Episode 100
Welcome to Episode 100 of Firing the Man! In this special episode, we look back into the reasons we started this podcast, the lessons we learned from our guests, and most importantly, our long and inspiring journey to firing the man.
Tune in now to this special episode!
[00:01 – 06:41] Opening Segment
- Why we started this podcast
[06:42 – 13:46] Our Journey to Episode 100
- Our experiences the moment we fired the man
- Are you a newbie entrepreneur?
[13:47 – 18:16] Exiting a Business
- A career-defining book on entrepreneurship
- Lessons from ecommerce legend, Carlos Alvarez
- How to turn $25,000 into a 9-figure exit
[18:17 – 23:15] Expanding a Business
- How to expand your Amazon business
- What to learn about sourcing and logistics
- Want some Amazon refunds? Check out Getida
- Promo code: FTM400
[23:16 – 32:10] High-Quality Podcasting
- How to write words that sell
- Producing high-quality podcast episodes
- Don’t miss this episode where we got drunk!
[32:11 – 42:21] Giving Value
- Giving value to the Firing the Man Nation
- A life-changing book by Hal Elrod
- What our guests say in the Fire Round
[42:22 – 46:12] Closing Segment
- Connect with us!
- Links below
- Final words
Tweetable Quotes:
“As we hit roadblocks and struggles and feel like we’re constantly putting out fires, it’s nice to know that this is the norm. Business is hard. If it was easy, everyone would do it.” – David Schomer
“It’s a very lonely world being an entrepreneur and you need a support system and you need other people that are doing what you’re doing in this space.” – Ken Wilson
Resources mentioned
- 4: How to Be More Efficient & Productive with Your Time
- 19: Carlos Alvarez on Overcoming Obstacles in Your E-Commerce Business
- 41: Selling Internationally on Amazon with Expert – Kevin Sanderson
- 45: Buy then Build with Author Walker Diebe
- 62: Francois Jaffres from Noviland – Get Your Physical Product Sourcing Blackbelt
- 65: Navigating Walmart’s E-Commerce Platform with Experienced Seller Miro Posavec
- 79: The EXITpreneur’s Playbook – Author Joe Valley
- 81: Navigating Expensive Freight & Supply Chain Disruptions with Francois Jaffres
- 91: How to Scale from $0 to $80 million on Amazon with Adam Feinberg from Web Deals Direct
- Buy Then Build
- Subtle Words That Sell
- The EXITPreneur’s Playbook
- The Miracle Morning
——————————————————————————————
Send us a voice message and let us know how we can help you fire the man!
Email us –> support@firingtheman.com
David 0:00
Are you looking to grow your sales on Amazon? Chances are if you’re not selling on Amazon’s international marketplaces, you are leaving some serious money on the table. What keeps a lot of people from selling internationally are all the confusing hoops you have to jump through to get started. That is why we worked with Kevin Sanderson from maximizing e Commerce on our international expansion. Kevin and his team take care of the details and guide you through the process of expanding so that you can grow your sales and reach new customers. If you would like to find out if working with Kevin and his team is right for you head over to www.maximizingecommerce.com/fire FIRE, once again, that is www.maximizingecommerce.com/fire.
Ken 0:46
For me, I had a really strong why, and so I put that plan together and then executed it on June 19. So I looked back on my calendar before we did the show prep and I saw, you know Ken’s last day of working for the man on the calendar. And I was like, that’s really cool to look back on that and kind of see from where it started and how the podcast has helped me fire the man and then share the journey with everyone else.
David 1:12
I realized like, hey, we can this is feasible, I can fire the man. And so I told you and then went in that same day and put in my notice which I gave him two months just because I’m a hell of good guy. But anyway, so February 26 2021, that was the day that I fired the man. And it was awesome. Like you mentioned, that load of bricks was released and, you know, it was really cool telling people about what I’ve been up to in my free time for the last four years, you know, I’d spent 1000s of hours working on this company. And I hadn’t told anybody. So it was kind of nice to like, tell my secret to the world. And so that was yeah, that was a day that I will never forget.
Ken 1:57
If you’re listening to this podcast, you’re going to be getting people in this space, a constant flow of us interviewing experts in this space. And so that’s kind of a, more of a distant connection for, in terms of surrounding yourself locally. I definitely recommend meetups, masterminds, things like that. It’s a very lonely world, being an entrepreneur, and you need a support system and you need other people that are doing what you’re doing in the space so you can bounce ideas and so you can stop talking to your spouse or your significant other about conversion rates and PPC, and talk to people that want to hear that stuff, and so.
David 2:36
And it’s just that showing up every day, showing up every week, and putting in time and effort and just trusting in the process is tremendously helpful. So, and we witness this snowball effect from a lot of different entrepreneurs, as they just you know, continue to show up every day.
