701: Trieu Doubled His Brand To $200K/Month In 5 Months - Whilst Still Working Full Time

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1:06Welcome to Little Empires, brought to you by the team at Founder. At Founder, our mission is to support the next generation of e-com founders. So while you may know us for interviewing some of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, this series is a little different. Little Empires shines a spotlight on the builders inside our own founder community, the entrepreneurs who are in the trenches, taking action, learning, and building their businesses in real time. These aren't overnight success stories. These are real journeys, real lessons, and real founders creating their own little empires one step at a time.

1:39This podcast is proudly produced by the founder team to give our students a platform to share their experiences, wins, challenges, and honest realities of building a business from the ground up. Now, let's dive into today's episode. So guys, welcome back to another episode, Little Empires. We've got a guest. I'm super pumped about his interview today. So True has been part of the founder family. I've known you, True, for like three plus years. You went through our one-on-one coaching program, and then when we launched Founder operators, I said to you, man, you've got to join this, what we're doing there for founders, DTC founders, helping them scale with ads, all these other things.

2:21I know we can massively grow you at the time, you know, you have a seven figure business, but I was like, man, I know we can grow you. And it's been crazy what you've been able to do these past four, five months in founder operators. So what I want to get out today is just for you to share your story with the whole family, all of our community, kind of share, like, you know, you've built this amazing brand hero loops, How did it start? You're a dentist by trade? Like, tell us about your story, man. Like, how did you get into this space selling, like, these crazy ergonomic goggle thing? Yeah, for sure.

2:54So, you know, I became a dentist because, you know, I like to work with my hands and, you know, help others. And honestly, I'm not the smartest. I'm just the freaking hardest working person out there. Because, you know, when I was applying for dental school, you know, I was on the wait list for ETSF. And, you know, I was going to be a master's program and, you know, try to get in next year. But luckily, you know, someone had an opportunity where, you know, they left where they opened up that spot very last minute. And there's only 81 students in that class. And I was number 81. You know, it's funny because, you know, my partner who sits next to me, his last name is Zane.

3:33And my last name is Tan. So he's like, why are you in, that's not alphabetical order. But, you know, I'm really grateful to become a dentist. and you know when I became a dentist and started working I realized that you know my neck and back was aching and didn't tell us about all this you know this downside of dentistry and you know I opened a dental office work long hours you know the grind and I thought that was a dream you know I'm like oh yeah I own my own business you know I'll be able to live a great life but at the end the day, my body was aching and talking to my colleagues, you know, they're going through the same thing.

4:11I talked to like some mentors and coaches and they had to retire early because of neck surgery and back pain. And like, man, this is like a sign. This is like a calling for me to help them because, you know, when I developed my prototype, I was able to work ergonomically. You know, I just tinkered some prisms and found that, you know, I was able to see down like a microscope, you know, the only option for ergonomic equipment was a big microscope that you would use in your operatory. That was really expensive. It was really bulky. You have to lug that around. It was mounted to the wall. It costs like 20 grand or so for that unit.

4:48And people can't afford that, you know? So I'm like, there has to be a better way. And that's where I started prototyping and I looked into getting a provisional cat end, spent a lot of money on that, spent a lot of money on prototyping. So short story is, you know, I found that developing a product is actually better than doing dentistry. Why? Because in dentistry, you can't really scale that much, you know, because having an associate doctor, you know, try and grow that office. You have to be in the chair to make money. You're trading time for money. You have to, you know, train others to be able to replicate what you do.

5:29and sometimes they venture to a different you know project where they leave the office or they venture to open their own office and all that product you have to start from scratch again training another doctor and it's really hard to like scale so I wanted to create a product where it takes me from the dental chair and be able to help others more readily because you know with the product you have quality assurance you can check the quality to make sure that you know you develop consistency and you don't have to put in all the hours and time in the chair so that's why i've been true to developing a product nathan and you started this product like you know when you come to us you you you'd had it out for a while kind of like what were what revenues were you doing like kind of you know this past year when i started uh you know dealing with my prototype and wearing them at work my staff they were like oh what is that dr tine you know what are you wearing?

