Habits and Hustle - Episode 11: John Pinto – Co-Founder of BoomBoom Nasal Inhalers – Shark Tank, Having a Vision, and Creating Your Own Industry

Episode Date: May 16, 2019

You probably saw the founder of Boom Boom, John Pinto on Shark Tank. He joins us for this episode to talk about his experience on the show, how he came to create Boom Boom, the logistics of entrepreneurship, wellness, working with influencers, marketing, his daily routine and so much more. 📺 Youtube Link to This Episode ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Did you learn something from tuning in today? Please pay it forward and write us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. 📧If you have feedback for the show, please email [e-mail]  📙Get yourself a copy of Jennifer Cohen’s newest book from Habit Nest, Badass Body Goals Journal. ℹ️Habits & Hustle Website 📚Habit Nest Website 📱Follow Jennifer – Instagram – Facebook – Twitter – Jennifer’s Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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and my guest today is John Pinto, who was on the show, offered a deal, and turned it down. His company Boom Boom is a nasal inhaler designed to change your mood with different sense. In the interview, we talked about how he came up with the idea for Boom Boom is a nasal inhaler designed to change your mood with different sense. In the interview, we talked about how he came up with the idea for Boom Boom and how his parents inspired him. We also get into what happens behind the scenes on Shark Tank and his experience going on the show.

I asked John about a couple of rumors I heard about the show that he really digs into. So without further ado, here he is. Okay guys, this is the Habitson Household Podcast and today we have John, who created Boom Boom Naturals, which is a natural inhaler and And it's a number one natural inhaler. So thank you so much for coming. Of course, happy to be here. Oh great. Thank you. So I remember when I was a kid,

I would always use those vapor inhalers when I had a really bad cold. And this kind of looks like that's what it is, yeah? Yeah, same delivery mechanism as kind of the old school vicks and hallers are kind of those white label brands. So basically, what made you think of it Like why did you decide to do this? Because those are like old school from I don't want to age myself but like 30 years ago or so. And like are they not out anymore? They're not popular because I actually had a bad

cool a little couple weeks ago and I was searching high and low for them and I could not find them. And they worked and they were worked, yeah. For sure. So we did not get the idea from actually the kind of the Vixen hairlars you see here, because those are more aimed towards like sinus and cold, as you mentioned. Right. We are story goes back to actually Southeast Asia in Thailand, where it's not so much about the cold and sinus,

it's more about using it for every day and using it to feel more alert, awake, refreshed. So if you go to like Southeast Asia or anywhere in Thailand, you'll see like 10 to 12 different brands in any convenience store, there's just a bunch of them everywhere. Wow, like kind of like a smelling salt kind of thing, right? Yeah, kind of get sentences away. Yeah, similar idea, you know, activating those smell receptors to like perk yourself up But without like harsh ammonia and some of the chemicals that are in some of those products

Right. Well like like for example Not mentioning anything but starts with a bee maybe ends with an ass type of thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so At least from my understanding with like the vixen hairlers right I Didn't see them anywhere either for a while. And what I found out was they actually pulled theirs off the market because it had an active ingredient and it loved methamphetamine. And some of the other like right-aid brands

and Walgreens brands and hairlars will still have that active ingredient. But if you go to the Vix website, they no longer have that they relaunched their VIX inhaler as like a non-medicated version. And so they do have the inhaler out now, but you probably didn't see it in stores because they kind of pulled back and I think they're now reintroducing this non-medicated version. But if you go online, you can find it, I'm sure. Sure, like anything else you find online. Yeah. these even though this wasn't the main reason why you started you created this wasn't to you know help with

nasal congestion Does it actually help because it that would imagine like yeah, it's a very easy way to kind of help with this kind of like congestion or cold Because you're you're sticky after nose practically right 100% yeah the menthol in there the peppermint oil and there Definitely opens you up a bit. We are very careful with what we claim because we don't want it to fall into the cold and sinus allergy product category. We feel like there's a bigger opportunity in kind of the mass like refreshment, rejuvenation,

market in an alternative way to feeling refreshed, as opposed to maybe even having an energy drink, you can sniff your boom boom and feel a bit more awake. I love that. So then what made you even think, what was your background? Like, why did you even think of doing this? Yeah, so both of my parents are functional medicine practitioners. So I grew up with a pretty alternative background, both our chiropractors by trade.

But more in the energy medicine now as they've evolved with their practice. And so essential oils were always a big part of my upbringing. Oh, God. And the co-founder of the product had actually traveled to Thailand and came back with the idea and was like, look look we should look into this and Ever since then I've just been completely pulled to the product and It really kind of made it my mission to to bring it to the masses Right, and there's I know you say the number one inhaler But is there a lot of competition though because like I said, I don't only see it anywhere

So there so there's no the unique kind of differentiator with our inhalers is that they're flavored too, right? So there are no other flavored inhalers. So there's Mel and Winterman, Barry, Cinnamon, you know, probably a few others at some point. In terms of the kind of the cold and sinus and allergy products, there's Olbus is a brand that's in Whole Foods.

They're like they're the only inhaler that's in Whole Foods, they're like the only inhaler that's in Whole Foods, and then you have VIX, and there's a few other players that have popped up on Amazon, probably because they've seen this success that we've had. Right. But again, it's still focused on kind of that niche market of not feeling so good. Okay, so a couple of things. Number one, I mean, you are on Shark Tank. Yeah.

And you did not take a deal, which I want to understand. I actually want to know about the process, because I know a lot of entrepreneurs, like that's like the thing they're striving to do and to be on, and it's super competitive. Oh yeah. And I want to know, like in all honesty, how is the experience?

And I don't just say, oh, it was great and lovely if it wasn't number three. My experience with Shark Tank was amazing. I like a huge shout out to all the people that put on that show at ABC. Sony, they've been 10 seasons now, and it's very dialed in. I love it as a person watching it.

