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and all the conversation we've been able to have so far
uh... i received his bachelors found at the university of idaho in marketing
uh... he says he has extensive experience in managing building in
marketing web sites
now five years ago
uh... and they've
had incredible success over those last five years
some interesting things that rhett was telling me just a moment ago that he's
done in his life if you want to be recognized for
uh... policy as he was in school he decided he wanted his semester in study
in nepal and i was
won the best experiences he said he's ever happen is very life changing for
him
he grew up in a small town
about fifteen minutes away from the canadian border
usually like to be called the way that we've been blessed
montana
but he also lobster gram to climb he climbed mt logan in the canadian yukon
which is the second markers
peak in the inorder in the north america's
uh...
and he's he loves what he does he's married for fourteen years has three
kids and
really that ran in that show
so we're we're really excited to have him here in the senate here at the
picnic he has to say
that the uh... you get to know
agenda breakfast will be tonight
she after working for boat world sites to start her own business which is now
steel metal
and
and raising a kid soon
married actually just finished building a house which may have commenced its
done
instead of moving out going to utah state go to the local
university close to where they are
and uh... he he
some things about janet she's addicted to social media not instructor taking
pictures of you guys but they're probably already i mean spam physically
now twelve months
units
uh...
yeah that's it
anyway yes for a few questions you've more than willing to on take time to
answer questions birds in the arch nears that were sitting at our table earlier
and in her experiences that getting website upon off the ground
and i think she's the reason so it's all semester
mentality
me
histories
everything ok
right now
thank you for having us all really excited this is actually the first time
we've ever done anything like this before so
um... there with them as we work through this but um...
i'm really excited and um...
to tell you a little bit about steel dot com and um... how we created at why we
created and um...
and kind
inquirer viewed my self isn't entrepreneur
i was always um...
looking back now is how he's doing very entrepreneurial paints um...
throughout my life
but um...
i didn't necessarily
clean my salad back until
the last five years
but uh... so just say
start with the inspiration of skills dot com
i was the director of media for cancel dot com
and i had been four at that point about six or seven years
and i had my third baby which was a girl and the other two i can't work place
soul hi-eight i'm
often maternity leave
silly little factory self because here i i think they're talc had never
i've been able to stay home with a child before
because i'd always been primarily breadwinner getting my husband for
school he's a chiropractor
and um... moved to silicon valley for four years uh...
i get you just go out there
which was um... in easing opportunity i learned a time for the companies i work
for
out there
side i really wanted to be home with my child
was really and one of my motivations for starting my own business
and um... when i eat
went back for maternity leave adding it then
sixtieth figures if i'd had my last eighty
solving change when
uh... with that
amount of time when you have a baby as far as he put on now do u you barbara
like this or do you put him down on their stomach in betar do you blame on
their side i mean it's just so many different
mentality is in the sun and
always going to the internet for everything
calling it can sell as the dot com princess
because i was kind of the um... that girl geek at all we do
the rightly to get them best product online best price
and um... and this is why don't you know online shopping was fairly nail
eyes really a
i guess in early adopter too
online shopping
definitely an early doctored a social media and just kind of anything
on the geeky slide cell
uh...
*** so
ellie smeal kind of it
place online that
the best deal done
i hate
at can sell i was
the one that was basically in charge of creating
revenue for castle dot com
and this was in the last two to three years of my career there and down
making back from attorney the
i was much online or even a place to find all the latest success reason
and uh... i will
you know latest and greatest weight to care for your baby
and i was also trying to find a way to connect with other moms like me
um... then
where maybe
newly back from
returning we even had a really
heavy career in
you know lots of other kids in a lot of responsibilities and sell
uh... i was really overwhelmed especially the time with looking for
on the cutest off of the best deals and span
scouring the area at hoping that there's a website that can just you get to me in
small doses everyday
because i didn't have a lot of time
and i want to somebody else to curator for me to help them real tell me what
they've been cool
and give it to me that repeal and i assumed that existed because it just
made so much that to me is working on
and i could not make it
solely
i prime
so that that's one element of starting the company
that couldn't find what i wanted
and it was something i think actions about too
is that um...
like i said earlier when uh... abstinent join my maternity leave because i was so
focused on the date
but i had to go back at work
and uh...
i am really
pan and uh... that when i pulled out of the driveway
to go back to work that one good morning
always excited to get me wrong
but um... leaving your baby and it's just a very uh... a natural instincts
and uh...
ike meiotic
resented that feeling
so i turned it into a positive i think you know what
i don't ano
right now i'm doing what i need to do for my family but i don't have to be a
victim to this i can
create the likely want
i can
um...
eyecandy in control of my life mean create a situation that ideal for me in
my family
so that that was really sort of a of mental kicker for me it was like
something to do this now because that's what i need to go deal
but i can also change it they can also create
and at that moment was when i realize that hey i need a start
and he had met for open
to creating something that i can do
that was one of my goals of the kind of support won't
still one you do that
not bidding dave
but uh...
