The $100M Entrepreneur Podcast
Hosted by Brad Sugars, founder of ActionCOACH, the world’s #1 business coaching company, The $100M Entrepreneur is where ambitious business leaders come to learn how to scale, grow, and transform their companies.
Brad sits down with global entrepreneurs, investors, and business experts, including Gary V, Simon Squibb, Daniel Priestley, and more, to uncover the strategies, systems, and mindset that take businesses from startup to $100 million and beyond.
The $100M Entrepreneur is more than a podcast. It is a space to dream boldly, think strategically, and take action, a place for entrepreneurs to gain insight, inspiration, and practical tools to build lasting success.
The $100M Entrepreneur Podcast
How to Build a $100M Brand When You Can't Afford Expensive Advertising
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Most entrepreneurs focus on building products. Danny Dreyer focused on building a tribe and turned that philosophy into a $100M+ apparel brand with one of the most loyal customer communities in the world.
In this episode of The $100M Entrepreneur Podcast, Brad Sugars sits down with Danny Dreyer, founder of Dixxon Flannel Co., to unpack the journey from selling shirts out of the back of a car to building a nine-figure brand fueled by authenticity, culture, and customer loyalty. Danny shares how he created demand without massive budgets, scaled from a one-man operation into a $100M+ company, and built a customer base that became a community.
They also discuss the challenges of letting go as a founder, creating a business that can thrive without you, and the lessons success taught him about leadership, family, and life beyond business.
About Danny Dreyer:
Danny Dreyer is the founder and CEO of Dixxon Flannel Co., a lifestyle apparel brand that has grown into a $100M+ business by combining premium products, authentic storytelling, and a deeply engaged customer community. Known for turning customers into passionate brand advocates, Danny has built Dixon into one of the most recognizable names in its category while remaining committed to quality, culture, and long-term brand building.
About Brad Sugars
Internationally known as one of the most influential entrepreneurs, Brad Sugars is a bestselling author, keynote speaker, and the #1 business coach in the world. Over the course of his 30-year career as an entrepreneur, Brad has become the CEO of 9+ companies and is the owner of the multimillion-dollar franchise ActionCOACH®. As a husband and father of five, Brad is equally as passionate about his family as he is about business. That’s why, Brad is a strong advocate for building a business that works without you – so you can spend more time doing what really matters to you. Over the years of starting, scaling and selling many businesses, Brad has earned his fair share of scars. Being an entrepreneur is not an easy road. But if you can learn from those who have gone before you, it becomes a lot easier than going at it alone.
Please click here to learn more about Brad Sugars: https://bradsugars.com/
Build a Business That Gives You More Time, Money & Life:
Get The $100M Playbook: https://go.bradsugars.com/100m-playbook-ebook
Chasing The $100 Million Mark
People did feel like they're becoming a part of it. So then in turn, we started being a lot more upfront, honest, and raw. Once I had sustainability and the money, I stayed that way. Everything that I want to be to be the best man that I could be is what I focus on now. All of these profound moments in my life came from what the business has taught me. So, Danny, your first hundred million, did you notice? Was it a celebration? Did it just roll through? How did that happen? You know, I've I've heard that there's people that it doesn't affect or they don't even notice it. I very much don't notice it. I was going to do absolutely anything possible that year to get there. And so it was like, it was a milestone of my life. I actually have like I have a tattoo right here that it looks like it like a dollar kind of says 100 million, and got like a you know a special necklace. Hang on, did you get it beforehand or did you ever had to be after? I remember we were like so close to it, and it was like, you know, it's coming down to you know the end of holiday, really. And we were looking at it and it's just like so close, so close. Come on. It's almost like I want to buy a thousand dollars worth of my own stuff just so we take over to us things. These conversations
Orange County Roots Shape The Brand
were definitely so. Let's go back then, because obviously Huntingd Beach, the beginning. I I guess though, that culture of Huntington definitely had an impact on the start. Absolutely. So, so really the impact from the start is that I grew up at Anaheim, California. So that's where a lot of the influence of like low rider culture and stuff came from, got like, you know, introduced, like, say the elements of hip hop and whatnot at an early age. Um, now you fast forward a little bit, and um, I go to like South Orange County later um in like in high school, and then right when I graduated, went to Huntington. So it was really a culmination of everything, all the cultures mixed in there. Yeah, I kind of took a nice little tour of Orange County, you know. So it was taking all the subcultures that I had been a part of, and then it's basically expressing, you know, at an older age, for one, probably that I miss some, you know, being younger. Oh, yeah. And you know, and then and then for two, just in the expression of being able to be a part and and be able to pull creativity from from the passion and the love for those cultures. Yeah, so one of the things that I don't think a lot of people realize is that to build a business this big, the culture is really important. Yes. And you've done an amazing job of the culture not just being your team, but being your customer base. Right. On