Joshua Chin 5:54
That’s awesome, man. Dude, what was that? Uh, I didn’t ask you this when we spoke for the first time. But was that a reflection of the instructors trust in, in your abilities? Or, or was that just, they just want to get you out of the school kind of thing.
Harold Wood 6:15
I don’t think at all that was getting, I mean, a little bit, get me out of there. But not because I was like a bad student in their eyes. I was like, the best student for the program. You know what I mean, and they realize that I was above where I should be in terms of maturity, and they pull me all the time like that I shouldn’t be in the program, you know, in that I should just be out. So most people that go in there, like, unfortunately, are lived in an abusive household, and they just had an unfortunate upbringing. And it was just kind of the the car that was dealt to them, and they struggled, you know, um, thankfully, that wasn’t the case that I had. And they just seem that I was not into the traditional school system, and just wanted to do my own thing. You know what I mean, I believe that college wasn’t ever for me. And they knew that and they seen what I wanted to do. And they seen that I put effort into it, and they just kind of let me go, I guess you could say, you know,
Joshua Chin 7:11
you served ecomm. And yeah, it was the you you’re, you’ve left high school. Is that correct?
Harold Wood 7:17
so in 2017 yeah. So it’s, um, like, 2016 2017? I can’t remember exactly. But it was my my junior year. So I guess technically, it was 2016, because I was supposed to initially graduate in 2017. So yeah, I guess 2016. That’s when it all started, when I got sick, I dropped out for half a year and then started doing research is when I, when I first started, didn’t make money initially, in ecom, you know, lost money, gave up on it for a little bit. A lot of people in the space, especially if you’re just starting out, you’ll go through this, you know, trial and error period, where you try something and it doesn’t work out, I’m like, I can’t do this, it doesn’t make sense, then, you know, you wait a little bit of time, and then you know, you have to talk to somebody or you see something online, you’re like, Damn, I should have done that, like I should have stuck harder, and really, really grinded and tried. So then you go back to it. And a lot of people will go through that. And pretty much everybody you’ve talked to in the space, or at least that I have has done that like lifecycle. And then in you know, 2019 2020 is when I really kind of dedicated and stuck forward and like this is my future and I don’t want anything else except for ecom.
Joshua Chin 8:24
What What kept you coming back? That’s, that’s, most people wouldn’t. When do I presume that? If had I been in your position, and I spent a bunch of money as a high school students and lost it all, I would probably be pretty dejected and not come back to ecommerce again.
Harold Wood 8:47
Yeah, 100% pretty much I, you know, not trying to get super off topic. But to learn what I did is I worked at a roller rink, like roller ice skating, and would work there for a week, you know, make two 300 bucks and then I go on Facebook, lose it all. You know what I mean? So I did that weeks on end weeks on end weeks on end, then I gave up and I came back. And the reason why I came back is because I wanted more out of life than a nine to five. And if you want to work a nine to five, that’s completely okay. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s whatever makes you happy in life is what I think you should go do. You know what I mean? But for me, I knew I couldn’t get out of life what I what I wanted working a nine to five per se. So I knew how to do something unique different. And I wanted to be my own boss, I guess as well. And that’s what really kept me coming back. Not seeing people make, you know, two $3,000 a day or $5,000 a day and ecommerce it was just like Damn, that’s super cool as well like, like saying you have your own company. You know what I mean? It’s just something to be really proud of, especially with my upbringing and whatnot with my with my family being entrepreneurs and stuff like that. They always talk highly about you know, treating Employees correctly and how it gives them joy. And you know, being able to provide a lifestyle for another person gives them a lot of joy. And I found that as well, myself, it’s it’s very, you know, you feel good about yourself when you get to that point, and I’m sure you know the exact thing I’m talking about right now, you know, with all the employees you have it, it makes you feel good that you can take take, take care of people.
Joshua Chin 10:23
Oh, yeah, that definitely like when, when I think about it the first time we we reached 50 full time employees back in 2021, I want to say 2021. And that was a moment I was like, I told my co founder was like, dude, when we make a decision. It’s not about us anymore. It’s about, like, 50 families that we got to be responsible for. I mean, I mean that that realization was always there, but 50 was when Holy shit, that’s okay. That’s the most that’s a lot. Yeah, and now we have like, almost twice that, that number. And it’s, it always kind of evolves over time. As, as you can reach new phases, new new life, lifecycle stages of a business. And I think that Harold, you have a, you have an edge in that your grandfather and your your dad are entrepreneurs themselves? Yeah. What was that like growing up? And did you? Were you ever in expectations of taking over from your dad? Because your dad is a second generation entrepreneur? Right? Would you?
