Category: Biography and History

How a Hippy and a Hitchhiker Created a $1 Billion Lipbalm Business

Post author By Tyler Hayzlett
Post date August 17, 2021
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This is the story of Burt’s Bees.

Their logo can be spotted everywhere from the isles in chain-store supermarkets to roadside novelty shops. The Burt’s Bees brand swarmed the US and abroad and has grown into a legitimate household name brand with an obsessed customer base.

Their lip-balm business was cemented into business hall of fame when their founder sold it to Clorox for jaw-dropping $970 million. But long before their rockstar exit, the origin story of Burt’s Bees started in the middle of no where in Maine by 2 eccentric loners.

As it happens, the Burt’s Bees, story started with a bearded hippy living out of a modified turkey coup with no electricity or running water, and a hitchhiker who eventually became his business partner and lover.

Here’s their story…

Escaping Life in the “Big Apple”

Burt Shavitz was a photojournalist in New York City in the 1960s covering the key issues of the day. He was credited for example with capturing key figures during the civil rights movement with the likes of JFK and Malcolm X.

Shavitz had a promising and safe career working for established media publications like Time and Life Magazines. But Shavitz wasn’t long for the corporate world.

Mass media in the 60s began rise of TV journalism. Shavitz felt the times were becoming less relevant in the big city for a photojournalist. So he began contemplating how he would dedicate the next chapter of his life.

Then one day, after snapping a photo of an elderly neighbor looking out her apartment window, he realized he no longer, if ever, belonged to the hustle and grind of New York City.

“I knew that that would be me, 90 years old and unable to go outside, if I didn’t get the hell out.”

So he did, Shavitz got the hell out of NY. He traded the life he knew in the concrete jungle for small parcel of land in the backwoods of Maine where his only possessions left included a golden retriever named Rufus, and a beehive intended to make into a hobby.

Meanwhile in San Francisco

On the other side of the country, living a parallel life, Roxanne Quimby, 15 years younger, was a struggling artist living in San Francisco. Who like many other young people at the time, was escaping the urban sprawl of city life seeking freedom in the remote wilderness. Pregnant with twins, she found herself moving to Maine to start a new life with her boyfriend.

While settling into her new home, Quimby’s boyfriend left her. Expecting children and in need of work and money she set out to fend her own. Literally hitchhiking her way into the nearest town in pursuit of any employment.

As fate would have it. The two future business partners met that very day on the side of the north-woods rural highway as Burt pulled over to pick up a complete stranger thumbing a ride into town. What are the odds?

Here’s the version of that fateful encounter posted to the company’s Web site:

It was the summer of ’84, and Maine artist Roxanne Quimby was thumbing a ride home (back when you could still do that sort of thing). Eventually a bright yellow Datsun pickup truck pulled over, and Roxanne instantly recognized Burt Shavitz, a local fella whose beard was almost as well-known as his roadside honey stand. Burt and Roxanne hit it off.

The 2 Became Business Partners (of a kind)

The two eventually became partners in both life and in business. While Burt was content selling his honey to his local patrons on the side of the road. Quimby was looking to supplement both of their income.

Burt had a lot of unused wax on his property, viewing it as simple organic waste from his bee hives, but none-the less, never disposed of it in case he had future use of it. What Burt saw as waste, Roxanne saw it as future product lines.

She started out converting the excess wax into homemade candles and began selling them at local craft fairs, bringing home a total of $200 at their first show The duo generated just $20,000 their first year in business together.

The honey was a steady seller but Quimby could only move the candles in the fall and winter holiday season. People just didn’t seem to want them in the hot summer months. Forcing Roxanne back to the drawing boards, looking for something else to craft with the unused wax.

Then, she stumbled across an article in a Farmer’s Almanac that contained an all-natural wax lip-balm recipe from the 1800s…

On her wood stove, she heated a cauldron and poured the liquid wax to cool in small polishing tins. She instantly loved the old time look and feel of her new creation.

Building the Brand

Quimby outsourced an artist to create a sketch of Burt for the product packaging, and the brand took on its now-famous character. She labeled them Burt’s Bees.

Now beyond honey and candles, Quimby was able to introduce a line of shoe polish and the eventual coup d’é·tat, an all-natural honey infused lip-balm.

This was the beginning of the Burt’s Bees brand, (which today is the second largest selling natural care brand of cosmetics in the country, second only to Chapstick and Blistex).

In 1994 they grew their revenue to $3 million business, Quimby decided they had outgrown their small marketing in Maine and needed to find a more favorable business climate.

Maine was high on taxes for one, but now they were selling their products all over the country. She required a supply-chain infrastructure to properly supply their increasing demand. Quimby found what she needed and moved the entire operations to North Carolina.

But the Partnership Came to an End

Burt accompanied Roxanne but he only lasted two months into the move when things changed their relationship forever.

During that transition, Shavitz was forced out after having an affair and ultimately accused of “sexual harassment” with an employee. This is another story all-together which he explained in the popular Netflix documentary, Burt’s Buzz.

According to reports, Shavitz had an affair with a younger woman and was forced out of the company with a payout of $130,000 in 1999 to go back to his life in Maine.

WATCH: You can watch the full documentary here:

Burt’s resignation ultimately led Quimby to buy BUrt out of the company by acquiring his shares.

With Burt gone, Quimby moved massive products skyrocketing from $23 million in 2000 to $164 million in 2007. The industry saw massive golden opportunities in the market for green products.

Selling the Business

Through a series of subsequent business deals that occurred as a sole proprietor, Quimby was able to sell a majority of her interests in the all-natural brand to a private equity company for $170 million while still negotiating a remaining 20% minority stake in the company.

Which Quimby later on subsequently sold her remaining interests to Clorox for an additional $290 million.

For a brand forged on the side of a highway, Quimby expertly maneuvered Burt’s Bees through one hell of a business transformation.

Roxanne went from hitchhiker to the mastermind behind the household brand name we know today with a total earnings payout of $404 million.

What Happend to Burt?

If Burt hadn’t gone through the scandal in the late 90s, giving up his stake in the brand for $130,000, his shares would have been worth about $59 million.

Although he passed at the age of 80, Shavitz wasn’t one to linger in the past.

In an interview with the New Yorker, Shavitz said;

“I’ve got everything I need: a nice piece of land with hawks and owls and incredible sunsets, and the good will of my neighbors.

What I have in this situation is no regret. The bottom line is she’s got her world and I’ve got mine, and we let it go at that.”

Which sounds exactly like what a guy who sells honey on the side of a remote road in Maine might say.

What Does One Buy With $400 Million?

While it’s none of my business, it does make one curious. What did Quimby do with all that money? She went to Hawaii, then to Antarctica and all the places she felt like. She shopped for a home in Palm Beach…She bought six.

But it turns out she invested most of her newfound wealth in forrest land to protect it. She then purchased 100,000 acres of land in Maine turning 87,500 acres into a protected national forrest land she gave back to the US government along with $20 million in cash to keep the park funded.

As of 2016, she is a resident of Portland, Maine, where she remains prominent philanthropist and leads a number of charitable organizations in the area.

For more information visit tylerhayzlett.com

Biography and History Growth Personal Development

My 4 Favorite Books on Audible

Post author By Tyler Hayzlett
Post date July 6, 2021
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Need some suggestions for what to download next on Audible? You’re in the right place.

Here are 4 of my favorite audio downloads so far on Audible.