purpose, plan, did it just happen? How did you get that culture in your customers? So I think um in the beginning, the thought was I was going to sell to people who were me. Now, somewhere along the way, I learned that a great marketer can market to anybody. Yeah. You you you should know how demographics move, how they, you know, how they feel, what they want, what they value, what their daily life looks like. If it's someone that's, you know, like I like I use this example for my team. I tell them, like, you know, you might not be Mormon Gilbert mom, but I you need to know as a professional how exactly that looks like on a daily, what do they value? What can you sell to them? Blah blah blah. So there was definitely a a turning point for that, which you know, which allowed us this, you know, scale customer base, but um, but it was very important, and it is still very important now, um, staying authentic and genuine to you know what what we're truly rooted in. Um, but now given the tools and everything that we know along the way, it's um it's uh the ability to you know to speak to all people. But you you have let's just say they're kind of fanatical some of your clients, hundreds of pieces, like not you know, not one Dixon shirt, they got hundreds of the dang things. We've we've definitely somehow instilled this this um culture of supply, demand, collectability. You know, we we make funny memes all the time that it's like got my first Dixon and then it's like two months later and there's this closet like full, you know. And it's uh it's a great thing, you know. And and that I feel like we should do like an alcoholics anonymous, a Dixon Anonymous video one day. You know, I bought my first Dixon shirt and now I have 783 of them. I think I'm gonna get divorced. Yeah, yeah, you're gonna end up getting divorced. She wants to take half my Dixons. But that's the culture that you've bred. And I I I really want to bring it back to the business side of it because that culture is a part of what holds your company and your customers together. Right. It's uh, you know, I can't say in the beginning we set out to do um like the limited supply. And I've I have admitted this a couple of times. You know, it's like a lot of people tout our businesses being like, wow, that was a great model. And in the beginning, though, it was because we didn't have the money. Yeah, so it wasn't. I could only make 100 because I didn't have the lack of supply, you know? And and so like kept the model though, and we'll come back to the model because I think there is some genius in that for a lot of people to learn from. Absolutely, right. Um,
Turning Customers Into Collectors
but uh going back to the culture thing, uh it's pervaded into your hiring as well. Yes. I so yeah, that that goes twofold. Like I I love us having a very multicultural, a very diverse workplace, and it's great because you know how half of our employees don't look like don't look like they would even wear Dixon, yeah, or they don't want to, or whatever. They're very expressive and creative in themselves. Yeah, and so it's just a place that that oozes so much inspiration and creativity. And so I really enjoy fostering their ability to create and seeing what comes out of them, and you make you know, and and that in itself has created the culture inside. So now the quality of the culture for you is exactly that word quality. You've stuck to that, uh your guns are very we do great, right, or we don't make it type thing. Tell me more about how that happened. So the the quality kind of comes from an obsessiveness of like part of like my OCD is actually like so. When I when I was looking at flannels first time, I could not wear the flannels because I would wash them once and they would wrinkle so bad that I I couldn't walk outside my door. Like I I have I can't do that, yeah. And it's like, and so I wanted to make something that wasn't out there, and and in doing that, it in turn kind of fell apart, fell on all of our products that way. Like we're not gonna make it unless it solves a problem. You know, find a problem in the market and fix it due to, you know, it's not like everyone's super OCD about it, but if I start the product there, I know that eventually when they wear something like that, they will appreciate it and realize that nothing else will be. You don't want to go back once you have quality. It's like I'm not going back. No, no, no, I'm sorry, but the target flannel is not gonna be for me ever again, type thing. And and even more that's that has segued into different things where you know we'll have something completely made, and it's not abnormal for me to completely scrap a category after we've already made it because it's just that trust that you build with your customer, they're they trust me that everything that we put out that they can't touch and feel right away because they're on the internet for the most part, they trust that it's going to be good, it's going to be quality, and if we're making it, it's gonna solve some problem that whatever they have that might look the same, that it doesn't have the problems it has. And so breaking that trust in in business with your consumers, I think it's a very, very dangerous thing. That's where you see you know that juxtaposition when people turn a corner and they stop paying attention to you know to those little things. Yeah, it's it's easy as you get bigger in business to forget the details and hand it off to someone else and just no, if you don't require, if you don't bring people on who have the same level of OCD you do, it's like no, no, no, no, no, no. It gets to that thing. So I want to go back to then uh you talk about being online, right? And one of the things that I see businesses think that, oh, my social media is to attract new customers. A lot of your social media is more built around making sure your existing customers feel part of the