 179 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:31,680 The hard thing with data and analytics is it tells you what's 180 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:34,159 happened, not why, but if that is the why. 181 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:37,039 I mean that that really does, I think grab on to something and 182 00:08:37,039 --> 00:08:40,480 especially kind of mid to late 40s is like, people are probably 183 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:41,799 going like this kids are awesome. 184 00:08:41,799 --> 00:08:43,600 And I wish my kids were doing what this kid does. 185 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:46,640 Almost aspiring to like, you know, aspiring to have you as a 186 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:48,960 child, which I think is it's, it's certainly, I mean, I've 187 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:51,040 been working in advertising for nearly 20 years. 188 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:53,320 I've never heard of stress you as like, we're going to go after 189 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:55,560 dads that would aspire to be like our like to have our 190 00:08:55,560 --> 00:08:58,000 founder as a son. And but I, I get it. 191 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:00,680 I totally get it. And I think certainly biking, 192 00:09:00,680 --> 00:09:03,480 whether it's mountain biking, motorbike, when biking is 193 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:05,440 something that people get so passionate about, there's so 194 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:08,200 much money that goes into it and it becomes a real part of 195 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:10,080 somebody's identity. Like I'm a biker, you know, like 196 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:12,280 I go biking regularly or whether it's motocross or whatever. 197 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:15,240 And you know, we in the UK, the massive thing at the moment is 198 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:17,320 Rd. cycling. Like I, I live in what's called 199 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:19,760 the Surrey Hills and there are just bikes everywhere. 200 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:21,800 Is it? I don't mass like Surrey Hills 201 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:23,000 before. Have you? 202 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:24,480 I did a vacation there like 2 years ago. 203 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:25,560 Yeah, you. Should drop. 204 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:26,800 You should. I mean, I've lived here all my 205 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:27,680 life. You should drop in. 206 00:09:27,680 --> 00:09:29,400 You should actually drop in. But yeah, but they, they've got 207 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:31,800 the zigzag that goes up what's called Box Hill just near us. 208 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:33,600 And it's like it was part of the Olympic route when we had the 209 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:36,360 Olympics here in 2012, it must have been 2012. 210 00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:38,400 And like we had the Olympic Games and there were cyclists 211 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:40,240 going like literally along the side of my the road going 212 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:42,680 heading towards Box Hill to the big zigs, the famous zigs. 213 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:44,960 People spend so much money on this stuff. 214 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:49,000 And I guess part of it is I guess one thing you're doing, 215 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:50,440 and I'd be keen to hear your thoughts on this. 216 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:54,040 How much do you feel like a disruptor with that kind of 217 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:57,520 content versus the this is the safest jacket, this is the 218 00:09:57,520 --> 00:09:59,760 leanest jacket. It will help you go faster. 219 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:02,320 You know most things about optimization, whereas yours is 220 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:04,920 being sold more and the like. It's just really comfortable. 221 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:07,160 And look, we're cool, we're selling it, we're cool. 222 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:09,480 It's disruptive, isn't it? It's too different. 223 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:11,800 Yost have just. Launched something that is 224 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:16,520 absolutely game changing their new AI brand insights tool is 225 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:18,640 now in beta and it's. Built to help you. 226 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:21,800 Track your brand's visibility, sentiment, and credibility 227 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:25,680 across AI platforms, like a chat to GBT as search expands from 228 00:10:25,680 --> 00:10:28,080 Google to AI answers. 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And we're this like startup for 240 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:08,160 riders by riders making these cool like Instagram and Facebook 241 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:09,200 ads. I mean, if you're a mountain 242 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:11,960 biker scrolling on Instagram, you've never in your life seen 243 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:14,600 an ad for padded apparel on Instagram until you've like seen 244 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:16,760 our brand. But every single mountain biker 245 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:18,800 I've talked to now is like, oh, I see your ads all over my 246 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:21,040 Instagram. But it's cool because we've been 247 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:23,720 like the only one kind of touching this meta ad space 248 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:25,120 because these other companies are great. 