It's like, it's very captivating. But behind the scenes, what was the process to even get on? Yeah, so I did sign a very lengthy agreement. So I don't want to give too much away, but the actual steps to getting on are pretty straightforward. You do like an open call, which we actually bypassed, because I had sent an email in like six months prior,

and they called me and they're like, hey, like what's going on with your business? Is it still up and running? Yada yada. And they're like, hey, can you get us a video in the next like week? So I bypass the open call we sent in the video. And then if they like the video, you have to, you basically get paired up with like a team of producers. And then they help you create kind of your pitch, which then you have to do another video. And then that gets shown to some of the executives.

And then from there, you literally have another, you go in person and you pitch to like 25 people, like none of the sharks, but like all the executive producers basically have the show, give you like the final like green light. Okay, these guys can go on. Right, so actually getting, before even get to the chance of possibly even making it on television, you're actually already auditioned multiple times and been rehearsed and have already had like some kind of performance, so to speak. Yep. Do they have, what was your not-tip interview, but what were you adding revenue by the time

that they were, why they were so interested in you? So our first full year of business was 2016, and then 2017 was the second full year. So we went from 225,000 to 766,000 in 2017. And then this last year, 2018, we were projecting when we went on the show to hit 1.1 million and we came in just below that. So about three years of business and about 1 million revenue. And where were you selling? You were selling on your website. Yeah, on our website. Amazon. We go and do a lot of live events as well. So we've had a lot of a lot of success. A lot of sex, yeah. Wow. What a lot of success selling. And that makes you nervous? No, no, not at all. At live events.

So music festivals is a really good place. You're right right now. So you can be too, to call that out. I'm going to go ahead. Love it, love it. We go and sell it a lot of music festivals. So we go and set up shop and, you know, three days and have a lot of traffic come through for us.

That's a really good way to close the loop from the people seeing it online maybe for the first time and seeing some of our fun marketing. Being like, oh, I've seen that online and they'll come up and they'll try it. So those are really the only three places we've been selling. We're in maybe like 200 retail stores,

just randomly throughout kind of the country. Like health food stores or? Convenient stores, health food stores, really, just kind of, they're all very random. A lot of inbounding, Parisa, okay, we want to sell your product in our massage shop or whatever it is. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. exciting. But they weren't so interested in the shark tank people. They were more interested in the numbers, how you went from $2.25 to $725,000 to a projection of 1.1. Do they even care?

Or is it more that they just love the product? And they thought, oh, this is a cool thing to have on the show. Is it more product-based? Or is it just story-based? It's more, I felt like it was more product-based. It's more like, is this going to be good for TV? Is it unique enough? How's their story? And for us, yeah, I felt like it was more product-product focus and good for TV. I mean, they haven't had anything like boom boom on the show. I mean,

there isn't anything like boom boom, but to see like, you know, Mark Cuban, whoever put something up their nose on TV, it's, I mean, it's good to you. Right. It's visuals. It's great. It's great. It's great. It's great. Right. And we know that when most people try it for the first time, there's usually a pretty positive reaction, at least like, whoa, like, because they haven't tried anything like that before. Right. Right. Right. Especially since it's flavored. So we felt like that was kind of our unique thing. And then my wife actually came on the show with me, which was a lot of fun. That was a once in a lifetime experience.

So she doesn't normally work with you on the right. She, I mean, in any startup, you know, there's everybody's kind of all hands on deck. She's a really good marketing mind. So she helped out with some of the marketing and some of the live event stuff. Right. But she's a dentist by trade. So she. Oh God. of the marketing and some of the live event stuff.

But she's a dentist by trade. So she... Oh God. So yeah, nothing to do with this really. Nothing to do with this. Well, I mean, somewhat because you're nasal cavity is all connected. It's a part of the face. It was, I mean, definitely a positive having a doctor next to me talking about it and being like, hey, like, you know, and we could pull out some studies and like really back up some of the things we were talking about. And so that was also part of it is like our story and us going on together as this married couple and kind of pushing for, you know, the American dream. Making your business happen.

Of course, and it's a great TV for having that kind of camaraderie with you and your wife. So then what happened when you got on to this show? So then you go on now was your episode aired because I know a lot of people actually get to that point and then their episode doesn't even show right? So they I believe they film enough pitches to do 26 episodes with only 22 like I think ABC only bought like 22 episodes. So some

people do not get aired. We were aired on October 28th of 2018 and crazy enough, I feel very blessed. We actually got rerun like last week. That's great. So they did, like they're doing like Sundays, Sharteng like double headers where they'll play the new one and then they'll rerun Another episode and we got we got picked which was awesome Vitamin water just dropped a new zero sugar flavor called with love get the taste of raspberry and dark chocolate for the all warm All fuzzy all self-care Zero self-doubt you. Grab a with love today. Vitamin water's zero sugar, nourish every you.

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Age and other restrictions may apply. For coverage, consult your health insurance company, visit the pharmacy or our site for details. So what happened when your episode actually airs, what is your numbers, do they spike and what what what happens? So we I was there with my my ads guy, we're looking at like Google analytics live and watching all this stuff happen live because it airs on the East Coast. Right.

I guess it was six PM.m. R time. And you just see the traffic, just like start to go up and I'm like refreshing my Shopify app and my Amazon app and like nothing's happening. And I was like, oh my God, do people, are people not ordering the product? Right, right. The next thing, you know, like it just glitch.

There's so many people on the site ordering that it just didn't update. Oh my God. So we ended up, you know, not it just glitch. There's so many people on the site ordering that it just didn't update. Oh my gosh. We ended up, you know, not to give like very specific numbers, but we did, we didn't, actually I want to have specific numbers. Well, we did, okay, so to give you some reference, we did as many orders in the night of Shark Tank and the week following as we did the entire last year.