Intro 2:52
Welcome, everyone to the firing the man podcast, a show for anyone who wants to be their own boss. If you sit in a cubicle every day and to know you were capable of more then join us. This show will help you build a business and grow your passive income streams in just a few short hours per day. And now your hosts, serial entrepreneurs David Schomer and Ken Wilson.
David 3:17
Welcome everyone to the firing the man podcast. On today’s episode we celebrate episode 100. Today we’re gonna cover Ken and I’s firing the man days. That’s right, looking back on the days that we fired the man. We’re also going to talk about the evolution of the podcast from episode one all the way to Episode 100. And recap some fun moments that we’ve had along with some awesome guests. So this is going to be an action packed episode that you’re not going to want to miss. Ken, what’s going on man?
Ken 3:46
David. I cannot believe episode 100, man, this is incredible.
David 3:50
Absolutely, absolutely. It was November 2019 that, I can close my eyes and replay it. You said hey, what do you think about starting a podcast? And my response to you was hey, I’m in. I’m in but we need to do 100 episodes. I will only do it if we do 100 episodes because with previous experiences with YouTube, things take time to get off the ground. And, and it’s wild that almost two years later, here we are recording episode 100. Absolutely awesome.
- Buzzsprout (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Ken 4:22
Yeah, absolutely. And kind of looking back on that when you said hey, I want to commit to doing, I want you to commit to doing 100 episodes, I was like, holy shit. I’m like, Okay, let’s do this. And yeah, getting to that point has been, there’s been struggles, there’s been huge wins, huge losses, but it’s been a journey going through the whole process.
David 4:46
Absolutely. So our vision or our goal when we started this, taking us back to November 2019 was to fire the man. We had both had relatively established ecommerce companies. And we were looking to fire the man. And we decided that we were going to hold ourselves accountable, and name the podcast firing the man. And so let’s talk about from the time we started the podcast, to when you fired the man, let’s talk about that and kind of recap.
Ken 5:16
Sure, yeah, you’re right. Like that was pretty, pretty crazy to name the podcast firing the man, and we both still had jobs at that point. It’s, looking back on it is kind of funny. But I think one of the things that motivated us to really ramp it up. So we started the podcast, I believe, episode one aired January in 2020. So from January 2020, until I fired the man, June 19. So it was about, what six months, five and a half months. So when we started the podcast, I’m like, this is getting real like this is, we’re going through this process and, from the guests we were bringing on the show, the information we were pulling from each other, and I started putting a plan together, as well as hired a coach. And that was really helpful to get a plan put together. But also, you know, I think whenever you’re on the hook for something, or when you say you give your word you’re like you’re going to do something, you need to follow that up, right. And so for me, I had a really strong why. And so I put that plan together and then executed it on June 19. So I looked back on my calendar before we did the show prep, and I saw, you know, Ken’s last day of working for the man on the calendar. And I was like, that’s really cool to look back on that and kind of see from where it started and how the podcast has helped me fire the man and then share the journey with everyone else. Yeah, it’s just been incredible.
Absolutely. I will, and we posted a YouTube video about it, but I’ll never remember you walking out of that exit interview. And we went and grabbed drinks after and celebrated. And it was just a wonderful day. And from an outsider looking in, it was really cool to see very early on, you had you were putting the plan in place, you had your criteria, you knew what you were wanting to do. And you went out and executed it inside of six or seven months. And that was awesome. I remember thinking to myself, I felt like I always had a big secret when I was working at the accounting firm. Like I didn’t tell anybody about my ecommerce company. And, no one, not a soul. Even my close friends at work, I just, it to me had nothing to do with what I was doing during the day at the accounting firm. So I didn’t mention it. And then you added on this podcast with kind of an abrasive title, right, firing the man. And I was working for the man. And I felt like I had almost even a bigger secret. And so, you know, we named the podcast, we were releasing episodes, but it really got real when you quit. It was like oh, Ken’s serious about this, and he just did it. And now it’s time for me to step up to the plate.
![[2023 Version] How to Start and Grow an E-Commerce Business: Answering the 5 Fundamental Questions of eCommerce and Taking the Entrepreneurial Leap](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51X1ezSoN4L._SL160_.jpg)
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Camisasca, Charles (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Yeah. So David, so let’s talk about whenever, the same thing for me, watching you walk out of the accounting firm that day, and like just seeing like the bricks fall off your shoulders. Can you walk us through that, like what you just said, watching me do it and then?