tribe almost. Right. And that they can relate to other customers. And yeah, it brings more purchases, all those sorts of things. But did did you set that up that way? Did you bring someone in that saw it with that vision? How did you decide to keep the tribe mentality sort of thing? So, what I didn't know then, but what I know now, I would I would answer this saying, um I growing up, I was always someone that like could be somewhat like lone wolf. I kind of like float around. I know a lot of people, but I was never the one that really fit in to having that one group of friends that were all together from kindergarten to college, and we go out of fraternity together, blah, blah, blah. That's that's never been my thing. I'm I'm kind of oddball. Like I was odd man out always, and like what do people crave? One thing that we all have in um in common as humans is that we we crave love, we and and in that you crave uh acceptance or being a part of something. So I essentially was like building this world for myself where I can exist, and then in turn, knowing that there are several black sheep out there that are gonna be the same, you know, and so as as you're building on it, you started seeing that like that people did feel like they're being they're becoming a part of it. So then in turn, we started being a lot more um, a lot more upfront, honest, and raw, and showing the behind the scenes, and then like, and even when I do speaking engagements or that I've done in the past, you know, after I watch everyone that's up there that touts everything that they've done, I'll walk up there and say, I'm I'm not gonna waste your time. I'll give you 45 minutes about what I had fucking did wrong. Yeah, you know, because because that's what I feel like they they really don't hear, and that I didn't have access to hearing that when I was building, and I look it up like you know, like on the internet, like clothing line burnout, or like quick success, sudden failure. You know, everyone thinks that with the internet the way it is, that everything's perfect, like and no one shows that hard stuff behind the scenes. Like, let's go back a ways. Making your first million, how hard? Gosh, you know what? I think it that was when it crept up, and I, you know, almost like, oh my gosh, like I I couldn't believe we got there. I remember I got a bank statement back, and we had a million in the bank, and I was like, oh my holy shit. Like this is uh I've always dreamt of like it doesn't feel the same as becoming a millionaire. It's a very different thing than what you pictured when you're young, right? But um, but it was it was incredible. It was um that was kind of a oh my gosh, I did it moment, but it was just as how much did it revolve around you, that first million, like your energy, your effort, your everything. I was everything at that point. Yeah, you know, I think um by that time I might have had like two employees, and and if I'm gonna be honest, like they would have probably like paid under the table. We'll hit that bit out later. Don't worry about it. You
Why Quality Protects Trust
know, if anyone comes in here, you don't work here. You know, you're my cousin. It was yeah, it was we don't look the same, but we're related, yes. I think that it felt sudden though, because it really realistically, my first year of doing it full time, where it was like, you know, safety net is gone and you have to like we're like, but you're so held down backside up at that point that you're not really looking at the goals and everything, you just go. Absolutely. It's just like you're kind of trying everything. It's like what can what can we do to get here, get here, or whatever. Yeah, at that time I didn't really have number expectations, and I think a lot of times I get asked, like, did you ever think that you would hit this spot? And to be honest with you, I didn't know that it was possible. Yeah, I so I did I see the reason for this pod. I'm 100% clear with you and everyone listening that people seem to think that you gotta be like Mark Zuckerberg to go and do this stuff, right? But normal businesses in normal products do this all the time, and I don't think we get it that it's it's normalized going for a hundred million. It's something that we can do. Absolutely. So 10 million, how did you have to build your team and how did you have to make it different to go from a mil to 10 mil? So mil to 10 mil was it was a tough time for me. Um, I think that we quickly went to five, and like it was like one to five next year, you know, and then and then five to ten actually happened really quick too. I thought that that was gonna be like a a lull, but I just hammered down and kept my head down and kept going. Um, but I I now go by something and in hearing this in my earlier days, but practice it more, like the day that you the day that you believe your own hype, you're just you're done. Yeah. And I went, I suffered some of that at that time. And and like I didn't know what I didn't know. Well, people around you start telling you how good you are. It was like, well, maybe I am like now. I've gotten to the point where I'm going to the grocery store and I'm not afraid of whether my card's gonna work or not. You know, that's that's a whole new feeling. You know, I was telling someone the other day that business is not supposed to be like your first car. I don't know about you, but my first car, it was a you'd walk out in the morning and you go, I wonder if it'll start today type. But that's what getting to that first million is kind of like. How did you have to build your team to go from a mil to 10 mil? Did you have to bring in managers? Did you have to bring in what did you have to build? So one of the one of the difficult parts that I put myself through at that time was I wanted to build like a family, if you will. So it was personal friends. And and that's that brings a lesson all of its