Starting & Scaling Your eCommerce Business | Ep. 2 with Brock Mammoser
By Adrianna Lugo |
Published on Dec 07, 2022
| 3 min read
Straight Up Visionary Webinar Series | Episode 2 with Brock Mammoser
Starting & Scaling Your eCommerce Business
Being a new business owner is daunting and expensive, with cost per clicks rising and competition increasing, it feels impossible to launch a net new brand on Amazon.
In the second episode of Straight Up Visionary, Daniel dives into a case study of a successful eCommerce brand launch.
Brock Mammoser leaned into the entrepreneurial risk during the pandemic, launching his brand FrostBuddy in March 2020. Here’s how he killed his first year in business:
🧠 Adopting a growth mindset from day one
Trial and error is encouraged, and failure is not a thing. This growth mindset helped self-teach skills such as video editing, Shopify, and Amazon advertising. “We never try and fail – it’s always trial and learning.”
📈 Hiring to scale
Brock’s combination of outsourcing and hiring internal talent has helped him scale very quickly. Daniel and Brock chat about the key traits they look for in team members, for both brands and agencies.
💡 Staying Authentic to His Values
Brock outlines how his upbringing in a big family-focused environment has shaped his leadership and entrepreneurial values.
Both Brock and Daniel launched their businesses in 2020 with a heavy focus on creating authentic content from day one. Listen to the two digital marketing experts give their advice to new Amazon Sellers and brand owners.
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After beginning his early Amazon career at the leading digital marketing and eCommerce agencies, Daniel Tejada co-founded Straight Up Growth in 2020. Throughout his eCommerce career, he's sold over $1B on Amazon. Straight Up Growth (SUG) is a leading Amazon Advertising Agency selling $350M+/year for their clients. The Straight Up Visionary Podcast dives deep into the career and story of leading Amazon and eCommerce advertisers, as well as entrepreneurs and Amazon Sellers.
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Brock Mammoser is an eCommerce entrepreneur and digital marketer. After diving into entrepreneurship opportunities in college, he and his brother had the idea for a universal can cooler. Frost Buddy was launched in March of 2020 and in their first year of business were able to sell nearly 1M units, while launching in Bucees and Dick’s Sporting Goods. Brock attributes much of Frost Buddy’s success to their social media marketing. The brand has become a Tiktok viral favorite, amassing over 350,000 followers and 9.3M likes.
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Reach out to Straight Up Growth for a FREE audit here:
https://straightupgrowth.com/contact-us
Check Out Frost Buddy Tiktok!
https://www.tiktok.com/@frostbuddy
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Transcript:
what's up guys this is Danny tajada here from straight up growth I'm here with my man Brock uh super excited to have him0:06
here on the podcast today Brock want to introduce yourself uh yeah no I appreciate you having me on0:12
I'm brappa Moser the co-founder and CEO of frost buddy um you know for anyone that doesn't know0:18
it's the world's first Universal can cooler so it fits basically every different Canon bottle that you could0:23
imagine in one and it'll keep it cold so that you can enjoy your drink more yeah and it's a super Super Rad product it's0:31
an awesome story um Brock and I actually started our businesses around the same time0:36
um here so definitely know what it's like you know being young and and growing quickly and all the pains that0:42
come with that um so Brock why don't you tell us kind of you know where you started right0:48
before we we got to frost buddy what what what were you doing yeah no of course um so you know I'm from a very0:55
tiny town in Southern Illinois um you know big family big church kind1:01
of guy and um you know went to college at Indiana University in Bloomington Indiana and ran track there I pull1:07
vaulted for for five years there and so you know that was really my sports my1:13
whole life was like everything right like it was not business it wasn't anything but just like all sports all1:18
day every day right I have four three older brothers yeah so like yeah so so1:24
that was like priority for sure just you know very competitive with our family and1:29
um so so yeah I was at IU I was in the business school studying finance and real estate uh I initially wanted to be1:36
a real estate investor uh so you know I have deterred from that path a little1:42
bit but uh but yeah and then you know long story short my junior year1:47
you know my brother Mitch and I were just you know we were sitting around on my Christmas break chatting like oh man1:53
like what can we do like I had done some entrepreneurial stuff but nothing had ever really panned out or like really2:00
blown up so you know he kind of brought up the idea that like white cloths were becoming a thing like oh man all these2:06
slim is there like a insulated Koozie for those and like is there a Yeti slim and I was like I've never I've not seen2:13
one ever so naturally what do we do we go to Amazon we're like is is there something there and there was a brand2:19
one brand literally just one they had 10 000 reviews and then there was nothing else and we're like oh my God like2:26
there's probably some potential here when you saw that exactly right so like2:33
this is you know this is 2019 the end of 2019 so yeah back when2:38
you know it's just still Facebook ads Amazon like everything was just straight D to C going really hard and so went you2:46
know to Alibaba and got some samples and I knew how to do all that stuff from prior Ventures that's why I say I didn't2:53
necessarily fail at those I learned and you know so got samples and that was just kind of like the origin of a frost3:01
buddy and it started off as a hobby of like hey man like you know I wanted to3:06
learn Shopify I wanted to learn Facebook ads because I'd see you know like everyone I'd seen people making a lot of3:12
money and I was like man this seems like something that I would like to do you know I like to be creative with3:17
marketing and so so yeah it started you know bootstrapped really really small 23:24
000 units we ordered the first time and we were terrified had no idea what we're doing and then you know fast forward two3:32
and a half years all of a sudden it it's something that I could have never ever imagined it would be for sure you know I3:39
was like just focused on full vaulting honestly that's such a wild wild story3:46
um to see and I like there's a lot to unpack you know I think one thing that's really interesting that you mentioned is3:51
you you said you never tried and failed right you tried and you learned um there and I think that's such a huge3:57
huge piece um I know when I first you know graduated college and all that jazz4:03
there uh my whole goal was to try to learn right that's what I was telling everyone like I I saw digital marketing4:09
as a thing like I was an advertising major and I went to Pepperdine and all of a sudden makeup door-to-door uh you4:16
know uh here in San Diego heck yeah right um and so like even that job like my job4:23
was to get 300 a day right and I actually learned a lot from that experience like for me I like I'm really4:30
good at sales and it's because I really don't care right like if you're interested or not right the buyer is going to buy because they're interested4:36
in what I'm offering now because I'm begging them or forcing them to do stuff right and it's something you learn from that that little piece um4:43
how did you get in that mentality right like there because I know that's a tricky place to start and most people4:49
especially when you're kind of younger like you don't want to fail right or you don't expect to fail you know there um4:55
so tell me about that yeah no that's such an important piece too I'm glad you asked actually because I think a lot of5:00
people don't talk about it and that's like the number one thing for a lot of people like not getting into it like I5:06
think we take for granted now that we know a lot of Founders and C is like oh you've become like that right but but5:12
you don't start like that um for me I will say I was fortunate I'm the youngest of four four boys and so5:18
like I always say that being the youngest is a very big privilege because like I have a safety net no matter what5:24
like my whole life if I effed up if I screwed up I had like support I have a5:29
great support system I had a family I had brothers that would like come to my rescue so like I I was always the risk5:35
taker for sure and you know for me like it was just always kind of in me right like even my5:41
my friends will always say like you know one of the best things about me is that like I literally will jump in and I5:49
don't care if I fail like they're like I don't know how you do it but you just like would will go in and say hey if it5:55
doesn't work it doesn't work but at least now we know it doesn't work so that was always kind of my mentality right is that like I get this idea in my6:02
head the shiny new thing and I'm like oh there's a tunnel vision like I just gotta go and I gotta try it and like it6:08
might suck but at least like when I'm done I can look back and be like okay well I tried you know the food business6:14
I tried you know private label here I tried you know I tried the liquid canned6:22
water business yeah and so like I tried these different things and like I just6:27
learned about you know one you gotta learn what you don't like and what you do like and you know so for me yeah it6:32
was just jumping in and going you know who cares about what other people think6:38
like that's the that's the only fear is from fear of other people that's it of them saying Oh you failed but like who6:44
care once you get that out it doesn't matter I think that is such a huge piece as well that that thick skin like I used6:49
to even when I was doing the makeup thing like I used to tell my mom like I'm Gonna Be A Millionaire I'm Gonna Be Rich like all this time and like people6:56