Wow, so we, why the week following? Did they, did they show commercials that had you on there? Like, why would there be a week following the week after? Because it's because it's, it's, it's, I think we fall. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, because it gets people are DVRing and it drops on who the next day. After the episode. Yeah. So it aired that Sunday. And then that whole next week was totally crazy. And we were just like, you know, getting orders.

We have a third party that packs out all of our orders. And we got everything out within, I think, 10 days. It was, we were a little bit backed up, but it was an amazing experience. So what's the price point of each one then? We sell our, we have like a build your own three pack which is what most people order for 1995 and then we do a our five pack which is all five flavors for 29 95. Okay so it's very reasonably priced. Yeah. It's like and so how long

does each one last though for? They last keep that that closed. It'll last for about three months. Oh good. The intensity of it will slowly fade. Disappear, yeah. But if you keep it closed and just like sitting on your desk, it'll last for, I mean, even more than a few months, but the intensity goes away and it's like, okay, time for a new one. A new one.

Yeah. So, okay, let's go back to start things. So then who offered you a deal? Like, what happened when you walked in there? Yeah, that will, you kind of like black out. It was like, it was like, we've my wife and I have seen every single episode. And so the door, like you're standing there

between those first doors and like your cue is when the doors open, the first set of doors and you walk down. And when the door swings open, I mean, you're out of your own body. You're kind of like looking at yourself, walking in at the same time. Oh my God, I love the show too, by the way.

So I don't know, I didn't see your episode. That's why I don't watch everyone, but I'm excited for you. And it's so like, I could just imagine the excitement and anxiety looking there. And imagine this, so you walk up, you hit your mark, because they show you all this at a time. And you just stare they're like,

you just stare at the sharks for about 30 seconds as the camera wraps around to get the shot they need. And then you like hear just a voice that says like, begin and you just go and Chelsea, my wife was like, did you even hear them say begin? I was like, well, yeah, I started the video. She came in, you know, after that, but it was, yeah, it was, it was a lot of fun.

And then you go through the pitch, like my biggest beer walking in was the, them not liking the product. So obviously, like blowing the pitch or stumbling on the pitch is like, we practice so much. It was just second nature. There was no way we were going to mess up the pitch. But then you hand the samples out, and a lot of times what people don't really realize as your sense of smell is tied directly to memory.

And so you have some people who smell like our winter mint flavor, for example, who use this similar flavor, like chewing tobacco. And they're like, oh my God, that reminds me of my dip from 10 years ago. And so my biggest fear was the smell they picked up first And they're like, oh my God, that reminds me of my dip from 10 years ago. Right. Right. And so my biggest fear was the smell they picked up first reminded them of something that they didn't like, which it is hard because they all smell pretty damn good at least in my

opinion. Like what's not to like about watermelon or what? Yeah. And so we got through. They all tried it and they were like, and you I'll show you the episode at some point. I'll send you the link. Can you please? Yeah, it was, every they all loved it. They're all like, this is great. Robert was like, this is amazing. Like, Laurie was excited about it. Mark liked it and Charles Barkley was the guest shark.

Oh, I'm gonna ask you who was the guest shark. Okay. Charles Barkley was on it. I love him. Okay. Was he nice? Oh, yeah, he was nice. I grew up in Phoenix watching him play for the sons So it was just a very serendipitous Was was a lot of fun and we got through that first part and once they all tried it and Which was for bottle you didn't tell us what you asked for so we went in and asked for 300,000 for 10% okay which We felt was a fair valuation based off of where we're at and looking at

other consumer products with like a million dollars in revenue, like a 3x multiple seemed reasonable, but you know, we got down the pitch and there were some concerns here and there, but they got a little bit stuck on some of our margins going into retail. We went in saying, hey, we want to sell these for $3.99 right at the point of purchase. We feel like that's like the sweet spot. Although we've been selling them for $4.99 and $5.99 and $7.95 on our website.

And so they got a little bit hung up on like, okay, well, why are you selling it for $7.95 on the website? And you want to undercut yourself for $3.99. And which is true. Which is true. Which is very true. But our whole thing was, hey, we genuinely feel like this is a point of purchase product. And so if we can come in at that lower price point,

where it really is, just like a mindless grab to try it for the first time, that that's the price point we needed to be at. And based on what though, do you put business background, by the way? Like, I know your parents were your doctor or chiropractors, function, but did you have a Juvenant MBA? Do you have a...

I went to Emory University, out in Atlanta, and I went to the business school there, undergrad business school, didn't do any MBA. Not to say that makes a difference. I'm just wondering, like, were you basing on Excel spreadsheets at you, like an EBida, that you had experienced with before, or where you get the idea? The price point of 399 was purely from our own tests.

The retail. That's why I wanted to. Yeah, going around, I mean, I spent six months going around LA, getting it in 7-Eleven's, and here and there, and just seeing what happened. And 399 was that price point where it really just moved. And so we went in with that strategy and reflecting now,

maybe we could have done things a little bit differently with kind of how we price things out, but overall, we were super happy with just going in and having a, it doesn't always happen when you go in and you get an offer. What was the offer? You didn't tell us. So Robert made us an offer. Yeah, everybody passed, they had their reasons why Robert made us an offer, but he wanted 36% for 300,000. Why 36? What was his reasoning? Like why not 37 or 35? Because myself and the other co-founder at that time both owned 30 a little over 36% of the business.