Shoe Dog – Phil Knight

The story of how a 24 year old started Nike

Fresh out of business school, Nike founder and board chairman, Phil Knight, Phil Knight borrowed fifty dollars from his father and launched a company with one simple mission: import high-quality, low-cost running shoes from Japan.

Selling the shoes from the trunk of his car in 1963, Knight grossed eight thousand dollars that first year. Today, Nike’s annual sales top $30 billion. In this age of start-ups, Knight’s Nike is the gold standard, and its swoosh is one of the few icons instantly recognized in every corner of the world.

But Knight, the man behind the swoosh, has always been a mystery. In Shoe Dog, he tells his story at last. At twenty-four, Knight decides that rather than work for a big corporation, he will create something all his own, new, dynamic, different. He details the many risks he encountered, the crushing setbacks, the ruthless competitors and hostile bankers—as well as his many thrilling triumphs.

Above all, he recalls the relationships that formed the heart and soul of Nike, with his former track coach, the irascible and charismatic Bill Bowerman, and with his first employees, a ragtag group of misfits and savants who quickly became a band of swoosh-crazed brothers.

Can’t Hurt Me – David Goggins

From 300 lbs to Navy SEAL and ultramarathon

For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare – poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a US Armed Forces icon and one of the world’s top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events, inspiring Outside magazine to name him The Fittest (Real) Man in America.

In Can’t Hurt Me, he shares his astonishing life story and reveals that most of us tap into only 40% of our capabilities. Goggins calls this The 40% Rule, and his story illuminates a path that anyone can follow to push past pain, demolish fear, and reach their full potential.

An annotated edition of Can’t Hurt Me, offering over two hours of bonus content featuring deeper insights and never-before-told stories shared by David. Not available in other formats.

Extreme Ownership – Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

Leadership lessons from Task Unit Bruiser

Combat, the most intense and dynamic environment imaginable, teaches the toughest leadership lessons, with absolutely everything at stake. Jocko Willink and Leif Babin learned this reality first-hand on the most violent and dangerous battlefield in Iraq.

As leaders of SEAL Team Three’s Task Unit Bruiser, their mission was one many thought impossible: help U.S. forces secure Ramadi, a violent, insurgent-held city deemed “all but lost.” In gripping, firsthand accounts of heroism, tragic loss, and hard-won victories, they learned that leadership – at every level – is the most important factor in whether a team succeeds or fails.

Since it’s release in October 2015, Extreme Ownership has revolutionized leadership development and set a new standard for literature on the subject. Detailing the mindset and principles that enable SEAL units to accomplish the most difficult combat missions, Extreme Ownership demonstrates how to apply them to any team or organization, in any leadership environment. A compelling narrative with powerful instruction and direct application, Extreme Ownership challenges leaders everywhere to fulfill their ultimate purpose: lead and win.

Launch – Jeff Walker

What if you could launch like Apple or the big Hollywood studios?

What if your prospects eagerly counted down the days until they could buy your product? What if you could create such powerful positioning in your market that you all -but- eliminated your competition? And you could do all that no matter how humble your business or budget?

Since 1996 Jeff Walker has been creating hugely successful online launches. After bootstrapping his first Internet business from his basement, he quickly developed an underground process for launching new products and businesses with unprecedented success.

But the success-train was just getting started—once he started teaching his formula to other entrepreneurs, the results were simply breathtaking. Tiny, home-based businesses started doing launches that sold tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and even millions of dollars in sales with their launches.

“Launch” is the treasure map into that world—an almost secret world of digital entrepreneurs who create cash-on-demand paydays with their product launches and business launches.

Whether you have an existing business, or you have a service-based business and want to develop your own products so you can leverage your time and your impact, or you’re still in the planning phase—this is how you start fast. This formula is how you engineer massive success.

For more information visit tylerhayzlett.com

Best Practices Biography and History Entrepreneurship Marketing Personal Development

The Rise and Fall of Book Publishing – The Untold Story of Amazon.com

Post author By Tyler Hayzlett
Post date April 27, 2021
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The state of book publishing is complicated

The Rise of Book Publishing

The book industry hit a major milestone they never bothered mentioning to anyone.

Between 2012 to now, self-published book titles have grown 156%.

In a report published by Bowker.com in late 2018:

“Self-publishing grew at a rate of more than 28% in 2017 and is still climbing.

In 2018 alone, book titles grew from 786,935 to 1,009,188, surpassing the million mark for the first time in human history!”

Then why isn’t anyone celebrating?

It’s never been easier and more affordable to publish a book to share our knowledge with the world.

Mass printers can get book costs down to $1-$3 per book.

On-demand printers that most independent authors use can get costs around $6-$7 per book before adding the author markup.

This Is a Good Thing Right?

We have more legit subject experts than any time in human history.

This is the single greatest achievement in book publishing since Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1454, over 500 years ago!

The reason no one wants to talk about this is that there’s a dirty little secret in book publishing…

A majority of books don’t actually make any money.

Seriously, it’s true.

With the introduction of e-commerce, authors can no longer rely on traditional retail, especially with the demise of brick-and-mortar bookstores.

Publishers Weekly is an American trade magazine which has been providing industry insights to publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents since 1872.

The industry has been keeping the sales numbers close to their chest for awhile now…

Book Sales By The Numbers:

Recent reports indicate that the average independent or self-published author will sell less than 250 books.

The average published author will sell less than 2,000 books, and only 62 out of 1,000 book titles will sell over 5,000 copies in its lifetime.

And someone you’ve heard of took notice a few years back.

The Birth of Amazon

Very few people would have guessed the quiet introvert who worked at the local McDonalds in high school would one day become the world’s most successful and wealthiest man to walk the planet.

A guy who’s personal net worth surpasses the GDP of over 125 countries.

The $126 billion dollar man by the name of Jeff Bezos started Amazon in 1996 with the wild idea to sell books online.

Bezos started Amazon with the brand promise as “the world’s largest bookstore.”

In the Beginning it Was Just An Idea

Amazon started in 1994, when at the age of 30, Jeff quit a high paying job at a quantitative hedge fund company on Wall Street to pursue a life-long love of computers.

No one knew he would become one of the early pioneers of the internet.

At that time, Bezos and a handful of others were watching internet usage skyrocket at a rate of 2300%. He had to get involved.

Bezos relocated to Seattle with nothing other than an interest to start an online business.

In June of that same year, Jeff came up with arguably the lamest name for a business in the history of the human race, “Cadabra Inc.”

…Yes, like “Abracadabra.”

He then pivoted to “relentless” for about a day, until friends convinced him otherwise.

He ultimately landed on the name “Amazon” reportedly for two reasons:

To suggest the immense scale he was hoping to eventually accomplish; “Earth’s Largest Bookstore” (which is what Amazon was in the very beginning)
Back then, website listings were often alphabetical, so he wanted something that started with the letter “a,” which was a straight-up marketing strategy from the Yellow Pages era.

The Vision Grew and So Did Bezos’s Ambition

The vision for the company was to be the “largest bookstore in the world.”

Building an online bookstore wasn’t exactly a grand master chess decision. However, it made sense at the time because there were three million active book titles in circulation.

These numbers have only increased since.

Major bookstores could only hold a max of 150,000 titles in retail locations.

While that’s an impressively large volume to logistically support at retail level, there was still no way for most bookstores to profitably sell more books that were growing ever more niche in nature.

Thus, traditional bookstores couldn’t keep up with the large and growing circulation.