6:24Why are you sitting up straight and looking like you're, you know, looking at the TV or whatnot, you know? So I'm like, oh, it's my ergonomic loops and they wanted a pair too. So I developed a pair for them. And then I found like there's a big need on Facebook groups. I'm like, okay, there's a big calling for this, you know? So we started getting patents. We started prototyping it more. The only thing I regret it was that, you know, I did not launch it sooner because I launched it right before pandemic. And at that time, you know, people were like emailing us you know talking about oh i want a pair you know we're like selling like 20k that first month then pandemic hits and then all the other competitors started developing their own version during that downtime during pandemic and so now we have to deal with competition so it was really uh bad timing for us but we found that you know one thing that i would recommend is don't wait for it to be perfect to launch you know launch and then get some feedback you know make some iteration to your product.

7:23So that way, you know, you can make it a lot better than, you know, what you started with. So you launched just before COVID, then obviously, you know, dentistry, you could still work, but it might've been a bit challenging. So I'd say probably the business, Kuroloops took a bit of a back foot, like, you know, a bit of a break. And then once COVID subsided, then you started actively growing the business. And what's most impressive about you is you still work full-time as a dentist. You run your own clinic. And now Hero Loops is like a multi-million dollar business. Like, dude, like the numbers and everything, like you're on a really great growth trajectory.

8:02It's really inspiring. Yeah, when we first launched, we were like doing 5 ,000, 6 ,000 a month. And it was hard to increase in that revenue because even though you have a great product, you need to have a great marketing. I kind of relate that to dentistry because you can be the best dentist, but if people don't know about you, they're not gonna come to you. So when I came across Foundr, I found that Foundr actually keeps me accountable where I'm able to reach my goal. Talking to coaches and sharing my sticky points and all the hurdles I've encountered, they're able to guide me and help me navigate through the obstacles where I can scale a lot faster.

8:44because if I didn't, then, you know, I might not have gotten to where I'm at because, you know, after we changed our website, changed platform, the first month that we launched on our new platform, we did 50K that first month. And then, you know, one thing that I really like about the coaching program is that Ash Bent, he mentioned, you know, tell me what success looks like. And that really helped me a lot because, you know, at that time success was, oh, I want to hit 50K. you know, for each month. Oh, I want to, you know, cut back on my work days and I want to have more time with my family because I have two little ones and, you know, I don't want to work my whole life, you know.

9:25I want to enjoy and spend time with family. And that's kind of what I'd envisioned for that moment. But when we've hit that 50K, we're like, I want to hit 100K. And then that target keeps changing. So success is moving all the time. So, you know, having some kind of goal or vision for what success looks like helps you appreciate what you gained so far. Looking back, you move past so many milestones to where you are today. Now, having coaches that helped me scale to 100k and then Black Friday was like 200k the following year. Having more coaches like Nick Shackelford and all the other content creator coaches like Phoenix, that really elevates or production into 200k per month so it's a dramatic dramatic um increase in revenue and and like nathan mentioned though we can actually scale to 400 500k i'm like really that's gonna blow my mind because i can't imagine that yet but you know if you believe in it then you can do it 100 so what's really cool is like man um you know you set out the target so you've been part of our one-on-one coaching program then you join founder operators and I said to you offline I said man like I really think you should should should join this new membership we're launching because it's really meant for founders like yourself that want help on ads that you're spending money on ads you don't really know your numbers that well and you need to build some confidence on you know if it's okay to increase and scale help you on the conversion rate side you're doing some really cool stuff there i'm excited to launch your new landing page a new website like that's going to crush it like in the space of literally four or five months we've been able to double your business like go from 100 to 200 and and like i said like i truly believe you'll be at 400 500 and like man you were doing your monthly numbers what you're doing your month you're doing your monthly numbers now for what you did on your black friday last year which is wild it's amazing to see the growth.

