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 ecommerce 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’d like to find out if working with Kevin and his team is right for you head over to https://maximizingecommerce.com/fire. Once again that is https://maximizingecommerce.com/fire.
Intro 0:46
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 now you are capable of more than join us. This show will help you build a business and grow your passive income stream in just a few short hours per day. And now your host serial entrepreneurs David Schomer and Ken Wilson.
David 1:10
Welcome everyone to the Firing the Man podcast on today’s episode we have the pleasure of interviewing Jung Soo Jung Soo left a successful career in cryptocurrency software to found his eight figure ecommerce business urban EDC, a venture with an impressive social media following he then went to launch growth jet, a Climate Neutral certified third party logistics company, Yong Soo is passionate about sharing his experiences with other entrepreneurs so they can start companies that are both profitable and sustainable. Welcome to the show.
Yong Soo 1:39
Thanks, guys. Thanks for having me on.
David 1:40
Absolutely. So first things first, can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your path to becoming an E commerce entrepreneur
- Hardcover Book
- Clear, James (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Yong Soo 1:47
in 2015, I was at a cryptocurrency startup in San Francisco, I joined the company earliest Wait 14 back towards the end of 2015, there were a lot of regulations that will come into play, and our team was literally blocked from proceeding further because of regulations. And so at that point, you know, I had a decision to make because I always like to move baller, and I like to, you know, just keep making progress. And I just just felt like, you know, really, really stuck just not being able to continue to before so, you know, I started dabbling in some some things that I found interesting. So actually, the first item that I wanted to get into was were these headphones that I had, there were like ear buds, so they’re like high fidelity ear buds, and I actually got them on wholesale and we’ve got like $10,000 worth $20,000 worth of inventory without doing any investing or anything, which is a huge mistake. And so I got those and I initially I was going to do an Amazon FBA so so I you know, I reached out to all these providers that would do all the prep work for it and then send them off to the distribution centers, I found out that it’s a lot harder to sell on Amazon and just just please putting them up on Amazon, right? So they just were not moving at all at that point, you know, I had to hit it and I decided that it’s just you know, this is back in 2015. And so I felt like the market for E commerce moving slowly towards you know, Shopify and old direct consumer market. And so I thought about kind of pivoting more in that area. You know, I was looking at things that I was buying on a regular basis and spending a lot of time on and you know, these are things like pens like titanium machine pans, everyday carry gear, I but your phones are not selling on Amazon, maybe I can debit this and sell those earphones as kind of like as part of the everyday carry store. Right. So I launched a shop called Urban EDC supply and EDC stands for everyday Perry at that point you know, I actually bought stuff off of Amazon because I learned my lesson that you can’t you need to validate first so I had all this inventory just like not moving at all I actually created urbaine see with the intention of creating a channel the rest of these headphones which was an interesting play I guess. And so yeah, eventually got got you know, sold those headphones and stopped kind of pivoted into a little more you know, we got pocket knife in the store now flashlights, pry bars, ility tools, and so it’s definitely evolved since that’s kind of how it you know how I first started getting in columns.
Ken 4:17
That’s awesome. Yeah, thanks for sharing I’m sure. So I have to ask you a question about the cryptocurrency it sounds like you you were involved in crypto very early. And so I heard I’ve heard all these stories. Are you one of those guys that are like the crypto cruisers where you got in super early or not? There was a story that I heard about I think it was someone that bought pizza with Bitcoin that’s what it was right? Any crazy stuff with their crypto stopper. Was it too early on?