In addition, books were a relatively low price-point, the perfect combination for an e-commerce play. Therefore, the founding idea was a universal selection of books.

A literal “online library.” But the idea needed funding.

The Idea Needed Seed Funding

With the concept in place, Bezos raised seed capital to turn his idea into a working model.

Like everyone raising money does at first, he turned to friends and family to borrow money. The initial $250,000 investment from his parents to start Amazon.

When explaining the concept of his internet store to his father his dad asked Jeff, “What actually is the “internet?”

…Clearly, they were not betting on an ROI from the internet. They were betting on their son, Jeff, a powerful vote of confidence, in their willingness to invest in his judgment and ability to make something out of nothing.

Jeff raised another $1M from 20 additional initial investors who each contributed $50K for shared equity of 20% in the business.

Bezos Launched Amazon From His Garage

Well technically the garage part is in mostly a myth. But close enough, he launched from his new home in Bellevue, Washington.

In 1996, Amazon sold their first book and quite possibly the most boring name and niche book of all time.

It was E. Douglas Hofstadter’s, Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies, Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought,

…How’s that for a title?

Two months later, Jeff was selling books to all 50 states in the US and 45 countries worldwide with weekly sales up to $20,000.

Amazon Expanded Out of Book Sales

By October, that same year, he announced his decision to take the company public. Amazon swelled to 11 employees, and the company started expanding outside of book sales into music and videos.

Wondering what to sell next, the small team emailed 1,000 randomly selected customers for what they would like to see Amazon sell outside of books.

The results were interesting and surprised everyone working for the e-commerce startup.

What the customers wanted was the most randomness of anything happened to need or desire in that very moment including obscure things like windshield wiper blades.

That was the feedback the team needed. This was no longer a book play. This consumer feedback changed the world as we know it.

At that point, Bezos realized the true potential for Amazon.

From Selling Books to Selling…Anything They Wanted

They were going to fulfill and deliver every purchase of any product their customers wanted right to their front door, including front doors from door manufacturers.

The doors literally flooded opened with orders of the most common and most obtuse products. Amazon was in a dead sprint to connect their customers with EVERYTHING their shopping cart hearts desired.

When Amazon’s Success Threatened the Status Quo

The following year, in May of 1997, the company issued their first stock option valued at $18 per share. Today, the stock price is over $2,000 per share.

They were well on their way to becoming a major player.

However, business is business, and the excitement was met with resistance from the industry when Barnes & Noble sued the new company over their slogan claiming to be the “largest bookstore on the planet” when they didn’t in fact have a physical store.

Their case was that Amazon was not a bookstore rather they were a “book broker.”

While they were technically correct, Amazon is a broker, and Amazon eventually settled the claim out of court.

What the retailer, and others to this day, would soon come to learn, is that to us, the consumers, brick and mortar bookstores were also “just brokers.”

We’re All “Just Brokers” Now

At it turns out, people prefer to order products from the comfort of their own homes rather than venture out to do all the tedious brokering themselves for products in massive retail locations.

To think we should somehow value going into a retail store over having whatever we want delivered to our front door for FREE SHIPPING, is absolutely ridiculous.

Convenient e-commerce shopping and delivery has been the driving force behind why more than 9,300 retail stores closed their doors in 2019 and more since, as the retail apocalypse peaked.

BARNES & NOBLE RETAIL CASE STUDY

In 1996, Amazon became a major threat to bookstores with $16 Million in sales.

Barnes and Noble took in $2 Billion that same year.

Today, Amazon controls half of the entire print book marketplace, while B&N has only one-fifth remaining. Amazon’s sales jumped to 84% for e-book sales, while B&N held at 2%. Amazon’s e-commerce revenue is around $1 Trillion in market cap while B&N has dropped to $475 Million, a .05% of Amazon’s revenue.

Today, people claim Amazon is the biggest threat to retailers

But in my humble opinion, retail disruption wasn’t Amazon’s fault. Amazon was simply the first company to offer the first online retail experience; and consumers have accepted the alternate shopping experience and prefer the convenience of it!

Amazon capitalized on the way people prefer to shop today.

The customer is not always right, but they have options for how they prefer to consume products now.

By 2010, Kindle sales exceeded print sales for the first time in the history of the company.

Amazon didn’t kill the book publishing industry!

The consumer did when we made a choice to add a premium on preferred digital consumption.

At the start, Amazon employed a handful of workers.

Growth accelerated at lightspeed with 30,000 employees in 2010, exceeding 750,000 employees today; not too shabby considering when he started, Bezos hoped that at one point, Amazon would be large enough to purchase a forklift for the warehouse.

In 2013, Amazon’s site went down for 45 minutes, and the company lost out on $5.7 million in revenue!

Since 2014, Cyber Monday has been the “online Black Friday” post-Thanksgiving holiday online shopping day. History was made, again. Analytics showed Amazon sold over 300 products per second on the first Cyber Monday.

Bezos can now afford to buy 105 million forklifts. Just saying…

Bezos made a fortune by building the most efficient platform of the era by focusing on one core principle…

“Give the customer what they want. The way they want it.”

This is the advice marketers should wisely and carefully consider.

People don’t buy most books because most people don’t want to consume them in the manner they are offered.

In today’s media world, when the consumer can consume limitless amounts of content on their own terms and devices, they have many other avenues for consuming the information they want.

Often times on platforms that make it easier to consume the information like YouTube and Podcasts.

For more information visit tylerhayzlett.com

Best Practices Biography and History Culture Economics Entrepreneurship Industries Marketing Personal Development

The Rise of People as Brands

Post author By Tyler Hayzlett
Post date April 23, 2021
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Today, anyone can create a platform around anything they love…

The Rise of The Services Industry

In the 1970s, the US economy moved from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based information economy.

Today, the service business in the US alone, represents 85% of the US private sector.

As service businesses emerged, the “brand promise” transferred from product quality to a specialized knowledge expertise and skillset.

Thus Gave Rise to The Knowledge Business

Business between the 70s and 80s used to be called the “Knowledge Industry”.

That was soon forgotten in the 90s when the internet was born. The information era came with a new way of delivering information. The world wide web.

The Knowledge Business was about to become a global business endeavor and competition started to heat up.

The Rise of Individuals As Brands

In a 1997 Fast Company article, Tom Peters sparked a phenomenon when he publicly acknowledged for the first time that developing individual personal brands is a necessity for businesses to compete in a cut-throat digital economy.

The key to getting ahead was then linked to your ability to establish a personal equivalent of the Nike swoosh.

The conclusion: “It’s that simple, that hard, and that inescapable.”

Fast forward almost 25 years. Peters and his original article still remain a leading authority on the topic.

But now, because anyone can be positioned as an expert, everyone is.

“The Brand Called “YOU.” You Can’t Move Up if You Don’t Stand Out.”

The Rise of Thought Leaders

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a growing rate of increased competition for subject matter experts and ideas.

With so many “experts” right now, how will B2B businesses differentiate themselves to their desired customer in an era when everyone is a consultant, speaker, author, and coach?

How will we find customers in such a crowded space?

The good news is that demand for information is at an all-time high. The bad news?

The rapidly increasing supply of on-demand content. It’s definitely becoming difficult to stand out from the crowded room of other experts.

Based on a simple LinkedIn search using titles, there are:

22 million consultants
12 million authors
6 million experts
300,000 coaches
300,000 trainers
40,000 speakers
6 Million Experts

The Rise of Coaches

6,109,719 people identified themselves as “experts.” There’s an expert on every topic!

