Hey ladies, let me just see if it's streaming into the app real quick because it had a weird
um, it looked like it was going automatically. So let's see. No. Okay. How's everybody doing
today? I'm going to stop streaming. I'm going to get the streaming in the app. So, um,
come on in if you guys just want to, um, unmute. Do you have a win for the week that
you want to share? Anyone, anyone? Hmm. Anyone want to share a win?
Everybody's quiet. I'll share. Hi, everybody. Good morning. Good morning. Or, well, good
afternoon for me. I'm probably the only one that's morning. Oh, yeah. Um, it's like two
in the afternoon here, but, um, when this week is that we're finally moving to the new
house and my house is in like a huge gigantic mess, but I finished, um, the gap and the
gain. Have you guys heard of that book? What an incredible transformational book. I am
like mind blown. And, um, for everything that goes on in my life, um, good or bad, I'm like,
I'm like a robot the whole time. And I'm even like asking my kids after sharing what the book
was about with the kids, like, Hey, are you in the gap or the game? Um, I talked about it with
my mom and it was like, like something really hard that she's going through. And like, it
really was transformational for her. And I don't know. It's just really helped me a lot.
And I'm excited that I have read this book. Yeah, that's a great share. Um, so that's one
of the books that we have that we did, um, bonus a little while ago. Okay. Yeah. So, um,
the gap in the game and 10 X it's better than two X. Yeah. I think, is it better or easier
than two X? And it basically is like two X you work harder. Like you're busy, you're
like trying to get that advancement opportunity. And 10 X is you learn how to implement, like
putting people in the right position. So you're not working harder. You're just working smarter.
So yeah, really good too. I read that book right before. Um, and it references so much
because it's the same authors, um, the gap in the game. And then the other one that they wrote is
who not how, and this guy, cause he, like, when you listen to it, it, um, interviews, um,
what's his name? Dan Sullivan. Yeah. I love the audio because they're interviewing. Yeah,
exactly. So you hear tidbits that you wouldn't get from the book and you hear like
a perspective. They offer like just different tidbits of experience than they would. Um,
yeah, so it was really good. I like it. Good. I like that. Um, Heidi,
she's talking about the gap in the game. She's reading it. Um, that, that, yeah. So if anybody
that, um, was one of the previous books we did, we did 10 X is easier than two X and the gap in
the game and who not how we did that one also. Um, any of the Benjamin Hardy books are amazing.
Um, agreed. I just popped in and heard that and I was like, yes. Yeah. Jessica was just
saying she's reading the gap in the game or just finished. So.
So good. Yeah. Gap in the gain. 10x is greater than 2x. That one might be my favorite.
What was the other one we read with Inner Circle?
Who Not How. Who Not How. Yeah, that was the first one we read. And then he has another one called
Be Your Future Self Now. That one's really good too. He's got quite a few books, but those are...
He does some collaborations with Dan Sullivan. Am I making that up?
Yeah. Dan Sullivan. Those are the collabs with him. Those are really good.
Yeah. I love listening. We were saying I would love listening to the audio because
you hear them talking it out. And some of the audios I've found you get a little bit
more additional from the author sometimes. Yeah. Are we sharing wins and stuff or what?
Yeah. I said, let's start with some wins. I was trying to get the live stream working
and it's not working. It says it is on top, but it's not streaming in too.
I'll check into it.
Yeah. It's just going direct. It's not giving me options to enter in the codes.
I did that to Daniel, so I don't know what's going on with it. I mean, it's happened before.
So yeah. Any other wins? Any other shares for the week as we're getting started?
No quiet group today? Is Michaela off camera? Because I can only... I
hide my non-video participants. Michaela's off camera. Yes. And Kirsten.
I can't believe you've never seen my hair down. Are you serious?
I feel like I have it down all the time. That's so funny.
I don't know. I feel like your signature high ponytail is just kind of what I expect.
I mean, I do that a lot too, but I would say it's like 50-50.
That's so funny. You're just catching me on all the ponytail days.
That's hilarious because I don't notice. Yeah. Either or.
Ponytail is usually like a couple days into not washing hair. That's like when you see me.
It's like 95% of my life. My hair is like pulled back in a bun because it's...
there's only like two days where it's clean, you know.
I showered last night, so it's fine. That is so funny.
Yeah. You can't tell on camera whether somebody's hair is clean or dirty except for they're like,
oh, you look really nice today. And it's like, yeah, well, I washed my hair.
So, Michaela, you said you sold your first digital product. Is this the planner that you made?
Yes, I sold one of the planners for $17. Dang. Where'd you get the sale from?
I just had like an automation, a workflow set up. So from Instagram.
Dude, that is so awesome. Yes. That is so great.
I was excited. That's a huge win.
That's like proof of concept, right? Like, okay, someone out there likes this. So this is good.
Yes. And then I got started panicking because I was like, gosh,
I hope my automation like actually works. So I had to buy it for myself.
Yeah, that's... I've done a lot of that too. I've done a lot of that.
That's awesome. Like, you know, the days when you like first start selling a product on Amazon
and you're just like, you've done the research, you know the numbers, but there's a part of you
that's like, is anyone going to buy this thing? Like, is anyone going to like this? And then
people buy it and you're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe someone bought this. Like,
you're like freaking out. Like, it's crazy to think I've sold probably almost 10,000 units
over the past few years, different SKUs and stuff, which like for my search volume was a lot.
Well, between all the different SKUs, it's just like a lot of items to sell. That's like a lot
of people in the world that have a product that I made in their hands. It's like so bizarre.
Yeah. It's so bizarre.
It is. And I tell students that too, like just thinking like,
it's always cool when a stranger purchased your product because you think of like somebody
that doesn't know you and from wherever, you know?
Yeah.
And then you retire something and you go, huh, somebody has my something somewhere.
Yeah. And then you think about like, think about how many units you've sold,
whether you sold like thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds or
or like singles, how many units you sold.
And then think about what your life would look like
if your product were 10 times the price
and you sold that number of units,
a hundred times the price
and you sold that number of units.
Then it really starts to like break your brain
when you think about like, it's just interesting
because like Steve and I were talking about this
and he was talking about how,
like looking at someone's revenue,
like he's talking about like business owners in general
and no specific industry, any industry,
but looking at someone's revenue is actually not,
it doesn't tell you a lot about how successful they are
or how well they're doing.
Looking at the number of units that they've sold
or if you're in a service-based industry,
the number of services you've fulfilled
tells a lot more of the story.
Because he was like, for example,
in the construction industry,
one job can be multiple millions of dollars.
That's the world of construction.
So if you're in the construction industry
and your revenue is like 5 million,
might sound really impressive
to someone in the e-commerce industry,
but someone in the construction industry
is going to be like,
5 million, you only got one job this year?
Like, what are you doing wrong?
So it's just really interesting,
this concept of like revenue is relative.
Like it's kind of irrelevant as far as like success
or like whatever is determined,
but it's more like how many customers can you serve
and how well can you serve them?
And then price is just going to be relative
to like however you're serving that person.
So if you're building them a hospital,
it's going to be a few million.
And if you're giving them a single product,
it's going to be like $20, right?
So it's just interesting to think about that.
And then you think about like,
you think about like what you want for your business.
Like, what's the goal?
Yeah, that's really, that's really interesting, Mikayla.
Yeah, you think about like what the goal is
for your business, right?
Both in terms of like, you know,
when you think, when you go back to like
brand vision week of the accelerator,
and it's like, where do I want this to go?
Like, what do I want this to do for my life?
And then you think about what you want to accomplish
for your avatar, like for your person.
Like, what are you trying to accomplish for them?
And what are you trying to accomplish for yourself?
And how do you create a product or service
and set it up in such a way
that you help them reach their goals better and faster
and you help yourself reach your goals better and faster?
And then you really start to get into this like
interesting space of like,
yeah, like, what would it look like?
And I think just like flipping things on the head
of like what is typically expected, I guess.
Do you want me to read this, Heidi?
Or do you want to share?
You can read it because I'm chewing.
Okay.
So Heidi's win says, Heidi and I were talking about this.
So Heidi, some of you are, you know, recently met her
because she's been in our circle a little bit longer,
but she's been on this journey of like
learning how to get investors into her business.
And so she did get an investor.
And this guy, he's like into real estate as well.
And so there's some other situation going on.
He's actually like buying her mother-in-law's house
and it's sort of like a upside down situation.
And so it's a good deal for the investor.
It's a maybe better deal for Heidi's family
because they don't have really other options.
And part of the deal is she's getting $50,000
from that deal to invest in her business.
So he's one of the guys
that she presented to as an investor.
She was asking how we were going to format it,
interest, payment terms, et cetera.
He said, you won't have to pay it back.
I'm formatting it as a gift post-taxes.
So I'm literally getting 50K of free money.
That's crazy.
Well, free is relative with all the help
and things I've needed to do for my mother-in-law.
That's your payment, but it allows so much freedom
to do what I need to do with my business.
That is so crazy.
That's so crazy.
And you might be thinking like,
is this guy just like extremely generous?
Or like, he probably is,
but also he's getting something out of it too
because him being a real estate investor,
I know what he's thinking.
And he's thinking I'm going to get a massive tax write-off.
It's going to save him.
thousands and taxes and capital gains and all kinds of stuff. So
he's actually it's just like, yeah, that's awesome. Like,
he's, he's very well educated and knows how the system works.
So he's using the tax law the way it's written to benefit
himself and thereby benefit Heidi. It's a win, win, win. The
real estate investors love win, win, wins. You just use the tax
law. Yeah, that's good. That's super good. That's awesome. This
is why I really, I really, really love real estate. And I'm
really interested in like learning more about it, because
it's a game changer. It's a it's a total game changer when it
comes to like investing in money. And like, it makes money
feel fake, because just like the things that you can do that you
shouldn't be allowed to do, like with real estate don't make
sense. But yeah, that's why I just tell people money is kind
of like, it's like made up like, it's just like these digital
numbers on the screen that we use to assign value to let
people do like allow us to do things, basically.
We've been calling it legal laundering.
Legal laundering.
It's awesome.
Kind of. Yeah, not far off from. Yeah, that's not far off. That's
super funny. I joined a real estate mastermind like a couple
years back, just because I wanted to like learn and it's
very much real estate. It's very much a lifelong game. Like it's,
you know, you have to have money to invest in it doesn't have to
be your money, but you have to have you have to find money from
somewhere. There's a lot of like creative financing strategies
and stuff. But it's like, it's a lifelong thing. Like, it's just
a really good, you know, like, talking about streams of income
and like, assets and things. It's something that like, I
think everyone should diversify into. So I kind of joined this
haven't done a lot with it, but just sort of like I'm learning
and stacking the deck and like building my slowly building my
strategy toward what I can achieve with what I have in my
hand right now. But it's so cool to see what people do with it.
And like, I've heard truly like miraculous stories of like, rags
to riches type with just totally just create creativity,
entrepreneurial mindset and determination. Real estate is
really a game changer. Real estate makes the most
millionaires and billionaires in the world. That's that's the
statistic.
Well, with that I've heard, you know, there's only so much land
to buy. Like,
right, it's an asset that everyone is going to need. Like,
you always need some like to eat and you always need somewhere
like shelter, somewhere to sleep somewhere to live. So it's like
this asset that's always going to be a thing. Yeah, it's really
cool to they're also like, the people who run it are believers
are super cool, very entrepreneurial, very like,
they've been in, they've been real estate investors for like
30 years. So they're just cool.
There's a another gal that I got to know of in 100x. I'm Teresa
Todd. She actually reminds me a lot of what Heidi was talking
about. She helps people like, especially older people that
might not have somebody that helps them like she's just have
has given stories of like, she's bought their mortgage and then
she's given them money and I've even helped them move like
she's hired a like a moving company to come and take their
stuff away. And like basically has flipped the house in a
certain amount of time afterwards and just like got it
ready, you know, like, maybe another investor or something.
But, you know, there's ways that like, you know, we're always
trying to be solutionaries of how we can help an audience that
actually needs it, you know, and like, what a headache for you
guys, this house not living even there. And just having that
taken off your hands and having money in your pocket, you know,
like, that just changes everything for you guys. And for
the investor, like, this is a property for them to make money
too. So you know, it's like a win win for everybody.
Totally.
I do have a message here from Kayla. I don't know if you got a
message from Kayla. Now, um, her mom suddenly passed away. Like
this morning.
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah, my mom unexpectedly passed away this morning. So some of
you newer ones don't might not know Kayla. She's been in the
community for a while. And she's been busy with like new babies
and stuff. Um, but she just said, you know, if you guys can
just keep her and her family in prayer, and you know,
Wow. How old was her mom?
She didn't say.
She said, we're in shock and don't know how to process this.
Oh, man.
Which I don't, I mean, I'm guessing that Kayla's mom
might be like your mom's age, you know, Megan?
Young, too young.
Like, yeah.
Young for that to be really shocking.
Right.
Wow.
So anyway, not to put a downer on the call,
but I just, I didn't want to forget it.
And so, yeah.
Yeah, thanks for sharing.
I'll pray for Kayla and her family.
Kayla's really, really sweet.
I don't know if you guys know her.
I mean, Heidi knows her,
but she's been in inner circle a long time,
like from the first round.
So she's really sweet.
And Kayla's the one that went on the blocks, right?
Is that Kayla?
No, that was Lacey.
Oh, Lacey.
Yeah.
That's right.
They were around the same time, though.
Yeah.
Wow.
I'd love to do some gives and asks time with you guys,
if you're open to that.
So gives and asks is just a time where you can,
if you have anything of value to share with the group,
so it could be personal related,
it could be business related,
it could be, I feel like that covers the spectrum,
but it could fall under either of those.
And it could be like, here's a tip,
here's something I'm learning,
here's a resource that I found that's awesome,
here's something I learned, whatever.
That's a give.
And an ask is, I'm getting stuck somewhere
and I need some support with this.
And also could be business or personal,
because we do talk about a lot of,
like Heidi's situation with her mother-in-law in the house,
that's kind of personal,
but it has overlapped with her business quite a bit.
And this is a group of solutionary minded people,
and it's just a good place to bring things
that you might be struggling with
or need some support with.
And if we don't have the answer,
then we can at least provide support for you.
Like in Kayla's situation, we can pray for her,
we can be emotionally supportive in this situation,
or you never know,
you might have some contacts or external resources
and things like that,
that people can rely on
to bring in some outside information.
So gives and or asks.
So I'll give you a minute to kind of think about something
you might wanna share.
And then I have a couple I'm gonna share too.
Erica, you wanna kick us off?
Yeah, I was actually gonna write back to Mikayla
because I noticed that she posted in the group
about if anyone had a reference for a trademark attorney.
And this probably has been given already
because I got this from Tammy
and I think he's also listed in the resources,
but I wanted to share a really positive experience
I had with Justin Sanders from Master Key IP
that I'm currently having him work on
for a trademark office action.
And I didn't realize, but he works in this very cool way
where instead of charging,
like none of them are inexpensive,
but instead of charging like for every communication
that we have, it's like a flat fee.
And then I can ask like as many questions as I want,
which has been really awesome
because I feel like I'm like learning
during this process as well.
And that's been super valuable.
So yeah, that's my tip for trademark lawyers this week.
Justin Sanders and he's from Master Key IP.
Cool.
I haven't heard of that one.
Who gave you that recommendation?
Tammy actually.
And I think he's in the resources somewhere too.
Gradually gave it to me a while ago.
He actually is really good if like you had a question,
he'll respond to a question
and then he'll give you like,
if you want to use his services, it's this much.
Erica, can you elaborate specifically
what you're using him for?
I just was curious to see like, you know,
as somebody who was wanting to use them.
Yeah, I had gone,
I'd registered my trademark through trademark engine
and I got back that my mark was merely descriptive.
It's my trademark.
My brand name is Botanical Print Press.
And in the office action,
the lawyer sent me the dictionary definition
of botanical print and press.
And it was like that you'll confuse customers
in thinking that I'm actually selling them
a botanical press.
press not that it's the name of my company. So I had no idea that that was actually a consideration.
I thought it was being kind of clever because I'm not selling botanical prepresses. I'm just
selling like plant-related crafts. So we're having to file a supplementary mark instead,
which I guess is still a degree of protection, but not as much as a protection as a federal
trademark. And he's helping me do that. But in that process, he also taught me a lot about
what I can kind of do in planning for the future to make sure that I'm allowing myself to budget
for what I will need to trademark in the future in a way that's more strategic.
That's great. Yeah. Thanks for the clarity on that. I reached out to him just for anybody
else to know. I had my brand got denied. And so it was just because the category was correct,
but my description was wrong. And so like lint bin, you can't put laundry in a lint bin.
And so I needed to kind of think through the process. So he gave me a lot of different ideas
and haven't gone forward with it, but his prices are really reasonable also.
I think he quoted me to like refile and stuff was like under $1,000. So yeah.
Amy, can you make me host? I'm trying to set up the stream.
Anyone else have a give or an ask that they want to share?
Go for it, Heather. Okay. I guess this is kind of a give.
I sat down and prayed and meditated about my business. I think it was yesterday or the day
before. And what came to me is I have been in sort of a state of fear for a couple of weeks
or longer, because I have to have faith that things are going to happen. The message that I
got from the divine is that everything is happening the way it should be happening and
move from fear to faith. So just keep plugging along with the end goal. I'm in that point now
where I'm doing stuff and not seeing returns yet. So that was a great feeling to be like,
no, focus on why you started to do this in the first place and let go of fear. Everything's
going to be fine, no matter what. That's true. Did you share this on Mindset Monday?
Yeah. I was like, that sounds familiar. Yeah, I texted it in the chat.
Yeah. I read it out. Yeah. I guess that's my way. Move from fear to faith. That's really good.
I like that.
Tammy, I need you to change something really quick. So on the meeting, the reason why it's
not going is because you have to set up, check the box on the custom live streaming. On the
meeting, you have to click edit on the meeting. I think it's under live streaming. There's a
configure custom live streaming during the call. You have to check that box.
It's the first step on the SOP. Do you know what I'm talking about?
In the Zoom? On the Zoom? Yes. In the Zoom meeting. You have to configure it.
Yeah, that's what I went to. It doesn't give me an option. It goes straight.
It automatically live streams. I know. The reason is because on the Zoom meeting,
you have to edit it and check the box for configure live stream settings.
Then it will allow.
us to do that. But it's in your Zoom account. Okay. It wasn't, it streamed in perfectly before.
So that's what's weird. Every once in a while you have to turn it back on. So you still have to like
check it like as a first step. Cause sometimes it doesn't. Okay. So that's happening in the
coaching calls too. So I'll. Same issue. Yeah. Same issue. Yeah. Got it. Okay. Kirsten,
you have a give or an ask. I had to find my microphone for a second.
Okay. I haven't asked and it's just kind of like a random umbrella question,
but does anyone have any experience with like licensing? One of the things I'm
trying to think through is with like the pitch from rain tank with the suitcase design that I
have, I'm, I'm trying to like weigh pros and cons of like, is it worth, I guess like one,
trying to get funding to prototype it, like whether it's on Indiegogo or like private
investors or something like that, or is it maybe worth it to get some sort of like IP or patent
protection and like try to license it to like people that are already doing like luggage.
And so, I mean, I really liked the designs. It would be fun to make, but I was just like,
I should see if anyone has, I don't know, connections or. This definitely falls under
the realm of intellectual property. So I would think that an IP attorney could give you at least
next steps. I feel like is Erica's still here. She might just be off camera, but like the
attorney that she's using could probably do it. I also have a contact for an IP attorney and they
do everything from, you know, brand trademarks to like something like this. So I think your
first step would probably be reaching out and being like, Hey, what does this process look like?
How, how much does it cost? How long does it take? And what are like my next steps? If I
wanted to go that route, that's probably like what you need to know next. That might answer
your question of like, which route do I want to go? Depending on what, like, I don't know what
the cost of that would be. Because it's probably not going to be as much as like filing a patent,
but in the same vein, I feel like it's the same type of work. So that's probably what I would do
next. Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. It's definitely like, I feel like two black holes, so many steps,
but yeah, curious. Does anyone else have other thoughts? I'm going to see if I can find that
contact. Yeah. Let me know.
Also, thanks for sharing that, Heather, just about your perspective shift. I feel like I'm
sort of in the same boat and it's like right here, like right before launch, it's like,
is it going to work? And like, am I investing like my time and energy of the right thing?
Yeah. So it's nice to hear that.
Okay.
I think I got it.
Okay. Yeah. So I'm going to drop this in the chat. This is, I want to say he's the owner.
And then this is like a picture of the card that I got from them.
His name is very on brand. I feel like for rich gold 15, isn't it?
That's a great pen name. If it's not Israel, I know for real. Like, did you make that up?
That was super funny. Also, I just saw Heather's message of like,
wouldn't I want IP protection? Even if I didn't make it myself. Yes. So I feel like just to answer
question one route is like, if I do make it myself, I have like a year if I file like
a provisional patent, but just with how long everything takes. And like, I know I would need
probably several like revisions. I feel like it could take me longer than a year just to like,
get the design, like, you know, the IP, like fine tune that. So it's a year from selling.
Wait, say that again. So it's the provisional patent.
It's a year from selling. Like you have a year from when
it's like live in the market and you're selling it to file a patent.
So you'd file a provisional patent and then you have...
Oh, you're saying you file the provisional patent before you sell it?
I guess that's what I was thinking the step would be, yeah, is like I could file a provisional
patent now and have a year to like finalize the, you know, design and everything about it and then
I could file for the patent. You could also like some people will like sell, take it to market
to get proof of concept whether that's like a funding campaign like Indiegogo or Kickstarter
or it's like actually taking it to market and they'll get proof of concept first and then
they'll go file for a patent. Yeah. That would be a good question for like said attorney as well
of like what's the... Yeah, like there's different ways to approach it. What's the
safest way to approach it? What's the most cost-effective way to approach it? What's the
fastest way to approach it? Because those are probably going to have different answers. So
then you're going to kind of have to determine like which of those is most important to you.
Yeah, yeah, that's good too. Yeah. All right. All right, Mr. Rich. Mr. Rich Goldstein.
He's on my radar.
Oh, my trademark proof of use has been denied twice. What did they say was the reason for denial?
Like prove that you're selling? Yeah, okay. So when I first applied for my trademark for Simply
Caroline, I didn't have a product yet, right? And so I did and I knew I wanted to sell like
multiple products. So I did the class 35, which is like online retail store. And so the first
proof of use that I sent was I think I just sent like my Amazon listing where I was selling my
buttercrock and they sent back and they wanted me... They said no that I needed to do like a
ceramic trademark, right? But I don't know that I'm going to do another ceramic. I really want
to stick with what I had. So the second time I took a screenshot of my Shopify site and
they didn't accept that either. But they did like make a notation there that I didn't have
a time stamp included or the URL, I think. And so I don't know if like that's the only reason.
Like if I just resubmit the Shopify with that, if it'll go through. I'm nervous if they like,
like how many times do they make let me prove this before they're like, nope, you're done.
What about on Amazon? What about your Amazon listing? Do you have that?
Yeah. So that's what I sent the first time. And they said that because I only showed
the buttercrock, that's my only product right now on there that I'm not a...
Like it wouldn't be a class 35 is what they were saying.
Oh, they want proof that you're selling it on an online shop.
Yeah, I guess so.
I can speak to this because that's where mine kind of fill up. Do you know what you have
written in the description for your product?
You mean on Amazon or in my trademark?
Your trademark.
Oh gosh, I have no idea. I did it in 2023.
2023.
Because mine is in laundry, like it's in the right category. But she said, because it's
specifically not written, like, I mean, like everything is right. But it says laundry baskets
instead of like, like bins, you know, garbage kind of thing. And she said, because of that,
then, like my photos, I would have to have went out really quick and launched a laundry
basket in order for them to approve it. So, which isn't like, so mine, like mine got denied,
basically. And you can actually go on there and you can ask for the person to call or you
can call them or email them specifically. And they'll respond and give you details.
So that's what I did. I responded to that. And then I asked and she actually called me,
but I didn't catch it because, you know, it looks like a telemarketer. But she told me
that specifically. And she said, because what I did on the other one, I put like all of the
descriptions I could so I could grow my and she's like, each one needs to be a specific.
And so I think at this point, like, Justin was really helpful for me. So he gave me options of
like filing the right category with the right description.
And so, which is not really that much, like, even if you want to file it on your own, it's
like $350, you know, um, not that you want, you know, but, but especially now that you
know what you're selling to go forward, you could actually just be like, Hey, I'm just
going to do that.
I talked to my friend chat, GBT, and they would give me a walkthrough with the right
description.
So like, you could do that too.
Or if you feel like your description currently identifies like another product you have or
another product in the works, then you could just post it on Etsy and show that it's being
for sale.
It doesn't have to be like, or your, or your, you know, Shopify or whatever, you know, just
that they see that it's for sale.
Okay.
All right.
Yeah.
I don't know.
I just, for some reason, like I, I feel like what kind of held me up this time, like I
said, was cause it said that I didn't have a timestamp and I didn't, I guess I didn't
send the URL for the, I feel like the, uh, proof of use form, I feel like it's more confusing
to me than the original application.
Like it's just like the way they have it worded and set up, it's just so confusing.
So I was like, I don't want to do it wrong again.
And I, I thought about just like, you know, hiring somebody to handle it.
Cause I feel like I could get it approved.
I just have to figure out what to send.
Yeah.
You can ask them specifically and they'll give you insight.
Like so I knew I couldn't have that product specifically.
I had to do something different or like, you know, any of these other people could give
you some advice on like how to proceed with that.
Okay.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Good questions on IP stuff today.
Any other gives or ask you guys want to share?
I'll share a couple of gives with you guys.
So first one is just a podcast that I've been loving lately.
If you guys are into podcasts, I was telling Tammy about Tammy and Abby about this the
other day.
Um, but I've been listening to a lot of this guy named Taylor Welch and his podcast is
called the deep end.
Um, but he's like, um, he's like, he's an entrepreneur.
He's in the entrepreneurial space and, um, he's kind of in like the coaching industry,
like very high level, like coaches, like high level business owners and stuff, tons of knowledge.
And, um, he's actually like pretty young, but he's like really, really good at what
he does.
It's kind of like a Russell Brunson type.
Like he's just like really good at what he does, but his podcast is like not about business
at all.
It's more like about, he talks a lot about like, um, like a lot of like spiritual topics.
He talks about like trauma and he talks about healing and he talks about, um, like mindset
stuff and he just is a very, very interesting dude.
Like he's got a lot of knowledge and wisdom on a lot of different topics and I've just
been going really deep on his podcast and I've learned a lot.
So, um, if you're into that kind of thing, you can check it out.
I will warn you that his episodes are like so long.
They're like two hours long.
I like, it's so long.
So you have to kind of like chunk it out, but definitely worth a listen.
They interview a lot of really interesting guests and stuff too.
So I've been enjoying that.
And the other give is, this is so funny.
I don't think I've ever shared this as a give before.
I don't know why, cause it's such a cool, like little hack.
But I was just thinking about it like recently because I've been doing some more stuff with
it.
But has anyone ever heard of a self-directed 401k?
Anyone familiar with that?
Okay.
Well, you know what a 401k is.
So you got that part down.
So self-directed 401k is basically like, it's a 401k that you control.
So like you determine how to, how you want to invest, um, you determine everything basically.
Um, only business owners can have a self-directed 401k.
And this is all like following IRS guidelines and everything.
Like this is all very, uh, above board, but it, um, you have to have a business basically.
And essentially your business is the owner of the 401k.
Like not you.
Cause a person, an individual can't have a 401k.
It has to be like a company, but you are all business owners and you all have a business.
And what's so interesting is you don't even, there isn't even a, Oh, that's so cool, Rebecca.
That's I'd love to know like who you did it through, um, cause there aren't a lot of people
out there who like know about this.
And so it's like, it's hard to find, but, um, I really enjoyed like having it and you
don't have to have like the only requirements for you to qualify to have a solo 401k is
you have to have a business.
You cannot have any full-time employees.
So check, check.
And uh, you don't, you don't have to have a certain amount of revenue, which is interesting.
You can have very low revenue or no revenue and it still qualifies, but your, the amount
of revenue you bring in or your net income really determines how much you can make in
contributions.
If you did want to contribute toward it, which is tax savings, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
You can do pre-tax post-tax, whatever you want to do.
So you can do like Roth contributions or like, you know, tax deductible contributions.
Um, but where it really comes in handy, if you have any kind of preexisting retirement
account, like you have a 401k from another company or a Roth somewhere or a 403b, that's
what I had, which is more of like a teacher thing, more like government, uh, from government
industries.
If you have anything like that, and it's basically just like tied up, right?
Because like whatever company you worked for, whatever controls that, and you don't have
any, like you can't access it and you also can't determine how it's invested.
You can actually roll any funds from there over into a solo 401k and now you control
all of those funds.
So that's actually what I did.
I had like $30,000 in a 403b that I just like couldn't touch.
So I was like 65 or whatever.
And you know, I wasn't working that job anymore, so I was no longer making contributions.
There was no matching happening.
It was just sitting there.
So I rolled it over into a solo 401k and here's where things get really interesting.
When you have a solo 401k, you can decide how those funds are invested and you can invest
So you can invest in, you know, traditional things like stocks and bonds.
You can invest in crypto.
You can invest in non-traditional things like, like precious metals, crypto.
You can invest in real estate.
You can invest in a business like someone else's business.
You can literally buy like real estate property that technically you're, so the solo 401k,
when you set one up, you, your business is doing it and it's doing it through a trust.
So you actually set up a trust and then the solo 401k is owned by the trust because none
of this can be done by you technically, and there has to be a degree of separation.
So you, your trust can purchase property in the name of the trust through your solo 401k
funds.
So if you ever, ever have ever wanted to like buy property, but you don't have any money
of your own to do it, but you have some retirement money somewhere that's tied up that you can't
touch, you can roll it over into a solo 401k, create a trust, which is the beneficiary of
your business.
And then you can buy property, invest in businesses, like what have you.
So it's really cool.
There's just a lot of flexibility that you can do with it.
Or if you just like to invest and you're like, Oh, I just want to like do a little stock
trading and see if I can like earn any money.
Now the caveat to all of this, okay.
Is that whatever like profit that's earned or whatever gains that you earn on your investments,
you can't keep them.
They stay in the solo 401k account.
It's a, it's a typical like retirement account where you can't access that.
And if you do, you're liable to tax penalties and things like that for early withdrawals.
However, what you can do, and this is where it gets kind of interesting too, is you can
take a loan against your own 401k and you can do this with regular 401ks as well.
But when you take a loan against your own solo 401k, you're actually just paying yourself
back and all the interest that you pay, like my rate is like 4% or something is going back
to you.
So it's just like you're paying yourself back the interest and you can kind of like determine
the period of time and the length of payments and all of that.
But it just creates this really flexible situation where you can kind of like invest something,
make gains on that investment.
Then you can take a loan against the solo 401k, use that loan to invest in your business
to do whatever you want to do.
pay that loan back over time.
You pay yourself back, basically.
So it's just very, very flexible.
I have used this,
I can't tell you the amount of times
that I've used this over the past,
like, I've had it for about four years,
and it's just like a really cool life hack
that I'm like, wow, I could just like,
I need a little money to do some investing over here.
I can't technically use my Solo Foreign Kit
to invest in my own business.
That's like a conflict,
but I can take a loan out
and I can use that money for whatever I want.
Or I also have the ability to control what I invest in.
So I can invest in someone else's business, for example.
So there's just a lot of really cool things
you can do with it.
Hold on, I wanna read the chat.
Ours is actually an SEP IRA,
which may be something else to look into.
Then if you have employees, you can offer them a match.
Cool.
My brother does tax strategies with business owners
with lots of different avenues like IULs.
What's an IUL?
Indexed annuities and loans, super interesting.
Lots of cool ways to invest.
What is IUL?
I don't know what the acronym means actually.
Do you know, Abby?
Yeah, I don't even know the full meaning.
It's Indexed Universal, like it's a live insurance,
but what it does is it has cash flow.
So you are actually investing in it
and you can actually take a loan against it.
Megan, like you were saying, right?
And the returns are giant.
There's like a whole life insurance policy attached to it,
like a death benefit and stuff.
Yep, yep, it has a death benefit, right?
Okay, that's so funny.
So I actually got one of those too,
shows how much I know about it.
Cause I was like, what is this?
But I cashed it out because I was in need of cash.
And so I was like, this is nice.
I'll just take this.
So yeah, that's cool.
I think the same person who introduced me
to the Solo 401k introduced me to that.
There's just all these like cool things available
to like specifically entrepreneurs.
Like if you have a business,
you have like the option to do these things.
That would be so cool, Rebecca.
We should get an investor.
Yeah, yeah, Heidi, for sure.
You wanna reach out to him?
Yeah, I mean, I'm really interested
in learning more about this
cause there's just like all these ways
that you can like, I don't know,
save money because it's like tax deductible
or you have more control over your finances.
And there's these like, I don't wanna say loopholes,
but these like legal ways
that you can kind of get access to things
that you normally wouldn't be able to get access to.
Like for example, this Solo 401k helped us buy our house
cause we didn't have enough for the down payment.
And I was like, E, what do I do?
And so I rolled this funds over into a Solo 401k
and you can take up to 50% as a loan
and that helped us buy this house.
So just things like that, it's like very flexible.
But anyway, if you guys wanna check it out,
the one I went through,
it's literally called solo401k.com.
I know, just like real creative,
but they're called Neighbors.
This is a referral link.
I don't know if it gives you anything,
maybe just click and see if it gives you
any kind of discount,
but check it out if you're interested.
It's not something that like,
I think my understanding is the way most people use it
is it's not so much something
people continually contribute to
cause there's like other things
that people prefer to contribute to,
but you can, but it's really great
for like rolling funds over from another account,
another retirement account
that you have limited access to.
And now you have all these other possibilities.
That's what most people use it for.
And this group, like the people who've run this,
they have kind of like a community like on Circle
and they have like courses
and they just kind of like teach you about stuff.
So it's been really interesting.
Yeah.
Anyway, that's my random financial give.
I don't really know that much about investing in finances,
but this has been a cool life hack
that has helped me out quite a few times
for the past couple of years.
Any other gives or asks or anything coming to mind?
I have a quick share that I'll share with you guys.
I was on the influence call with Cappy.
Cappy led the influence call this morning
or was the guest, I don't know,
whatever you want to call it,
but she did great by the way.
So if you guys want to go back and watch it,
she did great.
But I think call to actions
or something that is like I struggle with sometimes
of like, oh, how can I be creative?
And sometimes like, I think we over complicate it.
And so I wrote down save and share,
like as her call to action.
So she was like reminding people,
hey, save this for later.
kind of you know like you could have some kind of like whatever script you
want like for saving and then remember to you know share this with your friend
that needs this today or you know like and I just was like that's so simple
but you know I think I want to be like giving them you know like other call to
actions I was like that can be that simple just to get people to like start
following you and stuff too so anyway I just want to give that away I like that
that's good I have
there's a bedroom that would be interested some giveaways or some
reduced-fee stuff that's what I'm that's what I'm asking because yeah I'm in the
middle of nowhere we're on vacation and so I don't know how well if this is
coming in but is there anyone in the inner circle that has kiddos on the
spectrum or themselves who would want a sensory swing because I'm I'll just type
it we're catching like every third word and so I think what she's asking is if
there's anyone who wants to participate in a giveaway or reduced reduced cost it
sounds like she might be relaunching products or something rather
launching a new products sounds like Jessica wants one Rebecca is that your new outdoor
one like the one that she's been working on for a while
awesome
yeah so this is her new one that you can do outsourced doors and there's not a lot of
them or if there's any that do that so
sales and reviews she needs sales and reviews I know I'm like is it only for
children because that sounds like I would love it that's great if you can
like drop a picture or something yeah link information how do we take action
it can hold 600 pounds great
Heather's interested for her grandkids Jessica's interested Kirsten Nicole
it's live in a couple days put it in the chat okay sounds good
great
all right um did someone unmute oh I did sorry I'm actually just have a quick question sorry
I just got off another call um so apparently my my manufacturer for my fidget blankets
it's been months it's been since February and she's saying that they're stuck in customs and
I was just wanting to know what you guys think about this situation she's saying that they're
still stuck in customs because the customs person is anti-chinese her words so the guy
who's running my ppc says that sounds like a lot of horse manure and that they probably just lost
your package or something that you lost your inventory and um and he says that he wants to
get on a call with me to talk to her to
ask her a bunch of questions but I don't even know what to do. He's saying that I should probably
just find another manufacturer. Should I even be taking it this far to find another manufacturer?
I mean it's like it was 800 units total and they're pretty expensive to make so I don't
know where to go from here. I sold out earlier this month and I'm just like that was my best
selling like my most my biggest margin so now I'm kind of like I don't know what to do.
Anybody?
What like saying stuck in customs like what happened like do you have any insurance like
what what's like what did you ship through and that kind of thing? Can you give us some more?
So she she was the one that that shipped it. I ordered them I want to say like it was December
around I think it was even Christmas day that I ordered 800 units. They were ready and she shipped
them in February and like there she ships them through her own delivery person her own forwarder
and she's saying now that they're just stuck that they've been stuck since February.
Is there any document like did you get any like documentation from her for?
She provided me like the shipping information and the shipping like the tracking information
and everything but it's not like it's not showing up because it's not showing us or
having been received.
So one of the documents is like a bill of lading and it should have like the HTS codes and all of
the stuff for customs and that kind of thing so just saying it never got to customs so there's
nothing there but it's she's saying it's held up in customs. So she's saying that it was received
by like it was physically received but it's not being accepted because the person in customs is
anti-Chinese so he's not allowing them to pass. So I would be pushing for you can call customs
yourself. Okay. You need all of the like you know what's the documentation what's the like is there
you know maybe tracking numbers is enough but like if they can give you the vessel they can give you
more of the shipping information. Okay. Do you know if this was like so was it DDP I'm assuming
because they were yeah okay. I believe so I wouldn't have done it now that I know all of
the shipping fraud and everything that happens I probably I wouldn't go that route but I ordered
it back in Christmas so. Yeah so it should have hit there before the tariffs like went crazy
but like I had I had that like before and my product got held in customs and I got email
from customs like I thought it was bogus and the person emailed me and I was able to get
in touch with them and part of it was that I didn't have the right like testing documentation
so that was part of my like because it was a child product so it got way late in customs but
um there should be a path that you should be able to get a hold of customs so I would definitely
reach out to them and if they're saying that it's like then give me you know give me more details
because I'm going to contact customs myself you know. Every time I say that to her she says oh
well let me call again I'll call again today let me call again today I'll call again today so I'm
like did you lose my stuff like I don't what and and if she did what's the what's the next step?
This is your manufacturer that you're having this conversation with? Yes. Has it made it out of China
like I'm not understanding that. She says that it's all in California waiting for this person to
Do you have like any tracking number or something to like show proof of that? Yeah one of them so
she had sent originally 400 units and those went through those are the ones that I sold out of and
the other ones it's just like blank it's just nothing nothing that shows is
There's no tracking number? She gave me a tracking number but when I put the tracking number in it's
like it doesn't show anything no um this is what I'm saying it sounds like lies because like if it
were at customs they would you'd be hearing from them like right so like there's I just feel like
she's just saying that. When did it get shipped? Has changed because I had that like I would have
if I shipped at DDP then I had no documentation and then all of a sudden it arrived in in Amazon
so I didn't have like even um like I used to own
always get tracking numbers and then I didn't have anything.
Yeah.
So it kind of like something shifted it seems like,
but I do agree with Megan that it sounds really shady.
Yeah.
So when did these get shipped?
February.
And when did they like make it to customs according to her?
That same month at the end of the month.
This was like before the tariff stuff.
Yeah.
Cause that's what I was wondering.
So she's saying it's at customs,
but you have no proof it's at customs
and she keeps saying that she'll call them.
Yes.
And she says, oh, they said that they're working on it
because the man is anti-Chinese.
So he's been sued before and they're gonna file a lawsuit.
Like the forwarding company is gonna file a lawsuit
and he's very anti-Chinese.
And she just keeps saying anti-Chinese.
I'm not Chinese.
Let me get on the phone with him.
I'm like, I will come after you, bro.
Like that is not an answer for anything.
Yeah.
Like I'm just gonna show up in California
and these customs, this customs police,
it's cheaper than, you know, getting a whole nother order.
I don't know what the next step is.
If she did, so the person who handles my PPC
is saying that she just probably lost it.
They probably just lost it.
If she did lose it or if I can't,
if it never was received in customs,
like what is the next step after this?
I would just cut my-
Probably trade assurance.
I mean, cause they, first they won't admit.
Like if they did lose it, they're not admitting that.
Right.
They're just like maybe trying to buy time or something
but they need to reimburse you.
Yeah.
And if they won't,
then you need to get trade insurance involved,
trade assurance involved.
If they won't just like,
I guess trade insurance isn't gonna tell you
try to work it out with them first on your own.
But yeah, it's like,
they're not even really telling you what's going on.
Have you called customs?
No, she won't.
I mean, cause I said,
what's the number that I need to give them?
What's the number that I need to call?
Give me a phone number.
I'll do whatever I need to do.
Cause I'm not Chinese.
So they're not, they're gonna talk to me.
I'm gonna just show up or something.
I think you need to stop asking her to like help
because I don't think she's like either,
she's either lying or she doesn't understand.
It's one or the other
and either way it's not helpful to you.
So I would just like,
I don't know the customs number either,
but if she's saying it's in California
then I would just look it up and like start calling.
Cause I don't even know how to give them a reference number
to tell them this is my container or this is my.
Well, you have a tracking number apparently.
Like I'd start there and be like,
here's the receipts that I have.
Like, here's the name that it would be under.
Here's the address it would be going to.
Here's the tracking number she gave me.
Because if you can like,
if you do all of this and customs is like,
we have nothing here that matches any of that information,
then you can take that and go to trade assurance
and be like, there's nothing there.
So they're lying or something.
You know what I'm saying?
Trade assurance is probably going to need something from you
to show that you've done your due diligence
to make sure it isn't at customs.
Cause if it's at customs, like waiting to come through,
they're going to be like,
we're not going to refund you for this.
But if you go to customs and they're like,
no, we have nothing.
And you have that like proof,
like written documentation of that,
like an email or something that says that.
That's probably what I would try to do.
But I'd first try to contact customs.
Also, have you called your manufacturer?
Have you like called them?
Like on the phone?
That's what my PPC guy wants to do.
He wants to get on the phone.
Or video.
Oh yeah, I want to see your face and be like,
tell me, tell me my face.
Yes.
It's held up at customs.
I want you to say it's my face.
And then I'll be like,
people really like crumble under confrontation.
So if you like really push that and then see what she says,
and if she starts changing her story,
oh, hell no.
Tell me what's going on right now.
And that's why my PPC guy wants,
he's like, I'm going to do it.
Cause you're too nice.
Cause I'm like-
You gotta let go of the nicest for sure.
How's the weather over there?
They're looking out for themselves right now.
They're not looking out for you.
Have you talked anything about like replacement?
Like, have you mentioned that at all?
Like-
Cause she just keeps saying it's going to get resolved.
It's going to get resolved.
She's buying time.
Yeah.
She's buying time.
And I'm so gullible that I'm like, okay, how are your kids?
I would just be like, it's not getting resolved.
So I need replacement now.
So what are you going to do about that?
Cause I wouldn't be paying it either.
See, you did DDP.
No, I already paid it.
I already paid all of it.
Right?
No, I'm just saying I wouldn't pay for replacement.
I'd just be like.
Hey, okay, okay, I get what you mean.
But I also would have like my own freight forwarder
next time.
Like I just be like, okay, I want your replacement
but you would have to go through the whole thing.
Like I wouldn't trust that the quality would be
without a, you know,
definite inspection.
I'll get them inspected for sure.
Gonna patch up together some random stuff that they find.
You did DDP with them?
I think so, yeah.
So that means they are responsible for the goods
until they arrive at your door
and they are shirking that responsibility
left and right right now.
They're just, because they know, like they're responsible.
So they're just like buying time.
Like I'm sure her manager is like,
just like tell them it's, you know what I mean?
Like they're literally just buying time
because they know they're gonna have to deal with this
and they're just like,
how long will Jessica accept this response
before like she starts, you know, raising hell
and then we have to do something about it.
So I, the other thing too is like,
I mean, I for sure, I would like try to get the truth first.
So I'm going to customs to find out, do you have it?
That's the first thing I'm doing.
And they're like, yep, it's here.
And like, it's stuck here.
Okay, her story checks out.
And like, then I'm like,
what do I need to do to get this done?
And they're like, no, it's not there.
Then the next person I'm calling is her.
And I'm like, let's do a video call.
No, no, no, no.
Get on a video call.
Now tell me what's going on.
Oh, it's loss of customs.
Well, I just called them.
They said, it's not there.
I gave them all this information.
Now what do you have to say?
Change the story, change the story.
Okay, now I want to talk to your manager.
Okay, now I'm going to trade assurance.
I have screenshots of our conversation.
You've been lying to me.
I want to know what's really going on.
You start putting on the pressure
and then cracks start to form.
Then I would be like, so just so you know,
one, you're going to replace everything that was lost
or you're going to reimburse me
for everything that I've paid.
Also, I'm never placing an order with you again.
I will be telling people not to follow through with you
because you are a liar.
And also I'm going to get trade assurance
to follow up on this.
Like I would really go full send
because they've been jerking around for six months.
Unacceptable.
It's unacceptable.
They're probably-
And then moving forward,
I probably would just change my pictures
because I've even been talking about
to the person that makes my bread bags
and asking her like, hey, can you make this?
Can you make this?
And what would you charge me?
You know, like to see if she could just be like replace them.
And she says that they can't find,
because the pattern of the,
like the print of the actual blanket
was from this other manufacturer.
And so she says,
if you're okay with us using a different print
or if you're okay with like, you know,
providing the print for the bag,
then we can do it or the blanket, then we can do it.
But so I'd have to like get new pictures
and also cause it's going to look different.
This is a really good lesson
in like why diversifying is a good idea.
Like I have learned,
always have an extra manufacturer in your back pocket.
Cause like the trust doesn't run very deep.
Like they are always going to look out
for themselves first, unfortunately.
They just are.
They're going to look out for themselves first,
which in this situation,
they're probably experiencing pressure
because of the tariff situation.
They're probably worried about going under.
They're not worried about you.
They're like, we're just trying to stay alive.
And that's fine.
You can do that.
But your shady business practices
are not up to my standard.
And I'm not dealing with that.
Not dealing with that.
So I would just, I don't know.
I'd have a real honest and direct conversation.
Like you can be direct without being rude.
Like you can be like, you know,
we don't accept lies in a kind way.
You can ask for the owner.
You can ask to talk to the owner too.
Because chances are you're talking to like a sales rep.
You know?
Yeah.
And she's just doing what she's being told.
Right.
And I mean, honestly, culturally-
Moving forward, would you continue to work with them?
No.
Well, it depends on how this goes.
Like if it really is indeed stuck at customs
and everything they're saying pans out,
then like it's not us, not on them.
Although the DDP thing,
they're probably saying, oh, anti-Chinese.
If she says that one more time,
I would shut up.
Yeah, I know.
If you say anti-Chinese one more time,
I'm hanging up.
I'm going straight to trade assurance.
Like don't use that excuse.
That is not what's going on.
90% of the stuff in this country is from China.
That is not-
Exactly.
That's what I was like, what?
That doesn't make any sense.
It's probably they did the paperwork wrong.
Some shady DDP thing.
And now it's going to be their fault.
Like period, it's going to be their fault.
But if you just decide, I'm not going to do DDP anymore,
you can still use them as a manufacturer.
But if they're lying because they mess up and they don't want to admit it, no, I don't
deal with liars.
Sorry.
And I think my thing is now, like I would never have my manufacturer in charge of everything,
like not let them be in charge of shipping.
So like if you have, because they have too much stake in the game, like too much from
start to finish.
So if they do the manufacturing, right, that's great.
But somehow they're going to pad themselves somewhere, you know?
So like finding a freight forwarder that you trust, you know, like manufacturer, have those
things separate.
And I kind of figured that out a little bit, like because I started using ProBox and how
much transparency I got, which I didn't get before when I just let the manufacturers deal
with it.
It was like start to finish, hands off for me, but I didn't know anything that was going
on with my shipping.
And then it would arrive, start arriving in Amazon.
I already like got a notice and them saying, here's the like delivery window.
I never got a delivery window.
I was just estimating, you know?
Yeah.
Me too.
They say around 30 days and then around 40 days around, so I'm like, yeah.
I think too, like, so we were in this at Seller Summit, we were in this call, not a call,
in person.
What do you call that?
Like a talk.
Like a presentation, I guess.
And it was supposed to be someone else.
Actually, it was Athena from Titan Network.
She was doing this talk, but this other girl, I don't know, something happened.
It just sort of turned into this like random conversation, this like very open conversation.
And this girl who's Chinese, like she's from China and she knows like how this works.
She just starts like telling us like how it really is.
And she literally, before she, so they started asking her questions.
She's like, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not going there.
I'm not sharing that.
This is recorded.
No.
And they were like, we'll turn off the recording.
And she was like, okay, fine.
You want to know how it really is?
Here's how it is.
And basically she starts like, like revealing the like mafia behind all of it.
Like for real, if you were in that room and heard that, you would be like, dude, you know
what China's doing to us?
Literally?
Like, I don't have, it's like, they're just right over your eyes and we're all just like
taking it hook, line and sinker.
And they're just like laughing.
Like, like she was, she was way more direct and dare I say vulgar than that.
Like she made a few even vulgar references of like, this is what they're doing to you.
And they are, they've been doing it for decades and they're really good at it.
And you have no chance, basically.
She was like, you have no chance of ever doing anything any differently because you're not
Chinese.
That's what she said.
And I was just like, and she's like, I do, cause I'm Chinese and I know what's going
on.
It's like, sorry for you guys, but like, if there's, then she starts giving like tips
and she's like, you want to play the game?
Like they play it.
Here's what you can do.
And of course all the rainmakers at the table, we were like, we don't want to play the game
like they play it.
Like, I don't want to go down to their level, like gross, I'm not doing that.
But this is like, they call it like black hat stuff.
And this is very much how China operates like, and they'll never get in trouble for it.
Like, you know, because they can just, they can, it's encouraged on their factory.
They can change their lever.
They can just like change everything.
Just like encouraged.
Yeah.
Like how?
Yeah.
Like let's line our pockets and like screw over these people.
Like it's, it's super, she was really, really honest.
She was like, yeah.
She's like, we're not recording this.
Tammy recorded it though.
I recorded it.
And people were like, Oh, I want the recording.
I'm like, I don't want to share it because like, honestly, because, because it's, and
it's like, yeah.
And it was like, super fear based.
I've like been really digging into this whole thing for a long time now.
And so I'm just like, okay, I understand.
But like, we also have to think of it as like, we're us citizens.
Like we have to present things different where like, you know, I mentioned pro box because
they're like, even skew drop, Jamie has stake in the company, but he's from Australia.
Like, so they, they know how Chinese deal with it.
Like, and pro box is outside of China.
So he's talked about like, I ended up going GDP last time because I'm like, I'm trying
to sell out of a product.
It's it was stuck in China.
I just need to get it here.
And they know certain people that they won't deal with.
Like they know, like, because they know the ends of like, what's going on in there that
they are like, okay, well, I'm not dealing with these.
people. And so at least I feel like it's somebody not in the
heart of China to like, and it's not, it's just being aware.
Like, it's really just like, it's not that like, people are
just out to get you. It's just that, like, okay, if you're
gonna have your factory do something, then don't have them
do everything. Like, yes, handle on different things. So you have
different companies in charge of different things like, like when
they say, Oh, we'll do your inspection for you, too. Yeah.
Yeah. You know, it's like, okay, here's the reality. Because like
hearing this, you're like, Oh, crap. What are we supposed to do
then? Like, this is so awful. And you're just like, ah, and it
was very fear based. And she was basically, she wasn't very like
nice in the sense of like, she was just like, Yeah, I'm not
really here to help you guys. I'm just like telling you how it
is. Like you want to know the truth. Like here it is. And
you're kind of hopeless. Like that was basically her whole
point. And I was just like, Okay, remind me not to talk to
her later. But she wasn't like super nice. In that sense. She
wasn't like, let me help you out. She was just like, this is
just how it is. You guys just have to accept it. But like, it
did really open, like our eyes in the sense of like, you cannot
just blindly hand over the reins to someone who does not have
your best interest at heart. And their worldview is very different
from yours. It's very different from yours. Like what they think
is moral or right or wrong is different from what you think is
moral or right or wrong. So if you are comfortable, just like
blindly handing over the reins to someone and being like,
whatever they think is fine. You know what I mean? Most of us
aren't. But that doesn't mean you can't like, it's kind of
like you have to like live in the world, but you don't
necessarily want to be like of it or like do things the same
way as like many things are done in society. Like we know lots of
shady corrupt activities be happening behind the scenes. But
we still have to live in this world. We still have to live in
this culture and find a way to like live according to like our
own standards or like whatever standard is you live by that the
world you live in may not adhere to. So with that, like Tammy
saying like take as much control and ownership as is
possible for you. So like the extreme would be like, I'm going
to manufacture my own products. Okay, most of us can't do that.
Okay, I'm going to buy my own manufacturing plant and hire all
my own people and train them. Most of us can't do that either.
But guess what? Big businesses do that. They buy manufacturing
plants in Mexico. That's exactly what they do. But we're not
there yet. So next is like, okay, I'm going to find a
manufacturer to do it that I trust, but I'm going to keep
control of as much other things as I can. That's a good
balance. Like we have to find what we can do and what we can
balance. And I'm not even saying don't manufacture in China. I'm
not saying that at all. I still will manufacture in China. But
I'm for dang sure not just gonna like blindly trust them and
believe they have my best interest at heart because
they're asking about my family.
Well, and I also think like, I'm going to hear students go Oh, I
have one manufacturer I reached out to and and I really like
them. This is you don't know like quality difference. You
don't know price difference. You have no negotiating factors with
that. And, you know, like when I was in China, and Luke has a
multi million dollar Amazon business. And he's the one that
Yulia references that she ended up like, negotiating his deal
because like he didn't have to he had like a net 30 or 90 or
whatever, you know, so he had time to pay on it. So he wasn't
going out of stock all the time. So it's not always like the
nickel and dime on the price, like on the front end. And so
the thing that I noticed, though, is that like he, they
shopped around at other factories. And they came back to
that factory and said, Oh, I can get this for $2 less. Like it
took his profit margin down almost half, you know, and so he
was like, because he had negotiating factors. So like, I
think just listening to some of these people and just being in
the room with them, and them saying, I would have three
freight forwarders, like I would get different, like different
numbers, because the other thing is, it depends on how full the
vessel is, sometimes and the cost that you pay for that
shipment at that time. So it could be one person has like,
only a limited amount of space, you just feel that so like
sometimes your costs will be a little less, you could have a
couple different freight forwarders that you just check
with each time. Heidi was asking about like, you know, inspection,
it's always good to check because there's could be
different prices on inspection. But like some of these inspection
companies do freight forwarding, too. I don't have a problem
with that like I just have more of like the factory doing the same inspections them doing
all the shipping them just being in charge of the final everything then you don't have anything
split up to where like even with a freight forwarder that has insurance on that like if
they lose it they have insurance that they will reimburse you you're not going back to traded
assurance like they give you that dollar amount for your product and you purchase it again through
the manufacturer so like there's just some different things if you separate it out could
be like safety measures you have in place and these are things that like you learn through
the process like you don't know all these things from the start like I literally you know I'm like
four years in and you know like I did DDP all the way because I was just like oh the factory handle
it and all that stuff and like and I've told students like if this gets you to the final
product then do it then your next time around then do some more research and like okay so this
worked well for me at this time like you can research other factories you know like what
other options are there I didn't I you know I was intimidated at the beginning now I'm a
business owner and I'm stepping into like I'm going to research this more because I have more
confidence I know what I'm talking about I understand the fabric I understand whatever
part of the production and that gives you more leverage too you know so I just always think it's
an evolving you evolve your you know like how you do business evolves and you know you're reaching
out to manufacturers and all that that stuff kind of changes too yeah like that I don't want to like
scare you guys and make you feel like oh like I don't that's not the intention like it is
I don't know it's it reminds me weirdly a little bit of like our like medical industry you know
where you like you get in and you like blindly trust everything they say to you and then at
some point you start questioning and you're like wait a second and then you realize they make a
ton of money off of you buying drugs and you're just like do I really need it and you just start
to question things it's like well I still want to go to the doctor but like it's just it's weird
it's like you gotta dabble with this it's like this dance you do where it's like I need your
services but I know that you might have like another agenda going on here and again like I
think the best way to describe it is like I don't think that in the individual people are like trying
to hurt you or like out to get you it's more like it's like systemic like it's systemic similar to
our medical system like I believe that people genuinely believe their recommendations when
they tell when they tell me to get on antibiotics every single time this one thing which is very
frequent and it's like that's not good for me and they're like just take this it's like that's not
good for me I don't believe they're like out to harm me but I believe it's a systemic problem
that we just like systemically this is just what they're trained to do it's the same thing there
it's the same thing like it's systemic like this is how they do things it's not even like is it
right or wrong it's just like yeah this is how we do things like you don't even think about it
you're like we would be like well you're lying well that's actually fraud like that's what we
would say they would be like what no this is just how things are done like it's it's not like they're
intentionally being harmful it's just that that's what they know that's what they know
and you have to think too like a lot of these manufacturers are like they're like family-owned
businesses and like not even necessarily always highly educated I would dare to say
and just accept like whatever like they're told you know like especially like by their government
or like by someone else who taught them like so we just it's like on us to learn and to grow
because nobody like we don't get to like point fingers later and be like well that was them who
did that that wasn't me it's like well you're the business owner so like it's gonna fall on you
so but like Michaela to your point like you don't need to know this right now like okay you're
shipping a bulk order dvp fine Tammy just did it Tammy just shipped one dvp because she was like I
just don't want to think about this I don't want to worry about this I'm selling out of this like
I don't care that much so you learn as you get more into it right just like with your health or
with like your kids like you learn as you get more into it and as you learn more you learn to advocate
better for yourself or for your kid
kids, in this instance, for your business, like you're going to advocate better for your
business.
And at some point, you might go all the way to like, you know what, I am going to find
a manufacturer in a totally different part of the world, where things are done differently.
You might go there, you might not.
Most people don't go that far.
Even people who are like really in this industry and have a lot of experience in this industry.
Most of them still use China.
They're just aware of what's going on.
And so the way they do things is a little different.
Like they ask questions that force them to be more transparent.
They hold them accountable in different ways.
They are very diversified.
They're never dependent on just one manufacturer, one shipping agent, one anything.
So it's like you learn how to like advocate better and protect yourself better as you
get more into it.
But the reality is like, nine times out of 10, nothing happens.
It's a smooth process.
That's why everyone goes to China, because you don't have to think about it.
And then one time out of 10, you end up in Jessica's situation, right?
And that one time makes you start thinking like, hmm, maybe I should learn a little more
about what's going on here.
Right?
If everything's going smoothly, nine times out of 10, you never ask any questions, you
know?
And it isn't until you start having problems or issues that you start asking those questions.
And it's honestly a blessing.
It's honestly a blessing, just like it would be with your health.
Like you just take those drugs without asking questions every single time.
But then eventually, guess what, antibiotics don't work anymore because your body builds
up resistance.
Now what are you going to do?
Now I have to start looking into like, this is Heidi's domain, but I'm looking into like,
you know, organic, non-toxic, like natural, and I am totally outside of my realm here.
I don't know anything about that, but I'm like, this isn't working for me anymore.
Now I need to look for another method.
Same thing here.
It forces you, like walls force you to grow and they force you to like, ask questions
you did not previously want to ask or didn't even know to ask.
And so this is, it's a good thing because it's going to like, it's going to make you
a more mature business owner and it's going to actually lead to like, more you advocating
and protecting yourself and your business better.
For all of us, like we're all learning from this experience, but I think that we don't
need to let it like, make us cower in fear.
You know what I'm saying?
Like we don't need to make us make it, we don't need to let it make us like, freeze,
you know, and like be paralyzed.
Like we still take action, but it's just like, my eyes are a little more open.
I'm a little more like aware of my surroundings, you know, and paying attention to what's going
on, you know?
So I don't want it to be like, ah, so scary, but it's just, let's just be aware.
Let's be aware and not afraid.
Let's like tackle it with truth.
And then we find a way forward that is more profitable and healthy for us and in our business.
It's definitely a process.
And Jessica, I think your kindness speaks volumes to a manufacturer.
They love being honored, you know?
And so like, I think literally you just saying, you know what, I have just like enjoyed doing
business with you and the quality and just talk them up and be like, you know, I'm a
business owner and I, you know, I have to make money and this like, is not making me
feel confident in your services.
So how do we make this a win-win for both of us, you know, and press getting on a call
with them, like kind of, you know, and if, if you feel like your PPC agent is going to
help with that, then, you know, like, because she's already saying like, it's, I think it's
time for us to make replace of a replacement.
And so you could just pay a half now or 30% now and then the rest later, I'm like, I'm
not going to pay.
And I said like, well, I was really going to, I mean, I should have already been sold
out of the other one, but, um, like I was, I was happy to create another bulk order with
the profit that I made from this.
Like right now I don't have any profit or have any, anything like I, I just paid $6,000
for a thing that's lost or that's stuck in customs.
Like, how do you want me to pay you more?
And she was just like, well, let me call again and ask for, you know, like, I want to talk
to the owner, like, you know, because they need to, you know, sometimes like, even like
if you went to the factory itself, like sometimes when the owner comes in there, it's.
like more of a serious conversation, you know, and it's like, they don't know that you don't
have a multimillion dollar company, you know, just like you need to talk to the owner. Like
we need to make this right. And this is not how, you know, this is not working for me.
And I tell them, I'm like, I'm part of a big community. Like I, you know, I pass names all
the time to other people. And so like, I don't, you know, like this doesn't look good on you for
our community, you know, and so I've got my husband on the phone. He's like big and hairy and
he's like big Brazilian guy.
Jessica, I'm just like Googling. I have no idea. Right. But this is at least like a place to
start. This is just like customers and border patrol. You can at least start there and be like,
I'm trying to contact someone at customs who deals with importing goods. Okay, I know it's
in California. Who can I call? Like start there and just start like pulling that thread and see
where it leads. Okay. That's what I that's where I'd start. I gotta go. The baby just woke up. But
thank you guys so much. Good luck, everybody. Okay, thanks. I will. Bye.
Well, I hope you're all feeling inspired after that conversation.
It's good, though. True sometimes hurts, but it sets you free. You know, it's the truth.
Yeah, when you get one of those custom
emails and you're like, Oh, another spam email and then you find out it's really serious.
Oh, that one was important. Oh, shoot. I was like, Oh, I'm like, just throw it away. Just
like I don't want it anymore. Because I didn't want to do that. Because it was pop it toys and
it wasn't that much of a cost. And so I'm like, well, by the time it comes, I'm not gonna like
be able to sell them anyway. They came like six months later. So you're like, and they're still
and they're still they're all still here. Like just throw them away. I don't want them like just
All right, ladies, any other thoughts or gives or asks that you want to share?
I know what we're getting for the castle retreat.
Puppets for all of you.
They're already shipping them. I'm like, you know,
they'll probably get stuck somewhere in Oregon.
You're all better off today than the patient. I just gave a root canal.
That's a perfect example of how truth hurts, especially if you ignore it for a long time.
I sat through canal with not being numb, Michaela. Oh, my gosh, that's terrible. I used to work for
this. I worked in dental for 30 years. So I was working for the dentist. And, and I was like,
they had to put them. They have to put the files down. And then they take pictures. And I was like,
all of a sudden it felt it went like I'm numb. And they couldn't keep me numb. So just like just
finished the thing. And so we still talk about it. I was like, just just get it done. Oh, my gosh,
that's terrible. Well, ladies, I am we'll wrap up for today. But I want to just challenge you to
just pick one thing that you want to focus on for the rest of the week, just one thing. And it is a
challenge because you have to pick a thing. And you might be like, I can't think of anything. And
it's also a challenge because you might think of 10 things, but you have to pick just one. And then
if you get done more than that, well, you get bonus points. But one thing is the requirement,
just one thing. So that's the challenge. At some point today, Heather, go ahead.
Quick question for those of you who've been to the castle retreat before and Kirsten,
who lives in Colorado, is it better for me to get a ticket now? Like, should I jump on it?
Or like a flight? Or or wait? Do you know what I mean? What do you recommend?
You might have time to watch it. I mean, flights to Denver are typically like,
always open. And I feel like relatively inexpensive. But if you want to fly into the
springs, those would probably like slowly climb up in price. And are less frequent. Yeah. And I
think Southwest I don't Southwest Delta is Delta a direct to do they go into Springs Delta?
I don't know about United Southwest. You can go to the Colorado Springs
Lake Airport website and it will show you all the
um flights they're pretty easy it's pretty easy to find like a connector if you want to like fly
to Denver for your like main flight and then get like a little puddle jumper to the spring swimming
they have tons of those so yeah that's a good route too and they're relatively inexpensive
especially if you're flying those airlines they they always connect to the spring. I wouldn't
recommend going into Denver because we had somebody do that last year and it was like she
ended up getting really waylaid and Stephen and Chelsea had that same thing happen so at least
when you go into Colorado Springs you know you're landing there. Yeah it's just kind of far and
you're paying an uber it's not cheap and you're just like yeah yeah but if you can hack it oh
sorry Tammy oh I just was gonna say if you're looking at prices I would price Colorado Springs
like first you know yeah it will be a lot more expensive but you can if you have it on your
radar of like oh I can fly delta or whatever and get to Denver and then like look for a
connecting flight to the springs that would that's a really good idea open up a lot more
options it would yeah I might look into that because you might actually save money that way
I do that all the time well and I know because I used to go there all the time because my friend
lived there forever but Southwest was kind of just coming in when I was like they just got there when
she moved and I look like South I'm on Southwest I don't know if you can travel Southwest but like
I get their promotionals like I'm on their email list so I'll see that they have a sale and so
sometimes I'll just see if there's any like it's a good deal or not like if it happens to help me at
all thank you good questions all right ladies great to see you all um Michaela if I bring my
husband how much time will he be on his own well he can come with you to all the things so I guess
it's up to him he's welcome to everything okay she's communicating through emojis on her own
comment yeah I think you should bring him yeah unless he just doesn't want to
yeah all the husbands can hang out the husbands like getting to know each other too because
well and the husbands think they're not going to like it and then they end up being like
they're the ones saying at the end I was just coming for the pool time and then they stayed
the whole time so which there isn't a pool at the castle so this was in Cancun yeah we had
lots of spouses at that one yeah cool all right ladies great to see you and love you all you got
this go crush the week they can be friends look check it out already friends so perfect oh puppy
it was a puppy Heather does I love Heather's puppy cutie
um all right ladies we'll see you in the app and next week we're doing the seller summit expo
so that's going to take place of our regular weekly call just so you know feel free to attend
and like you can spontaneously jump in and share takeaways if you want to but no pressure we got a
couple ladies who are like prepared to share um but yeah that's what we'll do oh hey um I never
forgot my anything about the replays for the summit also I forgot to mention that I think I
posted something in the app but Tammy did you send those out did you like email them out or how did
they get sent I sent everybody to the Rainmaker email yeah I went I searched for it but I wasn't
sure like what I can what to search okay thank you yeah I'll send it to your Rainmaker email
just to be checking that Heather you didn't get anything from seller summit
interesting maybe just send it to Heather too because you should have your own login but
you can just use this one too yeah okay cool awesome all right bye everybody bye