Yong Soo 4:40
Well, actually, it was. I mean, it was early so actually joined the company before it cerium was around and actually the Dalek was touring our our office and I actually saw him an amount of when that happened. I mean, it was still early and so I did you know I was fortunate enough to invest in some XRP at the time, I just kind of you know I wanted to forget about it. And, you know, I feel like for me, like, I don’t know, I just feel like if I make an investment in something hands up, you know, and it really blows up my crypto has in recent years, it doesn’t feel like I really earned it. And and so I almost don’t want that to become you know what I’m known for. You’re gonna be like that pizza guy you’re talking about, like, I mean, he’s forever going to be known as the Bitcoin pizza guy, right? Yeah, I saw, I just didn’t get Yeah, so I mean, I was really fortunate to get in early, and to be where I am. Because, you know, I got in as an early employee at Google cracks a company as a software engineer. And so I was actually very fortunate. And to be honest, like, after, you know, blew up in 2017. I was like, oh, man, like, should I have stayed a little longer? Right? You know, I don’t really regret my decision, just because like I said, I just don’t I don’t want to be I don’t want to be known as like, Oh, yeah. You know, that guy. Like, yeah, my friend, you know, invested, whatever, whatever. And now, he’s like, living on yachts or whatever, like, like that, to me is not the story that I want people to know about me. And so I’ve kind of like moved. Moved on from that. Yeah,
Ken 6:02
no, absolutely. And now it’s always it’s I think crypto probably is like one of those things in a kind of like a once in a lifetime like thing that comes out and is so volatile risk reward is like so out of balance, that it’s just crazy. And so moving on to e commerce. And so you’ve got a bunch of experience with, you know, start starting company kind of pivoting, moving into another one figuring it out, can you go over some of the kind of the fundamentals of business operations, kind of what you learned and introduced the audience? Yeah.
- Hardcover Book
- Michalowicz, Mike (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Yong Soo 6:30
So I think there’s like three key systems, when you are trying to build a company. The first one is, you need to be able to build brand awareness. So this is like marketing. This is, you know, getting people into your shop, essentially. So all the activities that you do to get people aware of your brand, then action shopping here on your site, that’s all part of this first system, which is like random derivation, awareness. And then the second part is value delivery, you know, if someone orders an item, then how do they actually get that item to their house, right. So this is stuff like customer service, you’re putting them into logistics, maybe like a follow up email sequence, where you ask them if they’re happy, this is all part of that value delivery system. And then the third part is kind of more of a general operations. And so you’re looking at both of those parts. And you have to be looking at metrics or like dashboards to make sure like shipments are not late, or you know, your retention rate for your customers high end like things like that. So that’s their guest processor system that you should really think about. And I always like to start with yourself. So when you first begin a new venture, obviously, you’re going to be doing most of the work like 99.9% of it. But then as you grow, you want to hire specific roles, and then do those tasks along with your teammates. And so I call this the iwi. They framework. And so step one is is the AI part where you’re doing all the work. Step two is like the weak part where you’re doing the work alongside your team name, and like kind of getting all the standard operating procedures in place. And then the third step is replacing yourself from the day to day operations where your team is handling all of that for you. And so at that point, you can take a step back and really look at your business as you know, from a from a crazy, you know, like a high point of view and saying, Oh, this is where we need to keep expanding, right? So these are like expansion things or, you know, figuring out strategic partnerships, perhaps even like auditions, so those are like more high level things that you should be looking at, you know, that we get that you would never be able to do if you’re actually working inside the business. Right. So those are kind of three levels. If you have systems in place for all three of those, then I think you’re really, really good place.
Ken 8:33
That’s awesome. One quick follow up question on the branding play. Now, for all of the Amazon listeners here, you know, if you go into a large marketplace like Amazon, or Walmart, they’re bringing the eyeballs to your products now direct to consumer, you’re in charge of, you know, getting eyeballs in front of your products. And so what are some avenues and channels that you’re using? And you’re seeing success with getting eyeballs on products for a direct to consumer brand?