Harold Wood 11:46
Yeah. Yeah. So totally, I am the third for sure. My dad actually never wanted the lifestyle for me. Because of he knew what would happen, right? Like what you go through, you know, mentally, physically, just in general, you know what I mean? My grandfather started a company, he came down to the US from Canada, and emigrated and started a company when my dad was, you know, 10, or something like that. And it was selling heavy equipment in the heavy equipment industry. So like, bucket loaders, cranes, you know, excavators, stuff like that. And then my father ended up buying him out and taking over the company with my uncle. So they were co partners. And then when I, you know, my dad wasn’t always super around when I was a kid. But I understood, you know, what I mean, I understood that that’s what he had to do. And, you know, when I was when I grew up, I realized that the company is like, in our family, in a sense. Some people say, it’s a bad thing to look at it that way. But I think it’s a good thing, because it’s something that I carry a lot of pride in creating is, you know, that close bond with with people that you work with every single day. And yeah, I had no expectations to take over the family company. I wanted to actually very badly just because to me, it was an extension of the family. Unfortunately, my dad had some some health issues, and he ended up selling out his portion to my uncle. I’ve never had the conversation with my uncle to, to partake in the family company past that point. But I’m just very thankful to be where I am today. And have, you know, my my footwear company? And yeah, no expectations whatsoever, but very happy that my father instilled some very important lessons and business wise into my head early on.
Joshua Chin 13:43
What are what are some of the lessons that you carry with you today?
Harold Wood 13:48
Yeah, so I’d say the biggest thing is treating employees and you know, the people that you work with, with respect and taking care of them. So for example, something that I did for one of my my head customer support, virtual assistants, is, you know, a few months back when we, in October, when we really, really, really started lifting in terms of revenue. I asked her like, hey, like, I don’t know how expensive stuff is out there where you live, because she lives in Madagascar with her husband. And I was like, I don’t know how much it costs to go out to dinner. But go to the nicest restaurant that you can find you and your husband get anything you want. On the entire menu, you know, my company will take care of the entire bill, not a problem. All I require is just a photo, you know, the food and you and your husband. So I know you actually went out and did it and you’re not just asking for the money. So So you know, a couple days go by. She’s like, I got this book. I got this book. You know what I mean? Like, this is where we’re going. I’m super excited. Like it’s super fancy. And then you know, that gives me joy. And then a couple of weeks go by and she sends me photos and videos of the food and the dinner and you know the restaurant, and I asked her how did it go and she Like, Oh my God, it was the fanciest restaurant I’ve ever been in my entire life. Like, thank you so much like I couldn’t have ever imagined to go into this place. And like that kind of joy and like satisfaction just just doesn’t compare to anything else. You know what I mean? It really just doesn’t been able to take care of people, or do something nice for them. It’s just amazing.
Joshua Chin 15:18
That’s interesting. So you didn’t just give money, but you’re creating an experience that people otherwise would not? May not have. Have had. Okay, yes. That’s really cool. How much? How much did that cost? A couple 100 bucks,
Harold Wood 15:32
dude. Yeah, like, literally, it was like, $180, or something like that. And the fanciest place? Yeah, at the fanciest place. Like, example, I took my girlfriend out to dinner here in the US. And we went to a really nice place, like one of the top three rated restaurants in the state that I live in. And it was like, 450 bucks. Right? Yeah. And it’s just like, like, Yeah, it’s nice to be able to do that for her. You know what I mean? Yeah, I don’t necessarily need that. But to be able to do something, for example, for my employees, it means so much more to me. Like it really does.
Joshua Chin 16:07
Yeah. And on top of that, you you’ve built a, I think, a culture and probably a bond that you probably would not be able to have just money alone. So that,
Harold Wood 16:20
that’s, that’s how I look at it, too, is, you know, I’m doing these nice things for my employees and whatnot. But, you know, my company wouldn’t be where it is today without them. So why is it that you know, only I, you know, make, you know, taking the profits or whatever, it’s like, I can give money back to people I work with, as gratitude, like, thank you so much. I wouldn’t be here without you today. And it’s crazy to like these people. They’ve never seen this before. You know what I mean? And I don’t work with a lot of people. I work with just a handful of people every single day. But they’re like, Oh, my God, like, I’ve never had a boss that’s ever done anything like this for me. And I’m like, really? Like, I feel like this kind of is kind of common sense to like, you know, look after the people that are helped you get to where you are today. So I don’t know. It’s just really cool and unique. And I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more.