David 8:12
Yeah, absolutely. So I would say that, if I’m being honest with myself, I may have said publicly that I had a plan. However, I had never really put anything on paper, and I’d never set like specific criteria in terms of income or what it would take. I just always was like, I need to keep growing this company and it’s not big enough to where I can leave. And so I would say starting around June when you did fire the man and watching you, you had criteria on paper, you had a plan in place, you had calendar invites, you had certain milestones that you were hitting, I think that’s when I started to get really serious about it. And so that was really, I would say that was my day one. And I would say to all of our listeners, if your goal is to fire the man, boy is there tremendous value in writing it down and having milestones. And Ken, your process and the process that I followed has been fairly well documented on this podcast. So I’m not going to rehash that. But yeah, it was, that was had a strong q4 going into the end of that year, and I was thinking that it was going to be the summer of 2021 when I quit, and I, it ended up coming early. In fact, I think it was around New Years that I frantically reached out to you. I was like, Ken I need to talk to you today. And we hopped on a Skype call and I said listen, I’m firing the man. I just got done looking through my books, looking through our personal expenses and all the bills that we had, and I realized like, hey, we can, this is feasible, I can fire the man and so I told you and then went in that same day and put in my notice, which I gave him two months just because I’m a hell of good guy. But, anyway, so February 26 2021, that was the day that I fired the man and it was awesome. Like you mentioned, that load of bricks was released, and it was really cool telling people about what I’d been up to in my free time for the last four years. You know, I’d spent 1000s of hours working on this company, and I hadn’t told anybody, so it was kind of nice to like, tell my secret to the world. And so that was, yeah, that was a day that I will never forget.
Ken 10:27
Yeah, it’s been awesome to kind of document the process and share it with a lot of people. I get random people emailing and saying, hey, been listening to the show, it’s really cool to see, like we talked about normal people doing this process and watching it. Because if you’re on one side of the fence, and you’re looking to get to the other side of the fence, you want to know that other normal people like you can do that. And so, yeah, I think it’s great that we’ve shared this journey with the listeners on the podcast, and inspired others to do the same thing, if that’s what their path if that’s what they want to choose on their path. So moving along, let’s, you want to cover the evolution of the podcast?
David 11:06
Absolutely. We’re sitting here in the studio, I look around, we got nice decor, good lighting, good audio. And I think back to the early days of the podcast studio, we started in your basement. I remember recording episode one. I think we just had a like regular eight foot table setup in your basement. And it was nothing flashy. And of course, we had all kinds of audio problems. And that was the starting place for the podcast. And those are some of my favorite episodes to go back and listen to because we were so early in our journey. It was really fun to watch, honestly, how much we didn’t know.
Ken 11:45
Right? We were yeah, we were definitely breaking ground there. The lighting was horrible. The, like my basement is just like a wide open space probably 20 by 20 or something. And so yeah, the audio was horrible. The space was horrible. Lighting was horrible. But we just made it happen. And we just kept learning. And one shout out to Pat Flynn’s power of podcasting course. That’s the course that David and I took to learn, basically the basics of podcasting, how to get everything set up. And so yeah, I think, i don’t know was it episode four or five, we decided we’re going to move the podcast studio or and set up a dedicated space. And so how was that?
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David 12:24
Yeah, so then we switched from Ken’s basement to my basement, and I had a little like exercise room that really wasn’t being used. And it was the perfect spot for a podcast. And so we originally went to the Habitat for Humanity, restore and bought a table. And we’ve just been slowly adding decor as we go. We added books, we added the leg lamp, we added this nice, old fashioned 10 key. And we’ve been slowly adding decor, which is fun. It’s been fun. And I would say like our audio quality has definitely improved. And it’s been nice to have like a dedicated space to sit here and chat. And when people come over, it’s kind of fun to show them the studio and looking forward to 2022, we are going to be moving yet again. And we’re going to be moving into a professional podcast studio that is currently being built. We just have met with the architect and are going to be getting that off the ground, hopefully in the next month or two. And that’s going to be great. And, again, we’re going to continue to add and focus on really good audio quality, and just continuously stepping up our game. So really looking forward to that.
Ken 13:36
Yeah, that’s, it’s super exciting. Yeah, to level up the game yet again, just continue through the evolution. So let’s get to some of the meat and potatoes, some of the outs some of the outstanding guests we had on between, in the first 100 episodes. Let’s go down the list. David, you start.
David 13:55
Yeah, absolutely. And what I’ll say about this list is, as we were prepping for this episode, this was very hard to come up with, we have had so many, we could spend 10 episodes, just recapping awesome guests that we’ve had. And so to the extent that we don’t mention anybody doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good episode we’ve had awesome guests. So, first one that stands out to me is Walker Deibel. A couple things that I really like about Walker, he wrote a book called buy then build. And that really changed the way I think about entrepreneurship. And the way that I think buying a business versus starting a new business. And on top of that, Walker’s just a really cool guy. Like he’s an awesome guy to talk to. He’s super smart, really savvy, and he knows a lot about the end game, which is exiting a business and kind of works backwards from there. He’s an entrepreneur, and I absolutely loved that podcast. And so, on top of that he he’s got a great book and puts out a lot of great content. So I felt really honored to have Walker on the show. What about you Ken? What’s, who’s on your list?
