THE ONES WHO DARED
THE ONES WHO DARED PODCAST Elevating stories of courage. You can listen to some of the most interesting stories of courage, powerful life lessons, and aha moments. Featuring interviews with leaders, pioneers and people who have done hard things. I hope these stories help pave the path for you to live out your courageous life.
THE ONES WHO DARED
From Craigslist to A-list | Teliee Popov's Entrepreneurial Journey of Resilience and Adaptability
Teliee Popov shares his remarkable journey from a struggling musician to a thriving entrepreneur, highlighting the resilience, creativity, and determination that have driven his success. Through failures, setbacks, negotiations, and opportunities, Teliee encourages listeners to embrace their entrepreneurial spirit and persist in the face of obstacles.
• Teliee's early experiences ignited his entrepreneurial aspirations
• The shift from music to the business world
• Drawing lessons from challenges to pave the way for future achievements
• The significance of negotiation in business
• Tales of conquering fear and demonstrating perseverance in entrepreneurship
• Valuable insights on launching new ventures and adapting to difficulties
• Words of encouragement for those navigating their own entrepreneurial hurdle
-Links-
https://www.svetkapopov.com/
https://www.instagram.com/svetka_popov/
I think about it and I'm like you know what? I'm going to risk it all. I'm going to rent this space. I rent it, but while renting it, I immediately start shifting the companies I'm working with and all of a sudden I'm going much higher end and I'm grabbing a few Italian companies and a Canadian, and even the Chinese companies. There are a few very few, actually two that I know of that are pretty decent Grab both of them. Open up the showroom. That actually is spectacular. It's a beautiful showroom. I'm in the art district. I mean, this is quite different from where I started.
Speaker 2:Hey friends, welcome to the Ones who Dared podcast, where stories of courage are elevated. I'm your host, vekka, and every other week you'll hear interviews from inspiring people. My hope is that you will leave encouraged. I'm so glad you're here, talit Papa. Welcome to the Wants to Dare podcast.
Speaker 1:Well, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:I am so genuinely excited to have you on here. There has been so many people that asked me to bring him on, you on, and we've been trying to get you on and finally we're getting it done, so I'm thrilled, Okay.
Speaker 2:Okay we're getting it done, so I'm thrilled. Okay, so you are a really interesting guest because I know you more intimately than I have or know any other guests or any other person really and you inspire me so much and there's days where I'm like, wow, how do you do the things that you do? And I just feel like you truly are an inspiration. I don't know if you know that or not, but you really do inspire me in so many ways. And we have grown together.
Speaker 2:Obviously we've been married for over 20 some years, so we have kind of molded and shaped each other. You help me to be more of a risk taker. You help me to care a lot less what people think, because you just kind of do what you do and you roll with it and, versus to, I'm a little more risk averse and also I cared a lot more about what people thought than I do now. And you're just such an inspiring person and you're so blunt, so straight to the point, and people really want to hear from you. So I'm so excited for you to share your story.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Let's go.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, also, you have an entrepreneur story that's a little bit different from other people. You went from being a musician to someone who performed on stages, like in Nashville at Dove Awards. You're a music producer. You're also an audio engineer. You went from building a business to losing everything, to rebuilding a successful business once again and reach your incredible goals. So I'd love to kind of get some backstory on your entrepreneur journey before we get started on. At what point in your life did you feel like you knew you were going to be an entrepreneur?
Speaker 1:well, I guess, when I realized I don't really like working for other people, I dropped out of high school I went working for this factory packing t-shirts and I I was like, wow, this really sucks. Probably the first week and I'm thinking, wow, my parents were working like this. I didn't think about that before and I was thinking, well, I bought a car at an auction and this car is worth probably double what I paid for it. What if I sell it? What? What happens? So kind of started selling cars and making money and I realized, well, why in the world do people even have jobs where you can? Just, it's not about, it's not about working for your money, it's about just making money different ways yeah, and how old were you when you sold that first car?
Speaker 1:uh 16 okay.
Speaker 2:So you were already at that point thinking like, wow, this is not something I want to do with my life, like I don't want to take the traditional route of nine to five exactly, even though I did have to get all the jobs.
Speaker 1:After that I went working for a couple of factories we were building cabinetry and um and that's and I was still. I would work night shift. I would still go to the auctions to copart, get beat up cars, fix them, sell them. I actually had my own little shop like a body shop and then and that's before I moved to Florida I still had another job. So I worked for about a year and a half of my life for other people do you feel like you learned anything there, working for other people?
Speaker 1:I mean looking back, I'm thinking because there were huge cabinetry shops and just the inventory and the management, or more like mismanagement, what I've seen, just bad managers screaming at people. I'm thinking, wow, I would never do that, and you know me, I never do that. It's crazy.
Speaker 2:You mean learning what not to do like in your company as a boss and stuff Correct, yeah. So, and then you also had a musical background, which is very interesting because you had this side to you that's artistic with music and I view you as an artist before a business person. I mean you're a combination of both, but you definitely are an artist. I mean you're a combination of both but you definitely are an artist. And how have you managed to kind of balance the creative aspect of who you are with the business aspect?