i was able to do a little bear history of still suck on payment
so are
so that was really the catalyst for the mentality and i don't need to work
or someone else invoked inc every single day
and the time
and then we might be a part of the com when i realized i'd
i could find when i'm gone
so that was the concept in the start two brilliant started to bro and it came to
the point where it all i was thinking about
uh... um... any spare time i had was okay
jeans is their is their website like that's trying to find it
assuming there was trying to bring in a blog let me just talked about
you know the hot i have been meeting on a sister lee sold them
could not me
and sell it in it
and i know it sounded really feast haiti when people are like me
i how did you
analysts at the event that was at related seven that
and their lives
um...
staff in baghdad
three fifteen in the morning one night
and the name distinctly he steals
that would be so cool
and it but i don't worry darling people think it's a kidnapping website at a
little creepy you know but hey i mean that that's how you get attention online
is the ideal
and different style
uh...
i'm a backed out of time
con the recap your game id use my brain is just tick tock tick tock
and uh... so i had to get out of bed
i did have a lap at the time so it all the way down
debasement and turn the computer
when to go daddy dot com and bought the domain
luckily it was open
but then i realized no infections and thankful evi skills dot com can really
popular
everyone try to copy me
so i'd have to create
another website created
and another website for scrapbooking healy's other things i was happy about
ivy and then i i hold at least a hundred domains ended steals dot com
and that all started with
something cool
gardening and and you'll see at the end of this that quick presentation that
uh...
we own a lot and wave at this point almost five internet
high and as well as feels dot com which is another during may never quite
thought i would have that
short ill
and uh...
that was a little bit about out when i bought the domain that was in the summer
of two thousand seven
did not start the company until april two thousand eight
cell
because again
as i got it
the name is the first big break you would like to call it
and uh... when i came to me it was a pain out now what
knowing that i had very demanding job
three kids
really dont tink ting think perot
as far as how many of us start this when i felt whenever you have the time
really trumped-up in in little
little bit i did something every single day
big or small
to take me to me at that
whether it was definitely
researching
about e-commerce because i've never been in e-commerce
uh... if it was always or usually show
the way
than there ever reading an article in our act
hardcopy articles about enough approval is being tested i respectfully watch
where people weren't looking
on the screens when they were online shopping and so i had learned a lot from
that and i help me
understand where i want
checkup by
where i wanted
products and how i wanted to
products in
angrily everyday that one
and at
we get closer
and sauce
yet um...
pushed me forward to actually
cut the umbilical cord acute
*** uh...
my we criticize extremely well i've been there a long time
loved my job
people relied on me very heavily in and i
relied on them and i have something bout working there
so that he was are really difficult
al-assad of here leaving a career that i've worked so hard to create
at a company that i love anna at a property that i was so passionate about
ites duel episode dot com
and alan
it's not a big thing for me to actually had a adn i'm really terrible accident
i was uh...
i was
at the our community service project in their winter of
uh... was seven
and to rework here al
building wooden car choice for kids
sparky s_l_ as national team
long story short
the very very last aram to leave the day
sucked my hand into a machine and if it was really really but um...
let's just say this way i was in a cast like this for six weeks
uh... and you know the whole holidays couldn't
surg had surgery that night was kinda meh sometime by the way but um...
accidentally reminders and no feeling in the top of my fingers here but um...
there was nothing ever happened to me because it forced me to slowdown
and forced me to aren't gave me a time to really
think through this concept that i couldn't stop thinking about cuz i
really couldn't
taking the time to really abn
put it all together in my head how i was going to
what what the company
was going to me
but it was going to stand for house get it how we're gonna do business
how he's going to market it
ike id during that time i had the logo created
i had uh...
the website
drawn out completely it's when i get a lot of research on uh...
you know how i wanted it
i wanted it to look
and the interesting thing
i was mentioning earlier if there was that uh... i wrote there
lot of marketing collateral
with my left hand while my hands up in the air
uh... and last night we are weary whiting a little bit
to go back in time to repair a little bit more for this and i found that it
was just funny to see
this terrible you know handwriting played my left hand but what was ironic
about a is
uh... all the words that i wrote back then they're the same things that we use
today
it's not just a deal it's a steel was one of them to was written
right on that sheet of paper cell is five ten reminiscent
a little bit about me nai is their talent
we are so busy running this business and growing this business
on the week without looking forward remember look back
and we don't have to
even posner stops so every success in said this is a bit of fun exercise for
us to even gests
you know stopping turn back and dona
how did you this
and you know so i am
anyway that fact
that's it was kinda fun to look back last night a really reminisce a little
bit more together about how we got to know we are in
it is kinda like all
afro lowered l_s_d_ estate so anyway
so i did go back to work for can sell actually worked there for another uh...
ten months
when i did
their when i was cleared to go back to work is that you have to be able to
gripped the steering wheel before they let you go back in
i did work at from home on my computer
during that time when i was out but um... but again i was able to really
focus on
what i wanted to create baby stills into
and
uh...