laugh at you so much or even when I started doing Amazon ads uh I started in 2016 right when Amazon had the sidebar7:02
advertisements like it wasn't oh yeah they did 500 million in ad rev and I'd go to like these like conferences and uh7:10
I'd be super pumped up and people would laugh they'd be like oh you do Amazon like you're the weird kid7:15
okay I guess right but there was a lot of failures along the way too like I tried to start an app like Snapchat7:22
um okay filters we were making filters right and I was doing that every single day really bad drop filters7:28
cool right um but I learned a lot along the way too7:35
right about like how to how to actually like do more research and get things going um yeah absolutely and then you know one7:42
thing I think that's really interesting too is just the crying piece right and like giving it a shot like a lot of7:49
people I think you know whether it's in there not not just for being an entrepreneur but even in their day-to-day basis like there was I quit7:56
my job several times right till I got to this point uh there and it was always when I peaked at learning right I would8:02
like sometimes I try to get that raise or try to get that you know position and if it didn't you know work for me and I8:08
was at that spot like I'd try something new you know go out there and I do it and sometimes you fail and it actually kind of hits which is fine8:15
um there so talk to me about you know handling the growth uh piece right so you tried8:21
something you know this private label Endeavor it started small and yep opposite scale to be what do you got 308:27
million dollar business at this point like yeah did you see there yeah so8:32
still seeing them but uh yeah no so8:38
that is a whole so there's the challenge of starting it and you think that's really hard and then there's like you8:45
don't even realize what kind of mountain you're about to climb as I'm sure you know it just the challenges and the8:52
problems get more complex and everything you know I like the quotes that I've seen about like you8:58
know keep it as simple and as lean as possible because inevitably with growth complexity will come and so like no9:06
matter how simple you have it it just gets more complex right because you don't have a simple 30 million dollar9:12
like if you do well kudos to you because you're killing it and like I wish I had that completely what you're doing if9:18
that's the case yeah like I need to I need a switch but uh so pretty much you9:23
know when we were we started basically In the Heat of covet um I was learning Facebook ads that was9:30
how I started Facebook and Google ads that's what I wanted to do and just started frostbuddy.com and pretty much9:36
like when we launched our Universal can cooler um it was in like June of 2020 we just9:43
like sold out it's like three weeks sold out of three thousand of them I was like holy crap like and then we pretty much9:48
just reinvested so we bought 3 000 and then we put in and we bought 18 000 units and so you know same model just9:56
Facebook and Google ads and then we bought thirty thousand sixty thousand and we just kept bootstrapping10:01
reinvesting it and you know I think we were doing around probably 15010:08
000 a month at that point when I was still like it was just basically a one-man show at that point like and we10:16
hit like I think January 2021 where we're like you know what like it's a fast competitive industry10:22
drinkware is and so like we want to blow this up really big so like let's find10:28
some investment and let's see how fast and how big we can go and so you know we found an investor that you know we're10:35
fortunate to it wasn't complex or anything we found someone that you know saw our vision and wanted to help us grow and you know once we were able to10:42
get more inventory because that's what was limiting us we kept selling out Ben it was like you know10:48
it was boom like we got more inventory I got an ad agency because I could not10:53
handle the Facebook ads anymore and I was like I need someone I can take to the next level and we went from like 20010:59
000 a month to like 800 000 and then to like 1.2 million a month like it was just astronomical how crazy it grew and11:07
that was kind of the beginning so it was like the sales grew and then all of a sudden we were like oh the structure11:13
probably needs to like we probably need to lay some Foundation because we grew before we even had anything and so I11:20
heard that yeah yeah so it was pretty much like okay now that we've got all11:26
these sales coming in how the heck do we build a team how do we find people like what do we do and so yeah I mean it's11:33
just been you know one challenge after the next I always say hiring people is one of the hardest things like to find people that fit the culture fit the11:39
vision that worked the tail off in a startup and you know so you know finding the right agencies whether it's ads or11:47
like an email agency see or you know I try to Outsource a lot of stuff to either agencies we have a 3pl for our11:53
fulfillment that really allowed us to scale up faster rather than doing it in-house and it probably took some money12:00
off of our off of our bottom line but we knew that it was kind of give and take12:06
hey we're going to scale really fast because this 3pl can keep up with us12:11
um you know so it was really just you know the challenges of that of making sure that everything was in place and12:18
then you know how do we continue that growth curve how do we you know continue to make the content that we need to make12:24
for ads how do we you know continue to stay top of mind and continue to be Innovative and bring out new products12:29
and you know just take that and that's kind of still what we're doing is just you know we're still trying to build the12:36
team and we're still trying to innovate uh and kind of catch up to how fast our growth has been12:41
you know and that's uh definitely a lot of relatable situations I I started in February right before12:48
covid um there too so I I definitely know like okay uh the world's shutting down what do we do12:54
uh yeah thank God everyone was drinking12:59
that probably helped continue yeah I was pretty happy oh man um there's a lot of questions that I13:06
have just off everything that you said there so one like I I know this is a question that I often13:11
ask myself like do you ever wish that you took on investment earlier and hired more aggressively earlier so that you13:17
had a better structure before you grew or are you happy now that you've pushed through it like are you you're in the13:23
process of pushing through it um that's a tough one huh so13:30
I think because this is our first like this is essentially like it's our first online business it's our first business13:37
and I think because of that I'm happy that like I didn't know like hiring is a13:43
learning process like you learn what's good who's good and you know ask the right questions beforehand so like I'm13:50
kind of glad that we were slow in that aspect because like I wouldn't have known now if I did something another13:56
venture I'll hire way faster right like I'll probably build the team before I14:01
even really like get going but that's the difference like I just didn't know anything so I'm glad that we did that14:07
and in terms of investment it's a it's a tricky thing right because on the14:14
one hand it's great to have the money and it's great to be able to scale but on the other hand you're now answering14:20
to someone you now have someone that's you know always looking at your numbers you know how someone is always going hey14:27
what are we doing hey why are you cussing on Tick Tock hey you know like you have someone over you and so like14:34
even though you're the founder and you're the CEO they St they have a lot of that power14:39
because they have the money and you know so if you're someone like me who's very14:46
go-getter like in the world Tick Tock like just freaking get like do what gets attention14:52
and investors probably not going to love that and like I'm also pretty bull headed so like I want to do things my14:58
way and I have the vision and so like when other people don't see that sometimes it can be butting heads15:05
um but I'm glad we did it because you know it has made things drastically15:11
easier from an operational standpoint I think that's super helpful I I find on15:17
my end I think I honestly have a very similar answer to what you had there like15:22
could I have would it have saved me a lot of headaches if I had things fully structured ahead of time and I and I15:28
knew how fast we'd grow like absolutely but I think part of it is like I mean I feel like I got really lucky15:34
with my business right where we grew well above my expectations my expectations were bullish but like it's15:41
just like we grew right away you know bigger than that and faster than that um but I think I learned a lot more15:47
along the way right it's like first is getting started and I think that's where most people think that's the biggest challenge and it is a challenge you know15:54
to get it going but I think keeping the ship running and handling the growth is where it can definitely get a little bit15:59
interesting over time um yes yeah absolutely we never took investment but I definitely see16:06
how that could be interesting to kind of have you know almost a boss to an extent um there almost it feels like it sometimes16:13
yes like I could definitely see that piece um it's interesting tell me about how16:18
you're choosing how to hire um there it sounds like you've found some tips along the way16:23
um absolutely absolutely yes I've hired some terrible people and they're quick fires um so yeah I mean I'm very big on16:32
the culture of a company on the culture of the brand and making sure that like if we have the right people in the right16:38
spots because like that is everything at the end of the day the business is just a group of people working towards the16:44
same goal that's literally all it is and so you know whether it's our head of wholesale you know he's going to have16:51
specific skills that I'm looking for that you know the guy can talk to anyone16:56