own. And so we can spend hours on that one. Oh, yeah. And then and you'll see that through those, you know, those next milestones of like, you know, trying to take your friends and you want to share success with them, but you can't make everyone a you know an eventual like C level, you know, executive. It's just it's really at some point. You've got to professionalize your management team, right? Um, I I just wasn't ready to do it, to be honest with you. I think at that time I was like, we're a lifestyle brand, I'm living this lifestyle, and uh, you know, and I just like I was having a lot of fun, and at the same time, I was working 18 hours a day. So I was like, Yeah, I was trying to find not much lifestyle in 18. So it was like we gotta shove it in. And I think we were trying to be so um so much of a disruptor, and I didn't, I don't think that that was like really my thought process at the time, but we're like, we're gonna do it harder and faster than anybody else. We have to prove it. And so at that time, it was like half the day was like, you know, was like packing orders and doing stuff like that. Rest of the day was spent on content of just doing the craziest, wildest stuff, you know, like living this semi-jackass like life, and and then like trying to run the business at the same time. And so it was um, it was hard and it was very tiring. Um, but it was the way that I did it was not sustainable. No, yeah, no, I remember that as a young man, um, realizing that just because I owned the joint didn't mean I needed to be the person doing everything. Right. And it it was how did you how did you get through the letting go thing? Because at some point you have to let go of stuff. Oh, this is this is and trust others. This is much later in the process. I you know, like I I see now like friends' businesses and as they go through this stuff, you know, and um and that letting go part, I tell them all, I was like, this is absolutely instrumental of you ever getting to the next spot. Yeah, and I was so burnt out, like I had been running our social media for seven years, and then you know, they're my own. Um, I was doing like my own podcast
Building A Tribe On Social Media
at the time, and I was I was basically um like amplifying to the world what I needed to hear, and but like that also made gave me this imposter syndrome feeling. No, yeah, and I think that that's that's very relevant. I really hate that they gave it that name though. It's like you know, you know what it is, because you know what an entrepreneur really is? They're a person who claims something and then goes and makes it real, right? You know, because you have a vision, and and the reality of it is that vision is not real, but you know you can make it real. Um, at some point I had to learn that it wasn't me building a business, it was the business building me. Did that ever hit you in the face, or was it a slowly crept up on you, or how did you fit in with that? I I think that that was a later personal struggle that I felt because I was I got stuck at this point where I was like, where do I begin and where does the character end? Yeah, and I think, but that also had a lot to do with I never wanted to be the face of the brand and I and I became it. And so I'm not that person really, but at the same time, as a positive, now the skills that I picked up along the way because of being like forged in that fire, you know, they're irreplaceable. I wasn't a very talkative person, I didn't have the social skills that I needed to have. Um, I you know, I I would I didn't have as much like emotional regulation as I shouldn't have, you know. Really? And entrepreneur without emotional regulation, that never happens. How many laptops break around that song? You know, it's like, and it sucks because you go back on it, you're like, man, it's not worth it. You don't have to feel that. But I think going back to what you were asking about letting go, that's where all that comes from. Is like when you start seeing, you know, I was so scared to let go, but then I that's when I started hiring people that were better than me. Yeah. And and getting, and instead of being like, I'm the guy drinking my own Kool-Aid, it becomes like, hey, like there's no ego involved in this thing anymore. Like, or or no, you know, no pride in it. It's really if my pride is in my business and my people, the best thing I could do for them is to have the leaders that they need in those spots that do it better than I can. And and so what that's resulted in is you know, I get to do the parts of the business that I like and that I thrive in, and that's where my freedom's at. And all the other parts of it that I felt were were painstaking are what people thrive at. And, you know, it's just uh they have a different set of tools than I do. I am and it's like that's that's the greatest thing you can find a business of mine. I think you put it perfectly right there. You know, I want to go back then to a bit of the business side of town. So what you seem to have done better than most is focus on the demand side of the business more so than the supply side of the business. I see too many businesses, they're so focused on supply side they forget that you gotta create demand. Right. Um it goes back to that original drop model of the business. Um tell me, obviously, start from the beginning where it was a money-related thing, but you've kept that model through. Teach us more about how you've kept that demand of the business growing. Yeah, that was so in the beginning, you know, kind of like we were talking about earlier, it was, you know, when you start a business with $180, you're used to just like my my dad signed a note for me to start my business. It was like, thanks, dad. I'll make sure I survive, you know. Oh man, it's yeah, I those are the best parts when you look back on it, right? Yeah, I looked so I look back on that and I just focused