then fast-forward to online back at work you can sell it
about a week before we start the company
well actually now i should say we'd be ford partner with rat
i went to a baby expo
surfing your help how might a market this thing how they didn't get the word
out
and there was a baby x_ that it was coming up behind you know i need to be
there but i don't know how i was going to take two days off of work request the
time off
the time off was not granted because i had had so much time off for the
holidays
with my hand which didn't make sense to me
but uh... colin section
went to ababy expel
for two days
and stood there
hoping it was there anything anybody have a work trip not that that would've
been a big deal say legitimately took the time off
but as the nana baby expo for two days and and market the company
all i had
was a banner with the logo i mean better for this
i had my flat screen tv with a powerpoint presentation that was a
rotating between it's not just a deal to steal
one new deal everyday at nine a_m_
and um... and a few other emarketing tidbits that we use them
i talked in-person to bonds
and um...
got a hundred and sixty two names on email
of those who want to be in the melville ny launched
and um...
so that was that that was i would say the first in only
at the time really marketing
uh... tactic that we used to get the word out that was from
that was not
just simply using social media and telling family and friends
by then realizing annually and tell you what baby social has so i apologize
my baby still stuck on is
and delivered a website
that sells baby maternity products uh... one-at-a-time so we have a new still in
nine a_m_
and it is still at nine p_m_ everyday
and it's up for fifty percent off or more we partner directly with the
manufacturers
there is no middleman
and we partner with them on the promotion
we also up by the product in advance
uh... we only sell products by the way no goods or service health services
and um... we have the goods shipped to our warehouse in salt lake city
and uh... we ship and directly out there at the same day so uh...
where very different from
uh... many of the deal sites that with cropped up since baby still stuck on
really was the first
for women
uh... long before group on even was in existence so uh...
so that's kind of cool
we live staff scrapbook stills dot com twenty year later
and can still stuck on in fall of two thousand nine which is about a
year-and-a-half later
and last
gene jim last july we launched out of the latest
steel site in the steals dot com family
which is she still stuck on
and that is a website that sells all products for women between uh...
accessories makeup
close
cooking
you know housewares meaning that women would love
you can find on she still suck on
cell ob that's a little bit about the company but um... so in starting
have this expo really didn't have the website done yet
i had pretty much everything ready to go accent for technology
and um...
i was trying to fit to decide between two arm
back-end systems on what to you so
tata en route to this equation uh... ke was an executive backcountry dot com
and to me
i had to employees that were working together they were tying case of a
common back into come together to work on a promotion in the case of
classifieds
and
i was able to meet record when i went with it an employee up to
backcountry dot com his face through that too because i
almost did it go cuz uh... although deferred salespeople case all had to
come up with a certain number of appointments
every week techno xx more people you talk to you didn't want it will end up
by art hiding
and i have to him you go ahead back into dot com with me
exhibits upon parks they said look they wrote therein
during national e-commerce company and occupy
local media
all totally go with you to justify the time simply because
uh... will probably learn
something from them
and perhaps we could work on maybe some charitable promotions together or
something because
at the end of the day were to really cool you top brands
so that's why i met rat
and as a source the area
single um...
anyway i was really impressed
really impressed with him and and some of these he'd said meeting and so on the
course of
a couple of years and has probably in two thousand six
long before and created the concept of the company um...
and so we talked in touch
over time with the with the promotions mostly and i just
one of those people that
he was one of the people that i just learned something from
everytime we had a meeting
and um... i by just walked out smarter
and one of the big keys of being an entrepreneur is surround yourself
with people who are better and smarter than you
and uh... that's one of my big steps and so i definitely did that with
so uh... we had we had kept in touch again denied i'd run insulin before my
an accident on my
at a blogging conference again something that i had to call in sick for
because uh... the company you wanna send me to it
and i'm really glad i went to it was just simply a local internet conference
a focus on blogging and i ran into rat at that conference again and i i threw
out my edits on company you think
i'm trying to find one-sided does this
i can't find it do you know have any site like this for women because he had
told me a couple months prior the backcountry dot com
had some one deal with a time websites that were focused on men in and the
outdoor industry that did you know one thing after the other all day long
steep and cheap and surely you've heard of about one
he told me that i think you have a little bit is bailey came later really
a uh... away that day retell cite the full retail site uh...
sells off excess inventory in school
i'm not really looking like that i really want market
brands i wanna
highlight down in front of hundreds of thousands of people
i wanna tell their story because people like me and want to know
awana ***
curated products spoon fed to them and taiwan have somebody else who's
researching and in the nao
to do the work
so that i'm always on the cutting edge of what's keeping cool with my kids
and i also wanna connect with other moms like me
and he's like now that
that spend as far as being highlighted by people is something i haven't heard
before that is
that is uh... something i think would be cool
so uh...
fast forward to you after that expel that that next march
uh...