like and he is a charmer and like just like everyone loves him on their first impression and he just has just has that17:03
right so like I knew that he was right and you know he loves the startup he17:09
loves that he feels like he's a part of something bigger and that he can help move the needle right so I'm not looking17:15
for people that you know are kind of wanting to feel like that corporate job17:20
of like oh give me my paycheck or I'll this is my job and this is it like no like17:26
I might ask my wholesale guy to go do something in Photoshop like I really like I might because it's all hands on17:33
deck with a startup so the first thing I look for is culture absolutely are they the right fit do they have that winning17:39
mentality do they have that like kind of garage startup like grind mentality um17:44
that's big to me and you know just authentic people and then you know I'm17:49
also going to look at the basically that are they competent enough17:55
to do the position that they're doing and so like that's always like you got to be able to do the job18:00
um and then you know when I'm hiring I'm looking at okay what compensation do they want18:06
because we are a startup like it's always negotiable on what's your payment18:11
what's the salary or can we do a little bit of performance base because you know18:16
I can't take the chance of giving you let's say six figures a year and you don't produce because we don't have that18:23
um so you know I'm gonna look at that and negotiate that with them and just make sure that they understand like hey18:30
yeah I can make a lot of money like I always do Performance Based like they18:35
can make a fortune and I want all of my employees to make a fortune but it's based on Hey how well are we doing are18:42
we generating what we're supposed to generate um you know and then the last one was just commitment that's like I do four18:47
C's like that um you know the retention of employees is so so18:54
important like even if they f up and I want them to make mistakes I give them full autonomy I don't micromanage at all19:01
I probably should micromanage a little more than I do but like I'm like no you're the boss of your division go for19:07
it I don't care here's the result I need whatever process you want to build whatever team you want to build19:12
underneath you I really don't care and so like that's how I structure it because I want them to feel19:18
like hey you know I am in charge and he trusts me and so like I'm gonna give them that rope until19:25
if they make some mistakes I'll bring them in hey what happened would we learn how quickly can we adapt and fix it19:31
because that employee making that mistake and fixing it is a lot cheaper than me firing them and hiring another19:37
employee and then they're just going to make the same mistake over and over again so like it's just19:42
I hate when people say that a company is not a family because like to me like in our startup right now it kind of is like19:48
it really is family and like you know that's just how I kind of approach it19:54
and like you know I did it's a it's a lot of gray area when hiring it's so hard yeah now look honestly I feel like20:01
I'm talking into a mirror because this is exactly the same way I approach it like for my business too I feel like20:07
I think character and just TR and traits like that like their Drive is arguably sometimes more important than like yeah20:14
some of the expertise that they have because honestly like I make a lot of mistakes right I've made20:20
a lot of mistakes and those mistakes are what have gotten me here you know but the biggest thing is not just making a20:25
mistake but I think you you really hit the nail in the head but what are you doing because of that mistake right one is what did we learn just like you you20:32
nailed right there and then how do we fix this in the future right and so sometimes it means you create a better process right or sometimes it's like20:38
you're gonna not try that ad type anymore or what have you but um I think that's a really big piece is20:44
that you're not just like oh you left up this once like this one right like you're gone right you never made a20:50
mistake in your life too right um yeah let that happen so I think that's that's just really really huge20:56
um I'm curious on the performance plans like you know let's say someone who's generating sales you know whatever21:02
that's a more commission but what about other folks on your team right do you kind of put a performance incentive on21:08
towards everyone and I'm curious if you'll be interested in Sharing like kind of how you you do add those type of21:13
goals for folks that aren't you know sales people yeah so it is tough we're fortunate that like honestly21:19
God most of the positions in Frost buddy at this moment like are generating some sort of sales like whether it's yeah ads21:27
Amazon email SMS like most of it is generating sales which has been nice um21:33
but let's say like a video editor I have a lot of content creation so like I have21:39
graphic designers video editors um and you know people like that and so21:45
obviously it's not going to be based on that but the things I am going to look at with video editing and graphic design21:51
especially because I think a lot of people if they're building a business today need those two things because21:57
content's everything you know I'm looking at one how quick is your turnaround time how quickly are you22:03
working because I'm probably gonna put them on like an hourly pay based on their expertise like you know it's gonna22:08
range um but I need a quick turnaround because I'm pumping out content every single day and then I also22:15
what's big for me is hey are you a self-starter can you think for yourself in terms of video editing in terms of22:22
uh graphic design I don't want to have to say hey I need this ad and I need it22:28
to say this and I need to have this product like that I've had those people and it kills me it drives me insane22:34
because it kills my time now I just want to say hey I need 20 Black Friday ads I need you to22:42
understand how they you know how are we marketing it how are we appealing it to the customer how are we grabbing their22:48
eye getting our message across I need you to think for yourself and figure that out and understand you know you're22:54
not just a graphic designer and you're not just a video editor you're a market like you're in marketing and sales you still are and so you know I'm not really23:02
giving them that incentive but they're not going to be around very long if if23:08
they're not totally yeah if they're not doing the work that there's you know that we need done in a timely manner and23:16
I think what's also really cool about that answer there and you mentioned something about this earlier is like your vision right and it's not just23:24
Brock having Vision what I think is really interesting is you want all of your employees to have you know some23:29
examples of vision um that's something I I highly encourage as well you know for my employees there23:34
and I think it's been a really good asset I think it also uh helps with like employee retention23:40
and just really creating that family feel right like the end of the day we've got two slogans but the internal one23:45
that we have is like you want to help you know good people learn great skills to become great people right and at the23:50
end of the day you know while we're doing client work the way I want them to treat it is like this is your business23:56
right like and like the stuff that you're working on and like these are skill sets that you're going to be able to take no one can take those away from24:01
you right once you you know once you learn how to be a kick-ass you know ads manager on on Amazon like you can leave24:07
me at some point right you can start your own thing you can go to another agency um there but your own Pride right and24:13
how much Vision you have and taking it to that next level is ultimately the employees that end up I think scaling24:18
the fastest right and end up performing the best um yeah my first job quiver I24:24
remember my boss Mark was the best boss I ever had like after he had done that kind of the initial training with me you24:30
know I went over there and asked all these questions he's like at this point you know more than I do you run with it right and that was the24:36
best advice he ever gave me um you know and like all of a sudden I'm24:42
spending seven million dollars a year in ads like all manually and that's when cost per click for five cents a clicks24:47
it was a lot of money back then so yeah I wish they were like that oh man Glory24:52
Days [Laughter] that's super cool you know that this has this been really24:59
awesome ah what sort of advice would you have you know if you were talking to yourself25:05
um prior to starting this business right with some some advice that you wish that you would have had ahead of time25:12
you know someone just asked me this yesterday I think I think I could I think I get asked this all the time25:17
um you know there's a lot of there's a lot of different things that I would tell myself25:23
um you know to just help but I think you know there's a couple of key things25:28
right and the first is like it's not at all a get rich quick scheme25:34
and business takes time A lot of time so like you're gonna work your tail off25:40
every day at rapid speed but real change is probably not going to happen except25:46
for over the course of like five to ten years and no matter what business you're25:51
in like it's just it might take us two years to get into Walmart like it just might because it's relationship based25:57
and so you know that's the first thing it's just understanding the macro patience and having having that patience26:03
and then you know I think what else I would probably say is just26:11
to you know enjoy the process of building it because at most times26:17
there's going to be a lot of anxiety it's gonna be a lot of stress and you know as you get bigger you lose control26:23
of your business a little more because you have to give control up to you know your employees and let them handle26:28
