Stay ConnectedThe Road to $1 Million is a podcast on the Capitalism.com network that features entrepreneurs on their way to building a 7-figure business.
They are instructed to bring their challenges, opportunities, and their ultimate vision to the show in order to get help making it happen faster.
The host, Ryan Daniel Moran, has a keen eye for sensing what the entrepreneur truly wants and identifying what the next logical step is in the process to get there.
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The Road To $1 Million podcast started with Ryan's highly successful book, 12 Months To $1 Million. The book is all about how to build a real brand, with a dedicated group of loyal fans and customers and cross over the line of $1M in annual revenue.
But before that Ryan's career as an eCommerce expert really took off from his viral 2014 conference keynote called 12 Months To $1 Million. A lot has changed since then (though the principles remain the same), so this week we are sharing Ryan's new and updated talk of that presentation.
This talk will give you the playbook and show you the fast lane to building a 7-figure business in 1 year.
Today we are checking in again with the man himself, Mark CUDA from Ancient Strength.
If you've been following along you heard his first appearance a few weeks ago, then he came back again on the "5 Entrepreneurs" episode where Ryan checked in with the Capitalism Fund of 5 entrepreneurs he's personally invested in, and now Mark is back again for the 3rd time.
This is one you won't want to miss because we are talking all about really launching his first product and all of the complications that come with that.
He's done all of the prep work, the behind the scenes stuff, and well, it's about time to take a damn sale. Everything from sales channels, growth strategy, finding the right employees, delegating, product formulation, influencers, sales funnels, marketing… this episode is JAMPACKED with everything entrepreneurs need to know when they actually take their product to market.
Thank you for following along on our journey together. We believe in Mark, we believe in Ancient Strength, and it's been a lot of fun building this from the ground up and bringing everyone along on the journey with us.
Darren Woodson is the host of the wildly popular Darren Woodson Show podcast... and he also won 3 Super Bowl rings with the Dallas Cowboys and he's a semifinalist for the NFL Hall of Fame. You've probably played as him on Madden. But now he's trying to figure out how he can use his NFL following to build a business. Usually you hear from entrepreneurs on this show trying to wrap their head around connecting to their dream influencer and today I wanted to show you the opposite. We have a massive influencer saying, "what the heck do I do with this big following I've built?" A product line? Supplements? Shoes? More real estate deals? Investing and taking equity in other brands?You'll see that influencers are just as hungry for *quality* partnerships as you are. And by the end of this episode you'll have a better understanding of what people like Darren are looking for so when you reach out to your dream influencer, it'll be a "Give" and you'll be providing them a real opportunity instead of just another "Ask" in their inbox.
Small food brands are big business. They're growing because they're introducing new foods to the marketplace or creating healthy versions of already popular snacks. These brands not only have a ton of raving fans, but have very high valuations and have been selling to bigger food companies for hundreds of millions of dollars.
That's why I wanted to introduce you to Emily Griffiths, founder of Lil Bucks. With no business background, Emily caught a vision for a cereal brand and ran with it. Even though she didn't know "how" she'd grow her startup to become a 9-figure business, her excitement carried her through the early stages. On the way to a million dollars in revenue, she's already looking at Series A funding. Emily is the perfect example of big thinking and big action.
This episode is for entrepreneurs who can cast a long term vivid vision for a brand they're passionate about, as well as the investors looking to offer capital and guidance in exchange for a piece of the highly lucrative pie.
Listen in and you'll learn what it takes for an entrepreneur to take an ecommerce brand from an impulsive idea to a sustainable long term vision.
You just got advice you know will push your brand past the plateau you hit. You're all jizzer-jazzered up because you can practically see that next level.
But hold on.
We all know how easy it is for entrepreneurs to get lost in the weeds and to wind up off-track before taking action.
That's why we wanted to let you listen to this conversation between Ryan and five brand owners that The Capitalism Fund invested in. In this episode, you'll get to hear him coach them so they stay clear on their next steps.
One of these entrepreneurs just got the coaching you needed. Let us know which one, and what you're going to do with the insights you pull from this episode.
Mark Cuda's gone all-in on the brand he's developing - so much so that he moved his young family into a small apartment and quit his job so he can focus on it. This level of intensity and action-taking caught Ryan's eye, and the Capitalism Fund will be backing the brand. That means not only capital, but coaching and contacts.
