How We Sold Over $1,000,000 of a Triangle Piece of Fabric in Under 2 Years with Andy Isom: An EOFire Classic from 2021

0:01Light that spark fire nation JLD here and welcome to entrepreneurs on fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Systems Saved Me. Today, we're pulling a classic episode from the archives, and we'll be breaking down how Andy sold over a million dollars of a triangle piece of fabric in under two years. To drop these value bombs, I have brought Andy Isom into EO Fire Studios. He's a business coach and entrepreneur who helped build a$1 million pet brand in under two years in Fire Nation. Today, we'll talk about how with determination, consistency, and patience, anyone can be successful, how being unique and being able to provide quality products helped Andy stay on top from their competitors, and having a long-term vision, reinvesting your profits, and being patient is so key, and oh, so much more.

0:48And the big thing for sponsoring today's episode goes to Andy and our sponsors. DTC Pod, hosted by Ramon Berrios and Blaine Bolas, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. DTC Pod is a podcast about all things direct to consumer. Ramon and Blaine cover everything from starting, growing, and optimizing e-commerce stores in DTC brands. If you're interested in the stories behind your favorite consumer brands, this podcast is for you. One recent episode on how the best brands are built is a must listen. Listen to DTC Pod wherever you get your podcasts.

1:24Andy, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with? What's up, Fire Nation? I'm so stoked to be here today. I think the easy answer to that is something that's close to home for me, and that is that you need a college degree to be successful. I was one of those people. Both my parents are engineers. Both my parents graduated from college. They both have master's degrees. And so growing up, that's what I thought. I thought I had to go to college. I had to get a degree. I had to get a master's degree. to achieve that level of success that my parents and other people like that have achieved.

2:07But I've learned that through entrepreneurship, that you can really achieve that same level of success, that you don't need a college degree. Obviously, there's benefits to it. I'm not going to bash on college at all, but anyone can be successful. It really just takes determination and the kind of cliche answers of consistency and patience to get there. College was the four most fun years of my life. Like there's not even a close second of a four year stretch. It was such a blast. I have so many fond memories. And I will tell you right now in 2021, I look at those four years, not my four years that I spent because the world was a different place back then.

2:52This is even pre.com bubble, let alone anything else. But man, four years now in 2021 is such a waste of time to be spent in college, is such a waste of money to be spent in college for entrepreneurs, for people who have an entrepreneurial drive, for people that don't, that want to be engineers, doctors, lawyers, go off and conquer your four-year degree. Go do your thing. Go acquire a ton of debt that you'll probably spend the rest of your life digging yourself out of. But man, if I was 18 years old right now, and you're going to tell me to go spend four years of my life taking intro to literature and a philosophy course by St.

3:36Thomas Aquinas and whatever else I had to do in college to get this degree, not only mentioning those four years of time, which by the way is an eternity, but the debt that goes along with it. Holy crap. Check me out of that option, please. But anyways, Andy doesn't want to bash college. I'm not necessarily bashing college for everybody, just for the entrepreneurial minded types. So we're going to refocus and talk, Andy, about how you sold over a million dollars of a triangle piece of fabric in under two years. How the heck did you come up with a business idea of selling a triangle piece of fabric.

4:14What does that even mean? Yeah, that's kind of a click-baity title right there, but it's true. The way that we came up with this business idea is something that's important that I kind of want to discuss a little bit today with you guys listening. It's because we came up with our business idea based around a personal interest and personal experience. I know a lot of people who are starting online businesses, try to, you know, chase the hot thing or, you know, they're looking for the grass is always greener. What's the what's the new business like? What's the hot business that's going to make me a ton of money versus actually going after business models that you actually have an interest in or personal experience in?

4:58Because I think that makes a huge difference. So for us, we have a dog. We have a mini golden doodle. Her name is Remy. And we got her. Let's see. She's about to turn four this month. So September 27th, she's going to turn four years old. And when we got her, um, she was wearing a bandana around her neck. Like that's kind of how we picked her up. And we thought she looked so cute with her little bandana on. And so my wife kind of fell in love with that. And so she started making our dog her own bandanas to go around her neck. So my wife would, you know, go to Joanne's fabric, look for cute fabrics and make these dog bandanas.