Yong Soo 8:56
Yeah, it’s a great question. So so this really depends on where your actual target audience is hanging out. So for Herb addc, people were taking photos of things that they were carrying with them on a daily basis and posting them on Instagram. And so Instagram was the primary channel for us to generate brand awareness. And so actually, when when I started obeying, you see, I actually started the account as a repost, account. So repost other people’s photos and give them credit, of course, and then no one actually thanked me like, Hey, thanks for reposting my photo. And then some of them might follow me back. And I built this a challenge about 10,000 followers. And then at that point, that’s actually when you know, I thought was a good place to launch the brand. And so I think it’s really important to find out where your customers are hanging out and then go into that community and talk to them a What’s your pain point, like? What do you want to see and then kind of build you know, build with this concept called Build and public. Were bringing your audience with you to try to solve a problem that you may have or that they may have and then that you can kind of like get your early supporters on board and then yeah, just grow from there and I would definitely Say one, one strategy that’s been really helpful is collaboration. So look for people that have strength. So this strength can be like a content creator, like they are really good at making, you know, whatever viral YouTube videos, you know, you can find them and then work with them build a relationship for so like, number one rule for collaborations is don’t treat these as transactional relationships. So they need to be genuine. So it could take up to like six months to a year to build that relationship. But you know, for example, content creator, you work with them, and then you might send them products. And you know, they’ll, they’ll plug it into their videos or whatever, right? So and then there’s other collaborations to deal with, like brands, for example. So like a brand to brand collaboration can share the product to both audiences. And then the really powerful collaborations that we’ve done is actually a co creative product collaboration, where you have either a brand or a content creator, you can partner up with them and create a plan up together. And so at that point, for example, a content creator, they’re going to be selling there all year for you. And the great, the great thing is you have the relationship with suppliers, and you have, you know, all the logistical fulfillment stuff figured out because the content creator does not have that, right. So it’s kind of like play to your strengths, and definitely collaborate with other people doing cool stop in that industry to grow your rat.
- Audible Audiobook
- Alex Hormozi (Author) - Alexander Hormozi (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
Ken 11:14
Yeah, I don’t know if you saw me, but I was anybody that’s watching on YouTube, you probably saw me, I’m taking notes down here on all of these tactics that you’re sharing. So there are those are awesome. I really like it. So over to you, David.
David 11:24
Yeah, those were I also was taking notes. And interesting. We actually had a meeting today, in Bernoulli, talking about how do we point our social media people in the right direction. And I think a lot of our listeners run into this where maybe social media is an afterthought, or maybe it’s something that they’re doing on their own. And I do kind of want to go down this tangent if you want my so say, one of our listeners has been handling social media themselves, they hire somebody now you now what’s the I, we they okay, what would be some of the first things you would coach them on and strategies you would implement with a new social media manager,
Yong Soo 11:56
I think a lot of people approach social media the wrong way, most people will approach it, as you know, we have something that I like that we want to tell you, or I have something I like to tell you, right. So it’s like a, it’s like a, it’s like a broadcast system. But in reality, social media network is you got to be like, quote, unquote, social on it. And so you have to talk to people. So if they engage with your followers, and so if you’d go on it, and you you’re constantly just broadcasting, I mean, people are gonna get tired of that really soon. But if you engage with them, like if someone posts a photo of their new pocketknife, for example, and we come in and say, hey, that’s awesome. Like, you know, how do you use it? Or just ask them? Like a simple question, right? They love that SOP, and they’re gonna be like, oh, you know, I just went fishing or whatever. And, you know, I use it for this. And like, that little interaction there is gonna, like, he’s gonna be so much more feel so much more connection to your brand, just because you just you just cared enough to just ask one question back, right. So I think social media, or do we wrong, where they just see it as one way street of a broadcast as though where it really is supposed to be a two way street interaction, you know, just talking gauging with each other. And I found that if you do that properly, that, you know, they’ll tell their friends like, hey, guess what, like, you know, this company actually responded back to me on a on a post and it’s happening, and like, they love that great example is like we had customers give us feedback. So we get a feedback email. So we asked them after each purchase, and somebody like responded, and was like, Hey, you implement this on the website. And like, I just happened to be on the road out there. And this was like a Saturday. So I was just like, slow Saturday, I saw them here. And I like quickly implemented it. And I told them, hey, like, we did this, like, check it out. What do you think? And he was like, ecstatic, literally, like he emailed me. Like, I got feedback from him. And then I implemented it, like, maybe an hour or two later. And he was like, Oh, my gosh, you guys are the best, like, awkward, like, that’s so cool that you did that. And so I just feel like it’s, it’s kind of like just, you know, you just kind of care about your customers, your customers are they’re obviously they’re gonna buy stuff from you, but at the same time, they’re human right? So you got to build that relationship. So
Unknown Speaker 14:04
hi, it’s Janice Berg Levy and I’ve created the it’s great business podcast to help people like you find the career path that matters. Whether you’re just starting out somewhere in the middle are looking to pivot. Our roster of guests includes business, academic and nonprofit leaders who inspire you as they share very personal stories and lessons which led them to the C suite boardroom entrepreneurship and community service. So what are you waiting for? Subscribe to its great business wherever you get your podcasts. It’s the only podcast that will put a smile on your face and energize you to navigate and pursue the career life that brings you joy.