249 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:28,640 But like they literally do like newspaper ads and they like 250 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:31,120 sponsor a rider. Very old school style marketing, 251 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:36,480 right, Which is good. But you know, we kind of have 252 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:39,920 this unique play of not doing old school style marketing, 253 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:42,040 which has worked for a lot of customers so far. 254 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:44,000 Yeah, yeah. I mean it obviously has looking 255 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:46,240 at some of your stats, what, what have been some of the 256 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:49,280 challenges going in nine months up to $400,000? 257 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:52,000 Like what have been some of the issues with like warehousing, 258 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:55,760 fulfillment, product supply, like dealing with customer, you, 259 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:58,280 you suddenly go from like no customers to hundreds and then 260 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:00,680 thousands of customers. How have you guys managed to 261 00:12:00,680 --> 00:12:03,320 keep up with just the volume of new things that have come along, 262 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:05,320 new challenges that must have come along like week by week? 263 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:09,440 Yeah, I think we have had issues with like all six bullet points 264 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:13,400 that you just mentioned. OK, Yeah, being like a true 265 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:16,680 first time founder in E com is rough. 266 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:20,200 I'd have 0 experience with any of this. 267 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:25,520 So for example, like we were initially shipping orders out of 268 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:31,720 this like warehouse that we kind of illegally rented to like, and 269 00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:33,440 we like drive to the FedEx store manually. 270 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:35,840 And then then we were like, oh, we should get a three PL. 271 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:39,280 So we literally just like Google three PL. or Ashtag GBT and just 272 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:41,960 like talk to the first one and like send them products. 273 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:44,960 And then we ended up wasting $50,000 on that three PL. 274 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:45,360 Sheesh. A. 275 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:49,280 Free nightmare. When we finally got a warm intro 276 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:50,520 and like now we're in a good three. 277 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:55,080 PL. shout out ship Nomad. But anyway it's like yeah for 278 00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:57,360 everything that you've mentioned, it like truly is an 279 00:12:57,360 --> 00:12:59,120 AB test. Sometimes we get lucky on the 280 00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:01,240 1st test, sometimes it's a big waste of money. 281 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:04,680 Honestly, you have, I, I've worked with thousands of 282 00:13:04,680 --> 00:13:07,080 businesses, like I honestly have never met anyone even close to, 283 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:09,520 to your personality type rate. And the way you approach it. 284 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:12,720 It's, it's almost like a, let's just spend some, let's just 285 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:15,000 spend some money or do something radical that could destroy the 286 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:16,600 company and just kind of see what happens. 287 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:20,240 I, I, I love, I know you spoke about this from a creative point 288 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:23,000 of view on Meta, but it's like you guys are taking that to the 289 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:25,960 core of the company where they're playing safe and secure 290 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:28,560 with their Meta content. They also will have these long 291 00:13:28,560 --> 00:13:33,240 drawn out board meetings going, OK, should we invest $50,000 in 292 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:37,120 testing this new 3 PL. solution? You know the finance director is 293 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:39,600 going to go right? I've got a long list of demands. 294 00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:42,840 You guys have already spent the 50,000 and found Chip Nomad and 295 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:45,000 found somebody who actually does it well and does what you need. 296 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:48,240 And is that your approach to everything so far? 297 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,120 Like, and it's fine if it has, but like have you guys, have you 298 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:54,240 guys had to take like, I don't want to even say a more serious 299 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:56,440 view because if it's working, what you do is working. 300 00:13:56,440 --> 00:13:58,200 But have you guys had to take a more considered view and 301 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:00,960 actually take a step back on things and go, this isn't 302 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:02,840 working or a certain thing we're trying to achieve at the moment. 303 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:04,320 It's not working. We need to think about this. 304 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:07,480 Or has it literally been a sort of let's just do it and see what 305 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:09,400 happens in in like every approach? 306 00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:12,120 I think we're starting to transition into that second 307 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:16,160 thing you're talking about like right now, now starting to get 308 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:17,640 at scale and be like have employees. 309 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:18,760 To lose them. Haven't you? 310 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:20,920 We're starting to do things a little bit more properly. 