Joshua Chin 17:05
Very cool, man. Let’s, let’s talk about the let’s help your business. So you took you took your business from basically nothing. And then you had some issues of product quality? Yeah, lost it all. lost all the profits you made. Yep. And then made it back again. Yeah. Yep. So. So that’s, like, yeah.
Harold Wood 17:42
So at the time before the time to lead up to that I was playing poker, like semi professionally, I guess you could say, I wasn’t playing it like super, like hardcore, like every single day. You know what I mean, for 10 hours a day. I was playing it part time, but I was playing to five so I can make enough to cover brand living expenses. Right? Senior profit games. Yeah. Casino. Yeah. Would you play? You know?
Joshua Chin 18:06
Where do you play?
Harold Wood 18:08
Well, I used to play in, in New Hampshire, but I’ve since moved, and I don’t play poker anymore. But I was in a toxic relationship. We ended up splitting up, I moved back home. And it was like, you know, she she said that? You know, you couldn’t ever do XYZ. So I was like, fuck you, I’m gonna go do it, I’ll prove you wrong, you know, and so I was working 1618 36 hours straight, nonstop. And then, you know, after moving home and not having restriction on when I could work, you know, like, because I was being restricted. And you know what I mean, I cared a lot about the person, nothing again, sir. It is what it is times in the past. But once you aren’t being restricted on when you can actually work is when you can really get stuff achieved. And when I started putting in all those hours, and hours and hours and hours, man, you could see the growth really fast. So I first came back. And at the time, it was just fully dropship like, an elevated drop shipping model. And I trusted the supplier and that I was working with overseas in China. And running all my own ads and my own customer support everything, to having almost every order had a product quality issue. It was like, man, it was like 70 to 80% chargebacks returns, I lost for I lost everything like literally, I lost everything. I lost all the profits. I went like, you know, and the whole, like, my bank account was negative, got pretty depressed, you know, it took a year off. You know what I mean? And it’s sad to say but this is the reality of ecom is that stuff like this will happen? And it’s okay that it happens just realize this The learning experience, don’t take it personal. Don’t beat yourself up over it too, too much like, this is very, very common for this situation to happen, which is unfortunate, but came back a year later. And it was like, Man, I should just stuck with it afterwards, like, fuck, you know what I mean? Like, I could have been so far ahead today, if I just kept with it, even though that kind of stuff happened. And then since then been kind of all at it. For you know, the past past year and a half now, I guess you could say approximately, and I changed my business model from me doing everything myself. Last year, and I guess, may slash June of 2022, I changed my, the way I think about it, instead of me doing it all myself, I’m going to hire the right people, you know, and outsource and take people on. So at the time, you know, just me doing it myself, it never really got back to the point where it was where I was, like, yeah, like, it’s a little bit of money, but it’s nothing that’s gonna be life changing, like everyone in this industry wants life changing amount of money. The reality is, it takes time to get there. Anyone that tells you, you know, you can go and make, you know, 30k in your first month or 40k in your first month, it’s not, for the most part not gonna happen. And it’s, you’ll what will end up happening is you have the expectation, you don’t hit it, and you’re unhappy about it. So don’t I would recommend don’t ever have that expectation for like, right off the bat. It does happen, you know what I mean? But it all depends on, on your work ethic. And sometimes if you get lucky, you know, a lot of times the first store is all about if you get lucky, especially if you don’t have any experience, you know, I mean, but anyways, so May, June, may such June of 2022, we changed, I changed the way I look at it, I started hiring people outsourcing stuff. You know, in July, I hired a advertising agency., I think I think we ended at and then when you start doing those more and more revenues, you’re like, oh, man, I gotta, you know, I can start optimizing, you know what I mean? And optimizing, doesn’t mean I’m gonna go spend more money on adspend, per se, obviously, we spend more money on adspend to increase our volume that drastically, but it was like, Oh, I’ve been doing my emails, you know, customer support myself, I’m gonna go outsource that hire train of VA, you know, I mean, pay someone, you know, good money. And then I won’t have to worry about it. And then I’ll have my hands free and be able to do something else with it. And then oh, I’m doing enough revenue now where, you know, I can go hire an email agency, and you hire an email agency, and then they pick up an extra, you know, 15 20% in revenue, and then you start really realizing the potential that is in front of you. It’s quite crazy how fast it can pick up from that point.