and that the last week i had to pick was the back in technology
and i got a random email from rat thich out of the blue save
eight sulk
we've got uh... reese's ed just a forward from there
uh... technology provider of d uh...
software solutions for till the day websites
and i end up not picking it we ended up not picking at but and it was ironic
that
arrived when i was thinking he actually sent me
added and said i i don't know where you're out that idea that you mentioned
it was pretty cool and calm
keep me informed
and here's here's a solution it might work for you know
i was saying earlier why does it scare in my mind i again i haven't seen him
for
four five months
so i will back unlike let's go to lunch
we both and cancellations the next day so nato first
a two thousand it we went to lunch
and two-and-a-half hours later we were
full business partners
and we launch the website twenty days later
i mean it s not a rat
and let him tell you mark
and though
the site and and and what we really want is just in case if you guys question he
had
really did dinner with folks before we got here and missile which passed the
that here west
the so it's going to run through through the thinks so
the by background uh... i with the universe and i don't know in
uh... michaela studying mechanical engineering and i switched to computer
science man after three-and-a-half years i switched to getting out of our key so
uh... in that time of going to school actually went to college for you know
over five years uh... you know it's marking grease a four year degree
hi ended up with uh... sixty-one credits akshara
they didn't need
and uh...
the main reason for that is that i'm that person were i'd love to learn i'd
love to learn just to learn
i don't know how i'm gonna plant i really didn't care at the time cause can
apply
but ided know that i like to learn they like to solve problems and i like that i
just like to understand thing so
i took courses in real estate itu grown school to learn how to find airplay itu
whitewater rafting classes i took appraisal courses i took all sorts of
things i do the one that i've really still trying to figure out how i'm gonna
learn is a racquetball class
alaihe racquetball but having quite a applied that one yet
but uh... the but the ones that i did was uh... you know about appraisal and
real state for example so wind week i've got together and we need to get our
first warehouse
uh... negotiating attack a contract around warehouse
uh... became very easy for me 'cause i was already familiar with the most of
the terminology there was a little bit different wasn't buying a warehouse was
just leasing
um... all of the different things that i had done over
uh... span of you know ten fifteen years
really gave me the confidence that i can really do just about anything 'cause
i've learned so many different things and it's very fascinating so one of the
things that um... i would encourage anybody who wants to get on twitter is
to is is is to find joy in learning without any specific purpose
learn everything you can learn whenever you have an opportune to learn it
in just know that some plates somewhere down the road
it's probably going to come in handy and if nothing else they can come in handy
when it comes to social currency when you're talking to people in creating
relationships with people
um... the depth in which a conversation usually expenses what you have in common
if you done lots of things in life
you probably got to have something in your back pocket as in common with that
person union delegate john a little bit different level and um... and that that
is proven itself for me on time and time again
and um...
so
the other part of my successes is morbid curiosity i'm just curious how things
work cuz i worry a little
why would you do that
that's interesting and and and continuing to think and to be curious
is what i think is one of the most critical elements of an aunt there
there are a lot of people just disappear na curious
right and discipline don't like to learn made me do you wanna learn one specific
thing be the best that that thing
and get paid very well to do that thing those usually are not entrepreneurs a
very successful people
in order to put on twitter or do you have to be reversible you have to be
able and willing
not only
no
a little bit about everything
but what you don't know he got a mail figure out you have to go through the
exercise of figuring things out over and over and over again you do that a lot
and again zev hoffitz so you can figure anything out overtime and uh...
part of that came from you studying engineering understand scientific method
you can solve any problem as long as you fall a particular process
then move into marketing about the changes into well
you know once i was i learned how to program i i learned in a language that
aren't used anymore i'm not a developer right it was pascal
but what i learned was how to heal what it was like to be a programmer and
there's developers far better the media but now i can appreciate a more than
most because
i had to speak their language i understand what it takes to do if they
do and not just asking them to
do something that uh... has no relevance to the thought process that it takes a
programmer to are you don't really get good specs and an built something so
feet uh...