5:39And they were different than like the standard bandanas that you'd see at a store online where it wasn't just a square piece of fabric that you fold in half and do the little spinny thing and tie it around how the traditional bandanas were. It was a custom shape. So it was a really unique custom design shape that looked a lot cleaner around the dog's neck and everything. and it was more comfortable and stylish. So my wife was making those by hand for our own dog and obviously posting photos on Instagram. And we started getting, you know, requests from friends on Instagram saying, Hey, I love those bandanas.

6:11Where'd you get them? My wife would just say, you know, I make these. And so we'd, we'd actually go to Joanne's, pick out fabrics for people, hand make them. They'd, you know, send us a few bucks on Venmo and we'd drop it off at their house. And that's when we kind of had the aha moment of, hey, we should scale this thing up. I had actually had experience with an Amazon business about four years ago, trying to get one off the ground. And so I kind of knew how it worked. I had done some sourcing and everything. So we decided to take our idea and scale it up, do some more mass production, started hiring some designers to do design work with us.

6:49We actually partnered with our next door neighbors and good friends, Cameron and Ashley. And we called our business Remy and Rue. Remy is our dog's name. Rue is our friend and business partners, their dog's name. And from there, we just really started to take off. So we really focused on the business aspect of it. And we scaled up our dog bandana business to$1 million in sales in less than two years. Wow. I mean, number one, golden doodles for the win. My 60 pound golden doodle Gus. So he's definitely not a mini for sure, but he is coming up on his second year of life here, which is pretty awesome.

7:33And we got him pretty shortly after his birth. So we definitely are enjoying the dog and the dog breed of golden doodles. So really cool to hear that. And number two, When you walk out the door, Fire Nation, are you keeping your ears open? Are you keeping your eyes open? Are you seeing opportunities that are in front of you? Are you seeing problems in this world that you can solve? Are you seeing things that you can improve upon? I mean, that's why I love having people go to places like Amazon and go read the one and two star reviews of products that you actually kind of like. because you kind of like these products and there's definitely ways they can be improved upon just like they improved upon this triangle piece of fabric.

8:13So man, really interesting stuff, but you know, obviously it's not all rainbows and unicorns here. So what was the biggest challenge you faced while launching this brand? Like let's kind of talk through some of those initial hurdles. Yeah. If I could just give like one big blanket answer to that, I would say the biggest challenge of launching our brand and when I work with students on launching their brands is doubt. That's the big challenge that everyone faces. The big challenge that we faced ourselves is doubting, is this going to work? Because starting an e-commerce brand, a physical product brand, it can be expensive.

8:55It requires capital to invest upfront because you got to source product overseas or even stateside, wherever you're sourcing product, but it could cost a few thousand to get set up. I actually recommend my students start with at least$5 ,000 to$10 ,000. So it can be kind of scary to fork over that kind of money for a business idea when, I mean, you do your research and everything and hoping that it works, but you really, at the end of the day, you don't really know how well it's going to work. So doubting yourself and doubting, hey, is this the right product? Is this the right brand? Am I selling it for the right price?

9:29Am I getting it from the right supplier, like all those doubts can really, really, you know, stop people's progression when they're trying to get their brands off the ground. I work with a lot of people who get caught up for months and months just trying to find a product to sell because they keep doubting themselves. So that's what I would say is like the big overall general answer to that is just being able to overcome all the little doubts along the way. But, you know, as far as maybe some more technical hurdles that we faced early on, I would say sourcing can be really challenging for a lot of people.