- Deibel, Walker (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 310 Pages - 10/20/2018 (Publication Date) - Lioncrest Publishing (Publisher)
Ken 15:00
Absolutely. So, and Walker, so as we go through these we’ll list the episode, so if you want to go back and listen to it so Walker was episode 45. Episode 19 was with Carlos Alvarez, who is, if you’ve been in the industry is an ecommerce legend, if you’ve not heard of him, go check out his stuff he’s got, in the show notes for episode 19, we link to Carlos his, his website and he’s got a podcast and he’s got a lot of stuff going on there. So we brought Carlos on the podcast to kind of share he had been doing it I think he said he was in he was working for himself for like at least 10 or 15 years. He’d been doing this for a really long time. He sells on Amazon and multiple marketplaces. He has brick and mortar businesses, online businesses. So we brought Carlos on and talked about lessons learned. He covered a wide range of topics, like why not to partner with someone. And sometimes we learned I would say, oftentimes we learn more from what not to do from other people’s mistakes. And so Carlos to share just a treasure trove of lessons learned and as well as what’s working for him. So it’s a great episode. If you haven’t heard it’s episode 19.
David 16:11
One thing that stands out to me about that episode was he has an awesome story. And I’m not going to retell the story, you should go and hear it from Carlos himself on episode 19. But he had a snake and started to get into cricket, selling crickets. And he had I forget several million crickets in his apartment. And they got so loud from the chirping that he got evicted. It’s just a fantastic story. And, and Carlos yeah, he’s a hell of a guy. And I’ll tell you what, for being as successful as he is, he sure is open about talking about his failures, and his mistakes and, and lessons learned. And that’s awesome. That’s awesome. I huge fan of Carlos it was awesome to meet him in person at the PROSPER Show in Las Vegas this year. So next on the list is one we did very recently was episode 91 with Adam Feinberg, and this fella took $25,000 and over the next couple years turn that into a nine figure exit. That’s right north of $100 million. And he was, it was an awesome episode. The thing that I really liked about it is it seemed like he did the small things. Well, for instance, like inventory, he talked about how the worst case scenario for you is to run out of inventory. So he always has six to nine months of safety stock. And we’ve actually made some pivots in our own business, based on that feedback from seeing someone who’s far past us in terms of revenue and in income. And so just a ton of practical advice there. And so I would say whether you have a company that’s doing a couple 100 bucks or a couple million bucks, there’s a ton of value in that episode.
Ken 17:48
Absolutely. And one thing that I like to add to that one is, Adam is like a super down to earth, like if you’re talking about someone that exited a business for $100 million, like and you talk to Adam, you wouldn’t like he’s super humble. And he’s just like, he shares his story on episode 91 about how he used to work for corporate America and then how he kind of transitioned into being an entrepreneur, and just super normal, humble guy. And I was like, that’s an incredible story. Yeah, if you haven’t heard it go listen to Episode 91. Kevin Sanderson episode 41. And so Kevin Sanderson, he specializes in selling on Amazon international marketplaces. And so we brought him on to share that. And we’ve actually expanded our businesses in 2021 all the portfolio brands into Amazon international marketplaces with Kevin’s service. So yeah, one of the things we were talking about expansion in our own portfolio companies and Amazon International, you’re already selling those products, you already have listings, the reviews transfer over. So it’s, it’s almost like an immediate, like, bump and with minimal effort. And so, if you’re looking to kind of expand your business, that would be if you’re on Amazon, exclusively, or if you’re doing really well, you want to get an extra bump, Episode 41 is something you want to definitely go listen to.
David 19:05
Absolutely. We work with Kevin. And he is, as we’ve expanded into these international marketplaces, there have been some hula hoops that we’ve had to jump through. And he’s been awesome with helping us get signed up with VAT taxes, and all kinds of stuff that I didn’t even know existed. And so it’s nice to have, essentially a guide from someone who’s already done it before. And so if you’re thinking about selling international check out episode 41. And I would imagine towards the end of that podcast, you’re going to decide that you want to sell international because there’s just, the world is bigger than North America. And Amazon is bigger than North America. So you might as well go and capitalize on those other marketplaces.
Ken 19:44
Absolutely. What’s the next one, David?
David 19:46
Francois Jaffres. This fella is from Novi land and in terms of logistics, he is an absolute expert. And so he has his finger on the pulse of global for instance, like the global shipping container shortage and shipping prices. And in this world, shipping is so important. And so knowing what to expect in terms of lead times and everything else is tremendously helpful. And so, unless you are making your own product and shipping it yourself, you use someone in the shipping industry and so he, it’s just a wonderful episode.
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Kasey, Robert (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Ken 20:26
Just one thing to add on to that. So Francois was a he was a great guest. And David, you mentioned to Francois on that episode, like hey, you’re kind of like a natural like radio voice. And you’re so like, just fluent with podcasting and everything. And so you recommended to to Francois to start his own podcast, and he did. And it’s called linkup leaders. And so him and his podcasting partner, so we have both been on their show, too. So it’s kind of funny, but like, it’s a great podcast, and he delivers a ton of value sourcing, logistics, everything is covered on that podcast. And so yeah, if you’re looking for another podcast, link up leaders.