Consultants surpassed experts with a whopping 22,009,581 million results.

Fortunately, if anyone desires to be coached, they will only be able to find the best fit by searching and meeting with the 5,904.507 available to assist you.

Even celebrities are coaches. For instance, Gwen Stefani identifies as a “music coach” because she is a judge on “The Voice,” a television show that evaluates musicians for the “next big star.”

The Rise of Media Brands

Today, every person and business has access to the same distribution tools as the largest publishers and media networks.

Today, anyone can create a brand reputation on any topic.

While it may appear that the rise of people as brands is a relatively new phenomenon, in reality it has been a 50-year overnight development in the making.

For more information visit tylerhayzlett.com

Best Practices Biography and History Management Marketing Personal Development

C-Suite Case Study: The Making of the Yeti Cooler Brand

Post author By Tyler Hayzlett
Post date November 4, 2020
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The story of the notorious Yeti cooler started in 2006, when two dreamers turned what was once a boring consumer product into an iconic American lifestyle brand beloved by outdoor adventurers, tailgaters, bull riders, beach bums, and novelty hunters across the nation.

The company more recently went public in 2018 and is currently valued at $4.3 billion dollars with sales expected to reach $900 million by the end of 2020. Yeti is living proof that innovation can be developed even in one of the most unlikely commodity markets.

But how did that happen? I mean, to be fair, this isn’t the next silicon valley tech start up, it’s a cooler designed to keep you beer colder for longer…

They took a product category that nobody was thinking about innovating since Igloo put wheels on a cooler in the 1990s. More to the point the company successfully transformed the icebox into a coveted lifestyle brand.

That’s an impressive undertaking even for a well-established business with access to unlimited resources, funding, and marketing experience. But the Yeti Cooler brand was born from a series of homemade paper drawings, a personal need, and an unwavering determination to create something the founders wanted for their own hobby.

Here is the story of how two brothers from Austin Texas started a cooler company out of their dad’s garage and turned what was once a low-end commodity into a high-priced, high-end, globally recognized brand.

Two Brothers, a Passion, and a Problem:

Ryan and Roy Seiders, spent their entire childhood making memories in the outdoors. Their passion for the outdoors was infused with business potential when their father Roger Seiders, quit his job as a teacher and turned entrepreneur decades ago after he designed a fishing rod epoxy called Flex Coat he has been selling since 1977. The brothers got to see up close how to take risks and turn a personal interest into a business by finding a gap in a market by creating a solution to a common problem.

After graduating college, the boys set out to follow the familiar footsteps of their father. They attempted to start a series of businesses ideas of their own. Ryan tried his hand at building a custom-fishing-rod business and Roy began building modified fishing boats for anglers, specifically those targeting redfish in the shallow, hot, coastal waters off the Gulf of Mexico.

Neither venture was a success by their own admission, but it was their first dip into the waters of entrepreneurship. Like thousands of entrepreneurs before them, they sought out to solve a problem for the customers they served until one problem presented a unique and unexpected window of opportunity for the duo.

The first hint of Yeti began when Roy was customizing fishing boats for his clients. A challenge emerged when Roy was tasked with determining the best spot to put a cooler on his clients’ fishing boats that had very limited storage space. He knew that many fishermen (himself included) liked to stand on their coolers while casting, but the conventional cheap plastic models would buckle under their body weight, ultimately getting damaged or completely ruined.

Not satisfied with the available coolers on the market, Roy enlisted the help of his brother Ryan to help identify a more durable cooler for the custom boats at the outdoor trade shows they frequented.

Their agenda was pretty straight forward. They set out to locate a heavy-duty cooler to purchase for the custom fishing boats they were selling. Only to find, there wasn’t one. They needed a cooler strong enough that their clients could confidently stand on, that would also stay cold in the hot southern coastal temperatures.

An Idea Emerged:

The coolers available just weren’t up to the outdoor adventures the brothers were experiencing with their friends and clients. Not only did the cheap lids cave in, the handles would break, and the latches would frequently snap off due to the heavy weight of the ice and cargo. Forcing them and their clients to replace their portable coolers after every fishing season. It was out of this frustration that encouraged them to solve the problem on their own.

The idea of the YETI coolers was founded by the Seiders brothers: two outdoorsmen who needed a solid, durable cooler that could also keep their catch, kills, and beverages cold for a longer period of time in the hot Texas heat.

On a Mission:

They quickly dismissed the popular idea that coolers should be cheap and affordable. Instead they turned their attention on building an indestructible cooler built for serious outdoor performance.

As their website states, they decided early on that product innovation would have to come from a place of necessity and firsthand experience. Not relying on market research and data analysis.

The mission statement for the emerging company was founded on the belief that life is about having a good time doing what you love. And for the Seiders brothers, that was getting primal in the outdoors hunting whitetail, catching fish, and spending time with family and friends making lifelong memories.

“We’re wild at heart. So our coolers couldn’t be anything less.”

– Yeti Coolers

Reinventing the Wheel:

While attending trade shows looking for inspiration, Ryan stumbled across a rugged cooler model from Thailand, and the brothers set up a business to distribute their coolers for a short-lived time.

But eventually they found, the product just wasn’t what they were ultimately hoping for. While at the time, it was the best cooler out there, the product quality wasn’t up to their standards, and the brothers weren’t in love with the design either. They traveled to Thailand to meet face-to-face with the manufacturer to suggest changes only to discover the manufacturer couldn’t actually fulfill on their specific expectations.

Ryan and Roy took more steps to realize the product they envisioned. They mocked up their own handmade drawings with specs and soon found a manufacturer in the Philippines who was willing to try their ideas and provide them with a working prototype. The game was on. But they needed seed capital they didn’t have to build the initial proof of concept model.

To help fund the idea, Ryan sold his fishing rod business, and the brothers pooled what little money they had to cover the cost of the initial prototype and tooling.

The New & Improved Yeti Design:

The YETI shell is made from a common plastic material called polyethylene in a plastic manufacturing process referred to as roto-molding, that infuses high temperature and low pressure to create one piece of solid piece of plastic molding. It’s the same process used to create durable kayaks, eliminating any seams and joints making them stronger and more insulated.

By making one solid plastic case equates to higher plastic strength integrity and allowed less cold air to escape the seams. The shell walls were additionally injected with 3 inches of industrial strength foam and they installed a freezer quality rubber gasket sealer found in high-end refrigerators to make the lid air tight.

The solid design, combined with the depth of the insulated walls, insured the cooler’s contents would stay frozen longer.

With their protoype nailed solid they had to focus on selling the product to regain their initial capital investment.

Paving a New Path to Distribution:

They soon realized they would have to sell their product for $300 apiece for their smallest model in order to cover the costs of the premium design. They understood what they were up against from a retail perspective from the start. Yeti couldn’t focus on high volume sales through traditional retail distribution in the beginning. Instead they went after a niche clientele willing to pay top dollar for a quality product.

YETI didn’t try to compete with traditional retail’s cheap $30 coolers available at big box retailers like Target and Walmart. Instead they focused their efforts on specialty sporting goods stores and targeted the outdoor trade shows they were familiar with attending. It was here, in their familiar outdoor network where they could attempt to capture the attention of their primary audience. The goal was to get the buy-in from hunting and fishing guides to build Yeti’s grassroots reputation.