Speaker 1:Well, the way I look at it, if you're an artist, everything's an art form. If I'm writing music, I have to be creative, I have to find the sounds. I have to pretty much see the whole entire song as this sphere that I'm working in. And business is the same thing. It's art, it's creating something out of nothing and like. If you look at Elon Musk, I don't view him as somebody who's you know, owns a factory. I view him as somebody who creates things that other people just unable to create. He thinks the way that other people cannot think, and that's what a true entrepreneur is. It's not necessarily somebody who just copies somebody else. Oh, they're buying a car at the auction. I'm going to go do the same thing. Maybe that's where you start.
Speaker 2:And for a long period in your life you were pursuing music. You thought that was initially the path that you wanted to take right. At what point did you figure out that you don't want that to be your number one focus?
Speaker 1:oh, it's pretty simple. As soon as I figured out that I cannot make any money doing it. I mean, if I could make money doing it, I'd probably still be doing it. But you know, moving to Atlanta, fighting through it for two years, failing completely, never making more than a couple hundred bucks a show, it's just, it's devastating box a show.
Speaker 2:It's just, it's devastating. Yeah, but would you say what it? When you say failing, you mean not achieving the goals that you had, because in some ways you some people would view that as a success if you were able to perform with other bands, which you did, you were able to go to double award shows in nashville's, you performed on several stages and different events, and things like that. So how do you define failure?
Speaker 1:Well, if your success is being a struggling musician and because you're still out there and people are listening to your music and that's success, then yeah, that's successful for you. But to me success was well. First of all, I always wanted to be an actual artist, not some traveling guy or know. Hey, we hit the radio once in atlanta, once in baltimore and yay, I mean it just felt like we're just always falling short. And even with the artists that I've worked with, I just feel like most of them never really truly made it, even though, yeah, they were signed artists, but they were. They were not where I wanted, where I wanted myself to be. So to me that's not really success. It's either you succeed or you don't.
Speaker 2:I don't think there's something in between yeah, and also I think you're a pretty unconventional person in general. I feel like you're one of the more unique people that I know, or one of the most unique people that I know, because I think just the way you think is really different. It's very unorthodox. You kind of do your own thing, you go against the grain, you don't really care if it's you know, something that's been done before, if it's something that's expected to be done, you just do your own thing. And I just recall, you know, just knowing you, you sharing how school was a very difficult experience for you. And you know, just like Richard Branson, you think that you have dyslexic or you're dyslexic to some degree. You have dyslexic or you're dyslexic to some degree. How would you attribute the difficulty in school, in your childhood, to building that resilience for entrepreneurship?
Speaker 1:Yes, I'm definitely. If it comes to school, I cannot learn well at all. If somebody's teaching me on paper and showing me on the board, I feel like I'm dumb. That's just not the way I learn. I learn from experiences like you. See somebody do something like, wow, that's cool, I can do that, you add your own, you recreate. But if somebody just sits there and tries to get all this information pounding into your head, it's just I don't know. It's not going to work for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so do you feel like that school model is not for everybody?
Speaker 1:Absolutely not. I mean, it doesn't work for me at all. I don't think it works for my boys either.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, it's just really, in general, the school system has been very much to produce workers, right, and that's not the way that you think. There's something interesting that I find that you told your dad when you were young. I'm curious if you're willing to share it on the podcast.
Speaker 1:If you're talking about that. I told my dad that I'm going to be a millionaire at 13 years old. That I did, and he was. You know. At first he was like, oh that's really cool, huh, just laughing. And then I really started believing what I was saying and he eventually got really mad at me. He's like you're not going to be a millionaire, okay, if you want to work you know what work is you take a shovel, you dig a hole. That's working, working with your hands. I'm like that's crazy. And I told him no, you're wrong, I'm going to be a millionaire. And but that, I think, maybe solidified the fact.
Speaker 2:I'm like no, I'm going to prove you wrong. And what do you think made you believe that when you were 13? Like, where in the world did you get that concept?
Speaker 1:I just thought there's millionaires out there, and if they can do it, why can't I do it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you know, you lived when you were 13,. We didn't have the internet, wasn't really a thing. There wasn't podcasts like there is now that young kids can listen to podcasts about other millionaires. They're influencers, as they call them, on social media and all of that. So for you to get that concept would have been so differently delivered. Did you come across millionaires like? How did you even come to that idea?
Speaker 1:no, not really. I mean, we lived in lancaster county, which doesn't have. Well, I guess they have millionaires. We didn't know any. I don't know, I really don't, I don't remember.
Speaker 2:So you just kind of had this your own thought like this is what I want to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I kind of knew it was going to happen, like I literally knew that.
Speaker 2:That's interesting. And then, how many years did it take you?
Speaker 1:to or about what age were you able to actualize that? I think I was 32.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, so let's go into your entrepreneur story. So you, you shared earlier that you didn't um, you realized like I do not want to do this nine to five thing. I hate working at the factory, I don't want to do this, but I got to figure out a way to make money. You tried the music route. The music route didn't really pan out in the way that you expected it to, and you wanted to figure out how to make money. So can you take us on that entrepreneur journey of where were you at and how did you get to where you are today?