David 21:05
Absolutely, absolutely. The next episode that stands out to me was episode 65 With Miro Posavec. And we talked about Walmart. However, this guy is just an absolute character. I think he made a cocktail at 10 in the morning, before we recorded our podcast, and he was just a hoot high energy guy. Really fun to talk to. And so if you’re thinking about getting into WalMart, great episode, also, if you just want to hear someone who’s like pretty entertaining and jazzed up about e commerce, that’s a great episode to check out.
Ken 21:36
Yeah, yeah. Miro just one thing to add on that. I were, I believe we taped that episode it was kind of early in the morning, probably nine o’clock. I got a text or Skype from Miro, it said, hey you, guys, I’m ready if you guys are ready. I’m halfway sober. No, he said, I’m sorry, he said, I’m mostly sober. And I looked at that text. And I’m like, holy shit, this guy’s awesome. And so yeah, we jumped on the podcast taping with Miro. And yeah, he is just a great character, a wealth of knowledge. He’s been selling on Walmart, lots of other platforms for a long time. But we covered Walmart on episode 65. So if you want to go hear a fun podcast, that’s one. And probably the next one is probably one of the wackiest shows we’ve actually done in all 100.
- García Barco, Víctor Manuel (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 70 Pages - 04/22/2021 (Publication Date) - Independently published (Publisher)
David 22:23
Sorry to interrupt the episode, you may have heard Ken and I talking recently about a new tool that we’re using for Amazon refunds. Now I have used other refund tools like this. However, I can tell you in the first seven days, they scrubbed the back end of my Amazon account going back 18 months, and found $5,000 of refunds. And the nice thing about this is, it’s my money, Amazon made a mistake and they are just auditing my account. The other thing I really like about this tool is there is no monthly fee. They only charge a commission if they are successful in getting you your money. Go to www.GETIDA.com GETIDA and enter promo code FTM for firing the man FTM 400. This is an awesome tool. I can’t say enough good things about it. Now back to the episode. Yeah, when we got done recording episode 94, it was with Paul Ross, the title is The Art of subtle words that sell, when we got done recording that we shut our laptops and looked at each other and we’re like, wow, that was, he is one hell of a guy. He is one hell of a guy. He’s got quite a personality and has had a very storied life in terms of what he’s published and what he’s put out there. And it was really entertaining. And I can honestly say I’ve never met anyone like that. And, hell of a good guy, but it was just a downright fun podcast to listen to.
Ken 23:50
Yeah, like, talk about pivoting. So, Paul Ross is like a specialty with like copywriting and words. He wrote the art of subtle words that sell. And at some at one point, we were interviewing Paul and like, this shit went into left field quick. And we had to like, kind of figure out how this was gonna, this show was going to flow. And it was fun. Once I realized, hey, this is Paul’s nature. This is how he operates. We just went with it. And so if you want to hear the craziest podcast we’ve ever done, it’s episode 94. And Paul delivers a ton of value in that on that episode on words that sell and how to do that. So there was some, it was fun. It was a lot of fun.
- Ross, Paul (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 149 Pages - 08/11/2019 (Publication Date) - Independently published (Publisher)
David 24:36
Yeah, absolutely. So that’s, it was tough making that list of our seven favorite episodes. However, those are, if you’re new to the podcast, those are our seven you absolutely should check out. So moving on with kind of the evolution of this podcast. Early on we were doing everything ourselves, right. We were, I learned how to do audio editing. We were doing the YouTube videos. Ken, I remember you were doing you were listening to the episodes and doing the transcriptions. I mean, it was, we really were, it was quite a commitment early on in terms of all the moving parts and what it took to put out a good product. What are some of your memories from like those early days?
Ken 25:17
Yeah, absolutely. We just figured it out as we went along. And like you said, you were doing the sound and the video editing and I was doing the website and the transcriptions and we slowly got it dialed in and slowly built a team to where we have now today, we have a team that helps us with all of that, but it was a slow grind to where we are today, being able to produce a high quality podcast.
David 25:43
Absolutely. One thing that, when I go back and listen to some of the earlier episodes, and I listen to the sound quality, it almost makes me cringe, because I know I was the one that edited those episodes. But what I will say is the content is good. Like, we always stay true to our message. And we were putting out good content. And it’s been fun to to listen to the audio quality get better and folding in video. And it’s been fun to, from one to 100, we made huge improvements. And I’m just looking forward to the next 100 episodes to see where we can take this thing.
Ken 26:15
Yeah, absolutely. So let’s, should we talk about one of our favorite episodes?
David 26:21
Absolutely. This is episode four. The title is how to be more efficient and productive with your time. And to kind of set the scene I’ve been a longtime Joe Rogan fan. And one thing that he does is he often drinks while he’s recording. And sometimes he’ll smoke weed. And however, he just continues to carry on the conversation like normal, you can’t even tell that he’s impaired. And when I thought about starting a podcast, I, for some reason, just thought alcohol is a part of this, right? And so episode four, I showed up with a bottle of scotch. And in we went down into your basement, and I’ll be honest, we got drunk. We got drunk. And we’ve pulled out a couple of like our funny sound bites. But if you want to hear the full episode, go ahead and check out episode four. But anyway, what were some of your memories from that?
