When Can I Start Paying Myself? 💸

Well last weekend was one for the bucket list. I can officially say I survived rafting over a 10 foot waterfall with some of my best friends. I had the sickest bachelor party out on the Tuolumne River out in Yosemite Valley. We had the absolute time of our lives and shout out to OARS for hosting such an A+ experience.

As I was twenty miles deep in the woods without a drop of cell service it really got me to think about how much shit I've been through in the world of entrepreneurship and ecommerce. So many ups and downs. So many mistakes, but also so many wins.

This year the newsletter will grow to reach over 10,000 subscribers. That's 10,000 people dealing with the same shit and learning lessons that you and I are going through. That's such an incredible feeling and amazing to see the community we're building together. I've never asked for a dollar for this newsletter, so if you could do me a favor and share this with one or two friends this week and have them subscribe here I would be forever grateful.

I told you last week that this weeks send will be focused around answering my favorite questions I received last week.

When Can I Start Paying Myself?

This is one of the hardest questions to answer and I can only answer from the perspective of that I started CROSSNET when my back was completely against the wall. We legit emptied our life savings to start the company and legit had about 6 months of money in our accounts until we were going to be homeless.

I legit went Upwork job to Upwork job as a "consultant" or a "Shopify Developer" just to rack up $250 so I could make sure I could pull my share of the rent.

This went on for 18 months until we were able to pay each other $2000 each. It's much easier when you're a solo founder, but for us we had three cooks in the kitchen.

Before you pull out cash to take that first payday here are the questions you need to have answered:

• Do I have enough inventory to last me until my next shipment arrives?

• Is my next shipment of inventory already paid off?

• Are you okay with your current credit card debt situation?

• What is the absolute minimum that I could take out of the business right now and not feel the effects?

• If I didn't take out this first paycheck, where would I be putting that money?

• Does the business have a rainy day fund yet?

If you're happy with all of the answers to the questions above, I suggest pulling out a small amount from the business. Lets even call it $500. It's a start. If this works and the business doesn't collapse, take a little bit more in the next 30 days.

What's Your Biggest Company Regret?

At one point right in the beginning of the pandemic CROSSNET was KILLING IT. We were doing $100,000 days on Shopify with like $10,000 of ad spend. It was glorious. We had at one point 1.5M sitting in our bank account with basically no debt.

I didn't listen to the Chris who just answered when is the right time to pay yourself.

We should have each cut ourself a dividend for $50-75k...instead the money went to extra inventory that just collected dust for months. Still think about that.

When Should I Start With Retail?

Getting into retail has never been a larger conversation. Six months ago it was all "fuck retail" I want to own the consumer data and build our LTV...well what happens to that when the customers stop coming to your site and you can't profitably scale up your business with the Facebook Ad tricks that worked in 2020?

As somebody who is now selling into 30+ different stores and has their game in over 3000 doors, I can tell you one thing and it's do not rush.

Although the immediate future may seem grim, you need to think about building your company on atleast a five or ten year horizon if you're entering retail. We made the mistake of adding Dicks, Academy, and Scheels (nearly 1000+ stores) in a two month period and we almost destroyed the entire business. We couldn't stay in stock. We didn't know how to ship retail orders. We got hit with $250k of chargebacks for shipping things the wrong way. We couldn't drive demand in the store and didn't know what levers to pull.

If I could do it all over again, I'd find one strategic account and build with them. In my eyes somebody like a Scheels is perfect. They have nearly 40 locations and want to see start up companies succeed. Work with them to figure out how to drive foot traffic into their doors. What promotions work? What ones do not? How does your digital presence effect customers walking into the store and buying?

We learned the hard way and started WAY TOO SOON with Walmart. We though just by being in the store we'd sell units. Crickets man. They placed us next to a $5 frisbee and nobody knew what our $150 crazy volleyball game was. They gave us the boot to Sam's Club thank god.

You only get one chance at retail. Go slow, don't burn too many bridges at once. Prove out that the retail relationship can work and take your winnings to your next big account.

How Do I Grow My Personal Brand?

The second you stop caring about what others think about your posts is when you'll start to see the success come through. Post from the heart. Don't overthink it. Most importantly be consistent.

You CAN NOT post for two weeks straight and then take a month off. The algorithms don't work like that. They reward consistency. Every post is not going to be a home run.

It's just like Facebook ads. The posts that you spend hours drafting up will flop and the ones that you randomly think of while on the toilet will break your newsfeed.

Be consistent. Be timely. Be honest. Just like the subscribers to this newsletter, there are thousands of people going through the exact thing you are right now. They just may be too nervous to post. Be their voice until they find their own.

What Social Media Platform Should I Start With?

You can't crush every platform. There's simply not enough time in the day plus your full time job. Pick the ones that you enjoy spending time on.

For me that's LinkedIn & Twitter.

LinkedIn - Provides me with access to retail buyers, press, and long form educational content. I make sure to post atleast twice a day on here and build up a note pad of good stories, lessons, and announcements that I can share.

Twitter - A great place to make friends and meet like minded people who are grinding to create a better future. From a business perspective I get much more from LinkedIn, but Twitter is a great place to make this whole entrepreneurship grind not feel so lonely.

What Agencies Should I Work With?

I've been through so many shitty ones. If you need access to the best Amazon, Facebook, or Email agencies please email me back and I'll make a personal introduction.

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This is going to be a fun and busy weekend. We launch Good Sport, our new brand and the future of backyard games next Wednesday, September 7th. You can get early access and find out when we go live if you sign up at playgoodsport.com.

I'll be grinding all weekend so if you have any questions that I didn't answer today. Anything that got you down. Drop me a note!

Enjoy the weekend,

Chris