311 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:22,960 To ask a really difficult question and I'm, I'm going to 312 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:25,000 try and get you back on in like a year or two and ask this same 313 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:28,160 question at some point. Are you, well ask if this has 314 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:30,160 happened or not? Are you nervous about losing 315 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:32,400 some of that? Like some friends starting a 316 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:35,720 small business, Co founder kind of energy that you've got at the 317 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:36,920 moment that you've had at the start? 318 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:39,120 Are you worried about losing that long term? 319 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:41,840 Is there a plan to try and protect that to keep the 320 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:44,160 company's DNA strong? That's like, we need to be 321 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:45,360 different. We need to be disruptive. 322 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:48,160 We can't follow the status quo. We can't be too safe and secure, 323 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:50,440 which it sounds like if I was to write your company values, 324 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:52,840 they're the opposite of my company, which, which is the 325 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:55,960 like, let's just do it. Are you guys conscious about 326 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:58,480 trying to protect that long term or are you actively going right? 327 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:00,200 We need to grow up a little bit and kind of do things more 328 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:02,200 seriously, like what what, what is your plan in this in the 329 00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:05,200 medium term? I mean, to be honest, I feel 330 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:06,560 like we're always going to be this way. 331 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:12,320 So I'm 20, my Co founder's 23 and my Co founder's the oldest 332 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:17,400 person associated with cased. We we have like 2 employees that 333 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:19,480 are like. 20 Who invested apart from your dad? 334 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:20,240 Who invested? Oh yes. 335 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:22,680 Yes, well, we have some other investors as well. 336 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:26,240 That was also a whole point too, like trying to get our actual 337 00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:30,840 brand of investment. But now it's like we keep the 338 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:38,120 company young, lean and agile. I am very against hiring like 339 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:42,040 not Gen. Z people and I think. 340 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:45,840 Your competitors will probably avoid hiring people that are too 341 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:49,040 kind of millennial Gen. Z, which is interesting. 342 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:52,640 It's so interesting that the. Thing about our competitors is 343 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:54,680 like, I really respect the owners. 344 00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:57,920 They're like these awesome, like 60 year old mountain bike moguls 345 00:15:57,920 --> 00:16:00,320 that have like really built up mountain bike industry since the 346 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:01,520 start, since the 90s. They're great. 347 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:03,040 Yeah, yeah. They're just like, it's amazing. 348 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:05,960 They're just not young, agile and lean. 349 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:07,320 Yeah, yeah. And I, I love it. 350 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:09,160 We, we work with so many different brands. 351 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:12,760 I love seeing the difference between like and we, in fact, we 352 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:15,600 had, there's a guy Tom, I used to work with him at TJX, which 353 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:18,200 is TJ Maxx in the USTK Max in the UK. 354 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:21,560 We, we had a really good conversation on an episode a few 355 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:24,440 months ago where we were saying that actually we kind of the 356 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:27,280 thing that we had at TJTJX, which was good is like, you want 357 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:28,920 to test something. There was like funding. 358 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:30,680 There was foundation underneath you. 359 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,320 If you wanted to put 50 or 100,000 lbs into something. 360 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:36,120 It was like, that's a smidgen like tiny amount of what we 361 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:38,600 spend annually. Like show me, show me some 362 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:40,480 evidence it could do something good and you can have the budget 363 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:42,680 and you can try it. And it was kind of cool like 364 00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:45,400 having a the e-commerce store was like a start up in that 365 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:47,200 environment. But it is interesting just 366 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:48,560 watching how these big brands go. 367 00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:51,160 We just need to put our name somewhere and people just start 368 00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:53,080 buying stuff because we've got that brand equity. 