things and so you know to just understand that honestly the Journey of26:34
it is probably what you're going to look back and be like man what I would give to still be grinding in like the basement of my26:41
apartment and making two thousand dollars a month you know you know like I26:47
I always I think about that all the time but yeah when I thought I was busy back in the day when I was in that build up26:53
phase and sometimes I laugh I'm like man if I had that like I made no money but that was like some of the happiest time26:59
of my life like because it was just like you have time right like having that exactly so valuable exactly yeah no so27:06
that you know that for sure and then honestly just like triple down on content like create as27:15
much as you can possibly create and be known because at the end of the day27:21
whoever's the most known wins like it's just as simple as that so27:26
you know how much content can you create and how you know how many different platforms can I get it across I think27:32
that last piece of advice is also so phenomenally important um there it's like people concentrate I27:39
think on the wrong things right and it's like at the end of the day content is the best way to get free it's one thing27:46
that's free right if you do it yourself eventually you could teach yourself the skill sets or whatever and at some point you just scale it and start paying for27:52
it but um no one can stop you from doing it you know just be authentic and go like I did27:58
it for LinkedIn and like that's how I built like one of the best things we could have done for our business right we had so much inbound28:04
LinkedIn whatever yes that'd be the other thing fourth28:10
thing LinkedIn is the most powerful tool in the entire world like I wish I had28:15
gone back and started like posting in college because it's insane like I literally have the CMO of Pepsi28:22
marketing like my stuff and I'm like I could never get in contact with that guy like I also28:28
added that guy too yeah I'm like but again like it's just28:33
like it evens the playing field it really does like LinkedIn evens the playing field so like you know just you28:40
never know who's gonna be a connection like it's all relationship based and the thing is I think that's important there28:45
like you know when you're talking to folks like us like yeah we've got a following at this point but we didn't28:50
right when we started like like for me I remember having 150 like LinkedIn28:56
followers and I was like I just want to be a super user I want I want the 500 plus when it says for connections29:02
like so long to get there right and now it's like I get a couple hundred followers you know like every week at29:07
this point um there and it's just like and it's organic I don't care anymore but you have to start somewhere right29:13
and it's like you have to I guess he likes on a post and I'm like yes like hey i i j i just basically started our29:21
YouTube account and it's at like a couple thousand subscribers and it's like it's painful but you know what like29:26
you have to it's inevitable you gotta start at zero and I'm about to start29:31
another Tick Tock account for frostbite it's going to be a zero and it's going to suck but you know what you just gotta do it no it's true it's just ripping off29:38
that Band-Aid which is so helpful um wow this has been like a really really29:43
fruitful horror uh you got me going I have I'm actually29:49
curious about this um I think when creating Vision right I think like one of the things that I kind29:56
of see a gap in is like a lot of people are trying to be entrepreneurs they read all these books they listen to all these kind of speakers and I think it's almost30:03
like it's a regurgitation of everybody else's Vision but I almost feel like sometimes you can like lose the30:08
authenticity of your own um there curious how like you like when you're developing it like do you feel30:14
like it's a combination of other people's things do you feel like it's something that you inherently had like where do you think that you know what's30:20
building that for you it it is challenging30:26
um because there's so much content there really is and like if you're yeah if you're a good entrepreneur if you're a30:32
good founder like you're gonna watch a bunch of YouTube videos you're gonna read a lot of things and like30:38
for me like it was always not necessarily taking their Vision so like I would read books from like like I read30:45
Steve Jobs Auto autobiography biography whatever it is I read his book and then30:50
like you read about Bezos and I'll read about you know uh different large30:55
Founders was kind of my thing to like either listen to them read about them and more so just to31:02
see and tell myself hey they're just normal humans like they're normal human beings and look what they did and like31:09
I don't think they really influenced where my vision was because like your business is your business like you know31:15
I'm not gonna be Yeti like I'm just not gonna be and I don't want I don't want our vision to be that because I don't31:21
want our brand to be that so like you know for me our brand is literally like me31:28
like it is like and your brand inevitably is probably who the founder and CEO is like apple was Steve Jobs31:35
just like Microsoft was Bill Gates so I'm not really worried about anyone31:42
getting influenced I guess by other people because I think deep down like no matter what you're doing it's always31:47
going to come back to like it's you and it's it's where you want to go and it's who you want to be so like you know for31:54
me if you look at Frost buddy it's very personal it's very family oriented it's very Community engaged because like32:02
that's just where I come from like a big loving family and like I'm like hey I want to share that as I'm building this32:08
and so you know from a vision standpoint32:15
just this kind of like I don't even think I could tell you like in terms of like hey what's that end goal I don't I32:20
don't think that's really even part of the vision as much as like I just love to build and I love to you know kind of32:28
attack it and just keep growing and building and like because32:34
I think I posted today you're chasing Perfection but they're the perfection's not there and so like that's just kind32:39
of how how we have the vision of just like hey why not like how big can this32:45
get why not find out um you know and so I don't know that's the long answer of32:52
just like I loved it yeah yeah it's a tough question it really the vision is tough like and I I still am trying to32:58
find my why yeah I hate that I hate that question more anything yeah but why I think it's important that was I mean33:04
when we sold makeup door-to-door that's one thing they used to say is fine for why um I hate it I've been working on it33:12
that great book though start with why is a great book but it'll destroy you mentally yeah it'll be like I don't know33:19
I don't know what the Y is I haven't figured it out so yeah when you do them I'm curious to hear that for sure33:25
um no but I love it I think like you know a big takeaway here is you know you're doing it right you tried33:33
um you worked hard to handle the growth and ultimately you kept it in line with you and I think that's something that's33:38
really important um as well I think you know I've always kind of had my own little Flair to what33:44
I do and like it's not for everyone right and I think that's yeah okay I think that's one thing to understand is33:50
like you don't have to mold your business to fit what you think people want right uh there it's like ultimately33:56
mold the business that you think makes sense um there for you right and for your kind34:02
of vision um and I think you're going to be a lot happier and honestly produce better results that way you know definitely34:08
stand out yeah any way to stand out yeah 100 uh like34:13
I work a lot in like supplements and like you know gummy vitamins became a huge thing during covet and there's34:18
three manufacturers of gummy vitamins in the U.S right but there's thousands of brands that basically you're just buying34:24
the label at the end of the day right um and whatever whoever creates the best brand story right that's what you're buying into34:30
um that's yeah I mean there's the amount of the amount of universal can coolers34:36
on Amazon that people just scroll over because they're looking for frost buddy is insane right like we wouldn't be the34:41
best seller if people didn't love the story and love the brand and you know I34:47
struggled with that for a long time I was like man like I come from a middle class like small town white family that34:54
like has had no deaths or no disease like had no issues right and like I'm34:59
like I don't have a good story like and why would people follow what I'm doing or follow even frostbuddy and I think35:06
that's the beautiful thing that like I finally realized every single person is unique in some way shape or form and35:13
everyone can relate to someone's story so you don't need a huge Community you just need to find the people that can35:19
relate to you yeah no beautiful beautifully said uh there for sure35:25
um well I know we've uh taken up a lot of your time here today brother in a super fun chat35:31
um where can people find you you know follow you what are the best handles to uh to follow frostbite's Journey here35:36
yeah I know absolutely uh so LinkedIn just brought the Moser uh you connect with me I'll connect with anybody unless35:43
you try to sell me on the first connection and then uh Tick Tock uh either Frost35:49
buddy or Brock lomoser and you know YouTube Just Frost Frost buddy those are35:55
probably the three best cool yeah we'll get some links in the comments for it for sure but yeah thank you so much uh36:00
definitely uh some really good conversation appreciate the time today hey thank you I loved it36:06
awesome
Starting & Scaling Your eCommerce Business
Being a new business owner is daunting and expensive, with cost per clicks rising and competition increasing, it feels impossible to launch a net new brand on Amazon.
