SelfMade Stories

Adam Schwartz is a natural-born entrepreneur. From creating a candy ring in middle school to scaling his business to 8-digits, you could say it’s in his blood — even his wife is an entrepreneur. Adam is the co-founder and CEO of TeePublic and an advisor to Bombas. TeePublic is a marketplace for everything from apparel to home goods, all made by independent creators. In Part II, Adam and Brian dig deep into how to break through $100k, the necessity of space when building your business, and the nuances of digital marketing in relation to your LTV. If you’re in the early stages of building your business this episode is full of actionable insights into how to best breakthrough to your next revenue benchmark.

Adam Schwartz is a natural-born entrepreneur. From creating a candy ring in middle school to scaling his business to 8-digits, you could say it’s in his blood — even his wife is an entrepreneur. Adam is the co-founder and CEO of TeePublic and an advisor to Bombas. TeePublic is a marketplace for everything from apparel to home-goods, all made by independent creators. In Part I, Adam and Brian discuss what entrepreneurship means and why it’s so difficult, how to understand your wins and losses, and the importance of diving into problems one at a time. Adam is a master of discipline and company building and has a ton of insight into how to manage your business towards scale.

Nick Ling is the co-founder and CEO of Pattern Brands, formerly known as Gin Lane. Gin Lane was founded in 2015 and helped launch over 50 startups, creating $15B of market value over 4.5 years. At the peak of their entrepreneurial success, Nick and his co-founder Emmett took a step back to find a solution to the burnout they and their peers were collectively feeling. This is what ultimately led to Pattern. Pattern Brands was founded with a central mission: to provide people with products and a community that creates space away from work and brings back a degree of mindfulness. In Part II, Brian and Nick discuss Pattern’s launch strategy and how to turn your first customers into evangelists for your brand. Pattern’s first brand, Equal Parts, launched in September of 2019. Its aim is to get more people in the kitchen and make home cooking an easily accessible activity for all. They provide thoughtfully designed, reasonably priced cookware and access to coaches who can give guidance from cooking tips to easy recipes based on what’s in your fridge. Pattern’s next brand is set to launch early 2020.

Nick Ling is the co-founder and CEO of Pattern Brands, formerly known as Gin Lane. Gin Lane was founded in 2015 and helped launch over 50 startups, creating $15B of market value over 4.5 years. At the peak of their entrepreneurial success, Nick and his co-founder Emmett took a step back to find a solution to the burnout they and their peers were collectively feeling. This is what ultimately led to Pattern. Pattern Brands was founded with a central mission: to provide people with products and a community that create space away from work and brings back a degree of mindfulness. In Part I, Brian and Nick discuss the importance of mission in giving your brand a centralized focus and path towards success. Pattern’s first brand, Equal Parts, launched in September of 2019. Its aim is to get more people in the kitchen and make home cooking an easily accessible activity for all. They provide thoughtfully designed, reasonably priced cookware and access to coaches who can give guidance from cooking tips to easy recipes based on what’s in your fridge. Pattern’s next brand is set to launch early 2020.

Dave Heath is the co-founder and CEO of Bombas, the sock company that took the consumer market by storm. Over the past 8 years, Dave and his team have managed to scale the company to over $100 million in annual revenue. It all started with a simple mission, make a better sock that gives back. For every pair of socks purchased, Bombas donates a pair to communities in need. To date, Bombas has donated over 25 million pairs to homeless outreach programs all over the country. The business Dave has built behind Bombas is almost as inspiring as their social mission. With an intense focus on product innovation and quality, investing in brand story, and putting together an amazing team, Dave has created something exceptional. In Part 2 of Dave's story, he talks with Brian about what’s next for Bombas, the necessity of maintaining perspective and the struggles of adding additional channels distribution channels. You can check out Bombas online at bombas.com or on Instagram @bombas to learn more about how to make your feet happy.