369 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:56,120 And then you see the small brands and they, they kind of 370 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:58,320 go, do you know what? We could redefine who we are and 371 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:00,640 everything about us because not we're still small, not enough 372 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:02,920 people know who we are. We can redefine everything based 373 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:05,160 on our learnings already. We could do that in a week and 374 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:07,440 we could turn the whole business around, the design, the 375 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:09,680 branding, the product rate. We could turn that around in 376 00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:12,000 like a week or a few weeks and have a whole new business and 377 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:13,319 enterprise company can't do that. 378 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:15,720 And we can do that on based on the things we know today. 379 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:17,960 But there are the flip sides like, you know, the big 380 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:21,560 corporate is it's slow. It can be so frustrating and 381 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:24,000 Someone Like You comes along and they're like, Oh my gosh, who's 382 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:26,440 this new kid on the block? And they'll be watching you 383 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:30,040 going, Oh my, he's doing so well, like we need to do some of 384 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:31,120 this. And they'll they'll invest in 385 00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:33,960 like consultants and corporate away days to try and do what 386 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:35,800 you're doing. What they probably need to do is 387 00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:37,760 go down a mountain, you know, go down a hill on a mountain bike 388 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:41,240 with no helmet and and then, you know, Apple Pay open and see 389 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:43,960 what happens is the which they won't do. 390 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:46,640 They just won't do it. But I think it's certainly 391 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:49,600 interesting and I love the respect you have for those guys 392 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,000 as well, because you've got to appreciate what they've done. 393 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:54,400 Like they've created an industry that you're entering into now, 394 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:55,960 isn't it? Yeah, which sounds like the way 395 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:58,320 you're looking at it. Yeah, no, like I look into all 396 00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:00,200 their founder stories and everything still like I take a 397 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:04,480 lot of inspiration from them. There's definitely no like no 398 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:07,000 beef or anything. It's just a different model, 399 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:09,280 different type of company. Definitely, definitely. 400 00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:12,200 And you mentioned investors like let's go down that road for a 401 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:13,680 SEC. Like you've obviously taken some 402 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:14,920 investment to get to where you are. 403 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:17,160 There was money that needs to be spent on Meta. 404 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:18,760 There's money that you spent on product development. 405 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:21,080 What was that? When, when was that journey when 406 00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:23,160 you looked for investment? Was that like posts? 407 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:24,880 Was that when you were like, we're scaling and if we just 408 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:27,040 have more money, we can we can spend more on Meta rides, we can 409 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:29,320 sell more products. What point did you really start 410 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:31,320 to look for that? This episode of Winning Shopify 411 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:34,280 is brought to you by Tax Cloud. It's the busiest time of year 412 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:36,440 for e-commerce. Your stores buzzing, orders 413 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:38,000 flying in and growth is at an all time high. 414 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:41,160 But with all that momentum can come new sales tax exposure that 415 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:44,160 you might not even see coming. That's why now is the perfect 416 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:46,400 time to take a closer look at how you're handling sales tax 417 00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:48,520 and make sure your business is set up for the growth that 418 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:50,400 you've earned. Tax Cloud is our trusted partner 419 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:53,200 for sales tax compliance. Built for growing Shopify 420 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:55,320 brands. They handle regulations, filings 421 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:58,480 and ongoing compliance working directly with the states on your 422 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:01,720 behalf across the US so you can stay focused on running your 423 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:03,080 store. They've got a five star rating 424 00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:05,440 in the Shopify App Store and listeners winning the Shopify 425 00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:07,640 get free at migration and boarding when you make the. 426 00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:09,440 Switch to. Apply for that and learn more. 427 00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:11,920 You can go to taxcloud.com/winning. 428 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:16,880 That's tax cloud.com/winning. Yeah, we started to look for it 429 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:19,640 when we were like three to four months in. 430 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:25,280 We were trying to raise our first 300K round and it took 431 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:28,080 like a month and a half too, which is pretty stressful. 