Speaker 1:When we moved to America from Russia, my dad well, he always had bees in Russia too and he kind of was working with different entrepreneurs there. This one guy he bought my dad out completely and then my dad was working for him. I don't know, not the best deal. We moved to america. He gets bees. Uh, he finds out about pollination. So he's like, okay, we're gonna put, put out on some orchards and, for example, I would obviously help him load, unload.
Speaker 1:We get to an orchard and I'm just a kid, I'm like 12 years old. He's like, hey, go, go talk to him, tell him how much money we want to get orchard. And I'm just a kid, I'm like 12 years old. He's like, hey, go go talk to him, tell him how much money we want to get for each hive. I'm like, what the? I'm 12 and I'm like, okay, so we go there, I'm negotiating with the farmers, because my dad does not speak one word of english at this point. And then, after you do negotiate that, and you're walking back to tell your dad, you're like, oh my gosh, that was awesome. I can't believe it, I did that. So that would be how I started, I think, kind of like where it was born, where I can negotiate a deal, where I started being a salesperson and then when I was buying, selling cars, every car, every client is different. It's not even like selling the same item or same piece of furniture. You know how to talk about that piece of furniture. A car is always different, especially when it's not from a BMW dealership. It's kind of constantly molding and bending you and making you shift and think differently the next time.
Speaker 1:What did I do wrong or what did I do good? And then you know, when we moved to Florida I started construction business. Well, I started a flooring business. I was a subcontractor for different stores, I was laying carpet, I was laying wooden floors. And again, you have to be constantly going selling your ability to do the job. So you have to let people know yes, I am good, yes, here's my job, this is what I've done.
Speaker 1:And then, eventually, when I had the other construction companies, such as Finnish Carpentry, that I was working directly with builders like Pulte Homes, I had contracts with American Homes, lee Weatherington, which is a big builder of custom floors from secondary companies that were buying it from Shaw, from Mohawk in Dalton Georgia, and it was cheap, because Dalton Georgia is cheap, but Atlanta was expensive. Let's say Buckhead or Midtown, but Atlanta was expensive. Let's say Buckhead or Midtown. So I figured, wow, in Midtown they're selling this for $7.99 a square foot, but I can get it for $120. Is this even real? I couldn't believe it. This was probably my first true sales, like getting it from not necessarily from a factory, but getting it from whatever distributor. Let's say yeah, and then I put on craigslist it sells an exam like that's crazy, what the heck, because it's cheap and all I have to do is transport it.
Speaker 1:If you take all these years we're talking about two decades and then you actually mold them all together and you get a much clearer picture of business. You will understand business in such a broader spectrum than somebody can sit there and teach you on a board writing hey, this is what you do, this is what you do in business. Really, how am I supposed to learn? That's crazy. I don't think anybody can learn that's crazy. I don't think anybody can learn that. If you don't actually go through it yourself and get the beat down of your life, I I don't know how you're going to be an entrepreneur yeah.
Speaker 2:So all those things, the experiences that you had, they molded you into essentially the next phase and um, you tried other things too. You tried selling online. You tried buying products on. You tried selling online, you tried buying products on eBay and all the different things, and I think you've said before that you have how many failed businesses.
Speaker 1:Eight that were registered.
Speaker 2:That were registered. Yeah Right, and so that's truly a lot of entrepreneurs story where they have failed multiple times over and over again before they hit that success mark. And even when they hit that success mark, they generally hit a point where they take risks and they lose it all, and then, when they built back up, they really built a solid business. So is that, does that sound familiar? Is that part of your story as well?
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely Before we moved to Atlanta from Sarasota, that was my construction business, that in business. But that just happened to happen right at that 2007 recession when everybody just was losing everything. So it's not like because we were doing pretty well with that business and what could have grown that business probably to something massive in Cirrus Auto right now but we didn't have the chance and the whole thing fell apart. And then to restart that, even though in Atlanta I was doing all these things, I was not successful. I couldn't really understand how to market properly. I couldn't find the clients I didn't necessarily have. I mean, I had a van. It's like selling stuff out of a van.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it was a pretty rusty van, if I may add.
Speaker 1:It was definitely rusty and it was a maroon color.
Speaker 2:And it was like rust falling out of the bottom. So I don't think people really would probably take that too seriously. But essentially that was the point before moving to Atlanta, where we lost everything and we started back from ground zero. Before moving to Atlanta, we lost everything and we started back from ground zero. And on top of that, I think it's a lot harder to build a business or be successful when you don't have the financial income to leverage off of.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, of course, when we moved back from Atlanta to Florida, we stayed with my parents. It was rough. We didn't have any money at all. And the reason we moved back actually I should add this my dad. Again, he's a beekeeper. He calls me. He's like hey, we should do something with these bees, we should really build a new business. I'm thinking, well, that's great, so we move back, we're staying with my parents, we get a loan for my dad it's an agricultural loan with the state of Florida and we we buy a truck, we buy a forklift.
Speaker 1:I built out this huge trailer it's a honey house with the whole conveyor system. But the loan was contingent that we secure some kind of pollinating contracts, at least two. We were supposed to secure one in California for almonds and one in Maine for blueberries. So California was kind of easy. I secured that one real quick. In Maine I'm struggling. Then we get this full truck of honey because we're already collecting honey in Florida, because we already have like a thousand hives.