In the second episode of Straight Up Visionary, Daniel dives into a case study of a successful eCommerce brand launch.
Brock Mammoser leaned into the entrepreneurial risk during the pandemic, launching his brand FrostBuddy in March 2020. Here’s how he killed his first year in business:
🧠 Adopting a growth mindset from day one
Trial and error is encouraged, and failure is not a thing. This growth mindset helped self-teach skills such as video editing, Shopify, and Amazon advertising. “We never try and fail – it’s always trial and learning.”
📈 Hiring to scale
Brock’s combination of outsourcing and hiring internal talent has helped him scale very quickly. Daniel and Brock chat about the key traits they look for in team members, for both brands and agencies.
💡 Staying Authentic to His Values
Brock outlines how his upbringing in a big family-focused environment has shaped his leadership and entrepreneurial values.
Both Brock and Daniel launched their businesses in 2020 with a heavy focus on creating authentic content from day one. Listen to the two digital marketing experts give their advice to new Amazon Sellers and brand owners.
___________________________________________________________
After beginning his early Amazon career at the leading digital marketing and eCommerce agencies, Daniel Tejada co-founded Straight Up Growth in 2020. Throughout his eCommerce career, he's sold over $1B on Amazon. Straight Up Growth (SUG) is a leading Amazon Advertising Agency selling $350M+/year for their clients. The Straight Up Visionary Podcast dives deep into the career and story of leading Amazon and eCommerce advertisers, as well as entrepreneurs and Amazon Sellers.
____________________________________________________________
Brock Mammoser is an eCommerce entrepreneur and digital marketer. After diving into entrepreneurship opportunities in college, he and his brother had the idea for a universal can cooler. Frost Buddy was launched in March of 2020 and in their first year of business were able to sell nearly 1M units, while launching in Bucees and Dick’s Sporting Goods. Brock attributes much of Frost Buddy’s success to their social media marketing. The brand has become a Tiktok viral favorite, amassing over 350,000 followers and 9.3M likes.
____________________________________________________________
Reach out to Straight Up Growth for a FREE audit here:
https://straightupgrowth.com/contact-us
Check Out Frost Buddy Tiktok!
https://www.tiktok.com/@frostbuddy
____________________________________________________________
Transcript:
what's up guys this is Danny tajada here from straight up growth I'm here with my man Brock uh super excited to have him0:06
here on the podcast today Brock want to introduce yourself uh yeah no I appreciate you having me on0:12
I'm brappa Moser the co-founder and CEO of frost buddy um you know for anyone that doesn't know0:18
it's the world's first Universal can cooler so it fits basically every different Canon bottle that you could0:23
imagine in one and it'll keep it cold so that you can enjoy your drink more yeah and it's a super Super Rad product it's0:31
an awesome story um Brock and I actually started our businesses around the same time0:36
um here so definitely know what it's like you know being young and and growing quickly and all the pains that0:42
come with that um so Brock why don't you tell us kind of you know where you started right0:48
before we we got to frost buddy what what what were you doing yeah no of course um so you know I'm from a very0:55
tiny town in Southern Illinois um you know big family big church kind1:01
of guy and um you know went to college at Indiana University in Bloomington Indiana and ran track there I pull1:07
vaulted for for five years there and so you know that was really my sports my1:13
whole life was like everything right like it was not business it wasn't anything but just like all sports all1:18
day every day right I have four three older brothers yeah so like yeah so so1:24
that was like priority for sure just you know very competitive with our family and1:29
um so so yeah I was at IU I was in the business school studying finance and real estate uh I initially wanted to be1:36
a real estate investor uh so you know I have deterred from that path a little1:42
bit but uh but yeah and then you know long story short my junior year1:47
you know my brother Mitch and I were just you know we were sitting around on my Christmas break chatting like oh man1:53
like what can we do like I had done some entrepreneurial stuff but nothing had ever really panned out or like really2:00
blown up so you know he kind of brought up the idea that like white cloths were becoming a thing like oh man all these2:06
slim is there like a insulated Koozie for those and like is there a Yeti slim and I was like I've never I've not seen2:13
one ever so naturally what do we do we go to Amazon we're like is is there something there and there was a brand2:19
one brand literally just one they had 10 000 reviews and then there was nothing else and we're like oh my God like2:26
there's probably some potential here when you saw that exactly right so like2:33
this is you know this is 2019 the end of 2019 so yeah back when2:38
you know it's just still Facebook ads Amazon like everything was just straight D to C going really hard and so went you2:46
know to Alibaba and got some samples and I knew how to do all that stuff from prior Ventures that's why I say I didn't2:53
necessarily fail at those I learned and you know so got samples and that was just kind of like the origin of a frost3:01
buddy and it started off as a hobby of like hey man like you know I wanted to3:06
learn Shopify I wanted to learn Facebook ads because I'd see you know like everyone I'd seen people making a lot of3:12
money and I was like man this seems like something that I would like to do you know I like to be creative with3:17
marketing and so so yeah it started you know bootstrapped really really small 23:24
000 units we ordered the first time and we were terrified had no idea what we're doing and then you know fast forward two3:32
and a half years all of a sudden it it's something that I could have never ever imagined it would be for sure you know I3:39
was like just focused on full vaulting honestly that's such a wild wild story3:46
um to see and I like there's a lot to unpack you know I think one thing that's really interesting that you mentioned is3:51
you you said you never tried and failed right you tried and you learned um there and I think that's such a huge3:57
huge piece um I know when I first you know graduated college and all that jazz4:03
there uh my whole goal was to try to learn right that's what I was telling everyone like I I saw digital marketing4:09
as a thing like I was an advertising major and I went to Pepperdine and all of a sudden makeup door-to-door uh you4:16
know uh here in San Diego heck yeah right um and so like even that job like my job4:23
was to get 300 a day right and I actually learned a lot from that experience like for me I like I'm really4:30
good at sales and it's because I really don't care right like if you're interested or not right the buyer is going to buy because they're interested4:36
in what I'm offering now because I'm begging them or forcing them to do stuff right and it's something you learn from that that little piece um4:43
how did you get in that mentality right like there because I know that's a tricky place to start and most people4:49
especially when you're kind of younger like you don't want to fail right or you don't expect to fail you know there um4:55
so tell me about that yeah no that's such an important piece too I'm glad you asked actually because I think a lot of5:00
people don't talk about it and that's like the number one thing for a lot of people like not getting into it like I5:06
think we take for granted now that we know a lot of Founders and C is like oh you've become like that right but but5:12
you don't start like that um for me I will say I was fortunate I'm the youngest of four four boys and so5:18
like I always say that being the youngest is a very big privilege because like I have a safety net no matter what5:24
like my whole life if I effed up if I screwed up I had like support I have a5:29
great support system I had a family I had brothers that would like come to my rescue so like I I was always the risk5:35
taker for sure and you know for me like it was just always kind of in me right like even my5:41
my friends will always say like you know one of the best things about me is that like I literally will jump in and I5:49
don't care if I fail like they're like I don't know how you do it but you just like would will go in and say hey if it5:55
doesn't work it doesn't work but at least now we know it doesn't work so that was always kind of my mentality right is that like I get this idea in my6:02
head the shiny new thing and I'm like oh there's a tunnel vision like I just gotta go and I gotta try it and like it6:08
might suck but at least like when I'm done I can look back and be like okay well I tried you know the food business6:14
I tried you know private label here I tried you know I tried the liquid canned6:22
water business yeah and so like I tried these different things and like I just6:27
learned about you know one you gotta learn what you don't like and what you do like and you know so for me yeah it6:32
was just jumping in and going you know who cares about what other people think6:38
like that's the that's the only fear is from fear of other people that's it of them saying Oh you failed but like who6:44
care once you get that out it doesn't matter I think that is such a huge piece as well that that thick skin like I used6:49
to even when I was doing the makeup thing like I used to tell my mom like I'm Gonna Be A Millionaire I'm Gonna Be Rich like all this time and like people6:56
laugh at you so much or even when I started doing Amazon ads uh I started in 2016 right when Amazon had the sidebar7:02
advertisements like it wasn't oh yeah they did 500 million in ad rev and I'd go to like these like conferences and uh7:10