432 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:30,800 Like our business was sort of vibing on credit cards for the 433 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:32,680 1st 5 or so months. Yeah. 434 00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:39,840 But yeah, we ended up losing 300 K for like 5 different 435 00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:42,960 investors. This was beyond the first round, 436 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:45,200 which was just my dad. This was like our first like 437 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:46,880 real round, which my dad was not part of. 438 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:50,200 And yeah, it was kind of like a similar thing. 439 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:54,440 I literally just like went on the LinkedIn and I looked up 440 00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:59,880 people that like had investor in their profile and like had E com 441 00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:02,880 or mountain bikes or something. I just started sending out like 442 00:20:03,120 --> 00:20:08,320 hundreds of cold messages and then I went back in my network 443 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:10,400 just like the network I've built up over the past few years and 444 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:12,080 just started texting a bunch of people. 445 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:14,520 Hey, I'm looking to raise money like here's my Canva pitch deck. 446 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:16,000 If you know anyone can you let me know? 447 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:20,000 Probably sends out like over 100 messages and then after a month 448 00:20:20,120 --> 00:20:22,080 and a half ended up putting 300K together. 449 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:27,040 And then we just did another kind of sort of 200K round like 450 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:31,200 last week. It was like half that half 451 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:32,480 equity. Yeah. 452 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:35,000 Yeah. And I think we're set on raising 453 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:36,320 for now. Hopefully we don't have to raise 454 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:38,360 anymore. Hopefully we can just get a line 455 00:20:38,360 --> 00:20:41,360 of credit and be all right. That'd be cool. 456 00:20:41,360 --> 00:20:43,840 If we can just build this all the way to exit with no more 457 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:45,000 fundraising. I think we can. 458 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:45,880 That'd be awesome. Yeah. 459 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:49,720 Yeah, that's really cool. I I, I love, I'm almost jealous 460 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:51,560 of the fact that like my, my business has been established 461 00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:54,480 for just over 15 years now. And I'm almost jealous of the 462 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:56,200 fact that like, it sounds like you kind of get up in the 463 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:57,320 morning and go like, let's do this. 464 00:20:57,560 --> 00:20:59,280 It's like the total opposite of my life now. 465 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:02,600 And part of me misses it. But part of me, yeah, part of me 466 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:05,240 also respects the fact I do have foundations now and it helps me 467 00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:07,280 sleep at night. And that's, that's also cool. 468 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:09,880 I mean, it, it sounds really interesting. 469 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:12,960 And I guess part of the, the thing for business like yours 470 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:15,360 then is you've obviously running from kind of credit card to 471 00:21:15,360 --> 00:21:16,920 credit card. And as you say, like, hopefully 472 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:18,640 this is the last funding round we need to do. 473 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:21,160 And now we can get a lot either get a line of credit from a bank 474 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:24,040 or something, or, or even just be running off revenue that's 475 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:26,000 coming in, which is obviously the most healthy way to run 476 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:28,640 because it's, it's free and you know, there's no, there's no 477 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:32,640 kind of premium cost for it. But the yeah, in the journey 478 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:34,960 you've been on, when you look at like that initial growth of the 479 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:37,040 hundreds of thousands of dollars a month, you're, you're turning 480 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:40,400 over like 9 months in. How profitable is the company at 481 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:41,920 that point? Like are these debts from when 482 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:44,880 you first got going and 1st invested in product or is it 483 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:47,480 actually like we're, we're not quite profitable, but we've got 484 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:49,320 everything we need now to get profitable. 485 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:51,440 So we need a bit more investment, invest in a certain 486 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:52,720 few things and then we are profitable. 487 00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:55,000 Like where are you guys at with the profitability kind of 488 00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:57,440 conundrum? The answer is not quite 489 00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:01,560 profitable, but almost there. And hey, are you looking at our 490 00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:05,080 numbers and all of our data? And like, if you look at our P 491 00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:09,400 and LS, pretty clear that we have a path to sufficient 492 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:11,880 profitability and we've just been going through a lot of 493 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:13,720 growing pains and that's why we're not profitable. 494 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:17,360 Like we had issues with the three PL. 495 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:21,320 We had a four week delay from our shipping agent. 