confidence is the next thing that i had you know that is really part of my
background i'm very high profit
person but part of that isn't over intelligence
i've put up here i said it pigments is bliss
part of being a great this greatest that if you don't know you can't be
intimidated you cats like yourself out of it right i had no idea how
complicated this business was going to be or how involved it was going to be
calm no idea another great because i did i may not have done it right
but now the fact that i had no idea and just determined diamond for confidence
and
lots of little things uh... all you've got uh... you-know-who other bigger
thing a little bit bigger thing
uh... really i think you know it is part of our success
uh... betting that i'd say is that the anything is possible carolina
didn't come from wealthy families we didn't go tidy youth league schools
we don't have any specific advantage
over anybody in this rumor anybody anywhere other than being
american has a huge damage there we have a system and infrastructure better than
but any other entrepreneurs have at their disposal
but other than that
what we do is we work hard
we are relentless we'd all stop or persistent right we don't give up and we
absolutely don't make excuses
something like here a lot of people do a lot
make excuses that i can make a very clever i can come up with a skews
and i have three kids in a really good it coming
excuse for everything
what i heard you to do is resist the temptation to make an excuse as an
ocular you don't have the opportunity to make excuses also you do is have the
opportunity a
okay that that's it that's a different hurdle
gimme some possible ideas he was the solutions if i can't do that what can i
do here's the baby steps and then but i'm still working through those
more permission comes available more your your your your your your uh... you
know you're spectrum broads
and then but i am a martyr to immediately your later what you couldn't
get your head wrapped around also it is right in front of it makes perfect sense
and um... so i think that we let this news is really critical
and i think if i don't think the uh... on that note is
though expected to be easy
it's not easy
there's a reason why most entrepreneurs for detail
is i don't dis two six i think it's the height nineties that fail right
they don't use the fail because the bad idea
usually fail because as we more work than they ever thought it was going to
be
uh... part of what we do really well and the reason why
i was um... really intriguing working with jenna
it's as if i found somebody who has
a work ethic
and a discipline
that is very similar to mine we are very like-minded in that regard and
within i was a completely
i did know for sure because are livid interaction over a long period time
but every interaction i had
reiterated in including more more confidence that uh...
dispelled bills
does what she says she's going to do
she's smart she's speaking
i have yet to hear an excuse i have yet to hear
of reason why we can't old-line here it is very good questions
and um... very good ideas on
something that has never been done before
and all those things nobody became very interesting to me
uh...
the other thing about the discipline approach is that john and i we didn't
pay ourselves for the first year
it we worked
most people last about two to three months
an act about that you like this isn't working unlimited jump ship are going to
be something else
most people would not stick with you for an entire year and not make a dime
right but we did we made a commitment to each other
and what we said is that uh...
whether borrow money
but what i can spend money we don't have
right we are going to we were gonna use use of resources we had to have an r_d_
you know dot i i few things to use on a personal credit card she put the leap of
faith out there
but nothing beyond what you could put on a on a on a personal credit card it
wasn't a
no hundred thousand dollar loan from a bank by any stretch
and um...
uh... end the ability to just continue to have faith in been doing it over and
over and over again
uh... without requiring immediate gain
is very unique and entrepreneurs uh... good ones
usually have a story so much about
and it was a fail usually stopped at about two three four months
and then after the first year when we actually did make some money leading
give it to ourselves even that what we did is used to tara for simply
our first employee was age shipper because it was the only position in the
company that we could delegate relatively easily relatively quickly
without having to do
i'm a lot of training and without having to come out
uh... lived as we were very busy at the time we were doing everything ourselves
um...
for part of the time we're both still working full time jobs for the people
who did a really moonlighting yes
packaging up doing customer service two o'clock in the morning
you know orders on our pool table other that our basement
standing in line on our lunch break for our other job
to take packages to the post office to ship them to orders like
whatever took
no excuses
we didn't have the daily prayer on postage we did have packaging we don't
have anything bylaws we did have his
the relentless pursuit to say
what do we need a whether we need to morrow let's go do that and keep doing
it over and over and over again
eventually five years there
now we've got seventy employees we've got
uh... you know
thirty forty thousand square feet of warehouse well beyond our garage you
know well beyond our wildest dream reading set the expectations were gonna
be a public company
we're going out you know go big what we're going to do is
all the stream
be passionate
figure things out
and see where it takes us
and we're gonna persist deep-sea persistence and an end
just a relentless those of a commitment to each other and
if this doesn't work it's not because we didn't try hard enough
because it wasn't a good idea and somewhere along the way
will probably come up with a better idea thankfully for us
it was a really good idea because we use the collective wisdom of our experiences
from our past jobs
to formulate the idea
what we were doing in the past
i come from outback titan commerce background she comes from a media
background
this company is a marketing company
that combines media and e-commerce
in a really interesting way
it takes traditional shopping
in terms of intend attaining it takes traditional media and turns it into
shopping
and it it does in the way they had never been done before
and um... tocqueville that that's really part of uh... why we've been successful
in how we've been successful
uh...
the other thing i would say is some one thing that we did this come we didn't
have it all figured out that beginning
we create a prefer concept in charleston then try to figure that out
and i'll win that works we did more of that
we've done a lot of things that didn't work
all out of things
but we didn't try to figure out the master plan and all the things i had to
happen
before we even got started
we decide whether we gotta do today what are we gotta do tomorrow whatever do
watch the site right and that weeds broke that out it took us twenty eight
days
right after that would now like a well
what a reddish a product republic when we get an order but it never got a deal
in
of course we were planning ahead and looking forward but not the five-year
plan dot the ten year plan not the business plan that i studied in college
and took
a semester to create but was more a common-sense plan
and a on trial by fire with a proof of concept
that uh...