In addition to outdoor tradeshows, they spent their early days cold calling local hardware stores, tackle shops, and small outdoor retail owners offering them a new value proposition: Why waste your time selling a $30 cooler only retain a $5 margin? When you can sell their premium $300 cooler and keep $100? The grass roots approach slowly made progress but it wasn’t an overnight success.

Growing Pains:

The brothers launched Yeti in 2006. Sales reached $5M by 2009, and by 2011 they were pulling in an impressive $29 million which would earn the company its third consecutive appearance on the Inc. 5000 listing for their explosive growth.

They started hitting their stride when they finally broke through to premium outfitters like Bass Pro Shops and other specialty retailers. But that win brought them a whole new set of problems. The coolers were flying off the shelves faster than they could meet the production demand. Yeti ran into a major supply chain obstacle. They were selling more coolers than their suppliers could build on time. The Seiders’ needed to outsource help, fast, and the brothers proved their resourcefulness once again.

Private Equity Partnership:

They were now in a dead sprint to find a partner to help them navigated the next stages of growth to help fulfill their growing supply chain constraints.

The Seiders reached out and vetted pitches from more than a dozen private equity firms.

In June 2012, they pulled the trigger and sold two-thirds stake of the company for $67 million to a private equity firm that specialized in leveraged buy-out transactions. The Cortec Group firm targets specialty middle-market manufacturing, distribution and service companies, particularly family-controlled companies.

Cortec, based in New York, was founded in 1984. Since inception, the firm has raised over $2.6 billion of capital across six investment funds and has completed more than seventy transactions to date.

Cortec had major strategic advantages with IP and manufacturing connections that Yeti desperately needed. Cortec proved invaluable in navigating the necessary trademark battles (including going up against and winning a lawsuit with Walmart and other large players) that soon plagued the popular brand.

Cortec also proved useful in helping the brothers expand the product line beyond $400 heavy-duty coolers to include drinkware (mugs and tumblers), bags, lawn chairs, and even an off-road electric scooter eventually dropping the “Coolers” name from the now Yeti brand. This product category growth would soon prove to future WallStreet investors that they were no longer a cooler company.

Additionally, Cortec offered a subjective external perspective the company needed for high growth, negotiating new venders, marketing agencies and process management for the now 700 employees under the Yeti label.

By 2014’s year end, they quickly grew to $147 million in retail sales as the brand started creeping into the new expanding brand categories.

Yeti went public in 2018 with an IPO valuation at $1.7 billion. They were well on their way to building a globally recognized brand.

Marketing a Household Name:

How does one make a cooler company cool? The answer in short; marketing.

Yeti developed a marketing strategy that told their story, engaging people on a shared love for the outdoors and the best equipment to enjoy them with.

The combination of high-quality, field-endorsed products and outlandish prices translated to high consumer interest and desire.

The company leveraged a network of influencers they named their YETI Ambassadors, who had already grown like audiences to endorse the brand. YETI’s influencers include hunters, fishermen, snowboarders, professional skiers, bull riders, and cowboys.

YETI Ambassador Video Example:

Embracing their audience on social media YETI currently has more than 1 million followers on Facebook and 1.4 million Instagram and are leveraging Youtube with millions of views across their 197 original videos to date.

They even share social proof of their brand promise claiming for example, that Yeti’s are even Grizzly proof.

Here’s the proof:

Yeti took their marketing strategy a step further when they hired Melisa Goldie as the company’s very first chief marketing officer. Goldie was formerly global CMO of Calvin Klein Inc.

You might think, why hire someone previously responsible to sell a clothing label to oversee their marketing strategy?

But considering over 70% of Yeti’s consumers are under the age of 45. Goldie came with a breadth of experience in lifestyle branding, promoting product lines across a wide range of consumer categories at multiple price points across a wide range of geographies.

YETI Business Strategy:

Yeti was a brand that arrived onto a product category that existed since the early 1900s. Instead of fitting into what others were doing they made bold moves to set themselves as far apart from their competitors as they could get in terms of price, quality, and speed to production, to gain a competitive edge.

In order to manufacture such a high quality product in mass, the company deployed an “asset light” strategy. They outsourcing the production and distribution their products keeping their overhead low while focusing on growing sales year over year.

While forgoing profits by investing in third-party production, they were able to capture faster market share as the first premium quality cooler brand while other copy-cat brands started following their coat-tails.

Yeti recognized the need for strategic help to grow the company by partnering with the Cortec Group. This deliberate decision rapidly increased operating efficiency to overcome supply chain growth deficiencies.

Similarly, Cortec was essential in diversifying the product lines for Yeti into drinkware and soft (bag) travel coolers which accounts for nearly half their sales which is something Wallstreet investors rewarded in their IPO. Their experience in strategic licensing positioned the company as a global player.

The brothers scaled by bringing in the right growth partners yet again by hiring outdoor-retailing executive Matt Reintjes to replace Roy as chief executive officer. While Roy remains the Chairman of the company, by giving up some of the control as founder to an external CEO, the Seiders were signaling to Wallstreet that they were playing the long game of strategic growth by putting all of the right players where they needed to be positioned.

While the company is experiencing peak growth their story is very likely far from it. The Yeti Ice Monster started out as an idea, turned opportunity, and ultimately into another great American business success story.

For more information visit tylerhayzlett.com

Biography and History Entrepreneurship Human Resources Personal Development

The Audiobook Publishers Association Recognizes Business Audio Theatre

Post author By MIchael and Bonnie Harvey
Post date May 14, 2020
No Comments on The Audiobook Publishers Association Recognizes Business Audio Theatre

Stephen King was there for a special award of recognition. Michele Obama, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks and other Hollywood stars were lauded for their narrations. And Michael and Bonnie were there to accept their medallion for Finalist in the Business/Personal Development category!

That’s right! The Barefoot Spirit made it to the finals at the 2020 Audiobook Publishers Association’s Awards competition!

Last night, tucked under the Queens Borough Bridge in Manhattan, the 2020 Audiobook Publishers Association Audie Awards Gala was presented at the elegant Gustavino’s, complete with red carpets, cameras, champagne, and celebrities. Folks were dressed to the nines to celebrate the Audiobook Publishers Association’s (APA) 25TH year in hopes that they would bring home the top awards. This was clearly a big deal for the audiobook industry and we were honored to be included with all the glitterati.

According to the MC, one in every two Americans listened to at least one audiobook last year and the industry made a whopping one billion dollars in sales. As more and more listeners discover the freedom of true mobile entertainment, audiobook growth is taking off fast.

The APA is supported mainly by the big publishers, so it was quite a compliment when a former judge in our category said, “You guys are self-published? You are very fortunate to have made it all the way to Finalist!” Along with Harpers, MacMillan, Penguin, and all the other Big Boys, here comes Michael and Bonnie’s The Barefoot Spirit, self-published by Footnotes Press, LLC. We proudly wore our finalists award medallions all evening! It appears we were the only self-published audiobook to make it to the final round!

Out of only five finalists in our category, ours was the only one that was performed and fully-casted rather than strictly narrated. We would like to think that the distinction was recognized by the Association. We are grateful that the APA has recognized the value of this pioneering initiative to convey business principles and preserve founders’ legacies with Business Audio Theatre (BAT). This acknowledgment gives a level of credibility to performed business audiobooks.

While we were in New York, we were interviewed on C-Suite TV. They were interested in the APA recognition, but more keenly focused on the potential for Business Audio Theatre when used as an onboarding tool to help increase engagement and reduce turn over. They wanted to know how this new technology could be employed to preserve a founder’s legacy and improve company culture.