496 00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:23,560 So we had like all these refunds because the product showed up 497 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:26,320 like 4 weeks late, right? There's all this like random 498 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:27,360 expenses. They did that. 499 00:22:27,360 --> 00:22:29,280 Marketing and then had to refund those sales. 500 00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:31,880 Yeah, it makes, yeah, it's horrible, but yeah, you got to 501 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:35,800 do what you got to do. Sometimes the pitch is, hey, 502 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:38,320 we're just going through growing pains right now. 503 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:42,880 I'm very confident that this business is going to be 504 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:45,600 profitable and stable in a matter of a few months. 505 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:48,640 You should invest now because like I'm a young founder that 506 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:51,760 wants to make this super big and we're going to be a profitable 507 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:53,680 business once we get all these growing pains figured out. 508 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:58,600 And that pitch worked and we were profitable in February. 509 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:02,880 Right now for the past few weeks, just going through like 510 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:07,480 major, major delays, so not quite profitable, but we get 511 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:10,600 like $1,000,000 in sellable stock finally showing up in a 512 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:11,920 week, which is going to be super awesome. 513 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,320 Then I think we're going to be profitable all the way from 514 00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:16,120 there on out. Yeah, yeah, amazing. 515 00:23:16,120 --> 00:23:18,080 And if anyone's listening to this, I don't know what week 516 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:20,200 this will actually go out on because we've we've pre recorded 517 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:22,960 so many of these on the schedule and it's we're nearly the end of 518 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:24,160 March. We're about a week away from the 519 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:26,080 end of March. So hence why Rhett's saying 520 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:28,320 that. And yeah, if we, I guess we 521 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:31,000 could, we'll get you back on in a year or so Rhett, and see how, 522 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:32,720 you know, see how much things have grown. 523 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,280 Oh, yeah, I'm going to ask you a question. 524 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:37,520 I love asking these kind of questions and I'm really keen to 525 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:40,240 hear what you say to this. What advice would you give to 526 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:44,640 other founders that don't have the same energy drive and just 527 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:47,360 kind of in a way blind faith in some of the things you've done 528 00:23:47,360 --> 00:23:49,280 to get to where you are and get to where you're going? 529 00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:52,040 What advice would you give to those guys to, you know, to take 530 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:54,440 a bit of a leap of faith or or have the same energy that you 531 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:56,400 guys have got at the moment for, for your product, for your 532 00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:58,400 business, for your customers? Yeah. 533 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:02,960 I mean, the biggest piece of advice that I would give to like 534 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:06,520 an aspiring young founder is that you can just start. 535 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:10,200 You know, I initially have this mindset of like, oh, do I need 536 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:16,080 to go, you know, study E com and like work for E com company for 537 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:18,120 two years before I go start my company so I can learn the 538 00:24:18,120 --> 00:24:20,800 insurance and outs. I mean, sure, that could be 539 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:22,560 helpful, but the answer is you don't need it. 540 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:27,640 As you can probably tell so far in this podcast, I am not an 541 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:30,600 expert at all in E com and when I started the case. 542 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:33,960 You're doing some good things, like don't worry, experts, 543 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:35,640 relative is a word for. You're doing some really good 544 00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:36,360 things. So yeah. 545 00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:41,320 Yeah, but I mean, I literally went into this not knowing 546 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:45,520 anything about 3 PLS, meta ads, etcetera. 547 00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:50,840 So just start like literally within the span of 24 hours, you 548 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:53,920 can message a person on Alibaba and get a prototype come into 549 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:55,560 your house in the next week or two. 550 00:24:55,720 --> 00:24:59,440 Like you can do that today and I have a lot of potentially 551 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:02,560 aspiring econ founders come my way. 552 00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:03,760 They're like my friends or whatever. 553 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:06,160 And I'm like, dude, you can just start like literally in the next 554 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:10,920 24 hours you can like order a prototype and you can like make 555 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,000 a little square face website and like put some photos up. 556 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:14,400 Like you can start out, just start. 