Ken 14:47
Yeah, I really liked that. And the broadcasting piece is kind of like it’s like I don’t know, it’s a lot of the social media that I’ve been exposed to is like teaching the broadcasting and then looking at the metrics and seeing where you’re getting the engagement but I Think your messaging Yong Soo was like more or less like treat treat your customers like humans and have interactions and build trust and relationships with them. And I really liked that went down the rabbit hole on social media. So I want to circle back and what are some ways because social media, everything we’ve talked about now it’s kind of like branding, building that trust. Now how do you drive revenue with social media? Or, you know, just continue to drive that, that human contact and relationships? Or how do you how do you drive revenue?
Yong Soo 15:26
Yeah, so social media, also, I should mention is all about building trust, I call it this like, so there’s like two different parts to it. The first part is discovery, the discovery, I call it the I call these engines. So discovery engine is, you know, all the channels or all the tactics that you using to get your brand noticed. So for example, if you’re posting really great organic content on YouTube, let’s say right, then YouTube algorithm is gonna love that. And they’re gonna, like, put you up into people’s feeds, or playlists or whatever. And they’re going to show that video over and over again. And then in that video, you could have like, a, if you like this product, you know, go check it out, whatever, website, plug yourself in there. And then so that’s discovery platform, because they don’t know who you are. And they’re discovering you for the first time, right. And then at that point, they could subscribe to your channel. Or if you’re on like, Instagram, they can follow you. And so that’s a very, very important moment, because now a customer has actually opted in to receiving posts from right. So that’s a very different relationship where discovery is like, you have no idea you’re just scrolling through, you’re doing scrolling, and you’re like, oh, this kind of a cool video. So you click on and you watch for five seconds, right? But then when you’re when you follow some of ran, then you’re like, Okay, I’d like what this brand is doing by Nepal. So I could see more posts from them that change the dynamic completely. And then I would say email, so you want to also get them onto your emailing list. So follow is okay. But the email is really the driver, because it’s D platform. So you’re not going to be you know, if YouTube changes their algorithm, or they could be banned altogether, or, or stories about that, too. And then you lose all your drivers, right? So you want to deep platform, all your followers to emailing lists. If nobody owns email, it’s essential. So once you get them on an email, then it’s trust building can begin. So email is great way to build trust, podcasting is a great way to build trust, and it can take a long time. So for E commerce owners, I really recommend having a fantastic welcome flow of your email sequence. So when someone you know, enters their email, and for the first time, send them a, you know, welcome email that says, hey, thanks for joining the family, like, here’s what you can expect from us moving forward. And then you can follow up every like three to four days being like, Oh, by the way, I started this company, because of x y&z reasons, you know, I really want to make sure you’re taking care of we have really great customer service, if you ever need anything from us, email us, right? 30 might be like testimonials, oh, these people would love us look at these reviews. And then you know, one of these email, welcome series, you can also ask them a question like, hey, like, you know, what do you want to use? What do you use your pocketknife for? Just hit reply and let us know. Like, that’s, that’s engaging. And also, like we talked about, right, these are all so the email and podcasting are for us engines. And so we talked about discovery engine earlier, which is your brand awareness, just getting people to know who you are. And then it’s trust engine is like, we’ll know who you are, and they’ve given you permission to talk to them. But then you got to build that trust to a certain point where they’re like, Alright, I’m gonna make this purchase, because this person or this brand is so awesome. They’re so cool. You know, I really want to just like support them, and then they make that purchase. And then at that point, you can also keep nurturing them, like, you know, how’s How was your purchase? Like, all that stuff? But yeah, that’s kind of the key key things to remember is like the discovery engine into your trust engine, and then continue that the nurture that relationship, and then you’ll get those sales if you have those two properly. Place. Yeah,
- Kane, Brendan (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 302 Pages - 03/09/2022 (Publication Date) - Independently published (Publisher)
Ken 18:37
that’s dynamite. I’m taking more notes here. So I really liked those responses. David, over to you,
David 18:42
can you talk about taking a passion and turning it into a successful side
Yong Soo 18:46