Ken 27:18
Yeah, I agree. So I think it was a little bit of what you said, Joe Rogan fans having a drink or whatever. I also think more so it’s like, when you do something new. You’re kind of nervous and kind of like we were trying to figure out like, hey, how do we do this podcasting thing. And so having a drink, always kind of like relaxes you and kind of gets you into the flow of everything. And so on episode four, we were really in the flow of things. And so if you want to hear some funny sound bites, it was good. We produced it, and had a great time. And then we kind of realized, hey, that might not be for us. Let us know, you know, shoot us an email or voice message on our website on Contact Us page. And let us know if you’ve heard Episode Four what you thought, or and if you want to see more of those. If we need to break out the bottle of Scotch again, we might have to do that.
David 28:10
It was fun. It was a fun one to record, and we were talking about like just kind of like life hacks and how to set aside time to work on an E commerce company. So it was on topic. However, we weren’t really diving deep on any like specific ecommerce topic that I would assume would have traffic. However, when we go back and look at our numbers in terms of episode downloads, that is number one. And if you can, you know if you towards the end of the episode, man, we’re slurring our words. And that was a result of drinking hard alcohol at 3pm and recording a podcast and it was fun. It was a fun episode to record. And so here’s a couple of our favorite sound bites. I’ll tell you what, someone told me this one time they’re like, if your Facebook feed or your Instagram feed, were to be printed out as a hardback book, would you go to Barnes and Noble and buy it? If the obvious answer is, dude fuck no. It’s just garbage. Like you’re filling your brain with garbage. No one really remembers it the next day. No one remembers it the week later, the month later, right? Like, this is not meaningful time. So I’ll tell you what. And you don’t need to tell anybody. Honestly, when I looked at mine, I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed that I was spending you know, 40 50 60 minutes a day on Instagram, looking at bullshit. And this is an entirely different episode in and of itself. But there’s a book called Digital minimalism. And I think if you’re struggling with an addiction yourself on, and we should do an episode on this.
Ken 29:50
Yeah, I think so. I think we, that is huge. Like, when we talk about the topic of finding time to you know, to build a business build a brand, two hours a day. That’s all you need. Right?
David 30:04
And I’ll tell you what, like, I try to eat healthy but I don’t always and I’ll tell you what, I love a big mac, but when they started putting calories on the fucking menu, it’s just like, I don’t want to see that shit. I want to enjoy it and I want to leave. So screentime on the iPhone, man that is, that is calorie counting from McDonald’s, in my opinion.
Ken 30:28
You know what, I’m a Russian immigrant and I had shit growing up and I built my parents wine business and, you know, I go out and hustle and I do this and while I’m laying in bed listening to that, I’m like, fuck, I gotta get up and do something. This goddamn Gary Vee man. He’s out there hustling at fucking yard sales and whatever else and you know, selling wine and making YouTube videos in 1984. So 10 15 minutes of Gary Vee on YouTube, to me, that’s the value added right? Oh, shit. What’s this? Let me click on thug life. What’s this? I see some gangsters rolling up, like kicking chairs out from people get tumbled over and I see some people like just getting boxed up. And I’m like, oh, yeah, this is good. And then 45 minutes later, I’m like, what am I doing?
David 31:21
Just, you know, I’m gonna, I’ll be honest with you like Bon Jovi living on a prayer. Eminem, I mean.
Ken 31:28
Absolutely classic.
David 31:29
It’s, and Good Charlotte, man. But if we’re talking about good uses of YouTube time, man, listen to one song in the morning, get yourself freaking woke up. I mean, people always, they don’t think twice about making a cup of coffee, or popping an Adderall, or doing you know, doing whatever dirty deeds they need to do to wake up in the morning. But you listen to a freakin song that gets you jacked, you know, gets you excited to be alive. And everyone knows that. Like, everyone knows that feeling. You know, but you know, living on a prayer, you bring that into your life at 430 in the morning, and you’re ready to fucking take on the world. So Ken, one thing, one, like unforeseen consequence of this podcast has been the amount of learning that has happened. And we were making a list of some of the highest impact things that we’ve learned from doing this. And so, would be one thing that stands out to you?
Ken 32:30
Yeah, absolutely. Like, when we were doing prep for the show, we thought, how are we going to give back maximum value to the listeners? And so we thought, okay, well, let’s make a list of our top things that we learned. So we can just relay those directly to you, you know, to the listeners. So, the first thing that’s on the list is, and these are in no specific order, they’re just, jotted them down, Buy then Build, that book, really, that’s the book that Walker Deibel wrote, it really opened, I think, both of our eyes on buying a business that’s already functioning and operating, and putting out cash flow and how to do that now versus like, oh, thinking you can’t do that. And also really has, it shows why to buy versus build and the pros and cons of those. So if you’ve not read that book, I would highly recommend reading that book.
