AI, Tariffs, and the Future of Manufacturing with Anthony Sardain

0:01Light that spark fire nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on fire brought to you by high level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. Today, we'll be breaking down AI, tariffs, and the future of manufacturing. To drop these value bombs, I brought Anthony Sardain into EO Fire Studios. Anthony is the founder of Cavella, a sourcing platform using AI to automate how brands create products, find suppliers, and streamline manufacturing. And today, we will be talking about AI and product creation, the next two to three years of AI, automated sourcing from AI, and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Anthony and our sponsors.

0:39Fire Nation, if you love stories that entertain and educate, you've got to grab the book, The Dealmaker's Will by Walker Thrash. It reads like a novel, but teaches like a masterclass packed with timeless lessons on power, leverage and negotiation. Whether you're raising capital or closing deals, this book will change how you play the game. Get it now on Amazon. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software, say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today.

1:21Anthony, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. I think that we think too much. I think many people would do better not overthinking big decisions and just siding with immediate intuition over reason. I think that's even more true for big decisions. I found that often when you're stuck between two options, there's the one you know is right and the one that's convenient. And the longer you deliberate, the more you create false rationalizations, often in favor of convenience. And that's how you end up talking yourself into a job you don't want or hiring someone you're unsure about.

1:56The best decision makers, in my experience, tend to be the fastest executors. And that's just because they're trusting their gut and don't overthink. Well, this is a great lead into what we're talking about here today, Fire Nation, which is AI tariffs in the future of manufacturing. And I want to talk, Anthony, about AI and product creation specifically today. So right now, how is AI reshaping the way brands create, test, and launch products? I want to talk about the biggest shifts entrepreneurs should know about in these areas. AI is really leveling the playing field. We've already seen it in design and coding.

2:33So AI makes basically everything more accessible. And the same is now true for product creation. So you're essentially making it easier to generate visuals, do marketing, copywriting, even market research are just now faster and easier than ever. And the broader trend is that you don't need huge teams working for months. What used to require a team of five can now be done with like a single person. A small team can now spin something up with a lot less effort. And as a result, everything moves a lot faster. So what we're seeing is that brands are testing and launching new product lines quickly.

3:05They're expanding the brand universe. So that means that everything becomes easier and everything goes a lot faster, right? But it also means that there's a lot more competition. So now, you know, anyone can play, but that opens up massive opportunities too. So for the first time, you have smaller brands that can go toe-to-toe with the big guys. It's not completely even yet. I think a lot of brands are still finding that the actual making of products, the sourcing, the production side is still hard. But AI can help there too. And that's what we're working on. That's really exciting. And something I think that you and I actually talked about when we had our little pre-interview chat was just the fact that right now, there's one person that has launched a billion-dollar company.

3:51Maybe he hasn't got to a billion dollars or she hasn't gotten to a billion dollars yet. But with the use of AI, that one single individual is going to be able to create a billion plus dollar company. Like we don't know what it is or when it's going to be, but it's probably going to be soon. And so that kind of leads us into AI in the next two to three years. I mean, if we look just a couple years down the road, which by the way, is a lifetime in AI, what will AI be able to do for brands that feels almost unimaginable today? Yeah, I think that, you know, it's going to get easier and easier to create physical products in the way that it's been easy for people to create digital first products.

4:30And so I think you're going to see things go beyond just the use of AI for marketing. So we've seen a lot of AI for product photography, copywriting, customer support. But on the product creation side, I think there's a lot that is coming down the pipeline and we're already starting to see it. So you can start to see the pieces already. So you can imagine AI takes your brand catalog and your customer profile, and then it suggests the next products you should launch, generates images in your brand style, scours the web for suppliers, and starts drafting those first messages to them, negotiating the pricing, even helping you navigate some of the details when you want to order samples, draft the ads.

5:16All of this stuff is right now quite hard to do, but AI does put you in a position where you can automate some of these steps. And I think in the next two, three years, you're going to start to see serious automations along every step of this process. And all you're going to really need to do is approve each step, much in the same way that, you know, when you're working with ChatGPT, you're kind of just editing and revising rather than doing that first draft. So we're not there yet, but we're not that far off either. See, that's exciting to know that we're not that far off from that kind of reality.

5:50And I want to talk about AI automated sourcing now because I feel like Fire Nation needs this broken down. What does AI powered automated sourcing really mean? And how is it going to transform the e-commerce landscape? To understand what AI powered sourcing means, you have to think about what sourcing means today. So when a brand wants to launch a product, it is a very time consuming, convoluted and manual process. You have to, you know, scour the web for suppliers. You send those first email reach outs. You don't know who to trust. You don't know, you know, who can reliably create your product.