hustle. First of all, if you found your passion, that’s a really hard thing to do. A lot of people struggle with that. So like, that’s great that you get to that place. And so after you found your passion, I would say definitely look at your skill sets and look at your past employment history. So you know, if you have a lot of writing gigs under your belt, and you enjoy writing, then you could marry whatever industry you’re interested in with your writing and like write about that topic. So like, if you’re really into sports, and you’re a great writer, then you can read the next Bill Simmons, right. And this write editorials on sports, right? So I think it’s kind of like gonna marry the interests that you have industry with a skill set. And that combination, it’s a combined diagram where there’s overlap. That’s kind of like your sweet spot of where you want to be. So yeah, and then I think really, honestly, it’s about just just getting your reps in. So like, if you’re a writer, for example, like your first few articles are gonna be terrible, but that’s okay. Because like, No, you’re not going to become like, you know, like, for example, I’m sure even like, like LeBron James, when he first started playing basketball, I’m sure he wasn’t nearly as good, right? So you have to get through that bad part in the middle to get to where you want to be. And you only get there by like this constantly experimenting and failing. And that’s kind of like the whole thing of like, yeah, you’ll do something and you’ll look back on it five years later. Wow, that was so bad. But like, that’s good. That’s great. Because then you realize, oh, I’ve I’ve improved so much right? And so I think these are like underrated under appreciated things that people really don’t talk about. Because a lot of these shows and podcasts really highlight successes like oh, like we could this person they’ve done X y&z Really it’s like 510 years, like really being terrible at it, that got them where they are, where they are. And so like that, that’s really like, where the good stuff is. Right? So So yeah, I mean, I would say just just stay at it, stay consistent. And eventually, you’ll you’ll just, it’ll start to click like, you won’t even notice it, but it’ll start to click
Ken 20:36
Yeah, that’s awesome. And, you know, great point there on you know, people are just see the, you know, the little windows of time where successes, but they don’t see the maybe the decade prior to that of grinding and grit and hustle. And so yeah, I always like it when we have entrepreneurs on the show. And I highlight that, it’s because it’s, we should talk about it more, I think, I think we learn more in that decade ever than we do even a little window of success. So next question. So I know you’ve got experience, you know, kind of growing businesses giving back sustainability, etc. And so how can a bootstrapper, you know, small business kind of grow or evolve and also give back same time?
Yong Soo 21:12
Yeah, so I think that giving back and was draft BMR, can be done at the same time, because I think that if you have the right values in place as a brand, then that’ll actually be a competitive advantage for you in the marketplace. And so let’s say you donate like 1% to the planet, or whatever, that could be enough, or someone was deciding to cheat through two products to say, I’m actually going to support your brand, because they’re actually a socially responsible company, and like this other company is not. And so you’re actually at that point, it could function as like a, you know, it’s almost like a differentiating factor. I don’t know if you’ve heard the term Purple Cow, except goat it but yeah, I mean, that’s kind of like you want to stand out from the crowd. And having strong values with, you know, having a social good attached to your business bottle is very, very strong. So I think that bootstrappers can utilize that. And then also attract a lot of customers who you want to attract. And so one thing that I also tell entrepreneurs just like, you don’t want everybody as your market, because that means that you will attract, you’re going to dilute yourself, and you’re not going to build that core group of community members, or Tribe members, that stands for something. So you want to be selective about who your customers are. And so if you have those values, and you know, you’re sustainable, or you know, you’re you’re giving back somehow that people who also feel that way are going to support you and join you. Whereas people who are like, you know, don’t care about those things, they’re gonna go somewhere else where all they care about is like price. And like, I don’t know, the speed of delivery, I guess, but like, they don’t care, right? So they’re not going to buy for you. And that’s okay, because you didn’t want those customers in the first place. And so it’s kind of like this, you flip the script, say, How do I make this, you know, socially good part of the business model where I can utilize it as a tool to attract the customers that I’m looking for? That’s the way to think about it, rather than like, oh, rely on bootstrapping, I don’t have the money. How can I still get back? Like, I think that’s a little bit of the wrong way to look at things. I think it should be the other way around.