on reinvesting every every step of the way so that I get more product. And so, but but he as much as we're growing, I couldn't really keep up. And this was a great time because it allowed me to really um branch out and say, okay, like do we do a drop just for fall? We release 13 colors, and then you know, and then those you see, like we're watching our sales, so they like, you know, they're kind of like this, and then we go up again, you know, and the predictability for me to be able to financially, you know, figure out how to run this thing is like you know, it's a whole different thing, you know, especially for us, like it is our our like creme to the creme of the year is like you know, is pretty much holiday because we move into colder weather. So your fall winter is great, and then I'm just hustling my ass off through summer, but all those bills come, you know, come due at that hard part of the year, and so you know, like trying to figure out how to like keep that all rolling and everything. But so at the time it really was just we
The Reality Of The First Million
would sell out of things fast, and it really was because I didn't have any more money, and I refused to take on loans and like I did a couple little things like at the time they had that PayPal loan thing. Oh, yeah, and all my stuff was through that. And my mom would 15 and exactly it was like 15, 20. Dear Elon, here's your money, yeah. My mom even asked me one time, she's like, Are you serious? That's what you're doing. And she's like, I offered you some help. Like, you know, if you need some capital. And I was so against it. I just wouldn't go. I wanted to do this thing on my own. I felt like I I felt like if I did it as survival, then I would figure out my way. Yeah. You know, and so I would do those a little bit, you know, bump up like 20 grand so I could buy some stuff and then, you know, do a couple big releases, try to, you know, pay the thing down, not keep any like balances. And I actually continued doing, you know, not using the loans. Once I had sustainability and the money, I stayed that way. I for me artistically, I couldn't, I couldn't focus on my creativity with this looming thing behind my head if I'm gonna kill so many people. Yes. It's like that pressure and that weight on your shoulders is too much. You know, it's I was chatting with a guy the other day and he'd fallen to a goal in his business of just pay the bills. And that's one of the reasons I do what I do, because if your whole goal in business is to just pay the bills, that's all you achieve. You've lost sight of why you started the business, you've lost sight of your dream of that vision of freedom and and all of those things. And as you said, you lose the artistic ability at that point. Absolutely. But you've kept demand in focus the whole time. How? How did you do that? Give because when people are listening to this, they're going, all right, how did you create the demand for a hundred million? One other addition to that question. How did you find the demand? Because I think there's two sides to your story on that. Yes. Um, so finding the demand, I would say, you know, when I started out, like I said, I was trying to sell to people who were me. I'd already been in the motorcycle industry for a while because me and my dad had a shot before that. And exactly what you said about, you know, all you're doing is living to pay these bills, that's what that was like. And talk about taking the biggest passion in your life, and then oh, you know, everything associated with it just looks like debt, you know, and it's it's just that's a really tough thing. But the good part about that is like I'm never gonna live like that again, and that really segued me into that next business. Um, but that creating that demand, what I saw at the time was like there's a lot of skateboard companies that were trying to switch over to moto, like it was like, you know, skateboarders don't like skateboard companies anymore, but we're all like suddenly into choppers and stuff like that. So we're gonna start trying to get their way into this. Whereas, like, you know, very staunch, like guys that were only motorcycles almost didn't want like that barrier of entry. There or they wanted to keep that barrier of entry because it's like, you know, this is our thing, stay out of it. You guys are trying to cash in on something that is, you know, kind of a deal. And so the authentic authenticity and where I came from, and then already knowing the magazines and stuff like that. It was like it, it was almost like the years of work, the seven, eight years before Dixon, that really came into play because it allowed me to show myself as like, you know, now I'm already I've already built like, you know, a handful of bikes that were great. I'd already, you know, um learned everything I could about the retail portion and about you know, service centers, all that kind of stuff. And now at this point, I'm working at Harley during the day for 10 hours a week, and then you know, in shipping orders at night. So I found the demand in the people that were around me, really. And and I think that, and the reason why I talk about those other companies was because our authenticity was rooted straight there. Yeah, and so at first it was like I thought like is this is what we are, you know, we are motorcyclist guys, but you know, oh, we grew up on skateboarding and blah, blah, blah, and all this other stuff. Um, but I realized how small that was as well, and I started thinking about the other things I liked, and in those niches, like really getting into them and serving them the same way. So that's that's where, like, when I got my first Impala, like it was like that, you know, then I'm active over there doing that stuff. I had to, I guess, in um in a roundabout way, what I'm trying to say is that I became the people, or I I got on the ground with them. It was