Founders can’t be there forever, and they know it. Sooner or later they must turn over the reins of leadership to the next generation. They worry about their companies becoming complacent, mired in compliance, and turf battles breaking out between the increasingly specialized divisions.

Will it be “just another job” for their future employees? Would they just as soon work anywhere? Or do they identify with their new company? How can companies keep their Founder’s spirit alive? We believe the best way to convey business principles is through story. And the best way to convey story is through an audio performance that entertains and engages the listener’s imagination while it educates. And what if that listener is your company’s new hire? And what if your company’s story and principles are handed to them on day one in an MP3 format?

Having created and published an acclaimed example of BAT in The Barefoot Spirit audiobook, having perfected the process of conversion of story to audio play, and having partnered with a Hollywood production company, Sherwood Players that have actually done it, we are in a truly unique position to offer this new tool to founders and their companies.

That’s the promise of Business Audio Theatre and that’s why the audiobook industry’s recognition means so much to us. We can create a compelling onboarding tool to help other founders keep their spirit alive and preserve their company’s history. Check it out at BusinessAudioTheatre.com.

Biography and History Culture Growth Management News and Politics Personal Development

2019 WOTY and NEOLOGISM…WHAT?

Post author By Dana Pope
Post date March 18, 2020
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2019 WOTY and Neologism

The Word of the Year for 2019 is “existential” or “climate emergency” or “climate strike” or my personal favorite, “they;” depending on where you search. Each year a group of linguists from different organizations; i.e. Merriam-Webster, Oxford Languages, Collins Dictionary, dictionary.com, and the American Dialect Society, among others, pick their word of the year. Sometimes abbreviated WOTY, the word of the year is a singular word or expression that is significant to the public.

Linguists study the science and utilization of language. Their attention is on public practice of the term or expression and how it interfaces with the real-world. To become the Word of the Year, linguists consider the most searched words, the ones that have a significant spike from the previous year, and do they have lasting potential.

Merriam-Webster

The 2019 Word of the Year for Merriam Webster is they, having a 313% spike in searches over the previous year. Moreover, there is a shift in the way they is used, which lured people to their dictionaries to hunt for the current definition. The first definition states, “those people, animals, or things,” and the second meaning is, “used to refer to people in a general way or to a group of people who are not specified.”

As stated by Merriam-Webster, “English famously lacks a gender-neutral singular pronoun to correspond neatly with singular pronouns like everyone or someone, and as a consequence, they has been used for this purpose for over 600 years.” Now in the place of the word “he or she,” the singular pronoun to use is “them or they,” which is preferred in professional writing.

Oxford Languages and Collins Dictionary

The Oxford Word of the Year for 2019 is climate emergency, and Collins Dictionary chose climate strike. One of the expressions represents a situation and the other designates an action, so I will address them together. Climate emergency is, “a situation in which urgent action is required to reduce or halt climate change and avoid potentially irreversible environmental damage resulting from it.” Climate strike is “a form of protest in which people absent themselves from education or work in order to join demonstrations demanding action to counter climate change.” Both expressions show that the environment is an ongoing concern being disseminated in the headlines.

dictionary.com

The WOTY for dictionary.com is existential, defined as, “of or relating to existence…concerned with the nature of human existence as determined by the individual’s freely made choices.” The word captures the struggle to survive, as topics of climate change and gun violence dominate our attention. It begs us to ask big questions of, why are we here, and what choices will extend our life beyond our self.

Altogether, dictionary.com added over 300 words, expressions, and acronyms this past year. Known as a neologism, defined as, “a new word, meaning, usage, or phrase; the introduction or use of new words or new senses of existing words.” Linguists consider how current words are being utilized and if used on a massive scale. Though the words have been around a while, in 2019 they were added to the dictionary. Here are a few examples.

Words Added to the Dictionary in 2019

In Conversations:

Deep Dive: “a thorough or comprehensive analysis of a subject or issue.”

Infodump: “a large quantity of backstory, or background information, supplied at once.”

Elevator Pitch: “a brief talk or pitch intended to sell or win approval for something.”

On Social Media:

Shitposting: “a form of trolling when someone ‘posts off-topic,’ false, or offensive contributions to an online forum with the intent to derail the discussions or provoke other participants.”

Crybullies: “a person who self-righteously harasses or intimidates others while playing the victim, especially of a perceived social injustice.”

It’s a good idea to add these two expressions to your vocabulary so you are able to call out people for what they are doing with their social media comments.

As far as acronyms go, here are two dictionary additions: JSYK: “just so you know,” and JOMO: “joy of missing out.”

Past Words of the Year

An interesting exercise is looking up Past Words of the Year to grasp what happened at the time; it’s like a walk-through history.

1992: not! – as in just kidding

1993: information superhighway

1994: cyber, morph

1995: web

1996: mom – as in soccer mom

1997: millennium bug

1998: e- – as in e-mail or e-commerce

1999: Y2K

2000: chad – Florida voting

2001: 9-11

2002: weapons of mass destruction

2003: metrosexual

2004: red state, blue state, purple state – as in 2004 US presidential election

2005: truthiness – from The Colbert Report

2006: plutoed – as in devalued like the planet Pluto

2007: Subprime – below a prime rate

2008: bailout – stock market crash

2009: tweet

2010: app

2011: tergiversate – as in changing opinions like politicians, the stock market, and public polls

2012: hashtag

2013: privacy – Facebook

2014: exposure – having all your information out there

2015: identity – big brother is watching

2016: xenophobia – fear of people of other cultures

2017: fake news – President Trump’s phrase

2018: misinformation – media’s skewed reporting

You can check the definitions of these words on dictionary.com.

American Dialect Society

By the way, The American Dialect Society has been announcing the Word of the Year longer than any organization, and they take it even further. The society chooses the Word for the End of the Decade, Word of the 20^th Century, and Word of the Past Millennium. As with the WOTY, we can determine what transpired at that time.

Word of the Decade: 1990s: web 2000s: google (verb) 2010s: they (singular)

Word of the 20^th Century: jazz

Word of the Past Millennium: she

Examining the Word of the Year provides a history lesson, recalling what happened during that year, and revealing what was the focus. Our language is not a static entity; it requires linguists to update the dictionaries by adding new words, and managing the definitions changed by the times. The English Language is integral for us to communicate, as long as we understand the meaning.

I wonder what the 2020 Word of the Year will be? Maybe it will be hoarding.

Biography and History Branding Personal Development

From Homeless to a $300 Million Dollar Brand

Post author By Tyler Hayzlett
Post date November 14, 2019
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How Dwayne Johnson wrestled his brand to success

Everyone knows who Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is today, but fewer know his story and his gritty past.

Before He Was a Household Name

Before you dismiss his success as just some lucky lottery winner you can’t relate to. You should know that when he started building his path to success years ago. He started his journey with $7 to his name the day after he thought his life was over.

After he failed his dream of nearly getting into the NFL. His stardom comes from an unbelievable story of defying a life of adversity.

His story is legendary and as they say: “Legends aren’t born their made” and Dwayne Johnson certainly made a legendary brand from scratch and there’ s a lot to be learned from his unconventional story.

We talk a lot about building personal brands today. But we don’t honestly do a great job of talking about what REALLY, goes into them.

Before He Was Famous

His is a story of defying the odds, teaching us that building a personal brand is just that. Personal.