David 23:05
one follow up question to that is when I think of giving back I often think of a percentage of revenue is given to x organization or for every widget we sell, we plant a tree, are there any creative ways that you found that maybe make a higher impact or or you know, have a higher impact to your customers?
Yong Soo 23:23
I think that if you say that you plant a tree, for example, for every product sold is that kind of incentive incentive is really compelling. Because a customer feels like they have console, like literally like I buy this product, and they will plant the tree on behalf of my purchase. Right? I think if it’s very clearly clearly laid out like that, where you’re empowering the customer, at least actually, they’re making the decision, like, I buy this product, they plant the tree, I buy this competitor product, they don’t do anything, okay, like, Okay, I’m gonna buy this product, because I want to plant the tree. And so like they’re making that decision themselves. And I think that that’s really worked well for them. Well, for us, too, because we actually have a product that we plan to treat the board. And that’s a really compelling reason to support the product itself.
David 24:06
That one is a consumer has always gotten me is planning to treat it because who does who is against?
Yong Soo 24:12
Yeah, I want to have coffee coughing up against planting trees.
David 24:15
Yeah, I really liked that one. And there’s not many other things like that kind of live in a divisive society. But I would say everyone is on board with planting trees. So I really liked that. So can we turn the corner and start talking about product research and identifying profitable products to sell, I spent a good bit of time today on urban etc. And you have some super cool products. So I’m interested, like maybe some general rules that you use in like more specifically, how did you identify those awesome products to sell?
- Hardcover Book
- Michalowicz, Mike (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Yong Soo 24:43
Yeah, great question. So I think this is tricky because it depends on which stage of your business your business is in. And so at the very beginning, you don’t have an audience to get feedback from. And so I like to just start from my own problem. You know, every day when you’re doing bank So you’ll see things that frustrated me, right? Like, when we there’s a reason why like a spoon is the way it’s shaped, right? Because you’re trying to like eat cereal or whatever, right? So imagine if that spoon was like, I don’t know, like extremely heavy or like or plastic or whatever. And like, it’s not, you’re not using it, but like you can’t use it. Like, that’s a problem that you see on a daily basis. Like, if you are feeling a little bit of friction during your day with whatever being that you’re interacting with in terms of a product, like that’s a good opportunity to to really question like, Oh, can I make this better? Right? And I think that it’s important to start with your own experience, because you’ll get you’ll invest time into that. And you’ll kind of like really get to know that product really well versus like people from the other side, like, oh, you know, no, like, hair dryers like, I don’t use hair dryers, right? But oh, there’s a market for that market is huge for hair dryers like how do I get in? Like, feel like that’s a little bit harder? Because just don’t know the market at all? And how do you you know, you can’t really approach it from that angle, in my opinion. So I think it’s important to start from your own problem first. And then the second step, I think, is look at products that are similar, and look at their reviews, and see what people are either saying what’s really great about it or complaining about because that will give you insights into what you should improve on or for your product, whatever you’re interested in, right? So we’re the stone example. You could search like wounds on Amazon or whatever, and like read through 1000s of reviews and see like is it weights is it dimensions or whatever it is, and get a sense of like how you could improve that product. And then after a while, like, for example, you were mentioning RBC, you can build products directly from the back or customers. And so that’s kind of like an important inflection point where you get to a certain point, and you no longer have to do that product, research yourself, you just ask your customers, what do you want to see next, and they will sell you you shouldn’t take all of it for, you know, for like, don’t take all 100% of that back, like just see a pattern like no one person might really want this, but like, although other people don’t want it. So I think you kind of have to look for patterns instead of just listening to like individual feedback. And then once you see that, then you can kind of make judgments on you know what product we should build next. And it’s important that you’re you’re kind of the innovator in that area, you’re You shouldn’t be like if you know, you know, the old saying like, like Henry Ford, I think it was like people wanted a faster transportation vehicle, they would say, but faster horses, faster horses instead of like a car, like people can’t imagine, like the next thing that they need just want like little bit improvement, or whatever it is there. Right. So I think it’s important to like, get you back within, like, you should take that feedback. And like really like imagine like, Okay, how do I solve this thing for this customer? And like, approach it that way? And then you can like, ask them like, hey, what do you think about this before? Either you’re like large production run or whatever. So I think it’s important to kind of approach it that way. And also