10:07I mean, a lot of us, we're entrepreneurs. We've never worked with big companies sourcing products from China or overseas. So that can be really intimidating, trying to navigate all that. And it took us about, let's see, eight months, nine months to do the sourcing for our product and get our product off the ground. And we learned a ton during that process. But at the core essence of that, I mean, I could really, I could go into all sorts of little challenges, right? But at the core essence, it's really being able to overcome that doubt that you're making good decisions, that you're doing things correctly.

10:45And that's where I think, you know, having a mentor can really, really help. We actually had a mentor who helped us overcome a lot of those doubts. Our mentor was a good friend of ours who actually had built multi-million dollar brands on Amazon. So we turned to him with a lot of questions like, hey, are we doing this right? What do you think about this? And just him reassuring us. I mean, I wouldn't say there was any like crazy, brilliant secrets or anything that he gave us, but just him saying, yeah, like you're on the right path. Yes, like you're doing good. Push forward, like be willing to take that risk.

11:17It really helped us get to the next step. And one thing I love to say, because of course we help people launch podcasts with Podcasters Paradise. So we see the same kind of thing when it comes to launching your podcast and that kind of online platform brands is doubts. And what I like to say to people about doubt is yes, you are doubting yourself because of one fact, you're a human being. You literally are a human being. Therefore you have human emotions and therefore you have doubts. So get over yourself. Stop thinking that you're special or that you are in trouble because you're feeling doubt.

11:55No, you're feeling that because you are a human being and every single person to ever walk this planet feels doubt when they try something new, different, scary, change, all these different things. So embrace it and then rise above it. And we are talking about some awesome stuff, Fire Nation, when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Marketers have never been spread so thin. Trust me, I feel it too. Between creating content, launching campaigns, generating leads, nurturing your prospects, and more, you barely have a second to breathe, let alone do your best marketing. But I've got some great news.

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13:06Stop spreading yourself thin and start making major moves with HubSpot. Visit hubspot.com slash marketers to learn more. So Andy, copycats are everywhere. I mean, I've got to imagine with something, I don't want to say as simple, because of course there are some elegant things that are involved with this and some packaging and some cool things that you did. But let's be honest, you know, a piece of triangle fabric is a piece of triangle fabric. Like there's ways to copy that. How did you handle competition and still find your way through to success? That's a really great question. And I think that's something that holds so many people back from starting to begin with is they're just afraid of the competition.

13:46And you're right, like the product that we sell, it's super simple. It's super basic. And I actually get a lot of people who message me on social media and say, Andy, how like how can you talk so much about your brand and your product and your business on your podcast and on your social media? Like, aren't you worried about the competition? Aren't you worried about people coming and stealing your product or knocking off your brand. And I actually have a full podcast episode about this where I talk about how if your product is successful, it's going to be copied. It doesn't matter if you talk about it on your podcast or social media or not.

14:26If it's successful, the copycats are going to come. There's a lot of stats out there that say stuff like over 50 % of sellers on Amazon are Chinese based. And a lot of those Chinese sellers, they are just scouring Amazon. And there's back in software tools like Jungle Scout and things that will show you sales data for products. And they're scouring the platform for top selling products, products that sell really well. And they're searching. And if they find a product like, wow, this sells really well, we feel like we can make this, they're going to make their own version of it. So the way to get around that.

14:57And the way we kind of get over that hurdle is we really, really focus on branding. That's something that I think a lot of sellers on Amazon specifically simply overlook. They overlook the power and importance of branding. And there's a lot of examples out there in the consumer products space that we can turn to. A couple that I use quite frequently with my students is GoPro, for example, GoPro, they make action cameras. They're a little bit on the high end of the market, right? You're looking at probably three or four hundred dollars for their action cameras. If you go to Amazon, you can find all sorts of action cameras for like 50 bucks, $30,$50.

15:41And they'll say 4K action cam. So like how on earth does GoPro continue to sell multiple millions of dollars of their product? And obviously they're not selling just on Amazon, But just as a product example itself is they build a brand. They build a community. There's like a cult following around GoPro that that's what people trust. Another more basic example, I think, would be a product like Hydroflask. Hydroflask is, you know, those insulated stainless steel water bottles. And they're a premium product for that specific product market. And now there are hundreds of competitors selling tumblers and insulated water bottles like that all over Amazon.