that uh... mri kinda reiterated our confidence in what we're doing because
if it didn't work or not i think move on
but it did work and not only what they worked really well
and workalmost too well and that's when right okay
uh... without a doubt about right now that plan would come in handy right so
it wouldn't necessarily happen after plan let's figure it out in the united
states pet
another
round of of endless sleepless nights working on this over and over rod and
say okay without a big success now let's take a break
slowdown
and reward ourselves as
let's get our money out that still go to vegas this do that that wasn't our
approach when it was
double down double down
and consistently
uh... you know pursue
uh... what it was that we were trying to create
and um... content-type fleiss's now you know if you know going to type pretty
quick
uh... but i don't buy some will get back to comes shortly with the company is
really quickly we're going to breeze through it uh... because uh... uh...
you know if you don't werman
he probably doctor shah from our sites that's ok if you have children you
probably will uh... sobel greasy that men again get retroactive to q daycare
your quickly so on my final advice for you is as very much was so good
genocides trying to stop by people smarter than you know it's hard to do
especially with people who are
profit themselves and
and and and really liked it
you know that a lot of pride in what they do it's a humbling thing
to surround yourself by people who know more than you do especially when you're
supposed to be the boss right when you're the boss it's hard to have
somebody knows something more about what you do
if you don't have those people is really hard to take it to the next level
you can grow in a pretty stable business but it's hard to advance because all
discomfort you not the people around you
um...
lowered the duke the delegate
right learn it
our strategies bootstraps and stopped on the way of octobers
our strategy is
year figure it out you do it yourself
and then you find way to delegate somebody else and you take on something
more
uh...
you really got creep uh... value to in order to expect sustainability a lot of
people looking for get-rich-quick
it won't make a lot of money
but the realize i'm not providing any value to anybody the other than to
myself by making money
applauded work for a little while it will not work long-term i guarantee it
somebody will always come into the better faster than you
and um... what i find it it's easiest to find value is what you would not what
and what you're really interested in
because the live and breathe it in by default you're probably authority on it
if not you know my learned more about it faster than anybody else
may become distorted and that
those creatures value in whatever niches that you're interested in there whenever
you know business model that you want to
uh... to do for us it was internet marketing asked what we love
and we can apply internet marketing our strategy dat industry any anything but
we chose this one
uh... because it was something that we're passionate about
was something that had been done
and it was something that fit the fifty-plus fit the mold
uh...
and
uh... the final thing also insist on
uh... executed level sleep appalled but wait for also smells
you know that's the one thing
uh... is really easy to get into when you're an academic setting because you
learning to learn to learn to learn to learn and analyze and learn
but when you get out
if you spend that much time thinking about it you're not getting anything
done
and the world's compassion you gotta move pretty fast
again execute over and over you don't have to donate no cure right kerala
whatever
track do
keep trying keep moving
which i said uh... is really critical what she's *** made a commitment
herself before she goes to bed everyday
she's gonna knock out one thing i don't care what it is but every day i will not
but my head on the pillow until i do one thing for this new idea in this business
to start
it she did that
starting two thousand seven
and and the list of business in two thousand eight that means
everyday for over a year she did at least one thing and sometimes to get our
wrong too
tent bags a day great i didn't give you ten days off
one thing
everyday no matter what
in the way i know
that uh... it's a good ness idea is if it's exactly what she said if you can't
stop thinking about it
no matter what it is
that's right yet
if you can't if you think about it for days a week about them and
distracted to go do the things
it's not your idea if there's something that's burning in your head in getting
really know what articulated what it is
but you can't stop thinking about it
that will probably create a passion
the value
and all the other ingredients needed to make a successful business
fights elaborate suicide notice on time and i really do want to get the q and a
missus ella jones breeze through this rough aspin m_m_ yes that's what that's
why
happened perhaps because kal
so hotmail dot com we are able to acquire that domain last august cell
before that
uh... pharma company facing name was still at work and that's the latest are
correct the name of our corporation and where r who are please work for
that are uh...
you know arpan
public eighteen billion skills dot com because if you'd like but still
networking that like do you guys like still stealer you construction company
so about while the trailers and erica still sites and the mission statement
for our company is we sent away
we are very particular with the customer experience
that's one reason why you're able to bootstrap in business without
uneven body advertising and marketing which is on for two people from
advertising and marketing the state
uh... we've built this business on how we treat people
and how we of value our customers
and uh...
everyone that works for our company
when they start getting gets a presentation from me
that is titled recent joy and um... than they truly learn
in that on what the heart of the business is why we do what we do
and on
and police enjoy gas needs a lot more than shipping products in the people
happy it truly encompasses everything your business from customer service
to uh... the way be displayed a product even if people don't buy something for
us they're still inspired they're still learning something new every day
so as you know we have baby stills dot com which is the first website in our
family and then scrapbook steelscape steals and she still stuck on
and this is what baby stills looks like
and again it was the first ill site for women in two thousand eight that is
scrapbook steals dot com and then you can see very simple one page website
here's the product
animal this doesn't scroll down but but but but it does go for a while tells the
story of why you are the product
and why uses are be excited about this brand
and as you can tell on the right hand side we market the brand we've lied to
their website
uh... meaning
you know have a lot of different social connections we are
they reacted as you can see on the top right here for baby still stuck on i had
worked much higher than i think we're to thirty-two now but um...