Joshua Chin 23:14
What are some of the lessons that you’ve learned along the way that you wish you knew, in the past one, one and a half years? So it’s not a long, long, long time. That’s pretty quick for like, by any measure?
Harold Wood 23:40
Yeah, definitely is. And you know, if I were to look back a year or year and a half ago, and say, I’d be where I am today, I’d kind of laugh, you know what I mean? You always think and want, but the reality is very thankful. But the biggest lessons is, one, don’t beat yourself up too much when you fail, because failure is going to happen. You know, I mean, unless you’re super lucky, or you just have a lot of skill, which in the case, if you have a lot of skill, you know what I mean? You’re already beyond where I am, you know, you know, like, I have skill. I’m not a god in any sort of metric. And you know what I mean, I’m not I got advertising, I’m not amazing. Email marketing, I’m not amazing, XYZ. But the big thing that really separated me from where I was a few years back was realizing that I can’t do everything myself, you know, you really have to start going to the people, you know, like Josh, who has a great email agency. And going like, hey, like, I need some help with this. I know I’m gonna end up paying you some money, but the return on it is way greater, you know, And for people that don’t have that already set up, for example, like clay vo or whatever, like, man, you gotta get on it. Like, really, it’s a lot without clay VO, like I wouldn’t be negative, I wouldn’t be profitable. That’s how important it is. So, yeah, really outsourcing.
Joshua Chin 25:11
know, when you think about the business model, so you started out as when you call it an enhanced drop shipping type model. Now you’re developing new products. Yeah. Effectively, kind of like a private label type setup. But what what does it look like, one year, two years from now, because I know that you have some intentions and building a brand in certain direction.
Harold Wood 25:39
Yeah, so my source started off is drop shipping, which a lot of first timers are for success histories are is drop shipping in the ecommerce space, you know, Shopify, and whatnot. Now, I’ve, I’ve got enough, been around the block enough, I guess you could say that I understand the direction that I have to take my company. And you know, for the past three, four months, what we’ve been doing, since we found the initial successes, we’re no longer drop shipping, what we do is, you know, we fully customize our products currently, and label it like private label, I guess you could say, and hold the inventory overseas in China, and then shipped direct from from China. So it’s kind of like a cross between having a brand with us inventory, but having the inventory in China itself, because it’s a less financial barrier to entry. Because you’re not doing you know, a 3040 day lead time with sea free and manufacturing and whatnot is just a 10 day lead time with manufacturer till the product is your warehouse. So it’s a lot easier to do that. But the future for 2023 and 2024, and whatnot, years to come, is right now I’m hiring shoe designers. And instead of just, you know, finding products online, or you know, shoes online, we’re going to start creating our own designs. And then we’re going to create those designs, make 3d mock ups and send out templates to our current email, like email list to all of our customers, so you know, 50 60,000 people, we’re going to email them and be like, hey, what designs would you like to see the most in our store offered for you guys to purchase, then after we get that poll, we’re gonna, I’m gonna go take those shoes, and bring them manufacturers get patents on them, you know, and then we’re getting to the point where, you know, you can’t just go to say, Aliexpress Alibaba, you can’t find that kind of stuff on there, because it’s mine, you know, in my companies. So we’ll really start building the full brand, like full round spectrum, this year, where every single thing on our website is fully mine, and the company’s itself. And that’s really the future is creating a brand. It’s, that’s awesome,
Joshua Chin 27:47
because a lot of people talk about our Elena turn my dropshipping store into into a brand, but no one really comes up with a plan on how they execute on that. Now, I have a couple of questions here. How much does a shoe designer cost? Are you hiring the person full time or? Yeah, like a console? thing?
Harold Wood 28:08
I don’t know if I’m overpaying him or not. But he has the connections that I need. So the value that he’s providing is worth it. But I’m paying my guy $60 an hour. So it’s very expensive. In terms of yeah, in terms of what the you would normally go by, you know what I mean? Like VAs or whatever, like you can hire a very good VA from the Philippines for like, $4 an hour or something. Right?