We had initial investors like way back in the day. Who invested like on the idea, right? And so he was like, I want to be in as the same level as you and the other guy. And I was like, okay, well, we can't do that. We countered, we countered. I said, would you do 15% and he was like, no, and then I said, look, the most we were willing to do when we came in here is 20%. And he's like, can't do it. And so I was like, all right, thanks guys. We were a lot to it. Yep, pretty crazy. Oh my god. And then so the funniest part of my wife and I always laugh at this is you walk out

and the camera's right there and like we gave her post interview and all that. And there's two funny things. One is you see before you go on and after you go on, it's required that you meet with their like on-site psychiatrist. Are you serious? That's a great tip but I had no idea. So they have an on. Let me just take that in for a second. So the shark tank has an on-site psychiatrist that everybody has to see before and after they go on and talk to the sharks. Yes, and I was like,

I don't think anyone really knows about that. Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have said that, but... No, I know. So all I've signed it, I actually think that's very smart. And it's super proactive on their part because you want to make sure that the people when they are leaving, they're not going to go kill themselves for not getting a deal.

And you, because you see some of these people go on the show and they have second mortgages on their home and they are all in, like, all in and they get ripped apart. Oh, absolutely. I could imagine. And we went in and I was like, my feeling when we walked out was, I had two feelings. One was, that was awesome. That was so much fun. And then the other feeling was,

none of them really saw the bigger vision for the product. I've always seen this as being everywhere. And every convenience store, every whole food's like, every place where there's product. Like a five hour energy for this. Yeah, just everywhere. It's like, anybody with a nose can use it. It's enjoyable. Kind of like gum, you know? Kind of similar to gum. I guess. It's like anybody with a nose can use it. It's enjoyable kind of like gum, you know, kind of similar to gum.

I guess I guess the nose could use it. And so they didn't they didn't see that and and that's okay. You know, but those are the two kind of feelings that I left with when we when we kind of got out of the because you're seeing it as a quick pick me up like you would like a like a five hour energy. Yeah, like a five hour or even, you know, even like throwing a-hour energy. Yeah, like a five-hour or even throwing a piece of gum. Like, why do you put in gum? It's like, oh, it feels good. It's a good question. It's just, you know, it's kind of like... Even though the price point's more expensive than gum,

but you're trying to create a whole new category for what that is. And it lasts for a long time. Yeah, no, I understand. And also like, no one's gonna be more passionate about this than you, right? Because it's your thing. Yeah.

And so I can understand that. Like, it could be a long sale to kind of get other people to have that same passion on that thing. But going. Yeah, one of the recently a buddy of mine was like, you know, if you think of business, like, products ideas, it was like a wave, right? There's, if you create a beverage, it's like,

the wave is already there, right? If you can do it, it's like the wave is already there, right? If you can do it better and have more of a unique product than other people, you hopefully can be successful with boom-boom. It's like we've created a new wave, right? So it's taking more time to build that up, but I feel like with that there's a lot more opportunity in the long run. If it's a good product and you're willing to stick with it. Why I also think because the price point is,

it's feasible for the majority of people. It's not so expensive or where people have a second get, think twice or three times, right? Especially if you can get it down to $3.99. At $7.95, I will say, like, even someone who, I mean, I have a little bit of expendable income, I would not be so, I would be like, I don't really need it.

But 399 you're right, point of purchase while I'm buying some gum or whatever at the front. I might as well like mince, I can just get this and save a couple calories. For the same thing, right? But okay, so then the onsite psychiatrists, so because I guess like you're saying to your point, people do have second and third mortgages.

They don't wanna have a situation where someone's like, this is like all or die for somebody, and they don't get a deal. So with you, you seem to be, I mean, I don't know you very well, but you seem to be pretty like level headed. Yeah, and so, and so one more point to that, which was funny and I didn't even really expect this, because I don't tend to have like a ton of like fear

and worry and those things come up a lot in my daily life. But the day after Shark Tank when I woke up, because you do kind of like black out when you're in there. I'm sure. You don't really remember everything. So Chelsea, my wife and I, we both woke up and we were like, what happened in there? Like we didn't remember. We like, we're like, oh my gosh, like, well, we got an offer. so that's good, but what happened inside the take? I genuinely couldn't remember really. Like the bits and pieces, of course.

But it took about 24 hours after that till it started to come back. And I was like, oh my God, okay, so this happened and that happened. And then I was like, oh, okay, I can feel good about that. I know the feeling I had when I left was like very positive. So I wouldn't have had that otherwise. Right, right, right.

But that was the one very interesting thing for me where I was like, I came out of there and I did, I felt like, dang, like I don't know what happened. We just like look like it's on TV. Right. You don't know. You don't know. And then you don't and then you definitely don't know how they're going to edit you. That's always a problem with you.

You sign your life away. It's like a 75 page agreement. And it says, multiple times, we can edit this, however we want. And you're going to have to be OK with that. Wow. So did you have any interaction with Charles Barclay or any of the other sharks afterwards? Or was like, basically, you have your five minutes to kind of do your pitch and then they kind of just

like you get out of there you do your little post-production thing and then you're out and you never have anything like you never see them or talk to them again. So you get you get a chance to see your setup before you go down and do the real thing. Okay. Which they were so amazing about they're like make sure the setup is exactly how you want it. This is your business. They even say, if you want to scrap the pitch that you practiced for the last three months

and say whatever you want, go for it. It's genuinely like your business, do whatever you want. And so when you walk down and you see your setup before you're about to go in, some of the sharks are hanging out. And you, they're not talking to you, but you can see them and kind of break the ice. And so the first time those doors open is in the first time you're seeing them.