Ken 27:44
yeah, having that experience of like using those products and knowing more about them than just kind of the guessing game or using metrics and a tool. Excellent advice. So I want to jump into I hear I hear you have a podcast, can you can you talk about your podcast first class founders,
Yong Soo 28:01
I wanted to share my lessons to all current and future entrepreneurs. And I’ve just wanted a medium for me to express my ideas and my thoughts. And so first class founders is that channel for me to do that. And so you know, when you first begin as an entrepreneur, there isn’t like a manual read, there’s, there’s no manual, like how to guide or being a successful entrepreneur. So I kind of wanted to create that. I don’t know, like, you know, these are mini lessons that I’ve learned, and I guess frameworks and kind of concepts and mental models that I use that have really helped me and so it’s kind of like marry those frameworks with real life experiences that I’ve experienced, kind of combining those together and sharing that with the audience. So yeah, first class spotters, you can find that first class founders.com We’re on Apple and Spotify and everywhere else, so
David 28:48
very nice. And to all of our listeners that are driving, we’re gonna post that in the show notes. So keep driving, keep your eyes on. So we cannot in this podcast without talking about Humphrey, can you tell us about him? In his following?
Yong Soo 29:01
Yes, that’s it. So we brought home a French Bulldog. We actually named them Humphrey before we found him. But then when we saw that he was such an unfree, that it was like, just the match perfect mastery. And yeah, we brought him home in 2017. And we started taking photos and videos and posting them on Instagram, and just people really liked his personality. I mean, I’m a little biased, but I think did a pretty good looking Bulldog. And he just got a lot of followers very quickly, early on, and we wanted to guess kind of leverage, you know, the operations that we have with RBC, like them and a logistic side of it. And so my wife she launched Spotify hub, which is a dog boutique selling, you know, carefully curated, playful dog toys, leashes, harnesses all that. And now, Aubrey is part of the crew, you know, a part of our team. And yeah, it’s kind of funny because we just didn’t anticipate that happening with bringing home a French Bulldog, but It just kind of naturally evolved that way. And we wanted to leverage our strengths and to be able to you know, be a start this new brand using as Humphries audience. So yeah, super
Ken 30:10
cool. I had to look up the pictures of Humphrey. So I have an old English Bulldog. I love all loving with without fear. Yeah, they’re just a great pass, I think. So moving on here. Can you explain a little bit? What is growth jet? And how can it be helpful to listeners in the E commerce space? Yeah, perfect. So
Yong Soo 30:27
as I mentioned earlier, we have brought filament in house. So we were originally using a third part of the retail and we had a lot of issues. And this is like, I did hours of research trying to find the best there, Dale, and we had a lot of issues with like that, for example, like, literally customers were getting empty boxes. So when they were picking a packing, they would take the item out of the box and ship an empty box to the customer. So things like that, and like, you know, $5,000 worth of missing goods, like it was just a thing. And so decided to bring everything in house. And then we launched Spotify, Humphrey. And so we leveraged and our our systems are back, you know, back office systems, operational stuff. And then people were asking us, like, who’s doing it fulfillment? Because, you know, I’ve had a lot of issues aren’t for Bowman, you know, can you help us. And so we actually launched without a name and without a website. So we had paying clients before website and before name and that in 2019, we decided, hey, let’s take this thing to the next level. We bought that a website. That’s how growth jet was born. And so growth jet is a climate neutral, certified third party, that just provider so that we offset all of our, all of our carbon footprint for 20 wage 21. And we’re working with whites wanting to and so we talked about the whole value thing earlier. So we attract a lot of brands that care about sustainability, and kind of like, Yeah, I mean, we talked to a lot of value driven brands. And so if anybody is looking for for Bowman and you’re pretty fast growing brand, then hit me up and you can just email me directly at Jung Soo at Haydock calm as why Oh, and gsohey.com. And yeah, I can kind of hear the conversation from there.