Joshua Chin 28:32
Well, so you’re not hiring a VA anymore, right? This is Yeah, exactly. Skilled, kind of a person. And I think you’d be paying a lot more than 60 bucks an hour. Really? Yeah. I really, I thought you’d be paying a lot more than 60 bucks an hour. Maybe Maybe that’s the deal of the century. Maybe man, I guess it comes down to ROI, right. Depends on? Yeah, how much you get out of this relationship? And how much? Yeah, sounds like you’re gonna, you’re gonna make a lot out of this. So yeah. That’s how do you find the person was a referral
Harold Wood 29:10
Upwork man Upwork I posted a Upwork job scope through, you know, 70 applicants. And I actually had my first shoe designed by him back in October, when I was looking at doing it then for, you know, a December release. So I’ve worked with him in the past, and I had a meeting with him, you know, three weeks back saying, Hey, this is what I want to do down the pipeline, just want to give you a heads up, you know, in a couple of weeks, you know, maybe a month this is what I want to do. Do you have time for this? Or make time for this? You know, yeah, and he said that he loved working with me, and that he’d love to do you know, work on this project with me and whatnot. So yeah, Upwork is a really good spot. And it’s funny too, in the beginning, you look kind of for the cheapest option you can get right so if you’re not making a lot of money, you kind of go with the bottom of the barrel spectrum you like yeah, not the best but like to do it. yeah now, right and now, my company’s at the point where we want to hire someone who’s more expensive because you look at it not as an immediate expense or an immediate return, but you look at it as a long term game. So over, you know, the next year or two years, what’s the ROI type deal on, you know, a shoe that, that he designs for us, and whatnot, you know, so it’s very easy that, you know, we could work together for a couple weeks, and he makes a new design every two weeks.. So from an ROI point of view, it makes perfect sense to pay someone more for the higher quality work.
Joshua Chin 30:48
And what kind of experience does this person have or the shoe designer for?
Harold Wood 30:53
Yeah, they he’s been a shoe designer. Now for 15 years, he’s worked for Nike, Adidas, like just big, big companies. As part time freelancer. For the past few years, he’s been a part time freelancer, but he has worked full time at these companies before in higher positions. That’s awesome. Yeah, that’s all and that’s one reason why I’m very excited to work with them. For this, you know, future, you know, what I want to create is because he’s worked with those people, he knows all the big shoe manufacturers, like he has direct contact with them in, you know, Vietnam or in China, right. So I don’t have to go out and find the shoe manufacturers. He already knows who it is. So I’m paying him for the shoe designs, and I’m paying for the network access.
Joshua Chin 31:36
I mean, 60 bucks is super cheap for what you’re getting out of some of it. Yeah. That a little experience. That’s very cool, man. Yeah, cool. But obviously, you’ve done your homework, vetting through many different probes. I’ve been there man, setting true profiles, ain’t fun. That’s, that’s, that’s tough. It’s, it is hard, it’s very tough. Yeah, you get a lot of fun with Upwork, I think they do a good job of filtering and with qualifying the right people and getting the right people with experience on there. And the reviews help a lot. But at the end of the day, it’s really a matter of fit, right? It’s just like hiring an employee or finding a partner, it’s just going through the motions of testing someone out. Obviously, you’ve done that. So it’s testing, testing someone out on the ground, looking at actual product, actual outcome. And then making a final decision. That’s something I wish I’ve done much earlier on. So it’s taught me here to the curfew,
Harold Wood 32:38
it’s tough. And to continue on that topic, like, you know, anyone watching this or might watch it or might not, you know, I mean, just anyone across the spectrum has either had this situation where they’ve hired the wrong person because of bad vetting, experience or knowledge, or probably will hire the wrong person, you know, so really doing your due diligence on everybody is a very tricky thing to do. Sometimes you’ll get it right, hopefully all the time. But there will probably be times where you get it wrong. And I’ve certainly made that error. And I’m sure you probably have to Josh, so very common.
Joshua Chin 33:10
Lots, lots, lots, lots. Man, we are, we are we’re really lucky to be in a position where you’re hiring a lot of people every every month, so we have a full time Talent Acquisition team, that that’s true this a lot of profiles, both inbound applications, as well as us going out sourcing for passive candidates, people who are not actively looking for jobs. And so it’s a whole ordeal, man, it’s it’s process of screening, calling them up making sure that they understand what the job is all about. And putting them through an initial interview. And then the paid tests, sometimes a non paid test. Yeah. And, and then a couple more rounds of interviews. And finally, it comes back to me and we make a decision together. And yeah, it’s a lot, but it’s, um, it’s both an art and a science. I’d say. There’s Yeah, the science piece, you know, you have scorecards that you can kind of rate people on and make a kind of apples to apples comparison on the candidates. But there’s also the core values piece on whether they get your business or not. And it comes down to kind of our list of core values and we have six of them, that we screen every candidate through on whether they internalize and understand what they mean. And whether they display qualities that would reflect a similar set of values. So it’s, it’s hard, it’s tough, man. Yeah.