And so we saw a few of them just hanging out. But then after, you're not, they don't even want you to go up and like, like shake hands, or anything, it's, hey, if you get a deal, they'll come up to you. And I think part of that is like camera angles and lighting and all that, but no, there is no- Or also, they're so, they run such a tight ship now

that show is so successful, they have it down to a science of what's gonna work, how to get as much out of it and like have a, it's a good machine basically. But then, okay, so I had a question, I heard, and this could be a rumor, that if you do get on and your show airs, right, even if you don't get a deal or make a deal, shark tank, the

company, Disney or shark tank, will get 1% of your company in perpetuity for the rest of your life, is that true? No. It's not true. At least as I understand it, it used to be true. Okay, so that was something that they had. That's some point that was in place and I believe Mark Cuban said, if you guys continue doing this, like they've had done a few seasons, he's like, I don't think this is fair. I'm not going to do the show anymore if you guys keep taking pieces of companies basically. Right.

And so they've stopped. So no, there's no strings attached. I would have given them 1%, honestly. It was that valuable for us. Wow. Yeah. It was, there's nothing else like it, right? You go in and...

There is nothing else that can... There's nothing else like it. That exposure to like, you know, especially I think now we're in like a wave of time where like entrepreneurial is, anything that's entrepreneurial, it's there's such a excitement and like the amount of, what's the word I would get to,

this attention on entrepreneurs is I feel bigger than it's ever been. 100%. People are so fascinated by not just this podcast, but a gazillion other podcasts and every other media company is creating things like this to kind of have a peek into what entrepreneurs go through, the habits of entrepreneurs, which is what this is about, which we'll get to later. And that shark tank is at the precipice of all of it.

It was the original and it's still the best. I mean, it's worth it to give a percent. But I will tell you something, like a little funny thing. Years and years ago, I create a shoe company and I was approached by Shark Tank. It was their first season. They weren't even, yeah, like their first season. And they were probably looking for businesses.

And they were looking for companies and people to put on, right? And basically long story short, part of the contract back then was no matter what happens, we were gonna take 1% in in perpetuity no matter what. And my partner at the time was like, that's crazy, I'm not going to do it. And then I would have known what the show is, it could be a total stupid show. I would have given a percentage of weight to some nobody.

Well, I mean, obviously, that was in looking back at it. I'm happy to hear that 1%, so I never went on, obviously. But I definitely, if I were to do that decision today, absolutely, I would give that 1%. But I'm glad to hear that it's also out of the contract because I do think that it's not fair. These people, you know, just it is Entertainment and so you shouldn't be taking a percentage of like a you know an innocent poor innocent entrepreneur, right? Especially if they have seven mortgages on their house, right? Yeah, exactly But so then what okay? So you had a partner and now you don't have a partner anymore

You're you're a solo running this thing. Are you a delete is it lean? Do you have a bunch of people working with you? What's your deal? So I have right now I have three full-time people and myself and then I have a handful of contractors. Yeah, like graphic design, like ads online, Instagram, Facebook. That's helpful. Oh, that's how I built the business. We built the business through running Facebook and Instagram ads and direct messaging people on Instagram, sending out free samples. It's a very small, light product. So we can send this very inexpensively to thousands of people.

So are you basically just picking influencers in health, wellness, or are you picking a lot of different nutrition? Who are you picking and who's doing the picking? It's a, so right now, it's a wide variety of people. We're really testing different spaces. So yeah, health and wellness, like power lifters who are already using like smelling salts. The party scene loves it.

The cannabis culture loves it as well. Yeah. We're creating some new skews that are a little bit more mainstream. The tubes are going to be white. There's going to be one specifically for relaxation. That's lavender based. We're doing a CBD infused inhaler, which I'm super pumped about. We're coming out the whole CBD line.

Of course you are. Yeah, you're not even everyone else. Yeah. Not with this, but CBD is like the neococonod oil. I feel like everyone has something, CBD coming out. Yeah, and so there's a lot of things I'm excited about. And it's an interesting enough product where people are like, oh, I'll try that.

And they're interested to learn more. And so we work with a bunch of different influencers and, are you paying them or is it just far to pay like, you'll just, they will, you know, get it free, they'll be at free inhalers if they just do a post. That's generally what we do. We've tested some paid stuff and it does work, depending on the influencer, but,

that would be crazy like with these like micro influencers, people with under 10,000 followers that are just really hustling and grinding to build their pages. They have crazy engagement and really they'll people will buy what they're telling them. Oh, absolutely. I'm a big believer in that. In fact, what I was going to ask you was, have you found that when you do all these social media influencer product giveaways, how helpful has it been to the sales at the bottom line of your business?

Has it been or is it more Facebook ads, digital marketing beyond just social media? It's the paid advertising stuff is where we can really track it. The influencer stuff is a little bit tougher to track because there's different ways you can set up these campaigns. And, you know, yes, you can use coupon codes to like track stuff, but then it seems a little, but sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't because it just doesn't seem genuine from these people.

So it's like, we've found that, yes, it definitely helps the bottom line Harder to track sometimes than other times. Okay. It's not as Specific as like Facebook right? I know if I spend a hundred dollars. I'm gonna get X in return Right, right first. You see a return on your investment right away with that right like that because you see a One plus one will equal exactly and what you just said I think I agree the micro influencers You know in my experience are way more effective than doing these like mass Mass people who have got millions of people following them because most of it or most of those people are to have dead influencers

And their noise engaged exactly but someone who has 10,000 or even 5,000 If they they will have like their 5,000 are super, super die-hard followers and they care and they're engaged and they're listening, it's way more effective and it's cheaper to get that. Yeah, well, it's for us, it's, you know, if I look at sending a three-pack, via USPS, first-class mail, all in, I can spend five bucks and get this out to, let's say, 100 people for 500 bucks.

Right. And I'm gonna pay one person, 500 bucks for one post. It depends on the influencer. If it's an influencer who's, you know, but you're not gonna get anybody crazy big for 500 bucks anyway. No, you're not. It's like, is it really worth it?