Speaker 1:I'm driving the truck up to Golden something it's like a honey receiving facility in Lancaster. I drove it up there. I get out of the truck, a truck pulls up behind me and it's this famous beekeeper, david Rosenberg, and he was on 60 Minute. That's actually where I seen him and that's where I recognized his face. I couldn't believe it like that. That can't be him. So I pull, I come up to him, I'm like are you David Rosenberg? He's like yes, I am.
Speaker 1:So we we were just talking and he was actually pulling a load up from Florida, from David M Mendes, which is probably the third largest as far as how many bees he has goes in America. And I asked him so I cannot secure a contract for blueberries? And he's like well, let me see what I can do for you. He calls me back in about a week. He's like I'm going to connect you with the blueberry freezer.
Speaker 1:So I get two contracts, which are pretty much all I really have to do, but I'm fighting for a third one for cranberries in Massachusetts. But that's really difficult because it's very limited. So I did not get that one. And then we have to actually send the bees out and collect money from these contracts, because if we don't, we default on the loan. And my dad is telling me no, we're not going to do that. People are stealing bees in California. We don't have the money to go to the blueberry freezer. I'm like, wait, hold on a second. Why don't we negotiate a deal with a trucking company and pay them only after we get the money? Oh, they're not gonna do that. I'm like no, they're probably gonna do that and he's the boss. So he's like no. So I'm like, all right, well, this is not working out, so I leave that company and then start again buying cars on cheap cars, very cheap cars that have blown gaskets on Craigslist fixing them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was a pretty humbling time in our lives, was it not?
Speaker 1:Yeah, kind of felt like back in Atlanta.
Speaker 2:All right where it was. Well, Winston Churchill has this quote that I love. It says success is stumbling from failure to failure without no loss of enthusiasm. And how would you say that you continue to trying again, having the resilience, having the grit to give it another go, even when we're basically at rock bottom as far as finances go, as far as our sense of pride? And having been successful, having had all our needs met financially and doing fairly decently, to essentially having nothing and having to rebuild all over again, how do you keep going when the going gets tough?
Speaker 1:I think that's the whole point is that you don't have a choice. I mean, what are you going to do? Lay down and die you just that is your drive, is your failure? Uh, if you're living as some kid in some fancy house with your parents supplying you for everything, are you even going to be an entrepreneur? And why would you be an entrepreneur? Why would you do anything? Just take it easy. Everything's good when you're living. When you have nothing, you fight.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so how did your story transition from again having nothing to building a successful furniture business?
Speaker 1:Well, at one point I found a couch on Craigslist and I bought it in Tampa, brought it back, also brought back a catalog that just happened to have a number on it. I called the number to see if they would sell me that couch, because at this point, of course, I'm at the point in my life where I'm searching everywhere for absolutely anything, just throwing and see what sticks, and I call them. They're like yeah, we can sell you one couch, and I bought it for like $750. And they're like yeah, it's 300 bucks. I'm like what? That's crazy. That's actually a legit margin. So I'm like well, can I buy one? They're like, yeah, but you don't want to because you know it's going to cost like $300 to bring it to you from.
Speaker 2:Orlando.
Speaker 1:And I'm like, okay, but I'll pay that $300 because that's all I have. So I do sell it probably within a couple hours back on Craigslist for $750. I'm like, well, that's pretty crazy. So in a week I sold. In a week I'm getting a full truckload now and in a month we have I literally remember counting the cash in my closet and it's eighteen thousand dollars. Going from zero to eighteen thousand was pretty incredible. Um, I probably never actually seen eighteen thousand dollars before that. And then we had to move a few places, graduating the garage, other garages, that's next to it. I booked probably 25% of this facility and I'm thinking I need a store. I don't want to sell out of garages and people are actually coming there. And I remember this one lady. She's like well, I guess that's one way you can do it. I'm like that sucks, that's what she thinks of me one way that one way you can do it.
Speaker 1:You know, like that, that's not what I want to do. And then we find other lines that are, you know, obviously a little better lines. There's still Chinese lines and I opened up one store. So now you have like a showroom, but again I have to be closing it the whole time because I'm doing all the deliveries. And my neighbor was a restaurant supplier. He's like look, you have customers coming here, but you're never there, so it's your fault. I'm like, yeah, well, I also have to deliver, or I'm just me with my little pickup truck. And eventually I'm driving home and I see this art gallery on this street in Sarasota, but it's so off-grid. It's just like what is the art gallery doing there? I'm shocked and there's a sign right next to it for lease. I'm like whoa, that's weird. And so I turn around, I come back in, I come in there and this lady from Iceland and I ask her. I'm like what are you doing here?
Speaker 1:it's such a nice art gallery right, it was a pretty industrial area, yeah and she's like, well, I used to be actually on main street and I had 10 000 square feet art gallery, and that's again before 2007. Um, then she was on st armin's, which is pretty expensive rent there, and she's like I had 5 000 square feet there. And this is just simply where life took me. Like this is downgrading, downgrading. And here I am now. I'm like, wow, well, I like the space next to you, I'm going to rent it.