we have well over two hundred thousand face the fans just for baby stills dot
com alone
and can still stuck on as well that's actually one of my boys
right there will handsome guy
i'll redo all around poverty than the the majority of it
and um... we do a lot of videography is well here at our own copy we we truly
are production house for the best way to display products online
this is an example if she still stuck on
which just once last summer so essentially what we do in a nutshell we
create the manager scarcity by offering a limited quantity of hand-picked
coveted name brands every twelve hours we put it on sale for forty percent off
until it's gone
and we creek community driven commerce that combines entertaining and shopping
is right mentioned earlier
but what we really do as we went to connect to their customers
we provide fanatical customer service we have
uh... really large customer service staff not because we need that many but
because we want the questions answered really fast
because i'd know how moms are animal i was when i a question from e-commerce
site in out one of them first response as we get back from people is well i
cannot believe you answered my question so fast
uh... anyway and and lighting fast the film and that's one of the reasons we
take the risk by the product have in-house before we ever feature
and in a nutshell we send joy
where very different than professor with
without
anyway on
uh... anyway but it's not just a deal it's a steel is the mission statement
for each individual website because there are thousands of places online to
get a good deal thousands they're all just one click away
but it takes a lot more than a good price
to get a deal online and when you get a high quality products with amazing
customerservices bash it being
you truly do get a steel and that is
the basis behind still stuck on
and again most people still
they're getting uh... that there's a catch when they get a deal online like
eyes it'd be broken is it a second aidan take six weeks to ship it
on but is still dot com weary of it
and this is kind of visual of what we do every single day at nine a_m_ about this
many people come to our domains
directly our websites and learn to read and discover
right
uh...
there
name
all
are
and i think monarchy exp xxvi
all look
will hopefully
but products
get that much
yet
pulling that *** at one point six
yeah week
away earlier i had last year we shift our millionth order that was a big
internal celebration with uh...
with our staff
some theater
where we gonna go next well you can see
this is what i referenced earlier
that we do have a lot of billions and a lot of work to do
and out we have a lot of potential in those were all the female
sites that you may see estar could these are ones that we also in furman
we're pretty excited
we have a lot to nail as you can see
fill free to contact us we have business cards as well apparent feel free to come
grab them they've got
sort of are linked into social media channels and stuff
uh... but that's still free to email us tells our email address is and i know
will open it up for cuny
sir
uh... said there
uh... it
uh... we're
is that we were really working for the people
not here so
the question is essentially
if you're the one page website how r u on
a driving a conversation in giving people the answers to their questions so
uncoupled waste and the number one key social media
we on purpose on have driven the majority of those conversations off of
our website the number one reason for that is authenticity
when armand answers a question to another mom about a product it is a lot
more valuable
than uh... someone from our company saying it
that make sense
uh... especially at first when we were building a brand and brill being and
building the aane
sort of that
the curated nature of what we do of course they're gonna think we're going
to tell it's awesome right
now we've got a trusted establish brown for people do not allow that someday
sales for she steals and it's god i really need a wonder break on and so we
do know pretty sickly in those uh... questions and answers very frequently as
a company
uh... but
but but that was one of them recently as well as especially at the time
physically delighted you differently just like me who
that have really affected a lot of businesses but
uh... in the really glory days a face book we were really early doctors so
that and um...
and had a tremendous following still do
but uh...
every time we enter questionnaire someone posted question there
itself and there are lots of mera while you know and uh...