Harold Wood 34:50
What do you think is like the things you primarily look out for when you’re like going through, you know, new applicants or whatnot, because I’ve I’ve found that it kind of varies Depending on what industry you’re in,
Joshua Chin 35:02
it does does with with agencies, it’s the number one thing that we try to screen for is ownership. And at least that’s what I that’s what I try to look out for which it’s really hard. So you try to look for evidence of, of candidates stepping up to, to, to functions, roles or responsibilities that they otherwise would not be needed in. Yep. And also instances where they’ve taken they’ve taken ownership and mistakes and setbacks and failures. And who do they blame? You know, that’s, that’s often a good telltale sign. Like, if you could go back and write this wrong. What will you do?
Harold Wood 35:54
That’s a good way to look at it as a third? Like third perspective? Yeah,
Joshua Chin 35:58
exactly. And I like asking the question of who’s at fault, or some variation of who’s at fault? What do you think went wrong here? Or what do you think could have? Who do you think could have done a better job, and if they say someone else, or if they just focus the majority of their answer on what someone else could have done better or differently, it’s typically not a good sign, because we want people who are able to take it back to themselves, and what they can control, and taking ownership and responsibility for those functions, those things, those aspects of the role and the job, which are things that they can control, right. And if they’re able to do that, by extension, they’re going to thrive in a environment like ours remote, we are very diverse in cultures and backgrounds. And so it’s it’s a very conflict heavy type environment, not that we outright look for conflict as well. But yeah, it just happens. It’s the nature of a role, both with internal teams with clients. And also part of our culture is that we maintain a radically transparent and honest environment where we say things as they are. And we, we speak to Inconvenient Truth, if even if it hurts, and sometimes it does, right. So it’s really difficult to, to cultivate and nurture people who are comfortable in an environment like this. So we got to find people who are ready for an environment that’s maybe a little bit unusual. So that’s what we look for.
Harold Wood 37:45
Man, that’s a pretty good answer. I’m glad you didn’t ask me that. My answer would have been two short sentences.
Joshua Chin 37:52
Five years, man, it’s been five years of trial and error. And in the agency in the agency game, it’s, it’s about people, it’s, there are no products, so we can optimize, there’s not a lot of conversion rate optimization, that’s that’s going on. It’s all people. So that’s all we spend our time on.
Harold Wood 38:11
Yeah, that’s sick. I mean, man, my team is nowhere near the size of yours. But it’s something for to be like my size to where it’s, you know, very small, like just a handful of people working together. And something really cool to look up towards like, man, maybe I can get to that point one day, and realize that it’s doable to it. 100%
Joshua Chin 38:31
is and you will, man, but the thing is, you got to really think about what the what the end outcome is, is it a matter of scaling? Like the number of people that you have on your team or scaling the people within your team? Yep. Which are two different things, right? If you are able to get a VA to think beyond being a VA and being an executive, and make executive level decisions, and move that person up, not just the skill set letter, but a social economic letter as a result. Yeah, that’s, that’s a very cool experience. And you’ve had a taste of that as well. So yeah, that’s really cool. That’s really different is now parallel. What are some personal habits that they have formed over the past? One and a half years and your entire entrepreneurship experience that have served you well?
Harold Wood 39:33
Yeah, definitely friends, ecommerce, and I’m sure you know, when you were starting out, it’s very difficult. Mentally the most, I haven’t done a lot of jobs, but most difficult mental position you can put yourself in and very broad sane mentally, you know, I mean, yeah, but you can expect everything underneath the rainbow. With ecommerce and trying to go into business and whatnot, and I was very fortunate to have a buddy, who actually got into ecommerce, and I met him on a on a game years back. I think it’s been over half a decade now. And, you know, he’s 20, I’m 24. And we both kind of grew up with each other in this space, you know, trying to figure out how to achieve more how to do more and whatnot. So when we’ve had bad days, you know, we’re, you know, you lose a lot of money, you know, you get negative about it, and whatnot. And then you talk to your friend about it. And he’s like, hey, well, you know, it’s not the end of the world XYZ, and he lifts you up or whatever, just someone that you can really talk to, that understands what you’re going through? Or are they have already been through it? You know what I mean? Or are also going through it at the same time as you? It’s so helpful. It’s so so helpful. Like, I couldn’t have done it without my buddy, for sure. Like, so mentally taxing. For sure.