Ken 31:59
That’s awesome. I really like that concept too. And I think it’s really, really important to have startups and have businesses like that, that growing and I think I see that expanding in the future. I think a lot of the younger generations really are motivated by sustainability and by preserving the environment. So really, I like what you’re doing. I really respect that. Yeah. And I think it’s important. Yeah, go ahead. No, no, I
Yong Soo 32:20
was just gonna say, I think that you’re absolutely right, that the world is kind of like, you know, like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Yeah. I feel like it’s elevating, like, the whole world is like trying to elevate and I think that values the whole social part of that is so such an important part now and everyone’s minds that that yeah, I totally agree with you that it’s it’s a super important part. It should be for every Brad
Ken 32:43
Yeah, absolutely. So for the listeners, the hierarchy, the pyramid food, water shelter, and I think it’s happiness and love and so like, that’s a great point that you know, that we’re getting civilization we’re getting so advanced that food water shelter is becoming like ubiquitous and now we’re it’s kind of seeking out that last little tip of the pyramid. So awesome. David, anything else you want to cover before we move into the fire round?
David 33:03
No. Let’s get into it. Okay,
Ken 33:05
awesome. Young. Sure. Are you ready for the fire round? Yeah, let’s do it. What is your favorite book, anything
Yong Soo 33:09
written by Jim Collins? He’s got really great frameworks. It’s just a joy to read. He studies like companies and just these ones successful what’s not and yeah, just learn a lot from Burnham so anything’s by Jim Collins.
Ken 33:21
Awesome. What are your hobbies?
Yong Soo 33:23
So strangely enough, I actually love building businesses that’s I know it’s surprising but so yeah, I would say that and then I like to take go on nature walks to hang out with my wife and or to brush Bulldogs love traveling so yeah, those things
- Rossman, John (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 168 Pages - 06/09/2021 (Publication Date) - Clyde Hill Publishing (Publisher)
Ken 33:36
what is the one thing that you do not miss about working for the man?
Yong Soo 33:40
This one’s easy, and that is politics. So I just really really don’t like politics whole robotics thing. So yeah,
Ken 33:47
okay. Excellent. Last one. What do you think sets apart successful ecommerce entrepreneurs from those who give up fail or never get started?
Yong Soo 33:54
Yeah. So I think it’s important to start so if you’re you haven’t started yet. The most important thing is star and then at that point, it’s consistency. And then after that, it’s iterating. Based on feedback, that’s kind of like a three part thing. But if you can master kind of like those those areas, then I think you’re in a really, really good spot.
Ken 34:12
Excellent answer. That’s a we’ll call that young shoots roadmap for success. So awesome. David, over to you to close out the show.
David 34:18
All right, Jung Soo want to thank you for being a guest on the Burning Man podcast. If people are interested in getting in touch with you what would be the best way you can
Yong Soo 34:25
find me on Twitter? I’m just at Jung Soo Chang. And then you can also just email me if you want Yong Soo at Haydock calm, and then you can also listen to the podcast at first class founders.com.
David 34:36
All right. Well, thank you so much. And thanks, everyone, for tuning in. We’ll talk to you next week. 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 put ended up with Kevin Sanderson from maximizing ecommerce 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 https://maximizingecommerce.com/fire and connect with Kevin Sanderson today. Now back to the show
Transcribed by https://otter.ai