He Started With 25 Dumbbells. Now He's Sold to 100,000 Customers

0:00Alex Chisnall:Six years ago, you were working in banking. Today, you've built a business serving more than 100 ,000 customers across 30 countries. We knew nothing about importing, sourcing, Chinese supply chains, etc. And we started with 25 pairs, and within two days, they were gone. Bought 75, same thing. Fast forward, it then became 150, it became a container, it became two containers. I was speaking to a guy who sells supplements for chickens. There's$12 million a year at like a 30, 40 % margin, and they're a three-person team. Supplements for chickens in America that he's making three to four million a year on.

0:35Pure play profit. A lot of what we do isn't complicated. It's just a game of speed and execution. And I was sat in these bullshit corporate meetings of training, and my phone's ringing, and I've got all this stuff, and I was like, you know what? This isn't it. This isn't it anymore.

0:55Alex Chisnall:What stops founders from building something meaningful isn't a lack of ideas. It's the fear of getting started. I'm Alex Chisnell, and this is Screw It, Just Do It, the podcast for people who are ready to stop waiting, take action, and make things happen. Six years ago, you were working in banking. Today, you've built a business serving more than 100 ,000 customers across 30 countries. I want you to take me back to the moment you realized selling adjustable dumbbells from your parents' garage might actually become a business. Absolutely. Yeah. Look, first and foremost, Alex, thanks for having me on.

1:30I've been a keen follower of the pod for a long time, so thank you. So yeah, if I take you back to kind of COVID 2020, lockdown, gyms are closed. It was actually my co-founder that got served an ad on Facebook or Instagram for a pair of adjustable dumbbells. And he was like, hey, Cream, what do you think? We're sat at home. We're not really doing anything. Gyms are closed. There's an opportunity here to basically make a quick buck. And we knew nothing about importing, sourcing, Chinese supply chains, etc. And we started with 25 pairs. Two, three months later, they arrive at our parents' house.

2:06We're physically unloading these 25 kilo boxes. And then we just set ads live on Facebook Marketplace. And within two days, they were gone. We were then like, look, let's go a bit more bullshy. Bought 75, same thing. Two days, three days, they were gone. Fast forward, it then became 150. It became a container, became two containers. And I remember it was maybe around like April 2021. We had four containers arriving to the UK and the latest lockdown was lifted. And we were like, what on earth are we going to do with all of these dumbbells? And actually what we found is not only had COVID kind of behaviorally changed people's views around like working out from home, but I think there's always going to be a steady state demand of people that don't want to go to a commercial gym.

2:54They don't want to commute. They don't want to be surrounded by a bunch of people taking photos in the big gym, etc. And yeah, fast forward to today, we're in the UK and Europe. Yeah, with ambitions to take it to the US. And yeah, spread globally is the plan and the intention.

3:10Alex Chisnall:And take me back to when you decided to get the 25 sets to start with, you say? Yeah, yeah. So you preceded that by saying you didn't know anything about importing, exporting, rules, regulations, whatever that might be. Nothing. You didn't even know who your target demographic was, right, or anything like that. So how long from talking about it and your co-founder to actually taking action and buying them with a purpose to sell them? Yeah, so I think to be honest, we'd always, I mean, even going back to school, we always like experimented with a couple of little side hustles. So, I mean, as I know a lot of people did, like, you know, we used to sell sweets at school, go to the local corner shop, buy something for 60p, sell it for two quid.

3:59And we just like walk home with a pocket full of money, which is brilliant. Yeah, I mean, the margins, I felt wealthier then than I've ever felt in my life. And then we tried to do something at kind of university, but didn't kind of take off. So we'd always had in mind, we wanted to do something. So I think when the opportunity came up, he was just like, what do you think? And to be honest with you, we were in the camp, look, we're at home. We were both working corporate jobs. We're both getting paid. Okay, we had savings. And it was just a case of, look, it's a two grand investment, which I know obviously like I don't want to belittle that but it was a case of like look if it comes we sell it great if it doesn't sell then what's the end of the world and I think for us there was a bit of like nervousness around like well how are we going to sell this and what are we going to do with them and all this stuff and there was actually something my dad told me after we'd bought the 75 that was always stuck with me he was like Kareem look you're buying a product that's not perishable there will always be a demand for this like why are you guys faffing around with like 25 and 75, go like full hog and buy 10 ,000 and you'll sell them.