I don't know. You're not gonna get, I mean, listen, I mean, also your product is not an expensive product, right? Like, and I think that the problem, the problem is like you're, I, I agree with you. I feel like it could be like one of those things that's like cheap to mail. You have way more bang for your box, sending out like to a thousand people who will do it for free, but frankly, because once, if they have 5,000 or 8,000 people, they're just happy to get free products. Exactly.

Right? Versus these big astronomical pages that they want huge fee, they don't want to do it. They become more than a list of celebrities. You know what I mean? It's seriously, like, it's easier to give this to like Britney Spears probably than to give me into some like, schmo on social media that just is some random person. It's crazy. It's a crazy world.

It's amazing. It's amazing. I love it all, but it's really funny from a business side looking at this. I mean, okay, this does this work does it not right and Making those decisions, you know, and I'm always I'm a big fan of like testing things out right at least once Maybe twice just to see what happens right? So we've done some of that stuff through Through like fame bit and some of these other influencer platforms were right what. What's fame bit? Which one is that? I think YouTube owns them. Of course. And it's yeah. I think they bought them a couple of years ago, but there's there's a few other ones where they have just like a marketplace of influencers and brands and you can put as a brand you can put up hey this specific project and oh yeah says it's a couple of those that yeah yeah

I know what you're talking about. Yeah we've tested some of that and it's. But maybe tell me to say that what it is because I think a lot of people don't know and that could be a really. This could that could be a good way or a platform for brands who are looking for exposure. So FameBit is. Yeah, FameBit is a is a market place for influencers and brands to come together and see if there's an opportunity to work together. Where brands can say, hey, I would love you to create a video or insert this into one of your videos organically and I'm willing to pay $500 or $1,000 or whatever.

And then, and it's just, it's nice. It's a cool process where it's kind of automated, it's trackable. You're, when you pay, it's, it's kind of held in escrow, so they don't get their money until the work is delivered and it's approved. And it's just a systematic way for brands to start to dabble in the influence of the world. Right. And then, okay, I have a couple other questions for you and then you can go home. Or not, you can say all day.

I'll be here all day. So you can be here all day. It's fine. First of all, do you have a rollout for what's next? Or are you going to try to be like just, you're going to pick one product to it extremely well? And that's how you're going to make your fortune. Or are you thinking like in 2020, 2021,

I want to come up with X as a brand extension? So as an entrepreneur, as you probably know, I call it shiny object syndrome, where you're like, yes. Oh my God, I want to do that. I want to do that. And I've gotten caught up in that a few times. And always look back and be like,

you just got to stay the course. I, yeah, the percent true. Yeah, and it's, again, I've learned that lesson a couple of times. But for boom boom, we do have a couple, we have an essential oil roll online. So we have four other skews that are like, like organic essential oil blends that you roll on your skin and put around, smell really good for like different, different, different things. Yeah, amazing.

I'll follow up with, with you and Sonsum. But they're great. And so I think having that is like a nice add on to the online store is amazing. For me, I am laser focused on getting these inhalers and every other inhaler that we roll out, like our sleep one or our nausea one that we're coming out with. In the stores and like being V brand when you associate anything nasal inhaler, it's like boom boom. Like, even if it's not a boom boom, oh, that's a boom boom.

You know, and that's my like, like, Phoenix as for like tissue. Yeah, exactly. That's that's my bigger plan and vision for this. It gets to not miss with what it is. And I want, I, you know, I'll throw this out there on camera. It's like I want the people at VIX to be sitting around a table in five years from now being like, what is happening to our inhaler sales?

Why is nobody buying our product anymore? And they'll do some research and they're like, oh my God, boom, boom is just crushing us with all of these different skews they have and here's the audience they built online and have kind of built this story around aromatherapy and like putting things in your nose that are healthy for you. Right, and I poke. And you know, and like I've seen that.

I see that as kind of the future of boom boom and what I'm going to be staying laser focused on until that happens. And I don't know how long it's going to take, but I think we have a, you know, we got a big head start with our Shark Tank appearance, with us being the first like flavored nasal inhaler available. And so anything that's not going to help that mission out, like I'm just going to kind of avoid. Are you at, by the way, when you show Rewrann, did you have that huge spike again and did it drop really quickly right after? What? Nighted aired, we hit about 50% of what we did the first time. And then it did drop off a bit quicker. Right. So it wasn't as big of a, you know, as a push, but

I think it gets like synd on CNBC and all these other places. I'm like, just keep showing it. It's going to be a nice little bump, I think, anytime we get reared, but I don't know how often that'll be or when or where. Right, right. And what's your projection for revenue the following year? So this year, right now, I think we have projected to be at about two.

OK, that's a good jump from one moment. That's a good jump. And I definitely think that's doable. If we get into some of these retail accounts sooner, it could be higher. But usually from what I'm now learning with my new sales guy who's great, it's going to take a little bit longer.

You'll get some tests going and then, hey, they'll be doing a category review and then they'll push you into stores on the West Coast and then East Coast. So it could take two, three years, I don't know, but I think at least online we're going to be able to hit two million this year. That's good. And then how about trade? Are you doing like the natural, like expo and all that stuff? Yeah, we're doing expo last this year for the first time.

For the first time. We're pumped about that. Yeah, it's the best. I love that trade show. Wow, I love it. So you've never been before as a vendor. No, not as a vendor. Yeah, by the way.

Where are you gonna be? You're gonna be in the third floor. Where are you gonna be? We're gonna be in the Hilton Hot Products. Hot products? Yeah, hot products. Yeah, of course. So we'll be there, which we're like designing our like backdrop and doing all that right now.

So it'll be fun. And then we're doing ASD, which is on Vegas. Which one is the ASD? It's a big, it's a really big show. A lot of different categories, but we'll be sitting in like the sea store and like culture right on the border there. Gotcha, okay. You're not doing expo store and culture right on the border there. Gotcha. Okay.