like, you know, it's like not saying like I was above them, but I was like, I got on the ground with them, seeing them face to face, and really was able to show that we are people selling to people. And that's who people want to do business with, you know, they want to know you, know about you. They want to, you know, you shake their hand and and like genuinely thank them for their business and always treat them like that as the things grow. And if you put your head down and you keep on fostering that and and and showing them your passion and showing them how you have this purpose and you know, and awareness of you know, of the finer things in these cultures, that it naturally kind of like paved the way, you know. I think that it became something that they can feel it. And um, and this is something that I continue to say, you know, even present day. Like I'd be in a marketing meeting yesterday, and I say this every single marketing meeting. We don't sell shirts, we sell feelings. Yeah. And and that's where that really came from. And so I think a lot of that had to do with how we built up that customer base. Yeah, I think you know, being in Harley at some point had to help you understand they don't sell motorbikes. Right, right. Yeah, like their whole business plan is is like we're here to rebel. Yeah. Or that kind of thing. We sell rebellion, you know. Yeah. I remember I interviewed the head of communication and he just talked about that. He said, we didn't we basically don't communicate about the motorbike. Right. You know, we communicate about what
Letting Go And Hiring Better
the experience is. And I think that's something you've created for your customers in an amazing way. So let's flip it to the next phase then, right? Because, you know, at some point, business owners, when they start getting to your size, you start getting the the companies knocking on the door going, hey, you ready to sell yet type thing? Because we're all gonna have an exit from our business at some point. Pine box or financial, you know, and or but even having your team run the business without you. Now, you've done an amazing job at building a good team that can do most of the running of the business without you today. How does that feel, by the way, to have a team that's that solid now? It's taken me a couple years to adjust. I've I felt a lot of guilt for a while. Oh, yeah. Because I was just like, I'm like, what am I supposed to do? Then I realized that I was like, like I get frustrated about stuff I didn't know about, and I realized that that was a lot of that's a big ego thing, really. You know, it's like I'm mad at myself for not being there and this mistake happened. Now I'm angry, you know. And it's like when I I kind of stepped back and I calmed down and really looked at the blessings of it. That's where that's where it really was like, okay, this is wild. I didn't know this was coming like at all. I didn't know that I, you know, like I I knew that I was letting go in the sense of like, you know, in um giving these people my trust and my respect and and and trusting it all, you know. Um, but I didn't know why exactly yet. And so then then I have this uncomfortable moment where I'm like, now truly, one of the issues I talked about earlier, who am I? Like, where where do I begin and stop? And what am I without this business? And was I paying a character the whole time? And now like you're facing these weird reality checks and and you know, mentally, and and those, if you're not ready for that, that can that's a whole nother journey, right? I I was lucky in that when I reached that phase, I also became a dad. And now with five kids, I like I had something to it's almost like I had another the business baby was replaced with an actual baby for me. And it was like, okay, I see this new role I'm stepping into type thing. That timing is great. It was great with doing it. I took four years off running the company and was a dad for four years. And I I went back, I remember sitting literally on the red couch with my daughter, and I'm I think it was Dora the Explorer or something, and I was singing every song in my head, and I knew every single word, and I'm like, oh my god, I need to go back to work. I'm gonna die on this couch. You can only watch Yo Gabba Gabba so many times, you know. So if you look at the the next game for you then, because a lot of, you know, when you reach that 100 million, it's like, well, okay, what's the next game? Do I go for the billion? Do I create another nine brands that are this, you know, like because you've learned how to build a hundred million dollar clothing brand. Do you go and do that 10 more times? Do you go and do, you know, what's is there another game, or are you just loving this game so much? You want to build this brand, and and you're already global that you could take it to so many places. Yes, I so the good part about some of the product segments that we went into that we didn't need to do, like say sunglasses, stuff like that, is that uh myself and my brother-in-law, Chris, who's like he's like my right-hand man, and honestly, I couldn't do this without him. He's a very, very important part of our um success. Um, but we decided that we wanted to learn how to make everything because we would talk to each other, almost like reassuring each other in a sense, like, hey, well, guess what? If everything falls 50, like we could do this, and we're gonna create this, like this shirt, we're gonna sell it to TJ Maxx, like blah, blah, blah. We'll make like 85,000 of them, just one shirt, and it'll just be called whatever so cow palm tree, whatever, you know. Like, we're just like thinking of all of our outs to create our own nets because the nets are gone, yeah, you know, the safety nets are are completely gone, the trading rules are off, it's all up to you. And if you crash a burn, you don't have anybody to blame but yourself.