16:25Yet Hydro Flask continues to sell really, really well at a premium price. It's like, why would anyone buy a Hydro Flask for$30 or$40 when you could buy this other cheaper knockoff brand for$10 on Amazon? They both sell well, but it's because, you know, these these brands, they're establishing that brand identity. They're building a connection and they're building trust. So that's something that I think has helped us really well is we are we are the most expensive on Amazon right now. We are the most expensive dog bandanas on Amazon. And we did that on purpose. We wanted to build a quality brand.

17:04We want it to be premium quality. We want it to be different than just like the cheap quality fabrics, the cheap, cheap designs. We wanted to be cool, trendy, and build that brand relationship. And it's worked out very well for us. We have a lot of people who will post pictures on Instagram and share and tag us in it where they have every single one of our packs. And I think we have, man, it's hard for me to keep track of now. I think we have like 15 different packs now. But they'll post of every single pack and they own every single one. And they kind of, you know, they love our brand. They kind of connected with us on a personal level.

17:38and that really helps us stay on top with all the competitors that come to the market. Fire Nation, one thing you do have to realize is Kleenex is a brand. It's not tissue. It's like, hey, can you pass the Kleenex? And people are always saying that even if it's not the actual brand itself, but they've worked themselves into that. Same thing with like Q-tips and other things that we just say every single day. That was a brand that just made themselves a word, just like Google now is search and things along those lines now just take over what the actual conversation is. And when you have that brand, people aren't gonna be like, oh, is that Gucci or is that a knockoff?

18:21People are gonna want to let you know that, hey, this is the brand that I like, which is Gucci. This is why I may be paying obviously more than for a knockoff, but it's Gucci, it's the brand. And I'm behind the brand and I love the brand and I love what they do. And, you know, of course you can add things into your brain and what you're doing. Maybe you're going to be giving some of the proceeds to like animal welfare centers or something along those lines. So people may be like, you know what? I am paying maybe a dollar or two more for this thing, but I know that some of this money is going to be going to a cause that I love.

18:54And if I'm buying a dog bandana or I got a dog, um, you know, piece of triangle fabric here, one of these packs, then guess what? I'm probably a dog slash animal lover and I love that process and that can just be another way to grow that brand. Now, I do want to shift into Amazon because you mentioned it. You mentioned tools like Jungle Scout and things along those lines, but Amazon is just such a beast. Share with our listeners some ways that we can find success when it comes to selling on Amazon. You're right. Amazon is a beast. There's a lot of crazy stats that have come out in the past just couple years.

19:32Amazon, like just for example, Amazon gets 3 billion visits per month. They have 300 million customers. They pass$386 billion in revenue. Like they are massive. I was actually looking at some stats the other day about e-commerce market share and Amazon owns about 40 % of all e-commerce in the United States. So that means of any like product bought online, 40 % are bought on Amazon. Second place on that list of the top 10 e-commerce websites is walmart.com. They own 7 % of the US market. And the crazy thing is after that, like when you start going back down the list, eBay, Target, and so on, if you add up all the others, so if you add up Walmart and all the rest of the top 10, they only add up to like 27%.

20:21Like they don't even come close to what Amazon's market share is. So Amazon is crazy popular. And that's something I want people to remember as well. A lot of people come to me saying, you know, man, I really wish I could start an Amazon business, but it's just too competitive now. It's just too saturated. And is it saturated? Absolutely. Is it competitive? Yes, it definitely is competitive. But you got to look at the other side of the coin as well. There are 300 million customers People are flooding the platform more and more every day. So even though, yeah, there's a ton of products and 2.4 million sellers on Amazon, there's still many, many millions more of people actually buying stuff.