Dave Heath is the co-founder and CEO of Bombas, the sock company that took the consumer market by storm. Over the past 8 years, Dave and his team have managed to scale the company to over $100 million in annual revenue. It all started with a simple mission, make a better sock that gives back. For every pair of socks purchased, Bombas donates a pair to communities in need. To date, Bombas has donated over 25 million pairs to homeless outreach programs all over the country. The business Dave has built behind Bombas is almost as inspiring as their social mission. With an intense focus on product innovation and quality, investing in brand story, and putting together an amazing team, Dave has created something exceptional. In Part I of Dave's story he talks with Brian about what inspired him to start Bombas, how he's scaled responsibly, and how attention and a willingness to learn have been key to his success. You can check out Bombas online at bombas.com or on Instagram @bombas to learn more about how to make your feet happy.

Ean Murphy is the founder of Moxie Bookkeeping, a bookkeeping agency dedicated to serving small businesses. She grounds her practice in Mike Michalowicz’s concept of Profit First. She and Brian discuss the intricacies of finances and how to implement a Profit First mentality when thinking about your business. They cover everything from thinking about your cash flow to managing your bank accounts, Ean leaves no stone unturned. If you need help with your small business finances you can reach Ean via email at ean@moxiebookkeeping.com or online at moxiebookkeeping.com. Ean also provides some great resources throughout this episode that will help you get your bookkeeping on track. Hubdoc for transcribing your financial documents into easy-to-understand data, Receipt Bank for logging and automatically digitizing receipts, and Xero for full-service online accounting.

Reza Moreno is the founder and Editor in Chief of Sustain, an online publication that looks at everything from fashion to culture through the lens of sustainability. Reza also does marketing for The Slow Factory, part e-commerce store, part R&D lab. They are changing the way product based businesses think about their production habits by limiting waste and optimizing for sustainability. Reza is incredibly tuned in to how our choices affect the world around us. She provides tangible tips on how we can better ecommerce practices both as consumers and entrepreneurs. You can learn more on Instagram @sustainthemag and @theslowfactory or online at sustainthemag.com or slowfactory.global. To better your practices check out some of the awesome resources mentioned in this episode below. Repack provides an alternative to wasteful shipping methods through reusable packaging to D2C businesses. (originalrepack.com) Terracylce is eliminating the idea of waste by partnering with businesses to collect and recycle all hard-to-recycle materials. (terracycle.com) Fabscrap takes leftover textiles and recycles them for clothing manufacturers. (fabscrap.org) Opus Mind uses upcycled high-quality leather to make bags made to last. (opusmind.com) Leaf Shave is the no-waste stainless steel razor that’s changing the way people shave. (leafshave.com) ARIELLE creates sustainably sourced and made garments in NYC. (shop-arielle.com) Knickey provides a sustainable and organic underwear solution. (knickey.com)

Ben Parr is the co-founder and President of Octane AI, an automated messenger bot service that connects directly to Shopify. He was also a co-editor at Mashable by the time he was 24 and wrote the book Capitovology about the science and psychology of attention. Ben and Brian dig into how to think about integrations in your marketing stack and the importance of capturing the attention of your customers and maintaining lasting relationships with them. You can learn more about Ben and his book Captivology at benparr.com. Check out Octane AI at octaneai.com or on Instagram @octane_ai.

Cat Bradley is the founder of SewEthico, a consulting firm dedicated to empowering women through entrepreneurship with a focus on sustainability. Cat works with primarily post-launch founders to build systems for understanding and managing their business. She gives entrepreneurs the necessary tools to build everything from a working financial model to a full-fledged marketing plan. Brian and Cat discuss the importance of systems and principles in order to provide founders with the clarity and space necessary to make the decisions that are best for their business. You can learn more about Cat and SewEthico at sewethico.com.