Speaker 1:So I opened up a store there and she's every day she's bored because there's and she has only like, designers coming there that worked with her for probably 20 years, and every day she's just mentoring me, constantly talking to me about what I should be doing, what designers want, and I'm already, at that point, buying some knockoffs of classics like Herman Miller, noel classics, probably Artifort, but of course, all knockoffs still from china. And she started telling me you know what? You need to go to downtown, you shouldn't be here. I'm thinking, well, you came from downtown. I can't even think that way, I'm just me. And I realized one of my friends two of them just opened up an Italian kitchen showroom Scavolini, which is a huge brand in Italy on Main Street. So I'm like I'm going to go talk to them. I drive up there and I'm like I'd love to open up a showroom somewhere around here too. They're like, well, why don't you just work with us? I'm like really. They're like yeah, we have space here. It's just kitchens, and then there's space in the middle and then we realized that space is pretty small. Then there's another space on palm avenue, which is the the art district, and I'm like, hey, why don't we rent this out? This is way bigger and we can be here together. We go there, we make an appointment. The owner shows up in the morning and they don't show up. They call me and oh yeah, we changed their mind. We put $50,000 into this location. We shouldn't be moving, and that makes sense, that's fair. And so I have a conversation with her and I think about it. I'm like you know what? I'm going to risk it all. I'm going to rent this space. I rent it, but while renting it, I immediately start shifting the companies I'm working with and all of a sudden I'm going much higher end and I'm grabbing a few Italian companies and a Canadian and even the Chinese companies. There are a few, very few, actually two that I know of that are pretty decent. Grab both of them. Open up the showroom. That actually is spectacular. It's a beautiful showroom.
Speaker 1:I'm in an art district I mean this is quite different from where I started. And then, you know, nobody comes in at all. It's horrible. I'm thinking this is a bad move. But the art district has these art walks last Friday of every month and all of a sudden the first art walk happens. One client comes in from Toronto and buys $25 25 000 worth of furniture and I was like that's one client that's in and I don't even have to deliver it. I just I actually shipped it to his house from different warehouses and wherever I was grabbing them some in New Jersey, high Point, thomasville and I was pretty surprised that I could pull off. This was probably one of the first times I pulled something off like that, so that gives me another boost of courage.
Speaker 2:Right and, like they say, peak to peak when you reach one peak it gives you confidence to go towards the next peak.
Speaker 1:Yep, but eventually I'm thinking, well, I need some really big line. So I'm talking to this other line called Caligaris. They have stores all over Italy. They're actually very famous for their dinette sets. And they show up and they're like well, they convinced me, you should do a Caligari store. I'm like, okay, but you guys don't have seating. And I'm like thinking, okay, well, I can negotiate a deal with them for seating with another Italian line and do an Italian store. They agreed to that, except this store is now too small for what we're doing.
Speaker 1:I see this other location where we are right now for lease, lease to own, and that's on on our light, on a corner fruitville and lemon catty corner from whole foods I it's like location, location. And somehow they agreed to lease to me, even though the owner did not want to, because I wasn't. He claimed that I had no credibility. I'm just a small time businessman and a lot of times that's literally what it is. That's what I've been told. The whole time. It's like you're nobody, even when you're doing business, like, oh, you're too small. Oh yeah, no, we want to do something with a big company. It's constantly like that and somehow the realtor helped me negotiate the lease. So I leased this place.
Speaker 1:We open up Caligari's store and we bring in this leather line, gamma, which we still sell both. But Gamma is a pretty good leather line from Italy and I sign up and it says Caligari's, and I see Caligari's is trying to put up Caligari's stores all over the US. I'm thinking, wait, I'm actually not promoting myself, I'm promoting them, I'm building their. Wait, I'm actually not promoting myself, I'm promoting them, I'm building their brand, I'm not building our brand. So I'm thinking that's not good. So we decided to cut that and build our own brand, and that's when we branded ourselves as SoftSquare. And immediately all the other lines that were already had offices in the US all want to work with us. Not to mention, there was a couple of big stores that closed during the recession and they're scrambling trying to find anybody who's at that point at least on our level, to sell to. Of course they're not going to sell to me prior me, but this is different.
Speaker 1:So we go to the Milan show and there are just unbelievable amount of options. So many Italian, german, swiss companies except you can't just buy from them, because a lot of them are already working with your competitors and at this point. There are obviously good stores in Sarasota. It's kind of always a closed market, and what started happening was I identified the companies that I want to have on the floor and you start negotiating deals. And the way you do that is well, hey, this competitor right here claims they have your brand, but do they have it on the floor? No, or maybe, hey, they just have one setting. Well, I'm going to give you three settings. How about that? Well, that's a deal for them. And hey, my location is always better than theirs because we are on the light, on fruitville. And eventually we got probably 25 brands that way that are top.
