Dairy Queen, Turf Installation, How To Start A Profitable Ecom Brand
Designed to be skimmed
Connor Gross
May 03, 2023
Welcome to Biz Brainstorms –
My name's Connor.
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You get a lot of emails already. So, no need to read the whole thing, just find 1 cool thing & enjoy.
Today's Outline:
Good Things Take Time
Power of Distribution
Turf Installation
How to win in e-commerce in 2023
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Good Things Take Time:
Dairy Queen has ~4300 locations and $3B+ in annual revenue.
They were founded in 1940.
So it’s taken them 83 years to build this massive simple business empire.
A reminder that shit takes time.
— Alex Hormozi (@AlexHormozi)
Apr 19, 2023
My impatient brain wants everything the instant I think of it.
This is a good reminder that the best things in life take time.
Or as Jack Raines puts it in his post, Infinite Games, the best things in life are infinite games for the purpose of continuing the play.
Nobody “wins” in relationships, health, business, etc.
The goal is to play the game as long as possible.
The Power Of Distribution:
Something I’ve been thinking about lately is this chart:
To clarify, Slack is a huge business ($1B+ in revenue in 2022)
So when Microsoft Teams launched launched in 2017, it took only 5 years to 10x their Daily Active Users.
Microsoft has been around for 48 years. They have served over 1,000,000+ companies to build that distribution and trust.
So when they launch a competitor, they get paid.
If you’re paying attention to the new AI tool popping up, we’re entering a world where software development becomes as easy as building a website is today.
Going from idea to working prototype will take… days. Not months.
I think we’re entering a world where someone as simple-minded as myself will begin to be able to launch & deploy really really cool software products.
Which begins to raise the next question – if technical development becomes commoditized, what will become the next MOAT for these SaaS companies?
Personally, I think it’s distribution.
It’s the reason companies like Stripe buy Indiehackers, Hubspot buys The Hustle, Penn Gambling bought Barstool, etc. (more here).
I don’t think there has ever been a better time to build a B2B media business.
A Biz Doing Nearly 6 Figures Monthly in 120 Days
A friend's son started a turf installation company. In 4 months they are at a $1m+ revenue run rate. Starting a business and making money does not have to be complex. Their first customer came from knocking doors in their neighborhood.
— Nathan Resnick (@naterez94)
Apr 24, 2023
I love finding boring companies printing money, and from the looks of Nathan’s tweet, I think turf installation falls into that category nicely.
This is a 3.8B industry growing every year.
And my favorite part is that the pitch is dead simple:
Cut your water bill
Cut your landscaping bill
Increases home value (source)
During a time where people are looking to save money, this business seems like a no-brainer.
Big Learning From Meeting Million Dollar Sellers
Met with 25+ 7-figure e-commerce sellers on Sunday.
I'm more & more convinced that the best odds at success in e-commerce today come from launching a logistically difficult product with a passionate niche audience.
— Connor Gross (@c_gro)
May 2, 2023
I went to the NYC Ecommerce Fuel meet up this past Sunday.
My biggest takeaways:
In 2023, it is virtually impossible to launch a generic product if you don’t have an audience. The Kardashians can launch makeup. Logan Paul can still launch sports drinks. But you & I? Well, there are simply easier ways to make money.
If you do want to sell products online, you need 2 things:
Logistical Difficulty: This usually means Custom or Subscription Boxes
A Passionate Niche: Find an audience that is obsessed with a niche or hobby and make your goal to serve them for the next 3-5 years
That is probably the biggest opportunity in e-commerce today.
Until next time ✌️
-Connor
PS – Want to chat 1:1?
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