In this episode, you'll hear about the challenges Mark's faced with getting prototypes, dialing in exactly who he'll serve, and battling the usual mindset demons entrepreneurs face. But you'll also discover how shockingly easy it can be to solve these challenges.
Listening in on this conversation could very well give you several mindset shifts about what it takes to build a million-dollar brand - at any age, and with any track record. Better get something to take notes on this one because it's jam-packed with straight talk and smart solutions.
What if you invested $200K in your business and still weren't profitable?
And what if that actually turned out to be really, really good news?
Or, what if you had a successful pre launch and then heard nothing but crickets?
And what if having zero sales for a stretch actually turned out to be the moment you look back at as when you poured rocket fuel on your brand?
Sometimes when we're in the grind, we get a little wrapped up in what we perceive isn't working. Because we're so close to the situation, it can be hard to pick through and find the gold. But when you've got someone who's been there before, they know how to spot powerful turning points that we might miss.
This is why today, we just had to let you listen in on the front end of a recent Capitalism Incubator call. Maybe you'll hear yourself in one of our members. And maybe you'll get the a-ha you need to get unstuck as you build your own brand today.
Most success stories get told backwards, from the great win all the way back to the humble beginnings. Think of all those "they started in their garage" stories. They wouldn't be nearly as compelling if the story ended in the founder going to work at a 'regular' job because of failing.
A lot gets lost in the telling that way. Hindsight dictates which efforts, twists, and turns are worth recalling because they became significant. But what would it be like to look over Bill Gates' shoulder while he built Microsoft in his garage? Or to stalk Target's deodorant aisle with Moiz Ali as he built Native Deodorant?
Wouldn't you gather far richer insights by studying a brand in real time as it climbs to an eight-figure valuation? To see all the experiments, to understand the thought processes, to witness the moment when a brand caught fire?
In this episode, Ryan sketches out his plan to take the Switch Supplements brand, and On Switch (its first product) from $0 to an eight-figure exit. Just as he teaches other entrepreneurs to build a million-dollar brand using his book 12 Months to $1 Million as a playbook, he's following that same plan for this brand.
As you listen in on his plan, you'll pick up strategies and thought processes that can help you build your own million-dollar brand. Will the brand become a huge success? Nobody knows for sure, even though it sure looks like that. Either way, because you listened to this episode, you'll have an insider's perspective when it all shakes out in the end.
Josh Martin is a 24-year-old entrepreneur who first caught our eye as one of the winners of our Million Dollar Brands contest. He's taken what he's learned so far and built a brand that's got such potential that the Capitalism Fund couldn't resist investing in it.
In this episode, you'll get to listen in as Ryan helps Josh sketch out the plan to go from making sales of $5K per month to a future $5 million exit. The Fund's investment can help smooth the bumps in the road that a lack of inventory has caused. But the bigger questions they sort out during this conversation will save the brand from becoming a product-driven company. Josh's brand is now the "hot girl at the dance" and that changes everything about how he evaluates potential influencers who want to partner with him.
This brand is one to watch, and this conversation will likely answer questions you have as you make important decisions about your own brand, too.
Hey, honey… How about we build a brand that serves people who suffer from dry eyes, get it up to a $6 million run rate, then sell it in four years to Johnson & Johnson? You in?
If you're thinking that sounds exactly like the conversation a couple of optometrists might have after reading 12 Months to $1 Million, you'd be pretty close.
Except Drs. Travis and Jenna Zigler didn't read the book first. (It didn't exist.)
Oh, and it wasn't Johnson & Johnson that acquired their brand.
But otherwise, right on the money.
In this episode, Ryan and Travis take a look at what got the Ziglers from zero to a life-changing exit. Travis reveals the three areas they focused on and got really good at doing. (One of them, Ryan warned them would probably not work… but it did!) He also tells the tale of how his first product satisfied a pressing need for his customers and sold like crazy right out of the gate, becoming his best selling product ever.
Oh, but then there was the time Travis and Jenna nearly killed their business and started wondering if selling it for pennies on the dollar would be the way to go. You'll have to listen to find out the huge misstep they took - and corrected - that would have made this exit impossible.
If you've ever watched the interview of an athlete moments after a major win, or if you want to learn from someone else's mistakes and brilliant ideas, this is the episode for you.
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