Speaker 1:And then I realized, hey, how nice that would be to go after the biggest brands. There are, the ones that are only in design districts, in, you know, on Madison, or you know, the Miami Design District and Brera in Paris. And so we started negotiating. Well, it took me about seven and a half years to negotiate a deal with B&B Italia, while they were telling me no, of course not, we would never work with you. And then somehow they changed their mind and as soon as we picked up B&B other companies like Casino they never even want to talk to us. All of a sudden they're calling us and begging us to get into the store. I'm like what in the world is going on to get into?
Speaker 2:the store and look what in the world is going on. Yes, essentially, softsquare went from being the underdog of like who are you? We're not going to sell to you because you don't have comparable brands and you're not reputable enough we don't know who you are to people and brands that are well-known throughout the world now want to work in the showroom now are asking to be in the showroom and be represented by the company.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, that's, I guess, the way it works. You just keep working, working to the top, and sometimes going that high is also a bad thing, because now you're too high-end and now you're too expensive. A market is like a pyramid and the higher you go, the smaller it gets a pyramid, and the higher you go, the smaller it gets. And you want to be somewhere middle, high, but not high, high, and that's essentially kind of where we ended up with half of our store and I've been trying to walk it back, but that that is a hard thing, because once people think you're very expensive, let's not go there. How are you going to bring them back?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so, with building up the company, what were some of the biggest or what were some of the hardest parts about being able to build? Because you just mentioned that it took seven years to get this one brand that you had your eye on for a long time, and so it took a lot of grit and a lot of persistence and perseverance and what would you say is the hardest part of walking through that journey.
Speaker 1:Honestly, it's all hard, but I enjoy that challenge. It is also fun. And if you don't enjoy being an entrepreneur, if you don't enjoy an everyday fight, an everyday I don't want to say struggle, but it is a struggle, but it's also. It's like wrestling. You don't have to go out there and wrestle, but why do you choose to? Because you enjoy it right. Same thing here. It is all hard, it's very hard to negotiate deals, but I love negotiating those. It's. It's hard to constantly be told no, but then that one, yes, gives you this courage. You're like, oh whoa, that was so worth it, the fight was worth it. And then you get emboldened and it it really is. To me, the fight is fun. If I did not like it, I don't think I could do it.
Speaker 2:What would you say is the greatest reward of being an entrepreneur?
Speaker 1:I guess you can say a reward would be finances living in a nicer house, driving a nicer car Is that the greatest reward? Nicer house, driving a nicer car is that the greatest reward? Um, to me, honestly, just just the fact to have something that's nobody else in the whole city of sarasota has achieved, a store like that to me that's, that's huge, because I can just think back and think that's awesome. I literally beat out so many people. The fight was incredible, getting punched in the face like nobody else, but I feel like I won and I feel so great. That actually feels amazing. Just winning feels good.
Speaker 2:You like to win? Yes.
Speaker 1:I do.
Speaker 2:If I know anything about you, it's that you love to win and you don't like to win.
Speaker 1:Yes, I do If I know anything?
Speaker 2:about you? It's that you love to win and you don't like to lose.
Speaker 1:Correct, but you're not afraid to get into a fight that, even if you risk losing, you still are willing to fight it out. Well, I mean, you have to fight. If you don't fight, you're already lost. If you don't start something, you're already lost. We all start at zero. So what, hey, let's be afraid of doing something so we might eventually go back to zero. I don't get it.
Speaker 2:What would you say is the biggest risk that you took as an entrepreneur?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good one. We opened up a showroom in Naples and this showroom is twice the size of Sarasota showroom. Put in close to a million dollars. We struggled for three and a half years. It was the most beautiful showroom, probably second most beautiful in all of Florida, next to a showroom in Miami that I like very much. And then clients were just not coming. We couldn't hire anybody because people in Naples don't necessarily work, they're all retirees. Our employees were driving from Fort Myers, which is an hour away.
Speaker 1:It was hard and then, after struggling for three and a half years, I had to close it. Except I couldn't close it because I have a seven-year contract yeah, so that one was during COVID and they want $183,000 or $87,000 for me to break the contract. Well, that's actually later on. First they said absolutely not not happening, but I'm already thinking well, we don't have a choice. I started selling the furniture off without having an ability to break the contract. I'm selling the furniture off already probably sold 20% of it to the point of no return. I know there's no return because I don't have the money to buy new furniture to refill the store, and I know there's no return because I don't have the money to buy new furniture to refill the store, and I'm there by myself at this point. I'm pretty much living at this store.
Speaker 2:Right, because we already the employees are no longer there. Essentially we there are employees that were there. We had to let go some people and we knew that we were closing the store, so that it was over for as far as the team goes.