Before being named “Peoples’ sexiest man alive”, before he was ranked as the highest-paid actor in Hollywood.

Before he had a hit HBO show and popular YouTube channel with millions of social media followers and endless blockbuster movies. Before hosting SNL not once but 5 times, and long before Johnson teased a run for president, his beginning started from a place of quiet despiration.

Early Days Growing Up

Johnson was a regular kid born in California but grew up in Hawaii.

His father, a former professional wrestler who was let go from the circuit. Out of work, the family was evicted from their 1-bedroom apartment after failing to meet the deadlines for paying rent.

Dwayne was 14 years old. There wasn’t much he could do, but he quickly found solitude in a local gym lifting weights.

Turning Passion into Purpose

Johnson mentioned in his official Facebook page:

“I started training hard at 14 years old. Not for fame or a competition, but because we were evicted from our small apartment in Hawaii. I really hated that feeling of helplessness and never wanted that to happen again. So, I did the only thing I could control with my own two hands in hopes that one day my family would never worry about being evicted again – I trained,”

This experience changed him forever.

It was this moment that carved into Johnson a sense of urgency as a survivor. Forced off the island without a place to live.

The family wound up moving to a little motel outside Nashville, Tennessee where he stole steaks from a local grocery store only to realize that he didn’t have a way to prepare the meat in the motel room.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t all he stole.

Overcoming His Demons

Johnson joined a gang and had been arrested eight or nine times by age 16.

But thankfully the time and energy Johnson was putting into the weight room started paying dividends when he found himself a fatherly figure in football coach named Jodi Swick who gave him a chance to play on the football team.

Dwayne fell in love with competition and chose a more productive path in sports.

He trained and worked hard eventually earning his way play for the University of Miami. His future was starting to look brighter with pro football a possibility. Until a sudden injury cut his dreams into shreds.

Warren Sapp replaced his spot on the roster who ultimately went on to play in the NFL and became famous instead of Johnson. Crushing his dreams and everything he planned for up to that moment.

With Only $7 in His Pocket Left

After graduating Miami with no prospects Johnson went to Canada to play semi-pro for the Calgary Stampeders in 1995 only to be cut from the team after just 2 months.

With no job and a wife to support, Dwayne had $7 to his name and no idea what to do.

He called his father to pick him up and had to move back into his parent’s apartment.

The voice in his head told him. “You’re done. Your life is over. You failed! You’re worthless.”

He later recalled recalled dealing with a bought of depression:

“I found that, with depression, one of the most important things you could realize is that you’re not alone. You’re not the first to go through it; you’re not going to be the last to go through it… I wish I had someone at that time who could just pull me aside and say, ‘Hey, it’s gonna be OK.
It’ll be OK.

I didn’t want to do a thing, I didn’t want to go anywhere. I was crying constantly. Eventually, you reach a point where you are all cried out.”.

He Had a Decision to Make

He spent that time pondering his next moves and if he even had any at all. Dwayne stayed cooped up in his family apartment biding his time simply cleaning.

Then one day his former Calgary coach called him up and asked him if he was interested in coming back.

But he wasn’t. Instead, Johnson turned to something familiar to him.

Watching his father and grandfather wrestle growing up, he decided to attempt a career in their footsteps. Only to receive some discouraging feedback from his family. After hearing his new career choice his father, Rocky, told Dwayne this was the worst mistake he would ever make.

But that didn’t deter Dwayne. And Rocky agreed to train him anyway. Johnson was able to arrange several tryout matches through the then WWF. He had his foot in the door. The professional wrestling journey for Johnson began in that awkward and disparaging beginning.

Making His WWE Debut

His father trained him and just a year after being cut from the Stampeders, Dwayne made his WWE debut in 1996 with the stage name “Rocky Maivia” combining the names of his father and grandfather. Later to be known simply as “The Rock”.

And once again, his experience didn’t go as he planned. The audience didn’t take to him or his character and it seemed as though his father was correct. It was all a mistake.

But Dwayne didn’t give up. He kept pushing forward. He made changes in his character and increased his efforts to stand out and personalize his stage presence. He went all-in.

He eventually won the audience over with his magnetic personality and became known as the most electrifying man in sports entertainment.

Dwayne started using his own catchphrases, so much so, that Merriam-Webster Dictionary officially added his “smackdown” phrase to the dictionary in 2007.

Leveling Up

After catching his stride in the ring and with his new and growing fans, the Rock was no longer surviving he was creating momentum.

Rather than being handed obstacles to deal with, he was finally making opportunities for himself.

Unbeknown to Johnson, at that same time, Saturday Night Live wanted to bring a pro wrestler on to host the show.

Because of the charisma he put into the ring, they chose him.

Hosting SNL

In 2000, Saturday Night Live asked the now well-known wrestling celebrity to take center stage and host a show.

It was at this moment that the outside mainstream world became aware of The Rock’s personality and energy. Things changed forever. Lorne Michaels recalled Johnson’s first hosting gig in a NY Times Interview:

“He has a wonderful sense of timing, he has an innate theatricality and because he projects strength, the audience kind of relaxes with him. He could do nuance, he could do subtle, he could do big and broad.”

Johnson stepped up to the plate in a big way.

He took the flame of success he created and added fuel to the fire. He decided to launch a book, a memoir for his life until that moment.

Building His Brand

The story of his life became number 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. Another win that created more awareness and opened even more doors for him.

It was only five years after Johnson had started wrestling, and was thrown very quickly into the world of Hollywood films.

He adapted quickly. Bringing the charm he created in the ring to the studio. But he didn’t just hone his acting capability, he elevated his personal brand and marketing skills as well.

Johnson started changing the way movies were promoted.

Sharing set secrets and behind the scenes shots before a movie premiere used to be taboo. But the Rock turned the game upside down when he inked a deal to get paid an extra $1 million to promote his own movies due to the power to promote his project to his now enormous social followers.

That’s pretty badass.

And He isn’t Slowing Down

Dwayne currently has over

100 million Instagram followers
58.1 million Facebook followers
13.9 million Twitter followers
over 2 million YouTube subscribers

Across all those channels he shares photos, videos, and announcements about the films he’s in as he’s working on them.

Johnson’s posts, featuring things like set photos with fans on set, often create organic media placements.

Creating even more coverage for the films he stars in, and it cost him nothing.

Conclusion

He not only stepped into Hollywood as a player, he quickly learned how to play the game and changed it.

Through his years of talented brand building. He adapted and capitalized by being the most entertaining player in his space.

At the beginning of Dwayne Johnson’s journey, it would be difficult to predict the success he would manifest if any at all. Through his perseverance and determination not to quit and race towards new opportunities, today Dwayne Johnson’s net worth is north of $320 million and climbing.

He’s a 100% certified self-made-man, an inspiration to millions, and the hardest worker in the room. But best of all, through his success, he remained as humble as the man that began the journey.

Threw his story, his actions, and his positive influence, he became a man worth following.

“Be the type of person that when your feet touch the floor in the morning the Devil says, “aww shit…there up.”

– Dwayne Johnson

For more information visit tylerhayzlett.com

Biography and History Culture Growth News and Politics Personal Development

Will the Draft End at the Hand of 18-Year-Old Women?

Post author By MIchael and Bonnie Harvey
Post date June 6, 2019
No Comments on Will the Draft End at the Hand of 18-Year-Old Women?