6:27You're now getting all these inbounds, all these messages, and there's hundreds of messages back and forth. The whole process take weeks. You're going to order samples. Samples come to your doorstep. They look wrong. You're going to do a couple iterations there back and forth, you know and then you're wiring money to a bank account in Hong Kong you're you know getting these orders they come in wrong because you didn't have QA it's a very manual process and it's of stark contrast to the rest of e-commerce which feels very automated right like anyone can spin up a Shopify account plug in Stripe and start selling but for some reason there's this piece in e-commerce which is the actual product creation, which is still very manual and still very time consuming and still very convoluted.

7:13And so the big benefit of AI is it allows you to start to chip away at this problem and take what has historically been this very manual service type approach to a automated product style approach. So you could imagine something like, you know, you will work with AI to generate a first draft of a product spec. So rather than, you know, going back and forth, you can have a very complete product description of what you want to make, anticipate all the questions that suppliers will ask. You can do better matching and find suppliers who have done this specific type of product before and are best suited to the kinds of order quantities you're looking for, the price point you're looking for.

7:58You're no longer just kind of throwing emails into the dark and hoping for the best. And then a lot of that communication as well can be automated. That can be, rather than going back and forth hundreds of messages with a supplier, you have AI agents, which a lot of people are talking about now, handling a lot of that communication for you. So you can start to see how all these pieces start to get automated away. And the larger picture is that it means that you can go a lot faster. you can be a lot more efficient with your sourcing. And generally, you will, as a result of that, also be able to source products and create products at a much lower cost.

8:38As you find better matches for your product with better suppliers, you can cast a wider net, reach more suppliers at once. And we've already been seeing this now. We're using a lot of AI in how we match vets and coordinate with suppliers. And as a result, we can get much lower costs for the brands that we've been working with just by using AI because we can better match suppliers to products and also do much more automated reach outs and reach more suppliers that way. See, what I hear at Fire Nation when I hear Anthony talk is opportunity. Opportunity is there for the taking. If you're willing to stay cutting edge, if you're willing to keep your finger on the pulse and learn from people like Anthony who are actually doing it in the moment.

9:26We have a lot more to talk about preparing for disruption, the trade war factor, and oh, so much more when we get back from taking our sponsors. Imagine a story so gripping you can't put it down, yet every chapter quietly levels up your business mindset. That's the deal maker's will. It's storytelling that teaches. Fiction built on decades of hard-won negotiation wisdom. You'll follow Will Powell, an entrepreneur drowning in debt, and his mysterious mentor, Julian Darrow, whose seven rules reveal how real deals are done. These aren't fluffy theories. They're actionable frameworks that scale. Whether you're raising capital, closing a sales deal, or negotiating equity with a partner, you'll learn how power, perception, and timing decide everything and how the best negotiators control more than just the numbers.

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12:33Seriously, every question that pops up, they will have your answer waiting. And if you visit my special partnership link, you'll get a free trial. So visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial and see why thousands of businesses are switching. That's highlevelfire.com, where marketing, sales, and automation finally come together. High Level, join the revolution. Anthony, we're back, and let's talk about preparing for disruption. It's going to happen, obviously. I mean, automated sourcing is going to shake up the traditional way that e-commerce works, as we've been talking about. So how can brands brace themselves?

13:09How can they position themselves to thrive before this tidal wave hits? It's going to get easier and easier for brands to create products. A lot of things are going to happen as a result. First, you're going to have more brands likely stepping on your toes, putting out similar products. It's going to be a faster cadence as more products come to market faster. To a certain extent, we've already been seeing that. i think you're also going to start to see encroachment from brands that haven't traditionally been in the product space now entering the product space right you're seeing a lot of uh influencer brands digital brands that are now putting out physical products so competition's coming across all fronts i think that one really important thing you want to do is you want to really dial into who your customers are really understand what their what their needs are, what they're looking for, and in particular, double down on brand.

14:07I think that, you know, I look at a brand like Yeti, for example. I think that Yeti is a great example because they put out these incredible tumblers that, you know, are obviously fantastic products, but they're also not the cheapest. And, you know, you could probably find a very good tumbler for a fraction of the cost of what Yeti is selling you, but yet people still buy from Yeti. And the reason for that is obviously the product is good but i think it's because yeti has just a fantastic brand and people aren't just buying the product they're buying the brand and what that's allowed yeti to do is to uh not just retain their customers in the in the face of competition but also expand their brand universe pretty considerably because they know that people love yeti the brand and not Yeti, not just Yeti products per se.

14:59So you have Yeti now selling things like, you know, cooling bags and lawn chairs and skillets and everything you can imagine, all products that cater to their ICP, but that are a departure from their core product offering. And I think that that comes from having a deep understanding of who their customers are and leaning heavily into brands. So I would say that any brand that is, you know, looking at the future in a world where product creation becomes a lot easier and therefore competition increases. Lean into brand, understand your ICP and double down on both. Boom. I mean, Fire Nation, if you're not taking notes right now, I hope you're saving this episode to go back and do so because there's a lot you can be implementing right now today.