Demand First With The Drop Model
And so, um, so real realistically going through that, I kind of got a lot of that creation side out of the way. I know how to make everything, and and it's which is cool, but I am open to new challenges. But but if I'm gonna be completely honest, is um now my time has been spent being a father, yeah. And um, this is the part where I get this little girl tears me up every time. Um so as my wife is like, hey, this is great for you to like you need to learn how to calm down. You know, like I'm still running, I'm like I just run around the house in circles, like trying. I'm I'm trying to make problems just so I could fix them. It's like because that's what I do. I'm a I'm a solution maker, right? And when you run out of problems, you're like once you've reorganized the pantry 17 times, you've started okay, I gotta stop that. I went and ran charities for a while because I just couldn't that's a great idea. And then I, you know, because it was like I gotta do something type thing. I took up golf because that's what I thought retired people did. My my dad was the only retired person I knew. So I played golf with my dad. After three weeks of that, I wanted to punch myself in the face. It was like Yeah, like I I don't understand how that like calms anyone down. That's golf is like an obsession, you know, if you're an obsessive type of person that you'll never be perfect at. Oh yeah. You know, I think they invented it just to annoy obsessive people. Right. But so you look at, and this is something I talk with a lot of people that I coach in that what is next for you once you've achieved X? What is the next mountain? What is the next goal? Because it's a hard challenge when you when you hit that. And I think that you know, the people listening to us are like, dude, I just want to know how to get to my first 10 million. Don't worry about the stop talking about yourself. Just how'd you get there? Right? But you you got there, and if I can summarize to people, you got there by building a great product and building a culture that surrounded that product and building a tribe of customers that love and repeat buy from you and become amazing advocates. Right. The level of tagging of people wearing your shirt is just like it. People don't understand that social media, and maybe you can touch on this just for a second. We'll go back to the other subject. Social mentions for you guys is insane. People tagging your brand when they're wearing your brand is more than I've seen in so many other products in your space. Did you plan that? Did it just happen? How did that kind of came together as like that family vibe? So, as much as I was trying to create that in the workplace, you know, and and that's evolved over time. It's like a much healthier um family vibe now than it was before. Because it was just like my best friends, and we're, you know, you're with them outside of work, you're with them at work, you know, and you know, that starts to blur the lines a lot. And um, so with the consumers, it's the same way. We were doing lots of shows, and like I mentioned earlier about the handshake and the genuinely thanking them for things, it it really evolved into a family quite quickly and and quite effortlessly, you know, just naturally, I guess. And so when you create that culture in it, then they want to show their their part of the family, they want to show off their their accolades and their collection. The crazy thing I see in your brand, and I notice this, I have an Irish restaurant in Vegas, and I notice in an Irish restaurant, your brand, when people tag it, it's more of your other customers commenting about them than it is their friends. Right. They've got more friends who wear the shirt they do than they do friends in real life. Right, right. So it's so true. That's so I think that there's a couple lessons in there, um, I think for entrepreneurs, or I should say, in apparel space, just in branding in general, I guess. Um, like we always looked at it. I would tell these are just self-taught lessons that are based on nothing except for I think that they're true. Um, and and so like I would I tell them, like, hey, we have to focus on hats. And let me tell you why is like because guy could buy a shirt and he might wear it once every two weeks. Guy could buy a hat and he can wear it with six different shirts. Yeah, and in our selfie generation, this thing is going to be repeating itself and everything. And it doesn't look bad if the guy's wearing the same hat all the time, as long as he changes his shirt sometimes, right? And so, and and then what we do is you know, we don't have big blazing logos on most of our stuff, so that's your that's your you know your chance, right? So focusing on that and then inviting them, and now very naturally our user-generated content is insane. Yeah, you know, it's like it it does it for uh for ourselves, and then what it what it allows us to do though is be so authentic by showing we're like we're showing the people that do this, they're the same as us, and and like here you go. So they're seeing people that are just like them, you know, and and it's like uh instead of us showing them these are all the fun things that you don't get to do at your desk job, you know, blah blah blah. We're showing them,
Authenticity That Finds Real Demand