Speaker 1:Correct. And then I'm working with a landlord who is in Boston it's a huge company and they don't really care about people like small guys because it's a big company and eventually they agreed okay, give us $100,000 and we'll terminate the contract. That was literally Christmas for me, that was. I couldn't even believe it. I know it sounds crazy. Hey, just give us a hundred grand and you can walk away. I was like, are you serious? I wired them the money that probably like in 10 minutes, you know, because I was selling off a lot of furniture. So we started getting the money that probably like in 10 minutes, you know, because I was selling off a lot of furniture. So we started getting the money back.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then we were able to be month to month, liquidate everything, got all our money back that we put into it and more. And it was actually incredible. We walked out of that situation winners but not really losing anything. It was great. It's how we were able to move back to Pennsylvania. Well, at the same time, the whole time I'm running Naples, our manager in Sarasota is running Sarasota for three and a half years and I realized wait, I did not run the store in Sarasota for so long Do I really have to live in Sarasota? And I realized no, we don't have to live in Sarasota because it runs on its own and we were able to move.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so would you say that in retrospect that seemed like a failure, but you stated that it felt like a win, that we won at the end.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of things feel like a failure, but just don't think about it as a failure. It's just another step. I mean, even if you fail, oh well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I find that it's interesting in life that there's things in the moment that feel like the world is going to end because this current hope you had, this current dream, you had this plan, this business plan that you have is not panning out the way that you initially thought it would, and in that moment it feels like it's the end of the world. But then later you look back on it and it's like, wow, this is actually worked out to be such a blessing. Yeah, it ended up being so much greater of a blessing than you anticipated it to be. Can you speak into that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, it is very hard when it's happening and you do feel like you're such a failure. I remember thinking our competitors in Sir Soda are probably laughing at me. Oh, look at this guy. He went there. He thought he can do it. So pathetic. I'm thinking like that about myself, thinking this sucks, but you know who cares that's what it teaches you. Who cares like, who cares what they're thinking? Who are these people? Do we even know them?
Speaker 2:right. Yeah, I mean and you're the one that taught me to really um, not, not, not, it's not not caring about people, but um, not allowing the opinions of other people to impact your choices, because, at the end of the day, the truth is is that people think a lot less of you than you think, and people care about you a lot less than you think, care about you a lot less than you think. So if we're going to allow the opinions of others to dictate the choices that we make, the risks that we take, we're kind of cheating ourselves out of living our lives to the fullest, versus just doing the thing that you want to do or allowing a narrative of someone else's possible thoughts that you're assuming impact that decision yeah, I mean that's correct okay, I think what's really interesting about you is that you continue to persevere, even when things are hard, but you also have the capacity to do so much more than just what you're doing.
Speaker 2:And even though, with the furniture business, we've been in it for over a decade and it's still growing, it's, you know, we're pivoting in different ways with the marketplace and so forth, and yet there's other things that you're working on and dreaming about beyond that, so would you like to speak on to that?
Speaker 1:then this is just for fun, but I am going to be releasing an album. It's just Chill Beats album, maybe January February.
Speaker 2:And what's the name of the album or the name of the?
Speaker 1:I don't really know yet, maybe Radio City.
Speaker 2:Right, but what's your name on Spotify?
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm Gravity Pool.
Speaker 2:Gravity Pool. So that's it, guys. Go look up Gravity Pool on Spotify or wherever you listen to music.
Speaker 1:So I'm also working on building a new company right now. It's called Zero Trim and what it is? It's an architectural product for an interior of a house. It lets you build an interior with no trim, no casings around the door, no baseboard, all frameless doors. We integrate LED lighting. I'm trying to make this whole thing as a smart home, but with our own hardware, and we've done all the designs in France. The website is up. I pretty much got all the contracts I need for hinges and locks. Unfortunately, they're going to come from Italy. I got everything, except it's kind of hard to raise money for a new company, especially when you have no revenue. So that's what I'm working on, and I'm working with the state of Pennsylvania right now, because what they want to do is bring manufacturing, bring jobs and bring tech to pennsylvania, and that's pretty much what we're bringing, and so they're.
Speaker 2:They want to work with us, which is great and you have a patent pending for this technology as well, correct? Yes, some of it for the door and so, essentially, you're going to be manufacturing and the design and the current website. What's the name of the website?
Speaker 1:It's zerotrimcom.
Speaker 2:What would you say to someone who is struggling right now so someone who's maybe in their entrepreneur journey that they just feel like they are in the worst season of their life, kind of like you were and we were at one point. What would you tell them?
Speaker 1:I guess it really depends what we're talking about. Are they in a business and the business is just terrible, or are they trying to open up a business they don't know how? I would need a A little bit of backstory, yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, essentially it's like what would you say to someone who's trying to do something, who's trying to make something successful and they just they're feeling discouraged? Maybe what I'm asking is more of like how would you encourage someone who's really struggling and they feel like they're just at the bottom and they don't know how to get back up? What encouragement would you have for them?
Speaker 1:I guess sometimes when you're in business and you're so stuck or just so backwards and you know there is no revenue, sometimes it is just the end of it and perhaps you have to start something else. I mean, like I said, I failed eight times and that's registered. My failings are registered. But if you're struggling with starting a business and you just want to give up, I mean I would encourage anybody and everybody don't give up. I mean, giving up is just going, it's just being exactly where you are. For example, if when I was a zero and I would never start nothing, then I would be always a zero. And if you don't keep fighting or you're afraid to do something, because what if you're going to fail? But you already failed, you're a zero. So how much lower can you go? If you try, you should go back to where you are, so you should try again until you get some kind of success.
Speaker 2:There you go. That's good advice. What is the best advice that someone else gave you?