5:01And at the time, it was like, you know, nervousness and this, that and the other. But I think it was, you know, for us, as it was starting to like scale up from a physical operation, you know, a container would arrive, we'd have to hire 10 guys, we'd have to physically unload it. And it was just becoming like unmanageable. And then around that time, it was people were starting to talk about Amazon FBA, and retail arbitrage and all this stuff. So we're like, hey, let's give it a go. Set up a Shopify site. Within a couple of hours, we had our first sale. And we literally like contacted the customer and we're like, with all your stuff, where the hell, where on earth did you find us?

5:40And she was like, look, I saw your ad on Facebook Marketplace. I didn't really trust it. So I found a website. I found your website and I bought it. Which I think when you're not involved in like e-com, you kind of just assume that like website is safe. but obviously Facebook marketplace, it's the same guys, same products, same everything. And I think there was just this like dopamine hit of when you get that Shopify ping, you're like, holy shit. Sorry, I don't know if I meant to swear or not, but we're like, holy shit, this is amazing. And then it got to a point where we're like, look, rather than us driving around London, dropping dumbbells off to people's houses, let's get a courier relationship up.

6:17So it then got to a position where orders would come in, we'd print out the labels, stick them on the box, they'd come pick it up, and it would just go, and we just wouldn't really see it again. And I think what always blows my mind about like, you know, UK European logistics is we were selling from London that you could basically get it picked up by Parcel Force or DPD or whoever, and it would get delivered to like the north of Scotland within 12 hours. I was like, even if I wanted to go to the north of Scotland on my own, I probably wouldn't be able to get there that quickly. so it just like there's just this penny drop moment which was like oh god like you can be sat at home and you don't need to be lifting boxes and shifting boxes and driving and and and and that's when I think we were just like okay cool there's something there's something here

7:03Alex Chisnall:and that's a mindset shifts as much as anything right as well and and I love the fact that um your dad was getting you to think big yeah yeah bigger than you were thinking at the time right it? 100 % because like I said, for me, it was like, yeah, and this is like one of my bits of kind of advice is like, I think when people think about entrepreneurship and starting a new business and all this fun stuff, people always think, oh, I need a billion dollar idea. I need to create a new category and need to be a new industry. But I think for us, it was a case of can we earn an extra 500 quid that helps us save a bit more money or covers a couple of dinners a week or whatever.

7:40and I think actually by like starting small and incrementally increasing the order size, increasing the investment, it's now grown into something much bigger. But yeah, one of my regrets is not my dad's advice, which was just like, had we piled in, you know, we might be sat on a beach in the Caribbean or something right now, but here we are.

7:57Alex Chisnall:But I like that as well, because there's a lower barrier to entry, right? With the fact, like you say, if you, I'm not teaching people to I think smaller, but if it's easier to go and buy 25 sets, 100 sets to make another thousand pounds each month that gives you a better lifestyle or enables you to save for whatever it might be. But that's a far lower barrier to entry than going, like you say, I need to think of a brand new thing that I can become a billionaire at, right? that is such a high barrier to anyone taking that first step to action, that idea. It will stay in your head. A hundred percent.

8:39And I think even now, there's a lot of products that are like supplements, electrolytes, all the rage. I need to do a... But I think what I've found, especially in the last five or six years, but especially in the last year since I left the banking world and jumped in full time, I've met a lot of people in the e-commerce space selling a lot of random things making a lot of money I mean I met a guy I was speaking to a guy who sells supplements for chickens in the US only there's 12 million dollars a year at like a 30 40 margin and they're a three-person team like not in my wildest dreams where I think about that as a product set and that's so random so

9:19Alex Chisnall:random as random as you can get supplements and chickens in America that he's making three to million a year on pure play profit and for me it's just a case of like the money's made in the niches and also the market is bigger and broader than i think any of us can think of so yeah i think we can sometimes get like a bit of paralysis by being like okay i need this awesome idea and i need to raise capital and and and and and but actually just start and what might be 200 quid a month becomes 500 becomes a thousand becomes becomes and it just it's a seed that grows um and yeah I think that's kind of my biggest takeaway from the whole story and the whole experience so far.