hey, like this is that lifestyle that you get to live when you're off of work. And then at the same time, we're gonna make great products for you while you're at work, you know, and and everything in between. We want to be a part of your life in every part, you know, whether it's like the hard work, the blood, sweat, and tears that you put into everything you're so proud about, whatever you do from working class guy all the way to white-collar dude or a doctor lawyer. Um then at the same time when they want to let loose and we give them, we give them the ability to express themselves in a way that, like, you know, you have a funny shirt with flamingos on it, you know, and then you know, and then some really nice shirt that they wear weddings, you know, and stuff like that. And it's like it's it's pretty, it's pretty cool how it works. Yeah, I think that one was one of the funniest. Like, I literally saw a photo of a guy wearing a Dixon at a wedding, and it's like, huh. All right. Oh, now we've reached a different brand level. Who have no idea how many wedding invitations would get sent to us because they're gonna be all wearing Dixons at the wedding. Oh, fantastic. Like, um, they're all the groomsmen wear white like matching flannels, you know. It's that's cool, really big in the Midwest and the South. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. Um, so uh I always finish this with how did the business build you? Like, not we've talked about how you built the business. How did the business build you? Oh gosh, uh dude, uh all of my biggest like changes personally, all of all of these profound moments in my life came from what the business has taught me. It's like it's the day that you realize that you need to take all the lessons from business and start you know putting them towards your towards your life. I think in the last two years, my growth personally has been like it's not only instrumental in my life, but also like it it's compounded so many times. It's uh I focus so much on taking care of my staff like they're my kids. And but I did everything at work and I didn't get that I didn't get the time to be the dad that I wanted to be. So sorry. So dude, I know five kids sometimes they make me cry because I think about them in a nice way, and other times it's like, damn. Later today I'm showing like, oh my god. Teenage girls, but um, you know, it's it's like uh now I realize that everything that I want to be personally, and that's after you have that realization of your character and everything else, everything that I want to be to be the best man that I can be, um, is what I focus on now. And and there's there's parts of it that go to business too, but a lot of it is mostly the normal things that people find mundane in their lives are the things that I'm absolutely ecstatic about right now. Yeah, you know, it's like spending time with my daughter, you know, as much as it sucks getting on her ass to like, you know, study and stuff like that, it's like that's my job. Yeah, you know, and and I take pride in that job. And um, I think that the roles that we play in at home end up we find out are so much more profound than what we do in business. We figure out how to make money, and then you're like, oh well, I got that formula down. I could go do it again, you know, and I could I could do it in a completely different space, you know. But I don't get to go back and and get this time of my children again. I don't I don't get to go back and be this age right now, you know, the youngest I will ever be again today with my wife, you know, and it's like and and so that's really what it dialed down to is that I think a lot of people think that my life is probably extremely social and and loud, and it and it's not. It's very, it's quiet, it's um, it's very personal. It's like I spend all of my time with my wife, she's my best friend, she's my rock, she's you know, she's everything that keeps me going. And um, and she's the side, she's the other side of everything that keeps the train on its tracks. And then um, you know, and then I have my daughter, and I try to spend as much time with her as well, and trying to bring her up in ways that like now my goals are to say, like, okay, I was I was weird and artistic and didn't fit in. My daughter is exactly the same way, and she's taught me a lot about like, you know, from from the way
When The Business Builds You
she struggles with things, I was like, wow, I have that. I didn't know that. I didn't know that like my severe ADHD was like debilitating me in these ways, you know. And so now I try to foster that as like a connection in a way of like of providing her the places of creativity. We we recently just bought a house in Brooklyn, um, like a brownstone. It's been me and Allison's dreams, you know, even when we weren't together, we share that dream that we wanted to do that, and it was in a lot of it had to do with like we just like building this brand and the multi-culture like and the multifaceted parts about it. My daughter needs that in her life, you know, and and sometimes this isn't the best spot for it. So why not five months out of the year? You know, we we spend over there and her getting to just um just jump into creativity fully and make her feel comfortable in her skin. Yeah, I got this outlet in life to make me feel comfortable, and it was and it took 30, 30, 35 years to get there, right? And it's like I would rather be able to instill that in my daughter now, and that's that to me right now is everything. Um, other than that, um going into work and when I go, like watching this well-oiled machine, like it brings a tear to your guy, your eye, every time. I walk into my our shipping warehouse and it's bigger than a Costco, and and it still rocks me to my core. Yeah, I I operate like I'm the guy, Allison tells me all the time we gotta stop this. I operate when I'm at work, like I'm the guy that's still carrying around totes of flannels in the back of my scion, and like and and uh I blind myself with it. So now as I'm emerging and becoming the man that I always wanted to be, you know, I'm looking at things multifaceted and and enjoying looking at investments, enjoying looking at real estate, enjoying in all the facets of life that I get to, you know, instead of ignoring it and being like, I built a brand to be fucking 21 forever. It's like I'm really enjoying this. Didn't that company go bankrupt? Which means we cannot all be 21 forever. You know, if if I can summarize with this, your proof that everyone has their tribe. Sometimes you just gotta go and not find your tribe, but build your tribe. Hey, follow by the Dixons, wear the Dixons, do the whole thing, keep coming back for more on the Hundred Million Dollar Podcast. Thanks for joining me on the $100 million podcast. If you've got value from today's episode, make sure you've subscribed and share this with all of your friends. Never miss a strategy that could change your business and your life. And remember, the fastest way to scale is to learn from those who've done it. That's what this show is all about. See you on the next episode.