David 33:23
Yeah, absolutely. It is something that I think should be required in every business school. And if you’re in this space, and you’re thinking about starting your own company, I would definitely read it. It’s been a very high impact book. On the topic of books, I’d say the next one is Miracle Morning. And this is something that, it’s written by Hal Elrod, and we read it almost simultaneously. And I would say that this has been, in terms of, I can speak personally, getting me to my end goal, which was firing the man, had I not got my mornings dialed in, I could have never done it. You figure you sleep eight hours a night, busy day at work. Once you fold in a commute, you’ve got, say 10 hours, and but then there’s six hours that are unaccounted for. And that’s where, if you’re building a business while you’re working for the man, you have to get scrappy, and that book was awesome. I would say also from just like a happiness and living a full and deep life, like it was great too like, I think, I recommend this book to literally everyone. It’s the number one most recommended book that I have. What are your thoughts?
No products found.
Ken 34:34
Yeah, same. I totally agree. Miracle Morning was a massive impact. And it made a massive impact in my life, not only my business, but my personal life too, because it allowed me to get a lot of things done. Prioritize reading all kinds of stuff. So if you’ve not read that book, go grab that book. That’s huge. Next one on the list. Everybody we interview on the show, we ask them a series of questions called the fire round. And one of the things that we’ve kind of logged out is a common thing on the entrepreneurs that we have on is grind, grind. And the point of that is that, don’t give up. And success is only attributed to a lot of hard work. And you just have to go through the motions, and there’s no magic pill, there’s no funnel, there’s no hacking into success. It’s hard work and grinding, and there’s no magic pill. So do the work put in the work, you will be successful.
David 35:33
Yeah, I would say out of all the successful entrepreneurs that we’ve interviewed, there has not been a single person that has accomplished their goals under usually, it’s several years of compounding effort, really. And some of them it’s not measured in years, it’s decades. And so that’s something that, as we own and operate our own businesses, as we hit roadblocks and struggles and feel like we’re constantly putting out fires, it’s nice to know that, hey, it’s kind of the norm, like business is hard. Business is hard. If it was easy, everyone would do it. Right. And so yeah, it’s been cool talking to other entrepreneurs, and just confirming that there is no magic pill. And the key to success is that hard work, and persistence. So next one on the list is surrounding yourself with like minded people. And this is something that can, I mean, that’s kind of the starting spot for how you and I got together, was we both had a common interest. And so we started chatting. And I would say that a lot of the entrepreneurs we talked to, they often reference their tribe, their group of people, their people that have mentored them, or motivated them or inspired them. And I’m not sure if we’ve talked to anyone who’s done it all on their own. Just by reading books, and watching YouTube videos like it, like the people part of the business is really important. So what are your thoughts there?
Ken 36:56
Yeah, absolutely. That’s probably one of the top three on this list is surrounding yourself with like minded people, like you mentioned, David, we met at your Meetup. And also, when we were, as we referenced this to the podcast, it’s like, people that we have on the podcast are in this space. And so if you’re listening to this podcast, you’re going to be getting people in this space, a constant flow of us interviewing experts in this space. And so that’s kind of a more of a distant connection for in terms of surrounding yourself locally, I definitely recommend meetups, masterminds, things like that. It’s a very lonely world, being an entrepreneur, and you need a support system, and you need other people that are doing what you’re doing in the space, so you can bounce ideas and so you can stop talking to your spouse or your significant other about conversion rates and PPC, and talk to people that want to hear that stuff. And so that’s huge. It’ll help you grow big time. Next one on the list is Exit Planning. And this was something that early on, I don’t think either one of us were doing that. I know you have a m&a background, David. So you’re probably in the back of your mind, like thinking about the exit, but I was not. I was just like, hey, how can I grow a side business and stop working for the man right. And so as the evolution of our businesses have grown and matured, now it’s like, Exit Planning is, we have meeting, we have weekly monthly meetings on Exit Planning, what can we do to make our businesses more attractive to a buyer. We had Joe Valley on the show not too long ago, he wrote a book called The Exitpreneurs Playbook. And that was huge. It has, if you have not read that yet, go grab that book. It’s written by a broker who’s been in the industry for a decade and lays out everything you need to do with Exit Planning. So that’s huge as your business gets to kind of, even if I could turn back time, as I was starting my businesses, I would have planned for an exit then. And so, even if you don’t have a business now, Exit Planning is definitely a topic you should be, you know, researching and figuring out early on. And if you already have a business, and you’re not exit planning, you should right now, what’s the next one, David?