557 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:18,240 That's the best piece of advice. That I have amazing. 558 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:20,440 And I mean, I, I did exactly that years ago. 559 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:23,440 I went and spent, I think I was, I had a few beers at an event in 560 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:24,720 London. I'd learned about this new thing 561 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:27,000 called Shopify. And here I am now like 10 years 562 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:29,640 later. But we, yeah, I, I literally 563 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:33,440 went on Alibaba and spent $5000 on buying some sun bamboo 564 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:36,280 sunglasses from China and they turned up and didn't even have 565 00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:38,280 my logo on it. I was like, I need a logo. 566 00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:41,520 So the first batches I sent would like just totally branded 567 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:43,960 and then, and then we sent an e-mail out to people that bought 568 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:46,320 them saying like, hey, we've put a logo on this. 569 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:50,480 Bamboo sunglasses are nowhere near as profitable as padded 570 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:52,800 padded jackets and padded shorts and stuff like that that you're 571 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:56,080 selling so much better. I'd highly recommend taking a a 572 00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:59,280 a product that has at least a retail value of over $100. 573 00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:03,520 What are you guys doing over the next six weeks? 574 00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:06,200 Then as soon as this stock arrives, what is the plan to 575 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:08,520 sell that stock? How quickly are you planning to 576 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:11,560 buy more stock in? Like it's such a pivotal moment 577 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:12,520 you're in at the moment. Like what? 578 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:14,160 What is your plan for the next few weeks? 579 00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:17,920 Yeah. Well, right now I just want to 580 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:22,400 ensure we consistently have enough stock showing up at our 581 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:26,080 warehouse once every 30 days. We're hiring a supply chain 582 00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:32,520 manager and you know, The thing is like scaling to over 1 mil a 583 00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:35,640 month rapidly is expensive. If we were to theoretically 584 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:39,080 stabilize at like the 500 KA month that we're at right now, 585 00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:42,200 oh, it would be easy and it'd be low stress and we could totally 586 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:44,000 do that. But like I want to get this 587 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:48,360 thing up to two mil a month plus ASAP, which of course is more 588 00:26:48,360 --> 00:26:50,480 stressful, more expensive, you need to plan the purchase orders 589 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:53,520 more and so on. So right now I'd say if we can 590 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:57,160 get like $1,000,000 plus and sellable stock showing up at our 591 00:26:57,160 --> 00:27:02,000 door April 1st, May 1st, June 1st and so on, I'll be happy. 592 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:03,200 I know the business is going to work. 593 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:07,000 Like if we had a magical warehouse that just like had a 594 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:10,880 loaded inventory, unlimited inventory, I know we could scale 595 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:13,800 to one meal a month, like pretty much in the next week or two. 596 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:15,840 Like our ads are there, our ads are cooking. 597 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:18,240 It's just a matter of like actually getting the stock in 598 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:21,120 the door to set. Amazing, amazing, and it's such 599 00:27:21,120 --> 00:27:22,440 AI used to call it the marketing tap. 600 00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:24,440 It's such a beautiful place. You guys have got to with your 601 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:26,640 better advertising and such a niche as well. 602 00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:29,960 I, I guess as a marketing guy, learning for everybody listening 603 00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:33,600 to this is try and find that Channel like Rhett has, where 604 00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:36,200 none of your competitors are, but your customers are. 605 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:39,160 And it might be TikTok, it might be Snapchat, It might be a 606 00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:41,640 channel that like Pinterest or something that actually people 607 00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:44,320 used to use and you think people aren't using it anymore. 608 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:46,880 But if you find a niche audience in there and you're the only one 609 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:50,000 that that's the way to win. And I guess if they're only 610 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:52,920 seeing this one jacket with disruptor content, you know, 611 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:54,800 somebody like something like Rhett is doing incredibly well 612 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:56,520 with that. And well, Rhett, I really 613 00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:58,760 appreciate your time. If people want to check out 614 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:02,480 paste and see what you guys have created on your website, follow 615 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:04,520 you on on the metaverse, if it's called that. 616 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:06,160 I can't keep up with what their names are anymore. 