Recently, we learned that a Houston Southern District Court Federal Judge ruled an all-male draft to be unconstitutional since it violates equal protection principles. All males must register with the selective service once they turn 18, despite nobody being conscripted for more than 40 years. One would presume this requires 18-year-old females to register as well.

This development brings up a series of debates about female equality, women in the military, and changes in military tech, but an even bigger debate is whether or not we even need a draft.

The Dreaded Draft

Michael lived in fear of being drafted throughout his entire college career. Thankfully, he never was. Vietnam wasn’t exactly a popular war among the young soldiers who were forced to fight it. Most were drafted against their wishes—taken from their classrooms and put right on the front lines with barely any training. Many died, and many of those who didn’t come home with lost limbs, PTSD, and/or drug addiction.

Despite the fact that many women enlisted and served, they weren’t drafted against their will—only men were. This, combined with the war’s unpopularity, ultimately ended the draft.

Both of Michael’s brothers voluntarily joined, hoping for a choice of duties rather than waiting to be drafted. Michael filed for student deferments, which became less and less effective as time went on. His classmates were being drafted and sent away to Vietnam. Many people left the country and were therefore branded as draft-dodging, and “un-American”. Imagine that—being too young to vote, yet you could be drafted at any time against your will to fight a war that you don’t have a say in.

Eventually, the Selective Service hosted a lottery and actually had a woman on TV pulling Ping-Pong balls out of a huge bowl like she was hosting Keno or Bingo. There were 366 balls with a birthdate printed on each. The first balls drawn represented the birthdates of the first young men drafted. Thankfully, Michael’s birthdate was drawn toward the end. But the draft ultimately ended, and so did the war—and the US stopped punishing “draft dodgers” in 1977. What a relief!

Reconsidering Our Votes When it comes to Drafting

What’s most interesting about this story, as scary as the draft was, is that it forced the US to take an interest in the way their officials thought about the draft and the war. The draft was solely responsible for numerous casualties of those who were ripped from the general public to be conscripted into duty.

Today, the debate to eliminate the draft is based on the idea of volunteer-based armed forces—a professional army. While we are eternally thankful for volunteer soldiers’ sacrifices, we worry about the possibility of apathy and a disconnect with the general public.

Wars with a draft did not exceed 4 years, for the most part. Now, they can apparently go on forever! Why? With the draft, it hit too close to home. Now, it’s “someone else’s job.” With the draft, sons were torn away from their careers and families without their consent. But now, with volunteering soldiers, people may say, “They knew the job was dangerous when they took it.” Some folks are even discussing turning certain wars over to private businesses to avoid repercussion.

As awful as the draft was, it forced people to be opinionated and speak publicly about the wisdom of the war. When officials fought for reelection, the vigilant and motivated majority held them accountable. The draft was on everyone’s mind.

But having said all that—we are not in favor of the draft. We are, however, against the kind of apathy that encourages warfare without accountability. Maybe with women now subject to being drafted, we’ll come up with a way to end it all without starting endless wars. Our servicemen and women deserve civilian oversight and constant awareness of the important decision-makers that put them in harm’s way.

For more, read on: http://c-suitenetworkadvisors.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/

Biography and History Growth Personal Development

Immigrants Built the U.S. Economy

Post author By MIchael and Bonnie Harvey
Post date March 12, 2019
No Comments on Immigrants Built the U.S. Economy

John Francis Houlihan, Michael’s grandfather, came to the U.S. from Ireland in the late 1800s at just 19 years old. The only trip he could book was to New York, on an ocean steamer loaded up with cattle. All the immigrants were required to make the trip above deck, fully exposed to the harsh North Atlantic weather. It was windy and cold, and the immigrants would huddle against the smokestacks at night to keep warm. It was a grueling trip. But it was on that trip that John met Michael’s grandmother, Nellie, who was also a teenager, and they were soon in love.

When they finally arrived at Ellis Island, they were kept in prison-like housing until they were able to prove that they could provide gainful careers. In those days, correspondence took forever, so they stayed imprisoned for many months. Eventually, John heard that he was offered a job cleaning the Sutro Stable, the San Francisco Police Department’s horse stables. John knew horses, but didn’t leave until a job was also secured for Nellie. She was offered a job as a washerwoman in a San Francisco boarding house.

When they arrived in San Francisco, they came face-to-face with prejudice and open hostility toward Irish immigrants because they would take low wages for lowly jobs. And, they were seen as un-American “papists” because of their Catholicism that originated from the Pope.

They were able to scrape up enough money in the years that followed to make a down payment on their own boarding house. After diligently studying the constitution and becoming naturalized citizens, they earned their American right to vote. John was able to work his way up in the stable and became Head Horseman. And Nellie provided cleaning services for transients and managed room rentals.

Unexpectedly, an 8.6 magnitude earthquake and ensuing fire demolished San Francisco in 1906. The Sutro Stable went up in flames, taking all of the horses’ lives except the mayor’s prized Percheron horses. Despite all the confusion and tragedy, John put his life on the line to save the horses. The mayor asked how he could possibly thank him, to which John replied, “Make me a beat cop in the Irish ghetto,” which was the Mission District. It was where John and Nellie called home.

John in fact did serve as a beat cop, where he would walk the streets of the Mission District for four decades. He kept the peace, fought crime, helped during times of need, and served the citizens. He witnessed the reconstruction of San Francisco. He was at the Panama Pacific Exhibition in 1915. The Palace of Fine Arts is the only building remaining from the World Fair that showed the rest of the world that San Francisco was open for business.

John witnessed World War I and saw the flood of Italian immigrants that traveled to the Mission right after. He saw average Americans being forced by Prohibition to break the law. He witnessed the Great Depression, Prohibition’s repeal, and WWII. He saw countless waves of immigrants move into the Mission and work their way toward a better life, just like he did.

During all of that, John and Nellie had three children, two of which died during childbirth. The surviving child, John Charles Houlihan and Michael’s father, was a public servant. He worked alongside others to create containerized shipping. This revolutionized the shipping industry, and reduced shrinkage (or pilfering by dockworkers). Containers could now be locked. This feature alone cut worldwide commerce costs significantly. Container ports were popping up all around the world in the 1970s and ‘80s. Shipping became safe, reliable, and efficient. This means of shipping became the world standard.

American Immigrants Do Not Take Citizenship for Granted

Michael spent his childhood summers with his Irish grandpa, who constantly spoke of the great opportunity America offered him to get ahead. He assured Michael that hard work would pay off in the US. He praised the advantages of American citizenship and was deeply thankful for his chance to get ahead until the very day that he died.

John and his son returned the favor to the country in many different ways, but their lives and their work have improved the lives of many Americans. Think about all the jobs that containerized shipping has created and all the jobs created by Barefoot Wine.

Immigrants are the economy’s backbone. They are the reason why America is “Great”. With open arms, let’s welcome those immigrants who want to work and show their gratitude for the chance to improve their lives. In order to earn the right to vote and become citizens, they must learn about the divisions of government, the right to vote, and why these laws exist, as well as the checks and balances they provide the country.

Americans who are born here don’t have this requirement. They can vote without all of that knowledge, and they can choose to not vote at all. Usually, immigrants don’t take their citizenship for granted. They are eager to understand our government, and they are eager to vote.

Let’s think more about the value of immigrants. Let’s all take the time and effort to vote! Democracy certainly isn’t something that immigrants take for granted. So why should any of us?

For more, read on: http://c-suitenetworkadvisors.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/

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