Speaker 1:go. That's good advice. What is the best advice that someone else gave you? That's probably when I was in construction business and I thought I was doing good. And this guy, eric uh, we were in his house and he was very successful he. He had he sold two of his paint businesses in brooklyn but he leased back the building. So I mean that's a good deal. You're just always collecting money. And you got money up front and he was telling me you need to start selling. I'm like, no, eric, I'm doing good, it's all good. He's like, no, no, you're not listening to me, you need to sell. You want to make money, you sell. And then eventually I was like, oh my gosh, eric is so right, you sell. You always sell, even if you're in finances. What are you doing? You're selling, you're selling services. What are you doing in this kind of industry? You're selling a product. It's always selling. And once you're good at selling, if you can master selling, you officially have been born again as a salesman, and that is irreversible yeah, that's good advice.
Speaker 2:Um, what do you think is the bravest thing that you have ever done?
Speaker 1:Bravest, I don't know. Skydiving, I don't know. Honestly, again, that store in Naples that took a lot of guts, that was hard, that was. I don't want to say I wish I never did it, but I wish I never did it.
Speaker 2:But we just talked about how you learned from it, so Sure.
Speaker 1:Sure, you learn from it, so sure, sure you learn from it. But you don't want to, you don't want to do that again.
Speaker 2:No, I don't want to do that again either. Absolutely not. Um, what would you say are three books that were the most transformational for you?
Speaker 1:I mean, I like a few books that I read by Richard Branson, and one of them is called Screw it, let's Do it. And what I like about Richard Branson especially for who I am, is he kind of is the similar, he's the same person. He just constantly tries things and fails and says screw it, let's do it this way, or let's just get rid of this airline that sucked.
Speaker 2:That's the way he thinks and he's pretty unconventional too, like you would say that, um, he doesn't try to fit into a certain mold, he just does his own thing and creates his own path yeah, he's, I mean he's definitely out there.
Speaker 1:Some of the other books that I listened to was the Algebra of Wealth, think and Grow Rich. Both of them are similar. You know there's a lot of books Snowball by Warren Buffett but that's about the markets. If you're into that the Burr Method, if you're into real estate, if you are in real estate and you don't know that book, you need to know that book yeah, and what did you like about how to um think and grow rich?
Speaker 1:maybe it was by napoleon hill I mean, it gives you a lot of examples about life and kind of like it's not all necessarily business, but it's just the way psychology of your brain works and why you think certain ways or how you can transform your thought patterns. Um, it goes very deep. So you might have to read or listen to that book many times until you're like oh okay, I get it. I get it.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good what is it like to have your wife as a business partner. I mean, it's good and bad, and the good is that you know you can constantly kind of pull ideas from each other and you're always in the proximity of each other. So you know if you have a thought at night or before you go to bed you can talk about it. You don't have to be like, oh, I have to call this guy but I can't, he's sleeping.
Speaker 1:So the accessibility Right, but at the same time I mean, we had rough times, especially that- we're both extremely strong-willed.
Speaker 2:You'd say yes.
Speaker 1:And then we'll fight for ideas, or I think this is the way this works. No, I think this is the way it works, and it's like wait, but we're like equal partners, so who decides? It's kind of difficult.
Speaker 2:Yeah, who decides? It's kind of difficult, yeah. But at the same time, though, we leverage each other's strengths and weaknesses, because by this point in our business partnership, we've identified where you are strong at and where your role is, or where you fit, versus to where my strengths are, where I fit, and so I think we've managed to mature into giving each other the space and the freedom to be more in charge in those areas versus in the beginning. I think it was pretty rough of molding into from a marriage partnership into a business partnership, where it was like, initially, it's like I built this baby as a business, so I, you know, this is the way that I've been doing things. And then I came in and you were like but, but I did it this way, and it's like well, here's a new way of thinking about this idea, you know yeah, I mean, you pick your fights and you know you work better with with the employees, with people, so I don't even want to do that, that's great.
Speaker 1:You want to with employees, with people, so I don't even want to do that, that's great. You want to have your meetings with them? Good, I don't have to do it, it's awesome. But then, when it comes to designing, I don't necessarily want to give that away, because I love designing and I'm great at it and you give me that leeway of doing it.
Speaker 2:Right, but it also will definitely give you my strong input.
Speaker 1:Yes, of course, but there's also other things you don't have to deal with the warehousing and shipping and containers.
Speaker 2:Right. Would you recommend people working with their spouse?
Speaker 1:I mean that really depends. Depends what kind of a business it is. I can see that either being extremely successful or destroying their relationship completely. I mean it really depends on the people and the business is there anything else you'd love to add to this conversation?
Speaker 2:no, I mean, it was fun. Depends on the people and the business. Is there anything else you'd love to add to this conversation?
Speaker 1:No, I mean, it was fun, let's do it again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's do it again. Well, thank you for being on this podcast. I am really excited to see what feedback we get and how it encourages people who are maybe in the middle of their entrepreneur journey or just for you know people, to get inspired by your walk, your process, thank you. Thank you for listening to the ones who dare podcast. It is an honor to share these encouraging stories with you. If you enjoy the show, I would love for you to tell your friends. Leave us a reviewer rating and subscribe to wherever you listen to podcasts, because this helps others discover the show. You can find me on my website, speckhopoffcom.