21:11So just keeping that in mind can help you still see the potential of selling your products on Amazon. But yeah, as far as like you were saying, a way to really execute on the platform and cut through the noise. Number one is what I mean, if I were kind of to go over just a few things that we've already touched on a little bit, you know, focusing on something that you have personal interest and experience with really makes a huge difference. You being able to develop a high quality product, a differentiated product than what's already out there is going to be critical to your success. So if you, I use the example of baby products all the time.

21:53I see people who will go on Jungle Scout or Helium 10 or one of these software tools that help you analyze Amazon sales data. They'll go on there and say, oh, this baby product, you know, this specific baby product sells really well. I like, I think this is what I want to sell. But then I asked the person, I say, do you have a baby? Like, are you a parent or have you been around babies? Do you know what type of swaddles you would like? Like you have a baby, do you know what the best swaddles are that you prefer? Or do you know what you wish was a feature added on this specific, whatever it is, baby pajamas that's frustrating for you?

22:30So if you don't have a baby or if you've never been around a baby, you're going to have a really hard time developing a swaddle, baby pajamas, a product that people are going to love because you don't really have that experience or personal interest in it. So that's a huge thing. Branding, I would say, obviously, really focusing on building your brand, building your social media accounts, building a strong community and following around your products and your business. And then number three, I would throw in, it is important, is to do your market research. do your research use jungle scout see what is selling see what the sales data is but what i try to remind people of is using tools like jungle scout i don't think are there to tell you that a product is necessarily a good idea or a bad idea like if you see good numbers i don't think that means yes sell this or if you see like we'll say bad numbers quote unquote i don't think that means that you shouldn't sell that product what i use jungle scout for in the way that i look at it is the numbers on these research tools are simply telling you how difficult it is going to be to grow that specific product or brand on Amazon.

23:42So it's just giving you a good look at the competition. So if I really love camping, I have a ton of experience with camping. I have a really good idea for, you know, products in a camping type of brand, but I go to, I go to type of product ideas look really competitive. I don't think that's a big, you know, no-go, like don't sell that's too competitive. I just think it's showing me, hey, this is what it's going to take to be successful with this type of brand. And then you got to ask yourself, is that in my wheelhouse? Is that in my budget? Is that something I'm comfortable going after? And kind of go from there.

24:19But yeah, just to recap, products and brands that you're interested in or have experience with, focusing on branding and doing your market research. I mean, Fire Nation, in today's day and age, you should honestly feel overwhelmed with opportunity. There is so much opportunity out there. But if you really just take those last words that were shared by Andy to heart, what's in your wheelhouse? There's only going to be a couple things that are really in your wheelhouse that you're actually passionate and excited about. They actually have value, knowledge, and skills you can add to the world in. So take all the noise in the world.

24:53Don't get overwhelmed and just say, what tiny sliver percentage of all these things are actually in my wheelhouse? And now let me identify within just these handful of things, which I want to actually go after first. Now, let's really end with a bang because you grew your brand into a full-time income, which is obviously spectacular for you, your wife, your family, your little golden doodle and all that jazz. So share with Fire Nation the one thing you really want to make sure we take away from everything we've talked about, about branding and about the challenges and about everything that we chatted about.

25:35One thing that you really want to make sure that we get about your lessons learned from turning this into a full-time income. The best ways that we can connect with you and your business and your brand. And I know you have something special for Fire Nation. So share that as well. The big key that I would say to taking, you know, your brand, your business, and honestly, I think this applies to any online business because I've been in all sorts of online businesses and I still am. YouTube, podcasting, coaching courses, like I've tried all sorts of different business models. And for this business model and a lot of them, I would say have the long-term vision.

26:11And you were saying this, John, at the beginning of the episode about college, talking about how it was the best four years, but man, it goes by quick, but it's also so much time. Four years is such a long time. And people get so short-sighted on things with any business model that when they don't see the results that maybe they think they deserve in a certain time period that for some reason they think they deserve it in, that they give up and they get discouraged. changed. You see it happen in YouTube channels and, you know, Amazon brands where they start selling. They only sell a couple hundred dollars.