You're not doing expo E store you? No. Okay. And we're starting with those two and then hopefully we'll start getting into more distributor shows. Right. So like the McLean's and core marks and HG Hackney, those are like, they're distributing to all the convenience stores and some of these other places.

That'll take a little bit of time, but that's where you can go into the show and like, you're just taking orders. Right. You know, if people like it, like, okay, send it to this, this, this store, and then they just pump the orders through McClain or Core Mark or whatever. Whatever the distributor is. And then let me just go back once I can, did you, is this your first undertaking as an entrepreneur, or did you try something as a kid?

Were you always very entrepreneurial? Or this was kind of like my family, my parents were doing this, and therefore it was a nice kind of segue into this. I've always felt very entrepreneurial. My grandpa was an entrepreneur, started a big garbage business from scratch. My parents, my sister's entrepreneur, and so when I came

out of memory, I was looking for entrepreneurial type of roles. I knew I wasn't ready to go do something myself. I didn't have any experience. I didn't know what I wanted to do. And I was super fortunate and got hired on as the first employee at a company that's now called Snack Nation. I know Snack Nation. Really? You were hired, you know Sean Kelly? Yeah, I know Sean Kelly. Hi, Sean Kelly.

So, for the Sean. Well, Sean Kelly is the other co-founder of Boom Boom. So, are you kidding me? I'm sorry, I got it. So, I was their first employee. Sean and Andy are business partners. It was called Human Health Evending Act. Of course, I know Human Health.

Of course. So, I was the first employee there. And... Why didn't I know any of this? This is hilarious. And so, but the funny thing is, is we were building that business and that grew really quickly. And I was like, this was at year like four or five. And I was like, was Sean and Annie and I was like, guys, like, I like got the itch. Like, I gotta go do something else. And like, boom, boom was always a side project that Sean and I had been working

on. And they're like, look, why don't you stay here for a little bit longer. You can either do like the micro market, Los Angeles kind of push, which was like these markets building in offices. Or why don't you take a stab at starting our e-commerce, like direct to consumer box. And I was like, that's what I want to do. I get that email every day. And so I did a bunch of research. And I was like, that's what I want to do. I get that email every day. And so I did a bunch of research and I was like, guys, like, I don't think going direct to consumer is the path right now for this part of the business because there's so many people already doing it. But let's go B2B. Let's sell boxes of bigger, like bigger boxes to businesses. We have all of these leads that are smaller offices where we couldn't service

with the vending program. I was like, we have all these leads. And so that was like the birth of Snack Nation. And so I grinded on that for like two years almost. I was packing boxes. I built the sales team out. And then I was like, I went all in with Boom Boom at that time. And then they were like, they had some investors and stuff at that point. And then they said, we're running with snack nation. Like, not it's like the whole business now. And they have like 150 people. They've raised a bunch of money and they're crushing it. They're crushing it.

Sean, so Sean and Andy are both like my mentors. They're awesome. Oh my gosh. You know so funny. I was thinking the other day. I'm like, you know what? Tell Sean, first of all, you're going to tell Sean that you came on this podcast.

And tell Sean to come on this podcast. Because I would love to have them. I love his whole story. He's a go-getter. Oh, Sean. Yeah, Sean is a hustler. Yeah, he's a hustler. Super smart.

He is really great with people. Yeah, he is. He knows how to build a business. Like, that's how I was able to honestly, you know, take boom-boom and just run with it, because of everything that I learned, you know, working with them. That's great. Oh, my gosh. It's that I learned, you know, working with them.

That's great. Oh my gosh, that's so funny. I love that we ended with that. Like, that's even the beginning, really. I had no idea you were at snack nation. I mean, it's amazing. The whole thing. And by the way, snack nation as like the human was, they had like healthy, vending machines

is basically what the company started with. Yeah, healthy, you think of vending machines and it was healthier for you. Yeah, healthy for your snacks. Andending machines and it was healthier for you. Yeah, healthy for you snacks. And we had a bunch of franchisees all around the country and it was so smart. Yeah, and then that morphed into this business because a lot of companies now offer free snacks

for their employees. And so, why don't we get healthy? Yeah, we were just calling office managers and HR managers and saying, look, like your employees are currently eating crap out of the vending machines. Like, let us send you a box. It's cost 250 bucks a month. You're going to get 150 snacks and it's the subscription business and it's they've, I mean, yeah, they're doing well. Yeah, they're doing, yeah, they're doing okay. That's for sure, right? Oh my gosh,

that will funny. Well, okay, so I got to end with this. What is your morning routine like? Because I asked that to everybody, because I'm all about habits and routines. You're at habits and hustle. Yep. So give me a day in the life of you. Yeah, so I recently had a baby, well my wife had the baby.

You had the baby? My wife, one and a half years old now. So that's, yeah, thank you. It's been amazing, Peter is his name. Oh, very cute. And that's changed things a little bit, obviously. Yeah, I take it so. I get it.

But when my morning routine, in my morning routine, I'd say it's hit about 80% of the time. If Peter's up at four and was crying, things get shifted. But if I'm not working out, I'll usually hit my workout in the middle of the day. I'll get up, I'll do, what time do you wake up?

6'30. Okay. Yeah, I'll wake up 6'30 unless I'm up with Peter earlier, but 6'30 will do a big glass of water. I do 50 body weight squats, 50 pushups, just to like get going. Get the blood circulating? Yep.

Always do just like a small breakfast. I always make bulletproof coffee probably like 80% in the morning just to kind of feel a little bit more full and I feel like get more out of my coffee. But do that avocado maybe an egg. And then before or after my morning huddle with my team, I do 20 minutes of meditation. So 20 minutes of meditation. 20, 20, yeah, I took a transcendental meditation course and I'm like, this is amazing.