KJ and Amanda are the founders of Mented Cosmetics, one of the first cosmetics brands to prioritize women of color. After searching for a nude lipstick that worked for their complexion they set out to make the first nude lipstick for dark-skinned women. They watched a YouTube tutorial and started experimenting with their own formulations in Amanda’s apartment in Harlem. Shortly after they perfected their product and launched Mented’s first line of nude lipsticks in 2017, which remains their brand staple. They began fundraising and in that same year, Amanda and KJ became the 16th and 17th black women to raise a million dollars in funding. Since then they’ve raised additional capital and scaled their business into the millions. The key to their success was formulating an exceptional product that answered a pain point the majority of women of color have felt at one time or another. They bet big on organic channels and influencer partnerships. And most importantly, they always put their customers first, making them the priority after so many other beauty brands treated them like an afterthought.

On this special edition of SelfMade Stories, Brian sits down with Becky, SelfMade’s Content Marketer and the producer behind SelfMade Stories. Over the past few months, they have been working on a series of blog posts that they published on Medium titled, 9 Principles for Growing a Healthy E-commerce Business. Together they talk through their learnings and about the current e-commerce landscape. This one covers everything from coming up with your product idea to growth strategies, to how to maintain operational excellence from a financial model to self-care. Whether you are just starting out or looking to break 7-figures this episode is full of great takeaways. Check out the full article on Medium under @BSchech.

Danny Taing is the founder and CEO of Bokksu, a monthly subscription service that delivers curated boxes of Japanese snacks and teas to your door. Danny was the first guest of SelfMade Stories back in October of 2018. Almost a year later he’s back to share how he has scaled his business to 7-figures without Venture dollars and built an even better product without changing the price. In 2019 they raised $1 million, expanded to Amazon, and built an engaging Facebook group of over 1,000 customers. He’s made some key hires that were essential to his growth and has really shifted his focus to telling the story behind Bokksu to his community of fans. Check them out on Instagram @bokksu or online at bokksu.com. Keep an eye out for all of the new and exciting things Bokksu has on the way and order yourself a box before they finally raise the price.

Brittany Carbone is the founder of Tonic CBD. Tonic uses the power of CBD combined with adaptogens like ashwagandha to ease stress and anxiety and naturally elevate your mood. Brittany discovered the formulation for Tonic after years of self medicating with marijuana. She wanted something that would give her the same effect without the high, that’s when she started researching CBD. While working as a personal trainer she created the first formulations for Tonic. After seeing amazing results with both her and her clients she became intent on giving more people access to the clarity and ease CBD was giving her. She quit her job as a trainer and moved upstate with her husband to convert her family’s small plot of land into a hemp farm. After getting the proper licenses and acquiring the ideal CBD strain from the Crawford brothers they began producing and distributing Tonic. Brittany is meticulous about the quality of her product and still does all the formulations and bottling in house. Her commitment to quality and her community has allowed Tonic to grow into the robust business it is today. This episode is full of fascinating information around CBD and how it works with our bodies, the power of community for growing your business, and how to think about scaling responsibly.

Metta Murdaya is the CEO and co-founder of JUARA Skincare. Juara uses the Indonesian philosophy of Jamu by using ingredients found in traditional herbal medicine to create formulations that work for all skin types. Founded in 2005, JUARA initially followed a traditional retail model but after they successfully faring the recession, Metta realized she lacked a connection with the people buying her products. She pulled out of retail completely and went to a direct-to-consumer model so she could ensure the story behind JUARA accompanied the products. She does this through education and a direct selling strategy that allows her evangelist customers the opportunity to become JUARA Guides and share their love for their products with friends and family. Metta’s investment in her brand’s story paid off and she’s since successfully scaled her e-commerce presence. Brian and Metta discuss the power of direct selling, LTV:CAC and the role email can play in moving those numbers, and how vital it is to build community and know your customer first hand. Metta’s commitment to the community that’s supported her brand to grow and evolve over the past +10 years is something all entrepreneurs can find inspiration in.