Joshua Chin 41:02
I totally agree, man. Do finding a tribe that you can rely on that you can share experiences and learn from and act as a sounding board.
Harold Wood 41:13
Yeah, dude, I went out to this meetup, like an invite only meet up a mountain Arizona last week. And it was my first time being around a lot of people that are like minded and actually understood me, it was the coolest thing I’ve experienced, probably in my entire life. Like, no joke, the most amazing weekend I’ve ever had. You just meet so many cool, cool people. And, you know, the first night it was an event held by Noah Brewer named drop, I don’t know if that’s allowed or not, but he’s a really good guy, you know, and he really cares about his community and whatnot. And, man, the first night, there was like, 2030 people there at the Airbnb, and he rented out this huge Airbnb for everybody. And you start meeting people, meeting people meeting people networking, and it’s just so fascinating. All the people that were there, were all business minded, all like me, you know, I mean, one, you know, eager to make money or have, you know, successfully made money, you know, there was a threshold to get invited to this event. So, everyone there has been vetted, you know, that they achieved an X amount of revenue, you know, what I mean? Or their industry standard or whatnot, you know, so you have people like myself who have ecommerce based company, then you have people you know, that are in the exotic car industry, and they have you know, 15 Lamborghinis that go that go and they get rented every single day, you know what I mean? You know, or you have people that are into Airbnb ease, or, you know, real estate rentals, like, like, strip malls and stuff like that. Just super cool, super, super cool spot to be in. And you meet the people you meet there at these kind of events. Man, they’re so intelligent and to be able to call those guys to if you network properly, you will be on good standings with these people like today, I just called one of them. His name is Rahul. He does exotic car rentals and Airbnb, ease and ecommerce. And I called him up and I was like, Yo, dude, like, I’m thinking about going out on a ski trip. You know, a couple other guys from Arizona trip. Do you want to come? And he’s like, oh, yeah, man, for sure. And I’m like, wow, sweet dude. Like, let’s get it you know, so you start making friends that are understand you and like, some of the people I met there, you know, as long as we keep talking, like I could see being my friends for life. Like, they’re just really good, honest people. So I’m very thankful.
Joshua Chin 43:45
But yeah, awesome. What’s your advice for people just starting out and looking for a tribe to be a part of, because that’s one of the things that I I really kind of regret not doing early on, was when I was selling products on eBay. That was that was how I got my start on ecommerce selling stuff on eBay. And I just couldn’t scale the business I didn’t know anyone else was who’s making a big on eBay. And my mindset, at a point in time was like, Ah, it’s probably not scalable. It’s not going to work out. Well. Yeah. But here’s the interesting thing, like even today, even like right now, as we’re recording this, I know of people in like different parts of the world, including Vietnam, making it like, big really, really big on eBay, generating like over a million dollars a month and yeah, in revenue. So it’s very, very much doable. It’s a matter of knowing the right people knowing a tribe they can trust and expanding your network that way. What’s your advice?
Harold Wood 44:53
Yeah, my advice depends on where you are in life. It might not be the Best advice, but this is the advice I would give. If I were myself looking back, if I could one afford traveling to an event, you know what I mean? That you would normally have to pay like a ticket for say, like a tickets like 500 bucks or something, and you spend $1,500, you know, traveling there living expenses for, you know, a weekend, you, like, look, after experiencing this one event, like, if I were looking back, I would probably do one of those events just to network with people, because all the people that are there are people that think like you, you know what I mean? Or are trying to be what you want to be, you know what I mean? So that is a very good option. If financially, it’s not, you know, optional. You know, even discord communities are really good, or I’ve never worked or been in like a Facebook group. But I know a lot of people that started off in Facebook groups, too, you know what I mean? But I would say discord groups for a free barrier of entry to network is a very good spot to start. And hopefully people know what Discord is. And if they don’t, it’s essentially, you know, this platform app that you can download on your computer. And you can get invited to all these communities that are about e commerce or you know, Shopify, drop shipping, you know, car rentals, whatever, they have communities for everything. And there’s a lot of people in there that have made, you know, money in the space that are willing to give out advice to people that are trying to start, you know, for me, I get a lot of pleasure out of trying to, you know, give some sauce or some knowledge to people. So I’m actually active in a few bit of the discord communities, and I help people out that, you know, don’t necessarily have the knowledge that I have, or might have a question or two, as long as you