11:30I really like the saying where, you know, you're the average of the five people that you hang out the most. So, you know, having these coaches helped me a lot with, you know, having that same mindset as them and helping us scale. So. I'm curious, like when it comes to Hero Loops, what were some of the most beneficial things that you learned that we taught you and that you implemented in these past four to five months in founder operators that's allowed you to scale and double the business and then on track to double again in the next six to 12 months? I would say the most important thing that helped us increase in revenue was learning how to turn off ads, turn on ads, increase budget on Meta.

12:13Like I mentioned, you might have the best product, but if your marketing is not there, then people don't know about your product. So by reaching so many people at a high scale and finding ads that really work and resonate with people, good offers for them, then they are able to convert and move forward with purchasing. That really helped our business a lot because with that, we're able to increase the revenue. Another thing is the coaching program actually keeps us accountable, like checking in every week. What about creative? How many creatives are you launching a week? How many are you doing a month now?

12:48Have you increased your creative output because of this? Yeah. So with the creative outputs we we learn a lot from phoenix where you know we're able to create better content that actually works using her formula and using formulas that have been working in tiktok and meta we're able to replicate those and see conversion that way too awesome and when it comes to i guess um our insights because we have access to so much data we can see what's working right and that's what's really cool about founder operators is nick the whole coaching team all of us we have access to so much data of members and spend but then also nick's experience he spent over 200 million dollars in ad spend himself profitably so we can see what's working we know what's working we you can keep up to date with the changes and everything that's happening in this industry and that's been really cool to be able to share that with our community and really help you guys grow.

13:52So talk to me around kind of, what are your next goals for the brand? Like I said, like, you know, we can, we can help you double, triple again, but like, what are your goals, man? Like, are you looking to take a little bit of a step back on the dentistry side with the clinic or like, yeah, talk us through. You know, like I mentioned, you know, my, my goal for now is to increase the business, be able to have more reps. Right now we're expanded to a bigger facility. So we're trying to bring manufacturing in-house. So that way we can deliver faster for clients. You know, with that, it will help get better turnover where, you know, we're able to deliver products a lot quicker, more satisfied customers.

14:31So I have high hopes for Hero Loops. And, you know, with that, you know, we're going to, you know, I'm going to cut back on my dentistry time because I love both parts of dentistry, like the Hero Loops and the dentistry, but I enjoy Hero Loops a lot more. and one of the questions that my friend asked me was like what revives my energy is being able to learn all this information about e-commerce and learning from coaches and meeting with coaches because you know entrepreneurship is very lonely you know having someone to talk to about your your situation you know it revives you and helps energize you because it's kind of going to a ce course and you learn so much and you want to come back and like teach it to your staff that kind of feeling, you know, so that revives my energy every time I hop into a call with the coach.

15:21And, you know, I feel like, you know, I'll be grateful for being a part of Founder and learning so much from all the other mentors. So thank you so much. Real quick, before we jump in, I want to shout out one of our sponsors, Xero. I've used Xero from day one of Founder, 13 years now, and it's still how we run the business today. It's cloud accounting software built for founders exactly like us and it automates all the admin that I used to do when I first started Founder. Invoicing, chasing payments, expenses, all the accounting. It really helps me get paid faster and keep an eye on cash flow.

15:57So Founder listeners, get a crazy 95 % off for the first six months. Just sign up through our form at founder.com forward slash zero. Terms and conditions apply. Remember, when you support our sponsors, you're supporting the show. All right, now let's jump back in. oh thanks man look as i was saying offline like it's been so inspiring to watch your journey you know you joined us and when i think you were doing like 20 30 000 a month and uh you know now to where you're going we've you know in the few years we've been out of 10x the business which has been inspiring but man it's all you like you're the hardest working person you're like going to every single call that you can you're soaking up the information you're going out you're constantly implementing and like like i said we see what is working we have access to so much amounts of data that we can just give that to you and you're going out you're implementing you've got an amazing brand you've got an amazing product and the process works right like you're not the only person like we have so many people i didn't even i don't know if i've told you this but we did a study on our first initial cohort our first initial cohort and intake of founder operator members and on average members were doing you know close to 60 to 80 000 a month on average and on average over a three-month period members increased their revenue by 23 percent right so 23 percent revenue increase in three months across the whole group which is kind of crazy right and that's during like this year where you know you and i speak in august but that was from april may June, three month period.