I'd be super pumped up and people would laugh they'd be like oh you do Amazon like you're the weird kid7:15
okay I guess right but there was a lot of failures along the way too like I tried to start an app like Snapchat7:22
um okay filters we were making filters right and I was doing that every single day really bad drop filters7:28
cool right um but I learned a lot along the way too7:35
right about like how to how to actually like do more research and get things going um yeah absolutely and then you know one7:42
thing I think that's really interesting too is just the crying piece right and like giving it a shot like a lot of7:49
people I think you know whether it's in there not not just for being an entrepreneur but even in their day-to-day basis like there was I quit7:56
my job several times right till I got to this point uh there and it was always when I peaked at learning right I would8:02
like sometimes I try to get that raise or try to get that you know position and if it didn't you know work for me and I8:08
was at that spot like I'd try something new you know go out there and I do it and sometimes you fail and it actually kind of hits which is fine8:15
um there so talk to me about you know handling the growth uh piece right so you tried8:21
something you know this private label Endeavor it started small and yep opposite scale to be what do you got 308:27
million dollar business at this point like yeah did you see there yeah so8:32
still seeing them but uh yeah no so8:38
that is a whole so there's the challenge of starting it and you think that's really hard and then there's like you8:45
don't even realize what kind of mountain you're about to climb as I'm sure you know it just the challenges and the8:52
problems get more complex and everything you know I like the quotes that I've seen about like you8:58
know keep it as simple and as lean as possible because inevitably with growth complexity will come and so like no9:06
matter how simple you have it it just gets more complex right because you don't have a simple 30 million dollar9:12
like if you do well kudos to you because you're killing it and like I wish I had that completely what you're doing if9:18
that's the case yeah like I need to I need a switch but uh so pretty much you9:23
know when we were we started basically In the Heat of covet um I was learning Facebook ads that was9:30
how I started Facebook and Google ads that's what I wanted to do and just started frostbuddy.com and pretty much9:36
like when we launched our Universal can cooler um it was in like June of 2020 we just9:43
like sold out it's like three weeks sold out of three thousand of them I was like holy crap like and then we pretty much9:48
just reinvested so we bought 3 000 and then we put in and we bought 18 000 units and so you know same model just9:56
Facebook and Google ads and then we bought thirty thousand sixty thousand and we just kept bootstrapping10:01
reinvesting it and you know I think we were doing around probably 15010:08
000 a month at that point when I was still like it was just basically a one-man show at that point like and we10:16
hit like I think January 2021 where we're like you know what like it's a fast competitive industry10:22
drinkware is and so like we want to blow this up really big so like let's find10:28
some investment and let's see how fast and how big we can go and so you know we found an investor that you know we're10:35
fortunate to it wasn't complex or anything we found someone that you know saw our vision and wanted to help us grow and you know once we were able to10:42
get more inventory because that's what was limiting us we kept selling out Ben it was like you know10:48
it was boom like we got more inventory I got an ad agency because I could not10:53
handle the Facebook ads anymore and I was like I need someone I can take to the next level and we went from like 20010:59
000 a month to like 800 000 and then to like 1.2 million a month like it was just astronomical how crazy it grew and11:07
that was kind of the beginning so it was like the sales grew and then all of a sudden we were like oh the structure11:13
probably needs to like we probably need to lay some Foundation because we grew before we even had anything and so I11:20
heard that yeah yeah so it was pretty much like okay now that we've got all11:26
these sales coming in how the heck do we build a team how do we find people like what do we do and so yeah I mean it's11:33
just been you know one challenge after the next I always say hiring people is one of the hardest things like to find people that fit the culture fit the11:39
vision that worked the tail off in a startup and you know so you know finding the right agencies whether it's ads or11:47
like an email agency see or you know I try to Outsource a lot of stuff to either agencies we have a 3pl for our11:53
fulfillment that really allowed us to scale up faster rather than doing it in-house and it probably took some money12:00
off of our off of our bottom line but we knew that it was kind of give and take12:06
hey we're going to scale really fast because this 3pl can keep up with us12:11
um you know so it was really just you know the challenges of that of making sure that everything was in place and12:18
then you know how do we continue that growth curve how do we you know continue to make the content that we need to make12:24
for ads how do we you know continue to stay top of mind and continue to be Innovative and bring out new products12:29
and you know just take that and that's kind of still what we're doing is just you know we're still trying to build the12:36
team and we're still trying to innovate uh and kind of catch up to how fast our growth has been12:41
you know and that's uh definitely a lot of relatable situations I I started in February right before12:48
covid um there too so I I definitely know like okay uh the world's shutting down what do we do12:54
uh yeah thank God everyone was drinking12:59
that probably helped continue yeah I was pretty happy oh man um there's a lot of questions that I13:06
have just off everything that you said there so one like I I know this is a question that I often13:11
ask myself like do you ever wish that you took on investment earlier and hired more aggressively earlier so that you13:17
had a better structure before you grew or are you happy now that you've pushed through it like are you you're in the13:23
process of pushing through it um that's a tough one huh so13:30
I think because this is our first like this is essentially like it's our first online business it's our first business13:37
and I think because of that I'm happy that like I didn't know like hiring is a13:43
learning process like you learn what's good who's good and you know ask the right questions beforehand so like I'm13:50
kind of glad that we were slow in that aspect because like I wouldn't have known now if I did something another13:56
venture I'll hire way faster right like I'll probably build the team before I14:01
even really like get going but that's the difference like I just didn't know anything so I'm glad that we did that14:07
and in terms of investment it's a it's a tricky thing right because on the14:14
one hand it's great to have the money and it's great to be able to scale but on the other hand you're now answering14:20
to someone you now have someone that's you know always looking at your numbers you know how someone is always going hey14:27
what are we doing hey why are you cussing on Tick Tock hey you know like you have someone over you and so like14:34
even though you're the founder and you're the CEO they St they have a lot of that power14:39
because they have the money and you know so if you're someone like me who's very14:46
go-getter like in the world Tick Tock like just freaking get like do what gets attention14:52
and investors probably not going to love that and like I'm also pretty bull headed so like I want to do things my14:58
way and I have the vision and so like when other people don't see that sometimes it can be butting heads15:05
um but I'm glad we did it because you know it has made things drastically15:11
easier from an operational standpoint I think that's super helpful I I find on15:17
my end I think I honestly have a very similar answer to what you had there like15:22
could I have would it have saved me a lot of headaches if I had things fully structured ahead of time and I and I15:28
knew how fast we'd grow like absolutely but I think part of it is like I mean I feel like I got really lucky15:34
with my business right where we grew well above my expectations my expectations were bullish but like it's15:41
just like we grew right away you know bigger than that and faster than that um but I think I learned a lot more15:47
along the way right it's like first is getting started and I think that's where most people think that's the biggest challenge and it is a challenge you know15:54
to get it going but I think keeping the ship running and handling the growth is where it can definitely get a little bit15:59
interesting over time um yes yeah absolutely we never took investment but I definitely see16:06
how that could be interesting to kind of have you know almost a boss to an extent um there almost it feels like it sometimes16:13
yes like I could definitely see that piece um it's interesting tell me about how16:18
you're choosing how to hire um there it sounds like you've found some tips along the way16:23
um absolutely absolutely yes I've hired some terrible people and they're quick fires um so yeah I mean I'm very big on16:32
the culture of a company on the culture of the brand and making sure that like if we have the right people in the right16:38
spots because like that is everything at the end of the day the business is just a group of people working towards the16:44
same goal that's literally all it is and so you know whether it's our head of wholesale you know he's going to have16:51
specific skills that I'm looking for that you know the guy can talk to anyone16:56
like and he is a charmer and like just like everyone loves him on their first impression and he just has just has that17:03