9:59Wow.

9:59Alex Chisnall:Supplements for chickens. That's still, that's never going to leave me. That's never going to leave me. And that's, you know, often the way of trying to think of something that you can improve upon or something that you can offer in a different way to a different market, right? So people looking for those ideas, you just have to travel, right? To come up with the, or you know the obvious these days is you you just ask church ebt or claude but there's something to be said for going and seeing something um we were talking about this last night actually um you know um it's meant to be one of my interviews on on this trip um vivian wong from the uh the frozen balls of ice cream forgot my little moons exactly something like that that was taken from another country brought over here and now is a hundred million pound business from it and you're Like, hang on a minute, 100 million pound business.

10:50Alex Chisnall:This thing's been around forever. And like bubble tea is another one bringing to the UK, right? And her story, I just listened to a podcast that she'd done. And her story is so interesting. Because like I said, mochis, they're well known in Japan, etc. But they use like bean custard or bean something or other. She replaced it with ice cream. And it's just been obviously an awesome hit. And yeah, not too dissimilar to us. Like COVID for her was like the big explosion. Are you running a business that pays suppliers abroad, receives international payments, or operates across borders? World First helps founders manage global payments and FX more efficiently with access to competitive exchange rates and tools designed specifically for growing businesses.

11:33Alex Chisnall:You mentioned banking. You mentioned going full-time with BrainGain, right? So how long were you in banking? How long did you do this job in the evenings, at the weekends, in your holidays? What does that kind of look like now? And for your co-founder as well, there's two of you, right? Yeah, exactly. So yeah, when we first started, so I was in banking, he was in consulting. I was saying, Alex, I've never really got into the details about because I've purposely been quite vague and opaque just to avoid the crossover. But I think, yeah, now it's been a year, I think it's okay to do a full exclusive reveal all just for the pod.

12:19But yes, I think when we first started, because it was always just like an opportunistic COVID side hustle. So both of us were doing our kind of corporate jobs, banking for me, kind of consulting for him. And to be honest with you, like during COVID specifically, it would just be a case of, okay, we get all of our orders. And then in the evening, once we'd finished the day job, we'd literally just hire a van, drive around London, agree the route. For me, it was kind of Battersea, Oval, Clapham. And then I'd kind of go all the way sometimes down to like Croydon and I'd go like all across London.

12:55And I think kind of as it was then starting, you know, we moved online. And then about two years ago, we then started selling in Europe as well. and I think for me my total banking was about 13 years but the overlap here was probably about four and a half between doing kind of both of them and I think probably like my biggest regret is like not jumping sooner and I think there's a few things one is trying to do two intense things at the same time not not easy both in terms of like time so like the actual like working hard and waking up at five o 'clock and then not finishing till 10. Believe it or not, it was actually okay.

13:38Because I actually enjoyed both. But I think there was a few things that I was finding, which was A, operating in the shadows and hiding. I couldn't really be my, I don't know, this sounds like really cringe, but I couldn't be my true authentic self in the banking world, which I enjoyed, or in the entrepreneurial world as well. And then I think the second thing is like opportunity cost is like by not being fully focused on the kind of the brand and the company and the opportunity, I just wasn't getting to stuff quick enough. And for me, a lot of what we do, and again, I may be sometimes a bit self-deprecating, but it's like a lot of what we do isn't complicated.

14:17It's just a game of speed and execution. And for me, it was like very simple things like review my 3PL invoice. It would go like six months until I've reviewed it. And then I'd open it up and be like, oh my God, we've just overpaid by like 50 grand. And I think the third thing I would say is like, I always thought it was just like putting myself under pressure, but not realizing the impact I was having on people around me. So often by trying to juggle both, I was like rescheduling meetings with my team. I was, you know, kind of always in a rush. I was like, okay, cool. And this is cool, guys. We've got to get it done in exactly 30 minutes.