617 00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:09,040 And the Instagram and Facebook, how can people reach out to you? 618 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:11,040 How can they find the website, send it to your newsletter, 619 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:12,920 follow your social content. Like what are the handles? 620 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:17,400 What is the website URL? Ridecaste.com or at Ride Caste. 621 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:24,480 RIDECASED my socials is at Rhett Jones lore you can just message 622 00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:25,960 me. I think I have like a website 623 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,400 with my phone number and stuff so feel free to reach out. 624 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:30,760 Well, look, amazing. I mean, Rhett, thank you so 625 00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:32,800 much. I mentioned a year, but I think 626 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:34,760 in a year you might have either sold it or gone bankrupt. 627 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:36,600 So maybe we should get back on this fun. 628 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:40,040 I, I hopefully not bankrupt. I'm backing you all the way. 629 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:41,560 I think what you've achieved so far is incredible. 630 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:45,000 So yeah, we'll get you back on 6 to 12 months from now. 631 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:46,440 Rhett will be back on the show, guys. 632 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:48,120 And Rhett, I want to say a massive thank you. 633 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:49,480 Appreciate your time. Thank you for sharing so much. 634 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:52,520 Amazing and information and all the best with with the next few 635 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:53,720 months, like I hope it goes well. 636 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:55,480 I'm going to leave you alone for a few months and then we'll that 637 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:57,840 will catch. Up for sure something calling 638 00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:00,280 you. Amazing everybody listening at 639 00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:01,560 home. Thanks so much for tuning in. 640 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:03,880 It's been great having you and posting every Friday. 641 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:06,400 I might not be doing as many Tuesday tea break talks at the 642 00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:07,600 moment. It depends when this episode 643 00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:09,120 goes out. We're about to move office, so 644 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:11,600 this is actually the last time there might be an episode after 645 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:12,840 this. If I've already recorded it last 646 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:15,280 time I'm going to be in this studio, which is really, really 647 00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:16,600 sad. Unless something goes wrong with 648 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:19,040 my solicitors and paperwork, I'm waiting for an e-mail confirming 649 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:21,240 we're leaving in 2. So I've got some packing to do. 650 00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:22,800 So thanks so much for tuning in, everybody. 651 00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:24,520 If you haven't already, hit subscribe button, go on 652 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:27,880 wspodcast.com and subscribe to our newsletter. 653 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:30,600 Also check out Hello at winningwishelfly.com if you want 654 00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:32,480 to send an e-mail to myself and Byron and the rest of the team 655 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:34,280 here and we'll come back to you and help you with your business. 656 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:36,200 Thanks for tuning in. Hope you can join us again next 657 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:36,960 time. Thank you. 658 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:38,480 Do you? Ever find that in your 659 00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:40,640 warehouse? You have dead stock, you can't 660 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:42,600 sell it, no one wants to buy it, and you can't get a refund on 661 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:44,000 it. Or alternatively. 662 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:45,560 You're missing inventory in your. 663 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:47,720 Warehouse that you need you've. Got sales coming in and you're 664 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:50,920 low on stock and you haven't ordered more stock in time. 665 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:52,920 All these things hit profit. And I've been there. 666 00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:55,560 I've run my own Shopify store and had exactly that problem. 667 00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:57,720 But we've partnered up with Inventory Planner, who have the 668 00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:01,280 most incredible app to help you manage that and forecast exactly 669 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:04,640 what products, what skews even down to what colour of products 670 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:07,720 you need to order in advance to make sure stock levels remain 671 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:10,440 consistent throughout. They're also running a seven day 672 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:11,800 boot camp. And if you want to go and sign 673 00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:14,760 up to that, it's 7 emails every seven days and it takes the same 674 00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:16,360 amount of time as your morning coffee. 675 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:18,800 And in seven days, like me, you can become an inventory 676 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:21,120 management pro. Both links are in the 677 00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:22,360 description. Enjoy.