right so like I knew that he was right and you know he loves the startup he17:09
loves that he feels like he's a part of something bigger and that he can help move the needle right so I'm not looking17:15
for people that you know are kind of wanting to feel like that corporate job17:20
of like oh give me my paycheck or I'll this is my job and this is it like no like17:26
I might ask my wholesale guy to go do something in Photoshop like I really like I might because it's all hands on17:33
deck with a startup so the first thing I look for is culture absolutely are they the right fit do they have that winning17:39
mentality do they have that like kind of garage startup like grind mentality um17:44
that's big to me and you know just authentic people and then you know I'm17:49
also going to look at the basically that are they competent enough17:55
to do the position that they're doing and so like that's always like you got to be able to do the job18:00
um and then you know when I'm hiring I'm looking at okay what compensation do they want18:06
because we are a startup like it's always negotiable on what's your payment18:11
what's the salary or can we do a little bit of performance base because you know18:16
I can't take the chance of giving you let's say six figures a year and you don't produce because we don't have that18:23
um so you know I'm gonna look at that and negotiate that with them and just make sure that they understand like hey18:30
yeah I can make a lot of money like I always do Performance Based like they18:35
can make a fortune and I want all of my employees to make a fortune but it's based on Hey how well are we doing are18:42
we generating what we're supposed to generate um you know and then the last one was just commitment that's like I do four18:47
C's like that um you know the retention of employees is so so18:54
important like even if they f up and I want them to make mistakes I give them full autonomy I don't micromanage at all19:01
I probably should micromanage a little more than I do but like I'm like no you're the boss of your division go for19:07
it I don't care here's the result I need whatever process you want to build whatever team you want to build19:12
underneath you I really don't care and so like that's how I structure it because I want them to feel19:18
like hey you know I am in charge and he trusts me and so like I'm gonna give them that rope until19:25
if they make some mistakes I'll bring them in hey what happened would we learn how quickly can we adapt and fix it19:31
because that employee making that mistake and fixing it is a lot cheaper than me firing them and hiring another19:37
employee and then they're just going to make the same mistake over and over again so like it's just19:42
I hate when people say that a company is not a family because like to me like in our startup right now it kind of is like19:48
it really is family and like you know that's just how I kind of approach it19:54
and like you know I did it's a it's a lot of gray area when hiring it's so hard yeah now look honestly I feel like20:01
I'm talking into a mirror because this is exactly the same way I approach it like for my business too I feel like20:07
I think character and just TR and traits like that like their Drive is arguably sometimes more important than like yeah20:14
some of the expertise that they have because honestly like I make a lot of mistakes right I've made20:20
a lot of mistakes and those mistakes are what have gotten me here you know but the biggest thing is not just making a20:25
mistake but I think you you really hit the nail in the head but what are you doing because of that mistake right one is what did we learn just like you you20:32
nailed right there and then how do we fix this in the future right and so sometimes it means you create a better process right or sometimes it's like20:38
you're gonna not try that ad type anymore or what have you but um I think that's a really big piece is20:44
that you're not just like oh you left up this once like this one right like you're gone right you never made a20:50
mistake in your life too right um yeah let that happen so I think that's that's just really really huge20:56
um I'm curious on the performance plans like you know let's say someone who's generating sales you know whatever21:02
that's a more commission but what about other folks on your team right do you kind of put a performance incentive on21:08
towards everyone and I'm curious if you'll be interested in Sharing like kind of how you you do add those type of21:13
goals for folks that aren't you know sales people yeah so it is tough we're fortunate that like honestly21:19
God most of the positions in Frost buddy at this moment like are generating some sort of sales like whether it's yeah ads21:27
Amazon email SMS like most of it is generating sales which has been nice um21:33
but let's say like a video editor I have a lot of content creation so like I have21:39
graphic designers video editors um and you know people like that and so21:45
obviously it's not going to be based on that but the things I am going to look at with video editing and graphic design21:51
especially because I think a lot of people if they're building a business today need those two things because21:57
content's everything you know I'm looking at one how quick is your turnaround time how quickly are you22:03
working because I'm probably gonna put them on like an hourly pay based on their expertise like you know it's gonna22:08
range um but I need a quick turnaround because I'm pumping out content every single day and then I also22:15
what's big for me is hey are you a self-starter can you think for yourself in terms of video editing in terms of22:22
uh graphic design I don't want to have to say hey I need this ad and I need it22:28
to say this and I need to have this product like that I've had those people and it kills me it drives me insane22:34
because it kills my time now I just want to say hey I need 20 Black Friday ads I need you to22:42
understand how they you know how are we marketing it how are we appealing it to the customer how are we grabbing their22:48
eye getting our message across I need you to think for yourself and figure that out and understand you know you're22:54
not just a graphic designer and you're not just a video editor you're a market like you're in marketing and sales you still are and so you know I'm not really23:02
giving them that incentive but they're not going to be around very long if if23:08
they're not totally yeah if they're not doing the work that there's you know that we need done in a timely manner and23:16
I think what's also really cool about that answer there and you mentioned something about this earlier is like your vision right and it's not just23:24
Brock having Vision what I think is really interesting is you want all of your employees to have you know some23:29
examples of vision um that's something I I highly encourage as well you know for my employees there23:34
and I think it's been a really good asset I think it also uh helps with like employee retention23:40
and just really creating that family feel right like the end of the day we've got two slogans but the internal one23:45
that we have is like you want to help you know good people learn great skills to become great people right and at the23:50
end of the day you know while we're doing client work the way I want them to treat it is like this is your business23:56
right like and like the stuff that you're working on and like these are skill sets that you're going to be able to take no one can take those away from24:01
you right once you you know once you learn how to be a kick-ass you know ads manager on on Amazon like you can leave24:07
me at some point right you can start your own thing you can go to another agency um there but your own Pride right and24:13
how much Vision you have and taking it to that next level is ultimately the employees that end up I think scaling24:18
the fastest right and end up performing the best um yeah my first job quiver I24:24
remember my boss Mark was the best boss I ever had like after he had done that kind of the initial training with me you24:30
know I went over there and asked all these questions he's like at this point you know more than I do you run with it right and that was the24:36
best advice he ever gave me um you know and like all of a sudden I'm24:42
spending seven million dollars a year in ads like all manually and that's when cost per click for five cents a clicks24:47
it was a lot of money back then so yeah I wish they were like that oh man Glory24:52
Days [Laughter] that's super cool you know that this has this been really24:59
awesome ah what sort of advice would you have you know if you were talking to yourself25:05
um prior to starting this business right with some some advice that you wish that you would have had ahead of time25:12
you know someone just asked me this yesterday I think I think I could I think I get asked this all the time25:17
um you know there's a lot of there's a lot of different things that I would tell myself25:23
um you know to just help but I think you know there's a couple of key things25:28
right and the first is like it's not at all a get rich quick scheme25:34
and business takes time A lot of time so like you're gonna work your tail off25:40
every day at rapid speed but real change is probably not going to happen except25:46
for over the course of like five to ten years and no matter what business you're25:51
in like it's just it might take us two years to get into Walmart like it just might because it's relationship based25:57
and so you know that's the first thing it's just understanding the macro patience and having having that patience26:03
and then you know I think what else I would probably say is just26:11
to you know enjoy the process of building it because at most times26:17
there's going to be a lot of anxiety it's gonna be a lot of stress and you know as you get bigger you lose control26:23
of your business a little more because you have to give control up to you know your employees and let them handle26:28