14:54If it got to 31 minutes, I was like, guys, I've got to drop. So I think for me, it was, I probably took the decision much later and slower than I probably should have done. But I think there's always apprehension between you've got your monthly salary, you've got your health insurance, you've got the safety, the security, you've got your annual leave, blah, blah. but I think what I would say is like the best decision I ever took was to jump not because of any animosity towards the previous world but I think for me it's just like giving this a good go and I think the amount of like you know kind of opportunity there is out there in the world but you've just got to kind of get shit done is basically the way that I see the world and yeah my regret is just not doing it not doing it a little bit sooner.

15:40Alex Chisnall:And why do you think you did it when you did it then you made the decision was it did you literally like you know piece of paper pen wrote out the numbers or was it a case of more psychological than that yeah great question because I think the I think probably the real um kind of decision point that really impacted was I think it was May 2025 we went to China to see our suppliers and we'd been we'd had a remote relationship with them everything done on like whatsapp wechat calls alibut whatever and then that year we went to china to see the suppliers and we got to a position where um and it sounds really weird to say because like when for us we're dealing with like big heavy products on pallets in warehouses it takes up a lot of space there's a lot of like money involved in stock and selling and and and but i think when we went to china we met the suppliers there was like these these these factories are monumentally huge and when we were with these factories and they were like obviously a treating you like royalty hospitality dinner drinks whatever but actually when you see how big in the scale of these factories are and they tell you hey look you know you're 30 40 percent of our business there was a bit of a penny drop moment which was like holy shit like this is not just you know like a little side hustle anymore it's grown into like a proper business with a lot of people and a lot of volume and a lot of kind of complexity.

17:10And I think I came back from that trip. And I was just like the week afterwards, I was then back in the day job. And I was sat in, again, part of my friend, like, you know, these bullshit corporate meetings of training and like my phone's ringing and I've got all this stuff. And I was like, you know what, this like, this isn't it. This isn't it anymore. And then yeah, within a week later, handed in my notice. And in that week, my wife had basically done a similar journey of leaving the corporate world to join the entrepreneurship world. And she was like, look, Karim, with all your respect, I know you're like emotionally invested and you're worried what people are going to think about you and, and, and, and, and.

17:45And she basically said, look, with all due respect, you're kind of a number and you're a cog in a bigger machine. From a personal perspective, people will probably be sad to see you go because you're a nice guy and, and, and, and, and. But at the end of the day, like things move on. And when I handed in my notice, they were literally just like, okay, cool. No worries. Good luck. I was like, for the love of us, 13 years of my life has just gone. But it was slightly nicer than that. And it was a bit more emotional. But do you know what I mean? Caught up with people and the machine, the corporate machine just keeps on rolling.

18:17Alex Chisnall:You were rehired. Kareem 2.0 was rehired back into the business. Yeah, exactly. One of the best parts of hosting Screw It, Just Do It is getting to sit down with incredible founders. And once a year, instead of interviewing them one at a time, I bring hundreds of them together. This November, I'm going to be hosting the Festival of Entrepreneurs at the NEC in Birmingham. You're going to be able to hear from founders including Richard Harpin, Ray Kelvin, Juliet Barrett, Piers Linney, and over 200 speakers across two days. So if you're looking for ideas, inspiration, and genuine business connections, I'd love to see you there.

18:55Alex Chisnall:just go to festival of entrepreneurs.co.uk to register for your free yes free ticket when you made the decision that it was going to be adjustable dumbbells um you look straight to china i'm guessing did you or did you you did okay you did um and how long was it just an online relationship remind me the timeline before you actually went there physically and you said you saw the physical scale of the impact that you were literally making on that factory right yeah so it was it was probably about four years um that it was just pure play online kind of relationships and i think again like a bit of having now gone twice and planning to go again kind of in the not too distant future i think just the amount that you can achieve by seeing people and meeting people face to face i think that's a general principle but i think especially when you're dealing with suppliers in the Far East, like relationship is everything.

19:54I remember like the first night we had, you know, a long agenda of all these contracts that we're trying to negotiate and, and, and. And on the first night, you know, I turned up to dinner and I was like, okay, cool. We're ready to talk business. And they were just like, Kareem, look, today we eat, we, you know, I don't personally drink, but like they whipped out this bottle of like, it's called Mu Tai. I don't know if you've ever heard about this, but it literally looks like paint stripper. And they put it on the table and they were like, would you like some? I was like, no, no, I'm okay.