try to educate yourself on what you’re asking, before asking it, meaning, don’t come to me and ask me something where if you went and watched, you know, 50 hours of YouTube videos, you’d figure out, right? Come ask me something that is actually a tough question that, you know, is something you’d struggle with, without, you know, asking someone, you know what I mean? So it’s a good point. Yeah. Yeah. Like, if someone asked me, you know, how do I run Facebook ads? You know what I mean? I just look at it. And it’s like, Dude, you could have typed that into YouTube. And you could have watched, you know, hours upon hours, upon hours, upon hours, upon hours of referrals. And, right, but if he asked me, yo, what’s the best way to target? You know, what I mean, this specific niche within Facebook, then that’s a more, you know, tough question to answer, because it’s more complicated than just go watch a YouTube video, you know, I mean, so I’m more likely to help out, you know, that situation than just, Oh, help me, I don’t know, what I’m doing is like, dude, go put some time into your own, you know, progression in life and go spend a few 100 hours because that’s what I did, like, you know, in 2020 2019. That’s what I did before really popping off with my shoe company for the first time. I spent hundreds of hours watching YouTube tutorials and you know, scouring Google and whatnot. And the best part is, it’s all free. Yeah, best part. It’s all free if you do that. And then also do the networking inside Google or not inside Google inside, like Facebook groups and discord and stuff like that, dude. So so much knowledge to be spread around. And people like me, who have the knowledge, see someone eager. We want to help you out. You know what I mean? Because we never had that. Like, it just wasn’t a thing. So sure. Yeah, Discord, Facebook events,
Joshua Chin 48:34
one of the things that people underestimate is the power of a question. And how, how? How easy it is to find solutions and find answers as long as you’ve put in the right amount of effort into it. Alright, a lot of people come up to me on Instagram, but I go follow me on Instagram at Josh chin with two ends at em. Shout out there. And I get a ton of questions. And I don’t have a big following on Instagram. But yeah, it’s a common common theme that people just text me on Facebook and Instagram. And they go like, how do I get started? How do I get started on ecommerce? How do I get started running an agency? How do I get started? Like that’s a great question for YouTube. And now be TikTok Exactly. Like you know, a the if you have ADHD can sit through an entire hours worth of content, TikTok, great, great start. And you can dive deeper as you as you choose. Yeah. That it’s such a such an easy question to be answered on just a simple Google search that when you bring a question like that to someone who’s in the industry of someone who’s been there, done that, it’s just a waste of time. Not Yeah, it’s not it’s just a waste of time and we you probably not, you’re probably not going to get the best answers anyways. Yeah, quality of your quest of your questions determine the quality of your answers, the better refined your questions are, the better refined your answers are going to be, and the more useful you’re going to be for your life. So, yeah, that’s a great point. profit, still profitable, profitable. Happy Days, right?
Harold Wood 50:34
Very graceful, very thankful.
Joshua Chin 50:37
What would your what would your top line be in a year’s time, say, January of 20, December 2023.
Harold Wood 50:45
I mean, for me, my current bottom line is kind of below the industry standard, I guess you could say, or maybe it’s right about the industry standard. And if I can get to that point, I’ll be very, very happy. You know, you start getting days where you know, your ads deliver worse on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, you know, Google, and then you start getting days where you’re actually negative, you know what I mean? And that’s why I’m trying to do so much right now for the company. And, you know, hire, you know, more people, like I just hired a few weeks back, I hired a manager for my VA team on hiring a footwear designer, whatnot, you know, what I mean, and I’m working at changing my fulfillment from China, you know, currently shipping from China to us fulfillment, right to improve customer experience. And that’s a whole logistic clusterfuck. But like, I’m trying to change my business model. From here to like, way up here, you know, what I mean, really improving the customer experience will make them repeat purchasers, you know, what I mean? And a lot of thing in this space, too, is having a good LTV lifetime value of all your customers. And that means you want to have repeat purchasers, you know, returning customers, so making sure they have a good experience and whatnot is really important, and is what we’re really trying to try to change for this year. Not saying it’s been bad in the past years, but improving it, you know?
Joshua Chin 52:32
Yeah. Makes sense. Harold, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and your experience on our show. It’s been a pleasure Thank you, and for people listening, go check out our show notes at chronos.agency/podcast all links will be in the page and go check out the latest episodes as well. Thank you so much for joining us, and I’ll catch you in the next one.
Outro 54:02
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