things and so you know to just understand that honestly the Journey of26:34
it is probably what you're going to look back and be like man what I would give to still be grinding in like the basement of my26:41
apartment and making two thousand dollars a month you know you know like I26:47
I always I think about that all the time but yeah when I thought I was busy back in the day when I was in that build up26:53
phase and sometimes I laugh I'm like man if I had that like I made no money but that was like some of the happiest time26:59
of my life like because it was just like you have time right like having that exactly so valuable exactly yeah no so27:06
that you know that for sure and then honestly just like triple down on content like create as27:15
much as you can possibly create and be known because at the end of the day27:21
whoever's the most known wins like it's just as simple as that so27:26
you know how much content can you create and how you know how many different platforms can I get it across I think27:32
that last piece of advice is also so phenomenally important um there it's like people concentrate I27:39
think on the wrong things right and it's like at the end of the day content is the best way to get free it's one thing27:46
that's free right if you do it yourself eventually you could teach yourself the skill sets or whatever and at some point you just scale it and start paying for27:52
it but um no one can stop you from doing it you know just be authentic and go like I did27:58
it for LinkedIn and like that's how I built like one of the best things we could have done for our business right we had so much inbound28:04
LinkedIn whatever yes that'd be the other thing fourth28:10
thing LinkedIn is the most powerful tool in the entire world like I wish I had28:15
gone back and started like posting in college because it's insane like I literally have the CMO of Pepsi28:22
marketing like my stuff and I'm like I could never get in contact with that guy like I also28:28
added that guy too yeah I'm like but again like it's just28:33
like it evens the playing field it really does like LinkedIn evens the playing field so like you know just you28:40
never know who's gonna be a connection like it's all relationship based and the thing is I think that's important there28:45
like you know when you're talking to folks like us like yeah we've got a following at this point but we didn't28:50
right when we started like like for me I remember having 150 like LinkedIn28:56
followers and I was like I just want to be a super user I want I want the 500 plus when it says for connections29:02
like so long to get there right and now it's like I get a couple hundred followers you know like every week at29:07
this point um there and it's just like and it's organic I don't care anymore but you have to start somewhere right29:13
and it's like you have to I guess he likes on a post and I'm like yes like hey i i j i just basically started our29:21
YouTube account and it's at like a couple thousand subscribers and it's like it's painful but you know what like29:26
you have to it's inevitable you gotta start at zero and I'm about to start29:31
another Tick Tock account for frostbite it's going to be a zero and it's going to suck but you know what you just gotta do it no it's true it's just ripping off29:38
that Band-Aid which is so helpful um wow this has been like a really really29:43
fruitful horror uh you got me going I have I'm actually29:49
curious about this um I think when creating Vision right I think like one of the things that I kind29:56
of see a gap in is like a lot of people are trying to be entrepreneurs they read all these books they listen to all these kind of speakers and I think it's almost30:03
like it's a regurgitation of everybody else's Vision but I almost feel like sometimes you can like lose the30:08
authenticity of your own um there curious how like you like when you're developing it like do you feel30:14
like it's a combination of other people's things do you feel like it's something that you inherently had like where do you think that you know what's30:20
building that for you it it is challenging30:26
um because there's so much content there really is and like if you're yeah if you're a good entrepreneur if you're a30:32
good founder like you're gonna watch a bunch of YouTube videos you're gonna read a lot of things and like30:38
for me like it was always not necessarily taking their Vision so like I would read books from like like I read30:45
Steve Jobs Auto autobiography biography whatever it is I read his book and then30:50
like you read about Bezos and I'll read about you know uh different large30:55
Founders was kind of my thing to like either listen to them read about them and more so just to31:02
see and tell myself hey they're just normal humans like they're normal human beings and look what they did and like31:09
I don't think they really influenced where my vision was because like your business is your business like you know31:15
I'm not gonna be Yeti like I'm just not gonna be and I don't want I don't want our vision to be that because I don't31:21
want our brand to be that so like you know for me our brand is literally like me31:28
like it is like and your brand inevitably is probably who the founder and CEO is like apple was Steve Jobs31:35
just like Microsoft was Bill Gates so I'm not really worried about anyone31:42
getting influenced I guess by other people because I think deep down like no matter what you're doing it's always31:47
going to come back to like it's you and it's it's where you want to go and it's who you want to be so like you know for31:54
me if you look at Frost buddy it's very personal it's very family oriented it's very Community engaged because like32:02
that's just where I come from like a big loving family and like I'm like hey I want to share that as I'm building this32:08
and so you know from a vision standpoint32:15
just this kind of like I don't even think I could tell you like in terms of like hey what's that end goal I don't I32:20
don't think that's really even part of the vision as much as like I just love to build and I love to you know kind of32:28
attack it and just keep growing and building and like because32:34
I think I posted today you're chasing Perfection but they're the perfection's not there and so like that's just kind32:39
of how how we have the vision of just like hey why not like how big can this32:45
get why not find out um you know and so I don't know that's the long answer of32:52
just like I loved it yeah yeah it's a tough question it really the vision is tough like and I I still am trying to32:58
find my why yeah I hate that I hate that question more anything yeah but why I think it's important that was I mean33:04
when we sold makeup door-to-door that's one thing they used to say is fine for why um I hate it I've been working on it33:12
that great book though start with why is a great book but it'll destroy you mentally yeah it'll be like I don't know33:19
I don't know what the Y is I haven't figured it out so yeah when you do them I'm curious to hear that for sure33:25
um no but I love it I think like you know a big takeaway here is you know you're doing it right you tried33:33
um you worked hard to handle the growth and ultimately you kept it in line with you and I think that's something that's33:38
really important um as well I think you know I've always kind of had my own little Flair to what33:44
I do and like it's not for everyone right and I think that's yeah okay I think that's one thing to understand is33:50
like you don't have to mold your business to fit what you think people want right uh there it's like ultimately33:56
mold the business that you think makes sense um there for you right and for your kind34:02
of vision um and I think you're going to be a lot happier and honestly produce better results that way you know definitely34:08
stand out yeah any way to stand out yeah 100 uh like34:13
I work a lot in like supplements and like you know gummy vitamins became a huge thing during covet and there's34:18
three manufacturers of gummy vitamins in the U.S right but there's thousands of brands that basically you're just buying34:24
the label at the end of the day right um and whatever whoever creates the best brand story right that's what you're buying into34:30
um that's yeah I mean there's the amount of the amount of universal can coolers34:36
on Amazon that people just scroll over because they're looking for frost buddy is insane right like we wouldn't be the34:41
best seller if people didn't love the story and love the brand and you know I34:47
struggled with that for a long time I was like man like I come from a middle class like small town white family that34:54
like has had no deaths or no disease like had no issues right and like I'm34:59
like I don't have a good story like and why would people follow what I'm doing or follow even frostbuddy and I think35:06
that's the beautiful thing that like I finally realized every single person is unique in some way shape or form and35:13
everyone can relate to someone's story so you don't need a huge Community you just need to find the people that can35:19
relate to you yeah no beautiful beautifully said uh there for sure35:25
um well I know we've uh taken up a lot of your time here today brother in a super fun chat35:31
um where can people find you you know follow you what are the best handles to uh to follow frostbite's Journey here35:36
yeah I know absolutely uh so LinkedIn just brought the Moser uh you connect with me I'll connect with anybody unless35:43
you try to sell me on the first connection and then uh Tick Tock uh either Frost35:49
buddy or Brock lomoser and you know YouTube Just Frost Frost buddy those are35:55
probably the three best cool yeah we'll get some links in the comments for it for sure but yeah thank you so much uh36:00
definitely uh some really good conversation appreciate the time today hey thank you I loved it36:06
awesome
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