all that conversation was a very visible to all of their friends which helped us
market our company
uh... in just simply doing what we were already going to do
we quite frankly didn't have the money or the technology yet to build it on
your own website
and you will see s making a lot of those changes we have out quite a bit of plans
when the next year you have to pull
not pull it away from social media back to you on have the access to our website
yes please technical world or week-to-week community
the conversation
which is great uh... aspirin you'd credibility as difficult to be so it
will be up
all
word ours all people
and so we can and i little opportunities but the popular letter will
rule
winning the lottery will
and to our site the andes auger comments you know
a lot of other things that was that cost
that it's ok you know that you have heard of it in
but a lot of armageddon in the
at
we're not trying to do you think
recurrence of the very specific rivers the creeks its
overtime
uganda we will drive dot
and so uh... we always try to have the discipline to continue to do and what
we're doing but
what we do that works really well is uh... repurchase statement date in the
conversation very often
uh... your book it
harder what's the right people to tell people instantly
the fact that there was an attack she thought it was a big tax cut off it must
be effective that
if granular it shipped back ache
added it up for shipping i dot d
what that of of about
so far
that's been one of our best overtime redeploy our internet marketing
techniques
uh... but what we decided if it if you do if we can create sustainable business
model that the act
people
we've got by your traffic you could perimeter if you could do it
the respected
uh... you could approve of the truck
update very core audience that part of passion about something
then
to sustainable business
because if you are requiring on google
liquor about traffic
stop aid bill
you don't have a business
we didn't want that we do that and we would be detected work brother company
forget that will return with something that
uh... with happy that it's about a schism
this is our most successful matter and now there's lots of different ways
that's you know
uh... unions event yet really it's the the
it's social quit dot made reply without their engage in conversation
and has trained our staff to pick up her skills that they continue to haunt and
all that
will be great actually we could have gone out dot probably on eight
we could go fulfill
and by all of you here
and he really it would be a subtype of what we're doing right now is jobs are
learning
we don't take for granted but they detest
and every customer who comes does not look dirty
because we do business everything that you know it's not a defiant note about
good product and service
are
c_n_n_ orange i think students are well
have companies that they don't
acme actually don't
buying advertising you can believe it as right now
we don't have any recurring
built but if we you know shut off google adwords or affiliate program or anything
like that is just
it simply isn't there
it's not going to go anywhere that would be better status shipping better
you know better photography better coffee workers in a survey of the
actually make money off of people because we had quite well on carpet
regular free traffic from google but uh... we don't need
okay so the question was how do we have
so any discount generate income
soul dot basically plays into the market and what we do you know if you can see
from our website
uh... these black
hands fire very well
very well highlighted
and uh...
geothermal baby is the brand of the day and they are infront of that crap
these are not cm all all by themselves
it's not typically commerce where there's hundreds of products and
hundreds of skews different things to choose from
emarketing it and and setting it up on a pedestal and front oven mitch
audience and and what read i like to call is a step toward infer is
apparition based marketing
these the people to come to our website technically are being marketed to i mean
robbing marketing with everything everywhere nowadays but um...
but they've become for resent everyday because they're inspired so
the brands and want to be involved because of that aspect
because it really does
making them one of the brands that
you know all the moms want if you will uh...
and that she steals now especially being a site and
same thing well if i could just get my product and she steals
is what i've heard sol often that's where the number of questions they get
hehe
how do i get my product when she's does cuz they know five inches giving up on
that
e-commerce behemoth in front of all those eyeballs then something may happen
for me we don't we don't promise that necessarily but to answer your question
directly
uh... we partner with them on this promotion
we do buy the product from them
part of the part of the game is simple volume right we are
uh... now one of the biggest accounts for almost every
manufacturer that we do business with simply because our volume
is really hide we need we need a lot
so that we don't sell out
too fast
which was one of our huge problems in two thousand ten that
it'll be nine oh two and
sorry missed it
and uh... if i go home and how do like
meanwhile and promise come back to you
hello i'm something
i'll stick with that kind of an online tap dance to keep people happy when it's
liked it
but suppose and again i come here you're sold out
because we just there wasn't or arrivals than there were
products that we could afford it buys that
big game can anyway yeah we we cut the retail write out a game
and essentially we're giving people products and wholesale
so how do you make money doing that it's it's simply we we buy it for less than
we sell it for obviously back on that is our only mechanism of revenue there is
no other
wait we make money we do not have ads on our site at all uh...
cell
yak its a it's an interesting we provide them power
in product on or it itself and wit
and unit outfit
conversation about their product
nobody was to be different for very long that's why we do it for just twelve
miles sunday at nine p_m_ nine p_m_ tonight did the discipline required to
do
from iraq
that gives songs like pockets both people looked like they are
products you stop
and i thought no matter what
what i what we thought that would work or anything else but yet
four-lane but
it um...
died
that and and head
now enough that you might be like the product every
hopefully to create more
it's better to minimums and lower the cost all
but good it will be inventiveness their children
use your product
that's the best thing for the market
better than that ended up with the product itself
but you have to go into detail tell people what they would go with me walk
by store
about
last question
uh... mister
uh...
lessons
the g_o_p_ about we are very resourceful
when it comes to product
uh... we do have powerful retell uh... store fronts that are that's not the
best sala coffins we can sell it for
retail
but it takes a lot of radar consulting agents on twelve hours
wanted some twelve hours might be yes remarks itself
we also offer free local pickup for button
anybody's in salt lake harriet insist on the well that's one of the contents of
that which is beyond by one product shipping
and so anybody who lives in solidarity
can order all week long
like local pickup comunica local environment
and i think the minute they got their local pick up a quarter of the people of
represented that dot
uh... definitely happen on that
secret
so
dot that's that rhetorical
euclid so i thought siberia
uh...
you know
an installer yaar these uh... bizarre archive a passport pages
and of referendums on uh... u
you know what i didn't find that product you can
by either
but it's not that i was there for the purpose of the programs supplying
through
but uh... western for those about usually
you find out about with friends
but the friend he's had a nice little benefit out of that uh... or call him
and i don't know about your event however by the way
fund public
cross-border though you know that
the and all that uh... weekly
healthy about fat
there's a huge