20:21Alex Chisnall:And you offended them instantly. Yeah, exactly. And then I like looked it up online after I was like, what the hell is this? Like each bottle is like between 500 and$1 ,000. I was like, what on? I feel so rude that I've like turned them down. I mean, it was all fine. But yeah, what I would say is like, especially their relationships are so, so important. And what it's meant is like, so for us as a business, we're kind of distributors for their products. And it's just like opened up new opportunities, new geographies. And I think by seeing them, and again, like part of our own story of like why we're in Europe, there was a specific type of product we wanted to sell in the UK.

21:01We were inquiring about it. And they said, no, no, someone else has got exclusivity. But if you want, you can have France and Germany. And obviously, it's like naive 28 year olds or whatever at the time, we're like, how difficult can it be? and we're just like, let's do it. And yeah, look, again, it's just like, and it sounds a bit weird to say and a bit cliche, but it's like, you've kind of got to be like in the game to be able to win, if that makes sense. So had we not sold volume of this, it wouldn't have then created this opportunity. And I think that's what I'm kind of, and again, I hate, it sounds very cliche, but like the game of business and all this stuff is, there's different levels and different opportunities and different kind of people to kind of speak to and find.

21:42And I think it just goes back to my, when you're in your corporate job and you're getting your, I don't know, three, four, five, seven, whatever thousand pound a month salary. Actually, there are opportunities out there that can generate multiple values of that.

21:57Alex Chisnall:And multiple streams. And multiple streams and, and, and, and, and. So 100%, if you're dealing with suppliers, get out there and see them. Because I'd say our most recent one was payment term. So we've been trying to renegotiate payment terms, again, on WhatsApp, not really making progress. But actually, over the course of half an hour, pen and paper explained why it's important to us. And basically, that it would help us grow our volumes by 50%. Obviously, the supplier sees the dollar signs and then gets approved pretty quickly. So 100 % meet people face to face, go and visit them, go and see them, understand what's important to them.

22:36and you'll 100 % benefit from it as well.

22:39Alex Chisnall:It's a really good point that you made. And I think we all know it, but I don't think it's probably mentioned enough. And the reason I started recording this podcast again in person was, again, I missed the physical connection of meeting somebody and the energy, the energy that you get from someone. You're a real high vibe, high energy person. And I met you last night and I felt that straight away. and so I knew it was going to be a good conversation that we're going to have right yeah yes I've had great conversations online with people but it's just not the same and again what's come from and I used to record it in person and then you know COVID went online brought it back in person then um you know with the event last year I was like I literally don't have the time to come record in person let's bring it back online but something's missing and And, you know, it's not just the connecting with person, but it's something you also said there.

23:34Alex Chisnall:It's the once you you understand somebody and you understand their business. It's just probably the way my mind works, but I think how can I help that person? And I'm already thinking you need to speak to X, Y and Z. And people have done the same with me. And then next thing you know, you've expanded your network and other opportunities present themselves. and if you hadn't done that in-person meeting you just miss so much more in translation right and especially I'm sure if it's another country it's another language it's another culture so much gets missed and I think if you can take that meeting in person take it if you can you can yeah if you recognize the opportunity cost of not doing that in person right yeah and I think you know and again I've been going on my own journey with this as well, which was like, you know, what am I going to achieve by flying all the way out there and the flights are, I don't know, 800 quid and so, but honestly, it's like the in-person with anyone, right?

24:34It's so much more valuable than just on the phone or on WhatsApp or whatever it may be.

24:39Alex Chisnall:What do you think life would be like if you hadn't started this business in COVID? To be honest with you, man, I think I'd be, I think I'd be in exactly the same place, you know, like I'd been in a position where, look, like I always enjoyed my job. I like the people I worked with. I got paid well for it. I was, you know, kind of comfortable, et cetera. So I think like whilst I always had the desire to do something, I think, and again, this is my own thing is like, I'm maybe not necessarily the most creative by my nature. Give me a problem, give me a situation and like process driven, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.