Like why is everybody doing this? People love that. People swear by that. It's changed their lives. It's transformed their lives. Yeah. It's the kind that, what's transcendental. People love that. People swear by that. It's changed their lives. It's transformed their lives. Yeah. But the time that it's transformed. Trans and done.

Trans and done. It's mantra-based. So just basically you focus on a mantra. Not out loud, it's just in your head. And your brain wants to go towards things and focus on things. And think of things. And when you can bring it back to a mantra, it helps it calm the mind. And so I've seen

amazing benefits from it. I always try to get 20 minutes in twice a day. Sometimes I only hit it once a day. That's amazing. I can't even do 20 seconds. Yeah. It's well, and the crazy thing is is like right up there with eating as clean as possible and working out like meditation is at the very top of the list with those two things. And so that's been a game changer for me. I took that course in April of this year or last year. So it's been just like seven, eight months or whatever it is. And then I'll just I'll crush you the work day, usually get home to relieve the nanny at like 3.30. So we have a nanny a few days, so we 8.30 to 3.30. And then I'm on dad duty until Chelsea comes home and then

we do dinner together. And then phone, we try to have our phones like down and just like off, you know, somewhere else by like 8.30. 30, and then in bed by 9, 30. You could have been every night at 9, 30. We are goal is to be in bed at 9, 30. Interesting. I love that because, you know, I asked this to everybody, not just from this podcast, but for my Forbes column, whatever anybody who's an entrepreneur, successful person. And it's the same. Some of the things are very, very similar to me, what, you what, waking up to early,

going to bed super early. And meditation is up there as well. The only difference is you said the other kind of meditation, which is why I think did you start with like basic? I wouldn't say basic, but there's meditation and then you kind of ricocheted more to transcendental. I was using headspace, the app.

Yeah. And yeah, great app. And I guess for me, I still use that app sometimes, honestly. But I guess I wanted to have a little bit more coaching behind it, if that makes sense. Like, hey, like, what is, there's a lot of studies on like mantra based meditation where they're showing like different brain activities

and brain waves coming in at different, you know, different times. And it's like, I wanted to learn about that and be like, what is like the science behind this and why, why is it working for people? And that's what I got going and taking that course. It's like a four day thing. What is the science behind it? It will. It's really about your mind focusing. So there's a few different types of meditation, but when you are like intentional meditation

for example, and you're like setting an intention, that's and you're thinking about that and you're going over it in your head, like that's one thing, but your mind is still going to be going all over the place. Whereas with trans and dental, you allow your mind to wander and that's okay. It's totally fine. You can it yourself. You don't need to be sitting still. You know, you're just kind of sitting there, but you always come back to the mantra because it just, it really does allow your brain to get into a place of like deep like calmness. And like you can come out of that feeling, like everything's kinda like, at least for me,

like kinda slowed down a little bit. And like, you know, it seems crazy, but like the leaves are brighter. And like the sun is, it's pretty, everybody has their own experience with it so I don't want to put things out there that people aren't experiencing but for me right it's been yeah it's been pretty cool right it's your experience everyone has a different unique experience and I think like it's one component of like a healthy lifestyle like if I'm

eating like crap and you know staying up late and smoking cigarettes like I don't think you're gonna have the same Absolutely as if you're you know Hey, I'm eating super clean and I'm getting good rest like I think your body will respond a lot better To something like that. It's holistic. It's everything combined It's not just one it's not a one-off But you're but you're saying the game changer for you is this trans-adental meditation. And did you work up to 20 minutes?

Or you were like, yeah, sometimes I only hit 10, right? The goal is 20, you can do it for five. You're gonna get the benefit out of it, I think if you hit it for that longer period. So that's been a big game changer. And then I think the just to kind of like pose it out the other big thing for me specifically has been the last couple of years like really waking up to like what foods are good for you and not. Yeah, like

really going down that path of understanding like, Hey, these things are going to be good for you. These things are not and do everything you can to eat as much of this and as little of this. And before it was more of this unconscious, like, okay, that's fine, I'll do this. And I'm working out, but I did see some negative impacts on my health through the foods I was eating. And since then, I'd lost like 35 pounds

and had some brain fog and some weird things had come up. Well, I lost a lot of weight. So skinny. Yeah, it's like slim. Yeah, I just eating, eating things that be more conscious of what you're putting in your body. So you're thinking so that's basically it. I still think that that that that transadental meditation though, I think it does do any form of meditation from what I'm told because I'm still I'm still practicing trying to practice this is A real game changer. Yeah, for people. Yeah, I'm a center them for sure. I'm calm them. I think you know most people if you would have asked me A year ago would you be meditating twice a day? I would have been like you are Absolutely out of your mind.

There's zero percent chance I'd be doing that. Right. And look at your now. I think things come to you when you need them. I'm a big believer in that. And when you're like ready for them. And some people need different things than other things. And so for me, that was something that kind of fell

in my lap. And I was like, OK, I'll try it out. It worked out for you. Yeah. Well, okay. Well, I think that's good. I think I covered everything with you unless there's anything else you want to talk about. I think that's great. I think we probably should at least end with a boom boom cheers. Yeah, of course. All right. Mm. Oh, yeah. Amazing. Woo! Love it.

Wow. Love it. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This episode is brought to you by the YAP Media Podcast Network. I'm Holla Taha, CEO of the award-winning Digital Media Empire YAP Media, and host of YAP Young & Profiting Podcast, a number one entrepreneurship and self-improvement podcast where you can listen, learn, and profit. On Young & Profiting Podcast, I interview the brightest minds in the world, and I turn their wisdom into actionable advice that you can use in your daily life. Each week we dive into a new topic like the art of side hustles, how to level up your influence and persuasion and goal setting.

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