15:42And of course, there's the trade war factor. I mean, with the trade war still very much in motion, what should brands be doing in the short, medium, and long term to navigate this uncertainty? Look, I think that a lot of people are still trying to make sense of tariffs. What we've seen over the last months is that tariffs have been applied, repealed, and threatened with such high turnover. It's kind of hard to know how to plan. Big brands can afford to stockpile inventory and take a short-term hit, but I think a lot of growing brands just don't have that luxury. I think the most important thing is too many brands have a bit of a set it and forget it approach to their supply chain.

16:28They basically find one supplier that works well enough and just stick with them and try and get them to make all their products with that same supplier. It's kind of like an all eggs in one basket approach. And I just think it doesn't work anymore. I think that the smartest strategy, no matter what your sizes is supplier diversification, which means getting multiple suppliers, but not just multiple suppliers, right? It's across multiple countries and having that broken up across different SKUs or even within a single SKU, right? That way, you've got a backup supply chain ready to go and you can pivot quickly when policies shift.

17:07And we know, Fire Nation, policy is going to shift. I mean, US manufacturing, the China trade war, looking ahead, what do you feel like this means with China for the future of US manufacturing? I mean, I know we're kind of getting detailed on specifics here, but I mean, that is the elephant in the room. I mean, how should entrepreneurs adapt their strategies now? It's tough, right? Because I think that we're still trying to figure out what the future is of manufacturing in the United States. There's a lot of enthusiasm of manufacturing in the US. I think that for manufacturing to return to the US, you're going to need a bit more tariff stability than what we've seen.

17:43Tariff policy, when tariff policy is this volatile, it's really impossible to plan long-term. And right now, the capacity for manufacturing in the US is also just not quite there. So even if reshoring happens, it'll take time. I was reading an interesting study from the US Fashion Industry Association. They found that more than 80 % of brands have already started looking at diversifying their sourcing to other countries, but fewer than 20 are looking at the US. And that, I think, kind of tells you where the momentum is today. I think that, you know, if you're a brand trying to figure out where you should move your production, I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all answer.

18:25There are some products that can be where China is and will continue to be the best option, depending on your order quantities, the specifics of the product you're making. But there's all sorts of different parameters to take into account. Is your business very sensitive to lead times, for instance? That might justify a near-shoring approach. Are you very cost-constrained? That might keep you in East or Southeast Asia. I think there's so many parameters. We've been helping a lot of brands kind of sit down with their current supply chain and understand what their current products are and find the best suppliers for their needs.

19:09But it really depends. And I think that it comes down to building out that diversification of supply chain. You find many different suppliers who could make the products you're looking for and hope that you land on one of the best options there. Okay, closing value bomb. If Fire Nation wants to future-proof their business in this age of AI that we're living in, automation, global trade shifts, etc., what's the number one step we should take today? I think if you want to future-proof, you need to be at the front lines, not be taken by surprise. And that means leaning into the newest technology.

19:50Things are going so fast right now. And being at the front lines, using the latest technology, thinking ahead about where the world is going, all of this approach is going to future-proof your brand. that means you know do you have to revise your supply chain do you need to be leaning into more technology in order to make your business more agile it'll depend on the nature of what you're you're building but what's clear across the board is that now is a time for being extremely proactive. And, you know, the old set of rules is really no longer applicable, both on the technology front and on the supply chain front.

20:42The rules are changing. And so there's tremendous opportunity there because no one really knows what the answer is. But you set yourself up for success by putting yourself in the driver's seat and adopting the latest, you know, information and technologies to help leverage your brand to success. Anthony, give us a call to action. If Fire Nation is fired up by this content you're sharing, how can we connect with you? How can we learn more? What do you want Fire Nation to do today? Yeah, absolutely. It's very easy. We've been helping brands cut their production costs by building out their supply chain and finding them better suppliers and what have you.

21:23You can just go to our website, cavella.com, C-A-V-E-L-A.com, and click start sourcing for free. And if you tell us that you heard about us from this podcast, we'll do the samples for free. So just reach us out. Samples for free Fire Nation. That's cavella.com. Anthony, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today because our audience knows that the average of the five people they spend the most time with in Fire Nation, you've been spending time with AS and JLD today. So keep up the heat. and with that, Anthony, Fire Nation salutes you and we'll catch you on the flip side.

22:02Thanks so much, guys. Take care. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Anthony for sponsoring today's episode and Fire Nation, what can 4 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs teach you? How about how to achieve financial freedom and fulfillment? My first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success is a revolutionary 17-step roadmap that will lead you to the lifestyle you've been dreaming about. This book took me 10 years of accumulating the genius of the world's top entrepreneurs. And you can get it all in one place when you visit UncommonSuccessBook.com.

22:34I'll catch you there or on the flip side. Fire Nation, if you love stories that entertain and educate, you've got to grab the book, The Dealmaker's Will by Walker Thrash. It reads like a novel but teaches like a masterclass, packed with timeless lessons on power, leverage, and negotiation. Whether you're raising capital or closing deals, this book will change how you play the game. Get it now on Amazon. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white-label your own software.

23:08Say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today.

23:24Thank you.