17:33Right. And so that's like not the best season. Like it was through Q2 of all seasons, like not Q1, not Q4. Like it was, it was like a later part of the season and, and that, that kind of growth is crazy. Right. So our system works. You're not the only person that we've doubled or tripled their brand. Right. Like it's, uh, it's really cool to see. It's really inspiring, but we only play a small part, man. You're doing the work. Thank you. Thank you for that. Yeah, it was a lot of work. I think what I can say is that, you know, if it was easy, then everyone would be doing. It takes a lot of work and, you know, having the guidance from, you know, the founder group helps a lot too.

18:10So I wouldn't be able to do it all by myself because of the accountability. You know, having to juggle everything and learning from mistakes is not going to be beneficial because, you know, you make so much costing mistake, it's going to you motivate you and you know you don't want to continue and all that so but with the guidance you know it helps a lot so I know it's probably hard work for me but also you know guidance from you guys that made it work so thank you man so I'm curious if you were speaking to a founder right now that has launched their brand but they're not getting the growth that they're looking for what would you say to them?

18:51I would say get more social media content, get more live reactions from customers, trying out your product. So that way you have all that content to grow organically. And once you have all that likes and followers, then with the revenue that you make, reinvest it. So that way you can do meta ads, grow that company more. Yeah, that would be my recommendation. conversation and when it comes to ads what has been the biggest challenge for you when it comes to mastering it and understanding it i find that it's like a game i find that it's like gambling it's like you pull this little lever and see if that works if not then you turn it off but if it works and you increase your budget so it's it's a fun game i find that you know everything is like good game and when it comes to increasing budgets do you find it scary it is you know we're spending so much and we're giving it all to you know Facebook's it's like oh but in return your ROI is what makes the difference you know you're putting in 20 you're getting 60 or 80 you know it makes sense because in order to scale you have to get a lot of eyes on your product and And the easiest way is through social media, through meta.

20:12And I really find it rewarding when we go to like trade shows and people know about us. You know, back then it was like, oh, what company is this? How long have you guys been in business? Now they come to us. They're like, oh, yeah, we saw your, you know, social media. You know, I want to buy your product. Let me try it out. And then we're like, wow, okay, let's go. So, you know, as I mentioned, marketing is a big factor in success. You know, you have the best product. You have to market it really well. Yeah, I would agree with that. I would say a big part of what we do at Founder is help founders become better marketers and better at marketing because yes, the product is hard.

20:50Like, don't get me wrong. You have an incredible product. It's patented, it's unique, and it solves a clear problem for a clear niche market. But fundamentally, you need to know how to sell it. You need to know how to market it. And that's a common thing that we see amongst founders that come to us that are looking for help, that want to grow. And that's a common thing we see amongst founders that are, you know, part of our community that are growing their business really fast. They're good at marketing, right? And that's a skill that you need to master. That's a skill that you either, you know, either you have your co-founder or you have a co-founder or if you're a solo founder, like you, you have to work this out.

21:29Somebody has to own it. somebody has to obsess over it and somebody has to keep driving it like when you go to your trade shows that's a great content opportunity right like you get you know you get custom reactions you do all sorts of cool stuff and you run those as ads what have been some of your most successful ads i'm curious uh one of the most successful ones are like customers reaction so when they try on the product real time their initial reaction is really amazing because that's what kind of hooks people when they're watching our content like oh what are they looking at you know what is that and that's what makes those real really popular one thing that came to my mind is that you know i found that the product you know what as being a dentist you know my mind goes to these psychology factors that make a product successful so the five p's is what i kind of analyzed you know because being a dentist we kind of look at that too because what i mean by five The product has to kind of satisfy some of the P's.