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Valley, Joe (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
David 39:08
Yeah, I would say that we have had quite a few guests on the show that have had 6 7 8, up to nine figure exits, tremendously successful entrepreneurs. We’ve had people that have started agencies that are doing tremendously well. And one thing that, one common thread is that they’re normal people. I remember like very early on in my business career, when I would hear of someone selling a company for $100 million, I would think, oh they must have a rich dad or rich uncle that set them up with this, or they must be a Harvard MBA, or they must have something, some secret sauce that the general population doesn’t have. And what I found is some people do have a rich uncle, however, most of the ones that we interviewed don’t, right? They’ve been people, they’ve just been normal people with a normal academic background. And if an academic background at all right, and so that’s really inspirational to me, because I consider myself just a normal guy. Like, I don’t have any of that secret sauce. And so it’s really inspirational to see other normal dudes and gals, having not only successful, like, tremendous success, in terms of, I’m talking money, but I’m also talking lifestyle, and I’m talking about just kind of the whole picture. And so that’s been really cool to see.
Ken 40:36
Absolutely. And I also like, share that thought of like, when you see successful people, you always think in the back of your head, ah, they were given that, or they were silver spoon, whatever. And you’re right, David, like, the bulk of the people we’ve, that I’ve met that we’ve had on the show, I don’t think any of them have had any, they’ve built businesses from from scratch. And they were successful. And so I think that is crucial, like we talked about earlier, like being on one side of the fence, looking at somebody on the other side of the fence, like how do you get over that fence, and I would also consider myself normal, my girlfriend would probably tell you something different. But I consider myself normal. And so David, if you and I can build a business and exit our job as normal dudes, then anybody listening to the show can and so that is a huge thing to mentally grab ahold of and say that you can’t do something. So last one, snowball effect. This is something that kind of applies to your personal life, your professional life, everything. And it’s like, especially the podcast, we did, what came before Episode 100, episode one through 99. And so we didn’t get to 100, without Episode One through 99. And so, once we did, we got through episode four, the bottle of scotch was empty. And so we had what’s next five, what’s next six. And so we got better and learned. And that applies for your business. That applies for your personal life that miracle morning, everything is the snowball effect is basically your momentum gets bigger and bigger. So you know your habits that you form every day that you do the same thing. It’s a snowball effect. David, your thoughts on that?
David 42:21
Yeah, playing this the podcast, I would say like first couple months, one thing I’m very proud of is we have put out one episode per week, and have a perfect record of that. Usually we try to do Tuesday morning, we’ve had a couple Thursday releases. But once a week, we’ve released an episode. And if you look at early on, man, we were getting five downloads, 10 downloads. And I know some of those downloads were from me like doing a quality check or like friends and family. Right. And I would say it was helpful to have a partner that was also just interested in putting out good content, but also faith that like these numbers are going to pick up. And I would say that it probably has taken twice as long, I would say to get to where we’re at now. But I’d say that’s pretty true in like business too like things move slowly, progress moves slowly. And it’s just that showing up every day, showing up every week. And putting in time and effort and just trusting in the process is tremendously helpful. So and we witnessed this snowball effect from a lot of different entrepreneurs, as they just, you know, continued to show up every day. So that rounds out our, the top things that we’ve learned from our first 100 episodes. Ken, go ahead and close it out.
Ken 43:39
Yeah, sure. So we definitely want to give out a huge thanks to every single listener, we wouldn’t be producing the show without people listening. We’ve committed to another 100 shows another 100 episodes. So if you have any ideas on episode topics, if you want us to interview specific people, something you’re struggling with, email us support@firingtheman.com go onto our website, you can leave us a voice message there. We’re here for you guys. We want you guys to succeed and David and I are going to be doing this for a really long time. The last thing is, if you’ve had any, if you’ve listened to any of our episodes, one through 100 and if you’ve found anything helpful or it’s added value to your business or your life, we would be honored if you would go on to your podcasting platform iTunes and leave us a review, that would make our day. So awesome.
David 44:30
All right. Well, thanks, everyone for tuning in. And we’ll see you next week. Thank you everyone for tuning in to today’s firing the man podcast. If you liked this episode, head on over to www.firingtheman.com. And check out our resource library for exclusive firing the man discounts on popular e commerce subscription services that is www.firingtheman.com\resource. You can also find a comprehensive library of over 50 books that Ken and I have read in the last few years that have made a meaningful impact on our business. For that, head on over to www.firingtheman.com/library Lastly, check us out on social media at firing the man, and on YouTube at firing the man for exclusive content. This is David Schomer
Ken 45:14
and Ken Wilson, we’re out
David 45:32
Before you go, fun fact for all you Amazon sellers out there when you start selling in international marketplaces, all of your reviews come with you. At the beginning of this year, Ken and I sat down and talked of ways that we could double our businesses in size and landed on international expansion as our number one initiative this year. We partnered up with Kevin Sanderson from maximizing e commerce and he has made the process an absolute breeze, walking us step by step through the process. If you want to grow your revenue and reach new customers head on over to www.maximizingecommerce.com/fire and connect with Kevin Sanderson today. Now, back to the show.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai