Jeremy Weisz
Well, I mean at the time, you know, there’s no internet.
Dan Zawacki
No, no, no. Like now
Jeremy Weisz
people like oh, you just get a credit card, you send them a straight payment or pay. No, that didn’t exist at the time. Oh,
Dan Zawacki
I mean, it was crazy that you just come up with a name and an 800
Jeremy Weisz
illegal dance. So I interviewed Joe Sugarman, who started Blue Blocker Sunglasses and he came up with the a one 800 number. Before he came up with it. It was illegal to take credit cards over the phone. So it’s not like that was I don’t think it’s dumb at all right?
Dan Zawacki
That Well, at the time. It just seemed like I now when it’s like Duh, right? But it was, I think it was it was just a list page of things to do. And so at night, instead of going out to the bars, you know, I would try and work on these things and then check it off. Finally, I’m done. I am all checked off. I’m like, holy crap, this is I have a company. And that’s,
Jeremy Weisz
that’s how it started in this shipping evolution. So obviously, it goes from jewel trunk, and tarp and jewel bag to later on when the business will mature. How are you shipping them out?
Dan Zawacki
All right, so there’s in between, there’s a pretty good thing. I didn’t know how to do it. Okay, so that was number one. So my first one is I took a cardboard box. I put a big five pound block of dry ice in there. And I put two live lobsters in there, wrap it up, tape it real good. Send it to my buddy down in Florida. He gets it the next day, because he didn’t ship it next day. And all excited. I’m like, Oh my gosh, how are they you know what happened? He goes, ah, what happened? He’s like, well, they’re not alive. And he goes, and it looks like they kind of blew up, they’re like, pieces all over. So it turned out that, of course, dry ice carbon dioxide sublines, you know, turns into a gas when it melts. And so is fixated the lobsters, probably within 60 seconds, I closed the box. So that was one issue. Next dry ice is like 100 and some degrees below zero. So it actually frozen solid. And so as FedEx was tossing around, they just like shattered. So that was not the way to do it. And so I just kept playing around with doing it. And, and finally I used a styrofoam cooler, and I think I got it Walgreens, put it in a box, put blue ice in there. And I got some seaweed from lobster guy. And that worked.
Jeremy Weisz
So they they eat this they eat it as they’re going to stay alive or what
Dan Zawacki
they need is more for insulation. Oh, you know, so it doesn’t get smushed. And it keeps them moist. Because they, their their their gills or lungs and lobsters are like 40% efficient in the air, so they’ll live for a while out. So that’s why we had to send them next day delivery. And so that’s how we did it. And then FDA found out about it. And that’s another story.
Jeremy Weisz
Um, there’s a couple of turning points that I see in your story that I thought were pretty cool. And I’m gonna give full credit to your business for your sister. No, I’m just kidding. Your sister told you to get on radio.
Dan Zawacki
Yes, it seems like
Jeremy Weisz
that was huge for you.
Dan Zawacki
That was the turning point of the company. So all you brothers out there, listen to your sisters. But so I am there. Okay, it’s about three months. And I’ve sold I call Mercy Mercy sales, right? It’s like your friends. Of course your mom and dad, your uncle, people just feel Sawsan.
Jeremy Weisz
If if the internet was around, Dan, at that time, this it would have blown up. I mean, just the word of mouth of something like that.
Dan Zawacki
It would like anyways, crazy, but going no internet. Al Gore didn’t think of it yet. But so the you know, my sister, she calls me up. And I’m almost in tears. Because literally I’ve told everybody, hey, I’m an entrepreneur now. Right? I’ve got a company. I am sold really anything. And so literally, I mean, I remember talking to him this day. This is 3334 years later. And she’s like, Well, why don’t you try and get on the radio. You know, Jonathan brand Meyer, he was like the top guy in Chicago, almost the country and just call them and you know, see what he has to say. So first of all, Johnny B was my hero. And I listened to him all the time when I was living in Chicago, so it was very nerve wracking to talk to your hero. So I practiced literally in front of the mirror for a week of what I would say. And then what he would say and then he’d say this and I would say this. And so I finally get the guts to call Johnny B. So I talk to the receptionist and the receptionist is like yeah, Mr. Brand Myers in. I’ll send you right through all of a sudden everything. I thought I was blown away. Cuz I’m gonna have to go through like two three people to get to picks up the phone. And I just go, my name is Dan’s wacky I get this company in theory. And I’m just talking like a mile man. He goes, whoa, what? He goes talk slower. So I told him, I said, Hey, I’m shipping my lobsters ship around the country. He goes, you do what? I know. I am shipping like lobsters around the country. And he goes in where I go Peoria, you know, Illinois, and he goes to Peoria, why not Maine? I know. I live in Peoria. He goes, can you come up next week? I go, sure. So he invited me on his show. He goes, but I’m like, Ah, there’s the but he goes, you got to give away three lobster grams to my listeners. I’m like, wow, I would have gave away 30. And so Mike, okay. And so I basically told the little checkout board that it was gonna be on a Friday I was gonna be on and I was gonna make cold calls in Springfield, Illinois on Friday, and said, I couldn’t lie to my boss’s face, but I could lie to the checkout board. And then I went on up to Chicago and got on the air for it was 12 minutes, which was unheard of. And at that time, he his hour or his per minute rate on the radio was 1800 dollars. Wow. So it was amazing. And it’s a blur. I don’t even remember it. I remember being there. But it was like just crazy because I had never been on the radio before. Anything like that. I just remember. I wore a suit jacket. And I was pitting out my T shirt to my shirt to my suit jacket. I was so I was a wreck. And I sold over 180 packages. Wow. In that. So I was like, Okay, well, I guess this crazy idea is gonna work.
Jeremy Weisz
What is the time? What was it priced? And what did people get? Like for a package at the time?
Dan Zawacki
It’s like totally under priced. But you know pricing is one of the hardest things to do, especially with a new product, new market new idea. So not $99 including delivery next day delivery, you got to lobster’s sound like I’m on the radio commercial. To live lobsters guaranteed to arrive live lemon butter shell crackers bibs. I even put the 12 quart enamel on steel cooking pot in their long stem candle glass candle holder wow matches because no one had matches. No one’s really smoking back then. And cooking instructions. And
Jeremy Weisz
$99 that’s a steal.
Dan Zawacki
It was a steal. I totally underpriced it. Because I didn’t really know how to price anything. But I learned you know, and but I did that for a couple years. And then finally I had to add shipping onto it. And everything
Jeremy Weisz
expensive. That’s heavy, all that stuff that you’re sending.
Dan Zawacki
It was worth 13 pound package. And next day delivery, which is most expensive. So I think I added like $29 onto it. So it was like 129 at that time. But nobody was doing free delivery. I was like the first person to do free delivery. back then. It just seemed like the right thing to do. So Jeff Bezos out there he says he takes credit I think
Jeremy Weisz
that’s Jeff he is like I learned free delivery from that Lobster Gram I received in 1989.
Dan Zawacki
He probably got one I had so many people that were famous got lobster grams. It was it was crazy.
Jeremy Weisz
So the radio, you then double down on radio after that.
Dan Zawacki
Yeah. So might not be the brightest guy in the world. But hey, I figured out it works work there. It’s gonna work somewhere else. So I called up the Steve Dahl Gary Meyer show. And very popular show, basically use the same lines. And they were like, Hey, come on the studio. And I just kept doing that until I ran no personalities. And then by that time, I actually had enough money where I had a budget, and I could spend some money at Radio. But I also learned the importance of live reads. And I also learned what a target market was. And that was literally the biggest bang for the buck. which turned out was conservative talk show hosts who do live reads.
Jeremy Weisz
Talking about the live read part. What did you discover?
Dan Zawacki
I discovered that if they loved lobsters, which they all did, you know, you pay for a 62nd spot Miko 90 seconds Miko two minutes. And part of what I learned, and I think is important for everybody listening is that I made the personal connection with everybody. So before I would even think of letting them do a library, I made sure that I could meet them face to face. And I would bring a Lobster Gram with me live lobsters, the whole setup. And I would give it to them and let them try it so that they would get it. But the biggest thing I learned kind of accidentally, was that they realized I wasn’t a faceless agency, that I was a real person starting out. And what I found out is that they really wanted to help. And so you know that I did that in Chicago. And I remember thinking myself, gosh, this works in Chicago. I wonder if I could work in New York. And I remember just going through my head, just complete head trash. Maybe it’s just a fluke in new, you know, in Chicago. So I went out to New York, and I got a meeting with Sean Hannity and rush limbaugh and did the same thing brought him lobster grams, just told him the story exactly what I said about you know, doing him out of my car and this and they loved it. And they all were like, yeah, we’re gonna do a great job for you. But you have to let us give away lobster grams, to our listeners, and we’re not going to charge any extra for it. Just let us give them away. And we’ll give you free plugs. And turned out I was actually Sean Hannity’s first national advertiser. And I think he has 500 out there now but he was doing overnights back then. But we just hit it off. And I just knew that guy was in, in for greatness. And I remember him telling me, he goes, Danny goes, look, I’m just doing overnights right now. He goes, but I’m working on the syndicated deal. And he goes, but nobody wants to be the first one. And he’s talking like Chevy, you know, coke and all these frickin monster companies. You know, they don’t want to be the first one. He goes, would you be the first one. And he goes, if it works, he goes, I will just plug the hell out of you forever. And he goes, and then it doesn’t work. He goes, I’ll blog the hell out of you in New York only. And so I remember thinking, all right. And that was that was my gold when you talk about nuggets, and that that was the gold. And then I just duplicated that around the country and all the major markets.
Jeremy Weisz
Well, I love what you said to Dan about. You would also sometimes barter for that. I mean, the first one, you basically got $20,000 worth of advertising at the time for free. Right. But you then it seemed like you knew that and you did it consciously. Yeah, right.
Dan Zawacki
Yeah. So paper 62nd spot, giveaway a couple of lobster grams, you know, maybe they cost me 70 bucks. And it would turn into you know, hey, we’re gonna get a Lobster Gram out if you can answer this question or this question. And then it is, you know, the two lives literally like a 45 second spot for 70 bucks. But bartering. You know, so many people. I’ve talked to so many new entrepreneurs. I tell them, think about bartering if you got something cool that people want. You know, barter, right? Because cash is the hardest thing to do when you’re starting. I mean, I literally started with 1000 bucks. You know, so I hear people always say, Oh, I don’t have any money. I go. I didn’t either. But people are like lobsters. I actually bartered. This is crazy. A brand new Lexus. With a dealership in Chicago. Well, I bartered live gift certificates. $50,000 of gift certificates I bartered. And what they did is they would give out 500 every time someone would buy a brand new Lexus. They would give them a $500 lobster gram gift certificate. And as a thank you for being a customer and boy they got a ton of great publicity out of that.
Jeremy Weisz
I love that. So you got a car and you got a potential new customer Who? Yeah, great qualified customer because they just bought a Lexus?
Dan Zawacki
Yeah, I got a ton of clients out of that, because they got them this genius, they loved it. And they would send them out as gifts to their friends who are all, you know, pretty big shooters, you know, back in the 90s 50,000 likes $50 50,000 our licenses like 75 right now.
Jeremy Weisz
So how did you think about that, then? Did you go and pitch them? And they’re like, hey, or barter? How did you think about doing that?
Dan Zawacki
So the older I got, the more I said, just asked, right? You don’t ask. And so I remember, I won the Lexus. I was tired of driving around my little Chevy used pickup trucks. And I wanted to get a Lexus. And so I decided I was just going to drive right to the Lexus dealer. And the name on the sign. You know, I was going to ask her that guy. And I did. He came out. I told him who it was, he had heard about Lobster Gram. So I was like, okay, that’s a good start. And I said, I really want to get Alexis. And I told him, I said, and I think that, you know, we could barter for it. And it would be great because I know your car doesn’t cost you that much. doesn’t cost 250. So you’ll get it, you’ll get the gift certificates, you’re gonna make all your people happy. And this was like in October. And Christmas is coming up until you can give everyone a great gift. And you’ll get all this great PR out of it. You know what, you could probably even mention it in your radio commercials. If you buy a Lexus, now you get a free $500 Lobster Gram gift certificate, which they ended up doing to
Jeremy Weisz
genius. And
Dan Zawacki
so alert. I was I walked out of there go oh my gosh, what just happened? And I literally left with a new Lexus. Wow. Yeah. So that was pretty cool.
Jeremy Weisz
I could have just seen you. Going up. I’m just going through the whole process as a normal customer. And at the end, how you to pay for the SIR use open a briefcase full of these gifts. It’s good thing you told them on the front end and not waited to do the
Dan Zawacki
well the funny thing is, it was all about on a handshake. And he said well just give me the gift certificates within a week. And so I brought I brought right back, you know all these $50,000 of gift certificates in the trunk of my new Lexus. And it was it was amazing. Yeah,
Jeremy Weisz
with you know, I mentioned Oprah and Howard Stern. I don’t know if either of those are interesting stories, or both.
Dan Zawacki
Yeah. So Oprah, we were, I never actually met her, but I got to meet her people. And they were doing a story for her magazine, her favorite things. And she had received a lobster gram from I never really figured out who it was but from some one of her friends and just fell in love with it. Loved it. So she had one of her producers call me up. I remember I’m sitting at the office, the Lobster Gram world headquarters. And this person calls up and says they’re from Oprah. And you know, this is like 95 inch, seven inch, whatever. She was like, the top the Queen along the Queen’s of everything. And so this person’s on the phone saying, Yeah, I’m going to Oprah’s producers. And we’d like to you know, do a story in Lobster Gram put it in one of our favorite things. And we’re actually thinking of devoting a full page to it. I’m thinking all right, which one of my aihole friends? Yes, that’s exactly what I thought. And I actually said that. No, no, no, no, you misunderstand. And I’m all of a sudden I go, oh my gosh, I think I just ruined this. And so I go, Oh, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. And she was oh, we really want to do it. And so they ended up doing it. And it was a full page. It looked like an ad. I mean, it is unbelievable. And we sold the tales from around the world was the package. So we’re seven different types of Tales from all over the country. or excuse me, the world and each one tasted different or each one looked different was really beautiful. They did a great job of styling it but with Howard was was interesting because I got to meet Howard. First I sit in the studio off, you know, I’m just watching the craziness that’s going on and he is on air. He is just crazy. Oh, he’s just got so much energy. So I’m like ready for this guy? That’s just you know, what will you know? And he comes out. I go to shake his hand. And he does one of those and does a fist bump. Now this is normal, right? But back then, you know, someone doesn’t shake your hand. You’re just like, Oh my gosh, what did I do? Right? Well, he was one of those, you know, germaphobe. Guys, right?
Jeremy Weisz
It’s good for during COVID
Dan Zawacki
Yeah, good now, it’s like he was a pioneer has he’s been a pioneer and everything. And so I’m kind of just like at a loss. And he goes, alright, tell me what you do. And so, and he’s tall. I forget. He’s like, six for some, and I’m like, five, eight. So I’m like this talking to him the whole time. And he is really introverted. I mean, he was very, almost shy. So I’m telling him about Lobster Gram when I’m doing. And he goes, alright, he goes, You got about 60 more seconds. And so I’ve been talking about him for maybe two minutes. And I’ll send them like, Ah, okay, and so I heard him cram it all in there. And he goes, Okay, we’ll do a great job for you. Thanks. We walked turns around, poof, gone. Like, wow. And then Baba booey. Gary, he looks at me, he goes, wow, he goes, you’ve got more time than the executives of Coca Cola ever had, wow. He goes, this is gonna be great. And he goes, I’ll make sure he goes, make sure you send one to me, as well. And I’ll make sure when he brings it up, and he goes, You know what you should send one to Robin to. And they literally became great clients, Robin and Baba Booey. So that was that was just one of those. Not very conservative, but but he was just one of those guys, you know, just great at doing libraries. And just love the product too. And again, I think just by meeting him, and him realizing that I came all the way from Chicago because I was still in Chicago at the time, you know, that I was really meant something. It wasn’t this faceless agency that most people, you know, deal with
Jeremy Weisz
another and that’s amazing. Thanks for sharing that. That’s, you know, Dan, another turning point. It seemed to be when you had your own http://armodexperiment.com/ warehouse. And you were experiencing some some pieces that from the different suppliers.
Dan Zawacki
So I my first warehouse, quote, unquote, was my two car garage. Well, actually the first one your trunk? Yeah, the trunk. At the time I was in my office was in the old county morgue building in Peoria, Illinois, which was built in 1854. And my warehouse the morgue building. Yeah,
Jeremy Weisz
I guess it’s fitting that you are sending live things in the morgue. Yeah.
Dan Zawacki
But when this this is 1850s, you know, low ceilings. My packing table, literally This is so more of it was the old embalming tables was what I used to, you know, assemble the packages together. Grow on it. I don’t know if you believe in ghosts or anything like that. But the weirdest things would happen in that place. But my my original warehouse then was my garage in Chicago was a two car garage. And that worked out pretty good. That I actually built by scratch warehouse in Maine. Because I was I figured, hey, I got to go to Maine. Right? People don’t want their lobsters from Chicago anymore. They want it from Maine. So I bought a warehouse in Maine. I remember trying to find something that could help me design it. People are just like, what? There’s no such thing, right. So how I designed is big open space. I got about 10 rolls of duct tape. And I literally just put, like, here’s the freezer and I tape it out. I go Okay, here’s where the trucks come in and load the pots and load the coolers. So then I would draw an arrow on it, you know as the flow. Here’s where the lobster tank is because this is where the lobsters need to be assembled. And it was the craziest thing. And I remember talking to a contractor, you know, to build this on. And he’s like, Yeah, do you have plans? Oh, yeah. So he comes over and he goes, where’s the plans? I point to the ground. I go right here and he’s like, those aren’t plans. I go. Yeah, but this is my vision. This is where this is where I want the freezer to go. This is my this and this. And he just started cracking up. But he ended up drawing plans. We hired an architect and it worked out and I had that for 15 years
Jeremy Weisz
and that was because I’m You had suppliers that weren’t as you know, they weren’t as excited about the business was that?
Dan Zawacki
Well, yeah, so before that I had some suppliers that were in Massachusetts. And they did a good job, I would say, not a great job, you know, the quality control. So a lot of times, there’s what we call weak lobsters, right? They’re just not as strong. And so they would, you know, you got 1000 lobsters, there’s going to be a couple that aren’t just strong enough. So they wouldn’t really check out the quality and that and they put them in there and guess what people would get them and they would be Doa. Right? And my guarantee was 100%. Happiness. That was it. So it was a dead lobster. That wasn’t 100% happiness. And so I would have to refund their money or shipping a package out, right. And so it just wasn’t working. And, of course, you know, somebody would at four o’clock in the afternoon, they say, Oh, I got to send a lobster and my dad has birthdays tomorrow. Can you get it out? Right? We get on the phone with our fulfillment center. It’d be like, Oh, yeah, just one more just one more. And they’d be like, no, everybody’s gone. We can’t do it. And after a year that I was like, yeah, that’s not going to work. I need my own people. And of course, having your own staff has its own set of issues as it is, but it was, it worked out, you know, we eventually we had 128 people around the holidays. And that became more of a job than, than a company like this. I want to talk about
Jeremy Weisz
EOS and what you do now, but talk about the transition, the thought, you know, between selling, and then, you know, actually running 4 More’s.
Dan Zawacki
So it was about a car sold in seventh 2017. So about 2015. I was becoming disillusioned, I think is a good word. And you talked about the vinit visionary and integrator. Okay. I had no idea. Right? I am a total visionary, obviously starting a larger company in Chicago, right. So I got to the point, probably when we hit about 10 ish million in sales, where I was forced to become the manager slash the integrator, you know, making sales, marketing operations, HR, it all the crap work together. And I hated it. I hated it. I wanted to go, kiss baby, shake hands with suppliers, close big deals, make new packages, you know, go source new products around the world stuff. That was the good stuff. Not managing people. I hated that. And so I got, I just literally wanted to sell my company. And so I read the book. I’m like, Oh, my gosh, I need an integrator which was, in those days a president, I need a president. I found a president, great guy, still friends. He did a great amount of work there really put the company back, grow quicker. But three years later, you know, after doing it for 27 years, I just literally was burned out. We did 50% of our sales in November, December. I hated Christmas. I mean, I hate literally I hated Christmas. It was so my birthday is October 30. So on Halloween, that’s I started hating life, because that’s when we started the plan everything. And it was getting to be literally not a great life. And it was sad. And I felt my family was getting older and, and I’m gone. So that’s when I decided to sell the company. And I got into a few issues with my bank, who doesn’t basically I bought too much inventory. And I had leftover inventory. And the bank was kind of like, Well, you know, pony up some big bucks, or, you know, figure something else out and I’m like, I’m just gonna sell it. And so I did. And I knew, though, that I was going to do I had a lot to give, right? I wanted to do EOS. And I wanted to teach people the 33 years of being in the trenches. All the good, the bad and the ugly, but have a system right because EOS entrepreneur operating system is I wish I would have had that. Oh my gosh, I would have had that it would have been such a beast. Your better life, right us is all about living a better life. And I get such great satisfaction working with my clients. And having all my clients or friends, and I love working with them. And you know, finding your second passion in life, finding your first passion in life. I mean, how many people do you know you interview the people that do but think about other 95%? So a lot of times
Jeremy Weisz
the people who do it wasn’t their first iteration, it may have been their, like, 11th stab at something right of just figuring out what they do, like,
Dan Zawacki
yeah, that could Yeah, that I just like I said, accidental, boom, first company. First time I even tried to start a company who knew it would work. But I always wanted to be a teacher. And what gets me up in the morning now is helping out my clients. And I love it. I am so happy that I’m, you know, able to do this kind of important work.
Jeremy Weisz
Let’s talk about those a company that buys and sells homes. Yeah, what? How did they present to you and then talk about what you do with them.
Dan Zawacki
So when we first met, it was just for people. And they had the This was last December, I worked with them. And they realized they just didn’t have the right structure. And EOS is literally building the right structure, the rolls. We call it the accountability chart, some people call an organizational chart. It’s different, but just kind of similar. And they were real serious guys. So but fun, guys, right? They’re still fun. And so we literally did a pivot. And this year, I am so proud of these guys, and I’m not taking any credit because they did all the work. But they’re gonna, they’re gonna make almost $900,000. So we went from losing to gaining that two guys, they’ve hired a bunch of people. They know their focus, they have their core values. You know, they’re they’re following the process. They’re working really hard. And they’re, and they’re having more free time than they ever did before. And it’s just great to see that. I mean, I’m not one of those people where I think, you know, the pie is only this big when my clients can grow. That’s what I want to see. That’s what makes me get up in the morning.
Jeremy Weisz
What was a big piece of advice for them,
Dan Zawacki
basically, get a structure and quit getting in front of each other and do it duplicating stuff. And that your present business model is literally not working because you’re not making any money. And we literally spent four hours we call it IDs thing. I don’t know, Gino talked about it. But it’s identifying, discussing and solving. So we spent four hours figuring out what a pivot would be. And we did it and when it worked, they really put the time and the effort into doing it. And really building that structure and the core focus, stay in this silo. And let’s just do this. Don’t go out. Don’t grab the shiny things. Right, right. It’s tough. Oh my god, I used to do it a lot scram all the time. It was one of my weaknesses. But that’s what I tell my clients. Now I said, that was one of the reasons. You know, I mean, we got to 15 million in sales. But I probably could have got there a lot quicker if I would have focus more on it, not the shiny things.
Jeremy Weisz
And then there was an H-Back company.
Dan Zawacki
Yeah, still my client love those guys. Great company been around for 16 years. And again, one of the things been working with them for about a year and a half is the structure. So we you can see behind me is a whiteboard, because I draw everything out. Because if you can’t draw it out, it’s probably a bunch of BS as my opinion, right? So so we draw the accountability chart, literally one of the first things I do when I meet with a client. And so when we started building out the structure, literally I exaggerating for the first hour the board was completely blank. Because no everybody was running over everybody. Nobody had defined roles. Everybody was doing a little this little that little that all this was happening. Nobody was doing anything great. But they still had monster sales in their space. So we What what we did, it took literally four months to get a great accountability chart. And because it was a total pivot from where, you know, hundred and 50 people in there that were working there, and everybody was kind of just running all over the place. So we literally, that was it building a structure and coming up with core values that literally were at the, the heart and soul of their people. And making sure we had the right peep Jim Collins, right. Good to Great, right, people are right seats. So there is a lot of that. And to me, that’s one of the hardest things I think, for my clients to do is, you know, you got people that have been there a long time, but they just don’t have your core values, or they’re just not doing or not in the right seat. And that’s a hard, hard call to make really hard call me.
Jeremy Weisz
Did how’d you come up with 4 Mores
Dan Zawacki
Love this. So one day, I’m on the whiteboard. And I’m telling people, I know, we need to build a structure, right? Because people don’t know we have the vision first, no structure, First Vision. Second, I write on their structure, okay, I go. And if we have the right structure, we’re going to grow, I put on their growth. And then I go, and if we grow, because we have the right structure, we’re going to grow profitably. And I wrote down their profit. And if you grow, and if you have a structure in the profit, you’re gonna have fun. And I wrote fun, because I and I said, cuz he can’t have fun, you might as well get a real job. And then somebody looked at it, and they go, Oh, that’s the four more hours. And I go, I wrote on time ago, for Moore’s. And then we went to lunch. And I went to GoDaddy, I bought 4Mores.com for like, 11 bucks. And then I bought The 4 Mores, The 4 Mores’ group about all the innovations on it. And because my company used to be called the traction vision group. So you can imagine telling somebody, Dan, at traction vision group, like 26 characters, and then all of a sudden you come up with oh it’s Dan at 4Mores and use the number four people like, Oh, so was it just so now actually, when I talk to my clients, they’ll be like, yeah, I want some of that 4 Mores Dan. So it’s I’m actually trait I trademarked it too. So that’s pretty cool.
Jeremy Weisz
Dan first of all, I have I have one last question. It’s a loaded question. Oh, and it has to do with the 25 things in 33 years. So it’s actually more than one question. It’s one question. And that is unlock magic. But before we talk about that, then I want to point people to your website. And people can go to 4 the number four, you said Mores.com. And I guess how can people best engage with you who are ideal clients through? Oh,
Dan Zawacki
so I do clients with me are entrepreneurial. Okay. And the next question, I asked people, I say, do you want to grow? And if people say, No, I’m pretty happy, where they’re at, I go save your money, do what you’re doing, right? So entrepreneurial, they need to grow. And it can be anywhere from, like I said, I did, I had a startup that I worked with, to an $80 million company that I work with. So it’s anywhere in between, but it’s people that literally want to live or live a better life, you know, that their business has maybe taken over their life that happened to me, you know, they don’t have the right people. What do you do? And that happened to me? You know, there’s no accountability, right? I happen to me, and I have, I just would tell people, one thing here, I expect them to listen, of course, that never happened. The visionary and me.
Jeremy Weisz
4mores.com, check it out, check out you know, there’s some great information there. So Dan, last question, is your these 25 things in 33 years that you have discovered from being in the trenches? So I’m wonder if you could share some of those.
Dan Zawacki
I’ll share a couple of well, they’re all good, but
Jeremy Weisz
you could share all of them if you want. I don’t know how long each of them.
Dan Zawacki
Yeah, well, each one’s a sentence. So it’ll be a while but I should put these on my website. Actually. Maybe I’ll do that. That’s what we’re gonna do. All right. So
Jeremy Weisz
I want to say is this a is this printed out right now or is it is it handwritten? Oh, no, I
Dan Zawacki
big times now.
Jeremy Weisz
Okay, cool. Action vision. I want the handwritten version. Oh,
Dan Zawacki
I think I threw that out, actually. But I guess one of the biggest ones that I is don’t overthink your plan. Right? Make it short and concise. And a couple pages, if you can’t get your idea in a couple pages, then it’s probably a bunch of BS. I mean, you know, they got these software programs out there, and they’re all loaded, it’s all cut and paste. And guess what, I have a ton of friends that are bankers, on PE firm, they can smell it right away. And they just like they want to see, you know, have a few grammatical errors in there. They don’t have to be all perfect and pretty, um, have a great story to tell every single entrepreneur that I ever met. And I’ll ask you this question too. They all have a great story. Some of them just don’t know it, or they don’t get it out. But the ones that have really done a great job they get they get it out. And I think my favorite one is expect victory. And I have and I’m just gonna say when the shit hits the fan, you just gotta overcome it. Right? expect victory. I love that. And don’t listen to the pessimists. They’re all out there, most of them are going to be jealous of you. And just stay away from them like the plague. And every employee should be responsible for some measurable of what brings success to the business. I don’t care if you’re like one of my clients, they have a full time janitor. His measure is once a week. He’s got to make sure that that manufacturing and all the office floors and everything are completely clean and you can eat off that thing for and he’s great at his job and he can do a better anybody else. I’ll just tell you one thing. Keep your debt low. I got sucked into a $3 million debt. And I’ll tell you what, you don’t sleep to good there’s some other good Well, let’s
Jeremy Weisz
end on a positive one is suppose you not being able to sleep at night.
Dan Zawacki
I got a great one. Yeah. Be nice to everyone and be an optimist. That’s gonna go to sleep. And you never know the next person you’re talking to. Oh my gosh, you know, just because they dress grungy just because maybe they drive a beat up car or whatever. They might be a multi multi millionaire that wants to buy your company, or at least be your friend be a friend. Right. And I think that’s one of the biggest things that I’ve learned over the years. Be nice and be an optimist because if you’re a pessimist don’t try and start a company.
Jeremy Weisz
Our friend Justin Breen would echo those words and says that a lot about being an optimist. So Dan, I want to be the first one to thank you everyone. Check out 4Mores.com check out more and check out more episodes. Thanks, everyone.
Dan Zawacki
Thank you. It’s been awesome. You’re a great interviewer.
Jeremy Weisz
Thanks, Dan.