22:30First P is pain. You know, do they have like a pain that they have to deal with? For us, you know, it's a neck pain. Or for like dentistry, it's like a toothache. You know, they're motivated by pain to come into the dentist to get their tooth taken care of. The second P is profit. You know, they buy something on Black Friday. They wait in line for six, seven hours early in the morning. Why? because they want to save on money or they want to make a profit. So they're motivated by profit. Prestige. Prestige means like they want to be the best or they want to convey status. You know, that's why they buy name brand products.

23:07They want to, you know, be the best basketball player, Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan, you know. So they're motivated by that. Preservation. People want to preserve their lifestyle. So they have to go to work. They have to pay the bills. the fifth one is pleasure so people motivated by entertainment good food you know so if the product satisfies some of the peas there then it's a good product in my perspective you know because you know we deal with neck pain we deal with preserving their career prestige because their product is costly you know people showcase like oh i got ergo loops or you know i spend so much money because i want this really nice compact stylish product and you know profit you know people were able to make more money because they work longer.

23:54So as long as you have some of those factors taking care of pleasure, maybe more energy, but, you know, as long as you have some kind of factor that kind of resonates with them, then they would buy. So I think those are some of the factors I've found in my perspective that helps. Yeah, I never heard the five Ps before. Interesting. So when it comes to, I guess, ads, are you running mainly video ads or you do static too? And how much are you using AI? Yeah, so with their most popular ones are the static ads for some reason, because I think it's more of an analytical kind of audience because they like to look at graphs.

24:29They like to look at diagrams. So I think they resonate with them more. So our static ads run really well. Reels help too. They illustrate unboxing or using the product. So it helps with the conversion that way too. But we found that the static ads is more productive and scaling. sell. All right. So when it comes to expanding the brand, you want to double, triple again, what do you think would be the biggest barriers? What do you have to do to get to that next level? In order to double the business, triple the business, I would say we need to run our ads worldwide. Right now we're just running in America.

25:09And I believe, you know, once we lock down America and able to distribute to the whole country, the whole world is going to be a game changer. And is there much you have to do from like a legislative standpoint? Because one thing we can help you with is obviously international expansion. A lot of our members, they focus on going worldwide as well, but I'd love to hear like, what do you have to do from a legislative standpoint? We have to get some license for distributing in certain countries, need some certificates and a distributor in those countries. So I think those are the factors that we need to overcome in order to sell properly in those countries.

25:52Oh, interesting. Okay. So we have to work towards wrapping up, man. I'm curious, is there any questions that you wanted me to ask you that I haven't around your journey with Hero Loops and the growth that you've had and your experience working with us? I think one of the questions that you had was like, what kind of mistakes did we make? You know, if I were to turn back time, I would have launched earlier before pandemic, way earlier. It was like 2015 when we had our patent, you know, so it took us so long to like actually launch the product. So if I put in the time and energy and launch at that time, it would have been amazing.

26:31But now we also, you know, are grateful for so much growth for those who are in the phase of launching or, you know, think of an idea or product, I would honestly tell you to like, go ahead, launch it, get some feedback, iterate, make it better and keep going. Keep grinding, keep going, keep reinvesting into the company and you'll get to this level as well. So I'm so grateful for the growth, for the founder community, Nathan. So thank you so much for having me on the show and really in depth for all your help and everything. So thank you. You're welcome, man. Like I said, the pleasure is all ours.

27:11You are the hero, man. We've played such a small part in your journey, but congratulations on all of your success thus far, True. Like it's been really inspiring to watch your journey these past couple of years and especially this year in particular, since you've been part of Founder Operators, watching you double the business. I reckon, man, I wouldn't be surprised if we've tripled it by the end of this year. It's going to be crazy, dude. So like, yeah, just keep doing what you're doing. You're doing an incredible job. And yeah, let's keep building this thing, man. Let's go. Yes, I like it. Hey, FounderFam, thank you so much for tuning in today.

27:45And if you enjoyed this episode, please take the time to leave us a review and let us know what you think. This podcast is 100 % free. We work so hard to go out and find the most successful entrepreneurs and founders in the world. Your feedback helps us grow, improve, and even bring on more incredible guests and insights. So if you have a second, please take a moment, leave us a review. It really makes a difference. Thanks again for listening, and I'll catch you on the next show.